THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 RIVERSIDE 
 
 Ex Ubris 
 ' C. K. OGDEN '
 
 &
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS 
 
 BENJAMIN JOWETT, M.A. 
 
 I.
 
 HORACE HART, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY
 
 
 
 
 
 /'/I'm ,1 i /;///////// VU Jri>)</i , A /,//////'////., /I. '
 
 THE 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS 
 
 OF 
 
 BENJAMIN JOWETT, M.A. 
 
 MASTER OF BALLIOL COLLEGE, OXFORD 
 
 BY 
 
 EVELYN ABBOTT, M.A., LL.D. 
 
 AND 
 
 LEWIS CAMPBELL, M.A., LL.D. 
 
 WITH PORTRAITS AND OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES: VOL. I 
 
 LONDON 
 
 JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET 
 1897
 
 V.I
 
 PREFACE 
 
 "PROFESSOR JOWETT'S life naturally falls into two 
 * sections the period before the Mastership, and the 
 Mastership. The first of these volumes contains the first 
 period, and is the work of Professor Campbell ; in the 
 second, I have written the story of the Mastership ; and 
 I am responsible for the whole. The plan followed in 
 both volumes is of course the same. A few letters have 
 been worked into the narrative ; others, far too numerous 
 to be used in such a manner, but of a personal character, 
 have been appended to the chapters according to their 
 dates, and thus form as it were illustrations of the text, 
 giving in Jowett's own words his thoughts and feelings 
 at the time T . In the second period the material was to 
 some extent different from that in the first, for Jowett's 
 personal memoranda became far more numerous as he 
 grew older, and from these, as in some respects the truest 
 record of his life, it was necessary to draw largely. The 
 second volume is also somewhat more annalistic than 
 
 1 A number of very valuable Lansdowne, and others, could not 
 letters on more general topics, to be included in the Life, and are 
 Sir R. B. D. Morier, the Marquis of reserved for a separate volume. 
 
 a 3
 
 vi Preface 
 
 the first ; after 1870 the course of Jowett's life was 
 more equable; the years are distinguished by the 
 incidents which occur in them, but with the exception 
 of the years 1882-1886, when he was Vice-Chancellor, 
 they do not fall into well-defined sections. 
 
 Our warmest thanks are due to Jowett's friends : 
 first of all to those who have allowed us to see the letters 
 which he wrote to them, and to make what use of them 
 we wished l . These letters are among the most cherished 
 possessions of their owners, but it was felt, and very 
 truly, that without them, no account of Jowett's life 
 would be in any sense complete. From others we have 
 received most valuable reminiscences of the Master from 
 the time that he went up to Balliol in 1836 to the last 
 year of his life. The names of these friends will be found 
 in the book, and I do not repeat them here because it 
 is impossible to mention all, and any selection would be 
 invidious. Others have supplied materials and given 
 access to documents, without which no record could have 
 been given of Jowett's family, or his own early life. "We 
 have also received important criticisms and suggestions, 
 above all from our present Master, who has read the 
 proof-sheets of both volumes. I hope that our work will 
 not be found altogether unworthy of the subject of 
 it, and that this presentation of Jowett's life may be 
 acceptable to those with whom his memory is a ' light 
 of other days.' 
 
 "When we entered on our task, we looked forward to 
 much help and guidance from Lord Bowen, who was 
 
 1 It must be remembered that were burned in accordance with 
 all the letters written to Jowett his testamentary direction.
 
 Preface vii 
 
 greatly interested in the book. Had our work received 
 his imprimatur we should have felt that we had at least 
 satisfied a fastidious censor, and drawn a picture of 
 Jowett, which was recognized as true by one who knew 
 him well. Dis aliter visum. What we have lost by his 
 lamented death, those will realize who remember how 
 admirable were his judgement and taste. 
 
 EVELYN ABBOTT. 
 
 OXFORD, January 7, 1897.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 BIRTH AND PARENTAGE. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Jowetts of Manningham in Yorkshire The Master's great-grand- 
 father, Henry Jowett, and his four sons The Evangelical move- 
 ment Musical cultivation The Master's father and mother The 
 Langhorne family The Jowetts at Camberwell Changes of 
 position and circumstances The Master's sister Emily His 
 brothers, Alfred and William Jowett 1-28 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 INFANCY AND BOYHOOD. 1817-1836. 
 
 Early training and companionships Camberwell Blackheath 
 Mitcham Entrance at St. Paul's School at the age of twelve 
 Dr. Sleath and his methods School-fellows and school successes 
 The Balliol Scholarship ' Apposition Day '. . . . 29-44 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 SCHOLAR AND FELLOW OF BALLIOL. 1836-1840. 
 Early friendships at Oxford The Hertford Latin Scholarship 
 A Balliol undergraduate sixty years since Reminiscences of 
 surviving contemporaries The Master, Richard Jenkyns, and the 
 Tutors, Tait and Scott The Balliol Fellowship won by the under- 
 graduate Scholar Work in private tuition Death of Ellen Jowett 
 Graduation Letters to W. A. Greenhill 45~7i 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 FELLOW AND TUTOR OF BALLIOL. 1840-1846. 
 
 W. G. Ward and A. P. Stanley Tract XC and the Thirty-nine 
 Articles First foreign tour The Decade Assistant Tutorship 
 Ordination The Paris libraries Appointment as Tutor (1842)
 
 x Contents 
 
 PAGE 
 
 College business With Stanley in Germany Hegel and Schelling 
 Degradation of Ward Action of the ' Oxford Liberals ' 
 Projected work on the New Testament Archdeacon Palmer's 
 reminiscences Letters 72-124 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 TUTORSHIP (continued). COMMENTARY ON ST. PAUL. 1846-1850. 
 
 Attachment of his pupils to him His interest in their works Hegel 
 and Comte Lectures in Political Economy Plato at Oxford 
 Paris in 1848 Conversation with Michelet, &c. Theological 
 Essays Long Vacations The Oban reading party Alexander 
 Ewing, Bishop of Argyll Notes on the Romans Death of William 
 Jowett A pupil's record of conversations Letters . . 125-171 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 UNIVERSITY AND CIVIL SERVICE REFORM. 1846-1854. 
 
 W. D. Christie, M.P. Sir J. Kay-Shuttleworth Roundell Palmer 
 Goldwin Smith The University Commission East India Civil 
 Service Examinations Lord Macaulay's Committee Letters on 
 University Reform 172-194 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 TUTORIAL AND OTHER INTERESTS. 1850-1854. 
 Widening social horizon Bunsen Sir C. Trevelyan Tennyson 
 Tutorial methods Vacations Mr. W. L. Newman's reminis- 
 cences . ... ... .. ... 195-225 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. THE PROFESSORSHIP OF GREEK. 
 
 1854-1860. 
 
 Position in Oxford and elsewhere Repulse for the Mastership 
 Epistles of St. Paul Greek Professorship Vice-Chancellor Cotton 
 Endowment withheld Work of the Chair Isolation Death of 
 his brother Alfred and of his father Second edition of the 
 Epistles Portrait by G. Richmond W. L. Newman's reminis- 
 cences (continued} 226-258 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 FRIENDS AND PUPILS. 1854-1860. 
 
 Theological attitude Desultory studies Advice to young writers 
 and preachers Society in Scotland and elsewhere Preparation of 
 Essays atid Reviews Publication of the volume Letters . 259-289
 
 Contents xi 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 'ESSAYS AND REVIEWS.' 1860-1865. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Essays and Reviews Panic in the religious world The Quarterly and 
 Edinburgh Reviews Bishop Wilberforce Stanley at Oxford Dr. 
 Pusey's attitude Bishop Colenso Prosecution of Williams and 
 Wilson The Vice-Chancellor's Court Continued agitation for the 
 Endowment of the Greek Chair E. Freeman and C. Elton 
 Endowment of the Chair by Christ Church . . . 290-320 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 TUTORIAL WORK. 1860-1865. 
 
 Personal effects of controversy Extracts from correspondence 
 Professorial and Tutorial work Letters from W. Pater and 
 Professor G. G. Ramsay ' Colonization ' George Rankine Luke 
 Society at Clifton and in Scotland Vacation parties Letters 321-374 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 REFORMS AT BALLIOL. 1865-1870. 
 
 Improved circumstances Reforms in Balliol and the University 
 Effects of experience Characteristics Speculation and action 
 Health impaired Mr. Robert Lowe The poet Browning Meeting 
 with Mr. Gladstone Death of his mother Second series of Essays 
 and Reviews Why never completed Scott made Dean of Rochester 
 The Mastership in view 375-446
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PORTRAIT FROM CRAYON DRAWING BY G. RICHMOND, R.A. 
 
 1854) Frontispiece 
 
 SKETCH OF A CONCERT IN THE HALL OF TRINITY HALL, 
 CAMBRIDGE, GIVEN BY DR. JOSEPH JOWETT. (From a 
 Contemporary Drawing) ... ... Page 7 
 
 FISHER'S BUILDING AND END OF ' RAT'S CASTLE,' BALLIOL 
 COLLEGE. (Copied from a print in an old Oxford Guide) 
 
 To face page 48 
 
 FACSIMILE OF EARLY HANDWRITING (1855) . To face page 236 
 
 THE OLD CHAPEL AND LIBRARY, BALLIOL COLLEGE (from 
 
 the North-east End) To face page 248 
 
 BALLIOL COLLEGE BEFORE THE REBUILDING IN 1868 
 
 To face page 376 
 
 THE OLD HALL AND MASTER'S LIBRARY, BALLIOL COLLEGE 
 
 To face page 408
 
 LIFE OF BENJAMIN JOWETT 
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 Vol. I, p. 48, 1. 8, for G. A. Ogilvie read C. A. Ogilvie. 
 p. 50, 1. 4, for F. C. Trower read C. F. Trower, and 
 
 for the note substitute Fellow of Exeter. 
 p. 192, note 2 , for 1850 read 1859. 
 p. 238, note *, for D.D. read D.C.L. 
 ,, p. 268, 1. 24, for Kent read Surrey. 
 p. 271, 1. 6, for Canon read Student. 
 
 Life and Letters of Benjamin Jowett, Vol. I. 
 
 ana anomer urotirer, <juim uuwetu, <t vvuui-auapipj. j. wav T \j, 
 who had three sons, clergymen, the Keverend William Jowett, 
 a Missionary among the Copts, the Keverend Joseph Jowett, 
 Eector of Silk Willoughby, Lincolnshire, and the Eeverend 
 John Jowett, Kector of Hartfield.' 
 VOL. I. B
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
 
 LIFE OF BENJAMIN JOWETT 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 BIKTH AND PARENTAGE 
 
 JOWETTS of Manningham in Yorkshire The Master's great- 
 grandfather, Henry Jowett, and his four sons The Evangelical 
 movement Musical cultivation The Master's father and mother 
 The Langhorne family The Jowetts at Camberwell Changes of 
 position and circumstances The Master's sister Emily His brothers, 
 Alfred and William Jowett. 
 
 BENJAMIN JOWETT was born in the parish of 
 Camberwell, Surrey, on April 15, 1817, and -died 
 on October i, 1893. The following entry, headed ' On 
 rising in life/ was found in one of the note-books in 
 which it was for many years his practice to write down 
 thoughts and observations : 
 
 'My ancestors lived at Manningham near Bradford, where 
 they had land, part of which they sold in 1740. They were 
 probably in the condition of yeomen. The Keverend Dr. Joseph 
 Jowett, Eegius Professor of Civil Law in the University of 
 Cambridge, who died in 1813, was my great-uncle. He had 
 a brother, Henry Jowett, Kector of Little Dunham in Norfolk, 
 and another brother, John Jowett, a wool- stapler I believe, 
 who had three sons, clergymen, the Eeverend William Jowett, 
 a Missionary among the Copts, the Eeverend Joseph Jowett, 
 Eector of Silk Willoughby, Lincolnshire, and the Eeverend 
 John Jowett, Eector of Hartfield.' 
 
 VOL. I. B
 
 2 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, i 
 
 At the beginning of the eighteenth century, two 
 Jowetts of Manningham l were doing business in London 
 and York. Henry Jowett, of London, is described as 
 a man of character and probity and a strict Churchman, 
 who attended the week-day prayers at his parish church. 
 His brother Benjamin, of York, counts likewise amongst 
 the Master's ancestry, through an intermarriage of cousins 
 to be mentioned by-and-by. 
 
 This Henry Jowett, of Manningham and London, had 
 a son Henry, the Master's great-grandfather. 
 
 Henry Jowett, of Leeds and Camberwell, 1719-1801. 
 
 He was born in London in 1719, and passed some of 
 his childhood at Whitby, where he conceived a passion 
 for the sea. After one voyage, however, he was apprenticed 
 by his father to a hat-manufacturer in London. While 
 thus employed, he heard the preaching of Whitefield, and 
 the impression was deep and permanent. When his 
 apprenticeship came to an end, he set up for himself 
 as a skinner or farrier. In 1757 he removed with his 
 young family to Leeds, where he remained till 1773. 
 Here he formed two intimacies which had an important 
 influence upon the life of his sons. William Hey, the 
 well-known surgeon and Fellow of the Royal Society, 
 not only shared the same religious impressions, which 
 were then still comparatively rare, but was also an 
 accomplished musician, and a student of great writers 
 whom he loved to introduce to younger men ; and Henry- 
 Venn, who came to Huddersfield in 1789, helped to con- 
 firm the spiritual work which Whitefield had begun. 
 
 1 The Jowitts (formerly Jow- with the Jowetts of Manningham ; 
 
 etts), an old Quaker family in but in the period now under re- 
 
 the neighbourhood of Leeds, if view there was no connexion 
 
 traced far enough back, might between the branches, 
 prove to have a common origin
 
 Four Generations 3 
 
 About two years after the death, of his wife in 1771, 
 Henry Jowett removed his place of business to London, 
 and his home to Camberwell Green. He resided there 
 until he died in 1801, having survived his eldest son, 
 John, by one year. He is a dignified, patriarchal figure, 
 of a strong, determined nature, profoundly imbued with 
 genuine piety, ruling his house with authority, and 
 bringing up his children and his grandchildren with 
 vigilant care ' in the nurture and admonition of the 
 Lord.' His sons in middle life still deferred to his 
 authority, and prized his counsel, addressing him in 
 their letters as 'Dear and honoured Sir.' His corre- 
 spondence is marked by simple gravity of style, and while 
 often expressed in the peculiar dialect of Methodism, has 
 the ring of true affection, sagacity, consistent purpose, 
 and resignation to the Divine Will. In early life he 
 had owed much to Mr. Hill, a Nonconformist minister, 
 and in his old age was inclined to Wesleyanism, react- 
 ing not against the formalism, but the too pronounced 
 Calvinism, of the parish clergyman 1 . There still remains 
 
 1 The following excerpt from minds, make it appear wearisome 
 
 the manuscript record of his and gloomy. He usually in the 
 
 granddaughter, Mrs. Elizabeth evenings read a whole chapter of 
 
 Pratt, is characteristic both of the the Bible with Matthew Henry's 
 
 times and of the man : commentary ; which occupied so 
 
 ' In the government of his much time that the children and 
 
 family my grandfather was servants got sleepy and tired, 
 
 thought to be strict. His children If the boys showed symptoms of 
 
 greatly reverenced him ; yet it drowsiness, they were required to 
 
 must be confessed that they often stand up, and their father would 
 
 felt a degree of awe in his pre- occasionally ask them their 
 
 sence which made them in their opinion of a sentiment or put 
 
 boyish days rather shrink from some question which required 
 
 his company. His family wor- them to have attended to the 
 
 ship, too, was perhaps somewhat reading in order to answer it, 
 
 calculated to exhibit religion in ... I shall never forget the 
 
 an austere light, and, to young patriarchal benediction which he 
 
 B 2
 
 4 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, i 
 
 in his handwriting a solemn form of self -dedication, 
 signed, sealed, and doubtless executed, October 27, 
 1770, identical with that recommended in Doddridge's 
 Else and Progress of Religion in the Soul, chap, 
 xviii. 7. 
 
 To the last he followed with keen interest the course 
 of public affairs ; disliking the war with America, but 
 rejoicing in Admiral Duncan's successes ; although he 
 feared that they might unduly minister to national pride. 
 
 Henry Jowett, of Camberwell, had four sons, John, 
 Joseph, Benjamin (the Master's grandfather), and Henry ; 
 and two daughters, Elizabeth, who died young, and Sarah, 
 who lived to old age. The sons, except John, the eldest, 
 who had been at St. Paul's School for a time before they 
 left London 1 , attended the Leeds Grammar School, in 
 company with John Venn, who lived with the Jowetts 
 as one of the family. Joseph and Henry Jowett, as well 
 as John Venn, proceeded to the University of Cambridge ; 
 while Benjamin, like his eldest brother, John, was 
 apprenticed to his father's business. 
 
 As three of these men, his great-uncles, are mentioned 
 by the Master himself, and as more is known of them 
 than of his grandfather, it may be allowable to give 
 a short account of each of them before proceeding in 
 the main line. 
 
 pronounced upon me and Mr. of God the Father, God the Son, 
 
 Pratt, when we went to take and God the Holy Ghost might 
 
 leave of him. He was sitting by rest upon us. He did this with 
 
 the fireside in his dressing-gown much emotion, and I could 
 
 with his night-cap and a large have imagined that it was the 
 
 cocked hat on his head ; and patriarch Jacob blessing his pos- 
 
 before we left him he raised him- terity.' 
 
 self on his feet, feeble and totter- * According to the belief of 
 
 ing as he was, and with a most his daughter, Mrs. E. Pratt ; but 
 
 graceful air took his hat off his his name is not on the Register 
 
 head, and prayed that the blessing of St. Paul's scholars.
 
 Four Generations 5 
 
 John Jowett, of Leeds and Newington Butts, 
 1743-1800. 
 
 John had been at work in his father's office from the 
 time of going to Leeds, 1757, being then in his four- 
 teenth year. But he continued his education through 
 intercourse with William Hey, who read with him such 
 works as Locke, Butler, Jonathan Edwards, &c., and 
 conversed with him on theological subjects. The two 
 friends often walked to Huddersfield together to listen 
 to the preaching of Henry Venn. Mr. Hey, who was 
 a student of thorough-bass and a lover of Corelli and 
 other early composers, also encouraged his companion's 
 love for music, and John learned to play the organ. 
 
 John was already in partnership with his father, 
 when in 1771, shortly after his marriage to Elizabeth 
 Bankes, younger sister of Mrs. Hey, he removed to 
 London, and opened a warehouse in Red Lion Court, 
 Bermondsey. Here he was joined by his father and 
 by his brother Benjamin. The business prospered 
 after a while, and in 1790 John Jowett purchased the 
 lease of a house and grounds at Newington, Surrey 1 , 
 where he was often visited by his brothers from Cam- 
 bridge and their friends; and also by the 'worthy 
 Mr. John Newton 2 ,' who is said to have designated 
 John Jowett's household as par excellence ' the Christian 
 family.' He was in fact a pillar of the Evangelical 
 party in the Church, and his home was also a centre of 
 musical culture. He died at the age of fifty-six in 1800, 
 having shortly before assisted at the foundation of the 
 Church Missionary Society. His profoundly religious 
 
 1 The proceeds of the Man- the last heiress, 
 
 ningham estate had before this 2 This was in the later period 
 
 been divided amongst the cou- of Mr. Newton's career, when he 
 
 sins, by the will of Eleanor, was Rector of St. Mary Woolnoth.
 
 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, i 
 
 character, combined as it was with persistent practical 
 energy, gives him a just claim to prominent considera- 
 tion in these preliminary pages. His ' enthusiasm,' as 
 it would then have been termed, was tempered, in 
 a remarkable degree, with candour and moderation. 
 On his death-bed, he told his relatives who surrounded 
 him that he felt ' not rapture, but peace.' ' The Scrip- 
 tures speak of the Spirit bearing witness with our 
 spirits, &c. I should like to feel that, but I am not 
 anxious about it ; I leave the matter to God 1 .' 
 
 1 John had five sons, Henry, 
 John, Joshua, Joseph, andWilliam, 
 and two daughters, Elizabeth, 
 who married the Rev. Josiah 
 Pratt, and Hannah, who married 
 Mr. Hudson. Three of the sons 
 became beneficed clergymen, as 
 appears in the Master's note-book 
 above quoted : the most remark- 
 able of these was William. He 
 was twelfth wrangler at Cam- 
 bridge in 1810, a Fellow of St. 
 John's, and the first Cambridge 
 graduate who volunteered for the 
 foreign service of the Church 
 Missionary Society. He ended 
 his days in the rectory at 
 Clapham Rise, where he suc- 
 ceeded John Venn. He had some 
 peculiar expedients for rousing 
 the interest of a sleepy congrega- 
 tion. ' And now I will read you 
 a dispatch from a great com- 
 mander at the seat of war : ' this 
 prelude was followed by a quota- 
 tion from the Book of Joshua. 
 The reader will find more about 
 him in the Dictionary of National 
 Biography. Joseph, the Rector 
 of Silk Willoughby, applied the 
 
 musical skill which he inherited 
 to the composition of hymn-tunes, 
 which have been much appre- 
 ciated by persons of religious 
 feeling and fine taste. His Musae 
 Solitariae, 'A. Collection of Original 
 Melodies, adapted to various 
 measures of Psalms and Hymns' 
 (fourth edition, 1826), was much 
 valued by James Martineau and 
 used in his family and congrega- 
 tion in connexion with his own 
 selected hymns. John,the Rector 
 of Hartfield, held for a time an 
 evening lectureship at Clapham. 
 It is quite possible that the Master 
 of Balliol, when a boy, may have 
 heard the preaching of more than 
 one of these men, his cousins, 
 during some of his visits to the 
 Courthopes at Blackheath or the 
 Langhornes at Clapham. 
 
 Joshua appears to have opened 
 a business in Liverpool before 
 1823 ; but he afterwards returned 
 to London, where he set up as 
 an ironmonger, and his home 
 was again the centre of mu- 
 sical reunions, similar to those 
 at his father's house at Newing-
 
 Four Generations 
 
 Joseph Jowett, of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, 1752-1813. 
 
 Joseph Jowett was a prominent figure in the Cambridge 
 of his day, where he was Professor of Civil Law, and the 
 main particulars of his life are clearly recorded in the 
 Dictionary of National Biography 1 . 
 
 The biographer of his grand-nephew may be permitted, 
 however, to dwell, before passing from him, on some 
 characteristic traits : (i) his persistence in companionship 
 
 PEN AND INK SKETCH OF THE CONCERT GIVEN AT TRINITY HALL, 
 CAMBRIDGE, JUNE 4, 1789. 
 
 with his early friend, Isaac Miliier, with whom he spent 
 two hours twice every week in Term-time, until his 
 death ; (2) the freshness of his interest in young men ; 
 (3) the fearless promptitude (called by his friends ' pre- 
 cipitancy') with which he promoted the foundation of 
 
 ton Butts. Henry was for a time 
 a partner in the furrier trade. 
 
 1 For some interesting details 
 concerning him the reader may 
 
 be referred to the Life of Isaac 
 Milner, Dean of Carlisle. It ap- 
 pears that the elegance of his 
 Latinity was much admired.
 
 8 Life of Benjamin Joivett [CHAP, i 
 
 the Cambridge Auxiliary Bible Society, supporting the 
 efforts of the serious undergraduates, when even Isaac 
 Milner recoiled before the fulminations of Doctor after- 
 wards Bishop Marsh ; (4) as a minor feature, his keen 
 interest in the progress of music. He sang 'alto 1 ' in 
 concerts which he had organized, and which took place in 
 the Combination Room, and on one occasion certainly 
 June 4, 1 789) in the Hall, of Trinity Hall. 
 
 Henry Jowett, of Little Dunham, 1756-1830. 
 
 Henry Jowett, after passing several years as Lecturer 
 and Tutor at Magdalene College, Cambridge, succeeded his 
 friend John Venn as Rector of Little Dunham, Norfolk, 
 in 1792. He married Charlotte Iveson, of Leeds, and 
 had eight children. His daughter Charlotte became 
 Mrs. Whiting. A good many of his letters have been 
 preserved. They exhibit him in a very interesting light, 
 as a faithful pastor, a tutor of young men 2 , a keen 
 lover of music, and an active and observant traveller. 
 He assisted in starting the Norfolk branch of the Bible 
 Society, and is known to have been the founder of the 
 first of many Clerical Societies. 
 
 He was a genial parish priest, who upon occasion, as 
 at the Peace of 1814, knew how to organize a village 
 festival, with dancing, &c. There is a touch of play- 
 fulness in his letters to his sister Sarah, who kept house 
 for him after he became a widower in 1809. He showed 
 paternal interest not only in his own, but in his brothers' 
 families. His life-long friendship with the Venns proves 
 his warmth and constancy. 
 
 1 See below, p. n. James, who, when old enough for 
 
 2 See the Life of Henry Venn Cambridge, went to Trinity Hall 
 Elliot (who was one of his pupils), because of Joseph Jowett. See 
 chap. i. Another pupil was the Life of Fitzjames Stephen by 
 James Stephen, afterwards Sir his brother, chap. i.
 
 The Master's Grandfather 9 
 
 Benjamin Jowett, of Camberwell, 1754-1837. 
 
 Benjamin, the third son of Henry of Leeds, was grand- 
 father to the Master of Balliol. After leaving the 
 Grammar School, he commenced business with his father 
 in Leeds ; and when the family was settled in London, 
 he became John's partner in the warehouse in Bermond- 
 sey. In 1785 he married his cousin, Anne Jowett, of 
 York, whose father is mentioned several times in letters of 
 this period with a sort of respect, as ' Cousin Jowett V In 
 right of this lady, who was his grandmother, the Master 
 (then Professor Jowett) inherited, some eighty years after 
 this, a property in Yorkshire 2 . She died in 1 799, leaving 
 five children, Elizabeth Maria, Benjamin, Josiah, and 
 Henry. In a letter dated February 20, 1 799, Henry Jowett 
 the elder, now of Camberwell, and in his eightieth year, 
 speaks feelingly of his son Benjamin's loss. Soon after 
 his father's death, Benjamin married again, and had 
 a daughter, Irene. He appears as a witness to the 
 marriage of his son, the Master's father, in 1814. Nothing 
 more is known of him until the year 1823, when the 
 success of Joshua (John's third son), who had opened 
 a business in Liverpool, seems to have induced Benjamin 
 senior and his two youngest sons to migrate thither. 
 They were accompanied by the elder daughters, Elizabeth 
 and Maria. Benjamin senior remained in Liverpool until 
 the spring of 1837. In March of that year he writes an 
 affecting letter to his sister Sarah. It is the year of 
 influenza, and the prevalence of illness has interfered 
 with the progress of music. 'Nothing new has been 
 produced of late.' At this time he must have been 
 about eighty-two years old. He died very shortly after- 
 wards, in April, 1837. 
 
 1 Henry Jowett, of York (son of was Sheriff of York in 1784-5. 
 Benjamin, see p. 2), flax-dresser, 2 See p. 375.
 
 10 
 
 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, i 
 
 The preceding narrative has carried the reader into 
 the heart of English Methodism in its earlier stage. 
 The names of Whitefield and "Wesley, of Henry Venn, 
 John Newton, Isaac Milner, Farish, Simeon, Eobinson 
 of Leicester, are as household words to all this family. 
 The impression which the documents produce is irre- 
 sistible that in the immediate followers of Wesley and 
 Whitefield, personal religion was a very real thing. It 
 was the mainspring of conduct, affecting all relationships, 
 not in word only, but with power. Their theological 
 attitude had its limitations, certainly: 'conversion' 
 meant separation from ' the world l ' ; but it contained 
 a principle of expansion too. John Newton was not far 
 from the kingdom of universal brotherhood when he 
 wrote as follows in 1800 : 'I pray the Lord to bless you 
 and all who love His Name in Scotland, whether Kirk, 
 Relief, Burghers, Antiburghers, Independents, Methodists, 
 or by whatever name they choose to be called. Yea, if 
 you know a Papist, who sincerely loves Jesus, and trusts 
 in Him for salvation, give my love to him.' ' Christianity,' 
 he says elsewhere, ' is not a system of doctrine, but 
 a new creature V If the religion of the ' Clapham sect ' 
 appeared to cast a sombre colouring over social inter- 
 course, this apparent sadness was lightened and relieved 
 in the case of many of them by the warmth of home 
 affections and by their devotion to music. The scene at 
 Newington Butts, where Mr. Latrobe of the Moravian 
 brotherhood introduces Haydn and Mozart to the lovers 
 of Handel, is suggestive of anything but gloom : 
 
 1 ' Come out from among them, tional Remarks, by the late Rev. 
 and be ye separate,' is a text of John Newton, Rector of St. Mary 
 which young converts thought Woolnoth, Lombard Street, Lon- 
 with zeal and awe. don, 1809. 
 
 2 See Letters and Conversa-
 
 Religious Antecedents n 
 
 'They had discovered,' he says, 'the secret of making Home 
 the most pleasant place on earth. The young people were 
 not restrained from following the so-called pleasures and 
 amusements of the world by any coercive means, but rather 
 encouraged to be attentive to whatever was innocently and 
 profitably amusing. It was at home, however, that they 
 found the greatest happiness, and love and peace and cheer- 
 fulness reigned in their dwelling. 
 
 ' What was my astonishment and delight, to find here 
 a choir of vocal performers, the most perfect of its kind. 
 The two daughters sang the treble ; Dr. Jowett J , the alto ; 
 Eeverend H. Jowett * and the father, the tenor ; the eldest 
 son, Henry, the bass. They sang all Handel's Oratorios, or 
 rather select portions of them, with great precision, and, by 
 employing me at the harpsichord, as I was more accustomed 
 to read scores than any other of the party, I became acquainted 
 with the exquisite beauties of that inimitable and gigantic 
 composer. All their voices were good, but Eliza's treble and 
 Dr. Jowett's alto were, I may truly say, the sweetest and 
 richest of their kind / have ever heard, either in public or 
 private. When the doctor was not in town, we tried as well 
 as we could to supply the alto in choruses, and could always 
 perform in four parts V 
 
 In the matter of education also, they were before 
 their age. When we find Mr. Hey, the surgeon at Leeds, 
 sparing time from a laborious profession to read Locke 
 and study thorough-bass with young John Jowett; or 
 when old Henry, the patriarch, wishes that his grandson 
 could have gone to school with Cousin Marriott, ' who has 
 profited so greatly by Mr. Penticross's tuition ' at Walling- 
 ford; or when Mr. Eobinson, of Leicester, is carefully 
 selected as an instructor for young Benjamin (the Master's 
 father), these incidents are to be noted as instances, not of 
 obscurantism, but of an expanding culture. 
 
 1 Joseph, the Professor of Civil 2 Henry of Little Dunham. 
 Law. 3 Latrobe, Letterstohis Children.
 
 12 
 
 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, i 
 
 Is it wonderful, considering such antecedents, that 
 the Master should have delighted always in religious 
 biographies that when most suspected of heresy, he 
 should have heartily joined with private friends in 
 singing simple hymns that to the sentimentalities of 
 more recent hymnody he greatly preferred Dr. "Watts' 
 version of the ninetieth Psalm or that in his latest years 
 he should have delighted in commemorating Richard 
 Baxter and John "Wesley from the pulpit of Westminster 
 Abbey? "When most convinced of the poverty and 
 narrowness of the Evangelical school, and the inadequacy 
 of its scientific and literary culture, he never failed to 
 distinguish between its earlier and later phases. It 
 seemed to him that its earlier spirituality had faded, 
 and that an overgrowth of mingled cant and worldliness 
 was stifling its vitality. 
 
 There is considerable force in the following observa- 
 tions of the B,ev. W. H. Langhorne : ' In estimating 
 the religious views of the late Master, those which he 
 inherited should be taken into account ; and which had 
 descended to him through four generations. By the 
 time they reached him, much of what had been lively, 
 vigorous, and real had become conventional and spirit- 
 less. The salt had lost its savour and the religious 
 " movement/' as it has been called, was nearly spent 1 .' 
 
 Benjamin Jowett, 1788-1859. 
 
 Benjamin Jowett, son of Benjamin, and father of the 
 Master of Balliol, was born at Camberwell in 1788. 
 Beyond the fact already referred to, that after his 
 mother's death, when he was about eleven years old, he 
 
 1 The Warden of Merton (the on High Churchmen, I never 
 
 Hon. G. C. Brodrick) says : heard him speak unkindly or dis- 
 
 ' While I often heard him com- respectfully of the Evangelical 
 
 meut harshly and even bitterly School.'
 
 The Master's Father and Mother 13 
 
 was sent to school with Mr. Eobinson, of Leicester, 
 nothing is known concerning the course of his education. 
 His father's second marriage may have in some way 
 interfered with it. That while retaining the impress of 
 Evangelical pietism, his mind had been impelled towards 
 some kind of literary ambition, is evident from the sequel. 
 He joined his father's business, and at the time of his 
 marriage in 1814 is designated as 'a furrier.' In the 
 Directory for 1817, the firm at Bed Lion Court, Ber- 
 mondsey, is described as 'Benjamin Jowett and Son 1 ,' 
 so that by this time he was in partnership with his 
 father. "When the latter removed his family to Liverpool 
 in 1823, Benjamin junior seems to have remained in 
 charge of the Bermondsey business, his cousin Henry, 
 son of John, being in some way associated with him for 
 a time. 
 
 In 1825 the firm 'Benjamin Jowett and Sons, Furriers, 
 E,ed Lion Court, Bermondsey,' occurs for the last time in 
 the London Directory, and in the same year there appears 
 the name of ' Benjamin Jowett Junior, Furrier, 10 George 
 Yard, Lombard Street.' This entry is continued during 
 the years 1826-1836. It would seem therefore that the 
 furrier business lasted all this while, no doubt with 
 'fluctuations,' and it is probable that the removal from 
 Bermondsey was caused by some depression 2 ; for 10 
 George Yard was the place of business of his brother- 
 in-law, Mr. John Bryan Courthope, stationer, &c., with 
 whom it is natural to suppose that Mr. Jowett took 
 refuge, when no longer able to maintain the warehouse 
 in Bermondsey. But he seems also to have ventured 
 
 1 Inthesameyear,inhissonBen- jamin Jowett, Peckham, Furrier.' 
 
 jamin's Baptismal Register in the a It is right to bear in mind 
 
 church of St. Giles, Camberwell, that 1826 was a time of great 
 
 the father is described as ' Ben- commercial depression.
 
 T4 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, i 
 
 upon a wholly different line of business. In the Directory 
 for 1826 there appears for the first time the firm of 
 'Mills, Jowett, and Mills, Printers, Bolt Court, Fleet 
 Street,' and this entry is continued until 1835 l . That 
 the Jowett of this firm was the Master's father is 
 proved by the form of his son Benjamin's nomination to 
 St. Paul's School, dated June 4, 1829. Here the boy is 
 described as ' son of Benjamin Jowitt (sic) of Bolt Court, 
 Fleet Street, Printer.' 
 
 The marriage of the Master's parents took place in 
 1814. 
 
 He himself wrote as follows on February 24, 1893 2 , with 
 reference to his mother's ancestry : ' My mother told me 
 that her father, who died young, lived at or near Kirkby 
 Lonsdale (Kirkby Stephen?), and that Langhorne the 
 poet was her great -uncle ; she had no doubt of this. Also 
 I remember her brother joking her about the member of 
 their family who was executed for treason.' 
 
 Isabella Jowett, nee Langhorne, born December 25, 
 1790; died October 16, 1869. 
 
 Isabella was the daughter of Joseph Langhorne, who 
 appears from the above statement to have been a nephew 
 of John Langhorne, the Rector of Blagdon, the poet, and 
 translator of Plutarch. Joseph is said to have been 
 a Lancashire cotton merchant, who, after retiring from 
 business, lived first at "Walworth and then at Stockwell, 
 in the neighbourhood of Camberwell. ' The member of 
 their family who was executed for treason' is Richard 
 Langhorne, the lawyer of King Charles II's reign, who 
 fell a victim to the accusations of Titus Gates, for the 
 
 1 The volume of the Lancet ' 2 To the Rev. W. H. Langhorne, 
 issued in 1826 bears the imprint acknowledging the latter's book 
 of Mills, Jowett, and Mills. of Reminiscences.
 
 The Langhorne Family 15 
 
 alleged Popish Plot in 1679 : . Burnet 2 speaks of him 
 as ' in all respects a very extraordinary man.' But 
 the supposed connexion of Richard Langhorne with the 
 Kirkby Stephen Langhornes is not clearly proved, unless 
 a constant family tradition may be taken for proof. 
 
 If the Jowetts of Leeds exemplify an important phase 
 of English pietism, the Langhornes of Kirkby Stephen 
 are fairly representative of the mental refinement, classical 
 taste, and liberal culture, which has always characterized 
 some portion of the clergy of the Church of England. 
 
 Joseph Langhorne's son Henry was a banker in Buck- 
 lersbury 3 , and about 1820 retired to Mitcham. He moved 
 his family again to Clapham in 1829. Besides Isabella, 
 there were two elder daughters, twins, both of whom 
 have a place in this biography: Jane, married to John 
 Bryan Courthope, above-mentioned, and Frances, married 
 to the Rev. William Smith. There was frequent inter- 
 course between the Jowetts and the Courthopes. In 
 earlier days, while Mr. Courthope was successful in 
 business, he dwelt in a handsome residence at Blackheath 
 Hill. He afterwards removed his family to a smaller 
 house in the same neighbourhood. He died in 1844. 
 His wife had died in 1840, and they had lost many chil- 
 dren. Mrs. Courthope retained her charm and youthful 
 looks until very shortly before her death. She left 
 behind her the impression of an active practical nature, 
 which had a great influence on those surrounding her. 
 
 1 Further particulars about 8 The bankers were Brown, 
 him may be found in the Dictio- Langhorne, and Brailsford. ' The 
 nary of National Biography and firm suffered in the financial 
 Granger's Biographical History of panic which followed the second 
 England. American War. H. L. then 
 
 2 Burnet's History of my own started as an Insurance Broker.' 
 Time, vol. ii. p. 259 of the (So writes Mr. C. Langhorne, of 
 Edinburgh edition (1753). Corncliffe, Sydney, N.S.W.)
 
 1 6 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, i 
 
 The Rev. William Smith was Rector of Brandsby, 
 in Yorkshire. He died in 1823. His widow, who was 
 considerably younger than he was, survived him many 
 years, during which she lived at Bath. She died in 
 1835, leaving some house property in Bath to the Jowett 
 family. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Jowett appear to have spent the earlier 
 years of their married life at Peckham, in the parish 
 of Camberwell, where they formed a lasting friendship 
 with the Channells l . There were nine children of the 
 marriage, two of whom, Isabella and Francis, died in 
 infancy. The others were Emily, Benjamin, Agnes, 
 Alfred, Ellen, "William, and Frederick. Emily and Ben- 
 jamin were the only two who survived their parents, 
 and passed the meridian of life. 
 
 A change in the family history occurs in 1829, about 
 the same time as young Benjamin's admission to 
 St. Paul's School. Mrs. Smith, who was now alone at 
 Bath, knowing that the Jowetts were in straitened 
 circumstances, offered a home to her sister and the 
 children. This was accepted on behalf of all but Ben- 
 jamin, whose education was already provided for. ' The 
 little fold at Bath 2 ' remained there after Mrs. Smith's 
 death until 1841. The father went to and fro between 
 Bath and London, while young Benjamin stayed in 
 lodgings in the City. A journey to the West of England 
 was in those days a matter of no small trouble and 
 expense. Meanwhile Mr. Jowett's employments, if not 
 very profitable, were strangely varied. He aspired to 
 be a publisher's reader, and sought opportunities for 
 
 1 See below, p. 27. The late 3 Letter of Mr. Jowett to 
 Baron Channell was then a boy Mrs. Irwin in December, 1838. 
 of ten years old.
 
 'The Little Fold at Bath' 17 
 
 dabbling in journalism, especially on questions of phi- 
 lanthropy. Mr. "Wood, of Bradford (brother-in-law to 
 Mr. G-athorne-Hardy, now Lord Cranbrook), the first 
 person who seriously took up the question of Factory 
 Legislation 1 , employed him as a writer, and it was 
 probably through Mr. "Wood's recommendation that 
 he became known to Lord Ashley, afterwards Lord 
 Shaftesbury. For several years he laboured at collecting 
 statistics and in other ways promoting the great work 
 which Lord Ashley had so much at heart. At this 
 time he must have been a familiar figure in the lobby 
 of the House of Commons. The following entry occurs 
 in Lord Shaftesbury's Diary for August 24, 1840 : 'Let 
 no one ever despair of a good cause for want of coad- 
 jutors ; let him persevere, persevere, persevere, and God 
 will raise him up friends and assistants ! I have had, 
 and still have, Jowett and Low ; they are matchless V 
 
 In 1835 Mr. Jowett was consulted by Captain F. C. Irwin 
 with regard to the publication of a work on Western 
 Australia 3 . Captain, afterwards Colonel, Irwin always 
 retained a high regard for Mr. Jowett, whom he used 
 emphatically to describe as ' a Christian, a scholar, and 
 a gentleman.' The acquaintance ripened into friendship, 
 and before his return to his post of Commandant of the 
 troops at the Swan River settlement, Major Irwin had 
 married Mrs. Jowett's niece, Elizabeth Courthope. 
 
 Mrs. Jowett, meanwhile, had been anxious about her 
 son Benjamin's future, and appealed to several friends 
 for counsel about his proceeding to the University. 
 He was at the head of St. Paul's School, and in his 
 nineteenth year, and himself desired to go to Trinity 
 
 1 Life of Lord Shaftesbury, vol. i. s Major Irwin's book was 
 p. 143. published by Simpkin, Marshall 
 
 2 Ibid. p. 301. & Co. 
 VOL. I. C
 
 i8 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, i 
 
 College, Cambridge : but a Scholarship or some extraneous 
 help was absolutely necessary J . 
 
 Mr. J. Walker, now Eector of Great Billing, North- 
 ampton, but in 1835 still resident Fellow and Tutor 
 of Brasenose College, Oxford, replied to Mrs. Wood, 
 Mr. Gathorne-Hardy's sister, who inquired of him on 
 Mrs. Jowett's behalf without mentioning the name, 
 that it was near the time of examination for open 
 Scholarships at Balliol, and that 'the said youth, if 
 he was thought clever enough, might try for one of 
 them.' 
 
 This hint may have encouraged him to try at Balliol, 
 but it can hardly have been necessary, as the Turners, 
 intimate friends at Bath, had already their son John 
 entered there, who would naturally be eager to second 
 such a proposal. However this may have been, the 
 Scholarship was gained. 
 
 Cadetships for William and Alfred Jowett, 1842 
 and 1846. 
 
 Benjamin's younger brothers, Alfred and William, 
 were educated at the Bath Grammar School ; where the 
 most active teacher was Mr. James Pears 2 . The boys 
 seem to have profited at school, and their after history 
 may be briefly told. Both obtained Indian cadetships 
 at the recommendation of Lord Ashley. William went 
 out as Ensign in September, 1842, to Madras, and after 
 doing excellent service as Quartermaster and interpreter 
 to his regiment, died at Saugor, September n, 1850. 
 
 1 See p. 44. this time practically retired to 
 
 2 His father, the Head Master the living of Melconibe which he 
 of the Grammar School, had by held with the Head Mastership.
 
 Domestic Circumstances 19 
 
 Alfred, having qualified as surgeon, went out in Sep- 
 tember, 1846, and after various services which became 
 more than ever exacting ' in the year of the Mutiny, 
 died at Banda, October 4, 1858. His brothers were 
 probably in the Master's mind when he wrote after- 
 wards to a cousin in India : ' I hope you know how 
 to live and not die in India, which I believe to be 
 greatly an art.' 
 
 But for the great and solid happiness of Benjamin's 
 election to the Balliol Fellowship in 1838, the later years 
 at Bath must have passed heavily with Mrs. Jowett. 
 Her husband's constant absence on business of uncertain 
 profit; the delicacy of her two younger daughters, of 
 whom Agnes died in 1837 ; the weakness of Frederick, 
 consequent on an accident in infancy, which arrested 
 his education, and the anxiety about ways and means 
 made more trying by her husband's absorption in 
 that unproductive labour, the metrical version of the 
 Psalms, which occupied him during the remainder 
 of his life must have weighed upon her spirits, and 
 induced a certain tone of depression which is noticeable 
 in her letters. 
 
 The younger daughter, Ellen, was already drooping, 
 and died shortly afterwards (1839) at Tenby, whither 
 they had removed for a time on her account. She was 
 deeply mourned, especially by John Turner, who was 
 attached to her, and afterwards called his eldest child 
 by her name. 
 
 If we except the promise of the cadetships which were 
 due to the connexion with Lord Ashley, the father's 
 prospect of improving the fortunes of his household was 
 not encouraging. His philanthropic employments, his 
 leader-writing, his advice to authors, and other ' incidental 
 
 C 2
 
 20 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP i 
 
 work/ such as the Secretaryship of the Church Exten- 
 sion Society, had all given way before the fascination of 
 the metrical Psalter. 
 
 In 1841 Mrs. Jowett and Emily returned from Bath 
 to Blackheath with Alfred and "William l y whose Indian 
 careers were now in prospect, and towards the end of 
 1842 removed to Teignmouth. By this time William 
 was in India, and Alfred must have been ' walking the 
 Hospitals' in London. In 1846 (Alfred also being now 
 in India) the home trio, father, mother, and surviving 
 daughter, took up their abode in a neatly furnished 
 apartment on the fifth floor of a house in the Rue 
 Madeleine in Paris, spending the summer months 
 mostly at St. Germains or Fontainebleau. In 1848 they 
 were driven by fear of the Revolution to sojourn for 
 a while at Bonn and Aix-la-Chapelle. But they soon 
 returned to their old quarters, and in 1850 were visited 
 there by Mr. F. T. Palgrave, who has thus recorded his 
 impressions : 
 
 'Mr. Jowett had some theories upon Milton's rules of 
 versification, in which he took great interest, and tried to 
 set them forth for me. He looked like a man rather past 
 middle age, and had the manner, more easily recognized 
 than denned, of one who had not been successful in his 
 profession. . . . The mother (venerated as much by Jowett 
 as the father) was a pale, white, graciously dignified lady 
 of about her husband's age ; her voice, her features, her 
 bearing, wore the air of a long, perfect, uncomplaining resigna- 
 tion 2 . The sister, apparently rather younger than the Master, 
 was also of a thoughtful cast of mind. She had a true feeling 
 for music, and used to play for me, when I called, several 
 
 1 During this brief sojourn Mammas, fell to talking about 
 
 at Blackheath, Lord Lingen's their sons at Oxford.' 
 
 mother, in visiting her sister, 2 This was the year in which 
 
 Mrs. Rea, met Mrs. Jowett, ' and William and Frederick died, 
 the two, after the manner of
 
 Mrs. Jowett 21 
 
 little pieces, which she kindly copied in a writing fine and 
 clear, much akin to her brother's.' 
 
 In removing to Paris they appear to have been guided 
 by the advice of Benjamin, who had already begun to 
 contribute largely towards the support of his mother 
 and sister. In this action, after a few years, he was 
 nobly seconded by the sons in India, who before 1850 
 had arranged to remit considerable sums out of their 
 pay, to lighten the burden which 'their brother had so 
 long borne.' 
 
 After the death of William Jowett in 1850, quickly 
 followed by that of poor Frederick, who had been left 
 in England under proper care, Mrs. Jowett's letters to 
 Alfred in India have a somewhat plaintive tone, but they 
 also evince a noble calmness of resignation and a loving 
 spirit of conciliation. The conditions of the little house- 
 hold were made more difficult by the step which Emily 
 took about this time, in being received into the Roman 
 Catholic Communion. This was due to the influence of 
 their most intimate acquaintances in Paris, the Cruick- 
 shanks, who were friends of long standing and neighbours 
 in the same house. Helen Cruickshank and Emily were 
 fast friends, and Helen's brother was a priest, having 
 joined the Roman Catholic Church while still a youth. 
 Mrs. Jowett partly sympathized with Emily; she had 
 found comfort for herself in Bossuet and Fenelon l ; and 
 her letters to her son Alfred show some indication of 
 what was passing in her mind. The father no doubt 
 
 1 Jowett wrote to A. P. Stanley time I told Mrs. Stanley I had 
 
 in 1856 : ' If you go over to reason to think she would be- 
 
 St. Germains, my mother would, come a Roman Catholic, but that 
 
 I think, like to see you. . . . She phase has passed away with her, 
 
 is much worn with care and years, ending in universal charity to 
 
 and I cannot expect that she all the world.' 
 should live much longer. At one
 
 22 
 
 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, i 
 
 remonstrated, but, absorbed in his unprofitable task, 
 seems to have left his wife and daughter very much to 
 themselves. He would shut himself up in his study, 
 even in the evenings, which had heretofore been en- 
 livened with Emily's exquisite playing on the piano. In 
 early days she had been used to accompany her father, 
 who had a fine bass voice. So things continued for some 
 years; but prices rose under the Empire, and living in 
 Paris became more difficult. The metrical Psalter, too, was 
 approaching completion. At last, in 1856, the 'trio' are 
 found at Dover for a while. Here Mrs. Jowett's letters 
 reveal fresh uncertainties, and speculations about trying 
 Germany again. But before the spring, all shadows had 
 cleared away, and the wish of the mother's heart was 
 gratified by their returning to their former lodgings 
 at Tenby. Emily shrank from the scene of old sorrows, 
 but Mrs. Jowett found comfort in being there, in the 
 house of Mrs. Lewis, who had known and been kind to 
 her daughter Ellen. She was again much alone, through 
 the temporary absence of Emily, in attendance on her 
 friend, Miss Cruickshank. Mr. Jowett meanwhile re- 
 newed his friendship with the Laws of Kennington l , the 
 Channells, and Dr. Blundell (who gave him an annuity 
 of 40), and at last he published anonymously, with 
 Samuel Bagster and Sons, A New Metrical Translation 
 of the Book of Psalms 2 . 
 
 In 1857, the year of the Indian Mutiny, deep anxiety 
 was naturally felt on Alfred's account. He sent his usual 
 remittance in that year, but died in October of the 
 year following. His father survived him by only six 
 
 1 See Mr. F. Law's account on notion of chanting common 
 p. 27. English metres. Mr. Jowett had 
 
 2 The work is by no means learned enough Hebrew to make 
 contemptible, although doomed elaborate use of English Corn- 
 to failure by the impracticable mentaries on the original Text.
 
 His Father's Character 23 
 
 months, and was buried at Tenby in March, 1859. The 
 inscription on his tombstone is probably from the hand 
 of his son : 
 
 'He was greatly beloved for his simple 
 and disinterested character.' 
 
 In one sense it may be said of him that he was too 
 disinterested. He cared nearly as much for the things 
 of others as for his own. When Sir "W. Channell was 
 made a judge, he was hardly less rejoiced, and certainly 
 much less surprised, than he would have been if Benjamin 
 had been made a bishop. He seems to have worked 
 most effectively when he was labouring on behalf of 
 some one else. While he inherited, even to overflowing, 
 the traditions of Methodism, he managed to combine 
 them with a kindly and intelligent outlook upon the 
 world at large. But his mind was like an eye which 
 cannot be focussed upon nearer objects. His letters to 
 Australia are pamphlets on the treatment of Aborigines. 
 Those to India during the Mutiny are full of just re- 
 flections on the situation the views are excellent, if 
 they were not aimed from so far off and they are not 
 without a family likeness to many passages in his son's 
 private letters in which he expatiates on home and 
 foreign politics from a speculative point of view. 
 
 Emily speaks of her father with real affection, but 
 complains that he has so little power of understanding 
 others or of being understood. Too pliable where firm- 
 ness was required, he was persistent even to obstinacy 
 in unpractical ways : a precisian in unimportant matters, 
 but without much real power of command. He seems 
 always to have been too little demonstrative at home. 
 His children hardly saw the best side of his nature : and 
 the effect of this reserve upon his son Benjamin is not 
 to be ignored. An unchecked flow of love and confidence,
 
 24 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, i 
 
 and the frank expression of a just pride in the achieve- 
 ments of his son, might have given a different turn 
 to some aspects of that son's after-life. Though he was 
 passionately fond of music, his daughter's playing drew 
 from him no praise. While affectionately solicitous for 
 his children's highest welfare, as he conceived it, he 
 was superstitiously afraid of exciting their vanity by 
 open encouragement. The Master, in later life, spoke 
 of his father as having been ' one of the most innocent 
 of men.' Mr. F. Law, who remembers him well, says, 
 'He was a lovable old man. I never heard him say 
 a harsh word of any one.' 
 
 After her husband's death, Mrs. Jowett with her 
 daughter Emily resided at Torquay, where she was 
 soothed and consoled for her past trials by the devotion 
 of her two surviving children. She died there October 16, 
 1869, only a few months before it became a certainty that 
 her son was to be the Master of Balliol. Those who 
 knew her during these years describe her as a dignified 
 and gracious lady of the old school 1 . Her alabaster 
 complexion, touched with shell-pink, was often suffused 
 with a girlish blush at some casual surprise. Her simple 
 black dress, with a white shawl, and a white drawn 
 satin bonnet, setting off her slim upright figure, made 
 a beautiful picture of refined old age. Her manner 
 retained much of its early charm, for young as well as 
 for old, and she was a favourite with children. She 
 would not be photographed, and never sat for her picture 
 although her son desired it. Her niece, Henry Lang- 
 horne's daughter, has spoken of her as she was in early 
 days, describing her as 'gentle, sweet, highly educated 
 in every way, and so devotedly attached to her children 
 that she sacrificed everything for their sakes, being so 
 
 1 This is the impression of Lady Lingen, who saw her at Torquay.
 
 His Sister Emily 25 
 
 constantly with them that it was not easy to see her.' 
 Another hint of the impression which she made on those 
 nearest to her is afforded by a letter of Mr. Courthope's, 
 after his wife's death, to his daughter Elizabeth Irwin 
 in Australia, May 10, 1840 : 
 
 ' I feel much the absence of your dear Aunt Bella, so cheerful 
 and affectionate, with sweet feminine person and mind. I fear 
 that while supporting and consoling others, she had tired 
 herself too much. I never felt more the distance between 
 us. Dear Ben is an excellent fellow, so fond of her and so 
 kind to his beloved mother, it is gratifying to see it.' 
 
 With all this softness and amiability she was not 
 without a touch of womanly pride. On the whole she 
 well deserves Queen Katharine's praise of 'a great 
 patience ' ; having borne the vicissitudes of a chequered 
 lot with meekness and dignity. 
 
 Emily survived her mother thirteen years. She lived 
 quietly, kept up her accomplishment in music, and saw 
 her brother from time to time, visiting him more than 
 once at Balliol. She suffered from a stroke of paralysis 
 in 1880, and spent her remaining time with her cousins 
 the Irwins at Clifton, in whose house she died in 1882 1 . 
 She was devoted to her family, above all to her mother, 
 from whom she was never separated for long together, 
 and when her brothers went to India she parted with her 
 share of Mrs. Smith's bequest, in order to furnish them 
 forth. She was exquisitely refined, but shy and diffident, 
 above all in the presence of her brother, under whom her 
 ' genius was subdued.' It is said that she could not do 
 herself justice even in playing the piano before him ; and 
 when her cousins were inclined to mock at the pomposity 
 of some Oxford personage, she mustered courage to reply, 
 ' My brother has a high opinion of him.' 
 
 1 Mrs. Irwin had died in April of the same year.
 
 26 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, i 
 
 In hours of gloom and misunderstanding she loved to 
 dwell on the earlier days of free and joyous intercourse, 
 which could never be recalled. 
 
 An impression long prevailed at Oxford that Jowett 
 had no family ties. It used to be jestingly said that he 
 was like Melchizedec, 'without father, without mother, 
 without descent.' When one of the Irwin cousins who 
 was in business at Madras declared his relationship, the 
 Governor, an old Balliol man, professed to regard him as 
 a prodigy : ' I thought he had no relatives V Mr. F. T. 
 Palgrave was almost equally surprised when, on Jowett's 
 invitation, he was introduced (as above mentioned) to the 
 little family party in the Rue Madeleine in the summer 
 of 1850. 
 
 The mistake was due to the profound silence in 
 which Jowett habitually buried what was personal to 
 himself. Only at rare moments of intimate converse, 
 under some exceptional stress of feeling, the veil was 
 lifted, and disclosed the treasures within. Still less 
 could it be divined that in later years his thoughts were 
 occupied with his own family. And yet to more than 
 
 1 This impression appears to stories of his childhood how- 
 have been shared even by Arthur deeply historical he then was, 
 Stanley until, at Jowett's own re- studying Rollin's Ancient History, 
 quest, he paid a visit to the little well versed in Assyrian dynasties, 
 menage at St. Germains in March, standing long in silent contempla- 
 1856. He wrote to (Canon) Hugh tion of a " Stream of Time " sus- 
 Pearson: ' On Saturday last I went pended in his little bedroom. . . . 
 to St. Germains, and saw the Deeply musical also, he listens 
 parents of Melchizedec! a truly with pleasure to Beethoven played 
 antique and venerable pair, each by his sister, while at work, and 
 bearing a slight resemblance to even proposes corrections.' Let- 
 the son, each with some of the ters of Dean Stanley, p. 248. This 
 qualities in him concentrated; visit of Stanley's took place a short 
 very kind and rapt in interest con- time before the parents' return to 
 cerning him, relating singular England.
 
 Mr. F. Law's Reminiscences 27 
 
 one friend who suffered from bereavement after speaking 
 of those of his kindred whom he had lost he wrote: 
 ' I do not expect to see them again, but I am always 
 thinking about them.' 
 
 Mr. F. Law, whose father and the Master's father were 
 friends, as mentioned above, has favoured us with the 
 following reminiscences : 
 
 ' My mother's family had been on very intimate terms with 
 the family of the late Master, from the early part of the 
 century 1 . There was not much difference in the ages of 
 the children, and the two daughters Ellen and Emily Jowett 
 were amongst my mother's greatest friends ; the friendship 
 continued after my mother's marriage, and until death put 
 an end to it. 
 
 ' My earliest distinct recollections of the Jowetts date back 
 to 1841, when we were living at Blackheath. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Jowett, with their surviving daughter Emily and their younger 
 sons, came to live near us. Mrs. Jowett was not a strong 
 woman ; in fact, during the rest of her life she was always 
 delicate, requiring constant care, and she did not go out 
 much ; but Mr. Jowett or some of his children came to 
 our house several times a week, and in the course of our 
 daily walks we were frequently taken to see Mr. and 
 Mrs. Jowett. Mr. Jowett was not then in business. Ben 
 was settled at Oxford, and Alfred and William were working 
 for their future careers in life. 
 
 ' Mr. Jowett was tall and carried himself well, and as he 
 had a large face and head, with a quantity of white hair, 
 which was worn longer than is usual at the present day, 
 he was conspicuous in a room. His face was entirely shaven. 
 When I first remember him, he invariably dressed in black, 
 and usually wore a dress coat, and, until his latter days, 
 
 1 This must have been during Peckham Lane. Mrs. Law was a 
 
 the Jowetts' early married life at younger sister of the late Baron 
 
 Peckham, where the Channells Channell. 
 also lived, at the corner of
 
 28 Life of Benjamin Jowett 
 
 he very rarely put on a great-coat, whatever the weather 
 might be. He was still active and fond of walking, and 
 took his constitutional with great regularity till age interfered 
 with his doing so. Though not a teetotaler, he was most 
 temperate as regards stimulants. On general subjects he was 
 a well-informed man, and had an extensive knowledge of 
 the English Poets. I do not remember his showing any 
 acquaintance with foreign authors. Still he certainly knew 
 the French language, in which he could converse fluently, 
 although his accent, I imagine, was very English. From 
 time to time he would write a few hymns, and paraphrases 
 of portions of Scripture, and sometimes set them to music ; 
 but, so far as I can recall, his translation of the Psalms 
 was the only thing he published. His handwriting was some- 
 what cramped, and the formation of his letters small and not 
 regular, though he gave much time to his pen. 
 
 ' He was very fond of sacred music, caring little about 
 secular I do not remember his voice until it was failing 
 him ; it must have been a powerful and deep bass in its 
 prime and he was never happier than when he could get 
 some one to accompany him in the songs from Handel's and 
 Mendelssohn's Oratorios, to which he would sing by the hour, 
 without seeming to tire. He himself only touched the piano 
 when none of the ladies were at hand to accompany him. 
 
 ' Though not devoid of imagination and sentiment, Mr. Jowett 
 had not much originality of thought, and was by no means 
 inclined to develope any new theories, whether in reference 
 to religious or secular matters. 
 
 ' Upon political matters, his views were strongly Conservative. 
 He was a very regular attendant at Divine Service, and a good 
 Churchman according to his own belief as one of the old 
 Orthodox School of thinkers. He did not obtrude his opinions 
 upon others ; but, proud as he was, and he was very proud 
 of his son's success at Balliol, his most intimate friends under- 
 stood that he entirely dissented from and deeply regretted his 
 son's convictions upon these points.'
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 INFANCY AND BOYHOOD. 1817-1836 
 
 EARLY training and companionships Camberwell Blackheath 
 Mitcham Entrance at St. Paul's School at the age of twelve 
 Dr. Sleath and his methods School-fellows and school successes 
 The Balliol Scholarship ' Apposition Day.' 
 
 T?ROM the preceding survey of two hundred years 
 -- we return to the second decade of this century, 
 and to the child Benjamin. He, who all his life was 
 the friend of children, must have had a happy child- 
 hood ; but few traces of it can be recovered now. There 
 is a family rumour or tradition that he was brought up 
 by two maiden aunts, but if there is any foundation for 
 this, it must be extremely slight. Mrs. Jowett was 
 never very strong, and in the years from 1820-1823 her 
 maternal cares may have been largely engrossed by little 
 Frank, who died at four years old. Benjamin was then 
 a child of five or six, and would be often at his grand- 
 father's, much petted by his father's sisters, Elizabeth 
 and Maria, after the grave and solemn manner of that 
 household. Their cousin, Mrs. Whiting (Henry of Little 
 Dunham's daughter), was often heard to remark on the 
 docility and gentleness of the child. 
 
 But this state of things ceased, as we know, in 1823, 
 when the old home at Camberwell Green was broken
 
 30 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, n 
 
 up for the removal to Liverpool 1 . In the years which 
 followed it is unlikely that the boy owed much to 
 any one except his mother. No doubt there were visits 
 to his uncle Henry Langhorne at Mitcham, whose good 
 looks he was supposed to inherit, and to the Courthopes' 
 house at Blackheath Hill. There he was seen by some 
 who long remembered it, 'a bright and merry child, 
 running about on Blackheath Common.' An early recol- 
 lection, which came back to him in his last years, although 
 of trivial import, may be touched in passing. He re- 
 membered that when a child, he had been made to 
 stand upon the table after dinner and to repeat poetry 
 for the entertainment of the guests. At Mitcham, as 
 the years went on, he also received some of his 
 earlier lessons in Latin and Greek from the tutor who 
 was employed in teaching his cousins. Miss Lang- 
 horne (H. Langhorne's daughter) writes : ' He was a 
 pale, delicate-looking boy, of unusual mental precocity, 
 and he learned for a while with my brothers' tutor, 
 Mr. Richardson. I have heard them say that they had 
 no chance against him in their Greek lessons.' At 
 other times it is said that his father used to instruct 
 him 2 . The visits to Blackheath Hill were of a more 
 holiday kind ; but sometimes, while the other children 
 were at play, young Benjamin would be stretched upon 
 the hearth-rug with Pope's Homer or a volume of Rollin's 
 Ancient History. 
 
 If there were bright memories associated with those 
 early playmates, there were also sad ones. Four of the 
 Courthope cousins, Jane, Fanny, Emma, and Harriet, 
 died before reaching the age of twenty-five. Emma 
 
 1 p. 9. hithe, who told it to her grandson. 
 
 2 The authority for this is Mrs. the Rev. R. B. Gardiner, now a 
 Thomas Courthope, of Rother- master at St. Paul's School.
 
 1817-1836] Infancy and Boyhood 31 
 
 and Harriet were of an age to be companions of Emily 
 and Benjamin. They were accomplished young women, 
 with a great natural gift for drawing. Sidney Court- 
 hope, nearly of the same age with Benjamin, early 
 became an invalid. He died shortly after his father, 
 in 1845. His cousin Benjamin was very attentive to 
 him during his illness. 
 
 Speaking of the years after 1826, when Henry Lang- 
 horne had removed to Clapham, Miss Langhorne says : 
 'It was customary for Benjamin to shut himself up with 
 his sister Emily in a room with their books, where they 
 spent hours in close study together.' Emily was a good 
 Latin scholar. 
 
 It is obvious, from the previous chapter, that the 
 family life, though attended with some degree of religious 
 severity, was' cheered with graceful music, with the com- 
 panionship of books, and an atmosphere of liberal culture. 
 The force of home impressions appears in the delicate and 
 characteristic handwriting which Jowett long retained 
 in spite of school exercises, University essays, and other 
 causes usually destructive of such an accomplishment. 
 This was evidently learned from his mother, who wrote 
 the finest of 'Italian' hands, and as late as 1844 his 
 writing closely resembled that of his sister l . 
 
 The poet most in favour with that household, as with 
 others of a similar type, was naturally William Cowper. 
 When a lady who met Jowett at 0. Bowen's 2 house in 
 Chester Square (at some time in the seventies) happened 
 to quote Cowper, he said, ' I was brought up on Cowper ' ; 
 and they continued for good part of an hour repeating 
 familiar lines without exhausting cither's repertory. 
 
 1 It appears, however, that Mr. ticular about the neatness of 
 Bean, his master during his first exercises, 
 year at St. Paul's, was very par- 2 Lord Bowen.
 
 32 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, n 
 
 St. Paul's School, 1829-1836. 
 
 Jowett was admitted into St. Paul's School June 16, 
 1829, on the nomination of Thomas Osborne of the Mercers' 
 Company, Surveyor-Accountant of St. Paul's School, 
 who is said to have been an engraver and printer at 
 72 Lombard Street. Benjamin was now twelve years old, 
 and in consequence missed some advantages which would 
 have been secured by entering two years earlier. His 
 previous education, whatever it was, must have been fairly 
 efficient, for he was placed high on entrance, and rose 
 rapidly in the school. There were eight forms then as 
 now, and he was entered in the sixth, where he remained 
 only for one year. The High Master at this time was 
 Dr. John Sleath, of Wadham College, Oxford. He held the 
 post from 1814-1837, and during that time gained much 
 credit for the school, which was not then regarded at 
 the Universities as on a level with the great public 
 schools. He used to say, ' I do not profess to be a good 
 scholar, but I make my scholars polish one another 1 .' 
 The ' Sur-master ' was a Mr. "W. A. C. Durham (commonly 
 called ' Whack Durham '), but Jowett never came under 
 him, as the sixth were taught by Dr. Sleath's assistant, 
 Mr. John Phillips Bean. The hours of school-work in 
 those days were from seven or eight to eleven or 
 twelve in the morning, and from two to four in the 
 afternoon three days a week. In the interval Benjamin, 
 who had his own separate lodging (it was a lonely boy- 
 hood), used to be taken by his father to dine at some 
 literary chop-house, such as 'The Cheshire Cheese.' The 
 habitues of the place were embarrassed by the presence 
 
 1 In this boast he was more others. Sleath had been private 
 
 than justified, having amongst his tutor to Walter Savage Landor 
 
 former pupils such men as Prince when a boy at Rugby. 
 Lee, Canon Blakesley, and many
 
 1817-1836] At St. Paul's School 33 
 
 of the boy, the more so as the father would 'put him 
 through his facings ' in their hearing. 
 
 There is a tradition that at first coming to school 
 young Jowett was more distinguished in Mathematics 
 than in Classics (there was little mathematical teaching 
 then in St. Paul's), but he must have made marked 
 progress in Greek studies before 1833, in which year 
 several of his Greek exercises were copied into the 
 school album or 'playbook,' entitled Musae Paulinae, 
 where they are still preserved 1 . They are not without 
 school-boy errors (which to the credit of the authorities 
 remain uncorrected), but they already show a fine sense 
 of literary form, and a true feeling for Greek tragedy ; 
 and as they are not translations, but original compositions 
 on set themes, they evince no little resource and dexterity 
 in a boy of sixteen. The following epigram in elegiacs 
 the other exercises are all in iambics may be quoted as 
 a sample of his youthful invention : 
 
 In Mercurii Imaginem. 
 
 *fl </>i'Aos, ei KCIKOS ef, Xafle //,' es X*P as > e ' ^' a/^Aeis /*ov, 
 
 /LIT) (TV, xAoTrevs Trep cwv, K\i\l/ov o /AT) voecis* 
 <rot Se <t'Aos rots (rolcri T e</>w eyne 8' cir^o^ai clvai 
 
 TOtCTl KaXoLfTL KdKOV, TOL(Tl Ka/COMTl KdX6v 2 - 
 
 1 Cf. Gr. R. Kingdon, S. J., in the captain standing aside, Sleath 
 
 The Pauline, 1884 : 'Now and then would say in his most solemn 
 
 the High Master would say to the tone, " There will be a play 
 
 captain just before the end of to-day for the good compositions 
 
 morning school-time, " Fetch the of. . .," whatever the names of the 
 
 playbook." Then we knew that favoured ones happened to be. . . . 
 
 we were in for a half-holiday ; The particular compositionswhich 
 
 and at the sight of the big, gained the half-holiday had to 
 
 morocco-bound, gilt-edged book be written out in the playbook, 
 
 brought in from the library, there for the admiration of future 
 
 would be a deal of finger-snapping generations, or, perhaps, more 
 
 among the smaller boys. Taking often for their amusement.' 
 
 the book on his arm at prayer-time, 2 I have thrown in the accents, 
 
 VOL. I. D
 
 34 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, n 
 
 (Inscription for a statue of Mercury. 
 
 'Are you a rogue? Then take me in your hand. 
 But steal me not before you understand. 
 I am your friend ! a god of varying mood, 
 Kind to bad men, but evil to the good.' L. C.) 
 
 Puerile as the verses are, and not quite accurate, they 
 have something in them of the sly simplicity which 
 marked many of Jowett's sayings in after life. 
 
 In these years he formed the habits of industry, of 
 neatness, and of methodical study, which never left him. 
 The teachableness, which he always regarded as the best 
 sign of promise in boyhood, must have been strongly 
 characteristic of him ; and the rarity of outdoor amuse- 
 ments, of which the educational value was then little 
 recognized, also left its impress on his after career. In 
 compensation for this want he early became a voracious 
 reader. He would 'fly upon a new book,' as he once 
 told me, and in the holidays passed with his sister at 
 Blackheath or Clapham this taste must have been in- 
 dulged to the full. The habit of learning poetry by 
 
 which had been omitted accord- edition : 
 
 ing to a fashion of the day. It ' Epigramma, fortasse sepul- 
 
 is worth observing that in a crale, ex persona Thucydidis, ad 
 
 truly mercurial spirit the form calcem codicis Augustani adiec- 
 
 of the epigram is 'conveyed' from turn' (v. Jacobsii Anthol. gr. t. 4, 
 
 one on Thucydides, quoted by p. 231). 
 
 Bothe in the preface to his 
 
 Q (pi\os, ei <ro(f>os fi, Xa/3e /t' ts X*P as ' ' &* ire<pvicas 
 
 vrfis Mov<rd(oi>, pfyov a p.?) voids. 
 elp.1 yap ov ndvTfa<ri $aror, Travpot 8' dyd&aiTO 
 'OXdpou, KcKpO7ri8rjv TO yevos. 
 
 (Friend, art thou learn'd ? Then take me in your hand : 
 But if unlearn'd, stay till you understand : 
 Few find their way in me ; the many scorn 
 The son of Olorus, Athenian born. L. C.)
 
 1817-1836] At St. Paul's School 35 
 
 heart was at that time far more cultivated than it is 
 now, both at school and in enlightened homes. One of 
 his latest recollections was that he and Emily had once 
 tried who could first commit to memory a thousand lines 
 of VirgiL Before he left St. Paul's he could repeat 
 the greater part of Virgil and Sophocles, probably also 
 the Trilogy and Prometheus of Aeschylus. He never 
 regretted this, although he sometimes wished that the 
 same attention had been given to English literature. 
 But he had more of English verse at his command 
 than is at all common nowadays, and could recite long 
 passages from his favourite authors. His intimate 
 familiarity with Shakespeare came later. 
 
 The teaching at St. Paul's appears to have been well 
 adapted, if not to produce the extreme accuracy of verbal 
 scholarship for which (some years after this) other great 
 schools were famous, at least to imbue the minds of boys 
 with a genuine love of literature. And one method 
 was in use, that of retranslating from English into the 
 original Latin or Greek, in which Jowett himself always 
 firmly believed. 
 
 A characteristic anecdote is told of his early school life. 
 A statute of the foundation, by which a boy who had 
 been absent more than a certain number of days for- 
 feited his place in the school, was about to be revived. 
 A comrade of Benjamin's was running dangerously near 
 the limit, and was supposed to be unaware of the declared 
 intention to put the rule in force. At this boy's home 
 in some far-lying suburb, the bell was rung late at night, 
 and a small figure was found on the doorstep. It was 
 little Benjamin, who had walked for many miles to 
 warn his friend of the danger he was incurring. 
 
 The following reminiscences contributed by persons 
 
 D 2,
 
 36 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, n 
 
 who were at St. Paul's with Jowett will be read with 
 interest : 
 
 i. The Eight Eev. C. E. Alford, late Bishop of Victoria, 
 who was a class-fellow of Jowett's, writes (July 4, 
 1894):- 
 
 'His image as a youth is still before me, a slim weakly 
 figure, gentle and polished in manner, keen eyes, very intelli- 
 gent countenance. In reading and construing he had a clear 
 expressive voice, and in class he spoke out as one who knew 
 what he meant to say. I only remember Jowett in the eighth, 
 i. e. in the first class of the school under Dr. Sleath. I think 
 he stood second boy, and was much associated with Arthur 
 Shelly Eddis, the captain of our year. Eddis and Jowett had 
 the charge of, and chiefly occupied together the School Library, 
 located in the old buildings, between the High Master's house 
 and the great schoolroom. They seldom appeared in school 
 except at prayer-time and when we assembled around and 
 before the table of the High Master in class. Eddis was 
 Chancellor's Medallist of his year (1839), Fellow of Trinity 
 College, Cambridge, Professor in Lincoln's Inn, and Judge at 
 Clerkenwell County Court. As captain, Eddis always took the 
 lead, daily reading the Latin school prayers from the step of 
 the dai's on which the High Master's chair was placed 
 Dr. Sleath, in cap and gown, standing behind him a figure 
 of great presence and commanding appearance. 
 
 '. . . I can call to mind Jowett's return to school after his 
 successful competition for the Balliol Scholarship. We boys 
 held up our heads an inch or two higher than we did before, 
 and it was a sight worth beholding to gaze on the beaming 
 countenance of our dear old High Master, Dr. Sleath, whose 
 frown was dreaded, but whose smile of approval and encourage- 
 ment, never grudgingly bestowed, was a joy and coveted 
 reward. 
 
 ' I remember one personal circumstance with pleasure. On 
 my wedding-day (1841) I alighted at the Great Western Eailway 
 Station, Paddington, with my wife, and as chance would have 
 it, as I got out of the carriage at the station Jowett was there !
 
 1817-1836] At St. Paul's School 37 
 
 He greeted me warmly, was introduced to my wife, and as 
 he shook hands with us both wished us all happiness. We 
 travelled by the same train to Oxford. This was the last 
 occasion on which we spoke to one another. Some forty years 
 after, I saw him and heard him say a few words at an " Apposi- 
 tion " at St. Paul's School, West Kensington. Then he was 
 an elderly, venerable man in figure and feature and speech, the 
 Master of Balliol ; but still he reminded me much of old 
 St. Paul's School and the youthful scholar of 1836.' 
 
 2. From the Eev. John B. Brodrick, Hector of Sneaton, 
 near Whitby, April 9, 1894: .. 
 
 ' There was so much difference between my standing and 
 Jowett's as to prevent our having any very intimate intercourse, 
 and the higher we got in the school the fewer those intimacies 
 became. My recollection of him at Paul's is of a pretty-looking 
 boy-youth who wore a perpetual sort of green sateen which 
 never got, in my time, to the dignity of a coat-tail, but stuck 
 to the less dignified one of a jacket. He never associated much 
 with anybody, and on the strength of his looks we used to call 
 him, though perhaps not to his knowledge, " Miss Jowett." We 
 used to put him up to say curious things to old Sleath, which 
 would certainly not lead that scholastic divine to predicate 
 anything like what was the real future of his simple-minded 
 pupil. . . . The only thing in the least memorable that I 
 bear in mind is that on one occasion I, along with another 
 class companion, went either with or for Jowett to that 
 historical spot, Bolt Court, where Jowett Senior was then 
 living, and the door was opened by William Cobbett, who 
 sported a tricolour ribbon in his button-hole, which then meant 
 a little more than it would do now. . . .' 
 
 3. From Baron 0. E. Pollock, May 18, 1894 : 
 
 ' I joined the school September 30, 1833, at the age of nine. 
 Jowett was then in the highest class, the eighth, and con- 
 sequently a monitor. . . . My brother, George Pollock (now 
 Queen's Eemembrancer), remembers going with Jowett to see 
 his father's printing-press in Bolt Court. ... I can myself
 
 38 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, n 
 
 remember Jowett when in the eighth class, a very young- 
 looking boy with round face and bright eyes, retiring in 
 manner, but holding his own, and much respected. Barham 
 and my brother Kobert used to speak of him as "the boy 
 Jowett," and made fun of his journeys to Oxford outside the 
 coach and his supposed conversation with the guard. 
 
 ' On one occasion, when Jowett was in the seventh, he was 
 struck by a boy bigger than himself but of inferior capacity. 
 This was immediately resented by his other school-fellows, who 
 treated it as an offence and thrashed the bigger boy.' 
 
 4. From the Rev. John Couchman, of Thornby Rectory, 
 near Rugby, who was Jowett's class-fellow : 
 
 'Concerning Jowett's schooldays, I have not much to say. 
 He was of a very taciturn and gentle disposition, more devoted 
 to books than to play : but as far as I remember his quiet 
 disposition gained him many friends amongst his school-fellows 
 and no enemies : he was what we all called " a very nice 
 fellow," and got on very well and amicably with us all. . . . 
 Dr. Sleath told me that he thought Jowett to be the best Latin 
 scholar he had ever sent to College. . . . Personally I had 
 always a great regard for him/ 
 
 Amongst his contemporaries at school, in the eighth 
 form, were the late Lord Hannen; Charles C. Roberts, 
 of Trinity College, Cambridge, Assistant Master at 
 St. Paul's ; Arthur Shelly Eddis, Trinity College, Cam- 
 bridge, Judge of the Clerkenwell County Court ; Robert 
 John Pollock, Trinity College, Cambridge, of the Madras 
 Light Cavalry, and afterwards of the Inner Temple (who 
 died in 1853) ; R. H. D. Barham, Rector of Lulworth, 
 and author of the biography of his father, R. H. Barham 
 (' Thomas Ingoldsby ') ; C. J. Clay, Printer to the Univer- 
 sity of Cambridge. This list makes it readily understood 
 why Benjamin Jowett, when head of the school, began 
 to turn his thoughts to Trinity College, Cambridge. 
 But the suggestion that he should try at Balliol,
 
 1817-1836] The Balliol Scholarship 39 
 
 which, had come to Mrs. Jowett in the way already 
 described *, had the approval of Dr. Sleath, and it was 
 no doubt the more readily acted on from the fact that 
 John Turner, of Bath, who had been at Winchester 
 School, was already at Oxford. At all events it was 
 expected that Turner should take some charge of his 
 young friend ; and as the latter had not been recently 
 at Bath, and might have grown out of knowledge, it 
 was arranged that when he met the coach, John should 
 recognize Benjamin by the colour of his tie 2 . 
 
 The following anecdote connected with Jowett's elec- 
 tion to the Scholarship is given in the words of the 
 Rev. Hay S. Escott 3 , who was a witness of the incident, 
 having gained an Exhibition the same year : 
 
 ' On the morning after our election we met by appointment 
 in the Master's dining-room to pay him a formal visit. 
 Dr. Jenkyns had not yet appeared, and Jowett had seated 
 himself on a chair in the bay-window overlooking the chapel 
 quadrangle, arrayed in academicals, then first put on for the 
 purpose of Matriculation. But, alas ! he had forgotten that the 
 college cap was only intended for protection out of doors, and 
 it was still on his head when the door suddenly opened, 
 and the Master with his usual quick, jerking step swung 
 himself into the room. Then apparently startled, and inflamed 
 with real or simulated passion, he attacked without mercy the 
 innocent young Scholar for so flagrant a breach of the primary 
 laws of good breeding. "Do my eyes deceive me, or do I see 
 a gentleman in my dining-room with his cap on ? " The whole 
 scene was most painful, and the impression it made on me is 
 indelible. It was one of those occasions on which Dr. Jenkyns 
 showed his want of sympathy, of the power of appreciating 
 other minds, and of allowing for circumstances. But his good 
 feelings quickly came to his aid, and he commenced a more 
 
 1 p. 18. had visited him not long before. 
 
 2 John Turner became a parish 8 Rector of Kilve, Somerset ; 
 clergyman, Vicar of Hennock, late Head Master of Somerset 
 Devon, and died in 1858. Jowett College, Bath.
 
 40 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, n 
 
 friendly and complimentary address, by the half- jesting, half- 
 sarcastic remark "I suppose it was the novelty of the bauble." 
 These were the ipsissima verba 1 .' 
 
 A welcome glimpse of him in the Christmas vacation 
 following his election to the Scholarship, and his entrance 
 at Balliol, is afforded by the Rev. Henry Holden, 
 Rector of South Luffenham, who was then a Balliol 
 Scholar of three years' standing. Dr. Holden begins 
 his recollections from the time of the election. He 
 says : 
 
 ' My first acquaintance with him was when he was elected 
 Scholar at the usual examination in November, 1835, from 
 St. Paul's School a school at that time not of very high 
 classical repute, but which has since gradually risen to distinction 
 inferior to none amongst our greatest schools. I well remember 
 introducing myself, on the evening of his election, to the 
 slightly built, curly-headed lad, who seemed the last candidate 
 likely to gain what was then considered the blue ribbon of 
 scholarship, nearly all other colleges at that time confining 
 their privileges to Counties and Founders' kin. The acquain- 
 tance thus commenced was increased during the subsequent 
 winter vacation, when, being in London, I frequently visited 
 him at his lodgings in the City Eoad. He had attended 
 St. Paul's School as a day-scholar, being one of the 153 Founda- 
 tioners, and remained even during vacations in London, to 
 avoid the expense of long journeys to a distant home. 
 Dr. Sleath was then Head Master, and it was by his advice 
 that he was sent to try for the Scholarship. All that I then 
 saw of him bore testimony to his industry, frugality, and 
 simplicity of character. We worked together frequently during 
 that winter vacation. When I returned to Oxford he continued 
 
 1 This tale is confirmed, with in W. G. Ward and the Oxford 
 
 some slight variations, in a letter Movement, p. 441 : 'He was a con- 
 
 from the Rev. H. C. Adams, Vicar siderable actor, and would put on 
 
 of Shoreham, and late Fellow of severe looks to terrify freshmen, 
 
 Magdalen College, Oxford. Cf. but was really kind-hearted and 
 
 Jowett's own remark on Jenkyns indulgent to them.'
 
 1817-1836] 
 
 Paul's 
 
 at St. Paul's School, and I saw nothing more of him till he came 
 into residence at Balliol.' 
 
 When in December, 1835, he returned to London, 
 bringing with him the ' blue ribbon ' of Oxford, an 
 honour which no Pauline had at that time won, young 
 Jowett at St. Paul's was a distinguished figure. There 
 are contemporaries who still remember how, after his 
 return, he used to be assailed from all sides whenever 
 he passed among the younger boys in school, with cries 
 of 'Give us a construe,' a request with which he com- 
 plied as far as he could *. Now also he must have taken 
 a leading place in the little debating society to which 
 he belonged, and which met somewhere about St. Paul's 
 Churchyard 2 . 
 
 The school was under the shadow of the great cathedral, 
 and one lasting impression, which may be with con- 
 fidence referred to this early period, was his love of 
 classical architecture, and in particular his reverence for 
 Sir Christopher Wren 3 . Nothing delighted him more in 
 after years than to take his guests to the Library of All 
 Souls, Oxford, and to go over with them the various 
 
 1 G. R. Kingdon, S.J., in The 
 Pauline, 1884 : ' The eighth were 
 supposed to have so many books in 
 use that their ownlockers were not 
 enough for them. Consequently 
 they were allowed the use of the 
 unoccupied ones on the bottom 
 bench of some of the lower forms. 
 I remember when I was in the 
 second, the boys on the bench 
 just above the bottom used to take 
 advantage of a monitor's coming 
 down to his locker, and coax him 
 to translate a lesson for them. 
 I can almost hear myself now, 
 when stooping under the desk 
 
 I would urge my petition : " I say 
 Jowett, give us a con., there's a 
 good fellow ! " Jowett was captain 
 at the time. He was always too 
 good-natured to refuse, and with 
 his locker open would translate 
 Valpy's Delectus for me " straight 
 oif," to my great satisfaction.' 
 
 2 The Rev. W. Guillemard, late 
 Rector of St. Mary the Less, Cam- 
 bridge, told me of this in 1880. 
 L. C. 
 
 3 He once heard Sydney Smith 
 preach in St. Paul's. See Benja- 
 min Jowett, by L. A. Tollemache, 
 p. 14.
 
 42 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, n 
 
 plans for the rebuilding of St. Paul's Cathedral, copies 
 of which are there preserved. 
 
 He very rarely made any reference to his school days, 
 but eagerly embraced opportunities of renewing ac- 
 quaintance with old Paulines, and, when occasion served, 
 he spoke affectionately of those that were gone. In the 
 light of after years his boyhood does not seem to have 
 been regarded by him as, on the whole, a time of bright- 
 ness or of enjoyment. The pleasures which it had for 
 him lay chiefly in the region of his studies. 
 
 The spirit of self-culture, of loyalty and devotion, 
 of generous and manly ambition, mingled with a pious 
 aspiration to be doing good, already lay warmly at his 
 heart. But his hold upon life and upon the outer 
 world was weakest at the first, and grew steadily with 
 the increase of his years and the widening of his 
 opportunities. 
 
 In a familiar letter of i86i,he writes, with a humorous 
 turn which hides a serious meaning : ' No day passes 
 in which I don't feel the defects of early education. 
 I was never taught how to play at cards, or even at 
 billiards, and it seems too late to repair the error now. 
 Do you think I could learn to waltz ? ' 
 
 Partly no doubt from the circumstance that his school- 
 fellows mostly went to Cambridge, no life-long friendship 
 seems to have been made by him at school. 
 
 In one respect, however, the system at St. Paul's was 
 well suited to prepare the cleverer boys for making their 
 mark in after life. The ' speeches ' on ' Apposition 
 Day ' were so managed as to give something like a real 
 training in elocution. School lessons were suspended for 
 the rehearsals, which were serious things. ' On one 
 occasion,' says an old Pauline 1 , 'during the delivery of 
 1 G. R. Kingdon, S.J., in The Pauline for March, 1884.
 
 1817-1836] Apposition Day 43 
 
 a dialogue from Milton's Samson Agonistes, the boy who 
 personated Harapha, in the line 
 
 "I am of Gath, men call me Harapha/' 
 
 put rather too much emphasis on men. Sleath instantly 
 thundered out, " And what do women call you ? " I need 
 not say that the criticism was appreciated.' 
 
 Young Jowett's appearance at his last ' Apposition ' (i. e 
 Founder's) ' Day ' is thus recorded in the Times of May 6, 
 1836: 
 
 'The Apposition of the Scholars of St. Paul's School took 
 place yesterday. We had the misfortune not to be present 
 at the early part of the proceedings, which commenced with 
 speeches in Greek, Latin, and English, in commemoration 
 of the founder, by Messrs. Jowett, Wright, and Jephson, the 
 three senior scholars. Then followed the prize compositions, 
 Her ad Emmaum in Latin Hexameters, and Fatale Jephthae 
 Votum in Greek Trimeter Iambics, both by Mr. Jowett, the 
 senior scholar. . . . We may here remark that gesticulation 
 appears to be very properly more encouraged at this than at 
 other public schools, and under the guidance of excellent taste, 
 rarely, if ever, is ridiculous or degenerates into acting. . . . 
 The closing piece was highly entertaining ; it was a scene from 
 the Eanae of Aristophanes, where Bacchus (Mr. Jowett) is 
 alarmed by his man Xahthias (Mr. Harriott), while in the 
 Infernal regions, with a supposed spectre. . . . The comic 
 distress of the former excited much laughter even amongst that 
 portion of the audience customarily presumed to be ignorant 
 of the learned languages.' 
 
 All these distinctions did not smooth away the financial 
 difficulties of his entrance at Balliol. It was usual for 
 the head boy of St. Paul's to take with him the Campden 
 Exhibition of 100 a year for five years to Trinity 
 College, Cambridge ; but Jowett was debarred from this, 
 and also from other Exhibitions which were tenable 
 at any College in either University, by the fact that he
 
 44 
 
 Life of Benjamin Jowett 
 
 had passed his twelfth birthday before entering the 
 school l . Under these circumstances his old patrons of 
 the Mercers' Company stepped in, and on July 14, 1836, 
 Jowett was elected to one of Lady North's Exhibitions, 
 and at the same date a small sum was given to him 
 by the Company as senior scholar of St. Paul's School, 
 on his going to College. His friends at St. Paul's be- 
 thought themselves of a further expedient for rewarding 
 him. The school library had grown to considerable 
 magnitude, and had not been catalogued. To this con- 
 genial task Jowett was appointed, and gained for it an 
 honorarium of 100 guineas from the Mercers' Company, 
 which was paid to him in 1837. Even with these 
 additions to the Balliol Scholarship, his means for living 
 at Oxford were narrow enough, and must have required 
 the strictest economy 2 . 
 
 1 G. R. Kingdom, S.J., in The 
 Pauline, 1884 : ' There were then 
 two Carnpden Exhibitions of 100 
 and 75, the holders of which must 
 go to Trinity College, Cambridge, 
 and besides these as many others 
 of 50 per annum as there might 
 be deserving candidates. These 
 last might be held at any College 
 of either University. These Ex- 
 hibitions, in my time, lasted for 
 five years. ... In order, however, 
 to be eligible for them, you must 
 have been on the foundation, i.e. 
 you must have been admitted 
 before you were ten years old.' 
 
 2 ' On February 10, 1837, ^ e 
 then Surveyor-Accountant laid 
 before the Court of the Mercers' 
 Company copiesof a newly printed 
 Catalogue of the Library of the 
 School, prepared by Mr. Benjamin 
 Jowett, late Senior Scholar, and 
 shortly afterwards a present of 
 100 guineas was made to him for 
 the care and attention he had 
 bestowed in forming an entirely 
 new Catalogue of the Library of 
 that Establishment ' (Letter from 
 Mr. John Watney, Secretary of 
 the Mercers 1 Company, April 18, 
 1894).
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 SCHOLAR AND FELLOW OF BALLIOL. 1836-1840 
 (Aet. 19-23) 
 
 EARLY friendships at Oxford The Hertford Latin Scholarship 
 A Balliol undergraduate sixty years since Reminiscences of 
 surviving contemporaries The Master, Richard Jenkyns, and the 
 Tutors, Tait and Scott The Balliol Fellowship won by the under- 
 graduate Scholar Work in private tuition Death of Ellen Jowett 
 Graduation Letters to W. A. Greenhill. 
 
 TT was the common practice then as now at Oxford 
 *- to interpose two or more ' Grace Terms ' between 
 the election to a Scholarship and coming into residence. 
 Accordingly the new Scholar of Balliol entered as a fresh- 
 man in October, 1836, being then nineteen years of age. 
 How or where the Summer Vacation had been spent does 
 not appear, except that it seems probable that part of it 
 had been occupied in the task of cataloguing the St. Paul's 
 School library. He seems to have remained at St. Paul's 
 until July, although his attendance there should strictly 
 have ended with his nineteenth birthday, April 15, or at 
 latest with Apposition Day. 
 
 In old age he spoke of his election to the Scholarship 
 as the happiest event of his life ; and his entrance on that 
 career at Oxford, which only terminated with his death,
 
 46 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, in 
 
 cannot fail to have been accompanied with a strong 
 feeling of enlargement and emancipation. Yet con- 
 sidering the combination of enterprise and caution, of 
 moral intrepidity with constitutional shyness, of eager 
 interest in life with the most delicate refinement and 
 sensitiveness, which was inherent in his nature, one 
 cannot suppose that his freshman's term at the University 
 was altogether unclouded. And the difficulties of be- 
 ginning life at Oxford were sensibly increased for him 
 by the fact that, notwithstanding the Scholarship and 
 the liberality of the Mercers' Company, in comparison 
 with the public school men amongst whom he found 
 himself, he was decidedly poor. His first anxiety was 
 to gain, if possible, the Hertford University Scholarship 
 for Latin, and for this purpose he felt the need of extra 
 tuition. An unexpected gift of 20 from an anonymous 
 donor enabled him to read with Edward Massie of 
 Wadham, a Shrewsbury man who had taken the Ireland in 
 1828, and was known to be a successful ( coach.' Jowett 
 won the Hertford, to the disgust of his competitors, 
 who, as one of them l says, could not bear to be beaten by 
 1 a little puny, boyish, chubby-faced youth.' This was in 
 Lent Term, 1837, the same year in which A. P. Stanley 
 obtained the Ireland. 
 
 Jowett's first success, with the accompanying circum- 
 stances, produced a marked effect upon him, and was the 
 beginning of the earliest, and for a time the most intimate, 
 of his Oxford friendships. His benefactor proved to be 
 W. A. G-reenhill, a Rugby man, Stanley's senior by about 
 two years, who was at this time studying Medicine. He 
 afterwards practised as a physician at Oxford, and married 
 
 1 Dr. Frederick H. M. Blaydes, of the Hertford in the following 
 the well-known editor of Aristo- year, 1838. 
 phanes, &c. He was the winner
 
 1836-1840] Scholar of Balliol 47 
 
 Miss "Ward, a favourite niece of Dr. Arnold. He has 
 since been known as a learned writer on the history of 
 Medicine. The following letter, written while the giver 
 was unknown, shows the feeling with which the gift 
 was received : 
 
 OXFORD, January 31, 1837. 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 I gratefully avail myself of your wonderful and un- 
 expected goodness. I do so with the less hesitation as I am 
 persuaded from the letter with which it was accompanied 
 that it was really meant. It will give me the opportunity 
 of obtaining what I have long wished for and could not other- 
 wise have had. 
 
 May I venture to hope that I shall one day have the 
 pleasure of thanking personally my unknown benefactor. 
 Should I fail in the ensuing contest (and I feel persuaded 
 such will be the result) I trust he will believe that this want 
 of success has been owing to no deficiency of exertion on my 
 part. With the most sincere gratitude for your kindness, 
 and the manner in which it was offered, 
 
 Believe me to remain, my dear Sir, 
 
 Ever yours most truly and respectfully, 
 
 B. J. 
 
 Should I not hear from you to the contrary, I will leave 
 a letter for you at the Post Office on March i, directed to 
 X. Y. Z. 
 
 May God bless you for your kindness to me. I never 
 thought much about religion till a few days before your letter 
 came, [and] it has left an impression which I trust I shall 
 never forget. 
 
 Many years afterwards (in 1867), when Professor Jowett 
 was corresponding with Dr. Greenhill on the subject 
 of Plato's Timaeus, he referred with characteristic grati- 
 tude to this long-past kindness, adding that he had
 
 48 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, in 
 
 himself known the pleasure of helping others in a similar 
 way. 
 
 Before proceeding further with the narrative, some 
 attempt should be made to imagine Balliol College as it 
 was when Jowett entered it. The Scholarships had been 
 thrown open to competition in 1828, Richard Jenkyns 
 having then been Master for several years. This was 
 a most important step, for which G. A. Ogilvie, one of 
 the Tutors 1 , was largely responsible. The list of Balliol 
 Scholars, previous to 1836, already held distinguished 
 names, and the Scotch contingent, supplied chiefly by 
 the Snell foundation, had long since been an acknow- 
 ledged source of strength. Adam Smith, John Lockhart, 
 and Sir William Hamilton, not to mention others, were 
 Snell Exhibitioners in their day. Archibald Campbell 
 Tait, who, when Jowett began residence, had recently 
 been appointed Tutor, was both a Scholar and a Snell 
 Exhibitioner, having been educated at the Edinburgh 
 Academy and Glasgow University. The bond of friend- 
 ship with him, thus early formed, was strained by later 
 events, but never broken. 
 
 Another of the Tutors to whom Jowett owed much as 
 an undergraduate, was Robert Scott, part author of the 
 famous Lexicon, who in 1854 became Master of Balliol. 
 The Mathematical Lecturer at this time was W. G. Ward ' 2 , 
 the importance of whose influence over Jowett for a brief 
 period will shortly appear. 
 
 Arthur Penrhyn Stanley was now entering on his third 
 year at College, and, as his custom was, took out the 
 junior Scholar from time to time for a walk in the 
 afternoon. On the first of these occasions he is said to 
 have reported that he never met with such a disputatious 
 
 1 Afterwards Professor of Pas- z See Life of Dean Stanley, vol. i. 
 toral Theology. p. 169, letter to C. J. Vaughan.
 
 FISHER'S BUILDING AND END OF ' RATS' CASTLE,' BALLIOL COLLEGE 
 
 Copied from a print in an old Oxford Guide
 
 1836-1840] Scholar of Balliol 49 
 
 youth. His surprise was not unnatural. For many years 
 after this Jowett's appearance was juvenile in the extreme, 
 and it was long remembered that he first came to College 
 in a round jacket, and with a turned-down collar. This 
 gave to his animation in argument the greater piquancy. 
 "What subjects were discussed between the two young 
 men, whose friendship was destined to be so closely 
 cemented afterwards, we can only guess ; but it is difficult 
 to imagine any discussion at Oxford, in those days, that 
 did not turn on matters theological. The subscription 
 to the Articles ; Dr. Arnold's influence ; the observance 
 of Sunday ; J. H. Newman's sermons ; Clericalism and 
 Evangelicism ; the relation of Catholics to Protestants ; 
 the admission of Jews to Parliament; the Divinity 
 Examination at London University : any or all of these 
 subjects afforded ample matter for controversy, and had 
 more fascination for young Oxonians than those eternal 
 arguments on ' Foreknowledge, Will, and Fate ' in which 
 Milton's fallen spirits lose themselves. But the event 
 which had most interested Stanley's mind in 1836 was 
 the appointment of Dr. Hampden to the B-egius Pro- 
 fessorship of Theology, and the disputes that followed. 
 
 Some others of Jowett's College contemporaries may 
 be here enumerated. Edward Cardwell 1 had taken his 
 degree in 1835 and was now a junior Fellow. John 
 Moore Capes, who afterwards became a Roman Catholic, 
 was a graduate of the same year. James Lonsdale 2 had 
 been elected Scholar with A. P. Stanley. W. C. Lake 3 , 
 Benjamin C. Brodie 4 , E. M. Goulburn 5 , and Hay S. 
 Escott, were Jowett's seniors by a year ; also senior 
 
 1 Afterwards Lord Cardwell. 4 Sir Benjamin C. Brodie, F.E.S., 
 
 2 Rev. James Lonsdale. See his Professor of Chemistry, Oxford. 
 Life by Duckworth. 5 Head Master of Rugby ; after- 
 
 3 Afterwards Dean of Durham. wards Dean of Norwich. 
 VOL. I. E
 
 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, in 
 
 to him were John "Wickens 1 , Hugh Pearson 2 , Samuel 
 Waldegrave 3 , E. Hobhouse 4 , and P. S. H. Payne (who 
 died in 1841). His immediate contemporaries, who must 
 have been freshmen with him, were F. C. Trower 5 , 
 Stafford H. Northcote 6 , and Reginald Hobhouse 7 . His 
 juniors while he was still an undergraduate were T. H. 
 Farrer 8 , "W. Rogers 9 , Arthur Hobhouse 10 , Arthur H. 
 Clough n , Constantino Prichard 12 , Frederick Temple 13 , 
 and John Duke Coleridge 14 . Oxford contemporaries 
 not at Balliol, who became distinguished in after life, 
 were W. F. Donkin 15 of University College, Richard 
 "W. Church 16 of Wadham, James Fraser 17 of Lincoln, 
 James A. Froude 18 of Oriel, Richard Congreve 19 of 
 Wadham, R. R. W. Lingen 20 of Trinity, Henry Halford 
 Vaughan 21 of Christ Church, Bartholomew Price 22 of 
 Pembroke, Henry W. Acland 23 , Christ Church and 
 All Souls, John Ruskin 24 , Christ Church, and George 
 
 1 Vice Chancellor Wickens. 
 
 2 Vicar of Sonning and Canon 
 of Windsor. 
 
 3 Bishop of Carlisle. 
 
 4 Bishop of Nelson, New Zea- 
 land. 
 
 5 Bishop of Glasgow, after- 
 wards of Gibraltar. 
 
 6 Lord Iddesleigh. 
 
 7 Rector of St. Ives and Arch- 
 deacon of Bodmin. 
 
 8 Lord Farrer. 
 
 9 Rector of St. Botolph, 
 Bishopsgate ; Canon of St. Paul's. 
 
 10 Lord Hobhouse. 
 
 11 The Poet. 
 
 12 Fellow of Balliol, son of 
 James Cowles Prichard, the 
 author of Natural History of 
 Man, &c. 
 
 13 Head Master of Rugby ; 
 
 Bishop of Exeter, 1869 ; Bishop 
 of London, 1885 ; Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, 1896. 
 
 14 Lord Chief Justice. 
 
 :5 Savilian Professor of Geo- 
 metry. 
 
 16 Dean of St. Paul's. 
 
 17 Bishop of Manchester. 
 
 18 The Historian. 
 
 19 The Founder of English 
 Positivism. 
 
 20 Lord Lingen. 
 
 21 Professor of Modern History, 
 Oxford. 
 
 22 Sedleian Professor of Natural 
 Philosophy, Master of Pembroke 
 College. 
 
 23 Sir Henry W. Acland, Bart., 
 M.D., Professor of Medicine, 
 Oxford. 
 
 24 The well-known Author.
 
 1836-1840] Scholar of Balliol 51 
 
 Butler x of Exeter. Mark Pattison 2 of Oriel, afterwards 
 Fellow of Lincoln, was already a young graduate when 
 Jowett came into residence at Balliol. These names may 
 suffice to indicate to those who recall their many associa- 
 tions, the sort of milieu into which the reserved, town-bred 
 youth, eager and yet shrinking, dutiful and adventurous, 
 was suddenly plunged. There was the Eton set, brilliant 
 and careless, full of gentlemanly prejudices, but also of 
 boyish fun. There were the Scotchmen, in striking con- 
 trast to these, not less noisy perhaps, but plodding and 
 industrious, and bringing with them more of metaphysics 
 than of classical learning. And there were the Rugby 
 men, full of enthusiasm for Dr. Arnold, in whose un- 
 popularity they gladly shared. They knew more of 
 history than the rest, and were eager to break a lance in 
 theological controversy. That was already filling the air 
 to the detriment of other studies ; and grave dispassionate 
 elders lamented the decline of scholarship in the Uni- 
 versity of Musgrave and Elmsley. Young Jowett kept 
 his head, we may be sure, but while proving all things, 
 was taking impressions from all. In these early days he 
 was eagerly observant, but more receptive than critical ; 
 and in the pursuit of scholarship, which was his main 
 business, he made rapid progress, though he did not 
 immediately come quite to the front. Indeed he was 
 very little known in his earlier years at Balliol, and did 
 not see much of any one, even in his own College, except 
 when he met his brother Scholars daily in Hall. There 
 was always a good deal of conversation at the Scholars' 
 table, and it is easy to imagine how the novice, after 
 listening long in silence, would strike in from time to 
 time with some unexpectedly pertinent remark. His 
 
 1 Canon of Winchester. 2 Rector of Lincoln College. 
 
 2
 
 52 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, in 
 
 circumstances forbade his entertaining any one, and he 
 took no part in athletic exercises, although on rare 
 occasions he indulged himself with rowing in a solitary 
 skiff on the river 1 . He took long walks, was fond of 
 bathing, being a fair swimmer, and, like his friend A. P. 
 Stanley, took part in visiting the poor 2 . By degrees, 
 however, his love of conversation and his social nature 
 made for him an inner circle of companionship drawn 
 from all the various sets in College, in which the figures 
 of Arthur Hobhouse, Benjamin C. Brodie, H. S. Escott, 
 E. M. Goulburn, A. H. Clough, Stafford H. Northcote, and 
 W. Rogers are still clearly discernible. 
 
 In picturing the life of an Oxford undergraduate of 
 sixty years since, it is necessary to bear in mind that 
 athletic sports were less developed, and there were 
 stronger lines of demarcation between the reading, 
 the boating, and the hunting men, than at a later 
 time. It was in one of his rare sculling excursions that 
 Jowett first came in contact with one of the Bunsen 
 family. Henry Bunsen of Oriel :i happened to be passing 
 by at the moment when Jowett's skiff was upset in one 
 of the lower reaches of the river, and he always spoke 
 of Bunsen as having acted the part of the Good Samaritan 
 on that occasion. No friendship formed in Jowett's 
 undergraduate days was more lasting than that with 
 W. Rogers, a boating man from Eton. 
 
 The following reminiscences have been kindly com- 
 municated by surviving contemporaries. I take first the 
 narrative of Lord Hobhouse, who seems to have been 
 
 1 He took part in a College visited a poor woman, 
 sculling race in June, 1838. See 8 Eldest son of Baron Bunsen ; 
 p. 71. Vicar of Lilleshall, Salop ; after- 
 
 2 He pointed out to Dr. Evelyn wards Rector of Donington. He 
 Abbott a house in the neighbour- was educated at Rugby, under 
 hood of Hinksey, where he had Dr. Arnold.
 
 1836-1840] Lord Hobhouse's Reminiscences 
 
 53 
 
 brought into specially close companionship with Jowett 
 when both were undergraduates * : 
 
 ' I went to reside at Balliol in Oct. 1837, being then under 
 eighteen years old ; and I made acquaintance with Jowett, 
 who was a Scholar of the House, and had commenced his 
 residence a year before. I do not remember how our acquain- 
 tance began, but it must have been very soon after my arrival ; 
 probably through Northcote (Lord Iddesleigh), an old Eton 
 friend, who won a Scholarship a year later than Jowett. The 
 Scholars dined at a separate table ; and, not being one, I missed 
 that stimulus of intimacy which is got by companionship at 
 meals. On the other hand, I was thrown in with Jowett in 
 this way. The top floor of the staircase on which he lived 
 was shared between his rooms and those of a man of his own 
 standing named Vaux. This Vaux was very fond of taking 
 to his rooms some congenial soul, or it might be more than 
 one, to imbibe tea, and indulge in talk de omnibus rebus. He 
 often so received me ; and occasionally his neighbour Jowett 
 would come in ; and, again occasionally, Jowett would make tea 
 for us, or for me alone, in his own territory 2 . 
 
 ' So there sprung up, quickly as is the case with lads, 
 a mutual attraction, and such intimacy as our natures and 
 
 1 I am bound to insert here the 
 words in which Lord Hobhouse 
 deprecates the publication of the 
 contribution so kindly made by 
 him ; although I think the reader 
 will agree with me in considering 
 hi s do ubts unnecessary. ' Review- 
 ing my intercourse with Jowett 
 I cannot think that anything 
 I have to say is fit for publication 
 or for more than casual talk 
 across a tea-table. It is pleasant 
 enough for me to conjure up old 
 pictures shining in the soft light 
 of other days ; but to those who 
 have not that light the case is 
 different. I conceive that my 
 
 remarks are worthy of the blessed 
 repose of the waste-paper basket. 
 But of that you, who are writing 
 the biography, are the best judge, 
 and not I. So I will throw such 
 light on your subject as I can.' 
 -L. C. 
 
 2 His poverty was so evident, 
 that A. H. scrupled even to accept 
 his invitations to tea, but his 
 doing so gave B. J. manifest 
 pleasure. 'It was difficult to 
 draw him away from his studies, 
 but when once you had him out 
 of his shell he was pleasant to 
 talk to.' (From conversation with 
 Lord Hobhouse.) L. C.
 
 54 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, in 
 
 circumstances permitted. I may mention in this connexion 
 that to the end of Vaux's life, through good fortune and 
 through ill, which he did not escape, Jowett never forgot the 
 regard for him which existed in these early days. 
 
 ' I have heard men say that one of Jowett's foibles was to 
 be too much taken by successful or prominent men. I am 
 by no means sure of that ; but I am sure that he was a man 
 of rare fidelity in his attachments. I have known him come 
 to like adversaries ; I have never known him turn away from 
 or forget one whom he has called his friend. 
 
 ' Jowett never joined in our games ; not from any dislike, 
 I think, for he always took due interest in the doings of the 
 Balliol boat, in which I then pulled an oar. The only exercise 
 beyond a walk, which I ever enjoyed with him, was swimming 1 , 
 to which we were both addicted. I do not know, but believe, 
 that in the matter of games, as in other things, such as chess 
 and entertainments, the necessity of a rigid economy kept him 
 from doing what was done by others in easier circumstances. 
 That his means were narrow before he won a Fellowship, was 
 evident ; but he never spoke to me on the subject. Indeed 
 he was very reticent on all things connected with his personal 
 life, either in his school or in his family. It was natural that, 
 seeking to know more of one to whom I was attracted, I should 
 invite information on such matters, as in the case of other 
 friends. But beyond the fact that his anchor was for the 
 present cast in Bath, I learned little. He would give but 
 a bare answer to a question ; and of course I soon abstained 
 from broaching subjects on which he was not communicative. 
 
 'The part of Jowett's character which was most attractive 
 to me was his perfect simplicity, truth, and originality. Behind 
 his pretty, girlish looks, quiet voice, and gentle, shy manner, 
 one soon found that there lay a robust masculine under- 
 standing, which would not accept commonplaces as true or 
 mere authority as a guide. I think that most boys of eighteen 
 are apt to repeat without testing what they have been 
 
 1 'Jowett took readily to the (From conversation with Lord 
 water and swam well. The bath- Hobhouse.) L. C. 
 ing was at Parson's Pleasure.'
 
 1836-1840] Lord Hobhouse's Reminiscences 55 
 
 accustomed to hear, to fancy that what they see in print must 
 be true, and to accept for gospel what conies to them accredited 
 by the authorities of their little world. Certainly that was 
 the case with me. And then I came into contact with one 
 who, not flippant nor irreverent nor specially fond of paradox, 
 nor specially desirous of victory in a discussion, yet insisted 
 on seeing everything with his own eyes, and refused to utter 
 a proposition until his own judgement was sufficiently in accord 
 with it. I looked upon Jowett as the freshest and most 
 original mind I had come across ; and I still think that I have 
 never held converse with any one who was more thoroughly 
 original, or more careful to say only what he made his own. 
 Among the living influences which compelled me to think and 
 tended to invigorate my thoughts in the plastic age between 
 eighteen and twenty, I put as chiefest the lectures of Arch- 
 bishop Tait and my intercourse with Jowett. Of course there 
 were many others playing on a ripening mind, not then realized 
 in any distinct way, and now impossible to disentangle ; but 
 in looking back and trying to take stock of my earlier life, 
 I have always attributed the most powerful effect to the hard- 
 headed rationalism of these two, combined with their steady 
 love of truth and their sympathetic natures. Probably the 
 parts they played in after life will go far to justify my estimate. 
 Jowett's fearless, and apparently passionless, tenacity under 
 the storms which, at least during the first half of his working 
 life, blew with great violence round the heads of the few 
 who dared to think for themselves and to say so ; his absti- 
 nence from anything like triumph when he made his position 
 good all these things seem to me the natural healthy out- 
 growth of the twenty- year-old boy, whose resolute questionings 
 startled, posed, interested, and attracted me. 
 
 ' I have just called his tenacity passionless, and his victory 
 one without triumph. Of course in the immature time with 
 which I deal, qualities of this sort are not brought out or 
 tested by circumstances. But one of his characteristics which 
 impressed me even then was his calmness when opinions 
 differed ; that he did not, as other men are wont, get heated 
 or argue for victory in a wordy war, but contended only when 
 he had something to say which he believed to be true.
 
 56 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, in 
 
 ' Not that he was wanting in feeling ; he had warm feelings 
 and sympathies ; and he valued sympathy very much. Indeed 
 I don't know why he should have regarded me with any 
 favour except from feeling that I liked him. One expression 
 of his I recall because it touched me at the time, and has 
 always remained with me. In the spring of 1838 he stood 
 for the Ireland Scholarship and was defeated. The successful 
 man, if I rightly recollect, was the present Lord Lingen. 
 Jowett had hoped to win and was much mortified. Probably, 
 besides the pleasure of success, the emolument would have 
 been a great help to him \ I went to his rooms and sat with 
 him for some time. On parting he thanked me warmly, and 
 added, perhaps with a little bitterness, " There are plenty who 
 come when one wins, but you are a losing friend." I don't 
 say that he was right, but such was the man, quickly respon- 
 sive to sympathy, hurt if he thought it was withheld.' 
 
 Dr. Holden, whose account of Jowett's appearance 
 among the candidates for the Scholarship has been 
 quoted in the previous chapter, continues his narrative 
 as follows : 
 
 ' As I was three years his senior we did not attend the same 
 College lectures, and consequently did not regularly meet, 
 except at the Scholars' dining table in Hall. But there I can 
 well remember his quiet, unassuming manner, when the elder 
 and more advanced Scholars led the conversation, and some- 
 times laid down the law for the juniors in politics or theology, 
 subjects, at that stirring time, very warmly discussed in 
 Oxford. . . We little thought that the retiring, unobtrusive 
 young Pauline was about to develop into a Hertford University 
 Scholar in the following spring (1837), an d in the year after 
 that (November, 1838), while still an undergraduate, to be 
 elected over the heads of all the senior Balliol Scholars and 
 a score of others, First Class men from other Colleges, to the 
 high distinction of a Balliol Fellowship.' 
 
 1 ' He was much disappointed also greatly disappointed at miss- 
 when he found that the Hertford ing the Ireland.' (From conversa- 
 Scholarship which he had gained tion with Lord Hobhouse.) L. C. 
 was only for one year, and he was
 
 1836-1840] Balliol Sixty Years since 57 
 
 The following recollections of the Rev. Hay S. Escott 
 may be compared with the preceding. His account of 
 the teaching at Balliol about this time is especially 
 valuable : 
 
 'At the period of Jowett's election the undergraduates of 
 the College numbered about eighty ; but this small number 
 had in it a very large amount of intellectual power and energy 
 of life. It was rather sharply divided into sets, and even 
 at the tables in Hall, open to all, this division was generally 
 preserved. But still the borderers in each set were more or 
 less also members of the adjoining set, and a man might have 
 friends in other sets than his own. But it was the stirring 
 activity of the College which most struck the new members 
 as they joined it. Of course in this vigorous life the Scholars 
 took the lead ; but it was not confined to them, and the 
 presence of such men, so intellectual and so studious as 
 Lonsdale, Stanley, Goulburn, and Lake, may well be supposed 
 to have kindled and stimulated many minds of less con- 
 spicuous power. But much was also due to the authorities 
 of the College. In Dr. K. Jenkyns 1 (afterwards Dean of 
 Wells) it had a Master, according to his light, thoroughly 
 devoted to its interest. He was not a man of a great and 
 large mind and width of thought was neither cultivated nor 
 affected in his day but he was eminently practical, and 
 possessed of shrewd common sense, though deficient in 
 delicacy of touch when handling minds more complex and 
 more sensitive than his own. His dignity may have been 
 somewhat pompous, and his energy bustling, but he honestly 
 exerted all his powers for the improvement of the College, 
 considering no part of its machinery beneath his notice ; and 
 the result of his exertions was seen in the character of the 
 men he gathered round him, first as Scholars or Commoners, 
 then as Fellows and Tutors, by whose agency the prestige 
 of Balliol was so rapidly and greatly raised. At the time 
 of which we write, Moberly had just left Oxford to become 
 Head Master of Winchester, and afterwards Bishop of Salisbury. 
 
 1 See Oakeley's ' Balliol under Dr. Jenkyns,' in Reminiscences of 
 Oxford, Oxford Historical Society, 1892.
 
 58 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, in 
 
 The Classical Tutors were Oakeley, Chapman, Tait, and imme- 
 diately after (in the Lent Term of 1836) Scott, and the 
 Mathematical Lecturer was Ward, of the Ideal. Oakeley, 
 an excellent man, but speculative and dreamy, is more remem- 
 bered as Catechetical Lecturer than as Tutor, though his 
 lectures on Lucretius were highly spoken of. Chapman 
 a truly good man, full of kindness and gentleness usually 
 took the lectures to freshmen, and the more elementary part 
 of the work, dividing the Divinity lectures with the other 
 Tutors. But the nerve and backbone of the teaching lay with 
 Tait and Scott and with the former even more than with 
 the latter. Of Tait, tried and approved as he afterwards was 
 in the highest position, it may seem superfluous to speak. 
 But in enumerating the influences to which Balliol under- 
 graduates were then subject, it is important to notice the 
 impression made by him, as we know, on some at least of 
 his pupils. There was in him a charm a union, perhaps, 
 of manliness and kindness, which won for him the affection 
 and respect of the more susceptible. He seemed to under- 
 stand character, and to deal with the individual less according 
 to any trifling occasional error, than according to what he 
 knew to be his main purpose and aim. He had that dignity 
 which was natural to his talents and his official position, 
 but because it was natural, unstudied, and unassumed, he could 
 exchange it for perfect equality with an undergraduate in 
 social intercourse. Then, as a Lecturer, he had the remarkable 
 gift of clearing up obscurities, and of leaving some definite 
 idea in the minds of his pupils where all had appeared hope- 
 lessly confused. He could take up some intricate passage, 
 over which an inexperienced translator was sorely perplexed, 
 and at once, apparently without effort, elicit a satisfactory 
 meaning and produce it in idiomatic English. 
 
 ' Scott had not these gifts. Truly good and kind, and in 
 pure scholarship immeasurably in advance of Tait, his learned 
 and careful lectures left comparatively little impression on 
 the mind. His manner did not commend him, and he was 
 deficient in tact, and in those qualities, so conspicuous in Tait, 
 which give influence over others and call forth affection and 
 respect. Yet to those intimate with him he was, we believe,
 
 1836-1840] Balliol Sixty Years since 59 
 
 as lovable as he was talented ; and in young Jowett fonder 
 then of the literature than of the philosophy of Greece he 
 had a pupil after his own heart, whose accurate scholarship 
 he could at once admire and enrich J . 
 
 'Besides those already mentioned, a senior Fellow of the 
 name of Carr 2 occasionally looked over the weekly Essay, 
 dividing the work with the Master. For the "Essay " was then 
 in existence, written alternate weeks in English and Latin. . . . 
 At times a copy of English verses was accepted instead of an 
 Essay. . . . And as the final schools drew near, it was allowed 
 to substitute for original composition a translation of a passage 
 of English into Latin prose.' 
 
 With reference to the same period the Rev. John L. 
 Hoskyns, Hector of Aston Tirrold, writes : 
 
 'I was never intimate with Jowett when at Balliol. He 
 was a shy, retiring student, quite a recluse, and I was not 
 one of the magic circle of the Scholars and their immediate 
 friends. 
 
 ' . . . But I can never forget the deep impression that the 
 general aspect of things in College made upon me. The scene 
 in Chapel, Hall, Lecture Eoom; the countenances of the 
 men of Tait, Scott, Oakeley, Chapman, Ward ; the Scholars' 
 table, and high table ; the twos and twos going out for 
 their constitutionals, live fresh in my memory after nearly 
 sixty years. It was a marvellous time, and a most interesting 
 set of men.' 
 
 1 In his reminiscences (W. G. think the Dean of Eochester's 
 
 Ward, 8fc., p. 115), Professor Lectures on Niebuhr first aroused 
 
 Jowett says : ' I must not forget in my mind doubt about the 
 
 the late Dean of Rochester, after- Gospels, and that the Archbishop 
 
 wards Master of the College, who of Canterbury first aroused in 
 
 was very kind to me in early life.' me the desire to read German 
 
 The lectures of both these distin- theology.' 
 
 guished men had effects for their 2 See W. G. Ward, fyc., loc. cit. 
 
 youthful listener which they were The Rev. John Carr, afterwards 
 
 far from contemplating. He wrote Rector of Brattleby and .an 
 
 as follows in one of the note- Honorary Canon of Lincoln, 
 books, dated October, 1875 : ' I
 
 60 Life of Benjamin Jowett L C AP - m 
 
 ' The twos and twos going out for their constitutionals,' 
 recall a feature almost unknown to a more athletic 
 generation, the ' long walk with a friend,' which Jowett 
 has often recommended as a recipe for low spirits l . 
 
 His failure for the Ireland Scholarship in 1838 may 
 have been partly due to grief or anxiety for his sister 
 Agnes, a year younger than himself, who died about this 
 time. In the same Term, however, he again surprised 
 his friends, by winning the Powell Prize at Balliol, then 
 awarded for proficiency in English literature. His father 
 wrote as follows to Mrs. Irwin : 
 
 ' During the present term, Benjamin has been trying for the 
 Powell Prize at Balliol, for English Composition. I wondered 
 very much at his venturing, as it was quite out of his line 
 at least, so I should have concluded. We knew nothing about 
 it till he had obtained it. ... We were glad to find his 
 English had been respectable enough to carry him through.' 
 
 A greater and more joyful surprise was in reserve. 
 By a statute of the College the Balliol Fellowships were 
 open to all Bachelors of Arts of the University and to 
 Scholars of Balliol. On one previous occasion, it was 
 believed, an undergraduate Scholar had been elected. 
 In November, 1838, there were four vacancies an un- 
 precedented number and Jowett was urged by some of 
 his companions, Goulburn in particular, and it is said 
 also by his Tutor, Robert Scott, to try his luck. 
 
 The biography of Dean Stanley has thrown a curious 
 light on the conditions of election to a Balliol Fellowship 
 in those days. Arthur Stanley was induced to try for 
 a Fellowship at University College in July, 1838, because 
 his ' supposed theological opinions ' had rendered his 
 
 1 M. Arnold's Scholar Gipsy and this familiar habit. Cf. Letters of 
 Thyrsis enshrine reminiscences of Matthew Arnold, vol. i. pp. 38, 191.
 
 1836-1840] The Balliol Fellowship 61 
 
 election at Balliol in November very improbable * ! 
 Amidst the searchings of heart which he went through 
 before taking that decisive step, the last thing to occur 
 to his mind would be, that in changing his College he 
 would be leaving the coast clear for the admission of his 
 younger friend. Yet so it was ; and we may safely infer 
 that Jowett had not as yet fallen under suspicion 
 either for liberal or Tractarian sympathies. In point 
 of fact, as appears from the letters to W. A. G-reenhill, 
 while Evangelical prepossessions had been to a great 
 extent already discarded, he was looking keenly round 
 him with a suspense of judgement very uncommon in 
 one so young. 
 
 The circumstances of his election may best be told in 
 Dr. Holden's words : 
 
 'As this is an achievement only once before 2 , I believe, 
 recorded in the annals of Balliol, some particulars may be 
 interesting, especially as coming from one who was himself 
 a candidate. Four vacant Fellowships were to be filled up 
 by examination ; all B.A.'s were eligible. The undergraduate 
 Scholars of Balliol had also the peculiar privilege of being 
 eligible, as the Master of the College, Dr. Jenkyns, used some- 
 times to remind them. It was current at the time that the 
 Kev. Eobert Scott, afterwards Master of the College for six- 
 teen years, and who had himself been elected Fellow from 
 Christ Church just two years before, had persuaded the young 
 Hertford Scholar, the most promising pupil in his lecture 
 room, to avail himself of this privilege and to offer himself 
 as a candidate for one of the four vacant Fellowships 3 . It is 
 
 1 Stanley's Life, vol. i. p. 195. nor Oakeley had as yet become 
 
 Among the candidates was Mark known as followers of Newman. 
 Pattison : see his Memoirs, p. 177. 2 In the case of Jenkyns him- 
 
 The Master, Jenkyns, was a stern self (so tradition says), 
 foe to innovations ; Tait's ante- 3 A contemporary letter names 
 
 cedents were not Anglican ; Scott E. M. Goulburn and John Turner 
 
 and Ward were not originally as ' the persons who with great 
 
 Balliol men; and neither Ward difficulty induced him to en-
 
 62 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, in 
 
 said also that when speaking of this pupil to his brother 
 electors, he often used the words non res sed spes (promise not 
 performance) l . 
 
 Jowett was out of College when the result was 
 declared. The names had been read out in Chapel, and 
 the Master and Fellows were waiting to confirm the 
 election. Jowett was not forthcoming. Men rushed to 
 his rooms and the rooms of his friends. He was not to 
 be found. ~W. Jenkins, the Blundell Scholar 2 , by whom 
 this incident is told, ' chanced to be going out of College, 
 and when the gate was opened ran full tilt against him.' 
 ' Jowett,' he exclaimed, ' you are elected.' ' Nonsense,' was 
 the answer. ' You are elected, they are waiting for you 
 in the Chapel.' Even then he could hardly be persuaded 
 till on his entering the gate other friends confirmed 
 the tidings. 
 
 The spirit in which Jowett took his success appears 
 from the letter which he wrote to his father at the 
 time. It has been preserved in a long epistle of 
 Mr. Jowett's to Mrs. Irwin in Australia, to whom he 
 confides what was probably hidden from those more 
 nearly concerned, his exultant pride and delight in the 
 success of his son, and the ambitious dreams which it 
 awakened in him ; but also his fear of spiritual dangers 
 which this might involve to Benjamin. There is no 
 trace, as yet, of any constraint in the intercourse between 
 the father and the son. 
 
 BALLIOL COLLEGE, Friday Morning. 
 MY DEAREST FATHER, 
 
 You will be amazed and delighted to hear that I have 
 been elected a Fellow of Balliol. There were four vacancies, 
 
 roll his name among the can- his colleague in the work of Greek 
 
 didates.' lexicography. Liddell then heard 
 
 1 Immediately after the elec- of Jowett for the first time, 
 tion Scott reported the fact to z Late Rector of Fillingham.
 
 1836-1840] The Balliol Fellowship 63 
 
 and the four successful candidates are Woollcombe of Oriel, 
 Lonsdale, Lake, and myself. The whole number of candidates 
 was twenty-nine ; of whom about eighteen had taken a First 
 Class. I can never be sufficiently thankful to Providence for 
 giving me the ability to obtain it, or for putting it into their 
 minds to give it me. The expenses of getting in here are 
 about .35. What the value of the Fellowship is during the 
 probationary year I do not know, probably about 60 a year, 
 and afterwards nearly 200. Scott (one of the Tutors) has, 
 with his usual kindness, advanced me the money of his own 
 accord. If repaid in a month it will be sufficient. Pray write 
 to me by return of post, as your joy at my success is half the 
 joy of having succeeded. 
 
 I am sorry to think of the unsuccessful candidates. One 
 man whom they rejected, Wickens, is probably the ablest man 
 in the University, and I should think facile princeps in the 
 examination. The Master confesses that the only ground for 
 it was his irregularity, not in moral conduct but in matters 
 of discipline, when an undergraduate 1 . For Holden, whom 
 you remember, I am also exceedingly sorry ; he wrote a most 
 affecting letter to Wickens which the latter showed me this 
 morning. He said he could not but feel being beaten by one 
 to whom he had been in the stead of a Tutor, ' the old man 
 beaten by the boy.' Street's brother is another of the rejected 
 candidates. I fear I must conclude, as I am engaged for a walk 
 with Massie, &c. &c. 
 
 Believe me, 
 
 Yours affectionately, 
 
 B. JOWETT. 
 
 PS. I should have written last night, but was really unable. 
 A few lines to Mamma I scribbled off, but was sent for before 
 
 1 Dr. Richard Congreve, who quoted repartee : Dr Jenkyns. 
 
 knew Wickens ' at home,' tells me ' Mr. Wickens, I never stand at 
 
 that the Master said to the disap- my window, but I see you passing.' 
 
 pointed candidate, 'Mr. Wickens, Wickens. ' Indeed, Master, I never 
 
 we have elected in preference to pass but I see you standing at the 
 
 you a little child.' Wickens is window.' 
 the accredited author of the often-
 
 64 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, in 
 
 I had finished them. Eemember me to Mr. Turner, Johannes, 
 Aunt Courthope, Uncle, and all others. 
 
 That his letter to his mother should have remained 
 unfinished is not wonderful, considering the excitement 
 which his election had caused amongst his comrades. 
 This is recorded in a letter from James Sandham, 
 Commoner of St. John's (also transcribed by the glad 
 father) : 
 
 'Nothing has been talked about here so much for a long 
 time. It is thought to be, as it is, a most wonderful achieve- 
 ment. "Little Jowett" was nearly pulled to pieces when his 
 success was known ; one man shaking his hand with all his 
 might and two or three others contending for the other, till at 
 last, being hoisted above their heads, he was carried in triumph 
 round the quadrangle V 
 
 When Jowett was Vice-Chancellor, one of his con- 
 temporaries whom he happened to be entertaining at 
 luncheon said, referring to this election, ' I then thought 
 you four the happiest people going.' ' So we were,' said 
 the Master in a cheerful tone. 
 
 A word may be added here a propos of ' little Jowett.' 
 The undergraduates of his own time seem to have shared 
 this impression with those who twenty years afterwards 
 loved to talk of 'little Benjamin their ruler.' Yet it 
 was only partly justified. Jowett was not ' little ' in the 
 sense in which Dean Stanley and Dean Johnson of Wells 
 were little men. He was really middle-sized, with rather 
 sloping shoulders, and a chest not broad but deep. His 
 boyish countenance, like Milton's, 
 
 'Deceiving the truth 
 That he to manhood was arrived so near,' 
 
 1 Cf. Mr. L. A. Tollemache, as high as he could, and he was 
 Benjamin Jowett, p. 43 : ' He at carried round the quadrangle on 
 once testified his joy by leaping the shoulders of his friends.'
 
 1836-1840] Graduation 65 
 
 his delicate complexion, high-pitched voice, finely taper- 
 ing hands, and small well-moulded feet, contributed to 
 strengthen the illusion. 
 
 By a custom which prevailed for some time after 
 Jowett's election, the lessons in Chapel were read by 
 the two junior Fellows, and the undergraduates were 
 interested and perhaps amused to see this function 
 assumed by one of themselves 1 . 
 
 The Long Vacation of 1839 began sadly. Much of 
 it was spent at home. His sister Ellen, who had long 
 been in failing health, died at Tenby on July i in that 
 year. Jowett's grief was silent but very deep. He wrote 
 of it at the time to his friend Greenhill ; and in more 
 than one letter written during the last years of life he 
 spoke tenderly of those of his family whom he had 
 lost as being never absent from his thoughts. 
 
 The name of Benjamin Jowett appears in the First 
 Class in Literis Humanioribus, Michaelmas Term, 1839, in 
 the same list with Stafford H. Northcote of Balliol, and 
 James Fraser and William Kay, both of Lincoln College. 
 
 Before taking his degree he had engaged in private 
 tuition, and among his first pupils not counting his 
 brothers Alfred and "William Jowett, whom he had 
 tutored in the Long Vacation of 1838 were T. H. Farrer 
 of Balliol 2 , who took honours in Easter Term, 1840, and 
 his brother Oliver, who appeared in the same Class List. 
 
 Lord Farrer's reminiscences contain the best record of 
 the impression which Jowett produced on others at this 
 time, and may fitly conclude the present chapter : 
 
 1 W. L. Newman and Charles to the Fellowship. The Scho- 
 
 S. C. Bowen (Lord Bowen) are the lars' privilege was abolished in 
 
 onlyundergraduate Scholars who, 1857. 
 
 since Jowett, have been elected 2 Lord Farrer. 
 
 VOL. I. F
 
 66 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, in 
 
 ' My first acquaintance with Jowett was as an undergraduate. 
 He gained the Balliol Scholarship in 1835, and I went up to 
 Balliol after Easter in 1837. His youthful person, his round 
 hairless face, which in later years made that mother of nick- 
 names, Mrs. Grote, call him "the cherub 1 "; his low shoes 
 and white stockings ; his brisk, tripping, almost childish gait ; 
 made him a noticeable figure in Balliol quad ; and they are 
 still present to me as a vivid image of what he was in early 
 youth, and the more so since the characteristic features of that 
 image remained traceable in him to the end. He did not 
 at that time, I think, give any promise of the power which 
 he afterwards became. I did not see much of him beyond 
 an occasional walk together, for he joined in no games ; and 
 though never an ascetic, or absorbed, as Clough was, in the 
 theological mists of that polemical time, he was absolutely 
 devoid of athletic propensities, and was I believe too poor 
 then to indulge in the hospitality which in later years was 
 so great a pleasure to him and to his friends. To him, to 
 Brodie, to Hugh Pearson, and one or two others, I owed 
 a mental stimulus which was not to be found in the general 
 healthy, but not intellectual, society of the Eton and Harrow 
 men with whom I mostly lived. Towards the end of my time 
 at Oxford, I lost the good coach Elder with whom I was 
 reading for my degree, and betook me to two Balliol men 
 equally kind, and perhaps equally well-read, but very different 
 in their effects on a pupil's mind. One, who shall be name- 
 less, made Aristotle's Logic as unintelligible to me as confusion 
 of thought in the interpreter can make the work of a great 
 master. The other, Jowett (I really cannot remember what 
 he taught me), managed to make everything he taught sugges- 
 tive and productive of thought. 
 
 ' Indeed, if I were to attempt to characterize in a few words 
 the effect which Jowett's personality had upon me through 
 
 1 She was anticipated, if I mis- Another creator of nicknames, 
 
 take not, by Mr. Edward Pigott Mrs. Ferrier of St. Andrews, used 
 
 in the Leader (weekly) newspaper, to speak of him some years after- 
 
 who wrote of him, in the early wards as the ' little downy owl.'- 
 
 fifties, as 'the middle- aged cherub.' L. C.
 
 1836-1840] Lord Farrer's Reminiscences 67 
 
 life, in our latest visits to one another as well as in those 
 early days at Balliol, I should say that it was stimulating 
 rather than formative. His instruction was not the explana- 
 tion of a system of thought or the communication of cut and 
 dried propositions, but the opening of a vista which you were 
 to follow up yourself. He had the Socratic art of saying to 
 youthful eagerness, "Are you sure you are right?" but of 
 saying it in such a manner as to develop zeal in the pursuit 
 of truth. He discouraged dogmatism, he encouraged thought. 
 Perhaps this temper of mind was at a later period fostered 
 by what I always felt to be his somewhat equivocal position 
 with respect to the Church and Church doctrines ; a relation 
 which, whilst in some respects it gave him great power, I have 
 often wished otherwise. But however this may be, I have 
 always felt from those early undergraduate days down to the last 
 visit I paid him in Balliol in 1893, that his effect on me was one 
 of the most invaluable services one man can render to another, 
 viz. the stimulation of mental and moral energy of cVepyeia 
 1]%$$ K.O.T apeTrjv, and he would have gladly added himself lv 
 /3iu> TcAetw ("in a complete existence"). 
 
 ' I remember at one of the Balliol gatherings of which he 
 was so fond, when going through his old friends in his after- 
 dinner speeches, his referring to those old undergraduate 
 relations between us by saying of me "And then comes my 
 old friend Farrer, of whom I may perhaps say, that something 
 more might have come of him if he had not been my first 
 pupil." I prize those words for their kindness, not for their 
 truth.'
 
 68 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, in 
 
 LETTERS, 1837-1839, 
 
 To "W. A. GKEENHILL. 
 
 COWES, 5 TRAFALGAR PLACE, 
 
 September 15, [1837]. 
 
 ... I went to call on Waldegrave. He was in Ireland with 
 his father's ship, but his mother received me very kindly, 
 so that I was really glad to have had an opportunity of seeing 
 her. She almost did as much to dispel my prejudices against 
 the Evangelicals, as the Welsh clergyman had done to increase 
 them. Indeed I hope I see more and more the necessity of 
 not proscribing any order of men, however widely we may 
 differ from them in opinion. 
 
 There is a text very often quoted which it is hard to realize 
 in its full meaning 'they that do the works shall know of 
 the doctrine.' In the present state of the Christian world, 
 especially at Oxford, it is a great consolation to think of this, 
 if we do but begin at the right end by doing our duty first. 
 
 To "W. A. GREENHILL. 
 
 ILFRACOMBE, August 26, 1838. 
 
 You will be surprised at receiving this letter from me 
 from the place from which it is written, but before I tell you 
 anything about my doings, I must beg you to forgive my 
 long silence, which has been caused by close employment 
 in reading, and teaching my two brothers. 
 
 Whether you think this apology sufficient or no, I most 
 sincerely hope that you will not interpret my neglect into 
 unkindness or ingratitude. 
 
 You do not like my saying much on the latter head the 
 obligation to you which I have never sufficiently felt, and 
 in comparison with which all your other kindness however
 
 Letters, 1831-1839 69 
 
 great is as nothing I mean your endeavour to keep me in 
 the right way 1 . 
 
 ... I came here three days since, and shall remain till the 
 end of the week. Before I leave I purpose walking along 
 the coast to Clovelly and back again, and from Linton to Bridg- 
 water. We had a terrible passage here by the steamer, which, 
 although the distance is but 80 miles, lasted two days. After 
 lying to the greater part of the first day we attempted to 
 proceed in the evening, but had not gone above a mile when 
 we were struck by a Welsh steamer. The carrying away of 
 the figurehead was the only injury we received, but as the sea 
 was running high the captain was afraid to proceed. We 
 arrived here after a stormy passage at six o'clock the next day. 
 
 . . . Speaking of Newman, there is an article in the last 
 Edinburgh on the life of Froude 2 in which, though gross in- 
 justice is done to the subject of it, there are some striking 
 and useful remarks. It is evidently written by a religious 
 man, and would I think please, and certainly not displease 
 you. How full religious people's minds are of what they 
 term the popery of Oxford their violence against it being 
 in exact proportion to their ignorance. I do not either agree 
 with or understand many of Newman's principles, but cannot 
 help thinking that they will have on the whole a salutary 
 influence on the Protestant Church in bringing back men's 
 minds to a class of duties which have been too much neglected. 
 I fancy that in the ordinary divinity of the day, far too much 
 stress is laid on words ; there is a sort of theological slang, 
 if I may be excused the expression, a religious phraseology, 
 in laying aside which you are supposed to be undermining 
 
 1 More than fifty years after days, and had troubles to which 
 
 this, in writing to Dr. Greenhill, I was unequal, though I ought 
 
 who had congratulated him on not to have been so. ... This 
 
 his recovery from the almost fatal College has been a haven to me 
 
 illness of 1891, he referred to for fifty-six, or, since I gained 
 
 their intercourse at this time : a Fellowship, fifty-three years.' 
 ' I shall always remember with 2 Edinburgh Review for July, 
 
 gratitude your great kindness to 1838, 'Remains of Richard Hurrell 
 
 me when I was a youth. I was Froude.' 
 very weak and wayward in those
 
 70 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, in 
 
 the fundamentals of the Christian Faith. Thus, if you do 
 not draw a very distinct line between faith and works you 
 are supposed to be unsound in doctrine, a distinction which 
 seems to me to have arisen very much from a wrong applica- 
 tion of St. Paul's words, referring to the works of the law 
 and the principles of the Gospel, an opposition which I do not 
 understand when applied to the faith and practice of the 
 Christian covenant. 
 
 St. Paul's was not, I think, decided when you left. Kynaston 
 was the successful candidate 1 . One circumstance gave me 
 great pleasure. I was assured by an impartial person, that 
 by far the best testimonial sent in was one for Massie, given 
 by the Bishop of Llandaff without his application or knowledge. 
 
 To "W. A. GREENSILL. 
 
 TENBY, July 2, 1839, Tuesday Morning. 
 
 I should have written to you before this, but the two last 
 days have been so full of trouble and anxiety that I am sure 
 you will excuse it. 
 
 My beloved sister is gone to her rest, nevermore to be 
 disturbed by the cares and sorrows of this sinful world. The 
 last two days of her life, it was the saddest scene I ever 
 witnessed. At the beginning of the week there had been 
 a great improvement, all symptoms of the disease having sub- 
 sided. On Saturday morning a great change took place and 
 the last struggle began. I am most thankful it is now all 
 over ; although I never saw death before, I do not think it can 
 be often seen in so dreadful a form. 
 
 From the very beginning of her illness, with far more to 
 attach her to life than most young persons, she did not wish 
 to recover. We dwell very much on everything she said, 
 as, from her being almost insensible during the last few weeks, 
 she was unable to bear much testimony to the power of 
 religion. While in health she read the Scriptures and prayed 
 regularly, latterly visiting among the poor, and this gives me 
 a far surer confidence than a few rapturous expressions on 
 
 1 Kynaston succeeded Sleath as High Master of St. Paul's School, 
 in June, 1838.
 
 Letters, 1837-1839 71 
 
 a death-bed would have done. On Sunday afternoon she 
 became more sensible, and after reading two prayers from the 
 Visitation of the Sick I asked her if she felt happy ; she replied 
 faintly that she did. I asked her to assure my mother that 
 she was so (as the latter had made herself needlessly unhappy 
 about it). She said she could hardly venture to do so. On 
 Saturday, when in the greatest pain of body, she remembered 
 the servant girl who waited upon her, requesting my elder 
 sister to talk to her and have her taught to read the Scriptures. 
 I could tell you a great deal more about her, but my heart 
 is too full to go on. When I remember her form and dis- 
 position, such as I never saw united in any one else, I feel 
 persuaded that I can never again be so happy as I was before. 
 I do not repine against Providence, but pray God that the 
 scene of the last few days may for ever dwell in my mind 
 and be a continual motive to love and serve Him. To me 
 who feel my own weakness more and more contemptible, her 
 strength of mind was quite extraordinary. But I feel I am 
 running away into what I can hardly trust myself to speak 
 of. Out of a family of nine there are now only five remaining, 
 and I thank God that He has hitherto been pleased to take 
 those who were best fitted to serve Him in heaven. 
 
 Since these pages were in type, the following entry from the 
 Balliol Boat Club Records has been supplied by the kindness of the 
 Hon. A. Henley and Mr. A. L. Smith : 
 
 Saturday, June 2, 1838. Sculling sweepstakes at as. 6d. each, at 
 2 o'clock, from the top of the Long Reach, round the Island, up to Iffley. 
 Order in rows, numbered as they came in. 
 
 I 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 C. Sumner 
 
 II 
 
 Moberly 
 
 17 
 
 Davy 
 
 18 
 
 Estcourt 
 
 8 
 
 Powya 
 
 Swayne 
 
 12 
 
 Garnett 
 
 7 
 
 J. Sumner 
 
 13 
 
 Trower 
 
 9 
 
 T. Farrer 
 
 Jowett 
 
 14 
 
 Brodie 
 
 16 
 
 E. Hobhouse 15 
 
 Holbeck 
 
 3 
 
 Pocock 
 
 Moncrieff 
 
 2 
 
 Hardinge 
 
 19 
 
 
 
 E. Hobhouse 
 
 S 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Northcote 
 
 6 
 
 
 ist Prize, 2 IDS. ; 2nd Prize, i xos. ; 3rd Prize, i ; 4th, recovered stake. 
 Each row had an umpire, who arranged by lot the place of his men the 
 starting-posts 10 paces apart boats started with their heads level with 
 the post. 
 
 N.B. 10 paces seemed barely enough.
 
 CHAPTEE IV 
 
 FELLOW AND TUTOB OF BALLIOL. 1840-1846 
 
 (Aet. 23-29) 
 
 W. G. WARD and A. P. Stanley Tract XC and the Thirty-nine 
 Articles First foreign tour The Decade Assistant Tutorship 
 Ordination The Paris libraries Appointment as Tutor (1842) 
 College business With Stanley in Germany Hegel and Schelling 
 Degradation of Ward Action of the 'Oxford Liberals' Projected 
 work on the New Testament Archdeacon Palmer's reminiscences 
 Letters. 
 
 nriHE years from 1840 onwards, though outwardly 
 * uneventful, were fertile in consequences. Jowett's 
 increasing intercourse with Ward and Stanley, both of 
 whom in different ways were leaders of the theological 
 agitation then at its height, the commencement of his 
 Tutorship, his own independent studies and reflections, to 
 which the prospect of Ordination gave practical signifi- 
 cance all tended to promote the growth and con- 
 solidation of his mind. Friendships with younger 
 men were also formed, which lasted to his latest breath. 
 Through Stanley he already came into contact with the 
 great world. An influence of which no one anticipated 
 the extent or depth had its commencement here. 
 
 In the years which immediately followed his degree 
 he seems to have spent part of the vacations in solitary
 
 William George Ward 73 
 
 rambles ; accepting lifts from bagmen, stopping at way- 
 side inns, visiting Cathedral towns, and conversing with 
 all and sundry as occasion served him. His familiar 
 knowledge of English topography often surprised those 
 who had only known him in the retirement of his study. 
 
 Meanwhile in his own case that 'other work of 
 education - 1 ' of which he wrote in 1860 had begun. This 
 may be roughly dated from the completion of his Latin 
 Essay, which won the Chancellor's Prize in the spring of 
 1841. Stanley's efforts in favour of a large toleration had 
 his entire sympathy, and their intercourse, even in the 
 earlier years of Jowett's Fellowship, was pretty constant. 
 But a more intense albeit temporary influence was 
 working within the walls of Balliol. The strange and 
 powerful individuality of William George Ward had 
 not yet taken its final bent, and the communication 
 of his questionings and mental struggles in many 
 a dialectic argument produced a strong effect upon 
 young Jowett's mind. To Ward more than to any 
 other man he probably owed his first initiation into meta- 
 physical inquiry. It is true that the Scotchmen, 
 especially John Campbell Shairp 2 , brought with them 
 some Kantian enthusiasm, and that the prose writings 
 of S. T. Coleridge were already attracting attention in 
 Oxford ; but the fervid and incessant talk of a senior 
 
 1 'As he grows older he mixes St. Paul, 3rd edition, vol. ii. 
 
 more and more with others ; first p. 57. 
 
 with one or two who have great 2 Principal Shairp used to tell 
 
 influence in the direction of how he had brought with him 
 
 his mind. At length the world from Glasgow a copy of Kant's 
 
 opens upon him ; another work Metaphysic of Ethic (probably in 
 
 of education begins; and he Semple's translation) and lent it 
 
 learns to discern more truly the to Jowett, who afterwards went 
 
 meaning of things and his rela- stamping about the quadrangle, 
 
 tion to men in general.' 'Essay as if to assure himself that the 
 
 on Interpretation,' Epistles of solid earth was beneath his feet.
 
 74 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, iv 
 
 colleague so vivacious as Ward must have been far 
 more influential. In a conversational intercourse that 
 never flagged, difficulties raised by Bentham, John Stuart 
 Mill, or Auguste Comte were laid by the authority of 
 the Fathers. Such were the strange cross-currents of the 
 time. Years afterwards Jowett used to speak of Ward 
 as a kind of Silenus-Socrates, whose delight it was to 
 deliver young men of their doubts. For a brief while 
 his influence drew Jowett powerfully in the direction of 
 Newmanism *. 
 
 'I sometimes think,' said Jowett once (about 1856), 'that 
 but for some divine providence I might have become a Eoman 
 Catholic. I had resolved to read through the Fathers, and 
 if I found Puseyism there I was to become a Puseyite. It is 
 not unlikely that I might have found it, but before I had gone 
 through my task the vacation ended, and on returning to 
 Oxford we found that Ward was going to be married ! After 
 that the Tractarian impulse subsided, and while some of us 
 took to German Philosophy, others turned to lobster suppers 
 and champagne. They called that "being unworldly." ' 
 
 Those words were lightly spoken, and at a later time. 
 But in the early years of his Fellowship, with Ordination 
 in prospect, theological difficulties had a serious practical 
 import, especially in connexion with the then burning 
 question of the meaning of Subscription. Tract XC 
 
 1 Some years after this, January, us German, and who considers 
 
 1849, he wrote to Stanley from human nature to be a sign of in- 
 
 Bonn, with reference to young terrogation which finds its answer 
 
 Cruickshank (see above, p. 21) : in the Church : and the other, 
 
 ' I think there are two classes just the opposite class of persons, 
 
 of persons who turn Roman whose feelings are too deep for 
 
 Catholics : one, the rationalizers them ever to get on in the 
 
 like Capes and Ward, of whom my highways of the world, and who 
 
 present type is a student or rather find the Church a home for the 
 
 Ph. D. who comes here to teach lonely.'
 
 1840-1846] Tract XC and Subscription 75 
 
 appeared on January 25, 1841, and was immediately 
 followed by an outburst of controversy. Jowett had 
 formed the habit, recommended by Locke, of tabulating 
 reasons for and against disputed propositions ; and on 
 May 20 of this year he began a series of notes on the 
 question of Subscription, which still remain amongst 
 his papers. They are in pencil, and in a neat upright 
 hand, not unlike that of his sister Emily. While 
 reflecting much of the intellectual perplexity that was 
 rife in the Oxford of that day, these observations, which 
 would occupy about four pages of small print, bear also 
 the clear impress of an independent and finely balanced 
 mind, and of the intrepid determination to thrash out 
 the subject, not blinking any aspect of it, and to reach 
 a decisive judgement as a basis of action. On the whole 
 he seems to have been at the moment in favour of getting 
 the Articles simplified and reimposed by the authority 
 of the State. 
 
 ' This seems really the practical thing to struggle for. If it 
 be said, it would drive many good men from the Church, it can 
 only be replied, that good men were driven out at the Restora- 
 tion, and that we are apt to estimate the evil to religion by the 
 extent of evil to our personal friends. . . .' 
 
 ' The Articles may include as many as they do now only 
 without danger to men's consciences those which are am- 
 biguous now may be omitted the Articles at present are 
 a sort of movable fence which may be shifted as far as you 
 please the restraint they impose is purely imaginary. This 
 ideal restraint may be really useful, until men begin to push 
 at it ; afterwards it is worse than useless.' 
 
 Under the existing conditions it seemed equally im- 
 possible to admit a strict construction or an indefinite 
 latitude. 
 
 ' The original framers were not at one with themselves, or
 
 76 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, iv 
 
 with the second revisers, or with the Convocation which 
 sanctioned, or with the last revisers who put forth the 
 Articles.' 
 
 'It may be said "Why not take them, as all good men do, 
 in their obvious sense ? " Because this is impossible. The 
 Articles are irreconcilable with the Liturgy if both are taken 
 in their most obvious sense : both being equally imposed on 
 the clergy.' 
 
 'Again, it may not be denied that some licence is allowable 
 it cannot be supposed that all the propositions in the Articles 
 were to be taken in their fullest sense. But where can we 
 draw the line about this licence, especially as every man sees 
 the Articles through his own spectacles ? ' 
 
 Once more, supposing the Articles to be imposed by the 
 State 
 
 ' We should be only obliged to take the test in the letter as 
 we should obey a law. . . . No one can say we are bound to 
 carry out in its full spirit a law we conceive to be indefensible. ' 
 
 These notes are immediately followed by other dis- 
 cussions, which throw considerable light on this transition 
 phase of a cautiously comprehensive mind. 
 
 On the Relation of Tradition to Scripture. 
 
 1 There seem to be several views on this subject. 
 
 * i. Of the extreme ultra-Protestant, who takes the Bible 
 and the Bible alone, without note or comment either of Fathers 
 or any one else, and professes that by the agency of prayer and 
 of the Holy Spirit he shall be guided into all truth. 
 
 ' He would urge that the most ignorant people are capable 
 of receiving the saving truths of the Gospel and getting 
 comfort from them. And most truly so : but it must be 
 remembered as one of the most wonderful parts of Christianity 
 that it is a scheme which adapts itself not only to different 
 ages, but to different ranks of mind and education. The poor 
 man does not need a complete doctrinal system, and therefore
 
 1840-1846] Theological Notes, 1841 77 
 
 does not want the helps towards forming them from Scripture * ; 
 but the educated man does, and ought to, form such 
 a system. Further, it is impossible to say how much all men 
 through very different channels get of tradition. 
 
 1 2. Of those who consider the Bible as the only inspired 
 writing, but think that for the right understanding of it 
 the same ordinary assistances are required as for the under- 
 standing any other moral or religious system. 
 
 ' (The second view would give quite a sufficient authority for 
 all the doctrines and observances of the English Church.) 
 
 '3. Of the Anglican, who holds the Bible to be in the 
 highest sense inspired, but that the oral teaching of the 
 Apostles has been preserved by the Fathers of the Church, 
 whose writings, for this reason, have a claim to a secondary 
 kind of inspiration. That their only authority springs from the 
 preservation of Apostolical fragments, and that one only test 
 of this original doctrine is its catholicity " Quod semper, quod 
 ubique, quod apud omnes " counting the first three centuries 
 as preferable to all others, because nearer the fountain-head. 
 
 1 (The objection to this view seems to be the doubt whether 
 such genuine remains can be traced ; they would be rather 
 found in the form of the Church itself than in creeds and 
 writings.) 
 
 ' 4. The view of the Eomanist, that the decrees of the Church 
 represented by the Pope and a general Council (says the 
 [Cismontane] ), of the Pope singly (says the Ultramontane), 
 are the sole authority for the interpretation of Scripture, as 
 well as an independent source from which new truth may flow. 
 
 ' 5. There is an opinion which may be placed between these 
 two, which denies the co-ordinate authority of the Church, 
 but places no limit to the interpretation of Scripture. The 
 Church may draw an important truth from a metaphor, 
 a similitude, a single word, any of the various senses which 
 a particular passage might be made to bear. This seems only 
 to differ from the former view in being dishonest ; it has the 
 appearance of reverence to Scripture while it only perverts it. 
 
 1 This sympathy with the re- feature which reappears promi- 
 ligious wants of the poor is a nently in the book on St. Paul.
 
 78 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, iv 
 
 It may prove purgatory from "every sacrifice, &c.," papal 
 supremacy from the two swords of Peter, &c. This is a very 
 different thing from the use of Scripture to prove Episcopacy. 
 
 ' (Anglo-Catholic says that his view differs in an important 
 respect from the papist, because it leads to the study of 
 Scripture. Such a view would be grounded chiefly on the 
 interpretation of the Old Testament by St. Paul and the 
 practice of the early Fathers. 
 
 ' It might be urged against the Romanist that he gives much 
 less weight to S. S. 1 than the early Fathers, to which he would 
 reply that S. S. stands in a much less important place in 
 respect to the whole body of revealed truth, now than then.) ' 
 
 These notes sufficiently indicate his attitude at the 
 moment towards the Tractarian School. Another entry, 
 ' On Strauss's Theory of Christianity,' shows how far his 
 mind was opening to speculations of a different nature. 
 
 ' Strauss considers Christianity to have been the offspring 
 of a mythical age, enlightened indeed by revelation but forming 
 a slender groundwork of facts into a mythic history. (The 
 a priori truth which is supposed to be self-evident and 
 which all these systems are intended to support is the 
 subordination of Christianity to German philosophy.) A male- 
 factor named Christ who was put to death for religious 
 enthusiasm might undoubtedly have existed ; he was brought 
 into the mythic scheme of the Jews, just as Xuthus into 
 the Pelasgic mythology, but the attributes given to him 
 were not those of a person but of a principle : he became the 
 embodied representative of a new system of belief. (Note. 
 A much more plausible theory would speak of Christianity 
 as an inspired myth.) The Gospels were written many years 
 after his death : they are full of miracles and supernatural 
 appearances which the common sense of mankind has agreed 
 to reject. Moreover they bear traces of two schools of mythic 
 lore, a Jewish and a Greek, and for this reason are as full 
 of discrepancies as any confused mythology of the Ancients. 
 The doctrines are the dry core of truth which they contain. 
 
 1 Scriptura Sancta.
 
 1840-1846] Influence of W. G. Ward 79 
 
 These may be separated from the facts, as they rest too 
 upon an internal evidence which the other cannot have.' 
 
 A brief note on the evidence of prophecy 1 further 
 indicates the direction in which his thoughts were 
 moving : 
 
 'It is worth while considering in what the real evidence 
 from prophecy consists not certainly in the exact fulfilment 
 of minute details giving occasion for all sorts of phantasies 
 a la Prideaux and Newton, nor in the application of most 
 of them (except those referring to our Lord) to a particular 
 individual or time ; but in their general applicability to the 
 Phenomena of the world in these latter days. They may 
 be interpreted on large and liberal principles, as the words of 
 Him " with whom a thousand days are as one day, and one day 
 as a thousand years." 
 
 The same note-book contains the heads of similar dis- 
 cussions on 'The Respect due to our Mother Church,' 
 ' Prayers for the Dead,' ' Transubstantiation,' ' Internal 
 and External Evidence,' ' Romanism and Rationalism V 
 ' Romanism and Evangelicism,' ' The Patristic System,' 
 1 The Power of the Keys,' ' Absolution,' ' The Via Media,' 
 &c., all showing the drift of his thoughts and the resolu- 
 tion to let no doctrine pass unchallenged. It is evident 
 that when, through his intercourse with Ward, he was 
 most powerfully drawn towards Tractarianism 3 , he was 
 thinking actively and independently. The attraction 
 was a strong one, however. "Ward's influence in stimu- 
 lating theological inquiry was not the less poignant and 
 invasive, because of the many-sided activity of his 
 
 1 Cf. Remains of Rev. J. Davison, other of German Philosophy.' 
 author of Discourses on Prophecy. 3 There is little evidence of 
 
 2 'Both Romanism and Ra- Jowett's having ever come directly 
 tionalism are founded in a great under the spell which in these 
 measure on metaphysical specula- years J. H. Newman exercised 
 tions, one of the Schoolmen, the over many minds.
 
 8o Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, iv 
 
 intellect. Readers of that delightful book William 
 George Ward and the Oxford Movement will not readily 
 forget either Professor Jowett's recollections therein 
 embodied (pp. 112-114, 428, 439) or the picture of "Ward 
 as improvising a ballet d action, in which he impersonated 
 the Master (Jenkyns), mimicking the well-known voice 
 and demeanour and ' pirouetting V 
 
 It was probably to one who literally could have 
 ' acted Falstaff without padding,' that Jowett owed his 
 more intimate acquaintance with Shakespeare which 
 began about this time. He certainly always knew his 
 Shakespeare best upon the comic side, seldom quoting 
 any serious passages except from the Tempest 2 , and now 
 and then a familiar phrase from Hamlet or Macbeth. 
 His junior contemporary John Duke Coleridge was also 
 noted as a Shakespearian scholar and reciter. But the 
 enthusiasm of Coleridge, Shairp, and other friends for 
 "Wordsworth 3 and Tennyson, had in these earlier days 
 little effect on Jowett. 
 
 After long separation, he met his old friend at Fresh- 
 water, in the Isle of Wight : this was about 1868, during 
 one of his many visits to Farringford. He was delighted, 
 
 1 W. G. Ward, fyc., p. 40. 2 On September 5, 1846, he 
 
 Jowett's words to Stanley a year wrote to E. R. W. Lingen : ' I 
 
 or two after Ward's admission to have been reading Shakespeare 
 
 the Church of Rome, call up a pic- daily. The Tempest strikes me 
 
 ture of the man : ' I cannot resist as one of the most remarkable 
 
 the charms of the fat fellow when- and least understood plays. Is 
 
 ever I get into his company. You it not a sort of English Faust ? ' 
 like him as you like a Newfound- 3 He said of one who was 
 
 land dog. He is such a large, known amongst his comrades as 
 
 jolly, shaggy creature. Though he 'the poet' (1846): 'He is a very 
 
 is not yet changed into an Italian clever fellow and with consider- 
 
 greyhound, the shagginess is be- able powers of mind, but obscured 
 
 ginning to wear off with the in- a little by the haze of Emerson 
 
 fluences of a Southern climate.' and Wordsworth.'
 
 1840-1846] The Decade 81 
 
 as lie told me, to find that his former comrade cherished 
 warmly the recollection of earlier days. Mr. Lecky, who 
 was present, witnessed the joyous eagerness of their re- 
 greetings. 
 
 'He (Ward) reminded me,' says Jowett, 'that I charged him 
 with shallow logic, and that he retorted on me with "misty 
 metaphysics." This perhaps was not an unfair account of 
 the state of the controversy between us 1 .' 
 
 An outlet for the intellectual activity with which 
 Jowett was brimming over at this time was afforded by 
 a small debating society called the Decade. This is 
 mentioned in a letter of George Butler's in 1841 2 , which 
 throws a welcome light on Jowett's relations with other 
 contemporaries and on his position in the University. 
 It appears that Jowett had proposed that Butler should 
 be a member of this little club. 
 
 ' I see Jowett occasionally ; I like him very much. He 
 is very quiet in manner, and does not show off to advantage 
 in a roomful of men, but he is a very agreeable companion. 
 He has made me an exceedingly kind offer, which I think 
 you would like me to accept. He is a member of a debating 
 society called the " Decade." I think there are twelve members 
 now. They meet at each other's rooms for discussion on 
 a subject previously announced. Among the members are 
 Jowett himself, Lake (a Fellow of Balliol), Arthur Stanley (son 
 of Bishop Stanley and Fellow of University College), Coleridge, 
 Prichard, Matthew Arnold (eldest son of Dr. Arnold), Blackett s , 
 and a few others. They elect members without their know- 
 ledge, and then ask them to join the society, which precludes 
 all canvassing. I am pleased beyond measure at the prospect 
 of getting into such an excellent set, consisting, as you may 
 see, of the picked men of the University.' 
 
 1 W. G. Ward, $c., p. 438. 8 John F. B. Blackett, Fellow 
 
 2 Recollections of George Butler of Merton, afterwards M.P. for 
 by Ms wife, Josephine Butler, p. 31. Newcastle. He died in 1856. 
 
 VOL. I. G
 
 82 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, iv 
 
 In the summer of 1841, Jowett made what seems to 
 have been his first foreign tour, in company with a friend 
 whose initials are J. P. Entering the Continent at 
 Ostend, they visited Antwerp, Brussels, Malines, Grhent, 
 Liege, and other Cathedral towns in Belgium, Treves and 
 the valley of the Moselle, Coblentz, the Khine, Mayence, 
 and Heidelberg. He makes careful notes of the archi- 
 tecture of the Cathedrals, the sculptures in wood and 
 marble, the chief pictures, and the religious habits of 
 the people ; also of the Roman remains at Treves ; and 
 he gives a picturesque description of the scenery of 
 the Moselle. He had already commenced the serious 
 study of Political Economy, and one page is filled 
 with observations ' On the state of the poor Schwal- 
 bach.' On another page there is a list of works on 
 Political Economy to be got for the College Library, and 
 also a series of acute general remarks on the New 
 Science, on the Industrial Revolution which had given 
 rise to it, on the importance of the subject, its relation 
 to morality, and the uncertainties attending it. 
 
 Two extracts from the notes of this tour may serve 
 to show how his speculative thoughts were balanced 
 with an active habit of intelligent observation : 
 
 ' The Moselle, a muddy, rapid stream running between hills 
 clad with vines and underwood sometimes rugged and pre- 
 cipitous sometimes shelving down in layers to the water's 
 edge at others opening into a sort of amphitheatre, at the 
 foot of which the river takes its winding course. In many 
 places it has the appearance of a lake seeming to spring from 
 the successive ranges of hills which cross one another until 
 lost in the vista. Sometimes scenery varied by the cornfields 
 which wave on the very top of the steep. The vines in many 
 places stretch as far as the eye can reach. 
 
 ' Low down on the river the rocks become more craggy and 
 terrible, gradually closing in so as to conceal the river from
 
 1840-1846] Ordination 83 
 
 view : the ruins of old castles raised on eminences greatly 
 increase the picturesqueness of the scene. 
 
 ' Another feature of the river is the villages with which the 
 bank is studded each with its church and school and picturesque 
 houses with wooden. frameworks.' 
 
 ' The Church of St. Paulinus (Treves). Italian architecture, 
 the sides of the interior ornamented with pilasters terminated 
 by coloured capitals with projecting entablature, intended to 
 harmonize with the painted roof, a very curious piece of work 
 executed about a hundred years ago. It is intended to represent 
 the martyrdom of 40,000 Christians who perished at Treves in 
 the Diocletian persecution. At one end of the picture the work of 
 slaughter has commenced, the waters of the Rhine are flowing 
 red : about the centre Christ and the Father are represented 
 with the cross.' 
 
 When he returned to Balliol in October, 1841, although 
 not yet Tutor, he began to take a share in the teaching 
 of the College. This is evidenced by notes for lectures 
 on Aristotle and Butler, long strings of questions, and 
 subjects for essays, and other hints for classical in- 
 struction, in the note-book of which so much has here 
 been said. He appears as 'Assistant Tutor' in the 
 Oxford Calendar of 1842 (brought up to date for 
 December, 1841). 
 
 In 1842 he took Deacon's Orders. From the dry light 
 of speculation which shines through the disquisitions 
 above quoted, it is not to be inferred that, at this 
 time, his emotional nature was not also deeply stirred. 
 The truth comes out in his letters to his friend Greenhill 
 (inserted at the end of this chapter), with whom for 
 a time he seems to have indulged in an interchange of 
 ' religious sympathy.' There are traces in them of some 
 inequalities of health and spirits perhaps also of inward 
 struggles. 
 
 G 2
 
 84 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, iv 
 
 A sentence in the letter from Bonn, June 28, 1842 1 , 
 in which he deprecates further correspondence on this 
 subject, is characteristic and biographically important. 
 
 Like every act of his life, his Ordination vows were 
 realized by him with deep intensity. This was mani- 
 fested not only by increasing devotion to his pupils, 
 but by single incidents, in which he boldly broke through 
 conventionality, in accordance with the spirit of his 
 profession, and overcame his natural shyness. 
 
 From that moment, and to the end of his life, he was 
 in the truest sense a ' son of consolation.' 
 
 Sir Henry Acland has favoured us with the following 
 account of a fact in his own experience which exemplifies 
 this : 
 
 'I first saw Mr. Jowett in 1844 at the country house of 
 Sir Benjamin Brodie (Betchworth, Surrey 2 ), the grandfather 
 of the present Baronet. 
 
 ' Mr. Jowett was a close friend of the eldest son, afterwards 
 Professor of Chemistry here, and was on a visit to Sir Benjamin. 
 I was weak and ill, and one night when Jowett heard I was 
 sleepless, he came quietly into my room, sat by the bedside, 
 and said in that small voice, once heard never to be forgotten, 
 " You are very unwell, I will read to you " : and he read in the 
 same voice the fourteenth chapter of St. John, and said, " I hope 
 you will feel better," and went away, and often, often have 
 I thought of this during Oxford controversies.' 
 
 His sense of his vocation in another aspect may be 
 illustrated by the following anecdote. When staying at 
 a country house, amongst men of great literary reputation, 
 when the host, then but slightly known to him, made 
 use of some Rabelaisian expression unaware perhaps 
 for the moment that he was entertaining a clergyman 
 
 1 See p. 109. Brodie, M.D., the first baronet, 
 
 2 Broome Park, Betchworth, who died there in 1862. 
 Surrey, was the seat of Sir B.
 
 1840-1846] Religious Attitude 85 
 
 Jowett said quite simply, ' Mr. - , I do not think myself 
 better than you, but I feel bound to disapprove of that 
 remark.' This attitude was maintained consistently in 
 later life, but with differences of method, in accordance 
 with his increasing knowledge of men and things. At 
 a Scotch shooting lodge, somewhere in the sixties, he 
 insisted on going down to the smoking-room with the 
 others at a late hour, and when the conversation of the 
 younger men took a doubtful turn, the small voice that 
 had been silent hitherto, was suddenly heard ' There is 
 more dirt than wit in that story, I think.' Once again, 
 in the eighties, when at Balliol after dinner some old 
 companion ventured on dangerous ground, he quietly 
 said, ' Shall we continue this conversation with the 
 ladies ? ' and rose to go 1 . 
 
 From this epoch also may be dated a marked ex- 
 pansion of that cheerful helpfulness which had always 
 characterized him, but received a new impulse from 
 his Ordination vow. No minister of Christ ever more 
 fully realized the precepts, 'Strengthen thy brethren,' 
 ' Support the weak,' ' It is more blessed to give than to 
 receive.' Many of his best thoughts on Law, Political 
 Economy, Statesmanship, the management of an estate, 
 the conduct of a public office, were drawn from him by 
 his practical sympathy with friends whose position was 
 most unlike his own, and whose opportunities, difficulties, 
 and responsibilities he sought to understand in order to 
 advise them better. His own work, already sufficiently 
 heavy, was often multiplied by taking on himself the 
 duties of others who were temporarily disabled. 
 
 A letter to B. C. Brodie, written in October, 1844, shows 
 his feeling on the subject of religion in the years following 
 his Ordination. Brodie's scientific studies had led him 
 1 Cf. Benjamin Jowett, by L. A. Tollemache, p. 116.
 
 86 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, iv 
 
 to express opinions which to Jowett's mind savoured 
 of materialism : 
 
 ' What appears to me to make the greatest gulph between 
 us, is not your taking a rationalistic or mythic view of the 
 Bible, or difficulties about miracles, or even prayer, but that 
 you do not leave any place for religion at all, so that although 
 you may hold the being of God as the Author of the Universe, 
 I do not see how you would be worse off morally if Atheism 
 were proved to demonstration. What would you lose but 
 a little poetry, which is a very weak motive to holiness of 
 life ? And having shut yourself out from any moral relation 
 to God as an incentive to Duty, does this moral Atheism 
 satisfy human nature ? ' 
 
 Behind all ecclesiastical obligations, all speculative 
 difficulties, were the realities in which he afterwards 
 summed up the influences of religion ' the Power of 
 God, the Love of Christ, the efficacy of Prayer 1 .' 
 
 And at the centre of his religious life, both then and 
 afterwards, was his conception of the Person of Christ, the 
 divine image of the Father, the Elder Brother, the Sinless 
 One, the Friend of sinners, who went about doing good ; 
 never sparing rebuke, yet to whom all would soonest go 
 for confession ; who called His chosen ones not servants 
 but friends, and having loved His own, loved them to 
 the end. 
 
 The Summer Term of 1842 seems to have been spent in 
 Paris, where he passed much time in the great libraries, 
 pursuing eagerly an ambitious course of study. From 
 Paris he went to Bonn with a pupil, and made the 
 acquaintance of Nitzsch, the great Homeric scholar. It 
 was here that he received from A. C. Tait the news of 
 Dr. Arnold's death. He had been greatly impressed with 
 Arnold's inaugural lecture in the previous December, 
 
 1 Epistles of St. Paul, 3rd edition, vol. ii. p. 126.
 
 1840-1846] Tutor of Balliol 87 
 
 and had also seen him in the Balliol Common Room, 
 where he witnessed the meeting of Arnold with W. GL 
 "Ward after some passages of arms between them 7 . 
 
 These visits to Paris and Bonn prepared the way for 
 his parents' residence in the Rue Madeleine from 1846 
 onwards, and their temporary retirement to Bonn during 
 the disturbances of 1848. 
 
 In October, 1842, soon after Tait's appointment to 
 succeed Dr. Arnold at Ru^by, Jowett became a Tutor of 
 the College. The old Master hesitated about giving the 
 Tutorship, vacated by Lonsdale 2 , to so young a man. 
 But he was prevailed upon by the urgency of Wooll- 
 combe. 
 
 The standard of a College Tutor's work at Oxford had 
 been considerably raised since the commencement of the 
 century 3 : first by the Tutors of Oriel, amongst whom were 
 Richard Whately 4 and J. H. Newman, and still more 
 at Balliol by Jowett's predecessor, Archibald Campbell 
 Tait. The following entry from Tait's private Journal 5 
 speaks volumes as to the ideal which he had set before 
 him: 
 
 'Nov. 16, 1839. Memorandum, What caii be done ... to 
 make more of a pastoral connexion between the Tutors and 
 
 1 W. G. Ward and the Oxford James Lonsdale, p. 23). 
 Movement, p. 438. 8 Cyril Jackson (d. 1819), who 
 
 2 Earlier in the same year preferred the Deanery of Christ 
 Lonsdale had written to his Church to a Bishopric and did 
 mother : ' You laugh at my pope so much to promote the Oxford 
 Jowett, but really I know of Honours system, seems to have 
 nobody so clever. Several here stood almost alone amongst his 
 look upon him and Stanley as contemporaries as an educator of 
 quite the cleverest persons here, young men. 
 
 The only fault in them both is * Afterwards Archbishop of 
 
 that they are too purely intel- Dublin. 
 
 lectual, and rack their brains 5 Life of Archibald Campbell 
 
 from morning to night ' (Life of Tait, yd ed. 1891, vol. i. p. 72.
 
 88 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, iv 
 
 their pupils ? What can be done for making the Tutor more 
 fully superintend his individual pupil's reading, without mere 
 reference to the Schools? What for reviving provisions to 
 enable the lower classes to profit by the Universities, as they 
 did when Servitorship existed l ? ' 
 
 Jowett entered upon the task, as thus conceived, with 
 all the freshness and ardour of youthful devotion. But 
 some time passed before he began to reap the reward of 
 his labours. In the years from 1841 to 1844 inclusive, 
 Balliol was not very fortunate in the Schools. For 
 whatever reasons, both Arthur Clough and Matthew 
 Arnold were placed in the Second Class ; and the only 
 Balliol Firsts of these years, in eight Class Lists, were 
 Constantine Prichard in Michaelmas Term, 1841, and 
 Frederick Fanshawe and Frederick Temple in Easter 
 Term, 1842. 
 
 Jowett's power as a teacher did not at once fully 
 assert itself. His reputation in those early days rested 
 more upon Scholarship than on Philosophy. All admired 
 the beauty of his Latin prose, and generally the felicity 
 and grace of his literary expression. It was only towards 
 the end of the period now under consideration, that he 
 commenced those lectures on the History of Philosophy 
 which first revealed to a select number of his pupils 
 the larger scope of his thoughts. This was probably 
 after his return from Germany in 1844. Such men 
 as Clough and Matthew Arnold were too conscious of 
 their own powers to see what lay beneath their youth- 
 ful teacher's quiet but rather peremptory manner; and 
 in return, while dough's personality certainly impressed 
 him, for he reverted to it in his last days on earth, it 
 was not until long afterwards that he learned to take 
 
 1 On the position and work of see Mozley's Reminiscences, vol. i. 
 an Oxford Tutor in 1825-1835, p. 33 ff.
 
 1840-1846] Arthur Penrhyn Stanley 89 
 
 Matthew Arnold seriously. His closer intimacy with 
 R Temple dates from somewhat later, when Temple had 
 become a Junior Fellow. 
 
 From the Easter Term of 1845 onwards Balliol Scholars 
 again take First Classes, as a matter of course ; and it is 
 at this point that Jowett's success as a College Tutor 
 becomes established. The honours gained by James 
 Riddell and Edwin Palmer 1 , both in 1845, mark the 
 commencement of a fresh series of Balliol successes ; and 
 the degree in which this was referable to Jowett may be 
 gathered from Archdeacon Palmer's reminiscences 2 . 
 
 Jowett's position amongst his colleagues appears from 
 a recollection of Lord Lingen's, who had been elected 
 to a Fellowship in 1841, and was present at a College 
 meeting in 1844, "when plans for the rebuilding of the 
 College, sent in by Pugin and other architects, were 
 under discussion. The Master (Jenkyns) had given his 
 opinion in a knock-me-down style, and Lingen imagined 
 that no one was likely to 'take the bull by the horns.' 
 His surprise when the youthful Tutor began to speak 
 was equalled by his admiration of the calm, firm, and 
 clear manner in which Jowett expressed an opposite 
 opinion. 
 
 If this period begins with Ward, it ends with Arthur 
 Stanley. It appears from Ward's Life 3 that while pre- 
 paring his Ideal of a Christian Church in 1844, he 
 had withdrawn from, close habitual intercourse with 
 the more liberal amongst his former friends. In the 
 summer of that year Jowett joined with Stanley in a tour 
 
 1 The late Venerable Edwin to their intercourse, says, 'I am 
 Palmer, Archdeacon of Oxford. speaking chiefly of the years 
 
 2 See p. 102. between 1840 and 1844.' 
 
 3 p. 438. Jowett, in referring
 
 90 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, iv 
 
 to Germany J . An entry in one of the Master's note-books, 
 shortly after the death of the Dean of Westminster, records 
 the fact that at this time, more than ever before or after- 
 wards, he poured out his whole heart to Stanley. They 
 had already been reading Hebrew together, and Stanley 
 mentions that in the course of the journey the travellers 
 ' supported their weary minds by alternate reading, 
 analyzing, and catechizing, on Kant's Pure Reason' 
 Jowett's familiarity with German is clearly shown by 
 his writing more than once in that language at some 
 length to Arthur Stanley, out of mere playfulness, in 
 1844-6. The interest of the tour did not culminate for 
 both companions at the same point. Not the Holy Coat 
 at Treves nor the antiquities at Nuremberg, but the 
 Congress of Philologers at Dresden ' one of the most 
 uninteresting places,' says Stanley, ' that I ever saw '- 
 made the deepest impression upon Jowett's mind. To 
 converse with Gottfried Hermann 2 , with Lachmann, 
 Immanuel Bekker, and Ewald, made an era in his 
 intellectual life. It was probably here also that the two 
 friends consulted J. E. Erdmann of Halle 3 , the Hegelian 
 disciple, on the best manner of approaching the works of 
 Hegel. The introductions which Stanley had brought 
 with him, due to the friendship between Dr. Arnold and 
 the Chevalier Bunsen, must have greatly facilitated all 
 such intercourse. Nor is the performance of the Medea 
 before the Philologers, presumably in Greek, to be 
 regarded as a wholly insignificant circumstance. 
 
 1 Life of Dean Stanley, vol. i. of Nitzsch, Brandis, and Corner, 
 pp. 326 ff. s Erdmann was born in 1805. 
 
 2 To Stanley from Bonn, Janu- His Geschichte der Philosophic was 
 ary, 1849 : ' Do you know, Her- in course of publication at this 
 niann died last week, "der frische time, and the Jubilee of his Pro- 
 lebendige Mann " ? ' At Bonn fessorship at Halle was celebrated 
 Jowett made the acquaintance in 1889.
 
 1840-1846] Tour in Germany 91 
 
 In a letter to B. C. Brodie, where lie sums up the 
 impressions derived from the tour, he mentions this 
 
 congress as especially memorable : 
 
 'November 5, 1844. 
 
 ' I hardly know whether our tour will much interest you : 
 it went as far as Vienna, and with some disagreeables was 
 eminently successful. An infinite quantity of talk was one 
 result, for which there was some excuse, as We had nothing 
 else to do. ... We returned by Dresden, where we saw 
 old Hermann, who seemed to be undergoing a sort of apothe- 
 osis at the hands of a great Philological Association who 
 dined and feted him in every possible way. Various others, 
 Zumpt's Latin Grammar, Thiersch's Greek Grammar, Wunder's 
 Sophocles, Lachmann's Greek Testament, who were formerly 
 supposed to be myths, also sprang up into life and reality.' 
 
 Though Stanley was the more enthusiastic traveller, 
 his companion appears to have had a chief part in 
 planning the details of the tour. Stanley would have 
 spent the whole of every day in sight- seeing, but Jowett 
 insisted on reserving certain hours for study : he had 
 brought the still recent Liddell and Scott amongst his 
 luggage ; Stanley nicknamed this ' the monster grievance,' 
 in allusion to a phrase of O'Connell's, and dubbed his 
 friend ' the inexorable Jowett.' 
 
 Although the posthumous influence of fiegel in his 
 own country had already culminated and was beginning 
 to decline, it was still powerful with many students of 
 Philosophy, and had begun to exercise a wide influence 
 upon Theology. The complete edition of his works and 
 his Life by E-osenkranz had lately appeared, and from 
 this visit to Germany, repeated in the following year, 
 Jowett' s more intimate acquaintance with this special 
 phase of German philosophy may be dated 1 . For several 
 
 1 Professor W. Wallace re- Mainz absorbed in Hegel's Preface 
 members Jowett telling him how to the Encyclopadie. 
 he once stood on a bridge at
 
 92 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, iv 
 
 years after this lie remained an ardent, though still 
 an independent, student of Hegel 1 . How critically he 
 studied the philosophy even when most absorbed in it 
 appears, however, from a letter to Stanley of August 20, 
 1846, in which he says : 
 
 'Hegel is untrue, I sometimes fancy, not in the sense of 
 being erroneous, but practically, because it is a consciousness 
 of truth, becoming thereby error. It is very difficult to express 
 what I mean, for it is something which does not make me 
 value IJegel the less as a philosophy. The problem of aXrjQtia. 
 TrpaKTiKrj. Truth idealized and yet in action, he does not seem 
 to me to have solved ; tlje Gospel of St. John does. Hegel 
 seems to me, not the perfect philosophy, but the perfect self- 
 consciousness of philosophy.' 
 
 Dr. Whyte's Professorship of Moral Philosophy was 
 vacated by Sacheverell Johnson in the autumn of 1844, 
 and Jowett allowed his name to be sent in for the post : 
 ' Because I feel,' he writes 2 , ' that it would suit me better 
 than any other Chair.' He does not consider himself 
 a serious candidate if H. H. Vaughan should stand : 
 ' I would much sooner hear him than teach myself.' But 
 he thinks that Vaughan's theological opinions may 
 possibly stand in his way. The Chair was ultimately 
 conferred on H. G. Liddell, who held it only for a year. 
 
 In the excitement which followed Newman's retirement 
 to Littlemore and the publication of the Ideal of a 
 Christian Church, Stanley and Jowett were intimately 
 associated, and while the elder man took the more active 
 part, as at this time his position in the University was 
 much more prominent, he found no small support and 
 help from consultation with Jowett, who in November, 
 
 1 ' One must go on or perish in any other system after you have 
 
 the attempt, that is to say, give begun with this.' Letter to B. C. 
 
 up Metaphysics altogether. It is Brodie, September 28, 1845. 
 impossible to be satisfied with 2 To B. C. Brodie, October 15.
 
 1840-1846] Degradation of Ward 93 
 
 1844, was already assisting him in the preparation of a 
 Protest on the subject. They were together at the scene 
 of the degradation of "Ward in February, 1845 J . The 
 events of that day have often been described, but no- 
 where more graphically than by Dean Stanley and in 
 the Memoir of Dean Church, who, as Junior Proctor, took 
 a memorable part in the proceedings. The latter work 
 contains a graphic piece of description at first hand 
 which may be quoted here. 
 
 'Mr. Church's youngest brother, then an undergraduate at 
 Oriel . . . had stationed himself at a window in Broad Street, 
 in order better to view the proceedings ; and he recalls the 
 excitement of the moment, the sight of the crowd, which still, 
 after the procession had entered, lingered round the railings 
 that enclose the Theatre the dull roar of the shouting which 
 could be heard at intervals from within the building itself 
 and at last the appearance of the assemblage streaming out 
 through the snow, the big figure of Ward emerging among the 
 earliest, with his papers under his arm, to be greeted with 
 shouts and cheers, which passed into laughter as, in his hurry, 
 he slipped and fell headlong in the snow, his papers flying in 
 every direction 2 .' 
 
 The scene within the Theatre was vividly described by 
 Jowett in a letter to Brodie written a day or two after 
 the great event : 
 
 ' . . . The i3 e Fevrier came off last Thursday, a most tragic 
 scene which the inclemency of the weather contributed to 
 heighten. 1300 wild country parsons are calculated to have 
 come up to do battle on the occasion : the Theatre was crammed ; 
 Ward in the rostrum with Oakeley for prompter. The V. C. 
 and Hebdomadals take their places. Ward requests leave 
 to speak in English, which is granted ; and then began an 
 oration containing some of the unpleasantest words to the ears 
 of country clergy that were ever spoken. He supposed there 
 
 1 Life of Dean Stanley, vol. i. 2 Dean Church's Life and Let- 
 P 34- ters, p. 55.
 
 94 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, iv 
 
 were men of all parties present High Church, Evangelicals, 
 &c., and compared the first with the Articles, the second with 
 the Liturgy. Their difficulties were obvious, but neither 
 party had the least conception of them. He then supposed the 
 Evangelical to become High Churchman in what a new light 
 all things would present themselves ! his view of the Articles 
 would vary with his opinions. He himself took the Articles 
 in a non-natural sense, as they all did, and what he wanted 
 to show was that they were not all dishonest but all honest 
 together. The rest of his speech was a complaint of the 
 unfitness of the Court, and the impossibility of making any real 
 defence before them. In conclusion, he warned them of the 
 present state of the Church of England, which might last 
 as a framework to hold them all, but if they pulled out a single 
 stone would fall together. 
 
 ' I cannot give you any idea of his manner. He was as much 
 at home with his audience as he is in the C. K. l after dinner. 
 He read a passage from a pamphlet of Maurice's to prove some 
 point, which spoke of himself in a manner far from compli- 
 mentary, interjecting ''He means me, he has no very good 
 opinion of me, he says he would rather go to a dame's school 
 and be a dustman than do what I have done." Another time 
 he threw in a parenthesis " Believing as I do the whole cycle of 
 Eoman doctrine " which threw his audience into a titter by 
 the extreme simplicity with which it was said. At the end 
 he stood forth with prophetic voice and told us of what was 
 to happen in "the latter days." 
 
 ' The vote of censure was passed by a majority of 770 to 380. 
 Ward again made a short speech in arrest of judgement, but he 
 was condemned by 570 to 510. Only the drawing and quarter- 
 ing was remitted. For the " Horrendum Carmen," a fragment 
 preserved in the statute de dcgradatione, runs as follows : 
 
 Hereticum vicecancellarius iudicet. 
 
 Si ad convocationem provocatur 
 
 Provocatione certanto, 
 
 Si vincent, pileum exiiito : 
 
 Capuceum, togam detrahito : 
 
 Comburito intra vel extra Universitatem. 
 
 1 The Balliol Common-room.
 
 1840-1846] The Proctors' Veto 95 
 
 'We returned home with the feelings of men who had 
 witnessed an execution or rather had themselves been execu- 
 tioners at an Auto da Fe. Perhaps you will wonder at my 
 levity in treating of the whole affair, but it is the only way 
 I can revenge myself for having looked upon it seriously 
 a week ago. 
 
 'The tragedy is now at an end, and the comedy or what 
 I must call the tragi-comedy is about to begin ; but the 
 curtain is not yet drawn up for the public. Do you remember 
 the end of the Beggars' Opera where, after the feelings of the 
 spectators are wrought to the highest pitch, a sort of [dramatic 
 revolution] takes place and by poetic justice the execution is 
 turned into a WEDDING? Between the first and second acts 
 of the above-mentioned tragedy, letters were brought to the 
 prisoner in his cell, written in a fair Italian hand, 
 
 And whiter far than that whereon it wrote 
 Was the fair hand that writ. 
 
 ' In a word, our Confessor is going to be married. 
 
 ' I do not of course blame Ward for this in itself, but I think 
 he is very much to blame for recklessly writing a book which 
 has thrown us into confusion and then doing precisely the 
 thing most inconsistent with his own principles, and lastly, 
 instead of retiring from the contest as he ought under the 
 circumstances, he has fought it out to the last. Either he felt 
 himself called to announce a high and important truth or his 
 book is absolutely indefensible. A man in love is not exactly 
 the person to breathe the spirit of Hildebrand or Innocent. 
 I believe he has not the least conception of the ludicrous point 
 of view which he will present to a mocking world, and am 
 truly sorry for it for his sake.' 
 
 Stanley always claimed for the little band of Oxford 
 Liberals, including himself, Jowett,Donkin, and Greenhill, 
 the merit of having moderated the violence of that day's 
 proceedings, not only by the moral support they gave the 
 Proctors (H. P. Guillemard of Trinity and E. "W. Church 
 of Oriel) in the courageous act of vetoing the condemna- 
 tion of Tract XC, but still more by their strenuous
 
 g6 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, iv 
 
 opposition to the proposal 'that the Vice-Chancellor 
 should have power at any time to require a member of 
 the University, in order to prove his orthodoxy, to sub- 
 scribe the Articles in the sense in which they were both 
 first published and were now imposed' which motion 
 was withdrawn within a few days of the meeting of 
 Convocation, partly in consequence of an opinion of 
 counsel which Stanley and others had obtained l . This 
 claim on Stanley's part was admitted thirty-one years 
 afterwards by the person most competent to speak of it, 
 when Dean Church wrote to Dean Stanley in 1876, ' It was 
 a very generous as well as wise action on your part and 
 that of the men who joined with you 2 .' 
 
 With what alacrity Jowett had thrown himself into 
 this course of action, what part he took both in stimu- 
 lating and guiding it, how he realized the full significance 
 of the situation, especially as it affected the future of 
 the Church of England, is made apparent by a letter to 
 Stanley written in the Christmas vacation preceding the 
 event, which vividly reflects both the sanguine eagerness 
 of the writer and the persons of most account in Oxford 
 at that critical time. It will also be observed that the 
 chief stress is laid, not on Ward's danger, but on the 
 principle involved in the ' New Test.' 
 
 ' It is difficult to choose out of the medley of opinions you 
 sent me. I am glad that Liddell signs. In a sense I agree 
 with them all. 
 
 ' I agree with Milman in thinking that the short protest 
 might advantageously be worked up into an eloquent docu- 
 ment, when you have felt the temper of the people who are 
 going to sign it. Meanwhile in its prosaic form it is already 
 printed. I should send it round in MS. to likely persons as 
 something like the document in its poetic form which they 
 
 1 Life of Dean Stanley, vol. i. p. 335. 2 Life of Dean Church, p. 58.
 
 i8 4 o-i8 4 6] Second Tour in Germany 97 
 
 are hereafter to have. This latter it would be an appropriate 
 compliment to Milman to ask him to assist in writing, as he 
 seems to have ideas upon the subject. 
 
 ' I think persons innumerable should be written to with 
 respect to the Test exclusively. What Lake says is quite 
 true Ward's case is comparatively unimportant and very 
 unpopular. Besides the protest there are clearly only two 
 things to be done, a shower of pamphlets to be written by 
 all sorts of persons putting the matter in every different light 
 also private letters to all one's old College friends, &c. Will 
 you write to Blackett, Congreve, and Donkin, urging them, 
 to canvass against the Test immediately ; also to Tait, dropping 
 the Wardian part of the question ? 
 
 'Could any Oxford Bishop, Longley, or Denison, be got to 
 express his opinion on the Test before it comes on? Would 
 it not be worth while to write to Hamilton 1 and put a view 
 of the case before him ? Get Lake to write to Burrows and 
 Trench and so ascend to Archdeacon Samuel 2 . . . . Write to 
 H. Vaughan 3 . Might he not be got to write something? 
 it ought to touch heterodox laymen to the quick. I trust we 
 shall never have any more agitation. I suppose it to be a duty, 
 but, as I have often said, I feel peculiarly unfit for it and, what 
 is more, people think that I am going out of my place, which 
 is not the case with you.' 
 
 In the Long Vacation of 1845, after visiting Lake in 
 Germany 4 , he again travelled with Stanley, whose 
 sister joined them at Ischl. The two friends had spent 
 some weeks together at Berlin, where Jowett observed 
 curiously the state of Prussian politics, the King's ' idea 
 of government being to tread in the steps of Frederick 
 the Great and preserve Prussia as he had raised it, by 
 
 1 Afterwards Bishop of Salis- 4 A letter from E. Bastard to 
 bury. F. T. Palgrave, July 20, 1845^ 
 
 2 Samuel Wilberforce became mentions that Lake was in Ger- 
 Bishop of Oxford in 1845. many on account of health, and 
 
 8 Henry Halford Vaughan, Jowett had joined him there, 
 
 afterwards Professor of Modern ' much to his comfort,' as he had 
 
 History. been very solitary before. 
 
 VOL. I." H
 
 98 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, iv 
 
 a military despotism.' There also lie had the interviews 
 with Schelling and Neander of which he afterwards 
 spoke. He wrote to Brodie (September 28) : 
 
 ' I must say I was very much pleased with the old " twaddler" 
 Schelling. He was exceedingly kind, and thoroughly modest 
 and unassuming. We saw him several times, when he talked 
 about Coleridge, who he said was unfairly attacked for 
 plagiarism from himself in BlacJcwood's Magazine. He struck 
 me as having more of the poet than of the philosopher about 
 him and far more genius than strength of character. I do 
 not know anything about his philosophy, and to judge from 
 Schelling's face it is probably somewhat dreamy, but it was 
 evident that there is so much party spirit that it was impossible 
 to form a judgement of what you heard, and it is in his favour 
 that Steffens, who was universally respected, was his follower 
 to the last.' 
 
 "With reference to this tour Mrs. Vaughan (then 
 Catherine Stanley) writes (1894): 
 
 ' My sister and I went out alone to Ischl where we met 
 him and my brother and where we remained with them 
 a fortnight. After which, we went on our way but what 
 that "way "was, I am ashamed to say I cannot remember. 
 I know we went across Bohemia, and we were most anxious 
 to get into Italy by the Stelvio ; but were prevented by my 
 brother's inability to get up early enough to accomplish it in 
 the only time at our disposal. He and B. J. were deep 
 in those days in the study of Hebrew, and could hardly 
 be persuaded to look up from their books and contemplate 
 the beauties of the scenery through which we passed. We 
 used to exclaim, "Oh, do look! how beautiful!" and they 
 would hastily raise their eyes, cry out, "Yes, very fine," and 
 as hastily return to the contemplation of their Grammar. In 
 those days B. J. was, as I have said, the most charming friend 
 and companion it was possible to have : never out of temper, 
 never depressed, never looking weary or discontented always 
 full of the most interesting subjects of conversation. He was 
 delightful.'
 
 1840-1846] Hebrew Theological Essays 99 
 
 The Hebrew Grammar 1 , with Jowett' s name written in 
 ink over Stanley's in pencil, and with pencilled annota- 
 tions by B. J. (chiefly a running analysis of the Hebrew 
 syntax), is now in the possession of Lady Lingen, to whom 
 Jowett gave it when he had himself relinquished the 
 study at the end of 1846, finding that to be a critical 
 Hebrew scholar required more time than he could give. 
 He always said that even a smattering of Hebrew was 
 worth while : ( it gave you a new idea of language.' He 
 was studying the Hebrew Bible in the autumn of 1846, 
 when, according to a letter of E. Bastard to F. T. 
 Palgrave, he had been working very hard at Hebrew : 
 
 ' The day he went away from here, he was reading (as we 
 afterwards heard) the Hebrew Bible as he went along, and 
 ended by leaving it in the coach 2 .' 
 
 Shortly before this, while working at Ewald's Hebrew 
 Grammar, he had written to Stanley, ' I am hard at work 
 at Hebrew and really begin to find some enjoyment in 
 reading it.' But at the opening of 1847 he wrote, ' I find 
 Hebrew too trying to the eyes to be pursued to any great 
 extent, and am accordingly reading the Republic for 
 lectures next Term.' 
 
 His letters to Stanley, a few of which are appended 
 to this chapter, make it manifest that the influence 
 of the elder upon the younger friend was more than 
 reciprocated. When Stanley was preparing his sermons 
 on the Apostolic Age, Jowett was consulted at every 
 step, and his letters reveal in a remarkable way the 
 character and working of his own mind. 
 
 He was ordained priest in 1845. Earlier in that year, 
 he had been occupied in writing some Theological Essays; 
 
 1 Gesenius, ed. Rodiger, Leip- reading party who visited Jowett 
 zig, 1845. and his pupil at Beaumaris, 
 
 2 Bastard was one of Riddell's August 16, 1846. 
 
 H 2
 
 ioo Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, iv 
 
 and in 1846 his systematic study of the New Testament 
 was stimulated by an idea which Stanley had suggested 
 to him, that he should contribute a series of Essays to the 
 volume which his friend was preparing for the press. 
 This particular design was not carried out, as Jowett 
 ultimately declined to publish in this way ; but it was 
 agreed that they should produce a joint work in Theology 
 at some future time. Meanwhile, in what he afterwards 
 called their 'furious' correspondence he communicates 
 his anxious thoughts on New Testament criticism. 
 
 Stanley, in his Life of Dr. Arnold (1844), na d laid 
 special stress on the importance which his master at- 
 tached to the critical study of Theology, and his intention 
 of setting on foot a ' Rugby Edition ' of St. Paul's Epistles 
 under his own superintendence 1 . There can be no 
 reasonable doubt that the work now undertaken had 
 some reference to this unfulfilled design of the great 
 Head Master. In one of their afternoon walks, the two 
 friends were caught in a heavy shower of rain and driven 
 to take refuge in a quarry. It was under these circum- 
 stances, as Jowett afterwards told "W. L. Newman, that in 
 eager conversation the plan of the work was sketched 
 in outline. Nine years elapsed before the publication in 
 part of what was then projected. The plan was more 
 than once modified after its main outlines had been 
 agreed upon, and at one time it was enlarged to a 
 scheme for a complete work on the New Testament. In 
 a letter of 1846, Jowett writes to Stanley : 
 
 'I have been thinking a good deal about our Opus Magnum, 
 and trust that by God's blessing we may be able to bring it to 
 some result. I propose to divide it into two portions, (a) the 
 Gospels, and (6) the Acts and Epistles, to be preceded respec- 
 tively by two long prefaces, the first containing the hypothesis 
 
 1 Arnold's Life and Correspondence, p. 163 of sixth edition.
 
 1840-1846] Jowett and Stanley 101 
 
 of the Gospels, and a theory of inspiration to be deduced from 
 it; the second to contain the ''subjective mind" of the Apo- 
 stolic age, historisch-psychologisch dargestellt. I think it should 
 also contain essays on such subjects as "eschatology," "the 
 demoniacs," &c., which cannot be properly effigiated in notes.' 
 
 In the autumn of 1846 he had a vision of a ' flight to 
 Ireland with Stanley, to examine into the constitution 
 and Eevenues of Trinity College, &c.,' which was broken 
 off by some change in Stanley's plans. The letters 
 to Stanley belonging to this period which are preserved 
 are very numerous, and they dwell on many points of 
 merely temporary interest. But those not here included 
 contain some morsels which it would be a pity to lose : 
 as this on self- improvement (1846) : 
 
 'Can any summary rule be given more than this, every 
 day and every hour to frame yourself with a view to getting 
 over a weakness ? How a person does this can only be learnt 
 from experience, not, I think, to be intruded on by others. 
 But the line you quote in the Preface to Arnold's Life, "That 
 moveth all together if it move at all *," seems to me ever to be 
 borne in mind in all these things. If a defect be anything 
 more than a trick, character is too elastic to admit of any 
 mechanical contrivance for getting rid of it.' 
 
 Or again this passing remark on the words 'I, if I be 
 lifted up from the earth,' ' Does it not seem as if the 
 Crucifixion and the glory of Christ were absolutely 
 identical in St. John's Gospel ? ' 
 
 From another letter (December, 1846) it appears how 
 much he built on having Stanley at his side in Oxford : 
 
 ' I am delighted to think that you are committed to Oxford, 
 as you say : trvv re Su" ep^o/-"^ 2 makes one independent at least. 
 Where shall we be at the end of the year ? Perhaps not living ; 
 
 1 Observe that Wordsworth is only quoted at second hand. 
 
 2 ' Two going on together.'
 
 102 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, iv 
 
 otherwise, much where we are, getting a little deeper and 
 filling up a little more in speculation, and reforming the 
 kitchens of University and Balliol.' 
 
 The position of Jowett in Balliol and his growing 
 credit as a teacher may be further illustrated by the 
 following reminiscences contributed by the late Arch- 
 deacon Palmer: 
 
 'Balliol College in 1842, when I came into residence as 
 a Scholar, was in many respects very unlike the Balliol 
 of the present day. The Chapel and the Hall and more 
 than half of the other buildings have been erected since that 
 time, and a College Garden has been created by the union 
 of two gardens, then walled off for the use of the Master and 
 of the Fellows respectively, with an irregular piece of ground 
 called the Grove, which was absolutely devoid of beauty, 
 though covered with trees. Moreover the number of Com- 
 moners in the College is at least twice as large now as it was 
 in my day, and the number of Scholars and of Exhibitioners 
 has been doubled also. But these differences, however striking, 
 are only superficial. In more important respects the College has 
 preserved a uniform character for a good deal more than half 
 a century. Its Masters, Tutors, and Lecturers have devoted 
 themselves ungrudgingly to its service, and among its under- 
 graduates the proportion of reading men to idlers has been 
 greater than anywhere else in Oxford. But I am asked to set 
 down briefly my own undergraduate recollections. 
 
 'In Michaelmas Term, 1842, when I first came up, there 
 were only four undergraduate Scholars in residence, four besides 
 myself, James Eiddell, Matthew Arnold, Edward Walford, and 
 C. S. Lock. Lock was a Blundell Scholar from Tiverton. 
 The rest of us came from public schools of greater name. 
 Indeed, this was the case with all the open Scholars who were 
 elected from 1838 to 1845 inclusive, except William Young Sellar. 
 He was a Snell Exhibitioner from Glasgow University. Of 
 the other fifteen Scholars elected in those eight years, five came 
 from Eugby, three from Shrewsbury, three from Charterhouse, 
 two from Eton, one from Harrow, and one from Winchester.
 
 1840-1846] Archdeacon Palmer's Reminiscences 103 
 
 Yet no preference was given by the statutes, nor any favour 
 shown by the electors, to public school men. The emoluments 
 of a Balliol Scholarship were reckoned in those days at 30 
 a year or thereabouts. Scholars were exempt from tuition 
 fees, and had an allowance for maintenance of zos. a week 
 during actual residence. The competition, however, for these 
 Scholarships was at least as great as for Scholarships at any 
 other College in the University, although at some Colleges 
 (such as Trinity, for example) the emoluments were much 
 more considerable. The Snell Exhibitioners, then as now, 
 formed an important element in the College. There were 
 ten of these Exhibitions, and there were usually five or six 
 undergraduates holding them in residence. I may mention 
 among my own contemporaries, John Campbell Shairp, after- 
 wards Professor of Poetry ; H. A. Douglas, afterwards Bishop 
 of Bombay ; William Young Sellar, afterwards Professor of 
 Humanity at Edinburgh ; Francis Sandford, and Patrick Cumin, 
 who filled successively the post of Secretary to the Committee 
 of Council on Education. Many or most of the Commoners 
 were public school men ; Eton in particular was largely repre- 
 sented. Not a few were reading men, whose pursuits and 
 ambitions were similar to those of the Scholars and Exhibi- 
 tioners. In consequence, the Scholars and Exhibitioners did 
 not form a distinct set, although the Scholars had a table to 
 themselves in Hall. There was a fast set (as we called it), 
 which consisted of ten or a dozen men, whose amusements 
 were more expensive than those of the rest ; but there was 
 no hard line of demarcation even here, some of the reading 
 men were more or less intimate with the members of the 
 fast set. There were also a few men who, for one reason or 
 another, did not mix much with their neighbours. So far, 
 however, as I remember, the bulk of the College, some forty men 
 at least, Scholars, Commoners, and Exhibitioners, associated 
 freely together. Breakfast-parties and wine-parties, small or 
 great, at which we all met (though seldom all at once), went 
 on every day. It is my impression that I myself rarely 
 breakfasted alone, and rarely failed to pass an hour or more 
 after dinner in company. But our breakfast-parties broke 
 up at ten, and the amount of wine drunk at our wine-parties
 
 104 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, iv 
 
 was inconsiderable ; and consequently our social habits did not 
 interfere with the reading of those who, like myself, wished to 
 read. The men of whom I speak they were too numerous 
 to be called a set were the representatives of Balliol in 
 the eyes of the University at large. It was by them that the 
 reputation of the College was maintained in the Schools, on 
 the river, and in the cricket-field. Football was not yet played 
 at Oxford. It is an illustration of the union between Scholars 
 and Commoners that there was almost always a Scholar in the 
 College boat. Before I began to reside, Balliol had become 
 conspicuous for success in University examinations and in the 
 competition for prizes. My own generation carried on this 
 tradition. It was not, however, till somewhat later that 
 Balliol Commoners were found in the First Class as often as 
 Scholars or Exhibitioners. 
 
 ' I pass from undergraduates to dons. Dr. Jenkyns, who was 
 Master from 1819 to 1854, though the subject of many stories 
 which represent him in a ridiculous light, was a remarkably 
 efficient and successful head. We laughed much at him our- 
 selves, but we also liked him much. He had the interest of the 
 College thoroughly at heart, and the success of each individual in 
 it was a matter of concern to him. Moreover, he had a great 
 amount of practical shrewdness. Edward Cooper Woollcombe, 
 William Charles Lake, and Benjamin Jowett were our Tutors. 
 Frederick Temple was our mathematical lecturer, and some- 
 times lectured in other subjects also. Lake, Jowett, and 
 Temple all began to teach in Balliol in October Term, 1842 
 the Term in which I came up. Woollcombe had been Tutor 
 along with Archibald Campbell Tait and James Gylby Lons- 
 dale during the previous year, in which Dale had been mathe- 
 matical lecturer. In those days each undergraduate was 
 assigned to one special Tutor for the whole period of his 
 residence, but it was only for Latin and Greek composition 
 that he went, as a matter of course, to his own Tutor ; for his 
 lectures he went to this or that Tutor, as the Tutors might 
 arrange among themselves. Undergraduates had then no 
 choice in the matter. On an average each undergraduate was 
 required to attend two lectures every week-day. There were 
 no off-days but Sundays. We had abundant evidence that all
 
 :8 4 o-i8 4 6] Archdeacon Palmer's Reminiscences 105 
 
 our teachers were thoroughly in earnest, and that they not 
 only desired to make us work, but also worked hard them- 
 selves. I was one of Jowett's pupils. So was James Eiddell, 
 who was already known for his remarkable scholarship, and 
 in after years had no superior in Oxford in that department. 
 Jowett did not spare his labour in preparing us both for 
 University Scholarship examinations. I had to bring him 
 during my first year Latin or Greek composition three times 
 a week. I believe he would have made me come to him still 
 oftener, if he had not been aware that I was working for the 
 same examinations with a private Tutor, Mountague Bernard, 
 who was then a B.A. Scholar of Trinity. Just before the 
 Christmas vacation, 1842, Jowett put into the hands of Eiddell 
 and myself a plan of work for that vacation which must 
 have cost him a considerable amount of time and thought. 
 Numerous pieces of composition, prose and verse, Greek and 
 Latin, were prescribed ' ; selected portions of Greek and Latin 
 authors were to be studied or learned by heart ; one or two 
 books on philological subjects were to be read. Whether 
 he gave the same holiday task to other pupils at the same 
 time I do not remember. I believe that Eiddell and I followed 
 out his plan completely ; I know that we did all the composition 
 prescribed, and that Jowett looked it all over with us at the 
 beginning of the next Term. In dealing with composition, 
 it was his method to criticize rather than to correct. Of 
 course he pointed out flagrant errors, but else he did not go 
 much into detail. He looked rather to the general style, and 
 (when the composition was original) to the treatment of the 
 subject. He took great pains also with the criticism of his 
 pupils' prize compositions. It was the practice then (strange 
 and indefensible as it now seems) for College Tutors and other 
 friends to see and comment upon compositions which were 
 to be sent in for the Chancellor's prizes or Sir Eoger Newdi- 
 gate's. Such comments must often have given a material 
 advantage to those competitors whose fortune it was to have 
 
 1 The list includes a large pro- Latin Odes, &c., and passages for 
 portion of original subjects for verse translation from Shake- 
 Latin letters, Greek dialogues, speare, Milton, and the Bible.
 
 io6 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, iv 
 
 good advisers ; but at that time nobody thought the practice 
 unfair. I remember that in my first year Jowett condemned 
 absolutely a Latin poem of mine, and made me write another. 
 My second attempt, however, did not please him better, and 
 ultimately the first draught went in, with such improvements 
 as I was able to introduce. I am bound to add that its failure 
 justified his unfavourable opinion. Jowett's pupils always felt 
 that they were in the hands of a good scholar, but I do not 
 think that we attributed to him pre-eminence in this respect 
 over other good scholars in the University. The same thing 
 may be said as regards his College lectures generally in those 
 days. They were the lectures of a well-read and able man, 
 but they did not give us an impression of learning or of power 
 to teach which was singular either in kind or in degree. 
 Indeed, I have a livelier recollection of lectures which I heard 
 from other teachers in Balliol during my first two years. 
 One thing I remember, however, which was peculiar to Jowett 
 among our Lecturers, and it is a thing which distinguished 
 him through life. It was inventiveness. He was fertile in 
 experiments. At one time he made a select class turn 
 Johnson's Easselas into Latin before him without preparation ; 
 at another, he made us construe Demosthenes' speech against 
 Midias at sight. He tried his hand at the explanation of 
 Sophocles' Choric Metres. He introduced us to Wolfs Homeric 
 theory. He took the Septuagint as his text-book for a lecture 
 on the Old Testament, Greswell's Harmony of the Gospels for 
 a lecture on the New. It may have been my own fault, but 
 I cannot remember any particular advantage which we derived 
 from these various experiments. A time came, however, at 
 last (I am unable to fix the exact date) when Jowett began 
 a course of lectures which made upon me and others a very 
 different impression from any which he had made upon us 
 before. His subject was the Fragments of the early Greek 
 philosophers ; but the lectures did not close without a mention 
 of Socrates and Plato. They were delivered to a class which 
 consisted of ten or twelve men Scholars, Commoners, and 
 Exhibitioners. We had never till then heard him lecture on 
 any philosophical subject. We were struck by the insight 
 which he showed into the speculations of ancient thinkers,
 
 1840-1846] Archdeacon Palmer's Reminiscences 107 
 
 and by the felicity of expression which enabled him to make 
 them intelligible to us. These lectures gave him in our eyes 
 a position all his own. I believe myself that his interpretation 
 of Greek philosophy, of which this was the first specimen, 
 was the true foundation of his greatness in the eyes of Balliol 
 men and of the Oxford world. I suspect, moreover, that his 
 success in this department brought to himself a consciousness 
 of power which gradually unlocked his tongue, so that later 
 generations of pupils were able to enter into his thoughts 
 and feelings more than the men of my time could do. His 
 popularity followed the growth of his intellectual reputation ; 
 it did not precede it. No doubt the pains which he took with 
 his early pupils showed kindness as well as conscientiousness, 
 but his manner in dealing with them was such as to repel 
 rather than to attract. During my undergraduate years he 
 was singularly silent and undemonstrative. To shy men he 
 was positively alarming. I remember myself one occasion 
 on which he invited me to take a walk with him. The 
 number of words exchanged between us during that walk was 
 incredibly small, and I believe that it was a relief to both 
 when we regained the College gate. The experiment was not 
 repeated, nor did I ever feel at home with him before I took 
 my degree and became a Fellow. Others less shy than myself 
 may have found less difficulty in understanding him ; but I do 
 not think he would ever in those days have been described as 
 a popular tutor. Something of this early taciturnity remained 
 with him through life, though it grew less and less as years 
 went on. Meantime, however, opportunities multiplied for 
 the display of his kindness in other ways than the promotion 
 of his pupils' studies ; and that kindness was always ready, 
 always unstinted. It made an impression upon those who 
 were least able to appreciate his intellectual gifts. His inde- 
 pendence of mind, his originality, his fullness of resources, 
 attracted to him the abler men. At last even his fits of 
 silence came to have a charm of their own, and to give weight 
 to the pithy utterances which succeeded them. 
 
 'I remember Wall saying of Jowett in 1854, "It is to him 
 that the College owes its constant supply of Firsts in Greats." '
 
 io8 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, iv 
 
 LETTERS, 1840-1846. 
 To "W. A. GEEENHILL. 
 
 Good, Friday [1841]. 
 
 I send the books for Dr. Arnold \ also the five pounds which 
 you kindly lent. I have not thanked you for the note which 
 you sent with them, but have often thought of it since. 
 I can never forget the way in which our acquaintance began 
 more than four years ago, and only hope that if you are 
 ever in need you will put me to the proof. You may be quite 
 sure you never can be in my debt. 
 Wishing you a happy Easter, 
 
 I am, yours ever, 
 
 B. JOWETT. 
 
 To W. A. GEEENHILL. 
 
 34 LEE ROAD, BLACKHEATH, 
 
 April 21, 1842. 
 
 ... I was very much pleased by your kind note on my 
 birthday, although, considering how evil the last two years 
 of my life have been, it is unpleasant to be reminded how old 
 one has grown. In about a week I am going to bury myself 
 in Paris it is rather a relief to me to get away from people, 
 and I still build up dreams of steady reading and devotion. 
 This, you will think, is rather a misanthropical strain, but I do 
 not mean to indulge any such feelings. I hope the study 
 of the Greek Testament and regularity in diet, &c. , may bring 
 me into a better state of mind and body. Change of scene 
 does not seem to me of much use, but I mean to go to Paris 
 to be quiet and get away from all agitating subjects : 
 
 ' Est Ulubris, animus si non te deficit aequus.' 
 
 This is rather like spinning a letter ' out of one's own bowels,' 
 but as the subject may possibly be not so agreeable to you as it is 
 
 1 Dr. Arnold was Mrs. Greenhill's uncle.
 
 Letters, 1840-1846 109 
 
 natural to me, I will say nothing more about it. We are very 
 busy in getting my brother 1 ready for India, as he is to start 
 in about three weeks. I think it is a nice prospect for him 
 his pay is quite sufficient to support him, and it is a great 
 advantage of the East India service that his prospect of rising 
 depends almost entirely on his diligence and ability. He is 
 very much pleased himself, and notwithstanding your pithy 
 remark that it was a better employment to cure than to kill, 
 considering his disposition, I think he has made the best choice. 
 
 I am sorry to hear you are so downcast at Mrs. Greenhill's 
 absence ; it is one of the misfortunes of married life, I suppose 
 just sufficient to let you know your happiness. 
 
 Will you kindly give me any introductions you can at Paris 2 ? 
 You mention M. Miller, which may be of real service to me in 
 case I am unable to get an introduction to the library from my 
 other friend. 
 
 To W. A. GEEENHILL. 
 
 BONN, June 28, 1842. 
 
 . . . One chief reason I have for writing at this moment is 
 that I have just received in a letter from Tait the news of Arnold's 
 death. It must have thrown you and Mrs. Greenhill into 
 overwhelming trouble. I was quite shocked to hear of it so 
 very sudden, and a man who seemed so made to enjoy this 
 world that you might wish him long life for its own sake. No 
 person could see him without feeling an interest about him. 
 I shall never forget his noble appearance in the Theatre at the 
 inaugural lecture. It is pleasing indeed to remember that he 
 was the first person who really conducted a public school on 
 Christian principles. I should as soon doubt the truth of 
 religion itself as doubt that such a man had gone to receive 
 his reward. 
 
 One reason, I would just hint, why I don't write to you 
 oftener is that I do not like writing about religion ; and it 
 seems so cold and prosy to write to an intimate friend about 
 
 1 William Jowett. 1840. See Life of E. B. Pusey, 
 
 2 Greenhill had been pursuing vol. iii. p. 7. 
 his medical studies at Paris in
 
 no Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, iv 
 
 anything else. I doubt not that there may be many persons 
 to whom religious communion with one another is of great 
 good ; for myself, I fear that I have received all the good that 
 I can gain from it. For the future I would rather go on my 
 way alone, and, to avoid self-deceit, trust to God only. 
 
 Your introduction to M. Miller was of great use, as it enabled 
 me to go to the library and read. What little I saw of him he 
 seemed a very learned man, but he was so much engaged that 
 this was not much, and the medium of communication between 
 us was so imperfect that I am afraid he thought me something 
 strange. ... A French officer with whom I used to dine, and 
 two or three Oxford men, were quite enough society for me. 
 Upon the whole I am very glad that I went to Paris, where 
 I was getting a great deal better, and should be so at present if 
 I had not, like an ass, tired myself with walking along the 
 Moselle last week, and have not got over the effects of it yet. 
 Nothing can be more delightful than our present situation at 
 Bonn all our windows command a view of the Drachenfels. 
 I never was in any place I liked so well. The professors here 
 seem disposed to be very kind. Yesterday, on the strength 
 of Tait's acquaintance with him, I went to call on the 
 illustrious Nitzsch. I always find myself struck dumb in the 
 presence of a great man, but Nitzsch was so very kind it was quite 
 easy to get on with him. He talked a good deal and very well 
 about the English Church, though from not being able to read 
 English he has but an imperfect idea of things. Afterwards 
 I went to see Booking, who most kindly gave me an introduction 
 to another professor who, he said, spoke excellent English. 
 They were both shocked and grieved to hear of Arnold's death. 
 Booking seemed quite affected by it. 
 
 ... I suppose you are too much a man of peace to tell me 
 anything about the new Hampden row l . The tumult has by 
 
 1 In May, 1842, the Heads of delivered a lecture which Stanley 
 
 Houses proposed to repeal the strongly condemned. " But," he 
 
 Statute depriving Dr. Hampden adds, ..." I still vote for him." 
 
 of his right to vote in the nornina- The proposed repeal was rejected 
 
 tion of Select Preachers, &c. In by 334 votes to 214.' Life of 
 
 the interval before the meeting Dean Stanley, vol. i. pp. 310, 
 
 of Convocation, 'Dr. Hampden 311.
 
 Letters, 1840-1846 in 
 
 this time dwindled to a calm, and left you in the quiet of 
 a Long Vacation. From all accounts Hampden's conduct seems 
 to have been very bad. I hope that Newman and his friends 
 will become more liberal or perhaps ' charitable ' is the right 
 word not only towards individuals, but in their own views 
 of parties ; if so, I think the work they will have done will 
 be almost one of unmixed good. 
 
 To B. C. BEODIE. 
 
 BALLIOL, November 24, 1844. 
 
 . . . Various new things have happened here since I wrote 
 last. In the first place, the report about Newman's leaving 
 the English Church is not immediately true, though it was 
 generally believed, and I incline to think that it is founded on 
 fact. A committee of Heads of Houses are sitting on the fat 
 fellow's book l , who seems likely to have hard measure dealt to 
 him if the inextricable confusion of the statutes does not save 
 him. The Heads of Houses are not over scrupulous either 
 legally or morally in their method of proceedings. Whately 
 has been backing them, which, considering his liberal views, is, 
 I think, a mistake. It has been much discussed among us 
 whether Stanley shall write a pamphlet on the occasion. 
 Maurice 2 of Guy's Hospital was anxious that we should draw up 
 a genuine Liberal protest against persecution of the Newmanites, 
 in which he says he himself, Archdeacon Hare, &c., will join. 
 The said protest we wish to represent as coming from 
 F. Maurice himself. Honestly confessing that I am rather 
 proud of having helped to draw up a document abounding in 
 Liberal sentiments, I will send it you if it ever gets into print, 
 which is rather uncertain, as matters are only in embryo yet. 
 
 I must tell you another thing which is to me a matter of 
 great interest. Yesterday I went to dine with Coleridge : just 
 such a dinner-party as you and I were at together six months 
 ago. Froude was there, as on the former occasion ; but I was 
 greatly amazed to find that he has become regularly Germanized, 
 and talked unreservedly about Strauss, miracles, &c. Of course 
 
 1 W. G. Ward's Ideal of the Christian Church. 
 
 2 Frederick Denison Maurice.
 
 ii2 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, iv 
 
 you will not mention this (a caution which it seeins useless to 
 give at Giessen l ). I cannot quite tell how entire his change 
 of opinion is ; he seemed to take such a very artistical view of 
 things that his conversation gave me no satisfaction, and, if I 
 do not do him injustice, a want of the earnestness natural to 
 a person who feels what an aweful thing it is to disbelieve all 
 he has formerly held and believe something new. I am told 
 that he justifies his Lives of the Saints and the mythic view 
 of the miracles contained in them by saying that he did it 
 to realize to people the absurdity of their belief. Therefore 
 what you heard him say at dinner was etpwveta. Newman 
 has disowned the editorship of the tract 2 , so that I suppose 
 he is aware of all this. 
 
 This is regular gossip, I fear very uninteresting to you. 
 It is too bad to make your sublime spirit, soaring with Prospero 
 in a world of its own creation, descend to the commonplace 
 of Oxford life. A propos of Prospero, as a lady would say 
 who did not know how to connect the next sentence of a letter, 
 I went to see Charles Kemble read the Merchant of Venice, 
 from which, in comparison with Macready, one did not get much. 
 It struck me that there was a good deal of difficulty in explain- 
 ing the character of Shylock a sort of Italian Jew (the Jew 
 perfect, and Shakespeare seems to have seized what Newman 
 hints at in one of his sermons, the ideal of Jewish character 
 in Jacob), lago-like malignity and cunning, vulgar simplicity, 
 and violent passion, and withal something of 'the form 
 left to pine away amid an altered world' which arouses 
 one's sympathy for him. There is something very deep in 
 the idea of strict law as opposed to justice, the only notion 
 of morality which the Jews appear to have. In the trial scene 
 this is admirably brought out. I wish theologians understood 
 the relation of Judaism and Christianity half as well. 
 
 . . . Your friend Charles Vaughan is a candidate for Harrow 
 rather late in the field, so that if the Trustees have not great 
 discernment he will be beaten by Jelf, whom people here 
 consider the winning man. 
 
 1 Where Brodie was studying. 
 
 2 i.e. J. A. Froude's contribution to the Lives of the Saints.
 
 Letters, 1840-1846 113 
 
 To B. C. BEODIE. 
 
 BALLIOL, December^, 1844. 
 
 I was very glad to hear from you, and find that you were 
 happily settled at Giessen. For solitariness I am almost as 
 lonely as you can be, as there is not a living creature in 
 College, except the cats, who are wild with hunger. 
 
 The politics of the place have been developing themselves 
 rapidly since I last wrote. About the middle of next Term the 
 country clergy are to be summoned to Oxford, red with anger, 
 fiery hot with Protestant zeal, to vote (i) that certain passages 
 of Ward's book are objectionable, (2) that Ward is to lose 
 his degrees, (3) that all gentlemen of suspicious character shall 
 be summoned by the Vice-Chancellor to sign the Thirty-nine 
 Articles ' in eo sensu quo et primitus editos fuisse constat et 
 universitas imposuit.' It seems probable that the rage of the 
 said country clergy will carry the two first, but perhaps the 
 common sense of the residents may prevail against the test. 
 The Heads of Houses Aa/3e<V d/mVovs fla-lv TJ yue&e'vai l ; that is 
 to say, more fond of getting than resigning a power. I strongly 
 suspect, however, that they will find themselves mistaken in 
 this mischievous and unjust attempt. No deprivation of 
 degrees can take away the Fellowship, which is what they seem 
 to be aiming at, and without this it is a mere brutum fulmen. 
 They might have put him in the Ecclesiastical Court, or in the 
 Vice-Chancellor's Court, so that there is no excuse for trying him 
 by Convocation. He is allowed to be heard in his own defence. 
 
 I cannot quite agree in the serene view you incline to take 
 of the sufferings of the Newmanites. I am quite aware that 
 I have not very much in common [with them], except so far as 
 every person who wishes to be in earnest has with every one 
 else who has the same wish. I think of course that you must 
 guard against being made a cat's-paw of, and perhaps their 
 principles would not allow them to do anything of the same 
 sort for a Latitudinarian 2 ; moreover, they showed a very 
 ugly spirit about Hampden ; but nevertheless it seems but 
 right to see justice done to conscientious men, and very 
 expedient when it is the dominion of Ogilvie and the Heads 
 
 1 Aeschylus, Persae, 690. * See pp. 237 ff., 306, 309 ff. 
 
 VOL. I. I
 
 ii4 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, iv 
 
 of Houses which is to be feared, and not of the Newmanites, 
 who are beginning to scatter like sheep without a shepherd. 
 
 I mentioned to you a book which I had been reading * in 
 praise of J. M. Turner on landscape painting. I have read it 
 all through with the greatest delight ; the minute observation 
 and power of description it shows are truly admirable. His 
 theory in general is that landscape painting must be true, and 
 not a mere romance ; and considering the infinite variety of 
 nature and the individuality of the minutest section, the 
 only way in which true effects can be given is by suggestion, 
 not by distinct drawing, which can never produce in the 
 mind the idea of infinity always found in nature. There is 
 a great deal on the form of clouds, &c., which gives one, so to 
 say, some true principles not only of art but of nature. Since 
 I read it I fancy I have a keener perception of the symmetry 
 of natural scenery. The book is written by Euskin, a child of 
 genius certainly. 
 
 ... Is there any chance of your being found at Rome on 
 St. Peter's day next summer ? I think, as the Long Vacation 
 is a temptation, I am very likely [to] be there. I sun myself 
 with the thought of an Italian sky all the year round ; it would 
 make life happier to have seen Eome and stood on the Tarpeian 
 Eock and under the dome of St. Peter's. 
 
 Concerning the ' Heilige Eock 2 ' about which you make 
 merry, I do not quite see the cause of your mirth unless 
 you believe it to be an imposture, which is very improbable, 
 even though there are twenty-four of them. I think it would 
 be more probable to account for the whole twenty-four on 
 a Straussian hypothesis than to suspect imposture in this 
 particular case. 
 
 Stanley is writing a pamphlet, Donkin is writing a pamphlet, 
 Ward is writing a pamphlet, Eden is writing a pamphlet, 
 F. Maurice is writing a pamphlet, Hussey is writing a pam- 
 phlet ; in short, all the world are pamphleteering. 
 
 Concerning matters serious allow me to say one word. I feel 
 very deeply that one cannot live without religion, and that in 
 
 1 Modern Painters, by a Graduate of Oxford. 
 
 2 The Holy Coat at Treves.
 
 Letters, 1840-1846 115 
 
 proportion as we believe less, that little, if it be only an aweful 
 feeling about existence, must be more constantly present with 
 us ; as faith loses in extent it must gain in intensity, if we 
 do not mean to shipwreck altogether. I go about from one 
 subject to another just as if we were talking together, and am 
 well aware how feeble and unmeaning my words are to bring 
 us to any further agreement on these subjects, but I cannot 
 help often thinking about you, and sometimes it is at least 
 a harmless superstition remembering you in prayer. 
 
 To A. P. STANLEY. 
 
 BOWNESS, January, 1845. 
 
 Concerning your pamphlet 1 I have spoken to Tait, who 
 thinks that he cannot possibly judge without reading it. I do 
 not think his opinion of much value in such a matter. Ask 
 Donkin or Price 2 or Clough, if you want a good opinion. 
 
 All vulgar reasons seem to me in favour of publishing. It 
 will be a hit ; even the Newmanites will be propitiated : 'We 
 have read with pleasure Mr. Stanley's most seasonable pam- 
 phlet, ' will be the leader of the next week's English Churchman. 
 
 The Bishop of N.'s son and Dr. A.'s biographer cannot be 
 worse off than he is with reference to suspicions of Latitudi- 
 narianism. The 'gens Newmanica' possesses in an eminent 
 degree the virtue ascribed to our Master in the Statutes, ' saga- 
 citer odorat,' sc. Hereticos. 
 
 Also, there are many persons like Donkin, Mr. Myers of 
 Keswick, and myself, who would be glad to see what they feel 
 and think, well said for them. I do not doubt that it would 
 have a great sale and gain its author much honour if it 
 were published. My reasons against are the greatness of 
 the subject, which I quite believe you will one day have the 
 opportunity of putting out in a better form. A pamphlet is 
 inadequate to such an extensive work, which should be the end, 
 not the beginning, of a life. I think you may mar it in some 
 
 1 See Life of A. P. Stanley, the Gorham Case in Edinburgh 
 
 vol. i. p. 335. The pamphlet Review, July, 1850. 
 
 was not published, but seems 2 Bonamy Price, afterwards 
 
 to have furnished some of the Professor of Political Economy 
 
 materials for Stanley's article on at Oxford. 
 
 I 2
 
 n6 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, iv 
 
 measure by publishing now, and cannot imagine you will regret 
 it [the delay] ten years hence, if you keep the same purpose 
 steadily in view and do not let yourself fall back into listless- 
 ness and inactivity. Moreover, the question now is rather legal 
 than constitutional, whether it is consistent with the law of the 
 Church of England to hold Roman doctrine. The inexpediency 
 of deciding the question cannot alter the fact when decided. 
 
 ... In the last five years, if they had not fallen into a maze 
 of casuistry, they l would have brought things exactly to the 
 point most favourable to the real interests of the Church as 
 well as of themselves. They have never given up No. 90, 
 and if they did so now, it would seem like an attempt to 
 draw the Anglo-Catholics to Rome who were caught by it. 
 And ' honesty versus casuistry ' is a point I am very unwilling 
 to give up directly or indirectly in favour of Protestantism. 
 The legal ground, or expediency ground, is one that Oakeley 
 does not distinctly take, but clings to Bishop Montague and 
 Ward's sophistical explanations. Also, I am persuaded that 
 Ward and Oakeley are almost certain to go in any case, and 
 would soon cease to have any practical idea of doing good in 
 the Church of England. Oakeley's distinction of holding as 
 distinct from teaching 2 is not to be tolerated for a moment, 
 and yet it is the only way in which his Romanist subscription 
 could possibly be allowed. 
 
 All this would strongly determine me in your case to 
 do nothing. 'In quietness and confidence shall be your 
 strength.' I hope you will not think what I have said harsh. 
 The evils of Newman's going I think very great it would be 
 a mournful fact in the history of the Church of England 3 . 
 Still, the assault from without would be so much stronger that 
 it could hardly bring us back to the days of orthodox misrule. 
 
 1 The Tractarian party. as an Anglican, which he shortly 
 
 2 Oakeley of Balliol, Ward's afterwards abandoned to join the 
 chief supporter, and contributor Church of Rome. His article on 
 to the British Critic, at this time Jewel was ' a landmark in the 
 minister of Margaret Chapel, Lon- progress of Roman ideas ' (Dean 
 don, had written a pamphlet ( The Church's Oxford Movement, p. 322). 
 Subject of Tract XC Historically 3 J. H. Newman joined the 
 Examined) defending his position Church of Rome in October, 1845.
 
 Letters, 1840-1846 117 
 
 This is the end of my prose, which you must receive 
 with all possible suspicion, as coming from a person who feels 
 daily how unfit he is to advise anybody, and has a natural 
 prejudice on the side of ' quiescence.' 
 
 To B. C. BRODIE. 
 
 ... I have been reading Hegel's Lectures on the History of 
 Philosophy, which, although I only half understand, seem to me 
 to give a deeper and more continuous account of philosophy 
 than any book I have seen. The manner in which he traces the 
 growth of self-reflection and the progress of mental analysis is 
 admirable. The other day I had to give a lecture on the 
 Atomic philosophy which recalled to my mind what you told 
 me of Faraday's doctrine of forces. To get rid of the infinite 
 divisibility of matter he must make abstraction of matter, 
 space, &c., but the idea of cause which remains seems so abstract 
 that I do not see how to get back again into the physical world. 
 ... 'Si quid habes imperti.' I did not understand you at the 
 time, but suppose something of this kind must be meant, only 
 I wonder that any physical philosopher should hit upon this 
 method of solving the difficulty. 
 
 To B. C. BRODIE. 
 
 BOWNESS [ON WINDERMERE], 
 
 March 28, 1845. 
 
 The country here you probably know, so I will not describe 
 it. A week ago there was a severe frost, the sky I think 
 the clearest I ever saw in England, so that the lake seemed 
 quite like an Italian landscape. There is nothing in the way 
 of natural beauty I admire so much as the clear Italian sky, 
 which you seem to look through, not at, and into which 
 all objects seem to project. The lake here is very beautiful 
 .on a small scale, especially towards Ambleside, where you 
 have rich outlines of the mountains and shadows. On 
 Monday I went over to Fox How and saw the Arnolds, and 
 am going again in a few days, when I hope to get a sight 
 of Wordsworth.
 
 n8 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, iv 
 
 I quite agree in what you say about Pimlico churches and 
 modern Luthers. I wonder people do not feel the curse of 
 having no old to entwine with the new. The said Pimlico 
 structures very soon become cracked and show the stuff they 
 are made of. For my own part I get rather to hate logic, 
 certainly when applied as it usually is to these subjects, and 
 hope there is a point of view in which you may place yourself 
 above it without being a fool or a madman. I think it is one 
 of the chief charges against the Church of Eome, that it has 
 denned, and subdefined, and deduced, and subdeduced until 
 religion has come to be something absolutely different from 
 the religion of the Bible, not merely as to the things believed, 
 but as to the mode of believing. Systematized theology they 
 put in the place of the philosophy of religion. 
 
 You see I am obliged to have recourse to a kind of shady 
 dissertation to fill up my letter. Old Ward's marriage you 
 will have seen by the papers is known to all the world 
 sonnets are addressed to him, the country newspapers have 
 impromptus on the subject, the matter has ended in a universal 
 roar of laughter. I am afraid it is a bad thing for him, which 
 it would not be on your view, if he would resign himself 
 to his better nature and become a domesticated animal. This, 
 however, he is not disposed to do. I fear he will go on 
 despised by all the world 'Hildebrand the married man'- 
 with the worst effect on himself if not upon others. 
 
 To A. P. STANLEY. 
 
 September, 1845. 
 
 I have read part of Ewald and part of Bunsen's 1 work. 
 ' Give me a bit of paper and a pencil, and I'll sketch you a plan 
 of a church. It won't take five minutes, I assure you.' It 
 seems to show a great ignorance of the truth, 'Ecclesia 
 nascitur, non fit.' Surely it must be an idle attempt to con- 
 struct any outward form of a church which is not simply 
 an expression of religious tendencies in the people. . . . 
 
 . . . Ewald I like much better than I did at first. About 
 
 1 Die Verfassung der Kirche der Zukunft, published in 1845.
 
 Letters, 1840-1846 119 
 
 the miracles it may be said that if there is such uncertainty 
 about the common facts, you cannot possibly have evidence 
 sufficient to warrant you in believing the miracles. But is 
 not this unfair, because the history and the miracles mutually 
 support each other? The miracles, however improbable in 
 themselves, make the history probable. And is it not rather 
 the general question of the probability of miracles in such an 
 age and dispensation than the evidence for particular miracles 
 with which we are concerned? Whether, e.g., it is not 
 natural that these 'vestiges of creation' might be perpetually 
 going on until the spiritual world were set forth in Chris- 
 tianity? whether it would not be contrary to analogy that 
 the God who was believed to dwell in the thunder should 
 not show Himself in the thunder ? Does it seem consistent 
 to suppose such vast changes in men's minds and feelings 
 about religion, and to suppose no changes in the laws of nature 
 corresponding to it, but a harmony of subject and object which 
 consists in the ceaseless play of the subject around a never- 
 varying object ? This seems to me the strongest and the 
 real ground of defending the Old Testament miracles. 
 
 To A. P. STANLEY. 
 
 i GREAT GEORGE STREET, 
 
 December, 1845. 
 
 I return Donkin's letter, which entertained me much. May 
 I venture one or two criticisms 1 ? If a certain friend of ours 
 saw that passage about the resurrection of our Lord, would 
 he not at once say, ' How can I be responsible, in what appears 
 to me defect of evidence, for not believing a fact ? ' To which 
 I imagine the only answer would be that this fact is so in- 
 separably connected with certain doctrines that approve them- 
 selves to our moral and religious sense, that you must take 
 the fact with the doctrine. Suppose him to answer I do not 
 see this connexion ; you may be right, but you only prove a 
 lack of historical or metaphysical faculties in me for not agreeing 
 with you. Can that be essential to Christianity, the unbelief 
 
 1 On a writing of Stanley's, probably based on the pamphlet 
 referred to on p. 115.
 
 120 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, iv 
 
 of which does not imply any moral guilt, but a want of 
 acuteness and good sense ? I have not any tendency to doubt 
 about the miracles of the New Testament, but this seems 
 to me a very difficult question. May not the answer perhaps 
 be that of Erdmann, that the ideas are the essential, and that 
 the facts are a manifestation of the ideas ? If so, and I think 
 this is partly true at all events, it does matter very much 
 what we believe, even though we doubt about our Lord's 
 resurrection. Concerning Hegel, I doubt not that Donkin's 
 ignorance is far more than my knowledge. I have only 
 a glimpse of his meaning, but feel restless until I can get 
 deeper into it. Erdmann's advice, if you remember, was to 
 read first the Phdnomenologie, then the Logic, and then 
 the Philosophic der Religion. The Logic I have been toiling 
 at since I came back, but it is almost impossible to get any 
 idea of it in the details without first getting an idea of the 
 whole. I thought the Geschichte der Philosophic gave me 
 great help at first. As a history I suppose it is bad, because 
 it sees Hegelianism everywhere, and brings all systems under 
 its categories. It is an exposition of himself stufenweise, 
 his philosophy being the result of all former ones, which are 
 subordinated as ' moments ' and are ever in process of transition. 
 Without the history of philosophy in which to realize them, 
 his abstractions and concretions would seem quite unmeaning. 
 
 To A. P. STANLEY. 
 
 DULOE, LISKEAED, December, 1845. 
 
 Samuel of Oxford is not unpleasing, if you will resign 
 yourself to be semi-humbugged by a semi-humbug. He was 
 very kind, and would do great good if he could but be per- 
 suaded to keep off speculative matters. In the latter respect 
 Mauricianism, diluted by Trench, and still further watered 
 by himself, seems to be the prevailing tone. But he is a man 
 of the world and a gentleman, and above all ' head-of-a-house ? 
 delusions, and exactly agrees with us about the College for 
 poor students. Nevertheless, with all his practical ability he 
 shows weakness of character e. g. he said he would print his 
 charge if we wished it ; but some of us did not wish it, so
 
 Letters, 1840-1846 121 
 
 the charge was not printed. I must tell you of a conversation 
 that occurred between Trench and one of the candidates \ 
 
 Scene I. The Garden, Cuddesdon. 
 
 Trench. Has Newman's book 2 produced much effect at Oxford ? 
 
 Cand. Yes, a great one. Very able, do you not think ? How 
 very striking the last page is ! 
 
 Trench. Humph ! Yes, touching. The chief thing that strikes 
 me about the book is the aweful amount of scepticism it dis- 
 closes. It will do great good, the publication of it. 
 
 Scene II. Palace, Cuddesdon. 
 
 The Bishop. One of the Candidates. 
 
 BisTi. The Irvingites use this passage (' He gave some Apostles ') 
 
 to prove the institution of a sevenfold ministry. How 
 
 would you answer such an argument ? 
 Cand. It refers to an accidental state of the Church ; there was 
 
 no regular ministry at the time. 
 
 Bish. You do not believe, then, that the Episcopal Order 
 - existed from the beginning ? 
 Cand. No ; but that it sprang up gradually. 
 Bish. (Here followed a speech which lasted five minutes.} Let me 
 
 hear what you say in answer to this ? 
 Cand. Bishop and Presbyter are used convertibly in the New 
 
 Testament. This place shows that there was no regular 
 
 ministry. There is no mention of Bishops in the Apostolical 
 
 Fathers ; and it seems more natural that it should grow up, 
 
 like other institutions, gradually. 
 Bish. But might not the thing be older than the name? It 
 
 may be in human things that it is more natural institutions 
 
 should grow naturally, but not so in divine. And Ignatius 
 Cand. Have you seen the Syriac Version ? 
 Bish. And did you see the places at the end which confirm 
 
 from the Syriac the authority of the other Epistles ? (This 
 
 is a mis-statement.) 
 Bish. One more question I wish to ask. In what sense do 
 
 you sign the Articles ? Certain modes I consider dishonest, 
 
 without at all wishing to narrow their limits. 
 Cand. (A pause.) In Paley's sense. 
 
 1 What follows is clearly auto- gree. Richard Chenevix Trench 
 biographical : cf. p. 240. Jowett (afterwards Archbishop of Dublin) 
 took Priest's Orders in the winter was Bishop Wilberforce's examin- 
 of 1845. Every Fellow of Balliol ing Chaplain, 
 wasbound by statute tobe ordained 2 The Development of Christian 
 within four years of his M.A. de- Doctrine (1845).
 
 122 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, iv 
 
 Bish. What does Paley say ? 
 
 Cand. That it is an absurdity if the Legislature meant to say 
 that you assented to four or five hundred disputed proposi- 
 tions. It only meant that you were an attached member 
 of the Church of England. 
 
 Bish. No, I don't mean that I require assent to four or five 
 hundred disputed propositions, &c. &c. 
 
 Cand. One question I should like to ask. Do you think that 
 Dr. Arnold was justified in signing them? 
 
 Bish. Yes. 
 
 I have omitted the civilities, but the candidate informed me 
 that nothing could be more bland and amiable than the Bishop's 
 manner to him. 
 
 Scene III. The Tea Table, Cuddesdon. 
 
 Bish. Sir E. Peel's scheme when he went out of office is said 
 to have been a total repeal of the Corn Laws, Malt Tax, 
 Sugar Duties, &c. This would be a great sacrifice for the 
 landed interest, &c. But the poor would be the gainers 
 by it. 
 
 Cand. The clergy, my Lord, would be great sufferers. 
 
 Bish. Yes, I am afraid they would ; in all changes they suffer. 
 
 Cand. But if the poor are the gainers, the clergy ought not 
 to complain. 
 
 To complete the portraiture of Samuel of Oxford, I will add 
 two extracts from his sermon : 
 
 'All saving truth is contained in Scripture, not the germ 
 of it, not to be developed out of it, but is in it. If you 
 go to the Primitive Church or to Fathers or to Councils, 
 there is no amount of superstition to which you may not 
 be led on.' 
 
 ' Scripture is to be interpreted by the Creeds and Catholic 
 consent.' 
 
 . . . The Bishop is an excellent man, overflowing with 
 goodness ; but I doubt whether anybody can do him perfect 
 justice who has not a spice of humbug in his composition and 
 therefore a sympathy with the sort of thing. 
 
 To A. P. STANLEY. 
 
 SONNING, [1846]. 
 
 I am here in that ' temple of peaceful industry ' at Sonning. 
 I do not know whether ' indolence ' might not partly express
 
 Letters, 1840-1846 
 
 123 
 
 it too. It is a charming place, and the vicar 1 is full of virtues 
 and kindness ; it is delightful to see him get on so well with 
 his people and with all the world. 
 
 I stopped a night in London, first with Lingen, second with 
 Brodie and Vaughan 2 ; the latter greatly pleased me. I am 
 afraid we are on different tacks in Moral Philosophy, and 
 though I cannot compare with him in power and originality, 
 I doubt whether he is in the right. The truth is he is ' The 
 Sheepskin ' still works alone, thinks alone, would analyze 
 the origin of our moral ideas in the individual rather than 
 the world at large 3 . He will write a more striking book 
 for not having read German, and certainly a more readable 
 one, which will be a real accession to English Philosophy ; 
 but unless a man could, like Descartes, pluck out one by one 
 the ideas he already has, I do not see what gain there can 
 really be in travelling alone, and probably losing the way 
 on the same ground with the German thinkers. 
 
 PS. I have forgotten to mention a sudden revolution in 
 my plans. Last Thursday Scott appeared, and seeing that he 
 is blind and solitary, I thought it would be better to go and 
 
 1 The Rev. Hugh Pearson, a 
 great friend of Stanley's and of 
 Jowett's. See vol. ii. p. 195. 
 
 2 Henry Halford Vaughan (see 
 p. 97, note 3). He was a man of 
 whom great things were expected. 
 He wrote a metaphysical work, 
 of which the MS. was destroyed in 
 some mysterious way before it 
 could be published. He left be- 
 hind him three volumes of emenda- 
 tions on Shakespeare. 'The Sheep- 
 skin' is a nickname for him, which 
 recurs several times in the corre- 
 spondence, perhaps suggested by 
 his rough shock of lightish- 
 coloured hair. He was acknow- 
 ledged to be the most brilliant 
 of all Dr. Arnold's pupils. 
 
 8 This is repeated in a subse- 
 
 quent letter : ' Did I tell you that 
 I saw H. H. V. in London and had 
 a talk with him ? He looks upon 
 morality as having its roots in 
 pleasure and pain, the flower 
 which it bears being the work of 
 imagination or reflection on those 
 first impressions. His great object 
 seemed to be to find out the origin 
 of our moral ideas looking for 
 them, however, only in the indi- 
 vidual, not in the history of the 
 world.' Dean Liddell, to whom 
 portions of the work were read 
 in MS., understood it to be an 
 attempt to trace the upward 
 growth of morality in human 
 history, finding its consummation 
 in Christ.
 
 124 Life of Benjamin Jowett 
 
 see him for a few weeks, as my presence is not absolutely 
 necessary at ' the seat of war \ ' 
 
 To A. P. STANLEY. 
 
 [1846.] 
 
 About the Evangelical Alliance I do not know anything, 
 but the views of all parties concerned in it must be so essen- 
 tially sectarian that it can hardly hold together very long. 
 I suppose it is a sign that the Dissenters, like the Church, 
 are getting out of their shallow formalism and ceasing to 
 declaim about the State Church, as we on our part about our 
 venerable Establishment. A more interesting question to me 
 is the more general one What is the real cause and what 
 the future fortunes of the English Dissenters? . . . One 
 fancies it [Dissent] must be some kind of cross between 
 Puritanism, formalism, Anglicanism, political liberty, and 
 Church authority, &c. ; its constant degeneration into Uni- 
 tarianism, and never into Latitudinarianism, is a remarkable 
 feature. A small admixture of religio sceptici would greatly 
 improve it ; at present it is equally tenacious of all, from the 
 Beast in the Eevelation down to 'John the Immerser came 
 preaching in the wilderness.' It is evidently a good deal 
 shaken at present, and getting out of place like the Church 
 itself. . . 
 
 1 Balliol.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 TUTOESHIP (continued). COMMENTAEY ON ST. PAUL. 
 1846-1850 
 
 (Act. 29-33) 
 
 ATTACHMENT of his pupils to him His interest in their works 
 Hegel and Comte Lectures in Political Economy Plato at 
 Oxford Paris in 1848 Conversation with Michelet, &c. Theological 
 Essays Long Vacations The Oban reading party Alexander Ewing, 
 Bishop of Argyll Notes on the Romans Death of William Jowett 
 A pupil's record of conversations Letters. 
 
 rp HE preceding years have witnessed the formation and 
 -*- ripening of opinion and character. It is only now 
 that these begin to be fully realized in action. 
 
 Jowett's ascendency in Balliol reached a new stage 
 about the year 1846. In the Long Vacation of that year, 
 spent partly in helping Scott, his former Tutor, who had 
 lost his wife some months before, and partly in charge 
 of a pupil at Beaumaris, he was more isolated than 
 heretofore l . From Scott's rectory of Duloe, near Liskeard, 
 he wrote to Stanley : 
 
 'Many thanks for all your kindness, to which I am not at 
 all insensible ; perhaps it is better and more useful that we 
 should work alone sometimes. It cools the nervous fever of 
 intellectualism. I have already begun to form projects for next 
 Long Vacation.' 
 
 1 The solitude at Beaumaris Riddell and his Balliol reading 
 was broken by a visit from James party on August 16.
 
 i26 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, v 
 
 Amongst his pupils of the next few years there was a 
 little inner circle, whose relation to him, partly because 
 they most needed his support, was peculiarly intimate. 
 Chief among these were William Y. Sellar, Alexander 
 Grant, T. C. Sandars, W. S. Dugdale, F. T. Palgrave, 
 Theodore Walrond, R B. D. Morier, and H. J. S. Smith. 
 It was within this group that there sprang up what 
 outsiders designated a sort of ' Jowett-worship ' ; but it 
 will be seen by-and-by how little there was amongst them 
 of the spirit of what is called ' the mutual admiration 
 society.' They were on the best terms of good fellowship, 
 and devotedly attached to Jowett as their teacher and 
 friend, submitting to his insistent criticism only because 
 of his evident good will towards them. His devotion to 
 his pupils was, at this time, something unique at Oxford ; 
 and it was rendered more effective by the singular 
 personal charm which made him irresistible to younger 
 men, and the candour of his judgement, in which he 
 always sought to take in the man as a whole, without 
 regarding minor points of position, conduct, or opinion. 
 More valuable than all was the penetrating sympathy 
 with which he discerned the individual wants of his 
 pupils and the critical points in their mental history, 
 and the eager promptitude with which he came to 
 their aid unasked in difficulties which his sagacity had 
 divined. 
 
 Sellar was one of the Glasgow men, but, unlike most 
 of them, had come up before he was nineteen, and had 
 gained the Scholarship in addition to the Snell. He had 
 crowned a brilliant Oxford career by taking an open 
 Fellowship at Oriel. With great vigour both of mind 
 and character, he had the temperament of genius ; and in 
 the year following his degree he suffered from a nervous 
 reaction after the long intellectual strain. Jowett's
 
 1846-1850] Pupils at Balliol 127 
 
 resolute and self-denying kindness was of lasting service 
 to him ; and a life-long mutual attachment was the result. 
 At his home in Artornish, Sellar used to talk of 'the 
 divine Jowett.' 
 
 Grant was the heir to a baronetcy, whose expectations 
 had been reduced by misfortune. Of all the men of his 
 time he was most generally looked upon as having made 
 Jowett his ideal. His note-books, from which some 
 quotations will presently be given, attest the eagerness 
 with which he drank in every word of the teacher. 
 
 Dugdale was a man of fortune, who gained a First 
 Class, married, and died comparatively young in a mining 
 accident, where he had risked his life for the sake of 
 others 1 . 
 
 Palgrave's intimate relation to Jowett and their early 
 intercourse will be amply shown by the letters and 
 reminiscences which he has contributed to the present 
 work. His love of poetry and art was one great bond of 
 intellectual sympathy between them. 
 
 Of Morier, Mr. Palgrave says 
 
 ' He had come up to Balliol a lax and imperfectly educated 
 fellow, but Jowett, seeing his great natural capacity, took him 
 in the Long Vacation of 1848 and practically "converted him" 
 to the doctrine of work. This was the turning-point in 
 Morier's life, and the warm friendship between them continued 
 until from his own deathbed (in Switzerland) Morier wrote to 
 the Master, who himself was then either dying or dead.' 
 
 Of Jowett's attachment to this younger friend, who 
 was then unknown to me, I was myself a witness. One 
 day in 1852, when I had taken him some work, he 
 
 1 He was attempting to rescue Chapel. The inscription there is 
 the miners who were buried in Jowett's, as appears from several 
 one of his own pits. See the drafts of it in one of his note- 
 tablet to his memory in Balliol books.
 
 128 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, v 
 
 turned round from stirring the fire an habitual action 
 with him with a brighter look than I had ever seen in 
 his face, and said, ' Morier is coming l \ ' 
 
 Henry Smith had been a pupil of Highton's at Rugby, 
 but before obtaining the Scholarship had been travelling 
 with his family on account of health. He gained the 
 Ireland and Senior Mathematical Scholarships, but his 
 work had been again interrupted by illness before taking 
 his degree. Jowett wrote to him urging an extended 
 absence in a letter full of wise sympathy, which was 
 treasured by Smith's mother until her death, but has 
 been unfortunately destroyed. In earlier years he was 
 equally distinguished as a Classic and a Mathematician, 
 but latterly he became absorbed in the special branch 
 of mathematics on which he has left his mark. He 
 remained to the last a steadfast friend, and his untimely 
 death was deeply lamented by Jowett, one of whose latest 
 writings was a short memoir of his former pupil and 
 junior colleague 2 . 
 
 The careers of these and other friends who had been 
 his pupils cannot be separated from the course of Jowett's 
 own existence. Their interests both in private and 
 public are as coloured strands, which appear and reappear 
 in the texture of his life. If he gave them support and 
 strength, they were his ' wings,' to use the quaint phrase of 
 Niebuhr. He read their books in MS. ; he followed every 
 step of their success or their discomfiture ; he formed 
 close friendships with their wives and children. With 
 
 1 It was on some such occasion, cutioner. I remember the scene, 
 
 on the return of an elder pupil There was certainly a touch of 
 
 to Oxford, that he gave the enter- light-heartedness unlike his bear- 
 
 tainment in Common Room to ing in after years. L. C. 
 
 which Mr. Tollemache refers 2 Memoir of H. J. S. Smith, 
 
 (Benjamin Jowett, p. 113), when prefixed to his collected works. 
 
 Jowett enacted the Chinese exe- See vol. ii.
 
 1846-1850] Friendship and Study 129 
 
 Sellar he renewed his knowledge of Lucretius and 
 Virgil ; with Grant he saw how Aristotle had a'bsorbed 
 the ideas of Plato and ' stamped them with logic ' ; with 
 Morier he took a bird's-eye view of continental politics ; 
 from F. T. Palgrave he sought to gather new impressions 
 of German and Italian art. Something of the same kind 
 was true also of younger contemporaries, who were not his 
 pupils. While Lingen, ' sensitive to every breath of truth,' 
 was studying for the Bar and writing for the Morning 
 Chronicle, he received many a 'prose ' from Jowett on the 
 philosophy of law and on various questions of the hour ; 
 and when in 1847 the same friend obtained a secre- 
 taryship in the Education Department under J. Kay- 
 Shuttleworth, the office of the Committee of Privy 
 Council became a centre of sustained interest to Jowett 1 . 
 Lingen was followed thither by Temple, Sandford, and 
 several other Balliol men, all friends of Jowett's, while 
 M. Arnold became private secretary to Lord Lansdowne, 
 who was President of the Council. And to ffolliott 
 of University, the heir to an Irish estate, whose acquain- 
 tance he made through Morier, Jowett expatiates on 
 the whole Irish question in its bearing on the duties 
 of a landlord, as well as on farming, the breeding of 
 cattle, &c. It was thus, through sympathetic (and yet 
 critical) intercourse with other minds, that his more dis- 
 cursive thoughts took shape. Meanwhile his own studies 
 were pursued, above all in vacation time, with greater 
 assiduity than ever. In company with Temple, his junior 
 colleague, he now made a close and serious study of 
 Hegel. They had translated a good deal of the Logic, 
 when this task was broken off by Temple's being sum- 
 moned away to practical life. Jowett was for the time 
 
 1 He was keenly interested in on Education in Wales in the 
 Lingen'sKeportasaCommissioner autumn of 1847. 
 VOL. I. K
 
 130 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, v 
 
 powerfully attracted by the Hegelian philosophy. ' Men 
 call a page of Hegel difficult,' he said ; ' that is because 
 they do not sit down to it as to a problem in mathematics.' 
 In a lecture once, on Jowett's statement of the doctrine 
 that ' Being both is and is not. 'one of the undergraduates 
 present could not repress a laugh. 'You may laugh, 
 Mr. Dugdale,' the teacher is reported to have said, ' but 
 you will find it true.' But however strongly impressed, 
 his mind was too elastic and too onward-moving to be 
 long absorbed in any system. He ' could not be holden of 
 it.' In speaking, as he sometimes did, of the educational 
 value of metaphysics, especially of German metaphysics, 
 he would add, ' The philosophical movement in Greece 
 was far more important.' He would sometimes dissuade 
 a pupil from the study of Kant, 'because it takes so 
 long to see what these fellows would be at.' And even in 
 these earlier years he was fond of observing that no old 
 man had ever been a metaphysician. ' Hegel is a great 
 book,' he would say, ' if you can only get it out of its 
 dialectical form.' That is heresy, I imagine, in the ears 
 of a true Hegelian. 
 
 In one Long Vacation, about 1850, he made a special 
 study of Auguste Comte 1 . That which always seemed to 
 him most valuable, both in Comte and Hegel, was the 
 historical method which they pursued in different ways, 
 and the idea of an orderly evolution of the human mind, 
 which had not been clearly expressed before their time 
 even in Lessing's suggestive essay on the education 
 of the human race. On recovering from the impression 
 which Comte made on him, he said, ' The world will 
 not be again deceived by a metaphysical system. Comte 
 has such great knowledge of the world in one way, 
 
 1 In 1882 he re-read Comte and made many annotations. See 
 vol. ii. p. 187. E. A.
 
 1846-1850] Lectures on Philosophy 131 
 
 so little in another.' A later epigram of his may be 
 quoted here : ' Comtism destroys the minds of men ; 
 Carlyleism destroys their morals.' 
 
 For his pupils at the time now spoken of, especially 
 for Alexander Grant, his philosophical teaching had 
 a peculiar charm. The course of lectures on the History 
 of Philosophy, mentioned in the last chapter, became 
 from year to year more comprehensive. It had no 
 immediate relation to the examination system as then 
 constituted, but helped to quicken men's intellects, and 
 gave them larger views about the books they were 
 reading. The kind of talk about the Ethics and Butler 
 which had ' paid ' hitherto no longer satisfied either ex- 
 aminers or examinees. Single sayings of the great Tutor 
 passed from mouth to mouth, such as ' Logic is neither 
 a science nor an art, but a dodge ' ; and ' The efflorescence 
 of art is the bloom upon decay.' Another quotation, prob- 
 ably apocryphal (though some may think it prophetic), was 
 to the effect that ' Education is the grave of a great mind/ 
 He now also gave a course of lectures on the 'new 
 science ' of Political Economy, which he had been 
 studying since 1841. Henry Smith was amongst his 
 auditors *. The lectures were renewed from time to time, 
 but a few years after this he was wont to observe that 
 Political Economy, like Benthamism, had done its work, 
 except that there were problems connected rather with 
 the distribution than the accumulation of wealth which 
 had to be settled in the future 2 . A sentence in one of his 
 letters to Lingen (September, 1846) is significant: 
 ' All the world are become Political Economists, and there 
 
 1 See the Economic Journal for ness and also the difficulty of the 
 1893, p. 745. land question before the subject 
 
 2 It may be mentioned as an had been broached by any British 
 instance of his foresight, that he statesman. 
 
 had counted upon the inevitable- 
 
 K 2
 
 132 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, v 
 
 is almost as much reason to fear the application of these 
 abstract principles to Ireland as there was formerly [to fear] 
 their utter rejection.' 
 
 But the most substantial and permanent addition made 
 by Jowett in the early years of his Tutorship to Oxford 
 studies, was the introduction of Plato's Republic as 
 a book to be taken up for the Schools. Hitherto, in 
 Greek Philosophy at Oxford, the Ethics and the Rhetoric 
 of Aristotle had been all in all. By lecturing on Plato, 
 Jowett infused new life into the study of Greek and of 
 Philosophy. He had been doing so at least as early as 
 the Lent Term of 1847, although the practice of ' pro- 
 fessing' the Republic became general only with the 
 inauguration of the new system in 1853. 
 
 In 1846-1847 he was still subject to occasional fits of 
 depression. His letters contain some curious reflections 
 on this subject. To a friend, who had owned to the same 
 weakness, he wrote half humorously in May, 1846 : 
 
 ' This malady to which we seem both subject, as far as my 
 experience goes, begins with the stomach, extends itself to the 
 head, where it dries up the fountains of the intellect, and 
 is not wholly unconnected with the weather. This, in the 
 language of Hegel, is its reality. But its ideality embraces 
 a higher field : life, death, eternity, &c. The misfortune is 
 that the world see it from the outside, whereas to yourself it 
 generally retains its sublimer aspect from within. 
 
 ' But joking apart (you must attribute what I am going to 
 say to a headache or not), I feel every day what a serious thing 
 it is, and that there is far more truth in its ideal side than in 
 the other. It is a most painful thing to fancy that you have 
 no moral nature, or power of fixing your own character ; no 
 stamina that seems as if it could last you through life. I think 
 one wants more resignation and more determined living on 
 a system to avoid excitement and all ecstatic efforts. 
 
 ' ... It must depend on oneself whether all this self- 
 experience and over-sensibility ends in a morbid consciousness
 
 1846-1850] Paris in 1848 133 
 
 and dependence on others, or in a real self-sufficient knowledge 
 of human nature. Let us be of good cheer, and trust that 
 when the sky clears we may have life and spirits to enjoy it.' 
 
 In August, 1847, he ' made acquaintance for the first 
 time ' (as Boswell would say) with Selden's Table-talk, 
 a copy of which, in the neat Pickering edition, then first 
 published, was given to him by his friend Lingen. Two 
 phrases of John Selden's became ' household words ' with 
 him : ' The best translation in the world ' (of the English 
 Authorized Version of the Bible), and ' Rhetoric turned 
 into logic ' (of some theological notions). 
 
 In April, 1848, the Revolution and the flight of Louis 
 Philippe, which drove Jowett's parents for the time from 
 Paris to Bonn, was the occasion of his excursion to Paris 
 in company with Stanley, Palgrave, and Morier, of which 
 a vivid account is given in the Life of Dean Stanley *. 
 It there appears how Jowett's encouragement had 
 rendered the scheme feasible by overcoming his com- 
 panions' irresolution; and, according to Mr. F. T. 
 Palgrave's diary of the expedition, 
 
 'It was Jowett who, on their arrival, at sight of the 
 Tricolor and Tree of Liberty, expressed the feelings of the 
 whole party, when he said, "How absurd all fears seemed 
 now." . . . We turned a corner, and there was the long line 
 of the Tuileries, with the Tricolor flying from the central 
 dome the deepest sign of the great change. . . . The Arch 
 of Triumph in the Court of the Tuileries was guarded . . . 
 not as of old by lofty gens d'armes, but by two young, resolute 
 fellows of the Garde Mobile, in blouses and muskets. . . . 
 Everywhere these soldiers of the people are on guard ; they 
 are at present the police of the town, and are said to do their 
 duty in good earnest, and to the great preservation of public 
 order. . . . Jowett, however, allows that he does not pass them 
 without a shudder. One thing, Morier said, that seemed to 
 
 1 Vol. i. pp. 390 ff.
 
 134 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, v 
 
 have struck the people most, among the great events of the 
 three days, was the discovery of the picture of Christ in 
 the chapel of the Tuileries. Everything was being smashed 
 de fond en comble by the people, when suddenly they reached 
 this picture. Some one cried out that ' ' every one should bare 
 his head." The crowd at once did so, and knelt down, whilst 
 the picture was carried out through the most utter silence 
 "you might have heard a fly buzz" into a neighbouring 
 church. Then the suspended wave of destruction rolled on. 
 . . . Jowett says Paris is now attristee the people in the 
 streets remind one of London. ' 
 
 Stanley brought from Matthew Arnold an introduction 
 to the veteran historian, Michelet, who told them they 
 had come too late or too soon : ' C'est 1'entr'acte,' viz. 
 between Revolution and Counter-revolution. Mr. Pal- 
 grave says : 
 
 ' S., J., and I chiefly sat and listened whilst Michelet went 
 on from one thing to another for more than an hour. He 
 seemed to anticipate much from the Chartist demonstration 
 to-day (April 10). J. "It will be of little consequence." 
 S. "Ireland will be our revolution."' 
 
 Besides Rachel's singing of the Marseillaise, they 
 heard the people's stormy eloquence in the clubs, visited 
 St. Cloud and Versailles, and fraternized with individual 
 citizens. Lacordaire's sermon in Notre Dame Jowett 
 thought far more eloquent than any English preaching 
 that he knew of. But the most thrilling spectacle in 
 which they shared was the distribution of colours to the 
 troops of the Republic. 
 
 'April 20. ... The day began in rain, but advanced to 
 gleams of sunshine, which, passing up and down the long 
 stream of bayonets that poured for twelve hours incessantly 
 from the distant Tuileries or Place de la Concorde, lighted up 
 the waving lines like a silver cornfield. There was every 
 variety of colour in the advancing thousands, troops of the
 
 1846-1850] Oxford in 1848 135 
 
 line (saluted with cries of "Vive la Ligne ! ") mixed with the 
 dark uniform of the National Guard ; then a splendid cavalry 
 regiment ; then the ragged, but bold and soldier-like, Garde 
 Mobile, enfants de la Revolution, with green boughs and 
 flowers stuck at their musket ends. Stanley, Jowett, and 
 I joined one regiment and marched round close before 
 them, with bare heads, to the sound of drums and shouts of 
 " Vive la Republique ! " 
 
 ' . . . The members of the Government frequently passed 
 between the platform and the stairs which led downwards in 
 front of the gallery under the arch ; . . . and when Dupont de 
 1'Eure, aged, and dreamily looking out on the scene, or Arago, 
 or Cremieux, or Ledru-Rollin passed out, they had a free 
 way between the spectators. But when Louis Blanc, small, 
 piercing-looking, and thought-wearied, came out, there was 
 a cry and a rush, and all crowded about the little ami des 
 ouvriers with enthusiasm ; far more so when Lamartine, tall 
 and noble, with thoughtful and care-worn looks, passed among 
 us, with loud shouts of "Vive Lamartine !" There was one 
 rough fellow in a blouse who offered him a rose-bud, an 
 " offrande pour la patrie," to cheer him through the long, 
 weary day.' 
 
 I have transcribed this record because of its intrinsic 
 interest. On the whole it seems improbable that the 
 events of 1848, either at home or abroad, had any 
 important influence on Oxford politics or on Oxford 
 studies. As Canon North Finder well observes : 
 
 'The University at that time had not emerged from the 
 theological stage, and secular politics attracted comparatively 
 little interest. The best of the Dons were for the most part 
 Tractarians, and hated Liberalism of every shade as strongly 
 as Newman did, while the iron heel of the old Hebdomadal 
 Board crushed out every germ of liberal aspiration. . . . 
 Excitement in the February of 1848 there was in plenty ; but 
 it was not of a very intelligent kind, nor had much seriousness 
 about it. Christian Socialism was taken up ardently by the 
 few, who for a testimony were content to wear strange 
 patterned and ill-fitting trousers, made in the workshops of
 
 136 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, v 
 
 the C. S. tailor. Foremost among these was John Conington, 
 then Fellow of University, and a friend of Richard Congreve's. 
 A. H. Clough was just then leaving Oxford, or he would 
 doubtless have been a powerful factor in the new movement 1 .' 
 
 Yet a mind like Jowett's, although, as appears in the 
 above narrative ; he thought little of Chartism, could not 
 remain unaffected by a great European change which had 
 come immediately under his view. 
 
 "With the exception of this excursion to Paris, his 
 journeys abroad, after 1845, were less frequent and less 
 extensive than they had been. His responsibilities were 
 becoming more grave, and the (fuAofodjuouz; (lover of sight- 
 seeing) was yielding to the 0iAoVo$o5 (lover of wisdom). 
 His desire to visit Borne, so keen in 1846-1847, was 
 never gratified, although in one of those years, with 
 ffolliott or some other friend, he went as far as to Florence. 
 An occasional run to Switzerland might follow the annual 
 visit to his parents at St. Germains (1849), or Fontaine- 
 bleau (1850) ; he is known to have been at Chamounix in 
 1851 ; he took short tours with ffolliott, and visited him 
 more than once in Ireland ; but the bulk of the vacation 
 was divided between Oxford and some country place, 
 where he pursued his own studies while assisting those of 
 some undergraduate friend. His thoughts became more 
 and more concentrated on Theology. There are still 
 extant amongst his papers some theological essays, most 
 of which were probably composed when Stanley was 
 preparing for publication his Apostolical Age, although, 
 as mentioned in the last chapter, Jowett eventually 
 declined to publish them in that volume. An examina- 
 tion of the essays in question may justify the conjecture 
 that this refusal was partly due to a consciousness that 
 
 1 Clough gave up his Fellowship earnest remonstrances of Jowett 
 at Oriel in 1848, against the and other friends.
 
 1846-1850] Theological Essays 137 
 
 his opinions on Theology were not yet sufficiently matured. 
 The essay ' On the Person of Christ,' for example, is 
 an extremely subtle but hardly a satisfactory piece of 
 work. It has the charm of Jowett's most finished style ; 
 but if he ever read it afterwards, he must have recognized 
 in it a moment of transition. Traditional orthodoxy is 
 sublimated and held in solution by an application of 
 Hegelian method. The feeling with which, on hearing it 
 said that Christ was merely human, he answered ' I shall 
 never say that,' is there in full intensity, but is expressed 
 in forms which retain a savour of scholasticism. The 
 ' golden haze ' is still surrounding him ; he does not 
 yet ' look out on the open heaven.' The essay on the 
 motive of Judas Iscariot in betraying our Lord turns on 
 a bold conception of the complexity and range of human 
 character. To the suggestion of "Whately and others, 
 that Judas acted from the disappointment of a mistaken 
 patriot, Jowett replies that in Oriental natures there 
 appear to be depths of treachery and perfidy which cannot 
 be measured by ordinary standards, but spring suddenly 
 into full activity no one can tell from whence. A curious 
 speculation about angels under the title of 'Angelo- 
 phania ' is very characteristic of the transition phase of 
 which I have spoken. A great step forwards in the 
 formation of his theological opinions appears to have 
 been made in the Long Vacations of 1846 and 1847, 
 especially the latter. By this time the more compre- 
 hensive work on the New Testament, to be executed by 
 Stanley and Jowett in common, had been definitely 
 planned. 
 
 In 1848 began that long series of vacation readings 
 with Balliol pupils, of which Mr. F. T. Palgrave says : 
 
 'During my Oxford time, and for years after, despite his 
 heavy work during Term-time, and the friends ready to welcome
 
 138 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, v 
 
 him during vacation, he would constantly devote some weeks 
 of the Long to study in some pleasant place, with any 
 undergraduate he had noticed as of promise, though disposed 
 not to make the most of himself. These efforts, of course, 
 were not always enduringly successful. Yet there must be, 
 or have been, not a few, perhaps, who could look back to 
 these vacations as forming, more or less, a critical moment in 
 their lives, a "choice of Hercules." This, indeed, throughout 
 his own life was (it has always seemed to me) one of the 
 most admirable points in his character. The kind counsel 
 wise, if not always applicable to work while yet it was day, 
 to do all that a man could a doctrine wherein he may 
 have been encouraged by Dr. Johnson's example friends 
 old and young never failed to receive from him at all times 
 and seasons. One might sometimes have been tempted to 
 pray that his precious balms might not break one's head, if 
 the clear candour, good sense, and deep affectionate interest 
 of the adviser had not been always obvious. Even Tennyson, 
 between whom and the Master there was equal love and 
 reverence for some forty years, although he surely had done 
 a complete man's work, Jowett would still urge, after the 
 Idylls had appeared, to attempt some new and greater song. 
 Let us now whisper " Eequiescant in pace." ' 
 
 Jowett's stay at Oban with Morier. in 1848, unlike 
 some tutorial engagements in previous years, was a purely 
 voluntary arrangement on both sides. They had been 
 together at Paris in the previous spring, witnessing scenes 
 of revolution, and their life-long friendship was already 
 begun. They were again together in the Long Vacation 
 of 1849, occupying a farm-house at Grange in Borrow- 
 dale ; but the season was unpropitious, and Jowett began 
 to lose faith in the refreshing qualities of the Lake 
 country in comparison with Scotland. Accordingly, in 
 August, 1850, he returned to Oban, this time with a party 
 of four, comprising Arthur Peel \ T. Fremantle 2 , Henry 
 
 1 Lord Peel. 2 Lord Cottesloe.
 
 1846-1850] Oban Bishop Ewing 139 
 
 H. Lancaster, a Scotch Exhibitioner, and Donald Owen, 
 a Blundell Scholar. 
 
 Jowett delighted in Oban, the scenery, the bathing, the 
 walks and climbs, and also in the congenial society which 
 he found in the neighbourhood. He had been originally 
 drawn thither through his friendship with Alexander 
 Ewing, Bishop of Argyll, whom he visited at Duntroon 
 in successive years, and with whose daughter Nina 
 (afterwards Mrs. Cram) he formed one of many child- 
 friendships which have left a life-long impress on the 
 friends so made. Finding her somewhat vague as to the 
 use of money, he insisted on sending her small sums from 
 time to time, of which he required from her a strict 
 account. The value which the Bishop set on his con- 
 versation is manifest from several passages in the Memoirs 
 of Alexander Ewing, by A. J. E/oss. Reference is there 
 made to an occasion when Jowett read the prayers, 
 and Stanley preached, in the upper room which took 
 the place of an episcopal church at Oban ; and the 
 Rev. H. B. Wilson, afterwards of Essays and Reviews 
 celebrity, seems also to have been in the neighbour- 
 hood that summer. Jowett lent the Bishop a copy of 
 Mr. Myers' Catholic Thoughts, printed for private circula- 
 tion 1 , a fact which, says the biographer, ' had a very 
 important bearing on the Bishop's mental development.' 
 The memoir records long and intimate conversations with 
 Jowett at Duntroon in June, 1850, on many subjects, 
 especially Christian evidences and the nature of revealed 
 religion, also on the nature and development of the 
 religious life. Jowett was charmed with the Bishop's 
 simple, genial ways, and wrote to Stanley, ' He is some- 
 
 1 Published some years after- from whom he had an introduc- 
 wards. Jowett's copy was pro- tion to Mr. Myers at Keswick. 
 bably obtained through Stanley,
 
 140 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, v 
 
 times almost mad with fun.' This was the year of the 
 wreck of the Orion, and a sermon of Jowett's on the 
 Resurrection preached at the time seems to have pro- 
 duced a remarkable impression. The Bishop says, 'I felt 
 as if, for me, the sea had given up her dead.' 
 
 Lord Peel has told me (December, 1895) of an incident 
 that happened during the stay at Oban. The four pupils 
 crossed one day in an open boat with one boatman 
 to the island of Kerrera. While they were enjoying 
 themselves there, the sky began to threaten, and the 
 cautious Highlander warned them to return while it 
 was light. With the recklessness of youth, they dis- 
 regarded his advice, and when they started home- 
 wards the sea was rough. The boatman asked if any 
 of them could row, and Peel, who had rowed at Oxford, 
 took an oar. They made some headway, but when the 
 middle of the strait was reached, a big wave laid the 
 boat on her beam-ends. The man called out to them, 
 ' Jump for your lives ! ' But at that moment the boat 
 righted, and after much labour they got home. They 
 found Jowett sitting alone at work. He insisted on 
 their bathing their heads with spirits to counteract the 
 chill ; and when they had changed their dripping 
 garments, taken some food, and recounted their adven- 
 ture, he said quietly, ' Don't you think we had better 
 have prayers ? ' They all knelt down, and he offered 
 up an extempore thanksgiving for their deliverance. 
 
 Of all the pupils of this time there was none with 
 whom his friendship afterwards became more intimate, 
 or was more constantly maintained, than William Young 
 Sellar, whose work on the Latin Poets will long remain 
 a monument of critical erudition. He wrote of Sellar 
 (after his death in 1890) : 
 
 ' I shall always think of him as long as I live. He was so
 
 1846-1850] The Tubingen School 141 
 
 simple and kind, so free from jealousy or ambition or self in 
 any form, so " transparent," and so fond of his friends, and 
 himself so unlike others, that we cannot help mourning when 
 we think that we shall never see him again. ... I remember 
 also more than forty years ago his coming up to stand for the 
 Scholarship and the old Master remarking on his handsome 
 youthful look. The five or six men who were elected in that, 
 set were a remarkable band : Sandars, Grant, H. Smith, and 
 a year or two previous Eiddell and M. Arnold. I am pleased 
 to think that they stood together and had a strong affection 
 for one another through life 1 , and that Balliol College was 
 accidentally the centre of this connexion.' 
 
 Meanwhile the notes on the Epistles for the pro- 
 jected joint work with Stanley were in progress, and 
 Jowett's theological position was becoming more clearly 
 defined. The study of philosophy had loosened the bonds 
 of ecclesiastical tradition. As he says himself in his 
 reminiscences of Mr. Ward 2 , he had ' put away casuistry 
 and was determined to place religion on a moral and 
 historical basis.' ' Really, I think,' he writes to Stanley, 
 ' one must give up admiring or looking for help from 
 others in Theology.' The writings of the Tubingen 
 theologians, headed by F. C. Baur, were at this time 
 the last word of modern criticism, and in his own work, 
 of which he felt the increasing magnitude, Jowett availed 
 himself largely of their suggestions : but he could never 
 be reckoned as a close follower of any school. In all 
 that he has written, there is the note of first-hand inquiry 
 and original thought. And throughout the confusion 
 
 1 A proof of this appears in the critical moment of opening 
 
 Matthew Arnold's letter to Shairp life, were among the same in- 
 
 of April 12, 1866 : ' It gives me fluences and (more or less) sought 
 
 great pleasure that you and Sellar the same things as I did myself 
 
 like Thyrsis : . . . the voices (Letters of M. A., vol. i. p. 326). 
 
 I do turn to are those of our old 2 W. G. Ward and the Oxford 
 
 set, now so scattered, who, at Movement, p. 434.
 
 142 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, v 
 
 of the years which followed on the collapse of Newman- 
 ism he held firmly to the pursuit of the ' practical ideal,' 
 standing jealously aloof both from scientific materialism 
 and from mere literary and artistic self- culture. 
 
 In a letter to Stanley (1847) he remarks, 'It strikes 
 me that the German theologues get more and more 
 drawn into the whirlpool of philosophy, and that all 
 their various harmonies are but faint echoes of Schelling 
 and HegeL' 
 
 In F. C. Baur, however, he found a critical spirit that, 
 while following in the footsteps of Hegel, was able to use 
 the weapons of philosophy freely and without pedantry. 
 This flashed upon him with the light of a new discovery 
 at the end of the Long Vacation of 1848 ; when, in the 
 same letter in which he urges Stanley not to refuse 
 the Modern History Chair if offered, although he still 
 looked to their joint work on the New Testament as 
 the source for them both of ' many happy years,' he 
 writes : ' Baur appears to me the ablest book I have 
 ever read on St. Paul's Epistles : a remarkable com- 
 bination of Philological and Metaphysical power, with- 
 out the intrusion of Modern Philosophy.' 
 
 Another letter to Stanley of January 10, 1849, gives 
 a welcome glimpse of his literary work at the time : 
 
 'I have to apologize for much seeming indolence about 
 the Commentary. It has been really unavoidable. . . . This 
 vacation I shall have completed my translation of Hegel's 
 Logic, and, I hope, my part of the work on the Universities l . 
 Then I have a short paper to write on Kant and Hegel, for 
 the Moral Philosophy Society. Then, lastly, I desire to write 
 a short review of your Sermons 2 in the Edinburgh, which has 
 
 1 See p. 177. ' Why do you call your Sermons 
 
 1 Stanley seems to have been unfortunate? Fortunati nimium ! 
 
 cast down about the effect of his ... A suspicion sometimes comes 
 
 Sermons. Jowett wrote to him : over you that your work is and
 
 1846-1850] Study of the Gospels St. Paul 143 
 
 long been in my mind : after which I shall expatiate in 
 boundless freedom 1 .' 
 
 The letter to Dr. Greenhill appended to the last chapter 2 
 shows his resolution to ' consume his own smoke,' and 
 to keep his religious feelings to himself. The present 
 labour afforded an outlet in which some part of his 
 personal religious life became absorbed. He said long 
 afterwards to a friend who had purchased his book on 
 the Epistles, ' I am grateful to every one who reads 
 that book ; I put so much of myself into it.' It should 
 be borne in mind that this work had been preceded 
 by a close study of the Gospels, which had been included 
 in the original scheme. In the autumn of 1846 he 
 had written to Stanley: 
 
 ' I am still at work on the three Gospels, and am trying to 
 make a careful comparison of them throughout ; a work of 
 much time with little to show. I think it may be proved that 
 there is no passage of four or five verses in length, where 
 there is not either discrepancy or over-close resemblance for 
 independent writers. If this can be brought home, it blows 
 away attempts at chronology, harmony, arguments from style, 
 &c. I mean to read over a part of the Septuagint, to examine 
 the variations in the MSS. and see whether anything analogous 
 can be detected.' 
 
 The first trace of the concentration of his labours on 
 
 will be in vain. Nothing but the must surely be a great evil.' 
 
 thought of this can make it so. x In these years he wrote much 
 
 No one can tell what will be the which never saw the light, and 
 
 effect of these Sermons on the planned more : for example, an 
 
 minds of Heads of Houses and Edinburgh Review article on the 
 
 country parsons, but it cannot be Hampden Controversy of 1847. 
 
 irretrievable or make you "forfeit An Essay on Pascal, which I re- 
 
 beyond recovery the confidence member seeing on his table about 
 
 of the Church of England." More- 1850, may have been published, 
 
 over the sort of ambiguous ortho- but I know not where, 
 
 doxy of Hare, Maurice, andBunsen a p. 109.
 
 144 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, v 
 
 St. Paul occurs in a letter to Stanley in the autumn 
 of 1847 : 'I have to-day finished a short essay on Romans 
 i. 17 about Natural Religion.' He adds: 
 
 ' I hope you will always rest assured that I feel it to be the 
 greatest blessing and happiness to me to bear a part with you 
 in this work. I feel that I could not do it alone. It has done 
 more to cure me of nervous headaches, &c., than any Long 
 Vacation trip I ever took.' 
 
 In 1850 William Jowett died. The two brothers, 
 William and Alfred, had just agreed to make a hand- 
 some remittance to their mother, and to relieve Benjamin 
 from a moiety of the burden which he so long had borne. 
 The amount of that burden, long studiously concealed, 
 was made known to Dean Stanley when the salary for the 
 Greek Chair had been at last secured in 1865. It was 
 then stated at 400 a year 1 . 
 
 In a letter to John ffolliott, he says : 
 
 'First, of my dearest brother, whom as long as I live I shall 
 remember. I have the pleasantest recollection of him possible, 
 and his cheerful happy ways amid the trials we had to undergo 
 in his early life. He left us eight years ago to go as a cadet 
 to India, and as far as I can learn during all this time he acted 
 rightly amid many temptations and was universally beloved. 
 Perhaps I exaggerate my recollection of him it is hard not 
 to do so when a person is taken from us I was always proud 
 of him and used to think that I never knew in a young fellow 
 a greater union of manliness and gentleness and good sense. 
 I hoped when he came back in two years' time to introduce 
 him to my friends : therefore let me talk of him to you now, 
 as it pleases me to do so, if it does not bore you.' 
 
 I have reserved for the following chapter the movement 
 towards University Reform in which both Jowett and 
 
 1 See chap. x. sub fin. Yet in posed to contribute 50 a year 
 1849 lie was assisting a poor man to the support ot a ' Balliol Hall.' 
 to emigrate : and in 1852 he pro- (See p. 213.)
 
 1846-1850] From Sir A. Grant's Note-book 145 
 
 Stanley took an active part from the spring of 1846. 
 This went on simultaneously with the activities which 
 have now been described, but an historical question of 
 such importance requires consecutive treatment. 
 
 This chapter may conclude with some extracts from 
 a note-book of Sir Alexander Grant's, in which, while an 
 undergraduate, he recorded conversations with Jowett : 
 
 1846. 'We hear people talk of a "free" translation and a 
 "literal " translation. This is a false distinction. There can 
 properly be neither the one nor the other. A translation is only 
 good, and only to be called a translation, when it exactly conveys 
 in our language the feelings expressed in the foreign language. 
 To translate well from Greek is as great a work and requiring 
 as much practice as to turn a piece of English into Greek.' 
 
 ' To give oneself up to " Scholarship " is much the most use- 
 ful thing while an undergraduate. To be able to turn a piece 
 of English into good Latin is a better sign of power, and gives 
 more promise than knowing the whole of Tennyson and Words- 
 worth, and all such books.' 
 
 ' None of those people who were about Coleridge have left us 
 a good account of him. Gillman died before the second volume 
 was published the Table-talk does not do him justice at all, for 
 though it tells us what he said, yet it does not give us any idea 
 of that stream which used to flow on so uninterruptedly as for 
 instance it is said of him that, on one occasion, he talked for a 
 whole night without stopping, in a drawing-room, about Kant's 
 metaphysics, and made the ladies listen. There are some 
 remarkable points in his character, as for instance, his extreme 
 egotism, and his want of truthfulness in certain things. That 
 case of his taking a whole paragraph of Schelling as his own, 
 is excused by some on the ground that he had it copied out 
 among his own papers, and that, as he himself tells us, there were 
 certain writers who had contributed to form his mind and were 
 virtually part of himself. But altogether we must look at this 
 and other acts as different in him from any one else. He seems 
 often not to have known what he was doing. We must separate 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 146 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, v 
 
 men like him from common persons, and look at them partly 
 as though they were madmen. But he was a great man, and we 
 must be thankful for what he has done for us. In his theological 
 writings he was always truthful and fair ; but his political views 
 seem very warped ; that essay on international law in the 
 Friend goes on a very distorted view of morals. His character 
 of Pitt is full of a personal bitterness which perhaps later in 
 life he might not have felt. His gradual conversion to a right 
 belief is to be attributed partly to his gaining sounder views 
 of philosophy, partly perhaps to his bad health, which, coming 
 upon him as it did, would dispose him to seriousness. At 
 Berlin I talked to Schelling about Coleridge's plagiarism ; he 
 seemed very good-natured about it, and said that Coleridge had 
 expressed many things better than he could himself, that in one 
 word he had comprised a whole essay, saying that mythology was 
 not allegorical but tautegorical.' 
 
 1 Sunday, February 20, 1848. B. J. sent for me to ask me 
 about Harrow. I could not give him much information. I was 
 leaving him, but I could not open his outer door. After trying 
 in vain we called for Herbert * and sent for a blacksmith. I sat 
 down for about half an hour. I tried to draw him into con- 
 versation. He answered by detached sentences, and of course 
 as I could not enter into his thoughts sufficiently, we could 
 not get thoroughly interested, so as to now on spontaneously.' 
 
 [Jowett's detached sentences are represented in the 
 following notes.] 
 
 [ J.] ' I like the Sundays at home much better. The parish 
 service is so much nicer. If we had music in our chapels 
 I should like it better ; the singing and the heartiness of the 
 congregation at home adds so much. Newman's influence 
 in University preaching is exaggerated. There used to be 
 perhaps twenty-five undergraduates in the gallery ; very few 
 cared about him or went to hear him. There was, in all his 
 practical earnestness, an undercurrent of his own peculiar 
 views. A remarkable instance of that was a sermon on 
 
 1 The College servant in the Fisher Building.
 
 1846-1850] Conversation with A. Grant 147 
 
 Elijah in which to the uninitiated nothing would have 
 appeared remarkable, but which was in reality a claiming 
 for himself to remain in the Church on the same terms 
 as Elijah had remained under an unregenerate Kingdom in 
 Israel. High Church principles can never be really impressed 
 upon the poor. Sewell has gone far to produce that very 
 doubt and scepticism and want of an objective standard of 
 which he himself complains. It must unsettle people to hear 
 men like him talking so rashly and positively about things 
 which they have been accustomed to hold most sacred. The 
 verbal inspiration of the Scriptures was necessary to the 
 mystical interpretation of them, such as the Fathers employed, 
 therefore those who hold to the one must hold to the 
 other. It was never doubted before this century. Christian 
 Evidences must vary much at different times. Some people 
 find the argument of miracles some the indications of a Creator 
 some the internal evidence some analogy, most convincing. 
 Perhaps a time may come when we shall see them all combined. 
 Paley's argument must not be pressed too far : it consists of two 
 propositions, (i) that the miracles are evidenced by the Apostles 
 dying in vindication of them ; (2) the miracles of the fourth 
 century, &c., have no such evidence. But the first limb will 
 not stand, because Paul can hardly be said to have " counted all 
 lost " for the sake of the miracles alone. It was rather Chris- 
 tianity as a whole, all he had seen and heard and felt, that im- 
 pressed him, so that he would even lay down his life. No more 
 will the second limb, because, whether true or not, we believe 
 that Loyola would quite have died to vindicate what he believed 
 to be miracles.' 
 
 L 2
 
 148 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, v 
 
 LETTERS, 1846-1850. 
 
 To A. P. STANLEY. 
 
 BEAUMARIS 1 , AugUStl, 1846. 
 
 . . . Have you read Hook's Pamphlet 2 , and how do you like 
 it? All Liberals, of course, do : at the same time the text of it 
 seems rather to be, ' Let us teach Church principles without the 
 bore of having to teach children to read.' It is surely a great 
 Schief heit, ' that anti-Hegelian mode of distinguishing religious 
 and moral and secular education. One might much more truly 
 say, ' You cannot teach reading without teaching morality,' and 
 then, of course, teaching morality is a sort of infidelity without 
 teaching religion. Upon Dr. Hook's plan the secular education 
 must be absolutely mechanical the better it is, the worse it is 
 no more morality must be allowed than is absolutely neces- 
 sary to teach people to read. And then the tickets that 
 the children are to bring to prove attendance at the Church or 
 Chapel School before they can be allowed to go to the secular 
 and in a free country ! And the squirearchy guardians of 
 education ! . . . Fancy the Squire, especially if he is the Parson 
 of the Parish, considering impartially the claims of his ' Dissent- 
 ing brethren.' 
 
 I think there are only two ways in respect of Education which 
 are worth considering a national scheme of general religion, 
 i. e. in what men of the world and thoughtful men acknowledge 
 the essentials, leaving the Sunday Schools untouched, whether 
 Church or Dissent ; in short, a ' gigantic scheme of unbelief ' as 
 
 1 Beaumaris in Anglesey was in 1846 a Letter to the Bishop 
 near to Penrhyn, where some of of St. David's, How to render 
 Stanley's relatives lived. more efficient the Education of 
 
 2 The Rev. Walter Farquhar the People. See Dean Stanley's 
 Hook, Vicar of Leeds, afterwards Letters, p. 106 (letter of August 4, 
 Dean of Chichester, published 1846).
 
 Letters, 1846-1850 149 
 
 Evangelicals and Puseyites would call it and the giving money 
 to each sect separately to apply as they please. Government 
 Inspectors ' in plain clothes ' might be stationed in the distance, 
 who should gradually approach nearer and nearer until the clergy 
 at length discovered that they had taken the whole into their 
 custody. Any scheme of education . . . must be done by some 
 great doer of the age, who is able to act out the discovery of 
 a truth through all its stages, and who does not get too soon 
 convinced of the whole truth. 
 
 The only thing to be thought of in favour of Dr. Hook's plan 
 as it seems to me, is whether secular education will not of itself 
 break up sectarianism. But one does not like to lose so great an 
 opportunity for moral and religious good. Look forward thirty 
 years, and all Dr. Hook can hope for is twice as many Puseyites as 
 at present, twice as many Evangelicals, and the great solid mass of 
 the world with its many virtues external to the Church utterly 
 unimpressed with twice as much education as at present, 
 with twice as many newspaper and railroad influences. . . . 
 How Arnold would have blown his trumpet ! 
 
 To R. E. W. LTNGEN. 
 
 BEAUMARIS, August 7, 1846. 
 
 ... I have been working lately at the three first Gospels, to 
 try if possible to find out the manner in which they came into 
 their present form. Nothing can exceed the absurdities which 
 the orthodox English divines have talked about this subject. 
 They very nearly all believe that by attentive and accurate 
 observation of facts, the three Evangelists, without any concert, 
 were led to describe them in the same words. If you have any 
 curiosity about this, which is a most curious question for lawyers', 
 you will find a resume of the opinions in Home's Introduction 
 (Vol. ii. p. 2, at the end), whose only zeal is, of course, how to be 
 most orthodox. I would sooner believe that every Cross in 
 Christendom is of the wood of the true Cross, than that such 
 a miracle as their theory requires had taken place. So much 
 seems clear, but the problem is so hopelessly complex, where 
 
 1 Lingen was at this time studying for the Bar.
 
 150 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, v 
 
 you have the power of assuming ad libitum Aramaic documents 
 and oral Gospels, that I think the only thing to be done is to 
 prove it insoluble except in a general way. . . . 
 
 To A. P. STANLEY. 
 
 BEATJMARIS, August 17, 1846. 
 
 ... A thought has struck me often during the last few weeks, 
 which is, I think, comforting about one's vocation in life. Con- 
 sidering how little sympathy I have with the clergy, for I never 
 hear a sermon scarcely which does not seem equally divided 
 between truth and falsehood, it seems like a kind of treachery 
 to be one of them. But I really believe that treachery to the 
 clergy is loyalty to the Church, and that if religion is to be saved 
 at all it must be through the laity and statesmen, &c., not through 
 the clergy. Is there any reason to think that if the clergy with 
 their present intolerance, ignorance, narrowness and love of 
 pious frauds, could succeed to the utmost of their wishes, they 
 would produce any other revival than such a one as seems to 
 be going on in France at present, four out of five women 
 made semi-Catholics, four out of five men made semi-Infidels ? 
 
 What I mean is, that I do not see that one need look upon 
 one's occupation as gone because the usual routine is very much 
 shut up. It is in reality a higher work that opens, trying to 
 make the laity act up to and feel their own religious principles. 
 Surely it is a surprising thing what a much higher tone they 
 have of late years taken, e.g. in the House of Commons, &c., while, 
 at the same time, the old talk of the clergy about sacrilege, &c., 
 Irish Bishoprics, Penal Acts, divine right of education, has been 
 gradually exploding. While Arnold was chiefly known among 
 the clergy, he was reviled and despised : I doubt whether, even 
 now, there are a hundred clergymen over forty who feel any 
 sympathy with him ; but the laity ' rose at him.' 
 
 His theory of Church and State seems to me chiefly a mistake, 
 because it is for making a work outward and external which 
 should be inward and spiritual, and also because it implies that 
 Church and State is a device of statesmen or of Churchmen, and 
 not a natural dualism, which except among angels who are above 
 this world or infidels who know of no other, must ever be. It
 
 Letters, 1846-1850 151 
 
 involves two impossibilities, to destroy one Church and build up 
 another. I think too that in his way of speaking it was wrong 
 to imply that we, and especially the clergy, were so very bad and 
 corrupt. Altogether, whatever truth there was in it seems to 
 have been inconsiderately expressed. If there should ever be 
 a second Keformation we shall not say ' Lo here or Lo there.' 
 
 ... I find rest here a good thing, and my pupil works hard and 
 is very considerate. About September 20 I am free. It has 
 struck me you might like to go over to Ireland for a fortnight 
 about that time, see Dublin, ' Derrynane Abbey,' &c. Would 
 not this be more relaxation than hovering about the coast of 
 Norfolk ? Therefore come to Ireland ; shake hands with the 
 Liberator : ; see Koman Catholicism in a new form, get a 
 nostrum to cure Irish evils, and qualify yourself to talk with 
 country gentlemen all your life on the subject. 
 
 To B. R. W. LINGEN. 
 
 BEAUMARIS, August 18, 1846. 
 
 . . . The Aristocracy is too long a subject to discuss in a letter. 
 You seem to me to imagine this oligarchy to be a much more 
 narrow .thing than it really is. It cannot do without wealth 
 it is liable to become a jest : it cannot do without education, 
 for [then] it is robbed of more than half its associations. And 
 in this way the Plutocracy and the aristocracy of talent, the 
 latter partly through the professions, are ever blending with 
 it, and as it seems to me becoming greatly improved by it. It 
 may sound natural to say 'I value a man at what he really 
 is'; but can you separate a man from circumstances in this 
 way? ... If you say 'No, but I will resist artificial dis- 
 tinctions' this seems to me the very point does not all 
 experience show that this is a natural distinction ? If it were 
 true that there is no sense in which the aristocracy are better 
 than shopkeepers, is it conceivable that in these days they 
 could keep up a merely feudal distinction ? No distinction 
 lingers so long in a revolution or so soon returns. Is it not 
 true that the gentlemanly virtues (I do not mean real worth) 
 exist tenfold among the aristocracy for one 'gentleman by 
 
 1 O'Connell.
 
 152 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, v 
 
 nature ' you find among the middling classes? A gentleman's 
 motto ought to be regardlessness of money except in great 
 things and as a matter of duty a tradesman's motto ought 
 to be, ' Take care of the pence and the pounds, &c. ' And when 
 one remembers what a hold this principle must get, I do not 
 think we can afford to give up aristocracy as an element of 
 National Education. . . . 
 
 To R. E. W. LINGEN. 
 
 BEAUMARIS, August 24, 1846. 
 
 . . . I confess it is the priestcraft of S. Oxon. I am most 
 afraid of. Coming the Bishop of Oxford is, I am afraid, likely to be 
 a much more successful game than coming the Bishop of Exeter 
 over the world. Think of a man who always looks good, out 
 of whose mouth Christian charity flows like rivers of oil, equally 
 respected by old women and prime ministers, who never for 
 a moment loses sight of spiritual in his search after temporal 
 things. . . . 
 
 To A. P. STANLEY. 
 
 August, 1846. 
 
 . . . You have everything to encourage you both in the 
 past and the future, if you would but bring yourself to believe 
 that you have the power of self-improvement. I sometimes 
 think that you indulge a kind of fatalism about character ; 
 there are no faults intellectual or otherwise which may not 
 be got rid of, if the right methods are used sometimes fighting 
 them, sometimes flying from them. Let us think of journey- 
 ing on until seventy in these kind of pursuits ; the thought, 
 perhaps you will say, is oppressive. But let us try and 
 'victual ourselves for such a voyage as this.' 
 
 There is something impertinent in this sort of 'subjective' 
 letter, even between two intimate friends ; therefore excuse it. 
 It is needless to say that I know a thousand times more folly 
 in myself than these defects in you I mean, indecision and 
 premature theorizing. I have been anxious about it for a long 
 time, and as your letter gives me an occasion, say what I feel 
 once for all.
 
 Letters, 1846-1850 153 
 
 To A. P. STANLEY. 
 
 August, 1846. 
 
 . . . About publishing them l in your book I scarcely know 
 what answer to give. It would be pleasant to have them put 
 with your Sermons and would, perhaps, get them readers, and 
 might give me some note, good or evil. I have often dreamed 
 of this, and feel most sincerely that it is truly kind of you 
 to give me a chance I might never have again of putting 
 myself ' in oculis hominum.' But, for reasons that do not in the 
 least degree apply to you, I must, however reluctantly, say No. 
 
 . . . I do not ever wish or desire or think it possible that the 
 clergy should be done away ; their institution is ' a supply 
 to the imperfection of our nature,' and though essentially 
 imperfect may ever approximate to something better. The 
 Woods and Hansards must give up sectarianism, keep their 
 common sense, and get more if they can. A sort of instinct, 
 it may be hoped, will make them retire from debateable 
 ground. I think that the position of the clergy is only 
 melancholy where it is neither speculative nor practical. If 
 Biblical criticism spreads they will be driven, as many of 
 them have been by Puseyism, into the practical, and cease 
 to give such an account of the visitation of Ahab's sins on 
 his posterity as I heard last Sunday from Mr. Blomfield 2 , 
 a true younger brother of the Bishop ; or such an account 
 of the internal evidences of religion as he favoured us with 
 to-day. Keally, I never hear a sermon of which it is possible 
 to conceive that the writer has a serious belief about things 
 if you could but cross-examine him he would perjure himself 
 every other sentence. Morality is, for the sort of men you 
 speak of, a great light ; they must bury themselves in their 
 parishes and learn humility and drink no more the dregs 
 of Orthodoxy. If they could get rid of Theology altogether 
 and learn the New Testament, especially the Gospels, by 
 heart, it would be well. From the side of Christian charity, 
 too, they are quite accessible. Politics, Maynooth Grants, 
 Education questions must with or without them be settled 
 
 1 His Theological Essays. Stevenage, Hants, Prebendary of 
 
 2 Rev. G. B. Blomfield, Rector of Chester, and Rural Dean.
 
 154 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, v 
 
 in the next ten years, and unless they are prepared for an 
 irreconcilable war with the course of events they will sit 
 down and be ' rationally pious. ' There seems good hope, 
 I think, that what has already taken place in politics among 
 statesmen will take place among Churchmen plain matter 
 of fact people in a matter of fact country will honestly look 
 about them and see what wants doing. 
 
 About Arnold's theory I do not quite agree. Its fault is not 
 simply, I think, that it is too concrete, but that it does not 
 acknowledge the true concreteness of the Church as it is. 
 When it gets out of the Ideal, it is not merely impracticable, 
 but a falsehood. Men must have religion, but they are not 
 all equally religious ; their inward requires an outward ; but 
 external institutions are not things of degrees, they cannot 
 represent shades of feeling and opinion. And therefore when 
 you say, ' If they must have a Church externally, this is the 
 true external,' I cannot consent, because it is leading men 
 to expect an outward form of the Church which never can 
 be while human nature remains, and drawing them from the 
 true form which we have at present and [which] may ever 
 approximate towards the spiritual, although the dualism will 
 still remain : 
 
 Was i-st wirklich, das 1st verniinftig: 
 Was ist verniinftig, das 1st wirklich. 
 
 Granting the truth of Christianity, the opposition having 
 lasted 1800 years is a tolerable proof that it is ' wirklich.' 
 
 No, it is not the system, but the ^os 1 of the English Church, 
 which is distasteful to me. The change of this r/Oos ought to 
 preserve, not destroy the system. If we could once get out 
 of the pious fraud line, Englishmen would not soon relapse 
 into it, whereas Germans are, I think, ever liable to returns 
 of the malady. 
 
 Your two last letters gave me great delight. I feel every 
 day of my life that if one is ever to be of any good, idiosyn- 
 crasies, eccentricities, irritabilities, excitements, self-conscious- 
 nesses, follies of all sorts must be got rid of. No more sub- 
 jectivity, but I hope you are going on your way rejoicing. 
 
 1 The moral tone.
 
 Letters, 1846-1850 155 
 
 To A. P. STANLEY. 
 
 Saturday, August,, 1846. 
 
 . . . Another Tablet 1 came to-day one still missing. 
 Number one I like better than number two. The beginning 
 conciliates me ; but it really makes me sick at heart to think 
 of the past, to find mutatis mutandis the same thing going 
 on still on a humbler scale, a self-deception so uncommonly 
 like truth, and so all-pervading. Is it possible that a man 
 of his great activity of mind, with all his recollections of 
 Arnoldism, Whatelyism, as well as of his deep faith in the 
 weaknesses of Puseyism, can remain as he is with nothing 
 short of ' vera sunt vera,' &c. 2 ? It is not Catholicism I care 
 about, but he is such a monstrous unnatural Catholic, not like 
 Pascal giving up human learning, or like the Hermesians 
 throwing up a sort of Pantheistic outwork, but distorting 
 every kind of human knowledge which he does not ignore. 
 Many a sceptic there must have been in the Eoman Catholic 
 Church who has died humbly receiving the Sacraments, and 
 believing in eternal possibilities, but this is very different from 
 this concentrated scepticism with its ponderous front of dog- 
 matism, which not only does not believe, but is incapable of 
 believing because it believes everything. With Pascal or 
 Newman I cannot help feeling the deepest sympathy ; they 
 do not say it, of course, but you feel they are clinging to it 
 as a last resource, if the mercy of God may accept them now 
 that they have given up the strife. With the lusty orthodoxy 
 of Ward I have no sympathy ; he is too flush and full-blown, 
 and too light in condemning others, considering all the past. 
 
 1 W. G. Ward, having become a vera" ' (True things are true and 
 Roman Catholic, was now writing false things are false ; but if 
 a series of articles in the Tablet. the Church should say that false 
 
 2 See W. G. Ward, 4'c., p. 115, things were true and true things 
 note*: ' One of his ( John Carr's) were false, then true things are 
 inventions which I happen to false and false things are true), 
 remember, is worth preserving: 'This oracular sayinghe brought 
 "Vera sunt vera ac falsa sunt out with great seriousness as a 
 falsa. At si Ecclesia dixerit vera quotation from Bellarmine.' 
 esse falsa ac falsa esse vera, turn For John Carr see above, 
 vera sunt falsa ac falsa sunt p. 59.
 
 156 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, v 
 
 To R. R. W. LTNGEN. 
 
 BEAUMARIS, September 5, 1846. 
 
 ... It is impossible that we can have the faith of our 
 fathers, because the light will be always breaking in upon 
 us. . . . Religion, it might be said, has become more a matter 
 of reason . . . more extended, less concentrated, not one 
 belief but an equilibrium of all the elements of belief. 
 ... A man may live in a happy valley with respect to 
 religion ; the misfortune of which is, that he excommunicates 
 his neighbours ; but if he looks out into the world East 
 and West, in Jiac immensitate l&ngitudinum latitudinum, &c., of 
 speculative truth, it is impossible that his views of Christianity 
 should not be modified ; and one man will think that he is 
 defiling the simplicity of Christ, and puffed up with knowledge 
 falsely so called, while another might fancy that there may 
 be here something of the wisdom which St. Paul or St. John, 
 living now, would have spoken among those that are perfect. 
 Think of how many unpleasant truths there are that remain 
 untold about Christianity and Christendom, and yet we all 
 give an implied assent to interpreting the Gospel by the course 
 of the world. . . . 
 
 To A. P. STANLEY. 
 
 BEAUMARIS, September 6, 1846. 
 
 . . . What a grand fellow the new Pope ' seems to be ! What 
 say you to this as a politico-historical prophecy for 1856? 
 I mean, worthy to be the picture at the beginning of Moore's 
 Almanack and nothing more : Italy an ecclesiastical Republic, 
 Pansclavismus with one arm reaching into Poland become an 
 independent province, and the other in Bohemia ; two great 
 German kingdoms, Protestant and Catholic, the first advancing 
 on Denmark with a navy on the Baltic, the second looking 
 upon Switzerland as though it loved it ; Spain a sort of 
 dependent on France, which should have moved onward to 
 the Rhine ; America with towns and ports all along the 
 Pacific, and England steaming it over the whole world, a 
 great Steam Navigation Company with stations at Oceania. 
 
 1 Pio Nono.
 
 Letters, 1846-1850 157 
 
 New Zealand, Australia, India, the Cape, &c. There should 
 be railroads, too, intersecting India, and ' British Capital ' 
 should have cut through the Isthmus of Darien ; mountains 
 being blown up by some unknown Warner 1 invention, and 
 locks made sufficient to support the weight of an ocean. Here 
 I am getting out of my latitude and shall therefore stop, 
 but I think you must allow that the plan for Europe is about 
 as good as the treaty of Vienna, if it were only possible. My 
 balance of power should be Protestant against Catholic Germany, 
 France and England against Pansclavismus and despotism ; 
 Germany a debateable ground, and the Pope without reference 
 to nice distinctions of doctrine looking simply to the question 
 of how he might best keep his head above water. I find 
 reading prosper here and therefore purpose staying about 
 three weeks longer, when I wend my way probably to the 
 Lakes, Durham, York, Lincoln, Peterborough, Cambridge ; a 
 Cathedral tour, you see. . . . 
 
 To R R. W. LINGEN. 
 
 BEAUMARIS, September, 1846. 
 
 . . . Just now persons who are at all thoughtful about 
 things do seem strangely solitary, ' wandering about in sheep- 
 skins and goatskins ' : at first sight there might seem no limit 
 to scepticism in speculation, and that practical changes were 
 getting altogether unmanageable. I do not think this is so 
 really. Is not the sin of infidelity in a great measure despair 
 about the course of the world ? 
 
 . . . The Vestiges of Creation I have read. The way in 
 which it was attacked by Sedgwick disgusted me. I dare say 
 it is all wrong, but cannot see that there is any religious 
 interest against it any more than against science in general. 
 All science tends to demonstration, to lock up the world under 
 a series of causes and effects. It is no use to make religion 
 fill up the interstices of science which are merely accidental ; 
 I mean, to seek the freedom of the will, for example, in the 
 denial of materialism. As to revelation, you are retreating 
 
 1 Warner's Explosive Force : July 20, 1844. See Times for 
 first widely known through an July 22, 1844. 
 experiment in Shoreham Roads,
 
 158 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, v 
 
 inch by inch from before astronomy, geology, linguistik, 
 history, and criticism in general. As to natural religion, 
 the German metaphysicians would all find a place for material- 
 ism as a complete though one-sided account of the world. 
 Sedgwick and Co. do unmixed evil by making that the battle- 
 ground, on which they must be beaten. 
 
 To E. E. W. LINGEN. 
 
 March 10, 1847. 
 
 . . . What is to be done about Ireland ? a question every 
 day becoming more aweful. 
 
 Dufferin of Christ Church, who seems a most excellent tuft, 
 went over to Skibbereen about a fortnight since and brings 
 back, as you may expect, the most horrible accounts. He says 
 that the dead from starvation and fever are about one-third, that 
 a regular cart goes about like the descriptions in the plague, that 
 the men who are employed on the public works can scarcely stand 
 from their meagre food and diet, &c. Lord Lansdowne told 
 M. Arnold the other day that he expected 1,000,000 of persons 
 would die before it was over. Notwithstanding the 200,000 
 subscription it is difficult to persuade oneself that enough is 
 doing in England. I do not quite understand why 1,000,000 of 
 people should die with a free trade in corn and an income 
 in this country of 300,000,000 a year : it could not cost more 
 than about 6 a year to keep them alive per head. Is it 
 absolutely impossible for persons who have the greatest know- 
 ledge of Ireland, to hit upon some method between public 
 works and mere charity which might apply 6, 000,000 usefully ? 
 Now, it does seem to me, has come the time for England 
 to repay all her debts to Ireland and lay the foundation of a 
 new connexion between the countries. There is of course the 
 double difficulty how to get it and how to use it English 
 credit and Irish corruption ; but I can hardly think insuper- 
 able. Such a mistake as the Government have made about the 
 public works is, surely, without excuse, although civil things 
 are said about it in the House of Commons. It must have 
 been easy to foresee, that the small farmers without money 
 or means of subsistence would be driven on the public works 
 instead of cultivating their own land.
 
 Letters, 1846-1850 159 
 
 It is against all the rules of Political Economy to be in 
 favour of a poor law, but in the present case, does it not seem 
 as if the barbarous nature of the people and the interests of the 
 landholders are leagued against it equally ? Suppose the rental 
 of Ireland 36,000,000, and one-third of it to have been 
 collected, why not reduce the landholders a little and make 
 them understand that the crisis of their country requires 
 a little more than ' giving up pastry ' ? Unless Ireland makes 
 much greater sacrifices it is impossible to persuade England to 
 make the necessaiy sacrifices. 
 
 To A. P. STANLEY (ON HIS BETUEN FROM SPAIN). 
 
 [OXFORD, April or May, 1847.] 
 
 *fl /AaKapie /cat Tpr/xafcaptc KCU yu,a/captWaT6 \ ut sis vitalis metuo 2 : 
 but think you may possibly recover from this historical surfeit. 
 
 . . . This is only to greet you ; it is a waste of time writing 
 as you return to these bustling scenes so soon. ' Had it not 
 been for the battle of Tours,' Oxford might have been Granada, 
 St. Mary's a mosque, you exegetical professor of the Koran, 
 giving equal offence both to the Sonnites and Shuites. 
 
 I am delighted to hear of the prosperity of your tour, 
 although I was not there to plan it. I hope I shall live to see 
 the East some day and (not in Moses's company) 'make 
 a pilgrimage to the Holy City.' 
 
 There is nothing to tell here ; stagnant omnia. With your 
 Sermons and my Essays I have done nothing; the last, because 
 I found it so difficult to rewrite them. 
 
 I have been reading the Counter-Reformation in Eanke. 
 How strange the causes which religious changes depend upon ! 
 At one time scarce any Catholics in Austria, at another all 
 France on the point of joining the Huguenots. At Gratz 
 in 1596 all Protestants, 1598 all the Lutheran Ministers ex- 
 pelled ; compare Oxford 1844 to 1847. ' If you mark the 
 history of the Popes well, look you, the history of the Heads of 
 Houses comes indifferent well after it 3 .' 
 
 1 'Happy, thrice happy, nay 2 'Too happy to live long. 1 
 most happy ! ' Cf. Ar. EccL Horace, Sat. II. i. 60. 
 1129. s Cf. Shakesp., //enry F, iv. 7. 35.
 
 160 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, v 
 
 To E. E. W. LINGEN. 
 
 DULOE, NEAK LlSKEARD, 
 
 Augmt 21, [1847]. 
 
 I have got so transcendentalized lately with reading Schelling's 
 Systems of Nature that it is quite a blessing to get back again 
 to the outward world. I confess I begin to look upon meta- 
 physics rather as a necessity than as a great good the air 
 is too rarefied to breathe long, and you are like a balloon, 
 a good deal at the mercy of the currents. Yet the spiritual 
 world is so much like the ideal one that it is impossible to stir 
 a step in theology without them. . . . 
 
 . . . Do you think that the existing state of opinions in 
 morals, theology, &c., will ' break up before we are yet old 
 men ' ? Looking at the progress of criticism and of physical 
 science, at the plasters we have been applying to theology, 
 I fancy that a second Eeformation is not impossible even in 
 our time. I hope that whatever comes of it will not be 
 egotheism which seems a compound of indomitable egotism 
 with the artistic love of truth but some real and practical 
 good. I notice in several persons whose opinions on many 
 things are much to be respected a great tendency to this artist- 
 like perception of right and wrong Truth under the image 
 of a beautiful statue, a naked statue too, stripped bare of 
 the garment in which education has clothed her. I greatly 
 lament I cannot myself get more practical ; one has such 
 a weak hold on the world or on other people you acquire 
 a sort of feeble intelligence of everything and lose force of 
 mind and character. . . . 
 
 To A. P. STANLEY. 
 
 [August, 1847.] 
 
 ... I think we ought to do more towards it [the book on the 
 New Testament] than we have done in the last two years, if we 
 are to live to see it finished. I wish we could read through the 
 New Testament together, to begin with : otherwise there will 
 be no sort of unity in what we write. I know very well how 
 ignorant one of the commentators is, who has been spinning
 
 Letters, 1846-1850 161 
 
 cobwebs for the last four years instead of arranging facts and 
 gaining real knowledge. 
 
 My own wish would be, if it is to your taste, to work at it 
 together, something in the same fashion that Liddell and Scott 
 did at their Lexicon. We might read separate series of 
 authors, and if our work could be made to square with the 
 Lectures it would be a great gain. Next Term I could read 
 the Epistles with you three or four evenings in the week, if you 
 are not alarmed by such a proposal. 
 
 What think you of making a paraphrase of the Epistles, like 
 Locke ? I wish there were any one to whom we could look, 
 like Arnold, for advice and assistance, but it is no use to lean 
 upon broken reeds. 
 
 . . . Do you know Selden's Table-Talk ? If you have not got 
 it, I will order it and make you a present of it. ' All the best 
 commentators on hard texts of Scripture have been laymen.' 
 ' Now oaths are so frequent they should be taken like pills. If 
 you chew them they are bitter : if you think what you swallow, 
 it will hardly go down.' Bishop Wilkins, editor of Selden's 
 works, cannot believe them l to be genuine. 
 
 Where are you going after September 22? I must go to 
 Paris first of all to see my father and mother ; but for the last 
 fortnight or three weeks I would gladly meet you in Normandy 
 or at Paris, if you liked a short French tour. 
 
 To B. C. BEODIE. 
 
 i Great George Street, [1848]. 
 
 I hope it will not seem to be from any unkindness that 
 I have not seen so much of you as formerly. It grieves me to 
 think how very much we disagree in opinion, but I trust we 
 have still the ' common ground of conscientiousness ' of which 
 you once spoke to me. I do not like to say anything more 
 about these subjects, because I shall only seem to condemn you, 
 and show myself inconsistent. The strongest feeling that I have 
 is that no merely artistic religion or morality has any real 
 truth or usefulness, or can have any hold on the minds of men 
 
 1 Viz. the sayings recorded in Selden's Table-Talk. 
 VOL. I. X.
 
 1 62 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, v 
 
 in general. Do let me urge you to be as serious as you possibly 
 can in considering these things, which, if not aweful realities, 
 are still very aweful when we think of our absolute ignorance 
 about them. 
 
 To A. P. STANLEY. 
 
 OBAN, {September,] 1848. 
 
 My own feeling would be that you should not refuse a position 
 [the Chair of Modern History] for which, without flattery, you 
 are fitter than any one else who could be found. I do not like 
 to urge your standing for it, considering how we are circum- 
 stanced with the Commentary, out of which I look for us both 
 for many happy years' work : oirep OVK ei/Se'^crcu irdpepyov ctvai \ 
 But, if it is offered, I would not refuse. . . . Any scheme of 
 University improvement would be greatly aided by your having 
 the Chair. 
 
 Many thanks for your letter, which amused me greatly. 
 Le gros Citoyen 2 and ffolliott (who is here and speaks of you 
 in the kindest manner) desire their best regards. I am just 
 returned from Staffa and lona. . . . Baur appears to me the 
 ablest book I have ever read on St. Paul's Epistles : a re- 
 markable combination of the philological and metaphysical 
 power, without the intrusion of modern philosophy as in 
 Usteri 
 
 To F. T. PALGRAVE. 
 
 DUNTBOON, LOCH GlLPHEAD, 
 
 April 14, 1849. 
 
 ... I have been reading with great pleasure Schelling's 
 VerMltniss der Mldenden Kunst zur Natur. I wish you 
 would get it and read it, as the German is not difficult. 
 It shows a mind ' sensitive to every breath ' of beauty, and 
 combining with this the highest metaphysical power. I should 
 think Schelling was the only one of the German Philosophers 
 who had any true feeling for art. 
 
 1 ' Which cannot be made a secondary task.' 2 Morier.
 
 Letters, 1846-1850 163 
 
 To F. T. PALGEAVE. 
 
 BORROWDALE, August 21, 1849. 
 
 I quite agree with you in thinking Malvern one of the most 
 beautiful places I ever saw. The style of country I like much 
 better than this, which is not open enough, or grand enough, or 
 fresh enough to suit me, though there are magnificent views in a 
 few places. Scotland is a far finer country than this to my mind, 
 with brighter colours, and richer skies, and a fine line of coast. 
 
 I have been simmering over my notes to the Eomans ever 
 since I have been here : the mere notes I think I could com- 
 plete in a few months. But there are so many other subjects, 
 such as the Text of the New Testament, the ' Lehr-begriff ' of 
 St. Paul, the language of the New Testament in relation to 
 Philo and the Alexandrians, and the ' Analoga ' in the present 
 day or in history to the state of things for which St. Paul 
 wrote, &c. &c., that I hardly venture to think of the end of 
 my work. 
 
 To A. P. STANLEY. 
 
 BOREOWDALE, NEAR KESWICK, 
 
 [August, 1849]. 
 
 I should be glad to know whereabouts you are, and 
 whether there is any chance of your coming into this part of 
 the world. I hope the Eastern tour is finally settled. 
 
 I have been reading Baur, and confess myself a convert to 
 his view of the ' Christus-partei ' as a matter of probability, 
 which is all that can be attained to on such a subject. Was 
 hdben Sie dagegen einzuwenden? It strikes me a good deal, 
 however, how uncertain and unpromising any Niebuhrian 
 attempts are on ecclesiastical history. The Fathers and the 
 heretics between them have so sophisticated matters, and 
 the circumstances are so new, there being no analogy to guide 
 us, that the end of all inquiries is almost an even balance 
 of probabilities about the first century. If the Fathers were 
 right, the heretics were wrong : if the heretics were right, the 
 Fathers were wrong. It seems to me absolutely necessary to 
 place oneself at some higher or lower point of criticism or 
 
 M 2
 
 164 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, v 
 
 scepticism, if we are to do anything more than add another 
 guess to the many already made by Genus Theologicum. I was 
 very sorry to hear of De Wette's death : an honest man and 
 a great critic. 
 
 Last night I read a good part of the Apostolical Fathers. It 
 is difficult to imagine how anything so poor and so miserably 
 rhetorical could have been written so near the Apostolical Age 
 and the writings of the New Testament. 
 
 Muller J and Morier are here with me the first busy with 
 his book on 'the Arian nations before their separation, as 
 traceable in language.' The book is in many parts interesting, 
 but requires a much more artistic working up. . . . 
 
 I am sorry to see the democratic cause falling so low : there 
 is still a hope ' of the Prince of Wales being King of England. ' 
 I would sooner live in the backwoods than in Cossack Europe. 
 Whether the democratic party or the despotic aristocratic party 
 is uppermost is almost equally bad. Chartism and Protection- 
 ism, Legitimist, Socialist, Church and State, Manchester and 
 Almack's, wealth and birth, should balance each other, and all 
 be regulated by education, common sense, and Sir Eobert Peel. 
 
 One is especially sorry to see Germany in its present state, 
 seeming to fulfil all the worst prognostications of Tories and 
 bigots, and destroying -all faith in ideals. . . . 
 
 To R E. W. LINGEN. 
 
 KESWICK, [September 8, 1849]. 
 
 What an extravagant value for human life seems to be 
 springing up, seen in Peace Congresses and Eush 2 petitions, 
 such as would have been despised in an ancient state. I don't 
 like to see the military spirit of a people destroyed in this way. 
 And as to Eush petitions : to give the poor wretch time to 
 repent, who has lived all his life in the moral sink of Field 
 
 1 Mr. Max Muller had recently made a Fellow of Balliol, but the 
 
 come to Oxford, introduced by the negotiation ended in his becom- 
 
 Chevalier Bunsen, and was pre- ing a Student of Christ Church 
 
 paring the Essay on Comparative under Gaisford's headship. 
 
 Mythology which appeared in 2 i. e. for the reprieve of the 
 
 1856. Jowett had tried to get him murderer of that name.
 
 Letters, 1846-1850 165 
 
 Lane and St. Giles's, with uncleansed sewers, for whom Society 
 has done nothing to come in at last with this sentimentalism 
 about repentance, &c., seems disgusting. People will find out at 
 last that there is something more valuable in the world than 
 human life, as they are beginning to find out that there is 
 something more valuable than the abstract idea of freedom 
 on the Slavery question. It strikes me that one might make 
 three divisions of practical questions which have a bearing on 
 the morals of the community, (i) How to make the worst 
 better ; Prison Discipline, Juvenile Offenders, &c. (2) How to 
 raise all up to a certain fair level of morals and education the 
 Education question, the business of Kay-Shuttleworth and his 
 heirs or assignees. (3) How to make the decent intelligent 
 member of Society into a real high-minded Christian, rising 
 above the ordinary tone and rules of Society the business of 
 the clergy. 
 
 To E. E. W. LINGEN. 
 
 BALLIOL, October 16, 1849. 
 
 . . . This is 'the busiest time of all the busy year,' and 
 therefore I hope you will excuse my sending you only a few 
 lines. I heard from Palgrave this morning that Temple had 
 just left for his holiday. The John Bull, I see, has been attacking 
 'the Infidel College 1 .' 
 
 It would be a strange thing to collect together all the evils 
 that have sprung from religion, not merely from downright 
 persecution, but from the prejudices and narrownesses which 
 in the mass of men seem inseparable from it. How seldom 
 you meet with a religious man who is quite sensible also as 
 politicians, most are almost insane. When anything touches the 
 very name of religion, tvOvs //.a^crai 2 and becomes so stupefied 
 and isolated in his prejudices, that it is impossible for him to 
 understand the real state of the case. One cannot give up the 
 hope of better things, but there is small sign of them at present. 
 At Oxford persons are considerably excited just now by a sermon 
 
 of L 's, which, if it was truly reported to me, seems to have 
 
 been very bold indeed, implying that he desired to get rid of 
 
 1 University College, London. 2 ' He is ready to fight.'
 
 1 66 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, v 
 
 the definitions of the Trinity, Sacraments, &c. It was a dis- 
 covery that in the progress of time had been made, that these 
 things were undefinable. 
 
 I should be glad to hear from you, though, as you knew long 
 ago, I am a very bad correspondent. You must take care of 
 yourself and let your mind be at rest or your body will never 
 nourish. I think one is often oppressed with a sort of night- 
 mare of work and anxiety and trouble which disappears the 
 instant we attack it vigorously. There is a great truth in that 
 verse, ' Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you.' 
 
 To A. P. STANLEY. 
 
 [October, 1849.] 
 
 . . . The difficulty about St. John's Gospel is, first, the 
 general difficulty about so short a work, which cannot be 
 verified from our other knowledge of the writer : second, the 
 silence of about a century, which must be taken in connexion 
 with the other fact of its being the one book which all Christians 
 would naturally have sought for, appealed to, and thought 
 about : third, from the silence of Justin, a writer of the same 
 tendencies, who knows the ideas of the Gospel, but not the 
 Gospel itself: fourth, what Baur urges, the question which 
 cannot be excluded, of its relation to the other Gospels and to 
 authentic history, as viewed from the internal evidence : 
 lastly, the cumulative force of all these points together, if they 
 can be all proved. 
 
 On the other side, the spirituality of the Gospel is a testi- 
 mony to its being no fiction nay, to its inspiration, in almost 
 any sense of the term. And its general reception and recog- 
 nition by heretics and orthodox alike about the year 160, say, is 
 an immense difficulty on the Tubingen hypothesis. . . . 
 
 To A. P. STANLEY. 
 
 October 23, 1849. 
 
 I could not help feeling pained at the latter part of your very 
 kind letter l . I know well how much better and wiser I ought 
 to be at all to be worthy of that high opinion you express. It 
 
 1 Cf. Letters of Dean Stanley, pp. 138, 139.
 
 Letters, 1846-1850 167 
 
 will always be a motive with me to try and make myself very 
 different from what I am. I think it is true (and I am glad 
 you mentioned it) that we have not had the same mutual 
 interest in talking over subjects of theology that we had 
 formerly. They have lost their novelty, I suppose : we know 
 better where we are, having rolled to the bottom together, and 
 being now only able to make a few uphill steps. I acknow- 
 ledge fully my own want of freshness : my mind seems at times 
 quite dried up, partly, I think, from being strained out of pro- 
 portion to the physical powers. And at times I have felt an 
 unsatisfied desire after a better and higher sort of life, which 
 makes me impatient of the details of theology. It is from this 
 source only I can ever look for any 'times of refreshment.' 
 Had I always done rightly, my life would doubtless have been 
 happier and my mind clearer. 
 
 I think sometimes we have been a little too intellectual and 
 over-curious in our conversations about theology. We have 
 not found rest and peace in them so much as we might have 
 done. As to the other point you mention, I am quite sure you 
 cannot be too independent. Your supposed want of judgement 
 is a mere delusion, and if it were not, and I were really able to 
 guide you, it is the greatest absurdity for one man to submit 
 his will to another, merely because he has the power of sym- 
 pathizing and has greater energy at a particular moment. 
 I think I see more clearly than formerly that you and I and all 
 men must take our own line and act according to our character, 
 with many errors and imperfections and half- views, yet upon 
 the whole we trust for good. We must act boldly, and feel 
 the world around us as a swimmer feels the resisting stream. 
 There is no use in desultory excitement, of which perhaps we 
 have had too much : steady perseverance and judgement are 
 the requisite. And Oxford is as happy and promising a field 
 as any, such as we are, could desire. 
 
 I earnestly hope that the friendship which commenced 
 between us many years ago may be a blessing to last us through 
 life. I feel that if it is to be so, we must both go onward : 
 otherwise the wear and tear of life and the ' having travelled 
 over each other's minds,' and a thousand accidents, will be 
 sufficient to break it off. I have often felt the inability to
 
 i68 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, v 
 
 converse with you, but never for an instant the least alienation. 
 There is no one who would not think me happy in having 
 such a friend. We will have no more of this semi-egotistical 
 talk : only I want you to know that I will do all I can to 
 remedy the evil, which is chiefly my fault. 
 
 To A. P. STANLEY. 
 
 BATH, December, 1849. 
 
 ... I am staying here for a day or two (until Thursday) with 
 Morier. Mr. Morier has much to tell of battles of Leipsic, of 
 the Congress of Vienna, &c. . . . 
 
 Get Newman's new volume of Sermons 1 most remarkable. 
 I don't know whether it is old association, or not, but his 
 writings certainly have an extraordinary power over one. 
 I think that Romanism was never so glorified before. No one 
 ever mixed up such subtle untruths with such glorious truths. 
 It is like the old Sermons, only aggravated in beauties as well 
 as defects. 
 
 To JOHN FFOLLIOTT. 
 
 BALLIOL, January 20, [1850 ?] 
 
 I have just been reading Cicero to revive if possible a 
 lost faculty of writing Latin prose, and may as well add an 
 extract : 
 
 ' Omnium rerum ex quibus aliquid exquiritur nihil est 
 Agricultura melius, nihil uberius, nihil homine libero dignius.' 
 You have the Text. Let me add another passage which I am 
 not quite sure exists in all the MSS. : ' Nihil procuratori aut 
 villico mandandum nisi tute ipse intersis.' 
 
 Let me say first a word about your taking Orders. I confess 
 I think it is a desertion of your post. It would compel you 
 to leave your home and family, nor is there any point of view 
 in which you could do as much good as a clergyman, as you 
 might being a layman. It might be that from taking to it 
 with thorough good will, you would devote yourself to it more 
 successfully from feeling that you were suited to it ; but, on the 
 
 3 Discourses addressed to Mixed Congregations, 1849.
 
 Letters, 1846-1850 169 
 
 other hand, I doubt whether you are suited to many of its 
 duties, as for example that of writing a weekly sermon ; and 
 also, I fear, you would always reproach yourself for having left 
 Ireland and neglected the peasantry on your father's estates. 
 I ventured to mention it to Temple, and no one else. You 
 will see from the enclosed what he thinks. But indeed, 
 I understood when you last talked about it that you yourself 
 had given it up and thought it inexpedient. 
 
 ' Well, and what has your confounded jroXvjrpayp.oariivri 1 got 
 to suggest next?' you exclaim. I want you to be an agri- 
 culturalist, a cattle-breeder (don't laugh), a model Irish squire, 
 beloved by the finest * pisantry ' in the world. I do not think 
 you are right in looking forward to a time when your estates 
 will be worth nothing. Is it not possible to contrive that the 
 time shall never arrive ? Is not the one duty tolerably plain, 
 to save yourself from ruin and the people from starving? 
 I do not in the least doubt that you see this, yet forgive 
 my impertinence for repeating it things sometimes strike 
 us more when said by another person. To effect this is the 
 business of a life, spent in enduring all the disagreeables of 
 Ireland, the dulness of society, the bore of the landlords, 
 the perversity of the tenants, the idiot farming of the 
 peasantry, who may possibly, but not probably, turn out 
 ungrateful after all. 
 
 ... If you wish to become an agriculturalist, I fear you 
 would find it a mistake to begin with chemistry. Any real 
 knowledge of such subjects requires so much bookwork and 
 also so much experiment, that you would find it, I fear, 
 very difficult and irksome ; also, the practical result too dis- 
 tant to be of any use. I do not mean to doubt its use as 
 a means of general improvement and a subject of great 
 interest, but merely that I do not think any one is very 
 likely to make two blades of wheat grow where one grew 
 before by the study of it. The first point in a farm must 
 always be economy and good management. 
 
 . . . Well, I hope you will forgive me for saying all this. 
 I will not trouble you again. Indeed I know, especially in 
 
 1 Meddlesomeness.
 
 i yo Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, v 
 
 Ireland, that every one must judge for himself, and it would 
 not at all surprise me if you felt it right to disregard 
 everything I have ventured to say. 
 
 To JOHN FPOLLIOTT. 
 
 BALLIOL, February 12, [1850 ?] 
 
 Many thanks for your kind letter. I am sure I never meant 
 to say that you were incapable of writing a sermon (I don't 
 doubt that you could write a very good one), but only that you 
 were not one of those ' regular posters ' who could accomplish 
 two sermons per week with comfort to yourself. I could give, 
 I think, exquisite reasons for this, but dare say you would not 
 wish to be further bored by the subject. 
 
 No letters from 'Joe 1 ,' but only tidings through Mliller, 
 now at Paris and soon to be at Oxford, that the said Joseph 
 is diverting himself at Berlin, where he thinks of remaining 
 for some months. Warburton is here ; also Stanley. Goldwin 
 Smith is to have a Fellowship, under whose auspices ' Floreat 
 magna Aula Universitatis. ' 
 
 I hope you will write and tell me whether you find ' farming 
 concerns' thriving and interesting. Free trade I fear will 
 press more heavily on Ireland, as there is no great manu- 
 facturing interest which is proportionably benefited. I should 
 not think it was likely any degree of protection would be 
 restored either for cattle or grain, for, as Lord John Eussell 
 said, the moment it was clearly seen that a part of the increased 
 value of cattle or corn went to raise rents, it was impossible 
 to maintain this state of things even if good in the abstract. 
 It is said, or more strictly it was told me by a man who said he 
 heard it from Lord Charles Eussell, that the Ministry had con- 
 sidered the proposal of an eight shillings fixed duty, that Lord 
 John Russell was in favour of it, Lord Grey against it ; but 
 that the idea was finally given up on finding that the leaders 
 of the Free Trade party would not hear of it, that none would 
 consent to more than a five shillings duty, and Lord John 
 Russell thought that the Ministry would lose more by this 
 than the agricultural interest could gain. 
 
 1 R. B. D. Morier.
 
 Letters, 1846-1850 171 
 
 I will inquire about the carols to-morrow, as I ought to 
 have done long since, and send them to you in remembrance 
 of the Christmas Eve which we spent together. 
 
 Kespecting farming, Shairp tells me that an excellent 
 Scotch bailiff may be procured for .100 a year. I fear you 
 will find the responsibility irksome, if you have the manage- 
 ment in your own hands. There is a good article respecting 
 'Draining' in the last Quarterly deep draining for all soils 
 whatever appears to be the writer's theory. 
 
 . . . Fare you well, and do not forget the line 
 
 Who feeds fat oxen must himself be fat. 
 
 To A. P. STANLEY. 
 
 OBAN, August 12, [1850]. 
 
 ... I hope you are placable about letters, and do not think 
 I have less regard for you than four years ago, when we had 
 a furious correspondence. 
 
 . . . Get to Italy if you can, and look upon the blue waters 
 of an Italian lake it is a sight that refreshes one for the rest 
 of the year. I think I shall hardly rest another year without 
 getting a sight of one myself. 
 
 ... I have four pupils here, Fremantle, Owen, Lancaster, and 
 Peel. What I have seen of the latter I decidedly like he is 
 very manly and intelligent. I hope something may be made 
 of him. 
 
 My sermons make some progress 1 , and I have written a 
 weekly one for the congregation here. A zealous member of 
 the congregation asked how many Presbyterians we had con- 
 verted. I was happy to assure her that there was no danger 
 of our converting any. 
 
 There is a poor young lady here (an Episcopalian) who is 
 dying. I have been to see her several times, as there was 
 no one else here. It is a strange sight to see a person so 
 entirely resigned to death, saying with the greatest placidness, 
 ' I wonder whether I shall be alive the day after to-morrow.' 
 
 1 He was now Select Preacher.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 UNIVERSITY AND CIVIL SERVICE REFORM. 1846-1854 l 
 
 W. D. CHRISTIE, M.P. Sir J. Kay- Shuttle-worth Roundell Palmer 
 Goldwin Smith The University Commission East India Civil 
 Service Examinations Lord Macaulay's Committee Letters on 
 University Reform. 
 
 fTlHE movement for reform at Oxford, which cul- 
 -*- minated in the Act of 1850, was the result of long- 
 continued agitation both without and within the 
 University. The first beginnings of it may be traced 
 to Sir William Hamilton's articles in the Edinburgh 
 Review of 1831-1834. The external pressure was directed 
 to the nationalization of the University through 
 the admission of Dissenters, while the earliest efforts 
 from within aimed rather at the revival of the Pro- 
 fessoriate, and the abolition of obsolete restrictions. 
 Early in 1839 a motion had been introduced in Convoca- 
 tion by the Hebdomadal Board 2 proposing to institute 
 new Professorships, and to require the attendance of 
 all undergraduates at Professors' lectures. This proposal 
 was rejected at the time, but its principles were embodied 
 
 1 Cf. vol. ii, chap. v. 
 
 8 It proposed a revision of the Statute ' De Lectoribus Publicis.'
 
 University Reform 173 
 
 in an important pamphlet, which was drawn up that 
 autumn by Archibald Campbell Tait with the help 
 of Arthur Penrhyn Stanley 1 . In this it was proposed 
 to institute what would have amounted in effect to a 
 system of post-graduate Professorial teaching. 
 
 The practical reforming spirit was eclipsed for a time 
 by clerical reaction and the excitement which followed 
 the publication of Tract XC. But Stanley, who had 
 already done good service in the cause of reform, began 
 a new crusade when the ecclesiastical ferment was abated. 
 This appears from several letters in the Stanley-Jowett 
 correspondence of 1845-6. On April 10, 1845, Mr. W. D. 
 Christie, the public-spirited member for "Weymouth, who 
 had previously championed the cause of the Dissenters 
 and of the University of London, brought forward a 
 motion for a Royal Commission of Inquiry 2 . He said 
 in an able speech of the following year 3 , 'he believed 
 that some of the most eminent and distinguished men in 
 the University would rejoice if such a Commission were 
 issued.' Two references to Mr. Christie occur in Jowett's 
 letters to Stanley of the year 1846. In one he says lightly, 
 ' Think of a Parliamentary Committee at which . . . 
 everybody should tell tales of everybody.' The other is 
 more serious, being in fact an elaborate draft of questions 
 that might be submitted by such a Parliamentary 
 Committee to Heads of Houses and other persons in 
 
 1 Life of Dean Stanley, vol. i. ment towards a comprehensive 
 pp. 230, 418 ; Life of Archibald measure. Sir Robert Inglis, as 
 Campbell Tait, vol. i. pp. 69-71. member for Oxford, was the 
 Several other pamphlets on the strenuous opponent of all such 
 subject appeared in the same year legislation. 
 
 one by the Rev. P. S. H. Payne, 3 Hansard, vol. Ixxxvii. p. 1242. 
 
 a Fellow of Balliol. Debate on Mr. Ewart's motion 
 
 2 Hansard, vol. Ixxix. p. 393. This for the education of the people, 
 was the first attempt in Parlia-
 
 174 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, vi 
 
 Oxford. This document is crossed with, a memorandum 
 in another hand, 'from Stanley for Mr. Christie, 
 25/2/1 846 V From 1846 onwards movements were pro- 
 ceeding simultaneously from within and from without. 
 In the autumn of that year a scheme for the reform 
 of the Examination Statute was proposed by F. Jeune, 
 Master of Pembroke 2 , in a Committee of the Heads, but 
 never got beyond the Hebdomadal Board. In September, 
 1846, Mr. Horsman proposed to advocate the cause of 
 University reform in Parliament, and in 1847 J. Kay- 
 Shuttleworth visited Oxford to obtain further information 
 with a view to legislative action. But Jowett was not 
 minded to leave the matter in the hands either of Dissent- 
 ing members of Parliament or the Education Department. 
 In a letter to Mr. Roundell Palmer 3 he urged him to 
 represent the views of the Oxford reformers in the House 
 of Commons. His letter exhibits clearly the scope of 
 the writer's aims at this time, while the scruple which 
 withheld his correspondent from acceding to the desire 
 sufficiently indicates the general state of opinion 4 . On 
 March 4, 1848, a Memorial signed by two-thirds of 
 the Tutors, proposing a revision of the Examination 
 Statute, was presented to the Hebdomadal Board. It 
 maintained the principle of an intermediate examina- 
 tion. This was immediately followed up with an anony- 
 mous pamphlet 5 , of which the ' advertisement ' is dated 
 March 13, 1848. A letter to Lingen of April 3 shows 
 this pamphlet to have been the joint work of Jowett 
 
 1 About the same time Dr. Pusey - Afterwards Bishop of Peter- 
 was interested in a scheme for the borough, 
 extension of University education 3 Afterwards Lord Selborne. 
 through the foundation of Halls 4 pp. 188-192. 
 or Colleges under Church autho- 5 Suggestions for an improvement 
 rity. Life ofE. B. Pusey, vol. iii. of the Examination Statute. Ox- 
 P- 79- ford, 1848.
 
 1846-1854] University Reform 175 
 
 and Stanley 1 , and both, the preface and several of the 
 suggestions are unquestionably Jowett's. 
 
 The following sentences are curiously characteristic 
 of him : 
 
 ' Our only defence against attacks from without is to build 
 up from within, to enlarge our borders that we may increase the 
 number of our friends. We have no one to fear but ourselves. 
 At this moment, to use the language of an eminent writer, 
 are we not living "behind our dykes" in fear of the German 
 Ocean ? There may be enemies from whom it is right to 
 fly, but the tide of opinion cannot be escaped in this way.' 
 
 One peculiarity of these Suggestions was the inclusion 
 of a School of Theology (both Pass and Class) side by 
 side with the subjects of Philosophy, History, and Philo- 
 logy. When a Theological School was founded under 
 different auspices in 1867, Jowett, though Professor of 
 Greek, was excluded from the Examining Board ! In 
 recommending the study of theology in the spring of 
 1848, he employed arguments which are strangely familiar 
 to readers of his work on St. Paul : 
 
 'Keligious persons feel that the evidences of Paley or 
 Lardner are not the reasons of their belief, or the answers to 
 their difficulties. Can it be truly said that much has been 
 done in this place during the last twenty years for Scriptural 
 interpretation, which seems to be the most hopeful mine in 
 theology, and strangely enough the least explored ? It would 
 hardly have been an unreasonable hope that the meaning of 
 Scripture, like that of any other book, might by this time have 
 become fixed, and raised above the fancies of sects or individuals.' 
 
 The discussion of the new Examination Statute came 
 on in the following autumn, and it was passed in 1849. 
 The result was not altogether in accordance with Jowett's 
 views, which had aimed at something like the old final 
 examination to come at the end of the second year, after 
 
 1 P- J 93-
 
 176 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, vi 
 
 which, undergraduates should be encouraged to specialize 
 within certain limits. This would have been in effect 
 to carry out the principle of Tait and Stanley's pamphlet 
 of 1839. As a preparatory step, Jowett suggested a plan 
 for courses of lectures to be given in the Schools by dis- 
 tinguished graduates, which might serve as a temporary 
 substitute for a Professorial system 1 . But in this as 
 in some other schemes, by which he sought to lure 
 back friends to Oxford, and make them sharers of his 
 own labours there, he was disappointed 2 . 
 
 From the. facts above stated it appears how distinctly 
 in the reforming movement at Oxford, which is commonly 
 dated from 1848, Stanley and Jowett were foremost in the 
 field. 
 
 By the autumn of 1848, however, several other eminent 
 men had joined in the agitation; amongst whom were 
 Mark Pattison, Richard Congreve, John Conington, and 
 Goldwin Smith, who became Secretary to the Executive 
 Commission of 1854. The whole movement appears to 
 him to have grown out of Newmanism through a re- 
 action. He writes (1894) : 
 
 ' Newman's romantic picture of the mediaeval Church 
 carried away the young, who had before seen nothing but 
 high and dry Anglicanism, with its social and political 
 accompaniments. But Newmanism, though ecclesiastical and 
 reactionary, was at the same time revolutionary in its way. 
 
 1 See p. 31 of the Suggestions : for any Master of Arts, or Doctor 
 ' It would only be acting up to of Theology, Law or Medicine, 
 the spirit of our own institutions to deliver lectures on any branch 
 if the liberty which at present of knowledge which fell within 
 only exists in the Statute book his sphere or capacity.' 
 were practically recognized and 2 It is worth remembering that 
 encouraged by allowing (under a Cambridge Syndicate was work- 
 such instructions [sic] as were ing at the same time and prepar- 
 thought necessary) the free use of ing the way for the Moral Sciences 
 the public Schools as lecture rooms and Natural Sciences Triposes.
 
 1846-1854] University Reform 177 
 
 It was a revolt against the old high and dry regime. It cut 
 active minds loose from their traditional moorings and launched 
 them on a sea of speculation over which they at last floated to 
 a great diversity of havens. Nor was Newmanism politically 
 conservative. On the contrary, it sneered at conservatism, which 
 was closely connected with Protestant orthodoxy, and a par- 
 ticular object of its hatred and contempt was Peel. Ward, if 
 I remember rightly, professed himself a Eadical. Then came 
 the crisis, brought on by the condemnation of Ward, which 
 was followed by the secession of Newman. Those who 
 refused the leap recoiled more or less from the brink. Some of 
 them, such as Mark Pattison, recoiled, as you know, the whole 
 length of thorough-going Liberalism. They by degrees tacitly 
 coalesced with the knot of original Liberals, though they 
 were rather liable to mental irresolution and to recurrences 
 of asceticism in a new form. 
 
 1 In some of us Liberalism soon took the practical shape of 
 an effort to reform and emancipate the University, to strike off 
 the fetters of mediaeval statutes from it and from its Colleges, 
 set it free from the predominance of ecclesiasticism, recall it 
 io its proper work, and restore it to the nation.' 
 
 In 1848-9 Jowett and Stanley were actively engaged 
 in preparing a joint work on the Universities to which 
 others were to have contributed, but before it could 
 be published the Commission had been issued. The pre- 
 paration of the book, however, laid the ground for 
 Jowett's evidence and for Stanley's memorable Report. 
 
 "While efforts towards reform had thus been ripening 
 from within, the attacks on the existing system from 
 without became more and more clamorous ; the Noncon- 
 formists insisting on the admission of Dissenters, and the 
 advocates of Natural Science, Modern History, and ' useful 
 knowledge ' deprecating the narrowness of the old cur- 
 riculum. The curriculum, indeed, had been already 
 widened by the change in the Examination Statute ; but 
 the new regulations had not yet taken effect. 
 
 VOL. I. N
 
 178 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, vi 
 
 The crisis came in 1850, when, on April 25, Mr. Hey- 
 wood, the Radical member for North Lancashire, moved 
 in the House of Commons a long resolution requesting 
 the issue of a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the 
 state of the Universities. This was strongly opposed 
 by Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Roundell Palmer, and Sir Robert 
 Inglis. But Lord John Russell, as Prime Minister, while 
 declining to vote for Mr. Heywood's resolution, promised 
 on behalf of the Government that a Royal Commission 
 of Inquiry should be issued. The Commissioners were. 
 Samuel Hinds, Bishop of Norwich; A. C. Tait, Dean 
 of Carlisle ; F. Jeune, Master of Pembroke ; H. G. Liddell, 
 Head Master of "Westminster ; J. L. Dampier, M. A. ; 
 Baden Powell, Savilian Professor of Geometry ; G. H. S. 
 Johnson, Fellow of Queen's ; with A. P. Stanley, Fellow 
 of University, as Secretary. 
 
 A copy of the following unpublished document, which 
 was addressed to Lord John Russell, has been furnished 
 by the kindness of the Very Rev. "W. C. Lake, late Dean 
 of Durham : 
 
 ' We, the undersigned, Tutors of Colleges in the University 
 of Oxford, beg to thank your Lordship for the intention you 
 have expressed, as Head of Her Majesty's Government, of 
 advising Her Majesty to appoint a Koyal Commission to 
 inquire into the state of the Universities, and for the friendly 
 terms in which your intention was announced. We do not 
 think it desirable at present to address your Lordship publicly, 
 but we wish to express our belief that changes are necessary 
 which can only be made by the assistance of Parliament, and 
 in the confident hope that the proposed inquiry will be carried 
 on with a real desire for the good of the University, we are 
 ready to give the Commissioners every information in our 
 power. 
 
 B. JOWETT W. C. LAKE 
 
 A. P. STANLEY GOLD WIN SMITH.'
 
 1846-1854] University Reform 179 
 
 Those who in Oxford bore the name of reformers had 
 not all precisely the same ends in view. They were 
 agreed that the constitution of the University must 
 be altered, that its benefits must be extended, restric- 
 tions abolished, and the Professoriate strengthened. But 
 Oxford would not have been Oxford, if individuals had 
 not widely differed as to the particular changes required. 
 As usual, there were many who thought more of their own 
 rights than of educational needs. Resident members of 
 the University were naturally jealous of the non-resident 
 vote, and sought to revive Congregation, i. e. the House 
 of Residents, for legislative purposes, in place of Con- 
 vocation, i. e. the body of M. A.'s at large. They would 
 have transferred the initiative from the Heads of Houses 
 (whose action in the Tractarian controversy had pre- 
 judiced their cause not only with Liberal reformers, 
 but with High Churchmen of the newer school) to the 
 whole body of residents. College Tutors were made 
 uneasy by the increasing importance of private tuition ; 
 and opinions differed greatly as to the best way of 
 making the University a national institution. 
 
 Jowett's evidence before the Commission sets forth the 
 points which at this time he considered at once desirable 
 and practicable. His views as there expressed are any- 
 thing but revolutionary : far less so, for example, than 
 those of Mr. Robert Lowe, who had recently returned 
 from Australia. 
 
 Jowett sought to strengthen what he found existing 1 . 
 For example, while proposing to enlarge the Professoriate, 
 he emphatically approved of the Tutorial system. 
 
 1 'What I want to see is the Church and State, instead of 
 
 Universities made somewhat more representing the worst half of 
 
 dependent on the State, so as to the clergy.' Letter to A. P. S., 
 
 become a real link between 1850. 
 
 N 2
 
 180 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, vi 
 
 'In foreign Universities/ he says, ' the Professoriate system 
 has been resorted to, not from choice, but from necessity. 
 Our wealth gives us the means of combining the two, and 
 of carrying out the spirit of each more perfectly. ' 
 
 Nor does it appear that he was, as yet, in full sympathy 
 with those who anticipated the extension of the benefits 
 of the University to non-Collegiate students. In other 
 ways his evidence is not that of a violent reformer. 
 He would have limited the powers of Convocation without 
 extending the powers of Congregation or constituting 
 an elective Hebdomadal Board. He clearly foresaw the 
 evil that was likely to result, when the unobtrusive 
 performance of College duties would give way to the 
 excitement of debates in Congregation. This would 
 probably ' have the effect of plunging us into a perpetual 
 state of agitation.' Instead of giving Congregation the 
 initiative, as had been proposed, he would have simply 
 added the Professors, whose number was to be increased, 
 to the Hebdomadal Board. He says, 'The changes at 
 present required are such as have become necessary from 
 lapse of time in institutions that have not the power 
 to amend themselves. We are not to infer from this that 
 the University needs to continue for ever legislating, or 
 that it is well to form a constitution which will give the 
 greatest facility for such an object.' 
 
 For University extension, he looks to improvements 
 in College management, rather than to private lodgings 
 or ' independent Halls,' but suggests that noblemen and 
 men of large fortune might be allowed to reside with 
 private Tutors in the town; referring to the advantage 
 which Lord Palmerston and others had received from 
 such residence in a former generation, at Edinburgh. 
 
 'The benefits of a University education cannot be thought 
 to consist merely in the acquirement of knowledge, but in
 
 1846-1854] University Reform 181 
 
 the opportunities of society and of forming friends ; in short, 
 in the experience of life gained by it and the consequent im- 
 provement of character. With many, a College is their first 
 means of introduction to the world. Advantages of this kind 
 cannot be wholly secured to the poorer student, although he 
 most stands in need of them, yet they should not be completely 
 lost sight of. ... The poor student should be scrupulously 
 treated as a gentleman.' 
 
 When, however, the Commissioners proposed a scheme 
 for establishing new Halls in connexion with the Colleges, 
 he approved of it and looked upon such Halls as a 
 useful occasion for the gradual admission of Dissenters, 
 'so getting rid of the scandal of requiring youths of 
 eighteen to sign the Thirty-nine Articles.' At this time 
 and long afterwards, Jowett had little sympathy with 
 Nonconformists, but he regarded their admission to the 
 University as an essential part of any national scheme, 
 though ' their admission on the Foundations would upset 
 things too much V 
 
 He thinks that sinecure Fellowships are doomed, but 
 is strongly in favour of removing the existing restrictions 
 upon Fellowships, including the clerical restriction. He 
 does not explicitly touch the question of the marriage 
 of Fellows. He treats very lightly the scruple about 
 Founders' intentions, which had been twice already over- 
 ridden 2 . For the extension of the Professoriate he suggests 
 the addition of Professorships of Latin, English Litera- 
 ture, Ethnology, Comparative Philology, and Geography ; 
 also additional Professorships in Greek, Latin, Ancient 
 History, Modern History, Ancient Philosophy, Modern 
 Philosophy, Logic, the Physical Sciences, and Hebrew. 
 
 In establishing new Professorships (not Theological), 
 he says : 
 
 1 From a letter to R. R. W. 2 i. e. once at the Reformation, 
 Lingen in 1846. once in the time of Laud.
 
 1 82 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, vi 
 
 'It appears to me unnecessary that religious tests should 
 be required. There seems to be no reason to fear in scientific 
 men any peculiar hostility to our ecclesiastical institutions ; 
 while, on the other hand, their habit of mind renders them 
 averse to such restrictions. In this way only can we fulfil 
 the injunction which Sir H. Savile lays upon his Trustees, 
 that they should seek for the fittest persons out of the whole 
 world. It would be of little use to multiply professors of 
 physical science, if such men as Liebig or Faraday were liable 
 to be excluded.' 
 
 One object which he alleges for the extension of the 
 Professoriate is 'to encourage persons resident in the 
 University to carry on their studies with the view of 
 hereafter filling Professorial chairs. The College Tutor, 
 who is in most cases waiting for a living, has no induce- 
 ment to study beyond what is necessary for the pre- 
 paration of his lectures.' Jowett is in favour of a Theo- 
 logical School, in preference to the establishment of 
 Theological Colleges. And, lastly, he sees no harm in the 
 system of Private Tutors, characteristically adding : ' The 
 evils arising from the excessive use of Private Tutors can 
 only be corrected (i) by College Tutors getting up their 
 lectures carefully, and rendering private assistance them- 
 selves, (2) by the manner in which the Public Examina- 
 tions are conducted.' About the time of the nomination 
 of the Commissioners he wrote to Stanley l : 
 
 1 At a still earlier time, he had fidious, nobody could trust him. 
 
 written, with reference to their . . . The natural first step would 
 
 joint work on the Universities : have been the revival of the Pro- 
 
 ' I should be almost inclined to fessorial system, and the second, 
 
 make a fight for open Fellowships the stimulus of examinations : 
 
 and Professorships only. I am only we have inverted the order, 
 
 afraid the necessity of getting because one could be done with- 
 
 rid of the Heads is the same as out the assistance of Parliament, 
 
 the necessity for getting rid of the other not.' 
 Charles I, that he was so per-
 
 1846-1854] University Reform 183 
 
 ' . . . I hope the Commissioners will chiefly rely on them- 
 selves and not on the witnesses whom they examine. . . . 
 We have long ago settled, I mean as our own opinion, that 
 open Fellowships, Professorships, modification of clerical 
 restrictions (certainly), change in the constitution (probably), 
 should be the great topics. To which I would be glad to add 
 "Poor Students" and "Expenses" (although there are diffi- 
 culties in the matter) ; first, because it is a most popular topic 
 the University educates 1,500, why not 3,000? Is it a 
 sufficient ov lve/<a * of a national institution that in the nine- 
 teenth century it educates 1,500, two-thirds of whom are the 
 sons of country gentlemen and clergymen? Jeune will be 
 lukewarm in this matter, but I hope you and Tait will take it 
 up. If the object of the Commission is only to make a more 
 intellectual aristocracy, this may be good, but will hardly 
 command much sympathy. Secondly, unless the Universities 
 are to be wholly separated from the Church it is of the greatest 
 importance that poor clergymen should be educated at the 
 University and not at Theological Colleges. The poor student 
 clergy have always a tendency to High Church views, because 
 they give them a position which they had not before. This 
 tendency would, I think, be very much diminished if the 
 University became their home more and its Professors their 
 teachers. 
 
 ' The general principle I would be guided by in reference to 
 the Commission is to ask oneself plainly what changes have 
 taken place in the country in the last 200 years, and then as far 
 as possible transfer them to the University. If the relation of 
 one class to another is different, if the subjects of knowledge 
 are different, the University must receive corresponding changes 
 sooner or later before it can return to a natural state ; only 
 remembering that it is a place of education chiefly, and that 
 education clings naturally to the past. . . . 
 
 ' I feel that I do not agree either with Vaughan's intellectual 
 aristocracy as the idea of a University, nor with the " gentle- 
 men heresy" that appears to be partially entertained by 
 Jeunt and by G. Smith. I hope that the small numbers 
 
 1 Raison d'etre.
 
 184 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, vi 
 
 educated at a University will be prominently urged by the 
 Commission it is an effective topic. And although it can do 
 no good to force men to Oxford who are unfitted by previous 
 education, it is of the greatest use to awaken in people's minds 
 a sense of the necessity of a liberal education for more than the 
 numbers contained in Harrow, Winchester, Eton, &c. The 
 abused Grammar-school and Charity foundations supply abun- 
 dant means. . . .' 
 
 Although the Commissioners issued their Report in 1852, 
 the Universities Act embodying their recommendations 
 was passed only in 1854, when it received the active 
 support of Mr. Gladstone. It established Congregation, 
 but instead of giving the initiative to that body, created 
 an elective Council l representing Heads, Professors, and 
 resident M.A.'s ; and, what Jowett always regarded as 
 more important, it provided for the abolition of many 
 local restrictions upon Fellowships, and opened them to 
 general competition. Before the measure left the House 
 of Commons, Dissenters had been admitted to Matricula- 
 tion and to all degrees lower than M.A. 
 
 Jowett was anxious to impress upon his pupils his 
 conviction that life at the University would be much the 
 same after the reforms as it had been before. Mean- 
 while his part in the whole business brought Mm 
 forward, and made his real position better known to 
 public men. He was one of the first set of Public 
 Examiners under the new system 2 , and was recognized 
 along with Mark Pattison and J. M. "Wilson as one of the 
 leaders of the Liberal party, an estimation which earned 
 
 1 This appears to have been who was a Wadham man, and 
 partly due to a suggestion of Dr. though he declined the oflbe, he 
 Pusey's. See Life of E. B. Pusey, was touched by the generosity of 
 vol. iii. pp. 391-393. Jowett, who had said thit he 
 
 2 Richard Congreve had been would not take the post if Con- 
 nominated by one of the Proctors greve were passed over.
 
 1846-1854] Civil Service Reform 185 
 
 for him the suspicion of the older Tutors and of the 
 majority of the Heads of Colleges. 
 
 His position at Oxford led to his being consulted with 
 regard to educational movements of a wider scope, such 
 as that for opening to competition posts in the Home 
 Civil Service and in that of the East India Company, in 
 which Sir James Kay-Shuttleworth and Sir Charles Tre- 
 velyan severally took a leading part. Two sayings of 
 theirs recorded by Lord Lingen, may be repeated as illus- 
 trating the courage of public servants in those days, of 
 which posterity now reaps the benefit. Sir J. Kay-Shuttle- 
 worth had said to Lingen, who was serving under him, with 
 reference to some change, ' Get it done ; let the objectors 
 howl.' Sir Charles Trevelyan said, "The Civil Service 
 requires as much pluck as the Military.' A letter from 
 the Rev. B. Jowett (January, 1854) is printed together 
 with the Report on the Organization of the Permanent 
 Civil Service, by Sir Stafford H. Northcote and Sir 
 C. Trevelyan, dated November 23, 1853. The reformers 
 in the Civil Service were turned into ridicule by Anthony 
 Trollope in his novel of The Three Clerks, where Sir 
 Charles Trevelyan figures as ' Sir Gregory Hardlines,' 
 and an imaginary caricature of Jowett appears as 
 'Mr. Jobbles.' 
 
 It was perhaps through his friend Lingen, who was now 
 at the head of the Education Office in London, and also 
 through Sir Stafford Northcote, that Jowett came to corre- 
 spond with Mr. (afterwards Lord) Macaulay and Sir Charles 
 Trevelyan about the Indian appointments. He gave an 
 eager welcome to the plan, not only on general grounds, 
 but because he saw in it a new stimulus for the Higher 
 Education in England. Thus commenced his life-long 
 interest in the public service of India ; and he was thence-
 
 186 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, vi 
 
 forth actively engaged in the promotion of measures 
 which had no less far-reaching consequences even than 
 the Oxford reforms. The correspondence led to his 
 nomination as a member of Mr. Macaulay's Committee 
 under the India Act of 1853 for opening to general com- 
 petition the appointments of the Honourable East India 
 Company's Service. 
 
 The Committee held its sittings in 1854, and reported 
 in November of that year. Macaulay drew up the Eeport, 
 but some passages bear the stamp of Jowett's mind. For 
 example : 
 
 ' We believe that men who have been engaged up to one or 
 two-and-twenty in studies which have no connexion with the 
 business of any profession, and of which the effect is merely 
 to open, to invigorate, and to enrich the mind, will generally 
 be found, in the business of every profession, superior to men 
 who have at eighteen or nineteen devoted themselves to 
 the special studies of their calling. The most illustrious 
 English jurists have been men who have never opened a law- 
 book till after the close of a distinguished academical career ; 
 nor is there any reason to believe that they would have 
 been greater lawyers if they had passed in drawing pleas and 
 conveyances the time which they gave to Thucydides, to 
 Cicero, and to Newton. . . . 
 
 ' We propose to include the moral sciences in the scheme of 
 examination. . . . Whether this study shall have to do with 
 mere words or with things, whether it shall degenerate into 
 a formal and scholastic pedantry, or shall train the mind for 
 the highest purposes of active life, will depend, to a great extent, 
 on the way in which the examination is conducted. We are 
 of opinion that the examination should be conducted in the 
 freest manner, that mere technicalities should be avoided, and 
 that the candidate should not be confined to any particular 
 system. . . . The object of the examiners should rather be to 
 put to the test the candidate's powers of mind than to ascertain 
 the extent of his metaphysical reading.'
 
 i8 7 
 
 LETTERS ON UNIVERSITY REFORM, 
 1846-1848. 
 
 To R. R. W. LINGEN. 
 
 BEAUMAKIS, September 5, 1846. 
 
 ... I am very glad you have made acquaintance with 
 Horsman, of whom I have heard Stanley speak highly. If he 
 is up to the speaking part of it I should think he was a very 
 fit person to take up University reform. The Universities 
 seem to me a more promising nucleus for education, if we 
 could but educate them first, than Dr. Kay-Shuttleworth and 
 Privy Council schemes. If you and I and Stanley were Canons 
 of Christ Church, I wonder what difference it would make 
 in the perspective of our view. In what increased ratio, think 
 you, should we feel the responsibility of change? Not of 
 course in the gross palpable form of as 200 : 1200 but in some 
 remote corner of the mind a maturer wisdom would spring up, 
 and we should say of the efforts of the juveniles, ' This also 
 is vanity.' After all, men not systems might seem to be 
 wanted. Quid ultra tendis. Here are we. . . . 
 
 To R. R. W. LINGEN. 
 
 BEAUMARIS, September, 1846. 
 
 . . . About University reform, I fully agree in the necessity 
 of getting practical suggestions ready for the opportunity when 
 it occurs. The greatest change within, the least without, 
 nothing unprecedented, nothing without regard to the better 
 spirit of the place, seems the conservative side of the question. 
 What is the feeling among lawyers respecting Corporation 
 property? I suppose to save additional theories as much as 
 possible and class it all with private property. If so, to assert 
 a constitutional against the legal view is the indoctrination 
 to be instilled. Something may be made of the anomalous
 
 i88 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, vi 
 
 character of the University, neither national, ecclesiastical, 
 nor private, but all three together : to a case so complicated, it 
 might be urged, it is impossible to apply the simple principles 
 which regulate either corporate or private property, and College 
 property might be isolated from the general fear about vested 
 interests. 
 
 To E. E. W. LINGEN. 
 
 BALLIOL, Sunday Evening, [1847]. 
 
 Your master, 'master Doctor Caius 1 ,' not the French 
 Doctor, paid a visit of inspection to our Normal School 
 yesterday. You can guess his object. 
 
 The particulars you can hear from Temple. . . . My purpose 
 in writing is to say for myself and for Stanley that we are 
 quite willing to be guided by your judgement in the matter. 
 Shuttleworth's name is I think an omen of success in the 
 scheme, at the same time he is as unfit as the two barbarians 
 Hengist and Horsa to reform the University, and the prospect 
 of good is really how far he will be advised by others. 
 
 We think that if we and others undertake the somewhat 
 invidious part he assigns to us, we ought to have some 
 understanding with the Ministry that they are to support 
 us, time and opportunity favouring, with a friendly measure 
 of University reform ; in other words, that we are not simply 
 made a cat's-paw of by Kay-Shuttle worth in a private specula- 
 tion of his own. 
 
 We have, I think, provided this sort of assurance were given, 
 a sufficient respect for K.-S.'s usefulness to be willing to 
 act with him in such a cause, unless you dissuade. 
 
 To EOUNDELL PALMER, ESQ., M.P. 2 
 
 BALLIOL, November 15, [1847]. 
 MY DEAE PALMER, 
 
 I take the liberty of writing to you under the idea 
 that you are half an M.P. for the University of Oxford. 
 I have heard several persons lately speak of University reform, 
 
 1 J. P. Kay-Shuttleworth, M.D., head of the Education Department. 
 He received a Baronetcy on retiring in 1849. 2 Lord Selborne.
 
 Letters on University Reform, 1846-48 189 
 
 and express a strong wish that you could be induced to turn 
 your attention to the subject. They were Clough, Lake, 
 Lingen, Temple, Stanley, T. Arnold, and others whom you 
 probably do not know. Their feeling was that there was 
 no one so well acquainted with the question, or so likely 
 to take it up in a fair and friendly spirit, or who was more 
 really sensible of the great and increasing intellectual de- 
 ficiencies of the place. They seemed to think, and I heartily 
 agree, that, for many reasons, the subject would be far better 
 in your hands than in those of Gladstone. 
 
 Excuse this exordium, which looks like flattery, but is not 
 meant so. The immediate occasion of my writing to you 
 is as follows. Mr. Horsman was intending to take up the 
 matter and bring it before the Ministry, but owing to the 
 representations of Lingen, Stanley, and Clough, who thought 
 that he was going to fight the battle ' nee dis nee viribus 
 aequis,' although not in an unfriendly spirit, he has been 
 induced to give it up and will now confine himself to seconding 
 Christie's motion. What we hoped was that you might be 
 induced in good time to take the question out of their hands, 
 and prevent much evil and gain for us many things which 
 would be a great boon. 
 
 Perhaps I am assuming too much in supposing that you 
 would favour any movement to assist the Universities from 
 without. Let me ask what chance is there of reform from 
 within. It is now twelve years since the Duke of Wellington 
 answered Lord Eadnor's question in the House of Lords about 
 University reform, that the Colleges were reforming them- 
 selves, and since then I do not think a resident in the place 
 can point to any change, except perhaps the abolition of the 
 oath to the Statutes, which touches our real abuses. It is 
 nobody's fault we cannot reform ourselves. To say nothing 
 of the stationary nature of the place the close Fellows are 
 interested in keeping up close Fellowships. Merton and All 
 Souls desire to hand down their privileges to posterity OVK 
 eAacro-w i) avrol TrapeSe^ovro l the true Filius Aedis Christi has 
 a theory ready to show that the Christ Church method of 
 
 1 In no less measure than they received them. Cf. Thuc. i. 71.
 
 1 90 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, vi 
 
 giving away Studentships is the sound and right one, although 
 out of a hundred students it is continually found impossible to 
 choose distinguished men to fill the Tutorships. 
 
 These things are so invidious, that although they are 
 strictly true I am almost ashamed to state them. It would 
 be great injustice, too, not to acknowledge that there are 
 a great many persons in all those societies who are sincerely 
 anxious about altering the present state of things. Only what 
 fills me with despair about these internal reforms, [is that] 
 partly from the want of power, partly, as I think, from a too 
 narrow view of duty, they involve some crotchet which mars 
 the practical good : for example, a return to some obsolete 
 Statute which won't work or which works mischievously, 
 when the consuetudines of the College would have formed 
 a much better basis for a useful reform, and so the real 
 and crying evil remains untouched. 
 
 There is nothing 1 wish less than to see Oxford turned into 
 a German or a London University. On the other hand, is 
 it at all probable that we shall be allowed to remain as we are 
 for twenty years longer, the one solitary, exclusive, unnational 
 Corporation our enormous wealth without any manifest utili- 
 tarian purpose ; a place, the studies of which belong to the 
 past, and unfortunately seem to have no power of incorporating 
 new branches of knowledge ; so exclusive, that it is scarcely 
 capable of opening to the wants of the Church itself; and 
 again, the mere funds of which considered as a trust fund 
 can by no means be said to have been administered with 
 strict conscientiousness for the promotion of 'virtue and good 
 learning ' ? And the good done here, which is certainly very 
 great, [is] not of a kind to be paraded before the public, ov 
 Xoyo) Ti/j.(i>/j.ev a\Xa -777 crwoucria 7rA.eov ', though we readily admit 
 it in talking to one another ; while the abuse and inefficiency 
 is flagrant. 
 
 You will perhaps excuse, if you do not agree with me, 
 for writing all this. I do not wish to make a paper con- 
 stitution for the University. If Parliament interferes, should 
 
 1 ' Honoured, not in story, but in the hearts of those who know it 
 best.' Soph. Oed. Col. 62, 3.
 
 Letters on University Reform, 1846-48 191 
 
 not the effort be to limit the interference to one or two great 
 and simple points, such as the opening of the Fellowships 
 and providing by an effectual system of visitation, and perhaps 
 by a declaration on the part of the electors like the Simony 
 Oath, for their being honestly given away? Second, the 
 establishment of Professorships which might be formed out of 
 extinguished Fellowships (which would, perhaps, if they were 
 thrown open be too numerous), and might be attached as a sort 
 of compensation to the Colleges from which the Fellowships 
 are taken. To which, third, I would add a pet crotchet of my 
 own, to raise the value of the Scholarships (to make them really 
 Demyships) from the same source, to provide the means for 
 many more persons of the middling class to find their way 
 through the University into professions. 
 
 I think at present the close Fellowships work very badly, 
 especially in holding out the prospect of a provision for life, 
 which provision is generally not obtained until a man is 
 twenty-seven or twenty-eight, when it would be better for 
 him to leave the University altogether and settle in a parish : 
 to say nothing of the evil of superannuating in Oxford so many 
 men who are not fitted by nature for a student's life. 
 
 As to the Professorships, there is not at present a single well- 
 endowed one for any of those subjects which form the staple 
 of the University course, except Theology. There is no 
 inducement for any College Tutor to carry on his reading 
 of Aristotle beyond the routine of his lectures, as far as 
 prospects of this sort are concerned. Does not this in some 
 measure account for our not having yet settled the province of 
 Logic ? Is it likely that we can expect the process of simply 
 converting Butler into Aristotle, and Aristotle into Butler, 
 and making them both mean pretty much what we believed 
 before, can lead to any permanent good ? The great evil at 
 Oxford is the narrowness and isolation of one study from 
 another, and of one part of a study from the other. We are 
 so far below the level of the German Ocean that I fear one 
 day we shall be utterly deluged. 
 
 I must again apologize for writing in this desultory manner 
 to you about these matters. If you were disposed to take 
 np the question it would be a great pleasure to Stanley and
 
 192 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, vi 
 
 myself to assist you in every possible way, not of course that 
 we expect you to agree in our suggestions. 
 
 Believe me, my dear Palmer, 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 B. JOWETT. 
 
 Note by Lord Selborne. 
 
 [N.B. My answer to this letter, declining to undertake the 
 question as suggested, was mainly grounded upon the im- 
 pediment arising out of the oaths which I had taken on 
 my election to my Fellowship at Magdalen. On this subject 
 there is in print a letter, which I addressed in 1853 or 1854 
 to a Fellow of Magdalen. K. P.J 
 
 To E. E. "W. LINGEN. 
 
 BALLIOL, December 3, 1847. 
 
 . . . Last Saturday K. Palmer came down here to talk over 
 University reform. He was liberal as one could wish, but has 
 some difficulty in stirring about the matter himself from the 
 oath he has taken at Magdalen he does not consider the oath 
 binding himself, but as the terms of it are very explicit he 
 dislikes the scandal it would make. This I mention in confi- 
 dence. He is quite willing however to present a petition for 
 open Fellowships and Professorships, and to speak in its favour. 
 He is not sanguine at present, and thinks with you that enough 
 has not been done to bring the matter before the public : our 
 best chance, he said, would be to get the ear of some one of the 
 Ministers, especially if Campbell's 1 father 2 were made Lord 
 Chancellor, which is a possible event. 
 
 To E. E. W. LINGEN. 
 
 OXFORD, February 20, 1848. 
 
 . . . We are getting up a petition to the Heads from Tutors 
 of Colleges in favour of Jeune's scheme or something like 
 it. The main objects are three : (a) to get the ' Little Go ' placed 
 
 1 W. F. Campbell, afterwards 2 Lord Campbell, made Chan- 
 Lord Stratheden. cellor in 1850.
 
 Letters on University Reform, 1846-48 193 
 
 so early as to stand in the place of a University Matriculation ; 
 (/?) to extend the studies of the place so as to give passmen 
 something as well as Latin and Greek which may interest 
 them ; (y) to place the present ' Great Go ' at the end of two 
 years, somewhat contracting the number of books, and allowing 
 the third year [of residence] for separate studies, as Theology, 
 Mathematics and Physics, History and Law. I do not expect 
 that nearly all this will be gained, nor see how the University 
 could be carried on if it were at present, but something useful 
 will probably come of it. 
 
 ... I have not heard anything about the Price 1 schemes ; 
 I quite admit that the plan mentioned above does alter the 
 character of the place, but not objectionably. At present for 
 the greater part of the passmen it is little more than a place 
 of brute discipline, where they may be drawn out by their 
 companions and amusements, but certainly not by polite 
 literature. The chief fear is lest we fritter ourselves among 
 too many things. 
 
 To R. R W. LINGEN. 
 
 OXFORD, April 3, 1848. 
 
 I send herewith a pamphlet 2 which is a joint production of 
 Stanley's and mine. As there is a good deal of talk about 
 these things at present, it may perhaps survive into the next 
 Term, and reappear in an enlarged edition. Will you look 
 through the scheme carefully and see if you can suggest amend- 
 ments and alterations ? 
 
 I am going to attack you about another scheme, which as far 
 as I can see at present I shall pursue tooth and nail. It is the 
 formation of an association to give a course of lectures in the 
 Schools on all principal subjects connected with our present 
 examinations. Stanley would lecture on Herodotus and early 
 Greek history, Clough on Livy, myself on the history of the 
 Greek Philosophy. We hope that Scott and Vaughan would 
 be induced to give lectures in Scholarship and Moral Philosophy 
 respectively, also G[oldwin] Smith. 
 
 1 Bonamy Price. 2 See above, p. 174. 
 
 VOL. I. O
 
 194 Life of Benjamin Jowett 
 
 Now here lies the point : do you think you can assist us, 
 by giving, say, twelve lectures in a year on some philological 
 or general subject, something which might be the re'Aos J of 
 all your dilettante work during the year ? Latin literature 
 or Homer or Aeschylus would upon the whole be the most 
 useful. I mean something of this kind, in which the 
 University has been always weak. 
 
 The first step we propose is to request the sanction of the 
 V.-C. (not the permission) for the use of the Schools, to which 
 as Masters we have a right this memorial to be signed by 
 all those who are going to take a part in the plan. A fee of 
 a pound to be required from every one who attends. 
 
 The great object as you will see would be to form a nucleus 
 for a Professorial system, to give a better standard of lectures, 
 also to construct a little from within in expectation of changes 
 from without. 
 
 Well ! the Deluge has come in our time. I think of going 
 to Paris at the end of the week -, and shall call at the Privy 
 Council Office to see you, as I come through on Friday. 
 
 To E. E. W. LINGEN. 
 
 BALLIOL, November 17, 1848. 
 
 . . . The reform of the Examination Statute progresses 
 very badly. The second examination is to be in 'words,' in 
 the third men are to give up words altogether and return 
 to things. This is the final form in which the Statute is to be 
 proposed, nothing but Philology to the end of the second year 
 and no Philology afterwards. It would be surely better to 
 keep our present system to the end of the second year and then 
 commence separate studies not excluding Philology. Love to 
 Temple. 
 
 1 ' End and aim.' 2 p. 133.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 TUTORIAL AND OTHER INTERESTS. 1850-1854 
 
 (Aet. 33-36) 
 
 WIDENING social horizon Bunsen Sir C. Trevelyan Tennyson 
 Tutorial methods Vacations Mr. W. L. Newman's reminiscences. 
 
 AS we turn from these public activities to resume the 
 ** tenor of his life in Oxford, we may take occasion 
 to observe the expansion of Jowett's social interests, 
 which were scarcely ever separated from his educational 
 and other labours. His pupils of some years back were 
 about to enter public life : his friends and colleagues 
 were rising to positions where they could help him in 
 pushing the fortunes of younger men. Lingen became 
 Head of the Education Department in 1849, and in 
 appointing Examiners and Inspectors relied on Jowett's 
 recommendation more than on that of any other of the 
 Oxford Tutors 1 . C. J. Vaughan, Stanley's brother-in- 
 law, was Head Master of Harrow, and Balliol men 
 became assistant masters there. Temple, in whose con- 
 versation Jowett delighted more than in that of any 
 other man, had gone to be the Head of a training 
 college for workhouse school teachers, which had been 
 recently founded at Kneller Hall in the neighbourhood 
 of Twickenham ; and in 1858 succeeded Goulburn at 
 Rugby. At Jowett's recommendation, Temple took 
 Palgrave to be his lieutenant at Kneller Hall. Morier, 
 
 1 W. H. Thompson of Trinity was similarly Lingen's mainstay at 
 Cambridge. 
 
 O 2
 
 196 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, vn 
 
 after spending the years 1851 and 1852 at the Educa- 
 tion Office, became attached to the Diplomatic service 
 at Vienna and afterwards at Berlin. 
 
 Through Stanley Jowett was introduced to the Chevalier 
 Bunsen Baron Bunsen who spoke of him to his son 
 Henry as the deepest mind he had met with in England. 
 Henry de Bunsen's own impression of him, as he told me 
 afterwards, was that of a man who lived intimately with 
 a few friends, but was shy and retiring in general society. 
 
 William Young Sellar had gone to assist his old 
 teacher, Professor William Ramsay, in Glasgow, and 
 there became engaged to Miss Eleanor Dennistoun, whom 
 he married in 1852. That home was thenceforward a 
 centre of growing interest for Jowett. 
 
 Lingen, too, had married Miss Hutton in 1852, and they 
 often received him at their house in Gloucester Place, 
 Hyde Park. Mrs. Lingen l was greatly struck by the ' joy- 
 ousness ' of her husband's friend. He used to rally her 
 on the strictness of her Politico-Economical principles, 
 with which, at that time, he agreed. They took him to 
 a theatre, where the after-piece turned on disputes between 
 husband and wife. At this he laughed heartily, not, as 
 Mrs. Lingen thought, without a spice of side-long malice. 
 
 Lord Lingen writes (1895) : 
 
 ' He has left on me the impression of being in those years 
 lighthearted and gay : and this impression agrees with the 
 earliest portrait of him, that by Richmond, to which, let me 
 add, his likeness after death returned with striking reality. 
 I was constantly seeing him during those years, and we talked 
 unreservedly about everything, being orthodox and rather ad- 
 vanced Liberals of the time both in Church and State such 
 as Oxford Toryism had made us. His visits, generally un- 
 announced, are among the pleasantest recollections of my life. 
 Punctual as he was to the last in business and duty, there 
 
 1 Lady Lingen.
 
 1850-1854] Acquaintance with Tennyson 197 
 
 was a humorous irregularity about his social observance of 
 hours. I shall never forget our frequent anxieties, in which 
 he never shared, whether he would really catch the ten o'clock 
 train to Oxford, on which he was bent, with his breakfast to 
 finish, and our servant packing his things. Then, as up to 
 the end of his life, he always carried with him papers which 
 he had in hand, and would work at them upstairs and down, 
 and at all spare times.' 
 
 The question of competitive examinations for India 
 led to an intimacy with Sir Charles Trevelyan and his 
 family, including the present Lady Knutsford and Mrs. 
 Dugdale. At their house he had opportunities of per- 
 sonal intercourse with Macaulay. Sir George Trevelyan 
 says, ' I remember a period of one or two years, when 
 the question of Civil Service reform was at its height, 
 during which Mr. Jowett constantly came to us at 
 "Westbourne Terrace, and used to sit through the evening, 
 as my boyish recollection goes, quite silent.' 
 
 At Harrow he made the acquaintance of Mrs. Vaughan's 
 cousin Rosalind Stanley, now Lady Carlisle, then a child 
 of eleven, who rated him soundly much to his delight 
 for not having read the Arabian Nights, and commanded 
 him to do so without delay 1 . And he had many a 
 friendly battle on theological subjects with Mrs. Vaughan 
 Catherine Stanley his fellow-traveller of 1845. 
 
 Meanwhile he kept up his correspondence with still 
 older friends. He writes to James Lonsdale, who had 
 lost his mother : 
 
 'No one who had known ever so little of her could help 
 seeing that she was just one of those persons who spread 
 light and peace over their homes. Stanley has several times 
 mentioned her to me as what he termed . . . one of his three 
 pattern ladies : . . . her grace and goodness were admired by 
 others as much as they were appreciated by her own children. ' 
 
 1 Mrs. Vaughan is my authority for this. L. C.
 
 198 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, vn 
 
 Jowett's intercourse with Tennyson, which like 
 a golden thread ran through the whole of his remaining 
 years, began in the following way. In 1852 Tennyson 
 resided at Twickenham ; where both Temple and Pal- 
 grave, then at Kneller Hall, saw much of him. When 
 Jowett visited his two friends, they invited Tennyson to 
 meet him. He came, and the poet and 'philosopher' were 
 charmed with each other. After settling at Farringford, 
 the Tennysons invited Jowett to stay with them. When 
 the invitation had gone forth, Tennyson humorously 
 confessed to Palgrave his apprehensions at the thought 
 of entertaining a cleric and a don, but was assured that 
 Jowett was, after all, a human being. Mrs. Tennyson was 
 delighted with her guest's discourse upon high subjects, 
 such as the freedom of the will l . 
 
 It may be mentioned in passing that Jowett examined 
 more than once at Durham University, where James 
 Lonsdale was one of the Tutors for a time. 
 
 Men have been known to rise to high places in Church 
 and State by taking advantage of such opportunities 
 as now opened for Jowett in the great world, 
 to the neglect of more immediate duties. That was 
 not Jowett's way. The Balliol Tutorship was still 
 his main employment, and he laboured in it as if 
 it were the sole purpose of his life ; turning all 
 other interests to account in ennobling and enriching 
 this. It might without exaggeration be said of him in 
 relation to his pupils, that ' all things were for their 
 sakes.' With each new batch of undergraduates there 
 came an accession to those living influences, whose 
 fountain seemed inexhaustible and which flowed onward 
 
 1 Grant, also, and William Grant's connexion with Mr. Cotton 
 Sellar, soon became frequent of Afton, Tennyson's neighbour at 
 guests at Farringford, through Freshwater.
 
 1850-1854] Tutorial Methods 199 
 
 throughout the remainder of his career. The freshmen 
 used to be assigned to the care of the several Tutors by 
 some arrangement of a College meeting ; but those 
 whose promise and aspiration were above the average, 
 if they had not the good fortune to be Jowett's pupils, 
 were only too glad to avail themselves of the permission 
 which he readily gave them, to bring essays or pieces of 
 composition to his room, in addition to the regular work 
 with their Tutor. He treated them, in such cases, as if they 
 were really his pupils, and the work done for him was 
 entered into with greater eagerness and delight than 
 the ordinary College exercises. It was not that he spent 
 more pains in looking over such attempts than other 
 Tutors did ; his remarks were brief, and he seldom rewrote 
 a sentence, but, somehow, his merely saying of a copy of 
 iambics, ' That is not so Greek as the last you did,' had the 
 effect of sending one off upon a quest of higher excellence, 
 the craving for which was not to be satisfied at once 1 . 
 He seized upon what was best in one's attempts, and 
 showed a way in which the whole might have been better. 
 He managed always to direct the study of language 
 so as to promote literary culture. The pieces set by 
 him for composition were choice specimens of classical 
 English, which prompted higher efforts, and led to 
 a closer intimacy with great writers, than such passages as 
 used often to be prescribed. And he impressed upon his 
 pupils an idea which was new to most of them, that in 
 translating from Greek or Latin classics into English, 
 as much of time and labour might be usefully spent 
 as in turning an English passage into Latin or Greek. 
 
 1 A contrary instance should verses. He glanced over them 
 
 perhaps be quoted. Somewhat and, looking up rather blankly, 
 
 earlier than this a Scholar of the said, ' Have you any taste for 
 
 College brought him a set of Greek mathematics ? ' ,
 
 200 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, vn 
 
 His criticism in those days stimulated without dis- 
 couraging. In setting before the mind a lofty ideal, 
 he implied a belief in powers hereafter to be developed, 
 and the belief seemed to create the thing believed in. 
 But the intellectual stimulus was not all. He seemed 
 to divine one's spiritual needs, and by mere contact 
 and the brightness of his presence, to supply them. If 
 he was ready to repress conceit, he was no less ready to 
 bestow encouragement on the diffident, and sympathy 
 upon the depressed ; not without timely warning, when 
 he saw that danger or temptation was at hand. His 
 intimate knowledge of his former pupils' lives was 
 applied to heal the errors of their successors, and his 
 own experience of early struggles also had its effect. He 
 ignored trifles, but never let pass any critical point. 
 
 The mornings were of course spent in the Lecture 
 Room. This was the larger of the two rooms in the 
 Fisher Building which he then occupied. The lecture 
 list, like the choice of Tutors for the men, was a matter 
 of College arrangement. The subjects were distributed 
 amongst the Tutors and Lecturers, the division of 
 labour being, however, less minute than it became after- 
 wards ; and attendance on the prescribed lectures was 
 supposed to be compulsory. 
 
 Although Jowett had made his early reputation by 
 Latin scholarship, it has been observed that he seldom 
 if ever lectured on a Latin subject. His favourites were 
 Sophocles, Aristophanes, Thucydides, and the Republic 
 of Plato. There was no listlessness at any of his lectures, 
 and often one man would remain after the rest to discuss 
 a difficulty. If there was less of exact scholarship 
 imparted by him, than, for example, by James Eiddell. 
 the whole subject was surrounded with an air of literary 
 grace and charm which had a more educative effect. As
 
 i8 5 o-i8 54 ] College Discipline 201 
 
 an interpreter, and above all as a translator, he seemed 
 to his pupils to be unrivalled. He was never satisfied 
 with any interpretation that could not be expressed in 
 perfect English. There were also Divinity Lectures on 
 the Epistles of St. Paul, and the History of Philosophy 
 Lectures already referred to ; also a Logic Lecture (for 
 Moderations) in the Hall of the College, of which 
 Aldrich's Logic was still the text-book, though we were 
 expected to read Whately too ; but the commentary- 
 was diversified with many suggestive remarks and illus- 
 trations, especially on the subject of fallacies. Jowett 
 would suddenly ask for a quotation from English poetry, 
 which, if given, he would make the pupils analyze, and 
 recast in logical form. It was a sort of conversational 
 lecture. Besides all these, he now and then gave 
 a special course on Political Economy to a few 
 volunteers, and at one time held a very useful com- 
 position lecture for half an hour between morning Chapel 
 and breakfast-time, in which men were expected to turn 
 a piece of classical English, taken down from dictation, 
 extemporaneously and viva voce into Greek or Latin. 
 He would read out a passage, sentence by sentence, 
 inviting first one and then another to improvise a version 
 in Greek or Latin, welcoming any improvement of that 
 version from other members of the class, and settling 
 the ultimate form by general consent. 
 
 When it came to Jowett's turn to be Dean, some 
 men looked for a slack regime in regard to morning 
 Chapel, as Jowett himself, being a sound sleeper, and 
 studying late at night, was not always regular in his 
 attendance. They soon discovered their mistake ; every 
 defaulter was immediately sent for, and instead of being 
 admonished for his failure in religious observance, was 
 told that morning Chapel was a rule of the College. In
 
 202 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, vn 
 
 case of continued delinquency, an imposition was in- 
 flicted and inexorably required. The "Warden of Merton 
 (the Honourable Gr. C. Brodrick) says : 
 
 ' One morning several of us, including Jowett himself, were 
 just too late and found the door closed. Nevertheless he sent 
 for the absentees as usual and anticipated the allusion to 
 his own misfortune which I was on the point of making, by 
 asking shortly, " Why were you not in Chapel, Mr. Brodrick ? " 
 and adding in the same breath, ' It's no use saying that I was 
 late too, for it was very wrong in both of us." ' 
 
 No business of this kind really affected his relation 
 to his pupils. If his anger ever showed itself, it was 
 momentary, and left no trace on after intercourse. 
 
 In special cases he was lavish of his time and energy, 
 already, it might be thought, only too fully occupied. 
 If a promising but unequal scholar seemed to him to 
 have a chance for the Ireland, he would say, ' Bring me 
 a piece of composition every evening till the examina- 
 tion.' The evenings after Hall were given up to 
 interviews of this nature; the afternoons were often 
 spent in walks with undergraduates. His summer 
 reading-parties had made for him a little nucleus of 
 friends in College, to whom the extension of his influence 
 was largely due. 
 
 The Warden of Merton, who was an undergraduate at 
 this time, has made some valuable remarks which include 
 the period now under review : 
 
 ' In my opinion Jowett's heroic industry, during his Tutorial 
 career, has never been fully appreciated. At almost all hours 
 of the day, and up to a very late hour at night, his door was 
 always open to every man in the College seeking help, and, 
 though I was never among his chosen disciples, I continued 
 after taking my degree to bring him answers to questions 
 at my own request, which he looked over and criticized as 
 carefully as ever. No other Tutor within my experience has
 
 1850-1854] Shyness and Reserve 203 
 
 ever approached him in the depth and extent of his pastoral 
 supervision, if I may so call it, of young thinkers ; and it 
 may truly be said that in his pupil-room, thirty, forty, and 
 fifty years ago, were disciplined many of the minds which are 
 now exercising a wide influence over the nation/ 
 
 Even amongst the Balliol undergraduates, however. 
 Jowett was not universally popular. He had no false 
 dignity, but he had an adequate sense of his position l , 
 and his native shyness had not worn off. His long 
 silences were felt as an awkward bar to conversation 
 by those who did not understand that he himself was 
 hardly aware of them, as the intervals were filled with 
 active thought. He was apt to disclaim this when taxed 
 with it, and to declare that he was thinking of nothing 2 , 
 but the fact was often proved by the pregnancy of the 
 few words that followed the silence. It seemed as if the 
 thought had to make a long circuit through his capacious 
 brain before the result, brief, terse, and pointed, was evolved 3 . 
 
 To interrupt this silent process by starting a fresh 
 topic was often to provoke a snub. This was partly due, 
 as a friend remarks, ' to his absorption in his work, but 
 also to a natural shyness and aversion to the commonplaces 
 of society. As he never made an unmeaning remark him- 
 self, he was impatient of unmeaning remarks from others/ 
 
 In an early letter to Stanley he speaks of the 
 ' idiosyncrasy ' which led to these awkward silences : 
 
 ' Cromer is such an immense distance that it rather appals 
 
 1 He was said to have rebuked was so perfectly expressed as to 
 Riddell for being too familiar seem final. This made the give 
 with the undergraduates. and take of conversation difficult. 
 
 2 Life of J. A. Symonds, vol. i. He seemed to be holding up an 
 p. 227. ideal, but one could not breathe 
 
 3 A shrewd observer remarked freely in that high air. It was 
 long afterwards on his conversa- true elevation however, and not 
 tion at high table : ' Everything the donnishness of an academi- 
 he said had an edge on it ; and cal poseur'
 
 204 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, vn 
 
 me, but to say the truth, I would go there after your kind 
 letter, were it not for some idiosyncrasy that makes me, at 
 times, very unwilling to be among strangers, which it would 
 probably involve. I hardly like to mention it : it looks so 
 like affectation. But somehow or other I get thinking about 
 matters speculative or otherwise, and, when not perfectly well, 
 they get such a hold that I cannot relax, and one becomes a 
 sort of tSiwT7/s, wrapped in selfish care and out of tune with 
 ordinary life.' 
 
 Another thing that somewhat hampered his intercourse 
 with younger men was his fastidiousness on the score of 
 language, which he regarded almost as a sacred thing, 
 making it part of his vocation to impress this feeling upon 
 others. Hence the abhorrence of slang, which some under- 
 graduates thought a piece of donnishness. With one of 
 his child-friends in the country he took a singular way 
 of enforcing this lesson. He insisted on giving her 
 a shilling every time she used the word ' awfully,' and so 
 shamed her out of the habit. 
 
 He never flinched from acts of necessary discipline, 
 although when anything severe was done, his intimate 
 friends knew well how his heart bled for the youth whose 
 prospects were affected. On the other hand, it was in- 
 directly known that he had stoutly resisted what appeared 
 to him unnecessary harshness, and some of his chief 
 friends, as Mr. W. L. Newman observes, were amongst the 
 ' unsteady ones ' whose lives he was insensibly guiding. 
 One who appears to speak with feeling writes : ' Though 
 he did not spare you in private, he stood between you and 
 harm in public. He would send for you, and you found 
 him sitting, poker in hand, before his fire. It would 
 be many minutes sometimes before he would speak, 
 but when he did speak, it was to the purpose.' 
 
 His appearance at this time was still very youthful, 
 but at moments, at least to younger men, his personality
 
 1850-1854] Personal Appearance Influence 205 
 
 was very impressive. The look of great refinement, 
 yet of manly strength, of subtlety, combined with 
 simplicity; his unaffected candour, tempered with reserve, 
 could not fail to attract even when it baffled observa- 
 tion. His soft wavy locks were already touched with 
 grey, beginning to recede from the temples, so as to 
 ma.ke more prominent the expansive brow, in which 
 phrenologists would say that ' idealism ' was balanced 
 with 'comparison' and ' causality.' His full grey eyes 
 spoke of the clearness of the mind within, yet had 
 a dreamy wistful look, sometimes increased by a slight 
 twitching of the eyelid. His mouth in repose appeared 
 full and slack, but the expressive lips were under absolute 
 control. He was always clean-shaven except the scanty 
 whiskers, and the small chin seemed hardly to promise 
 the strength of volition which lay concealed within. 
 The effect of his sloping shoulders was rather enhanced 
 by the black dress coat of fine broadcloth which he 
 always wore. His waistcoat disclosed a faultless shirt- 
 front and white neckerchief loosely tied about the 
 upright collar, which he continued to wear long after 
 it ceased to be the fashion. He never wore a great- 
 coat before 1859, when he purchased one of roughish 
 cloth for travelling purposes, described by J. A. Symonds 
 as 'a barrel-bodied great-coat.' In walking about Oxford, 
 if the cold happened to be extreme, he would propose to 
 his companion to run for warmth. He seldom wore 
 gloves, but when he did so they were of cloth, not kid. 
 His hands seemed the only parts of him that were 
 sensitive to cold. When cap and gown were discarded 
 he wore a soft wideawake, which he called his ' cap.' 
 In writing, if there was no chair at hand, he would kneel 
 at a table. Those who knew him only in late years, 
 would have been surprised to see his slight figure racing
 
 206 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, vn 
 
 about the Balliol quadrangle, or to hear him, as he 
 often did, hum or whistle, as he came back to his 
 room, some broken phrases of a familiar melody. 
 
 He had still some lessons to learn in the management 
 of men ; and his advice to other Tutors at a somewhat 
 later time probably reflects his own early experience: 
 ' Young men are so sensitive. You will find one burning 
 with indignation for some neglect of which you were 
 profoundly unconscious. It will not do to speak roughly 
 to them.' Yet it was often observed how as with a silken 
 thread he put a check on those whom others found 
 unmanageable. The frankness of his dealings with them, 
 even when they had left College, may be illustrated 
 by the following extract from a letter which is too 
 intimate to be quoted at length : 
 
 ' There are many things which must give you, as all of us, 
 pain in your past life. In your case they come rather under 
 the head of weaknesses than of faults. You are now a man, 
 so must put away childish things. . . . God has blessed you 
 hitherto in your Oxford course, but you have been wanting to 
 yourself. You have many friends looking on, and hoping that 
 you will not allow egotism, or any mental or bodily weakness, to 
 get the better of you. Forgive me for mentioning these things. ' 
 
 This is a specimen of what some used to call ' a paternal 
 from Jowett.' 
 
 A peculiarity which impressed many undergraduates 
 was the beauty of his delivery, especially in reading 
 Scripture. Mr. Isambard Brunei, who came to Balliol 
 in the fifties, says that he and others used to make 
 an effort to go to morning Chapel when it was known 
 that Jowett was likely to read the Epistle and Gospel. 
 Though rather high-pitched, his voice in reading had 
 a richness in its tones, as of a silver bell, which charmed 
 the ear; and the absence of mannerism, the sincerity
 
 1850-1854] Sermons and Addresses 207 
 
 and reverence of the expression, and the perfect rendering 
 of every shade of meaning, without undue emphasis, 
 made an entireness of effect unlike anything that could 
 be heard elsewhere. Poor young D'Arcy *, a scholar of 
 genius, and of a deeply religious turn, remarked to me 
 after one Communion, how devoutly, in administering 
 it, Jowett had said the sacred words. There were no 
 sermons then in Balliol Chapel, the institution of the 
 Catechetical Lecture having taken their place. But 
 during the week before Communion, it was the practice 
 for each of the Tutors to give a short discourse to his 
 pupils. Jowett's addresses were much valued by those 
 who heard them. When they had assembled quietly in 
 the Lecture Room, he would come out of his inner room, 
 with the ink still wet upon the notepaper, and read 
 what he had prepared. Two subjects are especially 
 remembered : ' Rejoice, young man, in thy youth,' and 
 'Let me die the death of the righteous/ In one he 
 spoke plainly of the temptations to which young men 
 were liable at College ; 'All this,' he said, ' because 
 young men are weak.' In another address he made 
 some subtle remarks on social difficulties, observing that 
 the secret of true influence was not conscious effort, 
 ' nor sympathy, which may be weakness, but a consistent 
 life.' In the sermon on death he dwelt on a favourite 
 topic, of which he had lately been reminded by con- 
 versations with Sir Benjamin Brodie, the great surgeon, 
 that the current notions about death-bed scenes were 
 an illusion, and that the desire of life often failed with 
 life itself 2 . One sentence in that sermon still remains 
 
 1 He died in his second year at sion which he took from converse 
 College. with Sir Benjamin was that ' the 
 
 2 See Brodie's Psychological In- force of specifics can go only a 
 quiries (1855). Another impres- little way.'
 
 2o8 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, vn 
 
 with me : ' God will not judge of men by what they 
 know; yet to have used knowledge rightly will be 
 a staff to support and comfort us in passing through the 
 dark valley.' 
 
 Jowett's voice as a preacher was so long silent in 
 Oxford, that there is a special interest in recalling 
 the few occasions on which he is known to have 
 occupied the University pulpit. Besides the Assize 
 Sermon in the autumn of 1849, there were some which 
 he delivered as Select Preacher in 1850-51. Of one 
 of these he writes to ffolliott, October, 1851 : 'My sermon 
 was greatly admired by the wooden benches, who found 
 something in it exactly adapted to the ecclesiastical 
 position which they had taken up. It was an animating 
 sight to see them ; they echoed every word that was 
 said.' But there are some who still remember an im- 
 pressive discourse on the text, 'The hairs of your head 
 are all numbered/ treating of the Reign of Law ; and 
 Mr. Gladstone, in a recent letter to P. Lyttelton Gell, 
 spoke of a discourse which he had heard from Jowett 
 about this time, on the contrast between faith and 
 experience, as ' epoch-making.' 
 
 The small hours were given, when not demanded by 
 special calls upon his attention or sympathy, to the 
 systematic study of St. Paul. 
 
 Stanley's departure from Oxford in 1850, and his 
 appointment to a Canonry of Canterbury in 1851, were 
 events of trying significance for his chief Oxford friend. 
 Their paths in life were sundering ; they could no longer 
 work at the New Testament together 1 , and the dream 
 of a visit to the Holy Land could only be fulfilled for 
 one of them. The Homeric ideal of nvv re bv e/axo^eVw, 
 ' two going on together,' became for the time unrealizable 
 
 1 See p. 160.
 
 1850-1854] Free Thought at Oxford 209 
 
 in Oxford. Jowett was more than ever isolated in the 
 studies of his choice, to which he held on with unre- 
 mitting tenacity '. 
 
 Theological agitation had died down at Oxford; 
 Tractarianism was no longer persecuted, and though 
 increasingly influential in country districts, was at 
 a standstill in the University. No onslaught had as 
 yet been made on liberal thought ; the Broad Church 
 had hardly even been named 2 , yet suspicion was rife in 
 certain quarters. Mr. Henry Bristow Wilson's Bampton 
 Lectures in 185 1 (The Communion of Saints: an attempt to 
 illustrate the true principles of Christian union) sounded 
 the first clear note of a demand for freedom in theological 
 inquiry, a demand which was destined to grow and 
 strengthen for years to come. 
 
 The challenge was not taken up. The High Church 
 party felt that their 'strength was to sit still.' The 
 moment was inopportune for active measures : the 
 Gorham judgement had been a severe discouragement, 
 and the two chief powers on the orthodox side, Dr. 
 Pusey and ' Samuel of Oxford,' were in sharp contention 
 concerning the Eucharist and the Confessional. But 
 that Pusey at least was on the watch appears from 
 his letter to the Bishop, dated May 5, 1851 : 
 
 'Mr. Stanley . . . has been forming a school, known as 
 the Germanizing school. . . . The present Bampton Lecturer, 
 Mr. Wilson, of St. John's, has been preaching such doctrine 
 
 1 Already in 1846 there had into general vogue by an article 
 been some questionings as to on Church Parties in the Edin- 
 ' Arthur's future,' and Jowett burgh Review for October, 1853, 
 had written earnestly to Mrs. where it is employed to include 
 Stanley in favour of the Oxford Arnold and his followers, Julius 
 career. and Augustus Hare, Frederick 
 
 2 This Saxon equivalent for Denison Maurice, and Bishop 
 ' Latitudinarian ' was first brought Jackson. 
 
 VOL. I. P
 
 2io Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, vn 
 
 as has much scandalized many of the Heads of Houses. . . . You 
 will be asked why they are allowed to officiate, I forbidden V 
 
 Nor did the ' great Tutor,' as Sir Robert Inglis called 
 Jowett, escape calumnious strokes. ' He reads Plato on 
 Sundays ' (the Phaedo, for example !), said the simpler 
 Evangelical sort amongst the Oxford youth. But the 
 imputation of ' Germanism ' cut much deeper. Readers 
 of Arnold's Life will remember the interest awakened 
 in his mind by the impulse which the genius of Niebuhr 
 had given to historical criticism, an influence which 
 about this time reached the abler minds at both the 
 Universities, through the translation of Niebuhr's History 
 of Rome, by Julius Hare and Connop Thirlwall of Trinity, 
 Cambridge. There were some who foresaw that the 
 same spirit would not ultimately be warned off from 
 the sacred territory. Milman's historical writings were 
 already giving proof of this, and Pusey, who had 
 himself at one time hoped much from such moderate 
 theologians as Tholuck and Neander, was beginning 
 to fear that the more recent visit to Germany of 
 Stanley and Jowett might bear such fruit as would 
 deepen the remorse he felt for his own former interest in 
 German theology. It is idle to suppose, because Jowett 
 had not yet published, and was therefore not openly 
 attacked, that he was not suspected. His complaint 
 in 1855, that men in private conversation would listen 
 with apparent assent to opinions which they were 
 ready to denounce when published, is enough to prove 
 that he had given some cause for suspicion. In his 
 lectures he was freely putting forth the interpretations 
 which were afterwards embodied in his writings. And 
 his letters to Stanley show quite clearly that as early as 
 1846 he was disturbed by accusations of heresy. 
 
 1 Life of E. B. Pusey, vol. iii. p. 335.
 
 1850-1854] Salvin Building Practical Schemes 211 
 
 ' What you say about does appear to be some reason for 
 
 telling people what you think. I have been very cautious 
 
 for the last two years past, so that has no reason for his 
 
 charges, except reports of my lectures which he gets from 
 
 and misrepresents. . . . He takes those things from and 
 
 distils them. . . . He talks about my atrocities, which, con- 
 sidering I have not spoken to him for the last two years on 
 these subjects, is rather cool : nor can I ever remember to have 
 held an "esoteric" conversation with him.' 
 
 That he had read Lessing and Schleiermacher, and 
 had studied Hegel, could not but be known to the 
 younger men, and less than this was enough to com- 
 promise a clerical reputation in the early fifties. 
 
 I have spoken of special calls on his attention which 
 interrupted his private study. Amongst these the duties 
 of the Bursarship, which he had undertaken in 1849, must 
 have occupied an important place. To the surprise of some 
 who then regarded him as a dreamy, speculative thinker, 
 he displayed administrative abilities of no common 
 order. Not only were the accounts kept with a lucidity 
 and precision which had not always been observed 1 , 
 but the work of pulling down and rebuilding the north- 
 west angle of the College, known as the Caesar Building, 
 was now projected, and was carried out largely under his 
 superintendence. He stayed up in vacation time for this 
 purpose, and kept things going in spite of the obstructive 
 tactics of the Master, of which he writes to ffolliott : 
 
 ' We have got a very beautiful plan, but that little fellow 
 of whom you must have heard many stories which ought to 
 have been true, all of them falling far short of the truth, makes 
 a stout resistance, and valiantly takes his stand upon his brew- 
 house, which he disputes our right to pull down.' 
 
 Jowett took a pride in making suggestions to the 
 architect, some of which were adopted. Other practical 
 
 1 W. G. Ward and the Oxford Movement, p. 436. 
 
 P 2
 
 212 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, vn 
 
 schemes were already germinating, two of which, at 
 least, were ultimately realized. 
 
 First, that of a Balliol Hall for out-College students. 
 This, although mentioned by him in confidence to two 
 persons only, was a practical idea which he had very 
 warmly at heart for some time before the Report of 
 the Commission in 1852. He even indulged himself 
 in a fond vision of bringing Stanley back to Oxford 
 as the Head of such a Hall. A letter to Stanley on this 
 subject is of sufficient interest to be embodied here : 
 
 RUGBY, June 6, 1852. 
 
 I am going to trouble you with a scheme for University 
 Extension, ' cujus tu pars magna es.' 
 
 While other people are writing pamphlets and reports and 
 theorizing about ' caste,' and trying to meet on paper difficulties 
 that can only be got over in practice, might we not attempt 
 the thing itself? 
 
 I remember proposing it to you at Christmas : you did not 
 encourage it then and I would not like to annoy you by 
 pressing it again. But your taking part has struck me so 
 strongly since as likely to be for the great good of all and also 
 for your own good, that I hope you will consider the following 
 points, and if you feel hearty in the cause we may work 
 together in it. 
 
 i. I think it may be fairly urged against us University 
 
 reformers that we are unpractical. S can raise 
 
 and - - which fall to pieces again from his folly and Tracta- 
 rianism, and we who ' being the children of this world imagine 
 ourselves wiser than the children of light,' sit still and do 
 
 nothing. M will be deluging the Church of England with 
 
 his straight-coated buttonless clergy, and no one is ready to 
 show the same energy and self-denial in a better cause. As re- 
 ligious men I think we can give no account of our indifference 
 to such an opportunity. As University reformers we must 
 appear to the world rather as seeking to make an intellectual 
 aristocracy or, to express it more coarsely, to form good places 
 for ourselves out of the revenues of the Colleges, than earnest
 
 1850-1854] Plan for a ' Balliol Hall J 213 
 
 about anything which the world in general cares for or which 
 can do any extensive good. 
 
 2. This appears to me true of all of us myself included 
 of course with the exception of Temple. Let me add a few 
 reasons why I would rather see you than any one else at the 
 head of such a move, (i) You have a far greater name and 
 distinction than any one else. (2) You have independent 
 means. (3) Such an attempt would come with especial good 
 grace from the Secretary of the Commission. (4) If, as 
 I should expect, we had a lower class of men at the proposed 
 Hall, I believe you would be one of the few persons who 
 would treat them and make others treat them with perfect 
 kindness and consideration. It is a blessed use to be able to 
 make of aristocratic birth and family. 
 
 I think, if in this way you could be connected with Oxford, 
 you would be brought back to us in the most honourable way, 
 and you would not only have deserved your Canonry as every- 
 body allows, but you would work for it. ... 
 
 The scheme is, shortly, a Hall attached to Balliol College 
 with intercommunion of Lectures ; Tuition to be free. Eoom 
 rent also free the total expense to be reduced (by common 
 meals, &c.) to the lowest point, say 50 a year. Of such a Hall 
 I should hope you might be induced to become Principal, 
 with Walrond perhaps for Vice-Principal. . . . 
 
 I should propose to begin by renting houses. The necessary 
 funds for furnishing them and paying the rent, and also for 
 salarying the Vice-Principal, might, I think, be easily raised 
 by subscription. I would endeavour to give 50 a year, and 
 I think we should have many warm supporters. 
 
 Suppose you were to make the application before going to 
 the East. I do not think it need interfere with your journey, 
 if you thought of entering on the plan. In your absence 
 Temple and myself and others might set the thing afloat to 
 commence a year hence. 
 
 I have not mentioned the matter to any one excepting 
 Shairp, and shall not do so until I hear from you. 
 
 The position I am anxious to see you take is not that of 
 a drudging College Tutor, but one quite consistent with 
 a Professorship and with the completion of our book, also one
 
 214 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, vn 
 
 which would not require residence of more than eighteen weeks 
 in the year, and one in which you would be perfectly independent 
 
 instead of being vexed as at University with & Co. 
 
 Ever yours affectionately, 
 
 B. JOWETT. 
 
 Some years afterwards (January, 1855) he wrote : 
 ' I am sorry for the annoyance which that and similar 
 counsels of mine may have caused you. I should not care 
 about it with any one else, but I am aware that those sort of 
 things give you pain. No one's position is more justifiable 
 than yours : I only wish that we had some additional tie to 
 connect you with Oxford. 
 
 Twenty or thirty years of life and leisure with the power 
 of writing is a grand prospect, enough to make a man's heart 
 leap within him.' 
 
 It would seem that Stanley had been hurt by the 
 . implied reflection on his enjoyment of a clerical sinecure, 
 and that Jowett's heart smote him (after his own repulse 
 for the Mastership) for having ' made sad ' the mind of 
 his friend. But an earlier effect of that friend's refusal 
 to undertake the work so eagerly pressed on him, was to call 
 forth a long and elaborate letter on the Reform of Cathe- 
 dral Establishments, beginning 'How may Cathedral 
 Institutions be made to teem with life at every pore ? ' 
 
 The second scheme above referred to was the acquisi- 
 tion of a convenient Cricket-field for the College. The 
 late Archdeacon Palmer wrote in 1894 : 
 
 ' It may be of interest to record that some years before the 
 University purchased the land which now forms the University 
 Park, Jowett asked me to accompany him and Chitty (now 
 Lord Justice Chitty), who was then a Balliol undergraduate or 
 a new B.A., through the fields on the west side of the Cher- 
 well, in search of an eligible piece of ground for a Balliol 
 Cricket ground. We entered them near Holywell Church and 
 made our way northwards at least as far as the northern fence 
 of the park. Nothing came of this, but it may serve to show
 
 1850-1854] The Old Master 215 
 
 how early Jowett had conceived the idea which was realized 
 in the establishment of the Balliol Eecreation Ground. This 
 search must have taken place in 1851 or 1852.' 
 
 The Public Examinership, which came to him in 1849, 
 and was renewed under the changed Statute in 1851, 
 compelled him to relinquish the Bursarship for a while. 
 This was another serious interruption to study ; although 
 the burden of the Examination was less heavy then than it 
 is now. Jowett felt the responsibility of reorganizing the 
 Final Examination in Classics, especially in the direction of 
 encouraging the study of Plato, the History of Philosophy, 
 and the illustration of Ancient Philosophy by Modern. 
 
 On March 6, 1854, the old Master died, and was 
 buried at Wells, of which he had held the Deanery 
 since 1845. He was one of those men whom, when 
 placed in authority, their juniors at once like, and 
 laugh at. In his reminiscences of Ward, Jowett has 
 given a vivid picture of his eccentric predecessor * : 
 
 'He was a gentleman of the old school, in whom were 
 represented old manners, old traditions, old prejudices ; a Tory 
 and a Churchman, high and dry, without much literature, 
 but having a good deal of character. He filled a great space 
 in the eyes of the undergraduates. " His young men," as 
 he termed them, speaking in an accent which we all remember, 
 were never tired of mimicking his voice, drawing his portrait, 
 and inventing stories about what he said and did. . . . His 
 sermon on the "Sin that doth so easily beset us," by which, 
 as he said in emphatic and almost acrid tones, he meant "the 
 habit of contracting debts," will never be forgotten by those 
 who heard it. Nor, indeed, have I ever seen a whole congrega- 
 tion dissolved in laughter for several minutes except on that 
 remarkable occasion. The ridiculousness of the effect was 
 heightened by the old-fashioned pronunciation of certain words, 
 such as "rayther," "wounded," (which he pronounced like 
 "wow" in "bow-wow"). ... It was sometimes doubted 
 
 1 W. G. Ward, fyc., p. 440 ff.
 
 2i6 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, vn 
 
 whether he was a wit or not ; I myself am strongly of opinion 
 that he was. . . . He was short of stature and very neat in 
 his appearance ; the deficiency of height was more than com- 
 pensated by a superfluity of magisterial or ecclesiastical dignity. 
 He was much respected, and his great services to the College 
 have always been acknowledged. But even now (1890), at the 
 distance of more than a generation, it is impossible to think of 
 him without some humorous or ludicrous association arising 
 in the mind.' 
 
 The ' old Master ' had served Balliol long and faith- 
 fully, and his loss was sincerely mourned. Jowett was 
 one of those who represented the College at his funeral. 
 
 The following reminiscences of Mr. "W. L. Newman, 
 the editor of Aristotle's Politics, who was a Scholar of 
 Balliol from 1851 to 1854, when he was elected to 
 a Fellowship, like Jowett, while still an undergraduate, 
 bear reference to the period now described : 
 
 'When I went into residence at Balliol in October, 1852, I 
 became one of Jowett's pupils. He then occupied rooms in the 
 Fisher Building, which have since undergone alterations. The 
 outer and larger of the two sitting-rooms has been parted from 
 the inner one, and has been assigned to another set of rooms. 
 Jowett used his outer sitting-room for many of his lectures, till 
 on the completion of the Salvin Building he moved them all 
 to the upper Lecture Room there. The inner sitting-room, under 
 the window of which the well-known inscription " Verbum non 
 amplius Fisher 'is still to be seen he used as his living-room, 
 and for seeing his pupils. I well recollect one or two of the 
 engravings which hung on the walls in the outer room an en- 
 graved portrait of Niebuhr, the face of which always had a 
 charm for me, and in the inner one an engraving of Sir Joshua 
 Reynolds' "Age of Innocence," which also delighted me 1 . 
 
 'Jowett himself, though only thirty-five, was already grey-haired, 
 and he was altogether much more unlike other people than he 
 
 1 There was also an engraving letters, and the title was written 
 of the companion picture of 'Sim- on the under margin in Jowett's 
 plicity.' It was a proof before hand. L. C.
 
 1850-1854] IV. L. Newman's Reminiscences 217 
 
 became in after years. I despair of conveying to any one who 
 did not know him then anything like an exact idea of what he 
 was. He left on me a stronger impression of genius at that time 
 of his life than at any other. Moments of musing and abstrac- 
 tion were allied in him with a singular alertness and rapidity of 
 mind, meditative power went hand in hand with keen insight. 
 
 ' I well remember his ways. When one took him composition, 
 he used commonly to seat himself in a chair placed immediately 
 in front of the fire and close to it, and to intersperse his abrupt, 
 decided and pithy comments on one's work with vigorous pokes 
 of the fire. Occasionally he would lapse into silence, and say 
 nothing whatever perhaps for two or three minutes ; but, 
 if one rose to go, one often found that his best remarks still 
 remained to be uttered. The silent interval had been a time of 
 busy thought. The same thing sometimes happened on the 
 walks which he often took me ; I remember one day when we 
 walked for some miles in the Cumnor direction side by side with- 
 out exchanging a word ; then I said something which caught his 
 attention, and roused him, and for the rest of the way we talked 
 eagerly and without intermission. He always had a dislike for 
 small-talk and trivialities, and never talked unless he had some- 
 thing to say. I have heard of his excusing his silence and saying : 
 "If I say nothing, it is not because I am out of temper, but because 
 I have nothing to say." His occasional abstraction or apparent 
 abstraction now and then accompanied by the half-unconscious 
 " crooning " in a low voice of a kind of tune never disguised to 
 those who knew him his real alertness or the keen watchfulness 
 of his interest in his pupils. In later days all this passed away, 
 not altogether unregretted by some of us. The intervals of 
 silence also became rarer ; I remember a half-jocose remark 
 of Pattison's about him towards the end of the sixties, "Now 
 there's affability." 
 
 ' I liked his abrupt and peremptory, yet always serene and 
 kindly ways. " I want you to do this or that," he would say, 
 poker in hand. He was good as a critic of composition, and 
 especially as a critic of Latin prose. He had a quick instinct 
 for what was Ciceronian and what was not, perhaps rather in 
 connexion with the flow of the sentence than in matters of 
 diction. He never gave me fair copies, an omission which I often
 
 2i8 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, vn 
 
 regretted ; I do not know whether he ever gave them. He 
 certainly did not spoil his pupils. He was most kind to them, 
 but he expected them to work hard, and he set them the example 
 himself. I have often taken composition to him at half-past 
 twelve at night. He was, in the days when I was his pupil, 
 rather severe as a critic of his pupils' work. I have been told 
 on good authority that in earlier days than mine he always had 
 high praise for Eiddell's composition, but for that of hardly any 
 one else. As to Eiddell he was unquestionably right. No 
 doubt his strict criticism was a wholesome discipline for us. One 
 of his many useful remarks has remained in my memory ; there 
 is nothing, perhaps, particularly new about it. He used to say 
 that in good English writing he illustrated his remark by the 
 practice of Macaulay one sentence always leads on to the next. 
 
 ' College lectures were in those days smaller and more conver- 
 sational than they have since become, and much of the hour they 
 occupied was spent in listening to construing. I remember two 
 lectures of Jowett's in my first Term, if I do not mistake 
 (Michaelmas Term, 1852), one an elementary lecture, at which 
 we used to sit round a table in the Hall with Jowett at the head, 
 and pull to pieces the fallacious arguments collected for that 
 purpose at the end of Whately's Logic, and another on the 
 Agamemnon of Aeschylus. Jowett was little given to enthu- 
 siastic comments on what we read, but I think I recollect that 
 he dropped half a dozen emphatic words at the end of one lecture, 
 to the effect that the scene with Cassandra was the finest in any 
 tragedy. Later on I attended his lectures on Plato's Republic, 
 in connexion with which I specially recall the grace and felicity 
 of a kind of paraphrastic analysis (if I remember right), portions 
 of which he used to read to us, and also an excellent lecture on 
 Political Economy, in which he often broke off his remarks to 
 address questions to some of us which occasionally led to an 
 argument or even a discussion. One or two of my contempo- 
 raries were very useful to the rest of us on these occasions. 
 
 ' Jowett's lectures were not in my experience of much direct 
 
 use for the examination Schools, they were hardly systematic 
 
 enough for that but they showed us how to state and handle 
 
 questions, and, as Green * once said to me, they " gave one 
 
 1 Professor T. H. Green.
 
 1850-1854] W. L. Newman's Reminiscences 219 
 
 glimpses. " In those days the University was not as much in the 
 grasp of its examination system as it has since come to be ; we 
 kept the Schools in view, but they were not the Alpha and Omega 
 of our reading as undergraduates. Jowett's lectures were very 
 useful to me ; I found them a welcome addition to the teaching 
 of others and to the books which one read for examination or 
 otherwise. 
 
 ' But I think that his conversation was even more useful. He 
 often took his pupils for walks and invited them to breakfast, 
 and I am sure that I learnt much from this familiar intercourse 
 with him. In those days he was quite unconventional, and his 
 occasional intervals of silence may have been baffling and dis- 
 appointing to some, but no conversation was more stimulating to 
 thought than his. It did not stimulate to research or to learned 
 inquiry, but to thought. The value of a conversation with him 
 arose partly from the fact that he listened as well as talked, and 
 often made one's own remarks the starting-point of what he said. 
 Indeed it was frequently necessary for his companion to set the 
 conversation going ; I think he rather liked those who were 
 useful in that way ; I remember his saying once how much he 
 appreciated the company of a friend, " he starts so many hares." 
 The remark which gave the first impulse to the conversation was 
 commonly of little value in itself, but it elicited comments and 
 additions from him which were of the greatest value. His 
 quick apprehension and ready sympathy were encouraging ; one 
 felt sure that if there was anything whatever in what one had to 
 say, more than justice would be done to it. He was himself quite 
 candid and very ready in comment, and one learnt much from 
 the pithy sense and subtle insight which were never lacking in 
 what he said. He was at his best when some observation threw 
 him into a momentary reverie ; he would be silent for a minute 
 or two, and then would say something which went to the heart 
 of the matter. His strength lay especially in quick perception 
 quick perception of fact, quick perception of character, quick 
 perception of the best thing to be done. His insight into 
 character was very keen and was aided by his ready imaginative 
 sympathy. No one was more alive than he was to the subtle 
 mingling of good and bad in human nature, to the frequent com- 
 bination in it of characteristics apparently opposite and incom-
 
 220 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, vn 
 
 patible. As Sir A. Grant, one of his earliest and most attached 
 pupils, once observed to me, his talk was less remarkable for 
 knowledge than for thoughtfulness. 
 
 ' Nothing, however, in his relation to his pupils pleases me 
 more in retrospect than the fatherly vigilance with which he 
 watched over able but unsteady young men. He was untiring 
 in his efforts to keep them straight, and when he failed in this, 
 to set them on their feet again. He cared for them as few 
 fathers care for unsteady sons, saving them from themselves and 
 persevering in the face of disappointment.' 
 
 LETTERS, 1850-1853. 
 To A. P. STANLEY. 
 
 August 22, 1850. 
 
 This is dated Oban, though I am really at Duntroon, 
 spending a day with the Bishop. His powers of entertainment 
 are as good as ever indeed, he is at times quite mad with fun. 
 I have left off assisting in the affairs of the Scotch Episcopal 
 Church, which he does best in his own peculiar fashion. 
 
 I work with my pupils of an evening, and for an hour in the 
 morning. The sermons make some progress. I still find 
 ghostly comfort in reading Plato and Hegel and Bacon, after 
 Mauricianism, Niebuhrism, Bunsenism, &c., have departed, and 
 the shades of German divines begin to vanish. Many thanks 
 for your account of Neander. I wish he had lived to finish his 
 history. Yet it is not the Church History how different in 
 command of his subject when compared with Gibbon ! It is 
 uninteresting and uncritical, and yet too critical to retain 
 a religious or devotional interest. 
 
 To A. P. STANLEY. 
 
 OBAN, September 9, 1850. 
 
 Manning and Co. have issued a circular to the Clergy 
 to the effect that they never intended by taking the Oath of 
 Supremacy to imply that the Queen could decide spiritual 
 questions ; and requesting to know the opinions of others. 
 The whole question is getting to a very false position. Five
 
 Letters, 1850-1853 221 
 
 years hence let us imagine the possible issues, i. A free 
 Church with spires reaching to heaven, deriving its succession 
 from H. Exeter or S. Oxon., or haply from a poor Scottish 
 sister, ornamented with the bust of St. Barnabas, and with 
 the virtues of Bennett, Manning, Wilberforce ; having as many 
 priests as people, with clerical Colleges for the study of the 
 schoolmen, like the primitive Church in every respect but one, 
 that it preaches to the rich. 
 
 2. Bennett, Manning, Wilberforce are already Romanists, 
 preaching 'extra Ecclesiam nulla salus,' winding themselves in 
 and out of society, pulling hard at the pockets of the aristocracy, 
 and also at the opinions of the clergy, upon whom they will make 
 a much greater impression than Newman did, whose influence 
 decreased as he was better understood. Notwithstanding, the 
 huge creature goes on its way for a time apparently uninjured. 
 
 3. The last act of the history of the Church of England. 
 Convocation has met : they are revising the liturgy : the 
 Bishop of Oxford is addressing them : by a final vote they are 
 going to settle who is to keep possession of the Establishment. 
 
 What a system of terrorism it is with people about 'Re- 
 generation ' ! Twenty years ago no bishop or clergyman 
 would have hesitated to take it in a non-natural sense : now 
 every one seems 'mum' for fear of the letter of the law. 
 Formerly the High Churchman was the black sheep. 
 
 FKOM MRS. JOWETT TO HER SON ALFRED, IN INDIA. 
 
 April, 1851. 
 
 It is a great pleasure to hear from you, dearest Alfred, you 
 are such a comfort to us. Benjamin often speaks of it. He is 
 such a great fag at College, we seldom hear from him ; for he 
 says, though he thinks of us often, when he is so tired, he 
 cannot settle his mind to write, so you must not wonder if 
 he does so to you. I can truly assure you it does not arise from 
 forgetfulness or want of affection. I hope you have reached 
 safely your destined station and that you like it ; the most 
 minute details in your letters are acceptable ; what would be 
 nothing to a stranger is everything to us. I have passed 
 a better winter than usual, and am quite as strong as I can 
 expect to be for sixty years old. In my next I shall have some-
 
 222 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP.VII 
 
 thing to tell you ; little or much, I must write. I wish I had 
 done so oftener to others *. Emily says I must send the letter. 
 
 To W. Y. SELLAK. 
 
 BALLIOL, October 26, 1851. 
 
 Grant told me that you wished to hear from me. Indeed, 
 my dear fellow, I wish I could say anything to comfort you. 
 I do not doubt that it is well with your father after his long 
 and honourable life. There is another world too, in which he 
 will be as happy as in this, though we are unable altogether 
 to conceive its nature. ' The souls of the righteous are in the 
 hand of God, and there shall no evil touch them.' I think 
 we cannot help turning to ourselves as we see the dying, and 
 asking what lesson the sight of them conveys to ourselves. 
 Can it be anything but this, that we should find our true 
 comfort in leading a higher life, such a life as makes death 
 and life indifferent to us and raises us into communion with 
 them ? They leave us alone, and yet the world is not lonely 
 if we look upon it as the scene in which duties are to be 
 performed and work to be done, ere after another generation 
 we follow them to rest in peace. I hope you will feel it to be 
 a duty you owe to your father to nerve yourself for your 
 new post. Could he live to see it, there is nothing that 
 would give him so much pleasure as your success in it. I was 
 very much struck more than a year ago with what your father 
 told Harvey, ' that he had lain awake at night thinking of your 
 illness, because he fancied that he had encouraged you to 
 overwork at Glasgow.' You only need a small portion of his 
 energy and decision of character to give you success in life. 
 
 To F. T. PALGEAVE. 
 
 [LUFFENHAM], June 8, 1852. 
 
 Many thanks for your long letter, which I was very glad to get. 
 
 I am on the way to Durham and lingering for a day at Scott's. 
 
 I am sorry of course not to agree with Temple and Lingen 
 
 and you respecting Gladstone, and really feel half inclined to 
 
 sign. But though not of very much importance I think it would 
 
 be a mistake. We should obtrude ourselves on the public and 
 
 1 William Jowett had died in the previous year.
 
 Letters, 1850-1853 223 
 
 show our weakness in numbers. I don't at present intend to 
 vote for Gladstone, because not agreeing with him either about 
 University reform or Church and State. Also I feel a strong 
 dislike to that over-conscientiousness of his, which, instead of 
 walking in the great highway of political truth and honesty, 
 is always winding round to his own interest and coming out at 
 odd places where nobody expects him. Were it not for this 
 I think him a noble fellow : at present he is too good to be 
 trusted. I dare say, however, that Temple is right in seeking 
 to tie him up with the coil of his own tail. 
 
 I have been thinking for some time past of a Balliol Hall 
 and University Extension. At present it has only been men- 
 tioned to one person. If anything can be made of it I will 
 write to you and Temple and tell you, but it is difficult to 
 manage, as some of the Fellows and the Master would oppose 
 it, and others only desire to carry it out on a Puseyite model. 
 Meantime don't mention it, please. 
 
 ... I am sorry, very sorry, to hear of Lady Palgrave's sad 
 state. When I saw her she used to strike me as a wonder of 
 patience and cheerfulness and thoughtfulness for others amid 
 her own great sufferings. Remember me most kindly to her. 
 I thought last time I had sent the last message there would be 
 an opportunity of sending may she be spared to you yet 
 for long. 
 
 Scott's children for the last half-hour have been trying to 
 make me come out for a walk, and as their patience is now 
 exhausted I must conclude l . 
 
 To F. T. PALGBAVE. 
 
 CANTERBURY, August n, 1852. 
 
 Many thanks for your note. I am very sorry to hear that 
 one for whom I had so much regard is gone. 
 
 The last time I saw her was about a year ago. She was as 
 cheerful and pleasing in conversation, and as much interested 
 about others, as if she had been in health. I remember her 
 repeating several passages of Wordsworth. She said that she 
 
 1 Scott was now at Luffenham, rectory in 1850. He had married 
 having exchanged Duloe for this again in 1849.
 
 224 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, vn 
 
 wished to tell me, as I was a friend of yours, what a comfort 
 you had been to her in her illness. She also mentioned the 
 pleasure it had given her to be able to continue writing your 
 father's history. 
 
 I cannot think any death otherwise than happy in which 
 the mind so completely triumphs over suffering. I do not 
 doubt that she is with God, and that all this has not passed 
 away, though what this means I cannot tell. I do not wish 
 for any other end than hers, notwithstanding the pain she 
 must have endured. 
 
 Do not think that there is a blank or solitude because she 
 has departed. There are many pleasant memories of the dead 
 come back upon us if we keep them daily in the mind's eye. 
 They seem to urge us onward to do something in life before 
 the end which is so near. 
 
 To R T. PALGRAVE. 
 
 BALLIOL, December 13, 1852. 
 
 It is very good of you and Temple to want me to come to 
 Kneller for Christmas ; at present my face is set in another 
 direction, to Malvern ; like Gabriel Grubb I am going to dig 
 while others are making merry. 
 
 Owing to a great many interruptions my work has not pros- 
 pered this Term. I am anxious to get one volume completely 
 finished before the Schools begin. 
 
 It often strikes me as a doubt (independent of defects in the 
 execution) whether the book will not be too heterodox for the 
 orthodox to read, and too orthodox for the heterodox. If 
 the world is divisible into these two classes I see not where the 
 readers are to be found. . . . 
 
 When is your article coming out ? I hope you and Temple 
 rejoice with us in the Class List '. 
 
 PS. Don't think I am indifferent to your kindness. The 
 only reason you have for calling me a Don is that I won't smoke 
 and talk aesthetics in the tower 2 , and don't like to hear people, 
 especially my friends, run down. 
 
 1 Balliol had four Classical Firsts Kneller Hall, which was used as 
 in the list for Michaelmas, 1852. a smoking-room by the subordi- 
 
 J A room in the tower at nates.
 
 Letters, 1850-1853 225 
 
 To MBS. GrREENHILL. 
 
 WEST MALVERN, New Year's Day, 1853. 
 
 ... I am here alone at this place, and have had no one to 
 speak to for a fortnight. It is not unfavourable to composition. 
 Fortunately I am two miles from the Water Cures, and therefore 
 have no temptation to dilute my intellects in that way. But 
 when I think upon how many merry parties and Christmas 
 children dancing round trees and playing at flap-dragon there 
 have been, I fear I am a fool for my pains, and feel like 
 Charles Lamb bursting into tears when he gave away his aunt's 
 nice cake to a worthless beggar in the streets. 
 
 Give my love to Kate, and tell her to learn more songs, and 
 to paste up the enclosed piece of red paper in her bedroom as 
 a remembrance of me. It is a New Year's Gift. 
 
 Remember me most kindly to Dr. Greenhill. I hope his 
 practice flourishes and increases. There is nothing I desire so 
 much as to see him a rich man. Don't let him go to church 
 on week-days too often, for no one will imagine that he has 
 a large practice if he does, and no one would go to Esculapius 
 himself unless they thought he had a large practice. I should 
 not object to Dr. Greenhill being called out of church every 
 Sunday morning by a flunkey, but I know his high principles 
 would revolt at this. 
 
 I hear of Stanley from Marseilles and Alexandria ; he is 
 enchanted, as might be expected, with Eastern life, and seems 
 quite bounding with delight. His mother and sister came back 
 a few days ago. 
 
 Oxford, you see, is bustling with two elections. I hear 
 Gladstone is to be opposed by the Marquis of Chandos. 
 
 I always thought his election for Oxford would end like 
 Peel's. He will go through one more ' conscientious ' betrayal 
 of his friends, one more 'conscientious' resignation of office. 
 What a pity it is that the most religious and in many ways 
 high-principled man in the House of Commons should have 
 got himself with all mankind the character of being the 
 least straightforward ! 
 
 VOL. I. Q
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. THE PROFESSORSHIP OF 
 GREEK. 1854-1860 
 
 (Aet. 36-43) 
 
 POSITION in Oxford and elsewhere Repulse for the Mastership 
 Epistles of St. Paul Greek Professorship Vice-Chancellor Cotton 
 Endowment withheld Work of the Chair Isolation Death of his 
 brother Alfred and of his father Second edition of the Epistles 
 Portrait by G. Richmond W. L. Newman's reminiscences (continued). 
 
 A MONGr the ' stately homes,' where Jowett had now 
 **"*- become a welcome guest l , was Ockham Park, 
 Surrey, the seat of Dr. Stephen Lushington, Judge 
 of the High Court of Admiralty, whose son Godfrey had 
 lately passed from Rugby to Balliol. It was several 
 years after this that Dr. Lushington became Dean of the 
 Court of Arches, and thus had jurisdiction in ecclesiastical 
 causes. No shadow of events to come fell between the 
 elderly lawyer and the young divine. He was also 
 a visitor in Dr. Lushington's house in London. Here, 
 amongst other interesting persons, he met Brunei, the 
 engineer, then engaged in the construction of the Great 
 Eastern. Jowett had always been an admirer of the 
 Thames Tunnel and the Great "Western Railway, and 
 this meeting must have been a delight to him 2 . He 
 
 1 e. g. The Limes, Hurstmon- tion with Brunei that he was first 
 
 ceux, Broome Park (Sir Benjamin struck with the idea which so long 
 
 Brodie's), &c. haunted him, that of draining the 
 
 1 It may have been in conversa- Thames valley so as to improve
 
 Relation to Contemporaries 227 
 
 delighted also in the ripe and varied experience of his 
 host, who had vivid recollections of the state of England 
 at the beginning of the century. Dr. Lushington, when 
 in Parliament, had advocated the abolition of capital 
 punishment, and used to describe the feelings of the 
 peasantry in the home counties, who, when a relative 
 went up to London, regarded him as literally doomed 
 to the gallows. Jowett often repeated this. To the 
 young people at Ockham, their father's guest appeared 
 as a mild and amiable cleric, in whom they saw no 
 promise of great things to come. 
 
 Hitherto Jowett's relations to those about him had been 
 almost uniformly friendly. Some may have thought him 
 opinionated, but there is no trace of any actual discord. 
 
 He goes to visit Scott in his country parish, and does 
 duty for him when he is ' blind and solitary,' relinquish- 
 ing pleasant plans for this purpose ; he stays with him 
 again under altered circumstances, rejoicing in his new 
 prospects, and the children insist on his coming out 
 to walk with them. He looks up Lake, when on the 
 Continent and out of health, as if they had not enough 
 of one another in Term-time ; reads Trench's Hulsean 
 Lectures aloud to him with frank comments l , and works 
 in his favour when a candidate for the Head Mastership 
 of Rugby in 1849. He presses Henry Wall's claims 
 
 the climate of Oxford. Some repeated in a letter to Stanley : 
 
 years afterwards he told a party ' Is there one theological writer 
 
 of guests that a great opportunity of the present day who can be 
 
 had been lost in making the said to be morally and intel- 
 
 G.W.R., when this had been part lectually truthful ? And if so, 
 
 of the great engineer's original the mournful fact forces itself 
 
 plan, but had been opposed by upon one that there is no elder 
 
 the Heads of Houses, with two person in whose footsteps one can 
 
 exceptions Wynter of St. John's, tread, however little or nothing 
 
 and Harrington of Brasenose. it is possible for us to do.' 
 
 1 The substance of these is (1846.) 
 
 Q 2
 
 228 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP.VIII 
 
 for the Registrarship of the University. To Lonsdale he 
 gives unstinted help and sympathy. His friendship with 
 Stanley is the closest possible ; with Temple he is on an 
 intimate and affectionate footing, and when his friend 
 goes to London and engages in practical work, urges 
 upon Lingen the advisability of procuring for him 
 a higher salary. He is pressing forward every man's 
 interest except his own. When he goes with the 
 Lingens to see a review of the troops at Chobham, 
 they meet Bishop "Wilberforce, who is on horseback, 
 while they are on foot. He greets them cheerfully, with 
 a jesting remark on the Church Militant. 
 
 In London the Oxford Tutor is respected and esteemed 
 by public men, such as Macaulay, and he is a contributor 
 to Dr. "William Smith's Dictionaries of Antiquities and 
 of Classical Biography, in which the first scholars of 
 the country took part from 1842 to 1849. On the whole 
 he is swimming with the stream 1 . But a time was 
 approaching when these waters were to be troubled, and 
 his powers as a ' strong swimmer ' would be put to the 
 test. 
 
 After the death of the old Master, Jowett seems for 
 a time to have looked upon the succession to the vacant 
 office as an open question, in which he had no immediate 
 concern. A letter of his to James Lonsdale in which 
 he tries to rouse his friend's dormant ambition by saying, 
 ' Perhaps you may be our new Master ; who knows ? 
 It would be a great happiness to me if you are 2 ' is 
 sufficient evidence of this. But in the course of a few 
 weeks, he found enough of favour amongst his colleagues 
 
 1 Lord Lingen says (1895) : ' Up its light over his presence among 
 to 1855, his life was one of growing his friends.' 
 honour and success, which shed * Life of James Lonsdale, p. 45.
 
 1854-1860] The Mastership missed 229 
 
 to awaken bis own hopes. Nearly half of the Balliol 
 Fellows, by this time, had been his pupils, and the 
 self-devoted labour of twelve years and more had had its 
 effect. It was largely recognized that no College Tutor 
 had worked so well. And it became apparent that, of the 
 residents, he had the strongest chance. This is proved 
 by the fact that his opponents adopted the expedient 
 of bringing up a candidate from the country. Robert 
 Scott had taken a College living, Duloe near Liskeard, 
 in Cornwall, in 1840, before Jowett's work as a Tutor 
 had begun, and in 1850 had exchanged this for Luffen- 
 ham, in Rutlandshire. He was an accomplished scholar, 
 and his lectures had been valuable (this Jowett himself 
 had found), but he could not be described as a ' great 
 Tutor/ and his one distinguished service, namely, his 
 share in the production of Liddell and Scott's Lexicon, 
 did not clearly mark him out as fitted for the control and 
 guidance of younger men. But he was orthodox ; and 
 the opposition to Jowett, of which the strength was 
 proved by the event, found in him the most likely card 
 to play. Not that the objections taken to Jowett were 
 wholly theological. There were those who resented 
 the firmness of his attitude in College controversies, 
 and did not choose to place him in authority. The 
 parties were nearly balanced, and all depended on one 
 or two waverers, who on general grounds were thought 
 likely to be on Jowett's side. It is not necessary to 
 mention names ; but two votes, on which Jowett had 
 counted, went the other way. One of these may have 
 been influenced by family associations. The other, who 
 really turned the scale, was said to have been talked over, 
 at the last moment, on theological grounds, by a disciple 
 and friend of Dr. Pusey. 
 
 The bitterness of the repulse was aggravated by the
 
 230 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, vm 
 
 reasonable confidence of success which had preceded 
 it. That Jowett resented it long and deeply, although 
 silently, there is no reason to doubt. His feeling on 
 the subject appears not only from his letters to Pal- 
 grave of April 7, 1854 1 , and to Stanley on April 12, 
 but also from the sympathy which he afterwards ex- 
 pressed in writing to a friend who had met with a 
 similar disappointment. The language then used appeared 
 exaggerated, but revealed what had passed in his own 
 mind many years before. In later life, however, he felt 
 that this rude check had not been wholly a misfortune. 
 He said to a friend on one occasion, ' I should not have 
 been fit for the Mastership then. I did not know enough 
 of the world.' Severely as he felt the blow, it produced 
 on him a very different effect from that which a similar 
 rejection had upon Mark Pattison. Instead of para- 
 lyzing his energies, it roused him to renewed efforts. He 
 went straight from Oxford to the Vaughans' at Harrow, 
 where he remained six weeks, and devoted himself to the 
 work of finishing his book ; and on returning to College 
 in the summer, he threw himself more than ever into 
 his labours for the undergraduates. .He again became 
 Junior Bursar, the Senior Bursarship being retained by 
 H. Wall. While keenly resenting his defeat, he was 
 sensitive to every breath of sympathy. ' It gave me real 
 pleasure to-day to hear that Johnson the Observer had 
 said that "he did not agree with me in opinions, but 
 that there was no one whom he would sooner have 
 seen Master of Balliol." ' 
 
 In June, 1854, he went for a short walking tour in 
 Derbyshire with F. Temple, who was still Principal of 
 Kneller Hall. Temple wrote to F. T. Palgrave, July i, 
 ,854:- 
 
 1 P- 277-
 
 1854-1860] A Vacation Ramble 231 
 
 ' We walked up the Derwent and down the Dove, and managed 
 to make out a veiy pleasant tour . . . discoursed of every con- 
 ceivable subject; sometimes "making picture-galleries of our 
 friends " ; sometimes settling the destinies of the University ; 
 sometimes examining the genuineness of the Pastoral Epistles ; 
 most often, I think, comparing the scenery with other that we 
 had seen, or trying to recollect all that books of any sort had 
 said about it. The Philosopher has only two faults ; he walks 
 too slow and too unevenly, and he prefers tea or even ginger-beer 
 and biscuits to more generous meat and drink.' 
 
 He must have frequently visited London as a member 
 of Macaulay's Committee, referred to on p. 186. 
 
 In the autumn, a majority of the College, headed by 
 the Master, passed a by-law requiring every Scholar 
 to declare himself a member of the Church of England. 
 This attempt to violate the spirit of the new Statute 
 was vetoed by the Visitor, to Jowett's great relief. 
 
 Two other matters may be mentioned here. His friend 
 Brodie was repeatedly in difficulty about the subscription 
 to the Articles which was still required for the M.A. 
 degree. He wished to obtain leave to have recourse to 
 an obsolete process of 'incorporation,' and so to obtain 
 the degree without subscription. Jowett clearly saw this 
 to be impracticable. His advice to Brodie is marked by 
 a singular union of calm moderation with serious appre- 
 hension of the gravity of the position : 
 
 ' I think you will rouse the " Odium Theologicum " without 
 any grounds to justify you in the eyes of the public. ... I 
 cannot see any reason to suppose that this process of incorpora- 
 tion was intended in the case of members of the University to 
 relieve men from any of the forms gone through at the time of 
 taking the degree : but only from the residence and exercises 
 at that time required for a superior degree : . . . much as I wish 
 that you should come here, and dislike subscriptions of this 
 sort, I could not think the Vice-Chancellor wrong for inter- 
 posing his veto.'
 
 232 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP.VIII 
 
 He was also consulted by Dr. Bagot, Bishop of Bath 
 and Wells (and formerly of Oxford), on the legal intricacies 
 of the famous Denison case 1 . Through Stanley's intro- 
 duction he stayed with the Bishop (who had ordained 
 him Deacon) at Wells, from whence he wrote to Stanley: 
 
 ' There is more difficulty in the Denison case than I thought, 
 owing to the wretched state of the law. It appears to be really 
 doubtful whether the Archbishop has any option to refuse 
 Ditcher : there is little or no doubt that the Bishop lias under 
 the peculiar circumstances of George Anthony Denison's living. 
 But this is merely an accidental power, which the law could 
 hardly have intended to give.' 
 
 Thus matters proceeded in an even tenor, though not 
 without discouragement, until the appearance of the book 
 on St. Paul early in June, 1855 2 . He had been consulting 
 Stanley, as far as he found it possible, until the last, 
 showing no small solicitude even about the form of the 
 page. In a letter written in the summer of 1854, he 
 defends an interpretation which Stanley had questioned, 
 and asks for reflections on eight different points: 
 
 i. Scepticism. 2. Christian Society. 3. Interpretation 
 of Scripture. 4. Greek of the New Testament. 5. Con- 
 troversy. 6. Observance of the Sabbath. 7. Prayer. 
 8. On a future life. To this he adds : ' On the last subject 
 I am most anxious. One cannot but have a solemn 
 feeling in endeavouring to handle it. What between 
 figures of speech and idealism, and the contrast between 
 the universal acceptance of it in words, and the common 
 indifference to it in fact, and the interest of it to us all 
 
 1 Ditcher v. Denison ; see by Benjamin Jowett, M.A., Fellow 
 Brodrickand Fremantle's.E'ccJm- and Tutor of Balliol College, 
 OKtical Judgments, p. 156. Oxford. In two volumes. Lon- 
 
 2 The Epistles of St. Paul to the don : John Murray, Albemarle 
 Thessalonians, Galatians, Romans, Street, 1855. 
 
 with critical notes and dissertations:
 
 1854-1860] Odium Theologicum 233 
 
 as we get older, it seems to me the most important 
 and most difficult of all theological questions.' 
 
 As has been told elsewhere *, his two volumes and 
 Stanley's on the Corinthians appeared on the same day. 
 A common spirit was perceptible in both works, but 
 Jowetf s Essays went far more deeply into the heart 
 of theological questions. This was felt immediately by 
 friends and foes. Stanley's book, though it soon came 
 to a second edition, was comparatively little noticed, 
 while that of Jowett at once became the centre of 
 animated discussion 2 . The literary excellence of some 
 parts was highly praised, especially the Essay on Natural 
 Religion, and the Fragment on the Character of St. Paul. 
 This last inspired an ideal work of Woolner's, a repro- 
 duction of which, presented to Jowett by Palgrave, is 
 the subject of an interesting letter of October 24, 1858 3 . 
 
 Very different was the fortune of the book in theo- 
 logical circles. Grant truly apprehended the situation 
 when he spoke of the work as c a miracle of boldness.' 
 Religious prejudice was especially aroused by the Essay 
 on the Atonement, in which the moral objections to the 
 popular Evangelical doctrine were stated with a passion- 
 ate vehemence, that broke through the habitual serenity 
 
 1 In my Preface to the third to find a further explanation in 
 edition of St. PauFs Epistles, fyc. the characteristics of the men. 
 
 2 Lord Lingen writes (Decem- Both were fearless, honest, well 
 ber, 1895) : ' It is an interesting informed of their subject, and 
 subject of inquiry why the re- of commanding address ; but 
 ligious outcry was so much louder Stanley was, perhaps by tempera- 
 against Jowett than against Stan- ment, Roman rather than Greek, 
 ley, whose published opinions Ciceronian rather than Socratic. 
 were not very different. One The Master, like Socrates, asks 
 reason, said to be given by Stanley provoking and unexpected ques- 
 himself, was " because my name tions, which are easier to resent 
 is Stanley." There may be some- than to answer.' 
 
 thing in that. But I am disposed 3 p. 286.
 
 234 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP.VIII 
 
 of the style. As the first edition has long been out of 
 print, a few sentences may here be quoted : 
 
 'No difference between God and Man can be a reason for 
 regarding God as less just or less true than the being whom 
 He has made. He is only incomprehensible to us because He 
 is infinitely more so. 
 
 ' It might seem at first sight no hard matter to prove that God 
 was just and true. It might seem as if the suggestion of the 
 opposite needed no other answer than the exclamation of the 
 Apostle, "God forbid, for how shall God judge the world?" 
 But the perplexities of the doctrine of the Atonement are the 
 growth of above a thousand years ; rooted in language, disguised 
 in figures of speech, fortified by logic, they seem almost to have 
 become a part of the human mind itself. . . . One cannot but 
 fear whether it be still possible so to teach Christ as not to cast 
 a shadow on the holiness and truth of God. Whether the 
 wheat and the tares have not grown so long together that 
 the husbandmen, in pulling up the one, may be plucking up the 
 other also.' 
 
 Then, after a statement of the doctrine of human 
 guilt, as commonly expounded, he continues : 
 
 ' Were we to stop here, every honest and good heart would 
 break in upon these sophistries, and dash in pieces the pre- 
 tended freedom and the imputed sin of mankind, as well as the 
 pretended justification of the Divine attributes, in the state- 
 ment that man necessarily or naturally brought everlasting 
 punishment on himself. No slave's mind was ever reduced 
 so low as to justify the most disproportionate severity inflicted 
 on himself : neither has God so made His creatures that they 
 will lie down and die, even beneath the hand of Him who 
 gave them life. ' 
 
 He then states the doctrine of vicarious satisfaction, 
 which he criticizes with equal warmth, and adds : 
 
 ' We are trespassing on holy ground. There will be many 
 who say it is good to adore in silence a mystery that we can 
 never understand. But there are " idols of the temple," as well
 
 1854-1860] Essay on the Atonement 235 
 
 as idols of the market-place. These idols consist in human 
 reasonings and definitions which are erected into Articles of 
 Faith. We are willing to adore in silence, but not the inventions 
 of man. The controversialist naturally thinks that in assailing 
 the doctrine of satisfaction as inconsistent with truth and 
 morality, we are fighting not with himself, but with God.' 
 
 These passages are quoted, not as fair samples of the 
 Essay, which, like every part of Jowett's book, is full 
 of spiritual thought and far-sighted suggestion, but as 
 helping to explain the acrimony of the assaults which 
 followed. There was no mistaking what this man 
 meant. He was one to reckon with, and could not be 
 safely ignored. In some quarters, however, the work was 
 being estimated on its merits. The Chevalier Bunsen 
 had been recalled from the Prussian Embassy in London, 
 and was residing in the neighbourhood of Heidelberg, 
 where his house, which he had named Charlottenburg, 
 was hospitably open to English visitors. One of these, 
 a pupil of Jowett's, had the privilege of introducing the 
 volumes to the Chevalier, whose own copy had not yet 
 arrived. He remarked emphatically, ' Das Buch muss 
 seinen Weg machen ' : but added that he had heard 
 incidentally that the Archbishop of Canterbury (' though 
 otherwise pleased,' as he diplomatically phrased it) had 
 his doubts about the Essay on the Atonement. Partly 
 fired by Bunsen's encouragement, the young Oxonian 
 wrote a review of the book, which Henry de Bunsen 
 recommended to the Times, through a friendly channel 
 The article was printed, but not published, having been 
 crossed by counter-influences, which are thus charac- 
 terized in a letter of Stanley's to Jowett, referring 
 to Dr. Lightfoot's able review in the Journal of Classical 
 and Sacred Philology (vol. iii. pp. 81-121) of March, 
 1856:
 
 236 Life of Benjamin Jozvett [CHAP.VIII 
 
 ' I must say I was pleased, more pleased with the good he said 
 of you than displeased with the evil he said of myself ; and in a 
 man of his turn of mind, I think it specially creditable not to 
 have been deterred from saying this much by the popular clamour 
 which has hounded on the Conybeares, Goulburns, or Wilber- 
 forces, and has muzzled the North British, the Edinburgh^ and 
 the Times 1 .' 
 
 As late as September 24, 1855, Jowett was fully 
 possessed with the idea of continuing his work on 
 St. Paul. He then wrote to Stanley : 
 
 ' I propose in a few days commencing regularly with the 
 Ephesians and Colossians, and think with health I might get 
 them out by this time next year. When you see Murray, will 
 you sound him about it ? If he likes, it may be advertised at 
 once as preparing. Are you of the same mind touching the 
 Philippians and Philemon? If you are, I shall be glad; if 
 not, I shall try them myself. What do you propose for what 
 you once called the final work of life ? ' 
 
 The Regius Professorship of Greek had been vacated 
 by the death of Dean Gaisford in June, 1855, and Jowett 
 was singled out by Lord Palmerston's Government for 
 the appointment, which was made before the end of 
 the vacation. His reputation as a College Tutor and 
 University Reformer, and his public services in the cause 
 of higher education generally, may have naturally 
 drawn attention to him, and the first impression produced 
 by his book on competent judges had confirmed the 
 opinion of his exceptional erudition. There can be no 
 doubt that Stanley, now a Canon of Canterbury, with 
 whom Jowett stayed in the beginning of 1855, exerted 
 
 1 Life of Dean Stanley, vol. i. St. Paul and Modern Thought. 
 p. 476. It must suffice here to This pamphlet and Dr. Light- 
 refer in a note to the candid and foot's article formed marked ex- 
 able critique of Mr. J. Llewellyn ceptions to the general run of 
 Davies in his pamphlet entitled comment.
 
 FACSIMILE OF EARLY HANDWRITING (1855) 
 
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 * * * * * *
 
 1854-1860] Professorship of Greek 237 
 
 much influence on his friend's behalf, and H. G. Liddell, 
 Gaisford's destined successor in the Deanery, to whom 
 in point of fact the Chair was in the first instance offered, 
 was also believed by Jowett to have given him valuable 
 support l . 
 
 Most fortunately the appointment had been made and 
 confirmed before the 'cross influences' had had time to 
 work ; and the announcement greeted us at the com- 
 mencement of the October Term. Jowett said at the 
 time, that he preferred this to any other Professorship 
 ' except one of Theology.' The impossibility of this latter 
 aspiration was soon to be made manifest. 
 
 In a previous chapter it has been seen that the action 
 of the young Oxford Liberals in 1845, and of Jowett 
 amongst them, in opposing the institution of a new 
 test, was regarded by Dean Church, who was the Junior 
 Proctor on that occasion, as 'a very generous as well 
 as wise action on their part V 
 
 In the measure now meted out to Jowett, there was 
 not much generosity, though there may have been 
 something of ' the wisdom of the Serpent.' The Vice- 
 Chancellor at this time was Dr. Pusey's brother-in-law, 
 E. L. Cotton, D.D., the Provost of Worcester, a dry little 
 
 1 The following is Dean Lid- of each. In the end he recom- 
 dell's own account (1895): 'The mended Jowett to Her Majesty, 
 death of Dean Gaisford left the and he was appointed.' Amongst 
 Professorship of Greek vacant. the names under the consideration 
 Lord Palmerston, who was then of Lord Palmerston were Charles 
 Prime Minister, offered to re- Newton (afterwards Sir Charles 
 commend me for the place. I Newton) and Robert Scott, co- 
 declined it for reasons that it editor of the Lexicon and Master 
 is needless to specify. He asked of Balliol. Newton could not 
 me to furnish him with names of have afforded to take it, and it 
 scholars whom I thought com- was thought better not to appoint 
 petent to fill the office. I gave the Head of a House, 
 him several names with my 2 p. 96. 
 opinions upon the qualifications
 
 238 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP.VIII 
 
 wizened man, whose notions of theological ' soundness ' 
 were undoubtedly strict, but would hardly have moved 
 him to act thus of his own accord 1 . The real actor was 
 said to be the Rev. C. P. Golightly, with Dr. Pusey and 
 Bishop Wilberforce in the background. Mr. Golightly, 
 whom some witty Newmanite had re-christened ' Agag/ 
 was a local clergyman, of Evangelical principles and 
 restless activity, whose betes-noires, of about equal black- 
 ness to him, were Newmanism and Germanism. He had 
 raised the storm against Tract XC 2 , and it was he who 
 now stirred up this trouble. Acting upon a section in 
 the University Statutes 3 , dating from a time when the 
 term Fides Catholica included dogmas which the Thirty- 
 nine Articles explicitly condemn, two members of Con- 
 vocation, J. D. Macbride 4 and C. P. Golightly, denounced 
 Jowett to the Vice-Chancellor as having denied the 
 Catholic Faith. The powers of the Vice-Chancellor in 
 such matters, even under the revised Statute, although 
 rarely exercised, were virtually unlimited, and Jowett 
 was summoned to appear before Vice-Chancellor Cotton 
 and to subscribe the Articles anew. This act of dis- 
 cipline, it will be observed, was in the spirit of the 
 proposal which, when aimed against the Tractarians, 
 had been withdrawn in consequence of the opposition 
 of Jowett and other Liberals, ten years before. 
 
 The only preparation for this contumely had been a note 
 from Pusey to Jowett, to which he made no reply, but, 
 apparently while the matter was still pending, enclosed 
 it to Stanley with the remark, ' I was very much affected 
 by it at first, but since reading it I have seen too much 
 
 1 He had been one of the most had been originally enacted in 
 stubborn opponents of the Uni- the time of Henry VIII, at the 
 versity Commission. instance of Cardinal Pole. 
 
 2 Life of Dean Cliurch, p. 29. * D.D., Principal of Magdalen 
 
 3 Tit. IV. 3, subsection 2. It Hall.
 
 1854-1860] The Articles again 239 
 
 of the writer to be capable of being affected by what 
 he says : of whom I have much to say to you when we 
 meet.' He thought less bitterly of Pusey afterwards 1 , 
 but it is right that the first impression produced on 
 him by these ' gentle cruelties ' should be recorded here. 
 
 Jowett appeared in answer to the summons, and Vice- 
 Chancellor Cotton began to address him solemnly on 
 the ' awfulness ' of his situation. Jowett cut him short 
 with the words, ' Mr. Vice-Chancellor, I have come to sign 
 the Articles.' Dr. Cotton recommenced his harangue, 
 but was again interrupted. Tradition has it that Jowett 
 simply asked for a new pen 1 . He was always very 
 particular, in beginning any writing, to have a quill 
 pen ready made, and was a proficient in the art of 
 mending them. But the anecdote has been treasured 
 as indicating his perfect coolness on the occasion. And 
 such truly was his demeanour outwardly. But in reality 
 he was much perturbed, and on returning to his room, 
 where a friend awaited him, his first words were, ' They 
 have done me harm; but I shall live it down.' And 
 then he added : ' I hope my friends and pupils will not 
 care for what is said for or against my book, but study 
 the Scriptures for themselves.' 
 
 Jowett's own account of the matter to Stanley omits 
 some of the preceding details, but is more unquestionably 
 authentic, and may be inserted here : 
 
 December 14, [1855]. 
 MY DEAR CANON, 
 
 Your letter was most welcome. Since I made up my 
 mind what to do, I have been quite at rest about the whole 
 subject. You will perhaps have seen in the newspapers that 
 I have taken the meaner part and signed. It seemed to me 
 
 1 This is recorded in Cox's Reminiscences of Oxford, and has been 
 often repeated since.
 
 240 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP.VIII 
 
 that I could not do otherwise without giving up my position 
 as a Clergyman. 
 
 Scene. Vice-Chancellor's Study. 
 
 A. domestic picture of Dr. and Mrs. C. . . . Enter Hereticus 
 ' I am come to comply with your request.' ' Will you write 
 your name on this sheet of paper and on that ? ' Done. Vice- 
 Chancellor turns over letters from Golightly and Heurtley 1 , 
 mumbling something in an undertone of voice. But before 
 the words are out, Hereticus says ' Good morning ' and escapes. 
 
 It grieves me to have been put to this sort of schoolboy degra- 
 dation, and also to think that such things are possible nowadays. 
 I don't intend to write a single word in reply to the attacks on 
 me. Without taking any notice of them, I shall enlarge the 
 Essay on the Atonement in a second edition ; also some of the 
 other essays in the Long Vacation, and then all the help you can 
 give me will be most welcome. Liddell has been most kind. 
 I often think of a sentence in a sermon of his which you 
 repeated to me : ' No man can enter into controversy without 
 being sorry for it : many reasons might be given for this, but 
 I prefer to repeat it, No man, &c.' 
 
 There is a text in the Psalms which often comes into my mind 
 in these troubles : ' Happy is the man that hath his quiver full 
 of them 2 : he shall not be ashamed when he speaks with his 
 enemies in the gate 3 .' 
 
 It was shortly after this that he ceased from dining 
 in Hall and attending Common Room. He said, ' I have 
 no pleasure in looking forward to my lectures now,' 
 
 1 The Rev. C. A. Heurtley, eludes as follows : ' Mr. Jowett's 
 Margaret Professor of Divinity, case shows that no clergyman, 
 1853-1895. not even the strongest pietist and 
 
 2 i. e. of friends. a man of the highest religious 
 
 3 The writer of an article in character and influence, can ven- 
 the Leader (weekly) newspaper ture so far to depart from ecclesi- 
 for December 22, 1855, on ' The astical tradition and clerical forms 
 Regius Professor's Submission,' of belief as to admit, even in such 
 after exhorting laymen to take an age as the present, that God 
 up the study of Theology, con- is not unjust.'
 
 1854-1860] The Greek Chair 241 
 
 and he gave no inaugural address; but opened at once 
 with a course of lectures on the Republic, which were 
 delivered in the Hall of Balliol College (now the Under- 
 graduates' Library). I was present at his opening lecture; 
 and well remember how, after a few sentences of critical 
 prolegomena, he continued, ' And now having, as it were, 
 blown off the dust from the outside of the Volume, let 
 us proceed to examine what I may call the greatest un- 
 inspired writing. 3 The lectures drew, and continued to 
 be well attended, at least for several years. Three years 
 after this, Grant wrote to his fiancee, ' Jowett's lectures 
 have still a crowded attendance.' In 1862 Jowett himself 
 made a similar report to Stanley 1 ; and in 1865 the Hall 
 was filled with undergraduates from various Colleges. 
 
 He had again been thwarted in his career: the path 
 of Theology which he had marked out for himself was 
 found to be beset with thorns; and the academical 
 appointment in which he gloried had been made the 
 occasion for an humiliating rebuff. But the effect was 
 once more to redouble his labours. Gaisford had sus- 
 tained the reputation of the Greek Chair by a series 
 of critical editions of Classical books the Greek Minor 
 Poets, Stobaeus and Suidas which are still valuable. 
 But he had not lectured, and it might be counted as 
 a sufficient excuse that while his emoluments as Dean 
 of Christ Church were considerable, the salary attached 
 to the Greek Professorship was only 40 a year. To 
 many in the University it appeared that the Chair was 
 a mere ornament to decorate a specially deserving Tutor. 
 But such was not Jowett's view of the situation. 
 It had been a capital point in the Reform of the Uni- 
 versity to strengthen the Professoriate and to render 
 it more efficient. And with regard to this particular 
 
 1 p. 325 : cf. p. 312. 
 VOL. I. E
 
 242 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, vin 
 
 Chair, when the Commission had applied to the Dean 
 and Chapter of Christ Church with a view to their con- 
 tributing to Academical purposes, they had replied that 
 the most proper object for such benevolence on their 
 part was the endowment of the Professorship of Greek. 
 This was in I854 1 . But after the death of Dean Gaisford 
 and the appointment of his successor, this virtuous inten- 
 tion was not fulfilled. The cause of such a change of 
 front is somewhat obscure. So much, however, is toler- 
 ably clear. In December, 1856, the Chapter were in 
 the midst of their dealings with the Executive Com- 
 mission 2 , and at the same time Dean Liddell was attacked 
 by a severe illness, which compelled him to winter in 
 Madeira. During his absence one of the Canons was 
 examined before the Commission, and on his representing 
 that Christ Church already supported several Professor- 
 ships in the University, it was agreed that two canonries 
 should be suppressed, and their emoluments applied to 
 the improvement of the Studentships as rearranged. 
 
 The truth was that the authorities at Christ Church 
 had become aware of the difficulty of their position 
 consequent upon 'the opening of Fellowships and Scholar- 
 ships in the other Colleges, and by strengthening their 
 own Studentships sought to improve the relative status 
 of the College as an educational corporation. Stanley, 
 although only a Canon elect, having been recently 
 appointed to the Chair of Ecclesiastical History, was 
 already using his influence on Jowett's behalf; but he 
 
 1 Correspondence respecting the to the Dean's illness : ' Christ 
 Proposed Measures of Improvement Church at the present moment is 
 in the Universities and Colleges of " full of stirs, a tumultuous city," 
 Oxford and Cambridge, 1854, p. and they are in the midst of their 
 46. dealings with the Commission. 
 
 2 Jowett wrote to Stanley on This must be very irritating to 
 December 14, 1856, with reference him.'
 
 1854-1860] Professorial Labours 243 
 
 had no vote in the Chapter until March, 1858, and the 
 Christ Church Ordinance by which the question was de- 
 termined had appeared on January 9 in that year. On 
 coming into residence, therefore, Stanley at once began 
 to moot the subject in the University at large, but he 
 could only do so indirectly until he was himself elected 
 a Professorial Member of the Hebdomadal Council in 
 November, 1860. 
 
 The course which Jowett took under these circum- 
 stances was to work the Professorship in addition to 
 the Tutorship, and on the same lines 1 , without asking 
 for reward. He would not even exact the Statutory Fee. 
 Not only were his lectures gratis, but he invited all 
 who attended them to send in exercises to be personally 
 looked over by himself. A special duty which was ful- 
 filled about this time, was, in conjunction with Liddell, 
 the new Dean of Christ Church, to make regulations 
 for the Greek Composition Prizes, which had been estab- 
 lished by subscription as a Memorial to Dean Gaisford. 
 The examination of the exercises sent in by competitors 
 for these prizes, and the arrangement of the subjects, 
 was another piece of work which came in annually, 
 and was entirely gratuitous. It appears also from a letter 
 of Mrs. Jowett's, that in order to do his work as Pro- 
 fessor, he again relinquished the College Bursarship, 
 which was a salaried office. 
 
 These absorbing cares and occupations were not 
 
 1 Jowett never admitted the chetical instruction in the Uni- 
 
 broad distinction that is some- versity, and the substitution of 
 
 times drawn between Professorial lectures to large classes, for the 
 
 and Tutorial teaching. All teach- College lectures of old times; 
 
 ing that is worthy of the name though this was perhaps an inevit- 
 
 appeared to him to involve close able result of the inter-collegiate 
 
 dealing with individual minds. system which he approved. 
 He regretted the decay of Cate- 
 
 2
 
 244 Ltf e f Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, vm 
 
 altogether unrelieved. He found refreshment in inter- 
 course with his old pupils and in identifying himself 
 with their interests. Sellar had now been married for 
 some years, and in the summer of 1855 he and his wife 
 visited Oxford just at the time when Jowett had revised 
 the last sheets of the St. Paul. He received them with 
 all the honours of College hospitality, and Mrs. Sellar's 
 presence brought in an element of gaiety and brightness, 
 to which he fully responded. He visited them at Artornish, 
 where there was a large family gathering in the autumn. 
 That visit was long remembered on both sides, especially 
 one incident, which is worth preserving. Conversation 
 had turned on Political Economy, and Jowett had 
 declared that he never gave to beggars. Mrs. Sellar was 
 an adept in ' Mystifications/ an accomplishment popular 
 in Scotch society since Sir Walter Scott's time. She 
 disguised herself as a poor Highland woman and waylaid 
 her husband and Jowett at a cross-road, begging importu- 
 nately and telling her tale of woe so piteously that 
 Jowett at last said : ' Poor thing ! She seems very miser- 
 able ; give her half a crown.' Sellar had no money with 
 him, and before the alms were forthcoming, the secret 
 was triumphantly unveiled. The same friends had invited 
 him to spend Christmas at their home, Abbey Park, 
 St. Andrews ; and their little boy Frank better known 
 as 'Tornie 1 ,' not yet three years old, had dictated a letter 
 entreating his friend to come. To this Jowett, who had 
 taken refuge with the Tennysons, sent the following 
 reply : 
 
 FARRINGFORD, I. OF WIGHT, 
 
 December 26, 1855. 
 MY DEAR TORNIE, 
 
 I was very pleased to have a letter from you. I always 
 thought ' Pupsy was a brick. ' Give my love to him. Mr. Grant 
 
 1 A derivative from Artornish.
 
 1854-1860] Isolation 
 
 245 
 
 is coming to see you, and has promised to bring a ball as [big 
 as your head. 
 
 I hope that you are a good boy and never afraid of anything. 
 Has Mama been dressing up like a beggar-woman lately ? 
 
 I will come and play at soldiers next summer, but in the winter- 
 time I must do lessons. A little monkey of an old gentleman, 
 who dresses himself in black and has three pokers walk before 
 him, has been teazing me lately, and I should be in a great row 
 if I had not such good friends as Mama, Papa, and Tornie. 
 Good-bye, Tornie dear. 
 
 Don't forget UNCLE JOWETT. 
 PS. Please not to let anybody read this letter but yourself. 
 
 The friendship of Bishop Ewing was another source of 
 comfort which did not fail him at this time. The Bishop 
 wrote as follows, shortly after Mrs. Ewing's death J : 
 
 ' Jowett has been of use to me, because he believes in the great 
 essentials the life of the dead and the deity of Christ. What 
 he says is very comforting, because he knows on what founda- 
 tions our faith rests. Others have been most kind and sympa- 
 thizing ; but cut-and-dry sentiments, in which everything is 
 taken for granted, do me no good at all.' 
 
 In spite of such alleviations, the situation was not the 
 less grave. He retained his calm demeanour, keeping an 
 obstinate silence under all attacks, and could even make 
 allowance for the asperity of his assailants, taking account 
 of Pusey's Huguenot ancestry and S. Wilberforce's 
 Evangelical origin. ' Mere Christian love,' he said, 
 ' should make one tolerant, but philosophy is also a great 
 help.' What grieved him more than the attacks, was to 
 find that (through the action of others) he had given real 
 offence to simple minds, and also that he received so 
 little support from his old comrades. ' I thought I had 
 so expressed myself that religious minds could not be 
 offended.' ' Men join in denouncing what they admit in 
 1 Life of Alexander Ewing, p. 253.
 
 246 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP.VIII 
 
 private conversation.' ' How hard it is to find a perfectly 
 firm will ! ' With reference to one whom he had thought 
 at least as far advanced in speculation as himself, he said, 
 
 ' I have often talked to on these subjects ; he was 
 
 as free as air/ Even the attitude of Stanley, his fellow- 
 labourer, did not altogether satisfy him : ' He has failed 
 to make people understand what he meant.' On the 
 other hand he was quite touched when the Bishop of 
 Bath and Wells, whom he had formerly visited (and 
 had aided with salutary counsel in the conduct of the 
 Denison case), paid him the common attention of 
 a morning call. In what Jowett felt about all this, 
 as he himself was afterwards fully aware, there was 
 some exaggeration of sensitiveness, an almost fond 
 simplicity, and a want of knowledge of the world. He 
 said in 1857, ' People go on expecting more from friend- 
 ship than it can ever give.' And when a pupil, who was 
 leaving Oxford for another sphere, on Jowett's saying, 
 'I am sorry for you, going amongst people whom you 
 cannot understand,' replied cheerfully, ' I suppose I shall 
 find them out in time,' he rejoined with sudden bitterness, 
 ' Oh yes, you will find them out ! ' His letters to younger 
 men, and his own memoranda, are full of remarks on 
 the evils of a sensitive nature. 
 
 ; Without were fightings ; ' but there was no sign of 
 ' fears within.' His courage was unabated and his will 
 only roused to more strenuous action. The Balliol Tutor- 
 ship, which he could not afford to relinquish, con- 
 tinued to be the main centre of his operations. It 
 was natural, after what had happened, that he should 
 feel the limitations of the sphere. His ambition had been 
 awakened only to be suppressed, and he sometimes 
 hankered after the society and culture of Trinity College,
 
 i8 5 4 1860] Balliol Chapel the Old and New 247 
 
 Cambridge, the natural home of distinguished Paulines. 
 But he found much comfort in working amongst his pupils. 
 Some hope of enlargement was afforded by the Visitor's 
 reversal of the new Master's policy for the continued 
 exclusion of Dissenters from the College. But he was out 
 of sympathy with his colleagues, and had no pleasure in 
 the proposal to rebuild the Chapel, which was carried 
 out in 1855-7. ' They may build another Chapel,' he 
 said, 'but never one that has the same associations.' 
 The new Chapel was opened on October 15, 1857, and 
 there was, of course, a gathering of old Balliol men. 
 Jowett said to me, 'I rejoice in the prospect of seeing 
 so many old friends ; but not in the destruction of the 
 old ChapeL' 
 
 He was still absenting himself from Hall and Common 
 Room, and on this occasion he did not take his place 
 at the high table. He sat amongst the undergraduates, 
 about halfway down the room, on the left side of the long 
 central table. His old friend Tait, by this time Bishop of 
 London, who had officiated at the opening service, made 
 a generous reference to him in his speech, dwelling on the 
 excellence of his Tutorial work : ' I was his Tutor in the 
 old days ; he was much more worthy to teach me.' There 
 was a pause after this speech; then Jowett rose from 
 where he sat, and said with deep emotion, 'Any one 
 who labours amongst the young men will reap his reward 
 in an affection far beyond his deserts V 
 
 1 There is no appearance as yet mendous long name to call a 
 of any strained relations between fellow ? ' (Life of A. C. Tait, vol. i. 
 Jowett and Tait. He had written p. 199). Some time before this, 
 a line of hearty congratulation when visiting the Taits in their 
 to the Bishop on his appointment, affliction, at Carlisle, he writes 
 and had simply added in a post- his host to Stanley : ' He still 
 script, ' Will you tell Mrs. Tait retains his interest in many sub- 
 that " latitudinarian " is a tre- jects, reading Grote, &c. (most
 
 248 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP.VIII 
 
 His many occupations made him sometimes appear ob- 
 livious, and as if unconscious of his own speech or silence; 
 and his fastidiousness about language, touched on in the 
 last chapter, led to a sort of incapacity, real or assumed, 
 of understanding anything that was not perfectly ex- 
 pressed. Instead of helping out his interlocutor, who 
 was struggling with some half- formed conception, he 
 would say, ' I don't think so,' or ' I don't understand,' 
 or if some word were used which did not come into his 
 purist vocabulary, he would say, ' What does that mean ? 
 I never heard it.' He was totally unaware of the effect 
 this had on youths who were already more than suf- 
 ficiently in awe of him. He had a command of countenance 
 which made it difficult sometimes to know his real 
 intention. Like Ulysses, he had a way of c trying the 
 spirits/ by taking an unexpected line. ' I suppose you 
 get your parallels out of Ast's Lexicon' he would say, and 
 one had gravely to assure him that they were the result 
 of one's own reading. In dealing with his most intimate 
 friends, he seemed to work on general views of human 
 nature. "When persuading them to some attempt which 
 they were really eager to make, out of affection for him, 
 he would preface the proposal with ' One man is as good 
 as another until he has written a book,' or ' I am thinking 
 how much money you may make by that work ' (one of 
 critical scholarship !). 
 
 The Professorial lectures were continued, and he 
 was full of schemes for rendering the Greek Chair 
 more effective. There also he was exposed to detraction. 
 
 commendable in a Dean), and not say that the observations 
 
 practising "robust Sophistries" appear to me to be of much 
 
 as you and I remember him in weight, but it is much to the 
 
 former days. He makes many credit of a Dean to make them 
 
 observations, prudential and at all.' 
 otherwise, on my book. I can-
 
 \i
 
 1854-1860] Odium Philologicum 249 
 
 Although his name had been more prominent in the 
 world, there were others who, from the peculiar Oxford 
 point of view, were regarded in the University as 
 ' technically ' better scholars \ Jowett had failed for the 
 Ireland, and Pauline scholarship was not considered on 
 a par with that of Shrewsbury, or even Rugby. John 
 Conington, a man extraordinarily gifted and possessed of 
 wide literary culture, had in the previous year (1854) 
 been elected to the new Corpus Professorship of Latin. 
 His edition of Aeschylus' Agamemnon had given him 
 a great reputation for Greek scholarship, which was 
 fully sustained by his subsequent edition of the 
 Choephoroe. This Jowett afterwards acknowledged. 
 But in those opening years the Latin and Greek 
 Professors were not in sympathy. Although a pupil of 
 Arnold's, and in earlier days 2 an 'Oxford Liberal,' 
 Conington had recently fallen under religious impressions 
 of a different order; and to his old friends it seemed 
 that his intellectual interests were becoming strangely 
 narrow. He was not unnaturally distressed at the 
 vague, rhetorical tendencies of Oxford scholarship, and 
 sought to correct them by professing a predilection for 
 the exact, verbal methods of the contemporary Cambridge 
 School. And when Jowett, in his dislike of conjectural 
 emendation 3 , betrayed a sceptical doubt as to the infalli- 
 bility of Person's famous rule, Professor Conington was 
 genuinely scandalized. Thus an Odium Philologicum 
 entered into conspiracy with the Odium Theologicum. 
 Yet Conington was generous enough to say, in speaking 
 
 1 Among those who had been Kennedy at Shrewsbury, 
 
 talked about were James Rid- 2 p. 176. 
 
 dell and Basil Jones, afterwards 3 See this expressed in the 
 Bishop of St. David's. Before ' Essay on Interpretation ' (pub- 
 coming to Oxford, both these lished 1860), St. Paul's Epistles, 
 men had studied Greek under third edition, vol. ii. p. 53.
 
 250 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, vm 
 
 to a younger man for his good, ' Whatever one may think 
 of Jowett's scholarship, it must be admitted that he lives 
 the life of a Philosopher.' 
 
 Jowett himself took these carpings very lightly. 
 ' I often think,' he said with a touch of irony, ' that 
 unworthy as I am, I have to deal with the greatest of all 
 literatures/ He must have found no small compensation 
 for the local disparagement, although he never spoke on 
 the subject, in the recognition of continental scholars. 
 Otto Jahn, in the preface to his standard edition of 
 Plato's Symposium (published in 1864) for which Jowett 
 had collated afresh the MS. in the Bodleian Library, 
 spoke of him as 'an accomplished Grecian, and a man 
 distinguished alike for independence and liberality of 
 mind.' He set himself at once to revive his classical 
 attainments going regularly through Pindar, and at 
 one time reading a book of Homer every day. He 
 had a note-book filled with lectures upon Sophocles, 
 and Aeschylus was continually in his thoughts. But his 
 main designs already centred on Plato. About a year after 
 his appointment he was making preparations for an 
 edition of the Republic, and enlisting various old pupils x 
 and other friends for an edition of the chief Dialogues 
 to be prepared independently, but in a common spirit. He 
 had commenced his own portion of this work, in which 
 some of his lectures were to be embodied, when the 
 demand came upon him for a new edition of the St. Paul, 
 the rapid sale of which was a natural result of the recent 
 outcry. His first impulse had been to say, ' I will not 
 alter a word.' The book was the ripe fruit of intense, 
 unremitting study through the best years of manhood. 
 
 1 J. Riddell, Sellar, Grant, Philebus, and Jowett at one time 
 Henry Smith, Lewis Campbell, hoped that Max Miiller might help 
 E. Poste of Oriel undertook the him with the Cratylus.
 
 1854-1860] Essay on Interpretation reserved 251 
 
 In preparing it he had learned all the Epistles in the 
 Greek by heart. When he brought it out he said, 
 ' I hope I shall not change my opinions again.' He did 
 not change his opinions. But reflection brought calmer 
 thoughts, and less for his own sake than for that of the 
 religious public, he determined to explain himself more 
 perfectly. He had written to Stanley in 1856: 'It is 
 a great misfortune to be even unintentionally the 
 cause of stirring up a row in a place of education.' 
 Indeed, he had himself grown dissatisfied with some 
 things in the first edition ; ' Six months ago I thought 
 these Essays perfect, but now I see such gaps and rents 
 in them ! ' The revision was a work of great labour ; and 
 it was not made easier by the attacks to which he was 
 still subject. He asked friends for suggestions, but 
 would listen to no advice that seemed to imply a yielding 
 to clamour. 
 
 'I fear I cannot expunge the Paley,' he writes to Stanley, 
 ' because, however disagreeable, it is perfectly true, and it 
 would be thought that I retracted it if I did. Notwithstanding 
 the counsels of Johnson and Temple, it seems to me that any 
 cowardice would be very injurious to me.' 
 
 He wrought at the new edition through constant head- 
 aches, and, as Grant told me, was compelled to reserve for 
 future completion an Essay on the Interpretation of Scrip- 
 ture, begun some years before, which he had intended 
 to form part of the new edition. Of this more will be 
 heard in the sequel. 
 
 The unexpected return of his parents to England from 
 Paris in 1856 did not lessen his embarrassments. His 
 father, always unconscious of the actual situation, was bent 
 on bringing out his own metrical version of the Psalms ; 
 and while interested in his son's labours, was far from 
 understanding or sympathizing with them. A note of
 
 252 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP.VIII 
 
 Mr. Jowett's dated 'The Norton, Tenby, October 9,' 
 is curiously significant : 
 
 ' Benjamin has just spent five days with us, but he has been 
 so taciturn that I think everything he has said might have been 
 said perhaps in five minutes. He is certainly much occupied, 
 but this need not prevent him from unbending a little. I had 
 for my portion one brief question on business, and the mono- 
 syllable " No," in answer to a question. I am happy to say that 
 he appears to be carefully revising his work, which certainly 
 needed it.' 
 
 Yet the old man was keenly alive to any shadow 
 of outward success. Towards the end of 1857 an attempt 
 was made to have Jowett elected as a representative of 
 the Professoriate on the new Hebdomadal Council. He 
 was not elected, but the minority was a strong one, and 
 he was touched and moved by the expression of sympathy. 
 When Henry Smith and others went to see him on the 
 declaration of the result : ' My old pupils ! My old 
 pupils ! ' in a voice broken with emotion, was all that he 
 was able to say. 
 
 On this subject Mr. Jowett wrote to his son Alfred in 
 India : 
 
 'The contest was creditable for your brother, though not 
 successful. Macbride had sixty- four votes, Benjamin sixty-one. 
 At one part of the day Benjamin, by the newspapers, was 
 likely to get in V 
 
 This was the year of the Indian Mutiny, and there 
 was naturally much anxiety on Alfred's account. Though 
 not in immediate danger, he was constantly transferred 
 from station to station, and was liable to much harassing 
 overwork. His death in 1858 was a blow from which 
 the father never recovered. 
 
 1 He was also really much in- St. Paul, and copied out long 
 terested in his son's book on passages of it for Alfred's benefit.
 
 1854-1860] Second Edition of the Epistles 253 
 
 Alexander Grant of Oriel, on going to India with 
 his young bride, Professor Ferrier's daughter, was 
 charged with the duty of inquiring into the circum- 
 stances of Alfred's illness and of recovering his papers. 
 These were afterwards kept by Mrs. Jowett amongst 
 her treasures. 
 
 Jowett's father died at Tenby in March, 1859. When 
 in hourly expectation of his death, Jowett wrote to 
 F. T. Palgrave : ' He has been the most innocent and 
 blameless man possible. I don't suppose he ever did 
 a wrong thing. Though not wanting in ability, he has 
 been like a child through life. I am glad you saw him.' 
 
 After this his mother and sister resided at Torquay. 
 
 The second edition of the Epistles was published in 
 the summer of the same year. The work was in great 
 part re-written and was much enlarged. The Essay on 
 the Atonement in particular was entirely re-written, 
 and had threatened at one time to grow into a separate 
 volume. The concluding passage of the new Essay on 
 the Atonement may be taken as the author's one answer 
 to his many assailants : 
 
 ' If our Saviour were to come again on earth, which of all the 
 theories of Atonement and Sacrifice would He sanction with His 
 authority ? Perhaps none of them, yet perhaps all may be con- 
 sistent with the true service of Him. The question has no answer. 
 But it suggests the thought that we shrink from bringing con- 
 troversy into His presence. The same kind of lesson may be 
 gathered from the consideration of theological differences in the 
 face of death. Who as he draws near to Christ will not feel him- 
 self drawn towards his theological opponents ? At the end of life, 
 when a man looks back calmly, he is most likely to find that he 
 exaggerated in some things ; that he mistook party spirit for a 
 love of truth. Perhaps he had not sufficient consideration for 
 others, or stated the truth itself in a manner which was calcu- 
 lated to give offence. In the heat of the struggle, let us at least 
 pause to imagine polemical disputes as they will appear a year,
 
 254 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP.VIII 
 
 two years, three years hence ; it may be, dead and gone cer- 
 tainly more truly seen than in the hour of controversy. For the 
 truths about which we are disputing cannot partake of the pass- 
 ing stir ; they do not change even with the greater revolutions 
 of human things. They are in eternity, and the image of them 
 on earth is not the movement on the surface of the waters, but 
 the depths of the silent sea. Lastly, as a measure of the value 
 of such disputes, which above all other interests seem to have 
 for a time the power of absorbing men's minds and rousing their 
 passions, we may carry our thoughts onwards to the invisible 
 world, and there behold, as in a glass, the great theological 
 teachers of past ages, who have anathematized each other in their 
 lives, resting together in the Communion of the same Lord.' 
 
 The Times was no longer ' muzzled.' Stanley was now 
 established at Christ Church, as Professor of Ecclesiastical 
 History 1 ; and though his welcome from Pusey was 
 a strange one 2 , his canonry had not been disputed. He 
 sent to the Times a review of Jowett's second edition 
 which appeared in due course, October 15, 1859. In 
 this article, while deprecating what seemed to him 
 a disproportion between the constructive and destructive 
 elements in the work, and drawing somewhat illusory 
 parallels, as his manner was, between Jowett's position 
 and that of Butler, or even Anselm, he fearlessly puts 
 forth his just appreciation of the beneficial tendency 
 of the book's main purpose and effect. The article con- 
 cludes as follows : 
 
 ' We congratulate the University of Oxford and the Church 
 of England on the completion of a work of which we may be 
 justly proud. We gratefully acknowledge that a treatise such 
 as this, which has been able to win for itself a place in the 
 Theological Libraries of foreign countries, and which commands 
 
 1 His appointment dated from Church only in March, 1858. 
 December, 1856, but he became 2 Life of Dean Stanley, vol. i. 
 a member of the Chapter of Christ p. 508.
 
 1854-1860] Stanley's ' Times J Review 255 
 
 the respectful attention of the intelligent classes of our own, is 
 the best kind of support which the cause of religion can receive 
 in an age like ours. Professor Jowett is well known to have 
 acquired by his personal character, and by his unwearied devo- 
 tion to the work of education, an influence over the rising 
 generation such as few, if any, of his academical contemporaries 
 have attained. Let that influence be used in the direction indi- 
 cated in the foregoing extracts from his work, and we may rest 
 well assured that the cynical and sceptical spirit of the time will 
 have met with an antidote such as we shall vainly expect from 
 any other quarter.' 
 
 That was well and truly said, and has been too little 
 regarded ; but it was rather strange that Stanley, 
 who prided himself on having an eye for resemblances 
 where other men saw differences, should have put so 
 clearly as he does in other parts of this review the 
 points of divergence between his own opinions and those 
 of his ally. Yet the fact of the contrast only makes 
 the bravery of the defence more honourable. His 
 friend's picturesqueness, on the other hand, sometimes 
 rather grated upon Jowett. At a luncheon party in the 
 room in the Fisher Building, Stanley once described 
 with great animation a Byzantine procession in which 
 the fasces, which had been the symbol of Imperial power 
 and were carried before some magistrate, had been gradu- 
 ally reduced to a single reed. ' And with that reed,' 
 said Jowett, looking archly mischievous, ' disappeared 
 the last vestige of the Roman empire ! ' 'I am glad,' 
 said Bunsen, speaking of the Introduction to the Thessa- 
 lonians, ' that he has touched on the topographical fanci- 
 fulness of some of his good friends.' 
 
 Conversing in Christ Church meadow in October, 
 1859, Stanley showed great curiosity as to the author- 
 ship of the review of the first edition, which had 
 been stifled in 1855. The author confessed, and the
 
 256 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP.VIII 
 
 printed copy was sent to Stanley, who acknowledged 
 it as follows : 
 
 ' Many thanks for the enclosed. Had it appeared when it was 
 intended to have appeared, the whole history of the last five, 
 perhaps of the next fifty, years would have been different. 
 The beginning and end will be always available for future use. 
 I envy you the adaptation of the story of David in the last 
 paragraph.' 
 
 Almost immediately on the publication of the second 
 edition of St. Paul, after indulging himself, as Mr. W. L. 
 Newman tells us, with Aristophanes, Jowett returned 
 to his commentary on the Republic of Plato, and had 
 finished the series of notes in a first draft before the 
 beginning of September. These notes, however, though 
 he continued working at them, were not to see the 
 light for thirty-five years to come. 
 
 It was about this time that a group of his old pupils, 
 including Sellar, Grant, Palgrave, and a few more, sub- 
 scribed for a portrait of Jowett, in crayons, by Gr. Rich- 
 mond, which was presented to Mrs. Jowett. The repro- 
 duction of this drawing is well known, and a reduced 
 copy of the original forms the frontispiece of this volume. 
 One who was not a ' Jowett-worshipper ' remarked at 
 the time, ' To do Jowett justice, he is not such a lady- 
 killer as that makes him.' On the other hand, some 
 of those who saw his face in the repose of death were 
 involuntarily reminded of this early portrait x . 
 
 Mr. W. L. Newman's Reminiscences (continued from p. 210). 
 
 'His gifts ensured him unbounded influence with young 
 men of ability. His marked individuality of character, 
 which made itself felt in everything he said or did, his kindly 
 peremptoriness, his combination of force of character with gentle- 
 
 1 See Lord Lingen's remark, p. 228.
 
 1854-1860] W. L. Newman's Reminiscences 257 
 
 ness, of many-sidedness with intensity, of great powers of 
 thought with practical ability, won enthusiastic acceptance 
 from clever young men. His interests were almost as 
 varied as his gifts. Here was a man who seemed to 
 stand at the parting of many ways. Keligion, philosophy, 
 poetry, Greek literature these were his favourite studies, but 
 he added to them a keen interest in human nature and in 
 practical business. There was nothing cramping about his influ- 
 ence over us. I never found that he made any effort to enforce 
 on me any particular set of views. His strong sense of humour 
 was an added charm. I think it was just after he brought out 
 the second edition of his book on St. Paul that he said to me, 
 needing no doubt some relief from the drudgery of proofs, 
 " Now I must read some Aristophanes." 
 
 ' When the disappointment about the Mastership came, some 
 slight indications of vexation were traceable in his conversation 
 even with an undergraduate like me, but his work with his 
 pupils continued precisely as before. It was not, I think, till 
 some time later that he ceased to dine in Hall and to appear 
 after dinner in Common Room. The exact date at which this 
 happened I am unable to recollect. I was absent from Oxford 
 owing to illness from December, 1855, to October, 1857, and I 
 think that this change in his ways may have commenced during 
 my absence. I doubt whether he dined much in Hall after my 
 return to Oxford. We lost much by his absence, but even 
 without him the Balliol Common Room remained a notable 
 gathering. There is nothing in my Oxford life to which I look 
 back with more pleasure than to the evenings which I spent 
 there in the company of H. J. S. Smith, E. Palmer, J. Riddell, 
 T. H. Green, and many others who might be named, men 
 who were as valuable and acceptable socially as they were in 
 all other ways. Jowett's withdrawal did not make his rela- 
 tions with the rest of our body otherwise than amicable. Some 
 of the Fellows had been his pupils, and felt towards him as 
 pupils would. Achilles preferred his tent, but his tent was 
 a hospitable one, and I used often to breakfast and dine 
 with him, and we often took walks together. Smith, and 
 I think Green, saw still more of him. He of course saw 
 much of his pupils, but he also saw much of friends 
 
 VOL. I. S
 
 258 Life ' of Benjamin Jowett 
 
 from London and elsewhere of an age and position similar to 
 his own. Our friendship for him did not interfere in any 
 degree with friendly relations with the rest of our seniors among 
 the Fellows. On some topics our opinions were not theirs, but 
 we found them, and the new Head of the College, so genial and 
 kindly, and some of them so useful as models and advisers, that 
 we worked together with real pleasure and in complete harmony. 
 The College prospered well, and Jowett's influence in it grew 
 as one of his pupils after another was added to the body of 
 Fellows. As far back as I can remember, Jowett always sug- 
 gested the subject of the English Essay in Scholarship and Fellow- 
 ship examinations. Many good and useful measures adopted 
 in College meeting originated with him. One of the earliest 
 of these was the foundation of the Domus Exhibitions (about 
 1858). At a still earlier time, if I do not mistake, the whole- 
 some rule was adopted, thanks, I believe, to Theodore Walrond. 
 that all undergraduate members of the College should go in for 
 honours in some examination school or other. Another useful 
 change was made when undergraduates were allowed, with the 
 advice of their Tutor, to choose their own lectures 1 . Jowett 
 was unwearied in maintaining or increasing the strictness 
 of the matriculation examination. All these things did much 
 for the College.' 
 
 1 This was not carried out till 1867. L. C.
 
 CHAPTEE IX 
 
 FRIENDS AND PUPILS. 1854-1860 
 
 THEOLOGICAL attitude Desultory studies Advice to young 
 writers and preachers Society in Scotland and elsewhere Pre- 
 paration of Essays and Reviews Publication of the volume Letters. 
 
 rTlHE preceding chapter does not exhaust the interest 
 of the years from 1854-60. I proceed to make 
 a few general observations on Jowett's mental attitude 
 during this period. 
 
 First as to Theology : ' after toil and storm/ having 
 mournfully realized 'that there is no elder person in 
 whose footsteps one can tread 1 ,' he had by persistent 
 efforts reached a point of view from which, while 
 retaining all that seemed essential in the traditions of 
 the past, he felt able to bring the spiritual principles 
 involved in them to bear with fresh significance on 
 the life of the present. He wrote to a young friend : 
 ' I do not know that you care to plunge into the abyss of 
 theology. But I shall always maintain that there is no 
 abyss, and that, without relying on fables or fancies, any 
 who will may find their way through this world with 
 sufficient knowledge to light them to another.' But 
 there were obstructions to be overcome, and these proved 
 more serious than he had reckoned. He was all the 
 
 1 p. 227, note. 
 
 S 2
 
 260 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, ix 
 
 more bent on overcoming them. No greater benefit 
 could be conferred on any age, he thought, than to 
 clear and purify religious ideas. The greatest of all 
 difficulties lay in the attitude of religious men, who 
 refused to recognize the obvious results of historical 
 criticism, and persisted in maintaining the sacredness of 
 propositions, against which the intellect and moral sense 
 of mankind, at the stage of culture which the world 
 had attained, could not but revolt. They appeared to 
 think it possible to keep knowledge at one level in 
 England, when it had reached another level in Germany. 
 He had felt this even before the publication of his 
 book, as appears from his letters to Stanley of August, 
 I846 1 . The great danger, in his opinion, was not lest 
 reason should destroy religion, but lest intellectual 
 persons should reject the truth itself, when stated in 
 grotesque and impossible forms. Jowett was profoundly 
 attached to Christianity, which had penetrated to the 
 very core of his nature ; to the Bible, which he desired 
 to see made the rule of life, not in the letter, but in 
 the spirit ; and to the Church of England, whose ministry 
 seemed likely to be impoverished by the unrealities of 
 popular theology, and the refusal of Ordination on the 
 part of highly educated men. To cast off the incrusta- 
 tions with which historical Christianity was so heavily 
 encumbered, and to bring into clearer light what was 
 of eternal import, without breaking rudely with the past 
 or ignoring present needs, was the problem which he 
 had set himself to solve. He was thwarted in this course, 
 but, having set his face that way, was more and more 
 determined to continue in it. Reformations, he began 
 to feel, were not to be made with rose-water. 
 
 Philosophy held the second place in his thoughts. 
 1 PP- 150. i53 ; cf. p. 175.
 
 1854-1860] Religion and Philosophy 261 
 
 He still acknowledged the debt which as a thinker he 
 owed to German philosophy. The hope which Kant 
 had raised of laying hold upon an Absolute behind the 
 Relative, had involved the mind in difficulties, which 
 Hegel seemed to have cleared away, by showing that 
 the Absolute was a unity within which all relations were 
 embraced, and that it was to be sought in the universe 
 and not beyond it. 
 
 'The study of Hegel has given me a method/ he 
 used to say; but he refused to be bound within the 
 limits of any system, making fact the final test of 
 theory. 
 
 He looked with interest, but with imperfect sympathy, 
 upon the rise of the Positivist sect in Oxford. R. Con- 
 greve had returned to Wadham from Rugby about 
 1848; his pupils, Frederic Harrison, J. H. Bridges, and 
 E. S. Beesly, graduated in 1853-4. These were amongst 
 Comte's earliest converts in England. When he saw 
 young men taking up a radical or extreme position, 
 Jowett always wondered what their future would be. 
 Speaking of G. H. Lewes's History of Philosophy, he said 
 he thought it a poor thing to have studied all philosophies 
 and to end in adopting that of Auguste Comte. 
 
 At this time he still encouraged the ablest of his 
 pupils in the study of Hegel. He valued Plato even 
 more for his marvellous originality and suggestiveness. 
 'Germs of all ideas are to be found in Plato.' And 
 in recommending the study he used to say, 'Aristotle 
 is dead, but Plato is alive.' 
 
 In interpreting Plato, as before in interpreting St. Paul, 
 he sought to get behind the accretions of after ages, such 
 as the Neo-Platonism of the fifth and fifteenth centuries, 
 and to bring out the original meaning of his author. 
 
 Neither in religion nor in philosophy did he ever
 
 262 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, ix 
 
 seek to form a school. He rather discouraged some 
 too eager disciples, saying that ' to meddle in theology 
 required an exceptionally happy nature.' His one 
 thought in dealing with his pupils was, what was best 
 individually for them. Nothing angered him so much 
 as to find that a former pupil had been incurring odium 
 in defending him. ' "We must all fight our own battles,' 
 were his last words at parting from one of them, and 
 they were said with energetic warmth. 'I was sorry 
 to hear that you had got a reputation for heterodoxy 
 
 with Mr. . Will you be careful of this ? A young 
 
 man is in great danger of becoming powerless who is 
 shelved in this way.' The power of personal influence, 
 which had been conspicuous in some members of the 
 High Church party, he thought might have been valuable 
 if they had also had the power of respecting the inde- 
 pendence of the persons whom they had influenced. 
 Once in passing Littlemore, he glanced at the building 
 where Newman had drawn together his followers in the 
 year before his secession. ' It was very unfair to those 
 young men,' he said. Nor was he readily disposed to 
 strengthen his own position by allying himself with 
 others, merely because they had also fallen under the 
 ecclesiastical ban. Some of F. D. Maurice's disciples 
 were provoked at his persistent silence with regard to 
 their teacher. ' I shall never join with that modern Neo- 
 Platonism,' was his remark to one who had hinted this : 
 ' it is so easy to substitute one mysticism for another.' 
 
 No speculative difficulties confused his practical sense. 
 While exercising the utmost freedom in speculation, 
 his constant aim was to hold a just balance between 
 philosophy and actual life. He often quoted the saying 
 of Coleridge, ' The only common sense worth having 
 is that which is based on metaphysics ' ; and he upheld
 
 1854-1860] The Church and the World 263 
 
 the converse proposition, ' Metaphysics should be grounded 
 in common sense.' Far-seeing as were his views of future 
 possibilities for mankind, he seldom practically approved 
 of radical change. 
 
 No part of his theological writings was more directly 
 the outcome of his experience, than the passage in the 
 essay on Natural Religion, in which he seeks to overcome 
 the opposition which religious minds had been too apt 
 to make between the Church and the "World, 'the one 
 half of human nature and the other 1 .' He was fond 
 of that sentence of Sir Thomas Browne's, ' For my con- 
 versation, it is as the sun's with all men, and with 
 a friendly aspect towards good and bad.' Another 
 paradox which sometimes led to misunderstanding was 
 his determination to keep apart moral and political 
 considerations, and at this period he was sometimes under- 
 stood to insist that while moral goodness made for the 
 happiness of its owner, intellectual power was more 
 beneficent in its action upon the world at large. Yet 
 in his dealings with the world he never lost sight of 
 his religious vocation. He knew well how to blend 
 the tenderest sympathy with unbending severity. 
 
 The widow of one of his old friends, who had observed 
 his dealings with undergraduates about this time, says : 
 
 'I always admired Mr. Jowett's wonderful reticence and 
 refinement, coupled with sternness and swift, decided action, 
 
 1 The Epistles of St. Paul, fyc., he was always disposed to regard 
 
 third edition, vol. ii. pp. 241-243. worldly success as a test of merit 
 
 A remark of the Warden of Mer- in a sense against which I rebel, 
 
 ton expresses a very general view and, in one of my early conver- 
 
 upon this subject : ' He never af- sations with him, he expressed a 
 
 fected or specially admired an most earnest hope that his pupils 
 
 " unworldly " character. Though would not, like those of another 
 
 no man was ever less actuated great teacher, " make a mess of 
 
 by the lower forms of ambition, life " ! '
 
 264 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, ix 
 
 when needful, in cases where moral corruption called for 
 drastic measures. At the same time he never seemed to 
 give any man up as hopeless or beyond the reach of sympathy 
 and help.' 
 
 He found time amidst all his pressing avocations to 
 write to a young friend, who was going for the first 
 time to a public school, a letter to which the recipient 
 reverted in later life, with mingled gratitude and 
 admiration, as having conveyed to him with equal 
 ^delicacy and frankness a horror of schoolboy vice, which 
 secured him from contamination. 
 
 He still found relief from his exhausting labours 
 in voracious reading, going back again and again to 
 his old favourites, Boswell's Johnson, Pepys' Diary, &c., 
 and fastening upon each book of interest as it came 
 out. He was greatly interested in Adam Bede, which, 
 it will be remembered, was at first attributed to a clergy- 
 man. 'He has succeeded in seizing the characteristics 
 of all the classes of English society.' 
 
 To the few whose vocation it was to carry classical 
 studies into later life, he held up an ideal which differed in 
 several ways from the ordinary models. Although he felt 
 the slur which had been cast on his reputation as a scholar, 
 he returned with interest the disparagement of pedantic 
 critics. Ignorance of Greek, he thought, was more excus- 
 able than ignorance of the nature of language. ' I some- 
 times think the souls of the old grammarians must have 
 transmigrated into our verbal scholars.' His method was 
 to read the great writers over and over again ; ' One 
 gets to know them in this way far better than in reading 
 about them. I have read Sophocles hundreds of times.' 
 "When he heard of some one who had a wonderful know- 
 ledge of the commentators on Aristotle, he said, 'That 
 sort of learning is a great power, if a man can only
 
 1854-1860] Society in Scotland 265 
 
 keep his mind above it.' His influence thus tended, at 
 this time more than afterwards, rather to discourage 
 extensive reading. ' It is so easy to give an impression 
 of great learning. The power of interpretation is a 
 different thing. Every author is best interpreted from 
 himself.' He had already formed the fixed opinion, 
 which he held to the last, as to the futility of conjectural 
 emendation. He thought Bekker had deserved more 
 of Greek Philology than Bentley. 
 
 He was always ready to read over a friend's writings 
 and to criticize them. 'I can do no less,' he would 
 say, 'for one who has done so much for me.' But it 
 must be owned that his gratitude sometimes took rather 
 a trying shape. It was difficult not to feel some con- 
 trariety between the sanguine eagerness with which he 
 had encouraged some attempt, and the dry light of judge- 
 ment which seemed apt to burn up the thing attempted. 
 And sometimes, though not often, what he trenchantly 
 rejected has not proved a failure. But when he 
 disapproved of a friend's work, on grounds of taste, 
 or even of morality, though he expressed himself with 
 candour, it made no difference whatever in the warmth 
 and strength of his attachment. His was a spirit which 
 always gave more than it received. 
 
 He repeated his visits to the Sellars and other friends 
 in Scotland, amongst whom was Thomas Erskine, of 
 Linlathen, a friend of Bishop Ewing's. He was a 
 thoughtful mystic, of great liberality of mind, and after 
 retiring from the Scottish Bar, had written several theo- 
 logical essays, which had a powerful influence in 
 promoting the reaction against Calvinism. He was 
 an admirer of William Law, and F. D. Maurice acknow- 
 ledged himself to have derived something from him. 
 Jowett used to say that his defect as a religious leader
 
 266 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, ix 
 
 was, that he had not set himself to any great practical 
 effort for the good of mankind. Erskine's conversation, 
 which from whatever point it started always came round 
 to his theological ideas, had a peculiar charm. He was 
 the sworn brother in matters spiritual of J. Macleod 
 Campbell of Row, who had been ousted from the 
 Church of Scotland on account of his opinions shortly 
 after the secession of Edward Irving l . Campbell's book 
 on the Atonement, in which he sought by metaphysical 
 argument to eliminate the crudities of current theology, 
 and justify the ways of God, appeared in 1856, a year 
 after Jowett's St. Paul ; and about the same time Jowett's 
 annual visits to Linlathen began. Here he also made 
 the acquaintance of Sir "W. Stirling Maxwell of Keir. 
 
 Henry Hill Lancaster was settled in Edinburgh as 
 an advocate, and was interested in the North British 
 Review. Another Edinburgh acquaintance which he 
 greatly valued was that with Dr. John Brown, the author 
 of Bab and his Friends. 
 
 At St. Andrews he was introduced to Principal Tulloch, 
 then in vigorous youth, and to Professor Ferrier, the 
 metaphysician, whose daughter was married to Jowett's 
 friend and pupil Sir Alexander Grant. 
 
 Visits to Scotland were continued annually for about 
 thirty years ; and he often expressed his admiration 
 of the country and people, against whom he had shared 
 Dr. Johnson's prejudice in earlier days. At the Sellars' 
 summer home, which at this time was Harehead in 
 Yarrow, he seems to have relaxed his studies more than 
 elsewhere, and a photographic group with Jowett in his 
 wide-awake, playing croquet there, was extant a year or 
 two ago. 
 
 His life in Oxford itself was not unrelieved by rare 
 
 1 Cf. the Duke of Argyll's Preface to his Philosophy of Belief {1895).
 
 1854-1860] Mrs. Cradock' s Rose-garden 267 
 
 intervals of social enjoyment. The Greenhills, before 
 settling at Hastings, remained in Oxford for a while. 
 George Butler of Exeter had married, and was for a time 
 settled there with his young wife : their house was 
 a pleasant centre of reunion for the younger dons. 
 Mrs. Josephine Butler, in her memoir of her husband, has 
 given us her impression of the Oxford society of that 
 day, with its curious limitations and its intellectual 
 interests, tempered with ignorance of the world. Another 
 oasis in the wilderness of celibates was the home of the 
 Principal of Brasenose, Dr. Cradock, whose wife was sister- 
 in-law to Lord John Russell. Mrs. Cradock was a lady 
 of decided originality, and loved to bring young people 
 together in her drawing-room and her rose-garden. 
 A. P. Stanley was much at home there, and brought 
 Jowett with him when he could. Charles "Wood (Lord 
 Halifax), Augustus Hare, Charles Bo wen, and Lyulph 
 Stanley, then a junior undergraduate, were also frequent 
 visitors at the house. There was hymn-singing on 
 Sunday evenings, and little fetes champetres in summer, 
 especially on June .18 Waterloo day which was the 
 genial hostess's birthday. On these occasions Jowett's 
 unworldly simplicity sometimes amused the younger men : 
 as when he gave a rose that had been plucked for him 
 by one young lady to another who happened to have 
 none! Mrs. Cradock's young friends were expected to 
 provide entertainment for these birthday fetes by writing 
 short stories or poems. One day when the party were 
 driven in from the garden by rain, these compositions, 
 which had been thrown into a bag, were taken out at 
 random and read aloud. One story greatly struck Jowett's 
 fancy ; he asked to be allowed to take it home, and had 
 it copied. 
 
 It was here that Jowett made some friendships which,
 
 268 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, ix 
 
 like all his friendships, remained through life ; Lady 
 Stanley of Alderley, the daughters of the Dean of 
 Bristol 1 , and others. Through Mrs. Cradock he after- 
 wards had a meeting with Lord John Russell, which 
 interested him greatly, and was the first step in 
 an acquaintance with the Duke of Bedford's family, 
 which ultimately, through other circumstances, became 
 more intimate. Dr. Symonds, of Hill House, Clifton, 
 was another friend with whom he repeatedly stayed, 
 having made his acquaintance on young J. A. Symonds' 
 coming to Oxford in 1858. He had casually met 
 Dr. Symonds at a banquet in Magdalen College, earlier 
 in the same year. 
 
 Jowett used to say of Dr. Symonds, that he was the 
 only busy man who made an agreeable host, always 
 seeming at leisure for the entertainment of his guests. 
 He often spoke of him as the ' beloved physician.' About 
 the same time he became acquainted with the family 
 of Mr. Nightingale, of Embley, Surrey, and Lea Hurst, 
 Derbyshire, with whom he gradually formed a friendship 
 which continued to the end of his life. 
 
 Through Stanley he made the acquaintance of Mr. and 
 Mrs. Grote (whom he afterwards visited at their country 
 house, Barrow Green, in Kent), and had at least one 
 interview with Dean Milman. 
 
 His friendships were multiplying. Grant could already 
 say of him, ' He is the only man who can maintain close 
 friendship with about fifty people at once.' 
 
 All these threads were interwoven in his after life. 
 
 More conscious than heretofore of the limitations both 
 of his circumstances and of his powers, he was more 
 than ever determined to make his mark ; and as he was 
 
 1 The Very Rev. Gilbert Elliot.
 
 1854-1860] State of the College 269 
 
 thrown back upon Balliol he was resolved henceforth 
 to do what in him lay to make Balliol great. He was 
 still for some time after this in a minority amongst his 
 colleagues, but the minority was a strong one. With 
 Henry Smith, W. L. Newman, and Charles Bowen on 
 his side, he felt confident that he could fight his way. 
 And he obtained some concessions of real importance, 
 such as the foundation of the open Exhibitions in 1858. 
 But the contention was acute and undisguised. He 
 said to a friend who was opposing some measure in 
 another College. 'Your Head seems to be an astute 
 person, who works by winning confidence ; here we have 
 a bare struggle for power.' Very rarely, however, out 
 of College meeting, did any resentful word escape him, 
 although he knew that he was himself the subject 
 of perpetual obloquy. Such words had always reference 
 to the state of the College. A case of gambling had 
 been discovered, and it had been treated, as he thought, 
 too lightly. 'I do not know what is to become of 
 the College, 1 he said. He was also concerned about 
 the selection of men for entrance. The ' old Master ' had 
 been used to select men from two classes ; first, those who 
 had high connexions, and, secondly, men of marked 
 ability; and by offering rooms to those who did well 
 for the Scholarship, the Tutors had given the preponder- 
 ance to the latter. Jowett fancied that the new Master 
 was departing from this tradition, but his fears were 
 hardly justified in the sequel ; this, however, was 
 largely due to the attractive force of Jowett's own 
 personality. The silence which he maintained about all 
 that concerned himself, and his indomitable persistence 
 in doing what he saw to be best for his pupils, and for 
 the truth which he held sacred, did not prevent his 
 judgement from being coloured to some extent by his
 
 270 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, ix 
 
 personal feeling. His remarks to private friends during 
 these years had often a tinge of bitterness, but even what 
 appeared like cynicism was the veil of deeper feeling. 
 When told of a young family who were beginning life 
 with prospects of a roseate hue, he said, ' Is life to be all 
 art and culture and music ? poor people, poor people ! ' 
 The slight tone of contempt belied his real sympathy. 
 However pressed with occupation, he never turned 
 aside from helping those who sought his assistance, 
 reading and criticizing long ambitious arguments in 
 MS., and often hoping more from them than the result 
 has justified. 
 
 Yet it was to the interest he took in other people's 
 writings that he owed some of those intimate friendships 
 that were his chief solace during the years of gloom. 
 After reading a book in MS., which had been introduced 
 to him, I think, through Arthur Clough, he said, 'It 
 seemed to me as if I had received the impress of a new 
 mind.' Philanthropic efforts also greatly interested him, 
 and he rejoiced in any opportunity that brought them 
 within his ken. A familiar passage in the Essay on Inter- 
 pretation having obvious reference to the nurses in the 
 Crimea, strongly reflects this feeling : ' And there may 
 be some tender and delicate woman among us, who feels 
 that she has a Divine vocation to fulfil the most repulsive 
 offices towards the dying inmates of a hospital, or the 
 soldier perishing in a foreign land 1 .' How he found 
 time for all these interests is a perplexing thought, but 
 one thing which secured him some degree of leisure was 
 his resolute avoidance of polemical disputation. ' There 
 
 1 St. Paul's Epistles, third thized in the movement started 
 
 edition, vol. ii. p. 33. He visited in that quarter for the relief of 
 
 Miss Carpenter' s industrial school destitute incurables, 
 at Bristol, and keenly sympa-
 
 1854-1860] Colonization 271 
 
 is nothing to be done, but to do nothing,' was his single 
 rule for meeting all attacks. 
 
 His judgement on persons, then and always, was wholly 
 independent of their opinions ; but not of their conduct. 
 Personal character counted with him for much. For 
 R. Hussey, Canon of Christ Church, Stanley's predecessor 
 in the Chair of Church History, who was a consistent 
 High Churchman, he had the most unfeigned respect. He 
 said of Canon F. C. Cook 1 , an opponent of Liberalism, 
 ' He is the only person in England, whom I have met, that 
 could be called really learned.' He was disappointed in 
 Thirlwall, contrasting his attitude on leaving Cambridge 
 ' multa et praeclara minantis,' with his episcopal charges. 
 ' A man should not be broken down with fifteen years of 
 being a bishop.' 
 
 The time had now arrived when the opening of the 
 Fellowships, the most important factor in University 
 reform, was taking full effect. And one result of it, 
 which was cheering to Jowett, was the colonizing of the 
 rest of Oxford by Balliol men. He took intense interest 
 in their work, especially when they became Tutors. 
 * You will turn those rough undergraduates into First 
 Class men,' he used to say : ' You must treat them very- 
 much as gentlemen,' and (perhaps thinking of his own 
 experience) ' Do not assert your authority too soon : let it 
 come naturally and by degrees.' Also, ' Never speak 
 of their faults to any but themselves. You are sure to 
 lose influence if you do.' 
 
 Three Balliol men, A. G. Watson, "W. H. Fremantle, 
 and Godfrey Lushington, had been elected Fellows of All 
 Souls under the reformed Statute. But in a year or two 
 an attempt was made to revert to the former system, in 
 which birth and breeding were preferred to learning and 
 1 Editor of Aids to Faith,
 
 272 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, ix 
 
 ability as qualifications for election. The three juniors 
 fought hard to vindicate the spirit of the University Act, 
 and were successful in doing so. Jowett was keenly 
 interested in this contest, and greatly pleased with the 
 result, which was obtained in 1861. 
 
 To those of his pupils who became parish clergymen, 
 he gave advice which was sometimes ironical, but always 
 sagacious, and kindly meant. If asked how to manage 
 one's parishioners, he would say, ' Please every one, 
 and displease none.' He repeated the saying of the 
 butler at Lichfield Palace, who, when asked how 
 Master James Lonsdale was getting on, had replied, ' He 
 offends the people by reproving them for drunkenness. 
 'E should 'a stuck to the doctrine, sir, that could do no 
 'arm ! ' Then without irony he would say, ' You can do 
 good to the poor by visiting, and to the rich by society.' 
 
 About preaching, he had a more serious tone. ' I have 
 long thought about the value of sermons, and I think 
 I know it now. They idealize life for us. But there 
 must be more in your discourse than mere morality. If 
 you give them a moral essay, not a poor woman in the 
 congregation but will feel that there is something wrong.' 
 
 In the same spirit he wrote to James Lonsdale, when 
 appointed to the preachership at Lincoln's Inn : 
 
 ' There is nothing by which more good might be done than 
 by good preaching. I mean chiefly : (i) The connexion of 
 religion with life, (2) The assertion of a regard for truth as 
 a sort of religious duty the spirit of truth. I hope you will 
 devote yourself to sermon writing ; no one can succeed better ; 
 and don't be over simple (if I may say so) ; simplicity is the 
 best of faults, yet there is some danger of mannerism even 
 from simplicity.' 
 
 He spoke with respect of Benan's article on the Future 
 of Metaphysic (Revue des Deux Mondes, Jan. 15, 1860).
 
 1854-1860] Plan of 'Essays and Reviews' 273 
 
 I have referred above to an Essay on Interpretation, 
 which had been prepared with a view to the second 
 edition of the book on St. Paul J . Having this in 
 reserve, Jowett was approached by the Rev. H. B. "Wilson, 
 the Bampton Lecturer of 1851, once his colleague in the 
 Examinership, who desired a contribution from him to 
 a volume, in which theological subjects should be freely 
 handled in a becoming spirit. 
 
 Henry Bristowe "Wilson was a man of great elevation 
 of character, and of an extraordinarily keen and pene- 
 trative mind, who, after serving his College and the 
 University for a quarter of a century, had taken a 
 St. John's living, the Vicarage of Great Staughton, 
 Huntingdonshire, in the year 1850. , The widening 
 of theological opinion and of Christian communion was 
 thenceforward the main interest of his life. The 
 concluding passage of his essay finely expresses the 
 restrained fervour and intense spiritual thoughtfulness 
 which characterized him. Those who read it here will 
 think it strange that it should have been made the ground 
 of a condemnation which, though afterwards reversed, 
 suspended him from his office for a year : 
 
 ' The Christian Church can only tend on those who are 
 committed to its care, to the verge of that abyss which parts 
 this world from the world unseen. Some few of those fostered 
 by her are now ripe for entering on a higher career ; the many 
 are but rudimentary spirits, germinal souls. What shall 
 become of them ? If we look abroad in the world and regard 
 the neutral character of the multitude, we are at a loss to 
 apply to them, either the promises, or the denunciations of 
 Revelation. So, the wise heathens could anticipate a reunion 
 
 1 p. 251. The first hint of such and it will perhaps have two 
 
 an essay occurs in a letter to subordinate essays, on the Critical 
 
 Stanley in the autumn of 1847 : Study of Scripture, and on the 
 
 ' I find that St. John expands, relation of Faith to Knowledge.' 
 
 VOL. I. T
 
 274 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, ix 
 
 with the great and good of all ages ; they could represent 
 to themselves, at least in a figurative manner, the punishment 
 and the purgatory of the wicked ; but they would not expect 
 the reappearance in another world, for any purpose, of a 
 Thersites, or an Hyperbolos social and poetical justice had 
 been sufficiently done upon them. Yet there are such as 
 these, and no better than these, under the Christian name 
 babblers, busy-bodies, livers to get gain, and mere eaters and 
 drinkers. The Koman Church has imagined a linibus infantium ; 
 we must rather entertain a hope that there shall be found, 
 after the great adjudication, receptacles suitable for those who 
 shall be infants, not as to years of terrestrial life, but as to 
 spiritual development nurseries, as it were, and seed grounds, 
 where the undeveloped may grow up under new conditions 
 the stunted may become strong, and the perverted be restored. 
 And when the Christian Church in all its branches shall have 
 fulfilled its sublunary office, and its Founder shall have sur- 
 rendered His kingdom to the great Father all, both small and 
 great, shall find a refuge in the bosom of the Universal Parent, 
 to repose, or be quickened into higher life, in the ages to come, 
 according to His Will.' 
 
 The remaining contributors to the volume were Rowland 
 "Williams, Vice-Principal of Lampeter College, the author 
 of a work on Rational Godliness 1 , a man of genius, 
 somewhat dangerously blent with Celtic fire, whose 
 essay was on Bunsen's Biblical Researches ; Baden 
 Powell, the mathematician, who had written an essay on 
 Theism for the Burnett Prize, and now wrote on Christian 
 Evidences ; Mark Pattison, who described eighteenth- 
 century Theology, and C. W. Goodwin, the only layman 
 of the seven, whose subject was the Mosaic Cosmogony. 
 
 One valuable trace of the negotiations by which the 
 work was arranged, appears in a letter of Jowett's to 
 Stanley, inviting him to contribute : 
 
 1 It was reviewed, with Jowett and Stanley on St. Paul, in the 
 Quarterly Review for October, 1855 (' The Neology of the Cloister ').
 
 1854-1860] Stanley is asked to join 275 
 
 CHESTNUT HILL, KESWICK, 
 
 August 15, 1858. 
 
 ' Wilson wishes me to write to you respecting a volume of 
 Theological Essays which he has already mentioned, the object 
 of which, however, he thinks he has not clearly set before 
 you, trusting to my being at Oxford, &c. 
 
 ' The persons who have already joined in the plan are Wilson. 
 E. Williams of King's, Pattison, Grant *, Temple, Mtiller, if 
 he has time, and myself. The object is to say what we think 
 freely within the limits of the Church of England. A notice 
 will be prefixed that no one is responsible for any notions but 
 his own. It is, however, an essential part of the plan that 
 names shall be given, partly for the additional weight which the 
 articles will have if the authors are known, and also from 
 the feeling that on such subjects as theology it is better not 
 to write anonymously. We do not wish to do anything rash 
 or irritating to the public or the University, but we are 
 determined not to submit to this abominable system of terror- 
 ism, which prevents the statement of the plainest facts, and 
 makes true theology or theological education impossible. 
 Pusey and his friends are perfectly aware of your opinions, 
 and the Dean's, and Temple's and Muller's, but they are 
 determined to prevent your expressing them. I do not deny 
 that in the present state of the world the expression of them 
 is a matter of great nicety and care, but is it possible to do any 
 good by a system of reticence ? For example, I entirely agree 
 with you that no greater good could be accomplished for religion 
 and morality than the abolition of all subscriptions ; but how 
 will this ever be promoted in the least degree, or how will it 
 be possible for any one in high station ever to propose it, if 
 we only talk it over in private ? We shall talk A. D. 1868. 
 I want to point out that the object is not to be attained by any 
 anonymous writing. 
 
 ' As it is good to look at things on all sides, I don't object 
 
 1 Grant's Indian appointment prevented him from carrying out 
 his intention of contributing. 
 
 T 2
 
 276 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, ix 
 
 to Mrs. Stanley or Mrs. Vaughan, if she is in Oxford, applying 
 the fable of the fox who has lost his tail. 
 
 ' I don't write so often as I once did, but am not the less 
 truly your sincere and affectionate friend.' 
 
 Stanley disapproved of the policy of such an open alli- 
 ance, and Jowett, in persevering with it, acted against his 
 friend's advice. As he told Dr. Symonds of Clifton 1 , he 
 strongly felt the duty of continuing his efforts to clear the 
 minds of his countrymen from religious prejudices. He 
 determined, therefore, to complete his Essay and to send 
 it in. He also obtained the adhesion of Dr. Temple, whose 
 University sermon on the Education of the World lay in 
 the direction indicated, and when preached had given no 
 offence, escaping even the suspicion of heresy, except, it 
 is said, in the mind of Dr. Hawkins, the keen-scented 
 Provost of Oriel. Dr. John Muir of Edinburgh, the 
 Sanskrit scholar, was a zealous promoter of the scheme. 
 
 Jowett was hampered with the accumulation of many 
 duties: he said one day to a friend, with momentary 
 impatience, ' I ought not to have so much to do ' : but 
 if he could only get to the seaside for a few weeks 
 together, he thought he might make a good thing of this 
 piece of writing. He was working at it during a visit 
 to the Tennysons in the winter of 1859, and wrote one 
 passage at least, that on the Parables, at Milford Vicarage, 
 Hampshire 2 , where he talked anxiously over this and other 
 schemes. At one moment he turned suddenly and asked 
 his hostess, ' Can the truth do harm ? ' On her replying, 
 ' It can surely do no harm to tell the truth,' he said, ' That 
 is the verdict of the simple mind.' Not that he had 
 fully calculated on the storm which followed, but he was 
 apprehensive of some misunderstanding, and he desired 
 
 1 Life of J. A, Symonds, vol. i. 2 I was then Vicar of Mil- 
 p. 188. ford.-L. C.
 
 Letters, 1854-1860 277 
 
 to make his own position clear 1 . The book appeared 
 in March, 1860. He wrote to me quite simply, on April 6, 
 ' I am glad that you like the volume of Essays' 
 
 Henry Smith remarked soon afterwards, with reference 
 to the enterprise, which he appears to have watched with 
 some misgiving, 'The stone has sunk quietly into the 
 waters after all.' 
 
 LETTEKS, 1854-1860. 
 
 To F. T. PALGEAVE. 
 
 HARROW, April 7, 1854. 
 
 I cannot but write to thank you for your most 
 kind note. It is the last thing I should have imagined 
 that you were indifferent to the event of last Tuesday. You 
 and a few others (if you will excuse my saying so) have 
 a ridiculous opinion of what I am and can do, but though 
 I am aware of this, I must always feel deeply grateful for 
 the affection you show. . . . The event of Tuesday, about 
 which you speak so kindly, is a little hard upon me. . . . But 
 while I can keep the regard of my pupils, I shall stay on 
 and do the utmost I can, though I cannot but feel sadly at 
 having lost a position that in this world seemed all I could 
 desire. 
 
 To A. P. STANLEY. 
 
 BALLIOL, April 12, 1854. 
 
 I will not trouble you any more with the hateful subject 
 of the Balliol election. 
 
 1 He wrote in 1861 : ' The tension of your readers.' Cf. 
 great difficulty in writing is to Autobiography of F. P. Cobbe, 
 adapt your thoughts to the appre- vol. i. p. 349.
 
 278 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, ix 
 
 . . . On Monday we had another meeting at Macaulay's. He 
 talked again about the Oxford Bill said the debate was as dull 
 as possible, that the Ministry were going to give up the certifi- 
 cate clauses, and declaimed against Whewell's bigotry ; gave an 
 amusing account of what he called Lord Rutherford's conversion 
 by being taken to Trinity College Chapel, illustrative of the 
 effect on the minds of Dissenters of so many hundred surplices. 
 His conversation does not give you a high idea of his intellect. 
 He strikes one rather as a fine old fellow, very hearty and simple, 
 but 'excellent at monologue,' with a most sincere and genuine 
 pleasure in hearing himself talk. In power of mind he is 
 very inferior to Gladstone, but more straightforward, with no 
 'ins and outs.' On the whole the Commission has prospered 
 greatly thus far. We have agreed to leave the age for exit 
 from Haileybury twenty-three, and only to require six months' 
 residence there, which will open the Indian service to the 
 Universities. Macaulay does not believe that any University 
 men will be found to go. He would rather be a serving man 
 himself, 
 
 dv8pl Trap' aK\r]pa> . . . 
 
 fj iraa-tv vtnveao-i Kara(j)dififvoi(Tiv dvdaa-fiv 1 
 
 i. e. be Governor General. 
 
 A large work of Pusey v. Vaughan 2 has appeared. 
 
 I still look forward to some happy time when you and I and 
 Temple may be working together at Oxford. Many thanks 
 more than I can express for your deep affection and sympathy 
 for me. 
 
 To A. P. STANLEY. 
 
 BALLIOL, July n, 1854. 
 
 . . . How many things have happened since we met, though 
 only three months ago. I am delighted at the abolition of 
 tests, which is a real good and rests the University on a solid 
 national foundation, independent of Church, Ministries, &c. 
 Notwithstanding the great number who signed the petition 3 
 
 1 ' Under apoor master . . . than Teaching ; see Life of E. B. Pusey, 
 
 lord it over the people of the vol. iii. pp. 386-388. 
 
 dead.' Horn. Odyss. xi. 490. 3 Against the abolition of tests. 
 
 - Collegiate and Professorial
 
 Letters, 1854-1860 279 
 
 I believe that people are already a good deal softened, and in a 
 few months will have shifted to a new point of view. Gladstone 
 is a great peacemaker. At present they busy themselves with 
 the hope that by enforcing a very strict system of chapels, &c., 
 they will be able to exclude Dissenters from the Colleges. 
 
 If you are not likely to be in town next week, will you be at 
 Canterbury in the middle of August ? I cannot tell you how 
 strongly the isolation in which I feel myself here makes me 
 turn to you and Temple and the few true and warm friends 
 of my own standing whom I have elsewhere. If I could begin 
 life again it should not be in a College. 
 
 To A. P. STANLEY. 
 
 [October'} 1854.] 
 
 To hear from you reminds me of old times which I wish 
 I could recall, when you and I and Temple were Tutors here 
 together. 'Omnes composui felices! nunc ego resto.' 
 
 There seems to be little hope of good from the new Heb- 
 domadal Board. It is said to be the general intention to vote 
 for as many Heads as possible, e. g. three for Professors, four for 
 Masters, besides their own six. That is to say in other words, 
 the worst Heads are to be elected with a view to the exclusion 
 of the best Professors. Such a Board will throw every impedi- 
 ment in the way of a Commission. It seems that the admission 
 of Dissenters, who will be excluded by every means it is possible 
 to devise, has led to this result. This is a weary place, in which 
 little good is effected by much pains and thought. I bury 
 myself in my book and pupils. . ^- 
 
 To A. P. STANLEY. 
 
 [January 1 ? 1855.] 
 
 Your letters are a great pleasure and comfort to me. I shall 
 try to follow your advice and bury all animosities towards 
 everybody. 
 
 Yet allow me to make a philosophical reflection. What 
 a bad school for character a College is ! so narrow and artificial,
 
 280 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, ix 
 
 such a soil for maggots and crotchets of all sorts, fostering 
 a sort of weak cleverness, but greatly tending to impair 
 manliness, straightforwardness, and other qualities which are 
 met with in the great world. A man said to me the other 
 day, 'How very unworldly a friend of ours is,' which meant 
 that he was disposed to lose the best years of his life between 
 twenty-three and twenty-eight in reading poetry and dreaming 
 about philosophy. . . . 
 
 To go to another subject. It has occurred to me several 
 times lately that I have been inconsiderate in trying to press 
 upon you opinions and ways of life that, whether right or 
 wrong, were natural to me, but not natural to you. I re- 
 member your writing to me about this in September, 1849'. 
 Afterwards I wanted you to come to Oxford and help a 
 scheme for poor students. I entirely see now that it was 
 a mistake 2 . . 
 
 To A. P. STANLEY. 
 
 [1855-] 
 
 I do not propose my rule of proceeding with the Puseyites 
 for anybody else. I only allude to the subject again to 
 explain that I wish them to have entire toleration, but I do not 
 wish to act with them because I think the union hollow and 
 false. They will be too much for me and I shall get nothing 
 out of them. 
 
 Certainly I desire also to remember that there will come 
 a time when all these differences will have an end, and that in 
 some way, we know not how, those who have any shadow 
 of love or truth will be transfigured into His image. But 
 I wish to wait for another world before joining in a closer 
 union with them. 
 
 I write this in a reading-room at Folkestone, where I took up 
 the Record. There were two articles in it ; the first on Miss 
 Stanley and Miss Nightingale, explaining that the Record 
 had done the latter injustice, and that it was still willing to 
 do Miss Stanley injustice. Then followed an article on 
 
 1 p. 166. Cf. Letters of Dean Stanley, p. 137. z p. 212.
 
 Letters, 1854-1860 281 
 
 Mr. Stanley and Mr. Jowett, setting forth that the former 
 was bad, but the latter worse, and that the former was 
 implicated in the sins of the latter. Remember me to your 
 sister. Though I protested above that I wished to have 
 nothing to do with Puseyites, I was glad to see my name 
 honoured by being on the same page with hers. 
 
 Pascal does not clear up to me. His evidences of Christianity 
 are only for those whom he can first bring into that state of 
 spiritual desolation in which he finds himself. It appears only 
 during the last five years of his life that he had any deep 
 religious feeling. 
 
 To A. P. STANLEY. 
 
 [July* 1855.] 
 
 Yesterday I was at Fox How and spent the day with 
 Mrs. Arnold, who sent her love to you. It was a great plea- 
 sure to me to see the place again in w r hich he lived. I think the 
 thing which interested me most was that old portrait of Arnold 
 as a young man in the dining-room, which has a strong 
 resemblance to Tom : also more of the fierceness of untamed 
 youth than is traceable in his later years. 
 
 Mrs. Arnold seemed very happy and cheerful, but I was 
 soriy to see her looking so aged ; it is ten years since I saw her 
 last, and she has become, as she called herself, an old woman 
 in the interval. 
 
 ... I have brought your book with me, which I am reading 
 with great pleasure. Two criticisms I have heard made on it 
 by one who had a great value for it : first, that it was in 
 places too rhetorical, and that there was too great an absence 
 of doctrinal statements. The first criticism I agree in, and if 
 I may venture to give a judgement in such a matter, I would 
 be glad if you would tone down your style in the new book ', 
 because it would be more effective with rather more of the 
 'ars celare artem.' The pleasantest picture loses its beauty 
 when it does not seem 'to come sweetly from nature.' 
 I am not quite a fair critic in the matter, because I feel that 
 
 1 i. e. Sinai and Palestine.
 
 282 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, ix 
 
 my dreamy, hazy suggestions of things are not to be compared 
 with the good, substantial, bright colours in which you 
 present them. 
 
 To MBS. GREENHILL. 
 
 BALLIOL, October 21, 1855. 
 
 I have not answered your kind note because I have been 
 overwhelmed with work during the last three weeks, and 
 I wished to sit down and feast upon the congratulations l 
 which I have received, and answer them at leisure. Con- 
 gratulations is a bad word, because it is supposed to mean 
 nothing, and I am sure the letters that were addressed to 
 me meant something, viz. the attachment of a great many 
 warm-hearted persons to me, for which I cannot be too grateful 
 both to them and to Providence who has given me such friends. 
 They make me half believe what the Dean of Wells 2 said to me 
 the other day : ' You have the sympathy of everybody.' 
 
 I ought to except your friends, the Heads of Houses, with 
 whom, however, I wish to be on peaceable terms. I sincerely 
 pity them, for they are fallen on evil days. And you will 
 observe that we have now got two trusty reformers among the 
 Heads, in the Dean of Christ Church (Liddell), and in the Provost 
 of Queen's (Thomson). The first is one of the most able 
 and most honest men living, quite free from Christ Church or 
 any other prejudices. His first act has been to abolish the 
 Servitors, whom he intends to convert into Exhibitioners. He 
 has been very kind to me about the Professorship : not that 
 I asked him, but of his own accord he took great pains and 
 trouble about it. 
 
 I wish Arnold were alive : how gladly we would have 
 welcomed him, if he had settled amongst us ! 
 
 To A FKIEND ON A CONVERSION TO THE ROMAN 
 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 1856. 
 
 I am indeed sorry to hear that your thoughts have been occu- 
 pied by a painful subject. Think of it as it will be a year hence 
 
 1 On the Greek Professorship. 2 G. H. S. Johnson.
 
 Letters, 1854-1860 283 
 
 and as it will seem in another world when these miserable 
 divisions will have passed away, and keep it to yourselves and 
 God. The greatest possible allowance must be made for things 
 done or said by persons in a half-distracted state of mind. 
 How it is, as I have seen it, that the best persons pass into 
 such states of mind, is a great mystery ; yet their Heaven may 
 clear before they die, and we may be perfectly reconciled to see 
 them such as God has pleased or allowed them to be. ... 
 
 It is a part of the illusion that converts to a new faith do 
 not feel the pain that they cause to others. Happy for them, 
 I think, that it is so or they would break down under the 
 conflict. 
 
 The mind is so abstracted and so perfectly at rest that 
 they cannot admit any distracting thought. Does not this 
 seem to have been the case with the first Christians ? . . . . 
 
 To SIR ALEXANDER GRANT. 
 
 August 19, 1856. 
 DEAR GRANT, 
 
 I was sorry to observe in the Illustrated London News 
 to-day a mention of the death of your father. 
 
 I am afraid this event is a great trouble to you and 
 Lady Grant, more especially as you had seen little of him 
 of late years. Do not let this grieve you. Family trials 
 frequently cannot be avoided. I do not think accidents of 
 this sort should increase sorrow. Death is an aweful thing, 
 about which our greatest comfort must ever be that the 
 departed are in the hands of God, to be judged not by the 
 pedantry of divines on earth, but by the larger rules of 
 His mercy. It seems to me wrong and foolish to dwell much 
 on anything but this. There is nothing probably that those 
 who are gone would less wish than that we should recall 
 painful recollections. 
 
 To yourself I think the succession to the Baronetcy a great 
 good. Many persons say that rank is a misfortune without 
 wealth. This is not true. There are three kinds of goods, as 
 our friend Aristotle would say, rank, wealth, and talent. It 
 seems to me that a man may do well with two out of the 
 three. With the last only, life is a painful struggle.
 
 284 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, ix 
 
 Your book 1 is often in my mind. I hope it has prospered 
 during the vacation. But if not, do not be discouraged. 
 Nothing seems to me more uncertain than composition. One 
 month a good harvest is reaped : the next all barren. In these 
 fits and starts, with much pain and melancholy I calculate 
 that I accomplish somewhat less than half of what I always 
 intend. Whether you accomplish the work six months sooner 
 or later must depend on health and many other causes. I feel 
 confident that you will succeed at last. 
 
 This letter is nothing, yet I send it because I do not want 
 you, who have shown such warm sympathy and kindness for 
 me, to suppose that I can be forgetful of you at any crisis 
 of your life. 
 
 Ever yours affectionately, 
 
 B. JOWETT. 
 
 To JOHN NICHOL. 
 
 August 22, 1856. 
 
 . . . The subject of the Stanhope Essay is 'The Life and 
 Place of Wycliffe as a Eeformer. ' 
 
 You could not have a more interesting subject. The books 
 about it you probably know better than I do. 
 
 . . . Great reformers are generally misrepresented when the 
 world has settled down into a calm. Mankind are afraid to 
 acknowledge how wild and fierce they were. I expect you will 
 find Wycliffe to have been a kind of 'Socialist,' as a man 
 whose mind was turned loose upon Scripture might very well 
 become, especially in an age when the division of ranks was so 
 strongly marked. The rebellious spirits of the Middle Ages 
 are a strange phenomenon. 
 
 To A. P. STANLEY. 
 
 DOVER, 1856. 
 
 I took up the Record at the reading-rooms to-day ; it 
 points out for the edification of the Ministry that Providence 
 whitewashed their misdoings by two large majorities imme- 
 diately after the Sunday bands were put an end to. ' I had 
 
 Edition of Aristotle's Ethics.
 
 Letters, 1854-1860 285 
 
 rather believe all the fables in the Talmud and Alkoran than 
 this.' ... I think Arnold was dangerous in the sense that every 
 man is dangerous. Arnold's peculiar danger was not knowing 
 the world and character not knowing where his ideas would 
 take other people, and ought to take himself. Yet had he 
 been living, how we would have nestled under his wings ! 
 
 To MBS. STANLEY. 
 
 December, 1856. 
 
 I write to thank you for your kind note. Shall I con- 
 gratulate you ? It is no great matter as a preferment for 
 him, but I congratulate myself three times a day. Yet it 
 is also a matter of congratulation to you that he is in the 
 right niche a place in which he can build up a reputation 
 worth many bishoprics. As Professor of Ecclesiastical His- 
 tory, he may have an influence on the English Church which 
 no bishop has ever exercised or can exercise. And therefore, 
 though stripped of some of the accidents of greatness and with- 
 out the sweet sound of 'my Lord,' I do not think he could be 
 better off than he is. 
 
 Of course he will keep the Canonry at Canterbury until 
 Dr. Barnes, who is now about eighty-six, sleeps with his fathers. 
 I do not know whether he would care to have a permanent 
 abode at Oxford at present ; if so, he could probably have 
 Mr. Butler's house, one of the few habitations convenient and 
 suitable for him. 
 
 We will give him a welcome such as shall gladden you. 
 
 To F. T. PALGRAVE. 
 
 December 4, 1857. 
 
 Many thanks for your kind present, which was most 
 welcome to me, both for the sake of the giver and the beauty 
 of the work itself. It seems to me as though I had not seen 
 you for an immense time. . . . 
 
 I have now got three works of A[lbert] D[urer]. My ambition 
 is next to possess a little landscape of Eembrandt. All the 
 ideas I have about art I learnt from you, though you have not 
 much reason to be satisfied with my proficiency. A little real
 
 286 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, ix 
 
 pleasure I get from it, whether to be set in the scale against 
 a good dinner I do not know. Certainly not against an opera or 
 oratorio of Handel. 
 
 You should have tried for the Balliol Scholarship this year. 
 Our subject for English Essay was 'Whether a good artist 
 must also be a good man.' 
 
 To MRS. GREENHILL. 
 
 KNELLEB HALL, ISLEWORTH, 
 
 Christmas Day, [1857]. 
 
 It is extremely kind of you to write and ask me to come and 
 stay with you. Alas ! I fear the visions of going to Rome 
 have melted into thin air. I have engaged to take some 
 undergraduates this vacation, with the view if possible of 
 keeping them to their work. 
 
 Therefore I fear I must put off until Easter or the summer the 
 pleasure of coming to see you. Give my love to Kate, who 
 I hope is becoming an accomplished young lady, and tell 
 her not to forget me until then. I wonder whether she is 
 up to writing a letter to me yet. My little godson is, I sup- 
 pose, grown and more entertaining than when I last saw him. 
 
 Oxford is at last beginning to stir itself and set its house in 
 order. During the last part of the Term we were very busy at 
 Balliol with a scheme of reform which has just received 
 the consent of the Visitor, and will, as we hope, shortly become 
 law 1 . It is charming to see the way in which the anti- 
 reformers change their opinions, and a great satisfaction 
 to have been a 'republican of the day before.' Everybody 
 seems to be discovering that the founder after all is only 
 the ghost of a founder. 
 
 To F. T. PALGRAVE. 
 
 October 24, 1858. 
 
 ' I will be guilty of this sin no longer 2 , ' and only hope you 
 will not measure the value I set on the gift by the apparent 
 
 1 pp. 258, 269. The Balliol or- ' Shakespeare, i Henry IV, ii. 4. 
 
 dinance of the Executive Com- It was a favourite phrase of 
 
 mission of 1854 was issued in Jowett's, and, as often happened 
 
 1857. in quotations, was applied by him
 
 Letters, 1854-1860 287 
 
 thanklessness of not answering your letter. The St. Paul l 
 seems to me to be a very fine work, which I am extremely glad 
 to possess. I like particularly the style in which you have 
 mounted it ; it hangs over the mantelpiece in the outer room. 
 I hope that you will soon come and pay a visit to it. 
 
 Shall I offer a criticism on the St. Paul, a very general 
 one ? I think I would have thrown into it more of unrest 
 and perturbation of feeling at any rate more trace of the 
 struggle and conquest over it. The 2 Cor. xii, xiii, i Cor. 
 ix, Gal. vi. 17, 2 Tim. iv. 5-8 would express what I mean. 
 But I am not sure whether it would be possible to make so 
 great a departure from conventional ideas on the subject. 
 
 My book is nearly all printed, but is at present interrupted 
 for Homer, in which I find great delight. 
 
 To A. P. STANLEY. 
 
 TENBY, Friday, March, i8=.g. 
 MY DEAR STANLEY, 
 
 I write to you as one of my dearest and oldest friends 
 to tell you that my dear father has been taken from us. 
 He died peacefully after about a fortnight's illness, and I 
 believe without pain to himself. 
 
 He was one of the best men I ever knew, perfectly guileless 
 and childlike, and would have been one of the happiest, if life 
 could have been spent only in doing kindnesses to others. 
 Though possessed of considerable ability and very great activity 
 of mind, he was entirely ignorant of the world and of business, 
 in some respects like a child throughout life. 
 
 There is no need of knowledge of the world or of business 
 where he is now. 
 
 My mother and sister are better than I could have expected, 
 and have borne up and are borne up under this great blow. 
 
 The post is just going out. 
 
 Ever yours affectionately, 
 
 B. JOWETT. 
 
 without any reference to the trick of association had taken 
 
 original meaning and connexion his fancy. 
 
 of the words, which through some 1 Woolner's relief, pp. 233,289.
 
 288 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, ix 
 
 To A. P. STANLEY. 
 
 TENBY, March 10, 1859. 
 
 I write to thank you for your most kind letter, which was 
 a great comfort and good to me as far as words could be. 
 
 We have experienced the greatest kindness here from 
 very many persons. The Eector told me that it was the 
 impression of the whole place ' that a good man had passed 
 away.' 
 
 I make no progress with my book, for my mind seems dried 
 up. I have written what would make above 100 pages of 
 print for the two last essays of the second volume (all the rest 
 is printed), but the form of it is not good, and just at present 
 I feel incapable of putting it into a better. I will wait a day 
 or two and try again ; therefore do not expect the book for a few 
 weeks. I return on Monday evening. 
 
 To THE TENNYSON CHILDREN. 
 
 _ T February, 1860. 
 
 MY DEAR HALLAM AND LIONEL, 
 
 What an age it is since I saw you ! Love and kisses. 
 I must write you a few lines, for I want to hear from you. 
 
 Can you carry a message? Tell Papa that I have got a 
 Homer for him, but not a Boswell. The Homer is in five 
 volumes and costs five shillings. 
 
 I wish I had you after dinner to sit opposite me on two 
 chairs and hear about ' Louisa ' or the tale of Troy. Try and 
 persuade Papa to bring you in the summer. 
 
 I think I told you that I keep a large school to which you 
 are to come by-and-by. All the boys in my school are very 
 big, some of them six feet high and more. They are very 
 busy playing at soldiers at present ; in fact, they can hardly 
 be got to do anything else 1 . But they are good boys, and 
 I like them very much. 
 
 Do you know the name of a large school where there are 
 only old boys ? It is called a University. 
 
 1 The Rifle Corps movement was at its height in 1860.
 
 Letters, 1854-1860 289 
 
 Give my love to Papa and Mama. I shall add two pieces 
 of advice to you in large letters that you may remember 
 them : 
 
 NEVER FEAR. 
 NEVER CRY. 
 
 Good-bye. You may as well guess from whom this comes, 
 therefore I shall only sign myself 
 
 Your affectionate friend, 
 
 OXONIENSIS. 
 
 Note on Woolner's St. Paul (p. 287). 
 
 Mr. F. T. Palgrave has kindly furnished us with the 
 following account (October, 1896): 
 
 ' Woolner's St. Paul with three similar figures, Moses, 
 David, and (perhaps) St. John Baptist was modelled by him 
 and cast in plaster ; from which the four figures were carved, 
 in some local stone, for the pulpit in Llandaff Cathedral nave. 
 Woolner did not superintend the carving, which I have heard 
 is rough. The series was in the E. A. Exhibition about 1858 
 or 1859. He never did better work.' 
 
 VOL. I. U
 
 CHAPTEK X 
 
 'ESSAYS AND REVIEWS.' 1860-1865 
 (Aet. 43-48) 
 
 Essays and Reviews Panic in the religious world The Quarterly 
 and Edinburgh Reviews Bishop Wilberforce Stanley at Oxford 
 Dr. Pusey's attitude Bishop Colenso Prosecution of Williams and 
 Wilson The Vice-Chancellor's Court Continued agitation for the 
 Endowment of the Greek Chair E. Freeman and C. Elton Endow- 
 ment of the Chair by Christ Church. 
 
 TN this chapter it will be necessary for the sake of 
 -*- clearness to travel beyond the strict limits of Bio- 
 graphy, and to recall a series of incidents which had 
 important consequences not only for the subject of this 
 memoir, but for some public institutions. They gave 
 to his career its final bent by binding him to Balliol; 
 and while thus enriching that College, left Christ Church, 
 and the Church of England also, poorer than they might 
 otherwise have been. 
 
 In the summer of 1860 a the meeting of the British 
 Association was held at Oxford. The encounter on that 
 occasion between Mr. Huxley 2 and Bishop Wilberforce, 
 during the discussion that arose concerning Mr. Darwin's 
 Origin of Species 3 , was long vividly remembered and 
 
 1 June 27 -July 3. 2 The Right Hon. T. H. Huxley. 
 
 3 Published in 1859.
 
 'Essays and Reviews' 291 
 
 has been described elsewhere 1 . But the excitement 
 evoked by that great argument gave place in clerical 
 circles to the outcry shortly afterwards raised about Essays 
 and Reviews. Dean Church, in writing to his American 
 correspondent, Dr. Asa Gray, early in 1861, observes 
 with reference to Darwin's volume, ' The book I have 
 no doubt would be the subject still of a great row, if 
 there were not a much greater row going on about 
 Essays and Reviews V 
 
 It is hard for the present generation to realize the 
 violence of this disturbance. The ' religious world ' lost 
 their heads at once, and there was a danger lest even 
 sensible persons among the laity should be carried 
 away. Few indeed of those who professed orthodox 
 opinions shared the temperate and calm judgement of 
 the distinguished clergyman whose words I have just 
 quoted. ' There has been a great deal of unwise panic/ 
 he adds, ' and unjust and hasty abuse ; and people who 
 have not an inkling of the difficulties which beset the 
 questions, are for settling them in a summary way, 
 which is perilous for every one.' The mischief was 
 already afoot, when it was sedulously fomented at a 
 great gathering of the Oxford M.A.'s, who had come up to 
 vote in Convocation against the appointment of Mr. Max 
 Muller to the Chair of Sanskrit. That distinguished 
 Orientalist was suspected of ' Germanism,' being in fact 
 a German, and also an acquaintance of the Chevalier 
 Bunsen, whose name (if only on account of Dr. Arnold's 
 friendship for him) was a bugbear to many of the orthodox 
 at the time. 
 
 The clergy who came up on that occasion had their 
 attention called to an article in the Westminster and 
 
 1 See Life of Charles Darwin, vol. ii. pp. 321, 322. 
 
 2 Dean Church's Life, p. 157. 
 
 U 2
 
 292 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, x 
 
 Foreign Quarterly Review of October i, 1860, headed 
 ' Neo-Christianity,' and dealing with, the volume in 
 question 1 . The tenor of that article was calculated to 
 excite their horror. The Westminster was then the 
 organ of the Positivist school, whose reputed aim 
 was to reconstruct society upon the ruins of existing 
 systems ; and the liberalizing of Christianity plainly 
 did not fall in with such a project. Accordingly the 
 line taken by this periodical was to caricature a position 
 such as that of the Essayists, in which Conservative 
 and Progressive principles were combined, as one of 
 hopeless inconsistency, and, in short, to push these 
 writers over the precipice, on the brink of which it 
 represented them as standing. Instead, however, of con- 
 sidering the questionableness of the warning ('Quis 
 tulerit Gracchos de seditione querentes?'), the clergy, who 
 had hardly recovered from the Darwinian scare, were 
 in the mood to think, 'If this gives offence in such 
 a quarter, how bad it must be ! ' 
 
 The clerical * caucus ' was immediately followed by an 
 outburst of abuse, more or less tempered with decorum, 
 in the Record, Guardian, and other 'religious' news- 
 papers ; and the matter was seriously taken up by the 
 Church's representatives, assembled in both Houses of 
 Convocation (whose powers, long suppressed, had been 
 revived in i86o) 2 . The bishops, led by the Bishop of 
 Oxford, formally denounced the book, and every diocese, 
 
 1 A letter from Jowett to 2 They met on March 26. In the 
 
 Stanley of April, 1862, shows that Upper House Thirlwall supported 
 
 the writer of this article was after- Wilberforce,and Bishop Ham pden 
 
 wards believed to have regretted (of all persons) said, ' This was a 
 
 his vehemence, and that when he question between Infidelity and 
 
 was threatened with persecution Christianity, and that we ought 
 
 for his opinions, Jowett exerted to prosecute.' Life ofBp. Wilber- 
 
 himself strenuously on his behalf, force, vol. iii. p. 213.
 
 1860-1865] Motives misunderstood 293 
 
 archdeaconry, and rural-diaconate throughout the land 
 became a busy hive for the manufacture of memorials 
 against the notorious ' seven.' Still heavier artillery 
 was brought to bear. In the January number of the 
 Quarterly Review for 1861, there appeared an article 
 on Essays and Reviews, in which the subtle influence 
 of Bishop Wilberforce l was easily detected, at once 
 depreciating the literary merit of the volume, and 
 emphasizing both its dangerous tendency and the invi- 
 dious position of the clerical contributors. This article 
 became a rallying point for controversialists on the 
 orthodox side. And two imposing volumes, Aids to 
 Faith and Replies to Essays and Reviews, both now 
 forgotten, though produced under high auspices, helped 
 to swell the cry of alarm which they proposed to allay. 
 But besides the Comtist critics, and the clergy of 
 every grade, the book had other enemies. There were 
 laymen who claimed that 'Free Inquiry' should be the 
 privilege of ' Free Inquirers.' To such persons Jowett's 
 position was wholly incomprehensible. Penetrated as 
 he was with the conviction that the religion of Christ 
 ought to be the religion of all men, and seeing in the 
 Church of England could she but know 'the things 
 belonging to her peace' the best hope for the future 
 of Christianity, he had overcome the difficulties of 
 his position, difficulties which were not greater 
 for the Christian Philosopher than for the Sacer- 
 dotalist or the Evangelical Protestant. He saw the 
 religion of his countrymen dying, like poor Dean Swift, 
 'from the top' losing touch, that is to say, with in- 
 tellectual and rational life; the clergy, meanwhile, 
 
 1 The writer professes to trace concealed bitterness.' This was 
 in Mr. Jowett's Essay ' a certain shrewdly aimed, 
 sense of disappointment and
 
 294 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, x 
 
 ignoring plain facts, or industriously obscuring them, 
 or explaining them away, and the civilization of the 
 age in danger of becoming, as he himself described 
 humanity without religion, 'a truncated, half-educated 
 sort of being 1 .' The average English layman 'cared for 
 none of these things.' His withers were unwrung. 
 Looking at the matter from outside, he only saw the 
 prima facie discrepancy between seventeenth-century 
 Articles, or mediaeval formularies (already at variance 
 with each other), and nineteenth-century enlightenment 2 . 
 It followed that no enlightened person should become 
 a clergyman, and that the clergyman who became 
 enlightened and let men know it should be unfrocked. 
 It did not occur to such observers to ask the further 
 question, what then would happen to religion? Nor 
 did they stop to think that by maintaining silence, 
 the Essayist might have served his personal interest, 
 but would have sacrificed a noble end. Hence they 
 were ready to join in the cry of ' disloyalty.' 
 Mr. Carlyle, the Chelsea oracle, who often cared not 
 whom or what he smote, so he smote hard enough, 
 was at once ready with his epigram. He had himself 
 proclaimed the 'Exodus from Houndsditch 3 ,' but had 
 not shown a way through the Wilderness; yet the 
 moment some one from within the camp spoke words of 
 truth and soberness, he broke out with ' The sentinel who 
 deserts, should be shot V And the organ of sceptical Con- 
 
 1 Epistles of St. Paul, third force, vol. iii. p. 8 : ' Eode with 
 
 edition, vol. ii. p. 96. Carlyle . . . Carlyle against the 
 
 * See Letters of Matthew Arnold, Essayists on dishonesty ground 
 
 vol. i. pp. 131, 135, 178. and atheistic.' Some who cling 
 
 8 His quaint phrase for getting to Carlyle's authority in such a 
 
 rid of Hebrew old clothes, that is, matter may bear to be reminded 
 
 of Jewish tradition. of the more considerate utterance 
 
 4 Cf. ihe Life of Bishop Wilier- of John Stuart Mill: 'I hold
 
 1860-1865] ' The Storm in the Church ' 
 
 295 
 
 servatism, not untinged with clericalism the Saturday 
 Review in two articles, headed 'Essays and Reviews' 
 (March 2, 1861) and 'The Storm in the Church' 
 (March 23, 1861), while solemnly professing reluctance to 
 meddle with the subject, indulged in unworthy sneers 
 at the position of the writers : 
 
 'Fair dealing, after all, is an essential part of practical 
 religion ; and liberty of conduct may do as much harm to 
 morality as liberty of speculation can do good to Truth. That 
 there has been, and will be, abundance of applause, as well 
 as of indignation, is true ; but it does not follow that those 
 who think it politic to drive in the wedge, in their hearts 
 respect the wedge which they drive in 1 .' 
 
 Then with reference to the foolish action of the 
 bishops in denouncing, i. e. advertising, the book : 
 
 ' Has any perpetual curate with fourteen children a volume 
 of dull sermons which no publisher will take ? Let him 
 
 entirely with those clergymen 
 who elect to remain in the national 
 Church, so long as they are able 
 to accept its Articles and confes- 
 sions in any sense or with any 
 interpretation consistent with 
 common honesty, whether it be 
 the generally received interpre- 
 tation or not. If all were to 
 desert the Church who put a 
 large and liberal construction on 
 its terms of communion, or who 
 would wish to see those terms 
 widened, the national provision 
 for religious teaching and wor- 
 ship would be left utterly to 
 those who take the narrowest, 
 the most literal, and purely 
 textual view of the formularies; 
 who, though by no means neces- 
 sarily bigots, are under the great 
 
 disadvantage of having the bigots 
 for their allies, and who, however 
 great their merits may be and 
 they are often very great yet, if 
 the Church is improvable, are not 
 the most likely persons to improve 
 it. ... Almost all the illustrious 
 reformers of religion began by 
 being clergymen, but they did 
 not think that their profession 
 as clergymen was inconsistent 
 with their being reformers. They 
 mostly indeed ended their days 
 outside the Churches in which 
 they were born; but itwas because 
 the Churches, in an evil hour for 
 themselves, cast them out.' In- 
 augural Address at St. Andrews, 
 February i, 1867. 
 
 1 Saturday Review, March 2, 
 1861.
 
 296 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, x 
 
 insert into the volume a few passages sufficiently questionable 
 in their tendency to call down his diocesan, and his little 
 ones will be fed. Is any would-be popular preacher languish- 
 ing under a sense of neglected talent? Let him spice high 
 with heterodoxy, and he is a famous man V 
 
 Such words, in looking back upon them, only provoke 
 a smile ; but they caused some anger at the time ; not in 
 Jowett himself, who attributed them to ' a fit of indiges- 
 tion ' on the part of the writer, but in his friend Charles 
 Bowen 2 , who withdrew from the staff of the Saturday 
 Review in consequence of them. Yet the writer of the 
 first article made an important admission : ' The book 
 has a conservative as well as a destructive side, which it 
 is not fair or wise to overlook.' Had this conservative 
 purpose been carefully weighed by those ecclesiastics, who, 
 like Dean Church, were not unaware of the difficulties 
 involved, the Church might have profited by a con- 
 troversy, which, as it was, had only a desolating effect 3 . 
 I mean for the time. For that the joint endeavour 
 of the seven Essayists was fruitless, it is idle to affirm 4 . 
 To say that they formed no party is wholly to mis- 
 
 1 Saturday Review, March 23, than secret propagandism. Free 
 1861. speech, indeed, is not truth ; but 
 
 2 The late Lord Bowen. it is the condition of securing 
 
 3 The Spectator of those days truth.' 
 
 formed an honourable exception 4 Cf. Lecky's Democracy and 
 to the spirit of panic which had Liberty, vol. i. p. 425 : ' The first 
 seized on the periodical press, very marked change in this re- 
 in reviewing the Essays on April spect followed, I think, the publi- 
 7, 1860 ('Open Teaching in the cation in 1860 of the Essays and 
 Church of England '), it spoke of Reviews ; and the effect of this 
 the book as a ' splendid example book in making the religious 
 of sincerity, of courage and truth- questions which it discussed fa- 
 fulness in action ' ; and the writer miliar to the great body of edu- 
 of an article on May 25, 1861, cated men was probably by far 
 pleaded against legal measures as the most important of its conse- 
 unwise: 'Opendiscussionisbetter quences.'
 
 1860-1865] The 'Edinburgh Review' 297 
 
 apprehend the situation. Professor Jowett, at least, as 
 I have already shown, never sought to form a party. 
 His object was to reconcile intellectual persons to 
 Christianity, and to exhort the clergy to the love of 
 Truth. If he was not wholly successful, he shared that 
 fate with others who have striven to combat the pre- 
 judices of their age. 
 
 Why is it that what then raised such a tempest 
 appears so harmless now ? May not something be attri- 
 buted to the contention of those days ? Not that Jowett 
 openly took part in any contention. Again he acted 
 on the rule 'The only thing to do is to do nothing.' 
 The Bishop of London, A. C. Tait, after saying to 
 Dr. Stanley that he saw no matter for condemnation in 
 Temple, Jowett, or Pattison, gave his signature to the 
 Bishops' letter, which condemned the Essayists in general. 
 This course of his, although it shook Jowett' s confidence 
 for the moment 'It is natural in him but it ruins 
 confidence ' did not interrupt his friendship towards his 
 former Tutor. He wrote an elaborate letter to A. C. T., 
 but did not send it 1 . Dr. Stanley, who was still at 
 Oxford, came to the front in his own gallant fashion 
 with what his biographer describes as a 'fiery' article 
 in the Edinburgh Review for April, 1861 2 , in which, with 
 provoking coolness, he claims the declared adversaries 
 of the volume as its real supporters 3 ; and quotes many 
 latitudinarian precedents from Anglican divines. This 
 action was the more chivalrous on his part, as he had 
 
 1 p. 346. of piety and of Christian feeling 
 
 2 He had previously taken part which pervaded those writings, 
 with T. H. Green in the publi- 3 He begins with an effective 
 cation of some extracts from Prof, appeal to Bishop Thirlwall as an 
 Jowett's works entitled Statements historian, who had himself ad- 
 of Christian Doctrine and Practice, mirably described the effect of 
 intended to illustrate the spirit religious panic.
 
 298 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, x 
 
 dissuaded Jowett from allying himself with, others in 
 this attack on the orthodox position 1 . Jowett always 
 maintained that Stanley's article made the whole situa- 
 tion different from what it might have been. 
 
 It was in January of the next year (1862) that Bishop 
 "Wilberforce said to Stanley at Cuddesdon, with a furtive 
 smile, ' The Augurs have met/ so confessing the author- 
 ship of the attack in the Quarterly 2 . The restless 
 activity of the bishop had not ended there. He de- 
 nounced the Essayists from the University pulpit in two 
 sermons which he published 3 . One of these contained 
 an amazing paragraph on 'the Doubter's death,' which 
 was much approved in certain quarters at the time. 
 
 In a series of ' Tracts for Priests and People ' which 
 were coming out as a manifesto of the Maurician 
 school, a sort of middle course was taken, claiming some 
 latitude of interpretation and deprecating injustice, but, 
 with evident sincerity, professing to hold firmly by the 
 Creeds and Articles 4 . 
 
 Even if he had chosen, the Tutor so assailed had no 
 opportunity of reply. He had long been excluded from 
 the University pulpit. In Balliol itself ' Catechetics ' 
 had taken the place of the sermon (the successive 
 Lecturers being Lonsdale, Biddell, and Woollcombe), and 
 the terminal address before the Communion gave even 
 less room for controversy. Jowett's voice was occasion- 
 ally heard, however, in out-of-the-way parts of London. 
 His old friend W. Rogers was glad to have his aid in 
 Bishopsgate Street from time to time. (They had 
 renewed their intercourse while Rogers was acting 
 
 1 p. 276. preached before the University 
 
 3 Dean Stanley's Letters, p. of Oxford, 1861. 
 
 313. * See especially F. D. Maurice's 
 
 3 The Revelation of God, the own essay, entitled The Mote and 
 
 Probation of Man : two sermons the Beam.
 
 1860-1865] Unflinching Loyalty 299 
 
 on the Duke of Newcastle's Commission of Inquiry into 
 popular Education, which, reported in 1861.) The 
 Eev. Harry Jones, of St. Luke's, Berwick Street, was 
 another clergyman who honoured himself by welcoming 
 the heretic to his church. Miss F. P. Cobbe, who heard 
 him there, has given a good description of his manner 
 in preaching 1 . A sermon preached in 1864 so struck 
 some of those who heard it that they requested him to 
 publish it; but he would not. It was not till 1866 that 
 Dean Stanley ventured to nominate him as a Preacher 
 in Westminster Abbey, and in 1870 it was still an 
 exceptional privilege to hear him, as, for example, in 
 Mr. Haweis's pulpit, St. James's, Marylebone. Although 
 the sermons generally contained some expression of liberal 
 opinion, their main tenor was hortatory 'idealizing life.' 
 
 He was also afterwards silently left out of the Board 
 of Theological Studies, whose institution he had advocated 
 in 1848-51, and on which the Professor of Greek as well 
 as the Professor of Hebrew had a natural right to appear. 
 
 Jowett himself did not heartily accept the appellation 
 ' Broad Church.' What is broad has limits. He would 
 have preferred some expression conveying more the sense 
 of a diffusive and expansive spirit, leavening humanity. 
 He wrote to Stanley in 1862 : 'A lady said to me some 
 time ago that we Liberals should not talk about freedom, 
 but about truth that was the flag under which to fight. 
 I think that was a just criticism.' He grew very weary 
 of the continual buzz. When eleven editions of Essays 
 and Reviews had sold, he said, ' We have had enough of 
 this volume : let us turn to something else.' He never 
 ' started aside,' however, from supporting his companions 
 in distress, but stood by them with unflinching loyalty. 
 
 1 Autobiography, fyc., vol. i. p. 356 : ' He looks at one as I never 
 knew any preacher do.'
 
 300 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, x 
 
 Some friendly clerics, amongst others Tait, the Bishop 
 of London, sought to divide Jowett and Temple from the 
 other Essayists, 'making a difference,' according to an 
 Apostolic precept l . Jowett deliberately refused to second 
 this attempt, although he hinted, in conversation with 
 his private friends, the discomfort which attended his 
 alliance with the perfervid Celtic spirit in such an 
 enterprise. 
 
 But he stood manfully by Rowland "Williams and by 
 H. B. "Wilson, in the well-known trial 2 . He wrote on the 
 subject : ' I am not anxious about the event of B-. "W.'s 
 case. I feel convinced that sooner or later the Church 
 of England will find it impossible to subsist as a fabric 
 of falsehood and fiction.' 
 
 The scandal caused by the claim for latitude on the 
 part of the six clerical contributors to Essays and 
 Reviews, was quickly followed by a fresh excitement 
 arising from a similar claim on the part of a bishop of 
 the Church of England, though only a Colonial bishop 
 Dr. Colenso, the well-known Bishop of Natal 3 . Noncon- 
 formist bodies were similarly disturbed. Dr. Samuel 
 Davidson, the author of a learned Introduction to the 
 Old Testament, was cast out by the Independent Synod. 
 The last-mentioned fact recalls an incidental result of 
 this whole controversy. Not only were the differences 
 between the High and Low Church parties consider- 
 ably softened in making common cause against the 
 supposed enemy, but the jealousy of Dissent, only 
 a short while since 'so rich within their souls,' gave 
 way before the advantage of a temporary alliance with 
 
 1 Jude 22. and Fremantle (Murray, 1865), 
 
 2 See Ecclesiastical Judgments pp. 247-290. 
 
 of the Privy Council, by Brodrick 3 Oct. 1862 ; ib., pp. 293-317.
 
 1860-1865] Dr. Lushington's Judgement 301 
 
 the right wing of Nonconformity. Church order for 
 the time seemed less important than orthodox belief. 
 Among the Essayists, the chief sufferer in all this was 
 the Rev. H. B. Wilson, who defended his own cause with 
 great ability and learning : and although suspended 
 from his office for a year, and completely broken 
 down in health, probably did more by his individual 
 efforts towards enlarging the boundaries of free inquiry 
 within the Church of England than any other single 
 man. Both with Wilson and Colenso Jowett main- 
 tained an active friendship, in which, while preserving 
 his own independence of action, he gave invaluable 
 support to others. 
 
 His first impression of Colenso's book appears in 
 a letter to Stanley: 
 
 'I think the tone is a good deal mistaken. But don't be 
 hurt or pained by it. You work in one way, he in another, 
 I perhaps in a third way. All good persons should agree in 
 heartily sympathizing with the effort to state the facts of 
 Scripture exactly as they are. Then you really seem like 
 Athanasius against the whole Christian world, past and 
 present. My impression is that mankind will never seek for 
 anything better, until they are convinced of their true position 
 about Scripture.' 
 
 He wrote to me in reference to the Judgement in the 
 Court of Arches (in a letter dated Linlathen, July 16, 
 1862): 'I am satisfied and pleased with the Judgement 
 of Dr. Lushington on the whole. A great step has 
 been gained in freedom for the Church of England.' 
 He meant, no doubt, that although the two Essayists 
 had been condemned on single points, the rejection of 
 so many of the articles of accusation formed a precedent 
 of solid value. 
 
 Dr. Williams and Mr. Wilson, however, were naturally
 
 302 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, x 
 
 not satisfied ; and on their appeal to the Queen in 
 Council. Dr. Lushington's partial condemnation was 
 reversed by Lord Chancellor Westbury's Judgement on 
 February 8, I864 1 . Jowett had written to Stanley in 
 August, 1862, 'I think it well that the suit should 
 continue. More freedom will probably be gained.' 
 
 Meanwhile Jowett himself had become involuntarily 
 the centre of a local conflict which harassed him for 
 several years. The question of the salary had slumbered 
 until March, 1858, when Stanley as Professor of Ecclesi- 
 astical History succeeded to a Canonry at Christ Church, 
 and came into residence at Oxford. For the reasons 
 stated 2 in a previous chapter he found the question at 
 Christ Church already foreclosed. But he at once began 
 to exert his influence in the University, especially with 
 members of the Hebdomadal Council ; and the motions 
 recorded by him in his speech of November 20, 1861 3 , 
 were due to his suggestion. All that had been done 
 before his coming had been to refer the question of 
 unendowed Professorships generally to a Committee of 
 Council, which had not reported. 
 
 The first intimation of one of these efforts of Stanley 
 and his friends came to Jowett when away from Oxford 
 after hearing of his brother Alfred's death. He wrote 
 to Stanley in a letter which it would be wrong to 
 mutilate, although the part referring to his personal 
 loss is not relevant in this connexion: 
 
 ' I return the papers which you sent me. I have hardly 
 looked at them, but enough to show me the great kindness 
 
 1 Mr. Bowen, afterwards Lord 3 A Speech delivered, in the 
 Bowen, wrote on the margin of his House of Congregation on the 
 copy of the Chancellor's deliver- Endowment of the Regius Pro- 
 ance 'Hell dismissed with costs.' fessorship of Greek, by Arthur 
 
 2 p. 242. Penrhyn Stanley, &c., p. 5.
 
 1860-1865] Question of Endowment of Greek Chair 303 
 
 of my friends. I hope that they will not think me cold or 
 ungrateful. I had no idea that you were going to take any 
 step during this Term, or I should have written to ask you 
 to do so in the way you have done. 
 
 ' I cannot express to you what I feel about this matter, or 
 about your kind sympathy respecting my dear brother's death. 
 It does not make any great difference to the world, but it 
 makes a great difference to me, for he was a dear good brother 
 to me, and always to the end of his life retained the strongest 
 sense of what I had done for his education in old times 
 amid many troubles and difficulties, which are with the past 
 now. But I sometimes wish that I could bring them 
 back, if I could bring back all those who were then living, 
 and especially if I could use the experience that I now have 
 for their good.' (Tenby, December, 1858.) 
 
 Stanley's hands were strengthened by the return to 
 Oxford of Dean Liddell, who resumed his place in the 
 Council in 1859. And in Michaelmas Term, 1860, Stanley 
 himself became a Professorial Member of Council, while 
 Dr. Pusey was re-elected. Then both champions were 
 in the field, and the fight began in earnest. After 
 several proposals, including that of the Dean of Christ 
 Church, had been successively overborne, Dr. Pusey, 
 to the surprise of every one, took the matter in hand. 
 He had probably begun to see that the continued 
 withholding of the salary was likely to alienate young 
 men from the party of which he was the head, the 
 more so if Stanley gained his point, which he was 
 sure to do in the end. And, although the movements 
 of such a mind are somewhat inscrutable, there is no 
 reason to doubt that Dr. Pusey, as an English gentleman, 
 was acutely alive to the painfulness of his position. 
 He sought, however, to reconcile the step with his 
 peculiar principles, by introducing a proviso, which 
 would have given the University authorities an effective
 
 304 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, x 
 
 voice in future appointments l . Cumbrous as the resolu- 
 tion was, Stanley accepted it as a pis aller, and it was 
 proposed in Convocation 2 , but not carried. A scheme 
 involving so many complications had little chance with 
 a body so ready to listen to objections. Dr. Pusey 
 sought to throw the burden of odium on those Liberals 
 who had voted against his measure 3 , and remained 
 deaf to any further proposal. 
 
 Jowett not only possessed his soul in patience all this 
 while, but was ready to extend sympathy to others who 
 like himself were victims of the spirit of religious 
 intolerance which had gone abroad. I select one of 
 several letters which he wrote about this time to 
 Mr. Charles Voysey, whose theological views expressed in 
 sermons had brought him into trouble with ecclesiastical 
 
 superiors : 
 
 'WHITBY, July 26, [1861]. 
 
 ' I think I told you in one of my former letters that I had 
 little means of assisting others. But I will certainly do what 
 I can to help you. I am very glad that you went to Yarmouth 
 and proved what you could do in parish work. Would it 
 be possible to stay on till Christmas and so leave with as 
 little of "a scene" as possible? Supposing that an attempt 
 were made at any future time to get you a living from the 
 Bishop of London or the Chancellor, it would go much against 
 you that you had left a curacy for what they call " heterodoxy." 
 This is what Sydney Smith would have called "a dreary time 
 for clergymen of liberal opinions." But I believe that it will 
 clear and that we shall live to see much truer ideas pre- 
 vailing of the nature of Christianity. 
 
 1 For Dr. Pusey's views on tion, because the motion took the 
 the Professoriate and on Crown form of a resolution to petition 
 appointments, see Life of E. B. Parliament. 
 
 Pusey, vol. iii. pp. 382-391, and 3 With whom lies the responsi- 
 
 his pamphlet on Collegiate and bility of the approaching Conflict 
 
 Professoriate Teaching, 1854. as to the Greek Chair? by Pacificus, 
 
 2 Convocation, not Congrega- Nov. 1861.
 
 1860-1865] Debate in Congregation 305 
 
 'I have sent your two enclosures to Dr. Stanley, and re- 
 quested him to show them to a friend of his and mine who 
 may have it in his power to assist your views. 
 
 ' Thank you for your sympathy amid all this noise. I really 
 do not think it has occasioned me any trouble or anxiety.' 
 
 In October, 1861, Stanley again brought the matter 
 forward in Council, and carried there a form of Statute 
 for endowing the Greek Chair, which, was accordingly 
 submitted to Congregation 1 . The vote took place on 
 November 26, 1861, and the measure was rejected by 
 a majority of three (99 to 96). The majority in this case 
 was only partly moved by theological prepossessions. 
 Academical prejudice also had its share, and Pusey's 
 contention that Crown appointments were dangerous 
 because the ecclesiastical authorities were no longer 
 consulted, as formerly (see next page) found an echo 
 amongst those who thought that, on the ground of 
 scholarship, a University Board would have made 
 a better choice. They demurred to subsidizing the 
 nominee of the Crown. The measure had been promul- 
 gated in a previous meeting, November 20, 1861. The 
 discussion as reported in the Oxford Chronicle for 
 November 23, 1861, contained some points which should 
 not be passed over. One speaker said ' he did not see 
 that the present Professor had any claim on account 
 of his labours, which were purely voluntary.' 
 
 Mr. Osborne Gordon, Student and Censor of Christ 
 Church, said, 'The proper quarter from which to obtain 
 the endowment was Christ Church, which had accepted an 
 estate from the Crown chargeable with the stipend, and 
 had actually proposed in 1854 to endow the Professorship.' 
 
 1 The Hebdomadal Council Measures passed in Council were 
 (see p. 183) had the sole initi- afterwards submitted (i) to Con- 
 ative in University Legislation. gregation and (2) to Convocation. 
 
 VOL. I. X
 
 306 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, x 
 
 The former fact was flatly denied by Professor Pusey. 
 who said 'that Christ Church had received no estate, 
 but only the burden of making the payment. . . . Crown 
 nominations were likely to be made on political grounds. 
 Formerly such nominations were good, because the 
 highest ecclesiastical advice was taken, but this practice 
 had been discontinued 1 . He must oppose the endow- 
 ment of the present holder on theological grounds : . . . 
 in his opinion the second edition of the work 2 was 
 worse than the first.' Professor Mountague Bernard 
 disliked Jowett's theology, but ' did not think it advis- 
 able to discountenance unsound theology by means of 
 bad morality.' 
 
 It was after this adverse vote in Congregation, which 
 effectually stopped further proceedings for the time, that 
 some of Jowett's private friends without his knowledge 
 subscribed 2000, which sum was presented to him 
 through Mr. Lingen. 
 
 He replied as follows : 
 
 BALLIOL COLLEGE, OXFORD, 
 
 -,.- T January 24, 1862. 
 
 MY DEAR LINGEN, 
 
 I hardly know how to express the feeling with which 
 I received through you the information that the sum of 2000 
 had been placed at my disposal in payment of the salary of 
 the Eegius Professor of Greek, which has hitherto been 
 withheld. 
 
 It is the greatest pleasure to obtain from my friends such 
 a testimony of their regard. I will try to show my gratitude 
 in the only way that I am able, by increasing energy in the 
 work of the Professorship. 
 
 But I cannot accept their munificent present. Though 
 I wish to see an endowment provided for the Chair, I ought 
 not to receive money from those on whom I have no claim. 
 
 1 The Dean of Christ Church had by Lord Paknerston. See p. 237. 
 been consulted in the present case 2 The Epistles of St. Paul, fyc.
 
 1860-1865] Troubles in College 307 
 
 Could I have anticipated such generosity, I would never 
 have allowed you and others to take so much trouble on 
 my behalf. 
 
 Will you give my best thanks to the subscribers, and assure 
 them that the possession of the list of their names gives me 
 a satisfaction far greater than the pecuniary advantage which 
 they designed for me ? 
 
 In a private letter to a friend abroad, he wrote as 
 follows on February 2 : 
 
 ' You saw in the Italian papers about the poor indotato 
 Professor. What do you think has happened to him since ? 
 His friends collected a subscription of 2000 to pay his salary 
 for the last five years r (Earl Eussell, Lord Lansdowne, and 
 various old Whigs and lovers of religious liberty were among 
 the subscribers). It is a great pity that though he loves 
 money, which he believes to be the source of every good, he 
 could not make up his mind to accept it. ... It does not do, 
 and is not consistent with the dignity of a human being, to 
 have received about 20 from everybody you meet at dinner. 
 Yet he is very sensible that it is a great thing to have such 
 friends. . . .' 
 
 Strangely enough, at this juncture Stanley seems to 
 have imagined the possibility of Jowett's preferment to 
 the Deanery of Exeter. Jowett refuses to believe it 
 (unless indeed some pious Minister wished to remove 
 his influence from Oxford), but adds that while he would 
 not be sorry if it were offered (on public grounds), he 
 is clear that it would be wrong to accept it, and that 
 he ought to continue there the educational work in 
 which he and Stanley were jointly engaged. 
 
 The troubles of this period were aggravated by 
 his relation to his colleagues in Balliol, which, as he 
 wrote to Palgrave in 1861, sometimes affected him more 
 than any public attacks. His attitude in withdrawing 
 from Hall and Common Room had no doubt tended to 
 
 X 2
 
 308 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, x 
 
 make the position there more strained, and though he 
 had the support of a minority, chiefly amongst the junior 
 Fellows, these men had not yet that experience of life 
 and of the world which would have enabled them to 
 enter into all his anxieties. They were sometimes 
 neutral where he felt most need of help, and his obsti- 
 nate silence on all personal matters prevented them from 
 understanding the effect of this. In the summer of 
 1862, a permissive ordinance of the Commissioners for 
 relaxing the marriage restriction in the case of a Pro- 
 fessorial Fellow gave rise to a practical question, which 
 was settled in favour of another Fellow of the College ; 
 and a motion of Jowett's for abolishing the restriction 
 altogether and making Fellowships terminable except for 
 College officials, was referred to a Committee which did 
 not report. Whether or not Jowett would have availed 
 himself of the privilege, had it been granted, must be left 
 in doubt, but it is certain that he felt himself aggrieved. 
 ' My College want to get rid of me, which is rather hard V 
 he wrote to an intimate friend at the time, and expressed 
 himself on the subject with considerable bitterness to 
 two others severally, of whom the late Professor Mchol 
 was one. It is also true that when the salary of the 
 Greek Chair was augmented in 1865, he observed to 
 more than one friend that the benefit had come too late 
 to be of importance to him personally, though it might 
 have been so a few years before 2 . It has been already 
 seen, on two previous occasions, that where Jowett was 
 thwarted he renewed his energies. And the result of 
 this and of other crosses in his relation to the College 
 
 1 A piece of gossip repeated by his Fellowship for his heresies ' 
 
 Matthew Arnold in a letter of (Letters of Matthew Arnold, vol. i. 
 
 Nov. 19, 1862, probably reflects p. 175). 
 
 this feeling : ' There is a move 2 See Autobiography of Frances 
 
 to turn the latter (Jowett) out of Power Cobbe, vol. i. p. 353.
 
 1860-1865] Prosecution in Chancellor's Court 309 
 
 was that he threw himself with ever-increasing perti- 
 nacity into the educational work to which his life was 
 now irrevocably devoted. Even his younger colleagues, 
 however, after this perceived that he was more reserved 
 in his dealings with them than formerly. They were 
 aware of a coolness which they could not account for. 
 
 There is an entry in one of the latest of his note-books, 
 where in counting up the blessings of his life he says, 
 ' There is one happiness which I have never had ' ; and 
 some years earlier, in 1880, 'The great want of life can 
 never be supplied, and I must do without it.' The 
 reasons for this are expressed in his letter to Dean Stanley 
 of March 10, I865 1 . 
 
 Whatever he may have thought and felt in his own case, 
 he was strangely persistent in advising more than one of 
 his friends to marry 'It is not good for man to be 
 alone ' ; ' It won't do to live without a companion V And 
 in congratulating another friend he wrote : ' There is 
 nothing better under the sun than to be happily married.' 
 
 But if he ever felt a void in his life, he had rich 
 compensation in his many warm friendships, and in the 
 College which, as he said long afterwards, was to him 
 in the place of a family : ' I mean it seriously,' he added 
 after a pause. He rejoiced in the happiness of other 
 married lives, and the ideal light in which he had viewed 
 such relationships in the days of his youth never really 
 left him, though he talked sometimes with playful irony 
 about the actual state of things and persons in the world. 
 
 Prosecution in the Chancellor s Court. 
 
 Professor Jowett's opponents had been often encountered 
 with the taunt : ' You should not treat as a heretic one 
 
 3 See p. 374. 2 This is from a letter dated July 9, 1893.
 
 310 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, x 
 
 who has not been condemned in any court.' They 
 waited until the Dean of the Arches had pronounced 
 judgement in the cases of Dr. "Williams and Mr. Wilson. 
 This he did in effect on June 25, 1862, although the sen- 
 tence of suspension was not pronounced until September 
 12. Then Dr. Phillimore, the Queen's Advocate, was 
 consulted (i) Whether Professor Jowett, in his Essay and 
 Commentary, had so distinctly contravened the doctrines 
 of the Church of England that a court of law would 
 pronounce him guilty ; and (2) as to the legal position 
 of Professor Jowett. 
 
 The answers of counsel were to the effect (i) that 
 Professor Jowett's Essay on the Atonement contradicts 
 the Articles, while the Essay on Interpretation is at 
 variance with the doctrine of the Church of England 
 concerning inspiration ' according to the recent judgement 
 of the Dean of the Arches,' and also that it contradicts 
 the eighth Article, concerning the Three Creeds : (2) 
 That while the provisions of the Clergy Discipline Act 
 could hardly be construed so as to affect proceedings 
 against a Professor, the Vice-Chancellor would notwith- 
 standing be bound to admit articles containing charges 
 of heresy against any Professor resident in the Univer- 
 sity, and might be compelled by mandamus to hear and 
 try such a charge. 
 
 Professor Baden Powell, ' after denying Miracles,' had, 
 in the pious language of the Preface to the ' Case and 
 Opinion,' been 'removed before a higher Tribunal'; and 
 the Professor of Greek was therefore singled out as the 
 object of the proceedings which followed J . 
 
 1 Of the remaining members of a layman ; Mr. Pattison held a 
 
 the seven, Mr. Goodwin had re- small living, which, however, as 
 
 signed his Fellowship at Christ's ' donative,' was not subject to 
 
 College, Cambridge, while still episcopal institution ; and Dr.
 
 1860-1865] The Chancellor's Monition 
 
 This new move made no difference in Jowett's outward 
 bearing, but the first intimation of it caused him real 
 anxiety both for himself and for the cause he had at 
 heart. He wrote to Stanley : 
 
 ' February 3, 1863. 
 
 'I hear that this monition 1 is to be issued at the V.-C. 
 Court next week. This seems to take for granted that the 
 V.-C. will act. Will you consider the matter, and, if an 
 opportunity offers, talk the matter over with Bowen (33 Alfred 
 Place, Thurlow Square) ? Pattison counsels submission. But 
 submission appears to imply that the limits of the Church of 
 England in the University are acknowledged to be narrowed, 
 and gives up all the legal difficulties. 
 
 ' Will you get two copies of the Church Discipline Act ? 
 Do you think I should put the matter in the hands of 
 Stephen? Will you call on Murray and warn him not to 
 
 Temple as Head Master of Rugby 
 and Queen's Chaplain was subject 
 to other than ecclesiastical or 
 academical discipline. 
 
 1 The monition (a copy of 
 which seems to have been enclosed 
 in the above letter) purported 
 to be issued by the Chancellor to 
 the Yeoman Bedell of Law in 
 the University, commanding him 
 to cite the Rev. Benjamin 
 Jowett, &c., ' to appear before our 
 Vice-Chancellor or his Assessor 
 ... to answer to certain articles 
 to be administered and objected 
 to him by virtue of our office 
 concerning the reformation and 
 correction of his manners and 
 excesses, but more especially for 
 infringing the Statutes and privi- 
 leges of the University by having 
 published ... a certain book 
 entitled The Epistles of St. Paul, 
 
 &c., &c. : also in a book called 
 Essays and Reviews a certain 
 article . . . entitled " On the In- 
 terpretation of Scripture " ; and 
 by having in such book and such 
 article . . . advisedly promul- 
 gated . . . certain erroneous and 
 strange doctrines . . . contrary 
 to and inconsistent with the 
 doctrines of the Church of 
 England. . . . 
 
 Prayer. 
 
 ' On legal proof being made of 
 the charges, the said Professor 
 Jowett be duly corrected and 
 punished according to the gravity 
 of the offence and the exigency 
 of the Law and Statutes of the 
 University.' The original docu- 
 ment is in the possession of 
 Mr. H. A. Pottinger, of Worcester 
 College.
 
 312 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, x 
 
 give any assistance in proving the publication ? he cannot be 
 compelled. 
 
 'I am sorry to give you trouble. But I need the help of 
 friends and feel the value of such a friend as you. I must 
 get you, when you return, to stir up the Dean and Jackson 1 
 and everybody to help. It is the isolation in which they 
 have left me which makes the attack possible. 
 
 ' I never had a better class than this Term, or so many men 
 coming to me as pupils, I think. 
 
 ' PS. Can A. C. T. be got to do anything in the matter ? ' 
 
 The case was opened in the Chancellor's Court on 
 February 20, 1863, before Mountague Bernard, Esq., 
 B.C.L., as the Vice-Chancellor's Assessor. 
 
 Parties were summoned to the Apodyterium (or 
 ' Vestry ') of the Convocation House ; but the Court 
 actually sat in what was commonly called the ' Cock-pit,' 
 where viva voce examinations used to be held; and 
 the place was of course crowded with undergraduates. 
 
 The prosecution relied partly on the Church Discipline 
 Act, but chiefly on the University Statutes respecting 
 Tutors and Professors and the powers of the Vice-Chan- 
 cellor. 
 
 It was urged for the defence ' that the Court has no 
 jurisdiction in the matter.' 
 
 Mr. Pottinger, who was Proctor for Professor Jowett, 
 based his protest (i) upon section 23 of the Church 
 Discipline Act of 1840 (3 & 4 Viet. c. 86), which enacted 
 that no prosecution can be brought against a clergyman 
 except according to that Act : (2) on the special privilege 
 of the Regius Professors as holding of the Crown : (3) 
 on the absence of any provision for the jurisdiction of 
 the Court in matters spiritual : (4) on the absence of any 
 precedent for a judgement of the Chancellor's Court in 
 such matters. 
 
 1 Bishop of Lincoln, Visitor of Balliol.
 
 1860-1865] Collapse of the Suit 313 
 
 The Assessor refused to admit that the Court had no 
 jurisdiction, but said : 
 
 'If I have jurisdiction in this matter, which is doubtful, 
 it is a jurisdiction which the Statutes do not imperatively 
 bind me to exercise upon this citation ... I shall reject the 
 protest, but I shall refuse to order Professor Jowett to appear, 
 and shall refuse to admit articles on the part of the promoters. 
 . . . From that refusal the promoters are of course at liberty 
 to appeal.' 
 
 Mr. Frederick W. Fairer, of the Messrs. Fairer, 
 Lincoln's Inn Fields, who was professionally present on 
 the occasion, writes : ' In a walk with Jowett afterwards, 
 he was very low at the decision. I remember his saying, 
 " You don't know Pusey ; he has the tenacity of a bull- 
 dog." ' Jowett wrote to a trusted friend on March 15 : 
 
 ' I think I have escaped from my adversaries. Their only 
 way of proceeding now is by an appeal to the Court of Queen's 
 Bench for a mandamus. But lawyers seem to think that 
 there is so little chance of their obtaining the mandamus that 
 I should doubt whether they will make the attempt.' 
 
 The question was not finally determined until the 
 second week of May. 
 
 It appears that in their anxiety to follow Dr. Phillimore's 
 first opinion, the three prosecutors overlooked a Statute 
 (Tit. XVII. 1 8) which required them to appeal, if at all, 
 to the House of Congregation ; and they consulted 
 counsel again as to the expediency of applying for a 
 mandamus. Under all the circumstances the advice of 
 Dr. Phillimore and Mr. J. D. Coleridge was adverse to 
 their taking that step. And the withdrawal of further 
 proceedings was intimated to the Vice-Chancellor in a
 
 314 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, x 
 
 letter from C. A. Ogilvie, E. B. Pusey, and C. A. Heurtley, 
 the Prosecutors in the case, dated Christ Church, May 8. 
 
 The Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Lightfoot of Exeter, on 
 May ii sent a copy of the letter to Jowett, who lost 
 no time in forwarding it to his mother. 
 
 In March, 1863, on the evident collapse of this vexa- 
 tious suit, Stanley returned to the charge about the 
 salary, with a motion in Council, which was lost by 
 a narrow majority. Next autumn Dr. Pusey, in his char- 
 acter of Pacificus, again endeavoured at once to obviate 
 the increasing odium against his party, and to satisfy 
 an exacting conscience, by proposing a form of Statute 
 according to which the salary of the Greek Professor 
 was to be made up to 400 from the University Chest, 
 until such time as other provision should be made, 
 on the understanding that the University shall be held 
 to have pronounced no judgement upon his writings, in so 
 far as they touch the Catholic Faith. This arrangement 
 had been formerly suggested by Mr. Keble, and was now 
 accepted by Stanley. Jowett himself seems to have hoped 
 that it would succeed. Having passed Congregation by 
 a good majority, it was submitted to Convocation on 
 March 8, 1864. But Dr. Pusey found that it is easier 
 to raise a storm than to allay it. Many of those in 
 the University who had hitherto supported him saw 
 clearly the inconsistency of the measure, and the futility 
 of the reservation ; and their appeal to the country 
 M. A.'s proved for once more potent than his own. The 
 stalwart Archdeacon, George Anthony Denison, stood 
 forth manfully as the champion of the opposition, and 
 strongly protested in Latin against the proposed Statute. 
 A curious incident occurred, characteristic of the flurry 
 and excitement which had seized the whole assembly.
 
 1860-1865] Lord Westbury's Bill 315 
 
 The Senior Proctor, W. Chambers of Worcester, pro- 
 claimed, 'Major! parti placet.' Liddell ran with the 
 false news to Jowett, who took it very quietly. But 
 the words had barely escaped the Proctor's lips, when 
 he discovered that he had made a mistake, 'not in 
 time, however, to prevent a burst of cheering from 
 the undergraduates and friends of Professor Jowett, 
 which being continued for some few minutes, left the 
 Proctor in a very unpleasant position. 5 The Vice- 
 Chancellor after some difficulty having restored order, 
 the Proctor announced, 'Majori parti non placet,' the 
 numbers being : non placet 467, placet 395 ; majority 
 against, 72. The result was received with loud cheers 
 from the opponents of the Statute, and violent hissing 
 from the undergraduates' gallery. 
 
 This Act of Convocation 1 raised an all but unanimous 
 outcry in the public Press, with copious correspondence 
 in the Times and other newspapers, the most remarkable 
 feature of which was an encounter between Dr. Pusey 
 and Mr. F. D. Maurice. The wheel of public opinion 
 had come fully round ; the two Essayists who were 
 suspended by the Court of Arches had been finally 
 acquitted by the Judgement of the Privy Council, 
 delivered by Lord Westbury on February 8, and it may 
 be noted as an interesting fact, that amongst those who 
 came at great inconvenience to vote in favour of the 
 salary, was Dr. Stephen Lushington, now an aged man 
 though not so aged as when he voted afterwards for 
 Stanley's appointment as Select Preacher. 
 
 At this juncture, Lord Chancellor "Westbury initiated 
 a new phase of the struggle by introducing in the House 
 
 1 Jowett to Stanley, March 15, except the noise and bustle. 
 1864 : ' I see nothing to lament The move of throwing out the 
 in the business of last Tuesday, endowment was a false one.'
 
 316 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, x 
 
 of Lords a Bill entitled, An Act for the better endowment 
 of the Regius Professor of Greek in the University of Oxford. 
 By this it was proposed that the first Canonry or Prebend 
 in the Chancellor's gift which should become vacant after 
 the passing of the Act should be annexed to the Regius 
 Professorship of Greek in the University of Oxford. 
 The Bill was thrown out in Committee on May 14, 
 the previous question, moved by Lord Redesdale, being 
 carried by 55 votes against 25 ; majority 30. The ob- 
 jections which appeared to have most weight with the 
 Lords were that endowment by a Canonry would preclude 
 the appointment of a layman in the future, and that 
 Canonries were now designed by public opinion for 
 purely ecclesiastical purposes. Lord Westbury's argu- 
 ment 1 that the University had broken faith in not 
 endowing the Chair so repudiating the obligation in- 
 volved in the privilege granted to the University Press, 
 and the remission of the Stamp Duties was two- 
 edged and provoked some opposition. The rejoinder 
 was obvious, that if the onus lay on the University, the 
 University should see to it ; and Lord Derby (on May 
 23), as Chancellor of the University, somewhat feebly 
 denied the existence of any such obligation. It appears 
 from a letter to Stanley that Jowett himself doubted 
 the wisdom of introducing such a measure in Parliament 
 at all. 
 
 On October 31, 1864, the Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Lightfoot, 
 started a fresh proposal to make up the salary to 400 
 out of the University Chest, in a form of Statute which 
 still reserved judgement on the Theological opinions of 
 the Professor. But this motion, although supported by 
 Dr. Pusey, who had now become the defender of the 
 
 J Anticipated by Dr. Stanley and Professor Conington.
 
 1860-1865] Mr. Freeman interposes 317 
 
 Greek Chair against George Anthony Denison, was lost 
 in the Hebdomadal Council by a majority of one 1 . 
 
 Soon afterwards a wholly new face was put upon the 
 question by Mr. E. A. Freeman 2 , then residing at his 
 place of Somerleaze in Somersetshire, who published in 
 pamphlet form a letter of his which had appeared in the 
 Daily News 3 , 
 
 He showed that in a letter addressed by the Dean and 
 Chapter of Christ Church to Viscount Palmerston, which 
 had been printed in the ' Correspondence respecting the 
 proposed measures of improvement in the Universities 
 and Colleges of Oxford and Cambridge, presented to both 
 Houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty, 1854,' 
 the following statement occurs : 
 
 ' If it should be deemed desirable to make any further 
 disposal of the College funds for Academic purposes, the 
 Dean and Chapter would respectfully submit that it is the 
 Eegius Professor of Greek who is best entitled to benefit 
 by it. For of the ten original Chairs founded by King Henry 
 VIII, five at Oxford and five at Cambridge, and endowed by 
 that monarch with stipends of 40 per annum, the Greek 
 Chair of Oxford is the only one which never received an 
 additional endowment; while the Greek Professor at Cam- 
 bridge, by virtue of a recent Act of Parliament, holds a stall at 
 Ely, his brother Professor at Oxford only receives his original 
 40 per annum. Unless the Crown should be graciously 
 pleased to make some other provision for the Chair at Oxford, 
 
 1 Dr. Stanley was by this time March, 1858, when a brother Fel- 
 Dean of Westminster, and had low of Trinity, Mr. North Finder 
 therefore no longer a seat in the (now a Canon of Windsor and 
 Council. Rector of Greys), wrote to him 
 
 2 Afterwards Professor of His- that ' almost the only subject 
 tory, Oxford. they ' (the Hebdomadal Council) 
 
 3 ' The Oxford Regius Pro- ' can agree about is the best 
 fessorship of Greek,' October, means of starving a Professor 
 1864. Mr. Freeman's attention with whom they do not happen 
 had been called to the subject in to concur.'
 
 318 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, x 
 
 the Dean and Chapter would propose that they should be 
 empowered to set apart an estate of the value of between .300 
 and 400 per annum, of which the lease is now running out, 
 and that upon the next avoidance of the Greek Chair, the same 
 estate should be made over to the new Professor and his 
 successors.' 
 
 The Historian proceeded to show the reasonableness 
 of this proposal, which he characterized as especially 
 creditable on the part of a corporate body, from whom 
 fair dealing in such matters was not always to be ex- 
 pected. King Henry's manifest intention had been that 
 the estates of Christ Church should provide for Regius 
 Professors and Canons in the proportion indicated by the 
 original charge on the estates of 40 a year and 25 
 a year respectively. 
 
 But the Chapter had the right of administration ; and, 
 as Mr. Freeman with characteristic bluntness adds 
 
 'Wherever money stipends have to be paid to officers of 
 any kind, the story is always the same . . . there is always 
 some class of people receiving a less proportion of the cor- 
 porate income than the founder meant them to receive. . . . 
 The old Bishops who founded the elder Cathedrals, more 
 wise in their generation, guarded against this evil by giving 
 so many officers separate estates. But when a Chapter has 
 to pay certain payments, though after three centuries it is 
 very plain that the 40 ought to be increased to 400, there 
 is no particular year in which it is plain that 40 should be 
 increased to .45 or 45 to =50. Had King Hariy, instead of 
 granting estates to Christ Church, granted them to the Univer- 
 sity, the Professor would now have his proper income. ' 
 
 The burden thus fell on Christ Church (i) of showing 
 why the proposal made in 1854 had not been carried out, 
 and (2) why it should not now be renewed. 
 
 On the part of Christ Church it was explained (i) that 
 ' the Commissioners had stated their opinion that, since
 
 1860-1865] Mr. Charles Elton's Discovery 319 
 
 five Canonries of Christ Church were now employed 
 in endowing Professorships (including the Margaret 
 Professorship of Divinity), enough had been done 
 out of the funds of the College for the service of the 
 University.' The Commissioners preferred therefore to 
 suppress two Canonries for the better endowment of the 
 studentships as rearranged. 'And (2) that it had not 
 been shown that the Chapter held lands specifically 
 granted for the purpose of paying the Professor.' The 
 Dean added that if this could be shown, he would ' im- 
 mediately propose to the Chapter to augment the stipend 
 now paid to the Professor according to a fair estimate 
 of the changed value of money V 
 
 This promise stimulated the investigations of another 
 historical inquirer, Mr. Charles Elton, formerly of 
 Balliol, then a Fellow of Queen's, who discovered the 
 missing link by tracing the conveyance of certain lands 
 which (i) had been granted by King Henry to the 
 Chapter of "Westminster for the support of Professors of 
 Divinity, Hebrew, and Greek, and (2) when that Chapter 
 declined the burden and restored the lands, had again 
 been granted by the King to Christ Church under a cor- 
 responding obligation 2 , the revenue of these lands (120) 
 exactly covering the three salaries of 40 each. 
 
 The authorities at Christ Church were now fairly 
 brought to bay. But instead of at once carrying out 
 the proposal of the Dean, they consulted counsel as to 
 the existence of a legal obligation. None such was 
 found to exist, because the income of the lands was not 
 by the Instrument of Foundation apportioned in certain 
 proportions against different objects, but given subject 
 
 1 Statement by H. G. Liddell, z See Mr. Elton's letter in the 
 Dean of Christ Church, November Times of January 16, 1865. 
 18, 1864.
 
 320 Life of Benjamin Jowett 
 
 to the payment of certain specific sums, and because on 
 an appeal of the Students in 1629 the King as Visitor had 
 stated that the improved Revenues of the House wholly 
 and properly belonged to the Dean and Chapter. 
 
 Armed with this opinion, and refusing as a body to 
 recognize any moral obligation, the Dean and Chapter 
 notwithstanding on the ground of expediency ' agreed to 
 take such measures as might be necessary for increasing 
 the yearly salary of the Regius Professor of Greek to 
 the sum of 500.' This resolution was intimated by the 
 Dean to the Vice-Chancellor on February 17, 1865 \ 
 
 1 The Dean declares (May, 1895) had great difficulty in bringing 
 that even at the last moment he the Chapter to agree to this.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 TUTORIAL WOEK. 1860-1865 
 
 (Aet. 43-48) 
 
 PERSONAL effects of controversy Extracts from correspondence 
 Professorial and Tutorial work Letters from W. Pater and Professor 
 G. G. Ramsay 'Colonization' George Rankine Luke Society at 
 Clifton and in Scotland Vacation parties Letters. 
 
 rPHUS ended the ten years of deprivation, by which, not 
 -*- to dwell here upon the personal aspect, the University 
 had not lost, while Balliol had gained ; but Christ Church, 
 in all probability, had been a heavy loser. Had she earlier 
 taken thought to provide an adequate endowment for 
 the Greek Chair, she might have enlisted in her service 
 an educational force of hitherto unsuspected potency. 
 
 It were long and tedious to repeat the ingenious argu- 
 ments and more or less brilliant witticisms l which the 
 conflict had evoked. In reviewing them, one cannot but 
 be struck with the slight account that was taken of 
 devoted educational work as a service to the University. 
 The opinion expressed in Congregation that Professor 
 Jowett's labours might have earned gratitude from indi- 
 viduals, but the University had nothing to do with that, 
 was one in which the speaker did not by any means 
 
 1 That which attracted most attention, 'The Evaluation of lit,' 
 was attributed to ' Lewis Carroll.' 
 VOL. I. Y
 
 322 Life of Benjamin Jowett CHAP, xi 
 
 stand alone. It concerns us more to collect some hints 
 of the way in which Jowett himself regarded the whole 
 business. He retained outwardly, all through, his serene. 
 unruffled bearing. J. M. "Wilson, Professor of Moral 
 Philosophy, the most staunch of Oxford Liberals, said : 
 ' If Jowett continues to take these things as he is doing, 
 and keeps up the freshness of his interest in high subjects, 
 he will be a great man.' But he was not really apathetic. 
 Amongst many other expedients, it had been suggested 
 that a new Professorship of Greek might be endowed 
 with a Fellowship at Corpus or St. John's, and that Jowett 
 might be appointed to it. I referred to this in walking 
 with him in Christ Church meadow. It was one of the 
 only two occasions on which I have known him shed 
 tears. ' I shall never leave Balliol,' he said. 
 
 In order to give some indication of the personal 
 feelings which at the time were hidden from the world, 
 I will here insert some extracts from a series of his 
 familiar letters which now lies before me. 
 
 1. October 27, 1860. '. . . There is to be Another battle at 
 Oxford about the endowment of the Greek Professorship. If 
 anything good happens to me, I will write and tell you. But 
 I do not much expect that they will succeed. For five years 
 I have had only a nominal salary. One of my friends asks 
 whether I don't like the idea of being a Martyr. Indeed 
 I don't ; it is extremely inconvenient.' 
 
 2. January 22, 1861. 'Do you see the Quarterly Review? 
 If you do, you will see no good about me. The book called 
 Essays and Reviews has been making an unreasonable stir 
 among the intolerant world. I am astonished at the careless- 
 ness about truth which there is in the Church of England. 
 If it goes on, it will lead to utter unbelief among intellectual 
 men. I mean to be quiet, and take no notice of attacks. 
 I used to be grieved to find how readily my friends chimed 
 in with the attack (though in private they agreed with me, 
 I suppose on the principle that there is something in the
 
 1860-1865] Extracts from Correspondence 323 
 
 misfortunes of one's best friends not wholly unpleasing. But 
 after the first bite or sting, the power of feeling is almost lost ; 
 it is worth while to be attacked for the sake of being free 
 from attacks for the rest of your life.' 
 
 3. February 8, 1861. (To Dean Elliot.) 'A new attempt 
 is to be made to endow the Greek Professorship with 400 
 a year, which the University is to consent to give at the 
 instigation of Dr. Pusey, on the condition of the Crown handing 
 over the Patronage to a Board consisting of three Cabinet 
 Ministers and the Chancellor and Vice- Chancellor of the 
 University. Having been appointed by the Crown, I cannot 
 say that I like the Crown giving up the nomination to an 
 important position, and wrote to say so, that the Government 
 might know the exact state of the case ; but having been 
 hard-worked and starved for five years, I feel that it would 
 be quixotic in me to oppose what the Government sees no 
 objection to. I think however the measure, though agreed 
 to by the Government and the Council, is very likely to come 
 to grief in the House of Commons 1 .' 
 
 4. March 22, 1861. (To Mrs. Tennyson.) 'I cannot but 
 express to you what I feel, especially in all this tumult, that it 
 is the greatest blessing and good to me to have friends like 
 you and Mr. Tennyson, who are so true and affectionate to me.' 
 
 5. March 22, 1861. (To F. T. Palgrave.) ' Many thanks to 
 you for caring whether I am troubled about the ''persecution." 
 I think I am not deceiving myself in saying that I don't mind 
 about it. Annoyances in College, which I sometimes receive, 
 trouble me more.' 
 
 6. April i, 1861. (To Dean Elliot.) ' I feel a great and in- 
 creasing responsibility about this Spirit which has come (not 
 at our call) from the vasty deep. But I have had, thank God, 
 no pain or annoyance from the attacks on me, though the 
 clergyman of this parish (Freshwater) does call me and others 
 "Judas Iscariot " in his sermons.' 
 
 7. April i, 1861. ' No one ever stood by a friend better than 
 Dr. Stanley has stood by me in this tumult. While he lives 
 
 1 P- 33- I* was thrown out averred, through some ' Liberals ' 
 in Convocation as Dr. Pusey having joined the Opposition. 
 
 Y 2
 
 324 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xi 
 
 I shall certainly not be ashamed when I speak with my 
 enemies in the gate.' 
 
 8. April 16, 1861. 'I think the "tumult" has dwindled 
 to a calm, and therefore I shall say no more about 
 it. I can only hope that some good may spring out of all 
 this notoriety (you should see the letter of the Bishops and 
 the names of those whom it condemns printed on an enormous 
 placard which was sent me the other day), and I am very 
 grateful to friends who show me sympathy in all this row. . . . 
 
 'Attacks on the Utilitarians have their place and their 
 use : only they were not meant for people who " revel in 
 Scepticism '" like me. Is it not very Irish of them to say so?' 
 
 9. April 27, 1861. (To Sir A. Grant.) ' I cannot tell you 
 what good and pleasure I have in Stanley's active help and 
 support.' 
 
 10. May 9, 1861. (To Stanley.) 'I won't trouble you with 
 reflections about the event of Tuesday 2 . I am glad that 
 Pusey behaved well. ... I should not altogether despair of 
 his mind, having exhausted itself with religious experiences, 
 taking a healthier tone. 
 
 ' I hope I shall live to see a better state of feeling in Oxford, 
 in which those who hold liberal opinions in religion or in 
 University matters will not have the troubles that I have had.' 
 
 11. August 4, 1861. 'It was very good of you to tell me 
 the kind things Mrs. Somerville said of me. Of course I don't 
 deserve them, but I have a sort of hope that I may deserve 
 such fine things to be said some day, if I devote myself to 
 the truth and to the good of my pupils. Mr. Carlyle says 
 "men put there as sentinels should be shot instantly"; so 
 I must balance Mrs. Somerville with him.' 
 
 12. November, 1861. (To Miss Cobbe.) 'The vote of last 
 Tuesday, deferring indefinitely the endowment of my Pro- 
 fessorship, makes me feel that life is becoming a serious 
 business to me ; not that I complain ; the amount of 
 sympathy and support which I have received has been 
 enough to sustain any one, if they needed it. ... But 
 
 1 Saturday Review, March 9, seems almost to revel in un- 
 1861, on 'Intolerance at Oxford' : certainty and doubt.' 
 ' Mr. Jowett's genius is one which 2 p. 304.
 
 1860-1865] Extracts from Correspondence 325 
 
 my friends are sanguine in imagining they will succeed here- 
 after. Next year it is true that they will get a small majority 
 in Congregation. This however is of no use, as the other 
 party will always bring up the country clergy in Convocation. 
 I have therefore requested Dr. Stanley to take no further steps 
 in the Council on the subject ; it seems to me undignified to 
 keep the University squabbling about my income 1 .' 
 
 13. 1862. (To Stanley.) ' As to " comph'city " with Baden 
 Powell or Wilson, I do not wish to be separated from them or 
 any other professing Christian man who cares for truth. I think 
 this is right in the long run, though it leads to immediate mis- 
 representation. 
 
 ' I have no personal feeling about any more than about 
 
 2 (not from Christian charity or magnanimity), but 
 
 because it seems to me absurd to allow personal feelings to 
 come into public questions.' 
 
 14. July 19, 1862. (To Stanley.) ' I think I had an average 
 of between fifty and sixty at the lecture on Thucydides last 
 Term, more at first and fewer at last : and about forty brought 
 me exercises in Greek and English. 
 
 ' It gives me pleasure to see that I am in a better position 
 now than I was a year ago at Oxford. And I cannot feel or 
 express too often to you and to every one, how much I owe 
 it to your courage and generosity. 
 
 ' May I not be wanting to myself.' 
 
 15. February, 1863. (To Mrs. Tennyson.) 'Thank God, I 
 fight my enemies with a cheerful heart 3 . On Friday at Oxford 
 we object to the jurisdiction of the Court, which is trying to 
 smuggle in an ecclesiastical cause under colour of a breach 
 of the Statutes of the University. If the Assessor refuses to 
 hear the cause, all will be at an end ; if not, I am advised 
 to apply to the Court of Queen's Bench for an inhibition of 
 their proceeding. Will you give my best love to Alfred and 
 the children ? I certainly believe that no harm will come of 
 the matter.' 
 
 16. March, 1863. (To Mrs. Tennyson.) 'I think I am in 
 1 This letter has been published 2 The writers in the Saturday 
 
 in the Autobiography of Frances Review and the Westminster. 
 Power Coble, voL i. p. 353. 3 See pp. 311-314-
 
 326 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xi 
 
 a better plight than when I wrote to you last ; and have only 
 now to fear the appeal to the Queen's Bench, which is not very 
 likely to succeed. ... I cannot but be greatly pleased and 
 inspirited at the support my old friends have given me in the 
 matter of this stupid prosecution.' 
 
 17. December 21, 1863. (To Mrs. Tennyson.) ' I mean to do 
 a great deal more mischief now that they are going to give 
 me some money 1 .' 
 
 18. December 25, 1863. (To his mother.) ' You and Emily 
 will be glad to hear . . . that there is a prospect of their 
 paying me my income, with a chance of the arrears 2 hereafter. 
 ... I thought you would like to hear of this on your birth- 
 day, and therefore write.' 
 
 19. March 12, 1864. (To Mrs. Tennyson.) ' I am truly sorry 
 that so kind a friend as you are should be disappointed. I 
 believe the Judgement 3 was the cause of the result ; if so, there 
 is ample compensation.' 
 
 20. July 12, 1864. (To Sir A. Grant.) ' As for myself, I get 
 on well except as to personal interests ; and those, I really 
 feel, are lost in higher ones. I have in the thought of my old 
 pupils in India and elsewhere a great deal to make me happy.' 
 
 21. February 19, 1865. ' This is the last you will ever hear 
 of this matter. I am greatly indebted to some of my young 
 friends, who without my knowledge hunted this matter out 
 and assailed the Dean and Chapter in the newspapers.' 
 
 22. February 27, 1865. ' I wish to thank you for your kind 
 letter of congratulations which gave me great pleasure. I am 
 glad that the world will cease to hear any longer about the 
 Greek Professorship. As to being a Martyr, I am afraid that 
 is impossible, unless you are bodily burned in the flesh ; and 
 no pious old woman can be found, "in holy simplicity," to 
 pile faggots nowadays, though they are not indisposed to 
 practise lesser modes of annoyance. Speaking quite seriously, 
 I am sure that I place the support and sympathy that I have 
 received far above the money, and therefore I consider I have 
 
 1 p. 314. the arrears. 
 
 2 This was never realized : un- 3 Lord Westbury's, February 8, 
 less the grant of 500 in place 1864. See P- 5 I 5- 
 
 of 400 was meant to cover
 
 1860-1865] Tutorial Work 327 
 
 been a gainer on the whole. I am delighted that my friends 
 are so pleased, and the money will really enable me to do 
 work more efficiently than before.' 
 
 The best proof of his * happy nature * ' and firm will is 
 the unimpeded energy with which he had been throwing 
 himself all this while into his educational and literary 
 labours. These went on precisely as before, only with 
 increased assiduity, as if nothing particular were hap- 
 pening in the world outside. 
 
 The work both of his Tutorship and his Professorship 
 became more and more interesting to him. Among his 
 pupils at Balliol during these years were men of marked 
 ability, and also men whose position in life, com- 
 bined as it was with intellectual promise, made their 
 education of exceptional importance to themselves and 
 others. Amongst these were Lord Duncan 2 , Lord 
 Boringdon 3 , Lord Kerry 4 , and others whom it is super- 
 fluous to name. Jowett felt to the full the responsibilities 
 involved in this. Already men accused him of flattering 
 the great. Attentive readers of the letters in these 
 volumes will perceive the hollowness of the imputation. 
 
 But they will also perceive the obligations which 
 he laid upon himself, or which he conceived the whole 
 position to involve. 'If I had not hampered myself 
 with these ties,' he once said to me, ' I should be all over 
 Europe, collating MSS.' And in writing to another 
 friend, excusing himself from foreign travel : ' If I had 
 gone abroad, - - would have done nothing, at the most 
 critical moment of his life.' 
 
 In other ways also these were brilliant years for 
 Balliol. Atalanta in Calydon was written about this time, 
 and for many years to come Balliol was never without its 
 
 1 p. 262. 8 Earl of Morley. 
 
 2 Earl of Camperdown. * The Marquis of Lansdowne.
 
 328 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xi 
 
 poet (or poets rather). Not that as a rule Jowett's in- 
 fluence lay in that direction. In speaking of some one 
 who had been doing well in a profession, he would say : 
 ' At College he took to poetry and that sort of nonsense.' 
 But he rejoiced in any real success ; and although the 
 genius of Swinburne, the ever-active brain of J. A. 
 Symonds, and the vigorous individuality of John Nichol 
 were largely independent of his teaching, they yet owed 
 to him what was more valuable still, the blessing of 
 a friendship which never wavered, which gave unstinted 
 help at critical moments both in youth and after life, 
 and would make any sacrifice of leisure and of ease 
 to serve them. In former days he had said, on its being 
 suggested that a poet might come forth from Balliol, ' If 
 a poet came here, we could never hold him.' 
 
 A few words may be added parenthetically on his 
 supposed worship of genius and of success. The former 
 imputation was more rife in earlier years, the latter 
 afterwards, when his own position was now assured. 
 Both really turned on one peculiarity : that in judging 
 of persons and in determining his relation to them, 
 he never separated their individual characteristics from 
 the thought of what they might effect. This was equally 
 his way of regarding his own life and the lives of 
 others. But neither in his choice of friends, nor in his 
 treatment of those with whom he had to do, can it be 
 truly said that he was ever influenced by any sordid or 
 self-regarding motive. If he sometimes argued as if men 
 of genius should not be judged according to common 
 rules, or that allowance should be made for irregularities 
 which seem inseparable from an exalted station, his 
 estimate of the worthiest aims and his ideal of character 
 and conduct remained unaltered. Nor is it a wholly 
 insignificant circumstance that he knew from experience
 
 1860-1865] Professorial Work 329 
 
 what consequences may ensue from an ineffectual, albeit 
 blameless life. 
 
 In College meetings he still contended for the objects 
 which he thought desirable, supported by an increasing 
 minority, to which the powerful aid of the Hon. 
 E. Lyulph Stanley was added in 1863. 
 
 The Professorial lectures continued as before, chiefly 
 in connexion with his work on Plato. A pleasing 
 testimony to his labours as Greek Professor in 1860-62 
 was given me by the late Mr. Walter Pater, in a letter 
 which has since acquired a pathetic interest through the 
 writer's too early death : 
 
 B.N.C., May 6, 1894. 
 MY DEAR CAMPBELL, 
 
 You have asked me to write a few lines ' describing the 
 impression Jowett made on out-College, i. e. non-Balliol men,' 
 when he taught the University for nothing. Like many 
 others I received much kindness and help from him when 
 I was reading for my degree (1860 to 1862) and afterwards. 
 A large number of his hours in every week of Term-time must 
 have been spent in the private teaching of undergraduates, 
 not of his own College, over and above his lectures, which 
 of course were open to all. They found him a very en- 
 couraging but really critical judge of their work essays, and 
 the like, listening from 7.30-10.30 to a pupil, or a pair 
 of pupils, for half an hour in turn. Of course many availed 
 themselves of the, I believe, unprecedented offer to receive 
 exercises in Greek or English in this way, and on the part 
 of one whose fame among the youth, though he was then 
 something of a recluse, was already established. Such fame 
 rested on his great originality as a writer and thinker. He 
 seemed to have taken the measure not merely of all opinions, 
 but of all possible ones, and to have put the last refinements 
 on literary expression. The charm of that was enhanced by 
 a certain mystery about his own philosophic and other 
 opinions. You know at that time his writings were thought 
 by some to be obscure. These impressions of him had been
 
 330 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xi 
 
 derived from his Essays on St. Paul's Epistles, which at that 
 time were much read and pondered by the more intellectual 
 sort of undergraduates. When he lectured on Plato, it was 
 a fascinating thing to see those qualities as if in the act of 
 creation, his lectures being informal, unwritten, and seemingly 
 unpremeditated, but with many a long-remembered gem of 
 expression, or delightfully novel idea, which seemed to be 
 lying in wait whenever, at a loss for a moment in his some- 
 what hesitating discourse, he opened a book of loose notes. 
 They passed very soon into other note-books all over the 
 University ; the larger part, but I think not all of them, into 
 his published introductions to the Dialogues. Ever since 
 I heard it, I have been longing to read a very dainty dialogue 
 on language, whi ,1 formed one of his lectures, a sort of 'New 
 Cratylus.' Excuse the length to which my 'brief remarks 
 have run. On this closely-written sheet there is only room 
 to sign myself 
 
 Very sincerely yours, 
 
 WALTER PATER. 
 
 Professor G. G. Ramsay, of Glasgow, with reference 
 to the same period, after a similar description of the 
 evenings in Jowett' s study, adds : 
 
 ' An acquaintance was thus begun which was of interest 
 and value to us throughout our lives. His criticisms were 
 kindly and encouraging ; but it was a severe ordeal to have 
 to listen to them, especially in the presence of others. You 
 did not feel exactly that you could resent anything that he 
 said: and he took you at your word when you replied "Cer- 
 tainly not " to his not unusual query, ' ' You don't mind my 
 saying what I think about this essay ? " When the criticism 
 came, it was often pretty cutting, always curt, simple and 
 fundamental ; his eyes twinkled with satisfaction when you 
 made a point in which you agreed with him . . . not less 
 when he made some point himself in which he felt he could 
 carry you along with him. But he never struck undeservedly, 
 never harshly, unless he detected a flavour of impudence : he 
 never seemed to wound you, but only to put into your hands
 
 1860-1865] George Rankine Luke 331 
 
 a weapon for discovering that you were a fool. To most men 
 the discovery was invaluable, and constituted the great in- 
 tellectual effect of his criticisms. Some few were sceptical 
 and resentful, and these usually would not return.' 
 
 The ' colonization ' of other Colleges by Balliol men had 
 begun to make itself distinctly felt ; and Jowett watched 
 with keen interest the growing influence of some of his 
 pupils, especially of Mr. George Kankine Luke, who had 
 gained a senior Studentship at Christ Church in 1860, and 
 held a Tutorship there until his lamented death on 
 March 3, 1862. He was the son of an Edinburgh trades- 
 man, and, after a distinguished career at the Edinburgh 
 Academy l and Glasgow University, had come to Balliol 
 with a Snell Exhibition in 1855. After obtaining a senior 
 Studentship at Christ Church, he devoted himself to his 
 Tutorial labours there with the most enthusiastic energy 
 and extraordinary success. When told that Luke was 
 killing himself with work, Jowett said, with a kind of 
 fatherly pride, ' Young men don't die so easily.' Young 
 Luke became subject to fits of giddiness, however, and 
 was upset in his skiff upon the river. When the body 
 was brought home, his friend Nichol, wild with grief, 
 went straight to Jowett's rooms. With eager promptitude 
 and resolute calmness, Jowett set himself at once to 
 prepare an obituary notice of his friend, which appeared 
 in the Times next day. Some passages in this are so 
 expressive of his own habitual thoughts that they are 
 inserted here : 
 
 ' During the last two years he had been quietly growing in 
 reputation, and was exercising a great and beneficent influence 
 in the University by devoted and unremitting attention to 
 
 1 I was present once at an voce by A. C. Tait, then Dean of 
 examination of the Academy Carlisle. L. C. 
 where Luke was examined viva
 
 332 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xi 
 
 his pupils. The secret of this influence, which was exerted 
 over his contemporaries as well as his pupils, lay in the un- 
 common energy and intensity of his character, which blended 
 with a singular affectionateness. . . . Though instinctively 
 a lover of truth, he was never led from his practical duties by 
 vague speculation. The supposed theological difficulties of 
 Oxford passed through his mind, but certainly left no hurtful 
 impression on his strong and innocent nature. A few days 
 ago he had said to a friend that he was not afraid to die at 
 any moment. Nor was such a feeling, combined with such 
 a life, in any degree a presumptuous one. . . . He understood 
 perfectly the secret of success as a College Tutor. The secret 
 is chiefly devotion to the work, and consideration for the 
 characters of young men. No young man is really hostile 
 to one who is labouring, evening as well as morning, wholly 
 for his good who troubles him only about the weightier 
 matters who knows how to sympathize with his better 
 mind who can venture to associate with him without 
 formality or restraint. To men like Mr. Luke, the difficulties 
 of maintaining authority in a College absolutely disappear. 
 The feelings with which the young are capable of regarding 
 such a man. and the true estimate they form of him, are indeed 
 surprising. . . . No one would do more for a friend or think 
 less about it. 
 
 * His work is left unfinished, and has to be continued by 
 others. Those who come after him will find that their only 
 chance of raising the great aristocratic seminary with which 
 he was connected to its rightful position in public estimation 
 is the performance of services like his, with the same un- 
 tiring energy, the same regardlessness of self. In the fulfil- 
 ment of such a duty to the University and to the nation, 
 the lives of many good or even great men will not be spent 
 in vain.' 
 
 The grief for Luke's death was shared by Stanley, who 
 had witnessed his success at Christ Church. He made an 
 affecting reference to him in the sermon on ' Great Oppor- 
 tunities ' with which he bade farewell to Christ Church and 
 to Oxford on November 29, 1863. This is mentioned
 
 1860-1865] Summer Haunts Analysis of Plato 333 
 
 in a letter from Caird 1 to Nichol, which reflects the 
 feeling of the younger graduates at this time : 
 
 'How I wish you had been up to hear Stanley's noble 
 sermon on Sunday last, with its picture of Oxford as it is and 
 as it might be, and above all to hear his eloquent tribute to 
 our dear friend. . . . The University turned out to hear it 
 better than I have ever seen them do before. I said to Jowett 
 after, " Who will sing us battle-songs any more ? " " We must 
 carry on the fight though," said he, looking as pertinacious 
 and as saintly- wicked as usual.' 
 
 Jowett was eager to complete his edition of the 
 Republic, 'to get rid of Plato and return to Theology,' 
 and he actually took leave of absence for the Summer 
 Term of 1861, with this object in view. But his literary 
 work was being more and more crowded into vacation- 
 time. In Term-time he could only direct his reading 
 with a view to it, and to the preparation of his lectures. 
 For the sake of Plato, and of a select number of his 
 pupils, including some old friends, he resided for long 
 spells in summer at some country place chiefly during 
 these years at Whitby (1861), Braemar (1862), High 
 Force in Teesdale (1863), Askrigg in "Wensleydale (1864) 2 , 
 Pitlochry, and Tummel Bridge. The Plato, which he 
 had hoped to finish in a year or two, still remained on 
 hand, throwing the projected works on Theology more and 
 more into the background. In revising the notes to the 
 Republic, it had occurred to him that a complete analysis 
 of the Dialogues would form a suitable ' Prolegomena ' 
 to his book. The analysis, as he conceived it, was to be 
 a sort of condensed translation, in which nothing essential 
 should be omitted, and even the force of connecting 
 
 1 Now Master of Balliol. White.' From a letter of 1883. 
 
 a 'Askrigg was recommended to White was the author of A Month 
 me by an old fellow named Walter in Yorkshire, &c.
 
 334 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xi 
 
 particles should be preserved. All was to be in perfect 
 English., and the labour spent on such a work was 
 naturally great. When I was with him at Askrigg, in 
 the summer of 1864, he was struggling with the analysis 
 of the Parmenides and the other dialectical dialogues. 
 His taste in language was becoming more and more 
 fastidious. At this time he was resolved to turn every 
 sentence so as to exclude the colourless pronoun ''.' 
 I troubled him with the remark that ' which ' was not 
 much better, and one or other was inevitable. After 
 this he became more tolerant of 'it,' but still objected 
 to it, except in the impersonal verb. Finding the com- 
 mentary sometimes tedious, he used to say, 'I am 
 longing to get at the more general treatment of the 
 subject. ' 
 
 While speaking of our Yorkshire sojourn, it may be 
 worth while to trace the course of a day. Breakfast 
 was not very early, and was apt to be unpunctual. partly 
 because Jowett would take a pupil or a friend, Lord 
 Kerry, Lord Boringdon, or Lord Duncan, for a walk 
 and talk. Conversation after breakfast lasted some time, 
 and it was well after ten before we settled to work. But 
 the work continued with hardly any intermission till 
 dinner-time, four o'clock. This also was apt to be a 
 movable feast, as Jowett disliked stopping in the middle 
 of a piece of writing, and sometimes had letters to finish. 
 About six we started for a two hours' walk, returning 
 to tea at eight, and work was resumed before nine and 
 continued till midnight. Jowett wrote his letters at 
 odd times, mostly, I suspect, after the day's task was 
 done. Four pages of fresh writing and rather more of 
 revision were his quantum for the day. In working 
 with him, one was astonished at the number of ways 
 which occurred to him for turning a particular phrase.
 
 1860-1865] Ascent of Loch-na-gar 335 
 
 If, holding firmly by the Greek, I objected to an expres- 
 sion, another was produced, and then another and another, 
 until Greek and English appeared to coincide. But 
 perhaps the one last hit upon would be afterwards dis- 
 carded, as not harmonizing with the rhythm or colour 
 of the whole. This protracted labour was almost finished, 
 when a casual remark of Pattison's (I think) convinced 
 him that the analysis could never be complete, and that 
 the Republic, at all events, must be translated in full. 
 As he proceeded with this in 1865, he formed the resolu- 
 tion of translating the whole of Plato. 
 
 But to return. On Sundays the work was so far laid 
 aside as to secure attendance at morning church, and 
 a longer walk in the afternoon. Lord Camperdown (then 
 Lord Duncan), who was with him at Braemar in 1862 J , 
 tells how one Sunday there was spent. Jowett decided 
 to climb Loch-na-gar, and fixed on Sunday for the 
 expedition. Lord Duncan expected to start early, but 
 Jowett insisted on going to the Kirk. No guide being 
 found available on the Sabbath, they had to make their 
 own way, and the shades of evening were falling ere 
 they had descended far from the summit. Jowett got 
 very tired with stumbling in and out of the peat hags, 
 and his companion had to support him, while feeling 
 apprehensive that they had lost the path. He would 
 only take one sip from the spirit-flask. 
 
 At this point they heard the floundering of an animal, 
 which for a moment they supposed to be a deer, but 
 Lord Duncan went up to it and discovered that it was 
 a pony with the saddle turned right round. He put the 
 saddle straight, but Jowett would not mount. However, 
 the pony, kept moving by Lord Duncan, led them 
 
 1 His other companion there was Mr. G. W. Kekewich, after- 
 wards of the Education Office.
 
 336 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xi 
 
 to the keeper's lodge at Callater. There, the ground 
 being smoother, Jowett consented to mount, and they 
 got back safely. The fact was that J. M. Wilson, of 
 Corpus, who was at Braemar at the time, had heard of 
 the projected expedition and had expressed himself rather 
 doubtfully as to its success. He had started to follow them 
 on the pony, but had given up the chase and, leaving 
 the creature to its fate, had descended on foot. There 
 was a good deal of talk about this escapade, for they had 
 disturbed a great herd of deer at the summit, and the 
 sportsmen, whose Sunday occupation was to watch the 
 deer, had their spy-glasses directed that way. 
 
 The following letter from E-. A. H. Mitchell, Assistant 
 Master at Eton, April 15, 1894, contains some further 
 reminiscences of Jowett's manner of spending the vaca- 
 tions in these years: 
 
 'Nearly thirty years have now passed since I journeyed to 
 Yorkshire to join the Master at a little country inn in the 
 village of Askrigg, some twelve miles' drive from the station 
 at Leyburn. I found there, besides the Master himself, the 
 present Lord Lansdowne, who was about my own standing, 
 Lord Camperdown, who had I think taken his degree, and 
 Purves, who was, I believe, helping the Master with his 
 work. . . . Our method of living did not altogether commend 
 itself to the hungry undergraduate, for we had only two 
 regular meals in the day, breakfast nominally at nine, dinner at 
 four. I don't think the Master ever supplemented these meals, 
 though we did, as you will not be slow to understand. The 
 Master never thought anything about his food, and was 
 content with the simplest diet. At that time his whole 
 thought seemed to be engrossed in his Plato, and he was 
 not so ready to talk as he was in his later years. He worked 
 entirely in his own room. I have never seen him at work, 
 but be used to begin immediately after breakfast and work 
 on till dinner at four o'clock. He then went for a walk, 
 and on coining in retired again and worked, I believe, till
 
 1860-1865] With Pupils in Vacation 337 
 
 about twelve o'clock. He was not an early riser, seldom 
 appearing before ten, but he would not allow breakfast to 
 be ordered later than nine not altogether a comfortable 
 arrangement. When we subsequently moved off together to 
 Pitlochry he proposed that any one who was five minutes 
 late for breakfast should be fined the sum of one shilling. 
 The first morning he appeared quite punctually, the second he 
 was a little late, the next he said that, as he was late, 
 he thought he would take his shilling's worth. After that, he 
 found that ten o'clock suited him better than nine. However, 
 at the end of the time he insisted on paying a shilling a day 
 to the common expenses. 
 
 ' His example of hard work and simplicity was of great 
 value to us, and made hard work all the easier at a time 
 when it was very essential for me to be kept to my books. 
 He did not profess or attempt to coach us regularly, but 
 he was anxious that we should ask him questions, and he 
 took great trouble in explaining difficulties and making his 
 answers clear. Knowing that he was working so hard himself, 
 I think we were reluctant to burden him with too many 
 questions, ever ready though he was to help us. What 
 I found most valuable was his sympathy and encouragement ; 
 he led one to suppose that one could do well, provided there 
 was hard work, and there can be no doubt that many in 
 life "possunt quid posse videntur." His encouragement caused 
 many to persevere. I do not think that we found it very 
 easy to converse with him : his interests and thoughts were 
 veiy far removed from those of the ordinary undergraduate, 
 or the small-talk of life ; but he had a quiet sympathy for 
 all that with one's pursuits, with a word of warning against 
 spending too much time upon them. 
 
 'I was afterwards with him at Pitlochry, and in the following 
 year (1866) at St. Andrews, where we were both the guests 
 of Professor Lewis Campbell \ . . .' 
 
 1 Mr. Mitchell adds, ' Jowett's against Christ Church. On that 
 interests did not lie, as mine did, occasion, the only one within my 
 in cricket. But I remember he knowledge, he indulged in the 
 once said that he was coming to evil habit of betting, for he 
 see me play in a College match wagered one shilling, I think, with 
 VOL. I. Z
 
 338 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xi 
 
 In 1863 he attended the meeting of the British 
 Association at Newcastle, where he was the guest of 
 Sir W. and Lady Armstrong. 
 
 The range of his friendships was still widening. 
 Clifton now becomes an important centre. His widowed 
 cousin, Mrs. Irwin, came thither to reside with her 
 children in Canynge Square. Jowett continued his 
 visits to Dr. Symonds and his son and daughter, at 
 Hill House. They persuaded him, somewhat against 
 the grain, to be photographed, October 7, 1861 *. He 
 also accepted an invitation to the Deanery of Bristol 
 in 1860. 
 
 Before doing so, however, he thought it necessary 
 to show his colours, and presented a copy of his Essay to 
 the Dean. It was kindly received, as appears from 
 a letter of July 29, 1860 : 
 
 (To Dean Elliot.) ' I am glad you do not wholly disapprove 
 of my Essay. I hardly expect any one engaged in practical 
 work to approve of it. But I hope liberal-minded persons 
 may indirectly find some help and service from it, though 
 they may disagree.' 
 
 The Dean was liberal-minded, and willing to reason 
 temperately with the younger clergyman on the limits 
 of free discussion within the borders of the Church. 
 Dean Elliot's position, as Prolocutor of the Lower House 
 of Convocation, might have been of great importance 
 at this crisis ; but he was compelled to travel for the 
 health of one of his daughters, and on his return 
 circumstances had occurred which induced him to resign. 
 
 the late Principal of B.N.C. he did not lose his money.' 
 
 (Dr. Cradock) that I got forty. 1 Life of J. A. Symonds, vol. i. 
 
 A rash bet, but I am glad to say pp. 184-189.
 
 1860-1865] Cortachy, Lea Hurst, Farringford 339 
 
 Jowett, -with, characteristic tenacity, endeavoured to 
 dissuade him from this step ; and not less characteristic- 
 ally acquiesced in it when taken, and congratulated his 
 friend on his freedom. He still ventured, however, to 
 remonstrate with him on his entire withdrawal from 
 the proceedings of the Lower House : ' I am sorry to 
 see that you no longer lend the weight of your presence 
 to that disorderly assembly over which you used to 
 preside.' 
 
 In 1 86 1 he paid his first visit to Lord and Lady 
 Stanley at Alderley. The friendship which was thus 
 cemented with that family continued through his after 
 life, and led in particular to his acquaintance with Lord 
 and Lady Airlie, which he improved with annual visits 
 to their seat of Cortachy, in Forfarshire. In 1862 he 
 began his frequent visits to Mr. Nightingale, of Embley. 
 Hants, and Lea Hurst in Derbyshire, and also to the 
 Earl of Camperdown. 
 
 An annual visit to the Tennysons at Freshwater 
 about Christmas-time became a matter of course, and 
 besides the Christmas visit he often took a lodging near 
 them, at Woodland Cottage, or elsewhere. He writes to 
 Mrs. Tennyson (December, 1862): 'I sometimes think 
 that merely being in the neighbourhood of Alfred keeps 
 me up to a higher standard of what ought to be in 
 writing and thinking.' 
 
 In the autumn of 1862 the death of Archbishop 
 Sumner left the See of Canterbury vacant, and in the 
 changes that were sure to follow, it seemed likely that 
 a Bishopric of some kind might be offered to Stanley. 
 Jowett urged him to accept one if offered, whether 
 small or great. ' In some respects a small one is better 
 than a great one, because allowing more leisure and 
 having less routine.' Not that he could desire his friend 
 
 Z 2
 
 340 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xi 
 
 to be Archbishop of Dublin : ' an Irish Bishop or Arch- 
 bishop I could not be, as I should feel always judico me 
 cremari V By-and-by it appeared likely that Tait might 
 be called to Lambeth. On this Jowett wrote still more 
 urgently, giving reasons why Stanley should not refuse 
 London if offered. The situation changed again when 
 Longley was translated to Canterbury and Tait was 
 offered the Archbishopric of York. While Tait hesitated 
 Jowett wrote once more to Stanley, repeating his advice. 
 He was equally decided in dissuading him from accepting 
 a Deanery. Whilst Stanley was at Canterbury, the 
 Deanery of Westminster had seemed to Jowett a desirable 
 position for his friend ; but now, in the midst of the 
 great battle for liberty at Oxford, he would not have him 
 leave it for any Deanery ; and when Stanley, on returning 
 from his Italian tour with his sister Mary and Canon 
 Hugh Pearson, in October, 1863, announced at once his en- 
 gagement to be married and his acceptance of the Deanery 
 of Westminster, Jowett, while rejoicing in the former 
 announcement, regarded the latter as a disastrous step. 
 To him personally the loss of Stanley's help at Oxford 
 was in any case a severe blow, and the new position 
 did not seem to offer any compensating advantage 
 to the cause of liberal thought. That he did not 
 immediately recover from the change appears from his 
 writing in a familiar letter some years afterwards, ' I have 
 not yet quite forgiven Anglicanus for deserting me ' ; but 
 when he saw the step to be irrevocable he resolutely 
 made the best of it; and, besides the opportunity of 
 preaching at Westminster which came in 1866 and the 
 
 1 When the Archbishopric of it would cross him." Cf. Dean 
 
 Dublin was vacant and Stanley Stanley s Life, vol. ii. pp. 97-99, 
 
 was talked of for the place, Jowett 131, 132. 
 said, ' I hope he will not take it :
 
 1860-1865] Professorships in Scotland 341 
 
 following years, Jowett gained from Stanley's new position 
 an additional foothold in London society, where the 
 Deanery, graced with Lady Augusta's presence, became 
 a rallying-point for all that was most illustrious both 
 in the Church and in the world. It is evident, however, 
 from the letters above referred to, that in dissuading 
 Stanley from accepting "Westminster he had no thought 
 of interfering with his friend's preferment; the truth 
 was that he had larger views for him. 
 
 In the autumn of 1863 the Sellars went to Edinburgh, 
 where Lancaster was now married, and had young 
 children 1 . Jowett had god-children in both houses, 
 and made friendships with all the young ones, becoming 
 most intimate with those that were the liveliest, and 
 had least of what was called intellectual promise. His 
 own shyness made him relish talkativeness in others. 
 Several of his old Scottish pupils were pushing their 
 fortunes in their own country. I had succeeded Sellar 
 at St. Andrews (1863), where our home became one of 
 his favoured resorts ; Nichol, after being rejected for the 
 Logic Chair at St. Andrews, had been appointed to the 
 new Chair of English Literature at Glasgow (1861). 
 Another contest in which he took great interest was that 
 of T. H. Green for the Chair of Moral Philosophy at 
 St. Andrews, vacated by Ferrier's death in 1864. The 
 Rev. Robert Flint, of Kilconquhar, was the rival candi- 
 date. The University Court, of whom Professor 
 J. C. Shairp was one, preferred the Scotch minister to 
 the young Oxonian, whose youth and, it must be said 
 also, what was then regarded as the obscurity of his Essay 
 on Aristotle, told against him. 
 
 Burdened as he was, there was no trouble which Jowett 
 
 1 See Jowett's Preface to H. H. Lancaster's posthumous volume of 
 Essays and Reviews.
 
 342 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xi 
 
 would not take for a friend, travelling any distance to 
 a marriage or a christening, at either of which ceremonies 
 he was often the officiating minister. He went to 
 Berlin in 1864, for example, merely to christen Morier's 
 child. He sought to reconcile his work with travelling, 
 by reading and writing a great deal in railway trains. 
 I have seen a pencil analysis of Plato's Laws, which 
 bore evident marks of having been composed in a shaky 
 carriage. 
 
 Jowett never sought for Court favour, and he sometimes 
 felt that Stanley's real position had been rather weak- 
 ened by it. But he was genuinely pleased by two 
 instances of sympathy in high places which reached him 
 in 1863. 
 
 The Tennysons had been at Osborne, and Mrs. 
 Tennyson had written a letter which Jowett reported to 
 his mother. Mr. and Mrs. Tennyson had both spoken 
 of Jowett to the Queen, who said that 'Oxford had 
 used him shamefully,' on which Tennyson burst forth 
 again with, 'I am so glad your Majesty appreciates 
 Mr. Jowett.' 
 
 To Mrs. Tennyson Jowett wrote in reply : 
 
 ' I am very glad you went to see the Queen. It is a great 
 recollection for the children to have ; and good for her to see 
 people who come from the fresh air of the outer world. . . . 
 Best love and grateful thanks to Alfred.' 
 
 Soon afterwards the Crown Princess of Prussia went 
 incognita to Oxford on purpose to have an interview with 
 him. This also is recorded in a letter to his mother: 
 ' I never saw a person who pleased me better. She sat 
 and talked about an hour about Philosophy and matters 
 of that sort. I thought her quite a genius. . . . This 
 is partly due to Dr. Stanley, partly to my old friend 
 Morier, who is a friend of hers.'
 
 343 
 
 LETTERS, 1860-1865. 
 
 To DEAN ELLIOT. 
 
 [OXFORD,] October 17, 1860. 
 
 I venture to send you a short paper that I have written 
 upon the revision of the Liturgy. I have no intention of 
 publishing it, but think I would like to inflict upon you, 
 and one or two other persons who are acquainted with the 
 subject, the trouble of reading it. Would you kindly return 
 the paper to me when you have looked at it, as I have 
 no copy ; though if you care to keep it, I could easily get 
 one made and send it you ? 
 
 You will perhaps consider that I am making for you, a 
 propos of nothing, a very laborious amusement. 
 
 I hear that you are going to leave England for an indefinite 
 time. I am very sorry indeed that you should be obliged 
 to take such a step, even as a measure of precaution. The 
 Cradocks tell me that they have begged you to come here 
 before your departure for a day or two. Another person will 
 be glad to welcome you also. 
 
 . . . You will smile at my Act of Parliament to revise 
 the Liturgy. I merely wanted to show, from beginning to 
 end, by what simple means the suggestion might be effected. 
 
 To Miss ELLIOT. 
 
 January 22, 1861. 
 
 I read yesterday with great pleasure a pamphlet on Destitute 
 Incurables 1 (it appears to be written by some one who bears 
 your name). I thought it extremely well done, very touching 
 and simple, and really practical and businesslike. When you 
 have any scheme of Philanthropy on hand (like Miss Cobbe, 
 I hate Philanthropists), it is a very good rhetorical artifice 
 to pretend to be hard-hearted. If you are a political economist, 
 
 1 Destitute Incurables in Work- Science Meeting in Glasgow, 
 houses: a paper by Miss Elliot September, 1860. Autobiography 
 and Miss Cobbe, read at the Social of F. P. Cobbe, vol. i. pp. 316, 317.
 
 344 Life of Benjamin Jowctt [CHAP, xi 
 
 you should appear before the world as a philanthropist ; if 
 you are a philanthropist, make people believe that you are 
 a political economist ; always appear to be what you are 
 not, and use words to conceal your thoughts. What shocking 
 advice ! If you think so, it can be reversed ; but is it not 
 partly true notwithstanding? 
 
 I, who am really, and not in pretence only, very hard- 
 hearted, read the pamphlet about the poor Incurables, not 
 without some excitement of feeling. It was a very happy 
 and Christian thought of the person who first took up their 
 cause. Perhaps they will be met by a company of incurables 
 at the gate of the celestial city coming to welcome them. 
 For myself, I do little or nothing for the poor, but I have 
 always a very strong feeling that they are not as they ought 
 to be in the richest country that the world has ever known. 
 In theory I have a great love for them, and some day, if 
 I live, hope I may be able to write something about them. 
 
 To DEAN ELLIOT, AT CANNES. 
 
 BALLIOL COLLEGE, OXFORD, 
 
 February 8, 1861. 
 DEAR MR. DEAN, 
 
 It is a formidable thing to commence a correspondence 
 uninvited (especially with a dignitary of the Church) when 
 you are secretly conscious that you have nothing worth 
 telling to say. Nevertheless I venture to trouble you with 
 a few lines, lest I should wholly fall out of acquaintance. 
 
 I was glad to hear that you have found the experiment 
 of going abroad so completely successful. The columns of 
 the Times will show you that this winter has been very 
 ungentle to invalids. Surely the desire of life must be very 
 slight, or the spirit of indolence strong, to make weak chests 
 and throats stay out such a season in England. 
 
 As I really feel a difficulty in 'breaking the ice,' I shall 
 hope you will receive all I say wise, foolish, amusing or 
 otherwise with the same kindness you showed me at the 
 Deanery last summer. Now I shall imagine myself at home 
 and begin to talk. I should be glad if you would repent
 
 Letters, 1860-1865 345 
 
 of the ' Nolo Episcopari ' but as you refuse, I can only 
 wish you the best of Deaneries and many peaceful days in 
 it. Do you know that Convocation, at the instigation of 
 Dr. Jelf, are going to consider and perhaps censure the book 
 called Essays and Reviews'} How injurious to Convocation, 
 to what is termed orthodoxy, to every one except the writers 
 of the book and their friends ! I am glad you are not likely 
 to be there. I should not wish to draw upon friends (if I may 
 call you so) to drag us out of the ditch. At present the 
 book is a sort of bugbear among the Bishops and Clergy, 
 showing, I venture to think, that some inquiries of the sort 
 were needed, if the evidences of religion are to have anything 
 but a conventional value. In a few years there will be no 
 religion in Oxford among intellectual young men, unless 
 religion is shown to be consistent with criticism. 
 
 I wish the Bishops were alive to the great and increasing 
 evil of the want of ability among young clergymen. The 
 two great literary professions of the Bar and the Church 
 seem to be fast degenerating. In the Church I am convinced 
 that one of the principal I think the greatest cause is 
 'Subscription.' To-day I was walking with a grandson of 
 the Bishop of Exeter, who was expressing his strong desire 
 to go into Orders and his inability to do so. 
 
 The political horizon seems unusually dark, by which 
 I don't mean that I myself have no chance of obtaining 
 preferment, or that the country is going to ruin, but that 
 'our friends' the Whigs appear to me unlikely to retain 
 their places and to have by no means a good store of political 
 capital with which to commence opposition. I wonder they 
 have not felt that Keform was needed, not only for the 
 good of the country, but to enable them to retain office ; 
 without it the Conservatives gain on them every year, and 
 would have been in office long ago if they had been trusted 
 in their foreign policy. I suppose that Lord Palmerston 
 has cast his spell over the party, and is satisfied if the present 
 strange combination last his time. 
 
 I hope you will go to Borne and see the last of the Pope. 
 What is to be the future of the Church of Eome ? I suppose 
 we may reckon that it will not die for centuries, but go
 
 346 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xi 
 
 on in a perpetual state of relaxation and nationalization. The 
 Ultramontane element however, which is said to be so strong 
 among the Clergy (the less the power, the greater the assump- 
 tion), makes a difficulty : it will neither learn nor unlearn 
 anything. I expect L. Napoleon and Cavour will give it 
 a knock on the head when the time comes. Marrying the 
 Clergy in the present state of Catholic feeling is impossible, 
 perhaps ; but educating them in the light of day and not 
 in Catholic Seminaries is feasible ; and something of this 
 kind we shall perhaps see attempted. Do you ever see the 
 Eevue des Deux Mondes ? You will be interested with an article 
 of E. Kenan's on the subject. . . . 
 
 To A. P. STANLEY. 
 
 {February, 1861,] Friday. 
 
 I have just written out my letter 1 in fair calligraphic hand 
 (beautiful writing, and the term which you added about the 
 Formularies of the Church of England quite admirable). But 
 I have determined not to send it. My reasons are : 
 
 1. The enclosed letter from Wilson 2 , which is very amusing 
 (the description of the old squire is charming). I should do 
 more harm by seeming to detach myself from them, with 
 whom I don't (nevertheless) wholly agree, than any advantage 
 I should gain, if the letter were successful, from a sharp hit 
 at the Bishop of London. 
 
 2. I should irritate the Bishop of London, who perhaps has 
 more reason for his conduct than we know (though I cannot 
 conceive of what kind) : at any rate he would have to cast 
 about in his mind for a defence, which would end in an 
 attack on me or some one. 
 
 3. The contest will be a long one ; I am afraid in my 
 case as long as life ; and there will be other opportunities 
 of showing that I am not cowed by this apparition of the 
 twenty-five Bishops ; in the meantime it is of great importance 
 to speak evil of no one and to irritate no one. 
 
 Whether this plan is successful or not, depends partly on 
 
 1 To the Bishop of London, A. C. Tait. See p. 297. 
 
 2 The Rev. H. B. Wilson.
 
 Letters, 1860-1865 347 
 
 the manner in which it is carried out, and this on health 
 and other matters over which I have no control. When 
 I look at the matter seriously and not comically, as I do 
 sometimes with you and Mrs. Vaughan who is positively 
 deserting me in my misfortunes, no doubt for good and wise 
 reasons, (when I am burnt in the Churchyard at Doncaster, 
 the Vicar l preaching a sermon on the occasion, I expect her 
 to give me breakfast) I believe the motto should be, 'in 
 quietness and confidence shall be your strength.' Therefore 
 I shall cease to trouble you and Mrs. Stanley 2 any more on 
 the subject. 
 
 To F. T. PALGBAVE. 
 
 March 22, 1861. 
 
 It is almost too late to answer your first note about the 
 joint authorship of the Essays, except to say that Grant's 
 statement goes beyond the truth, which is, that the authors 
 knew one another slightly, for the most part, and took the 
 subjects which suited them, without concert and without 
 seeing one another's writing, except in the case of Wilson, 
 who edited and superintended, but without, as far as I was 
 concerned, making any alteration. 
 
 I do not know anything about the address to Temple, 
 unless it be one set on foot by Spottiswoode. My own 
 impression is that addresses are no good, unless they are 
 intended to avert some libel or danger of ejectment, which 
 in Temple's case is not likely. 
 
 I hope that you are not taking life too sadly. ' Be cheerful, 
 sir V 
 
 To DEAN ELLIOT, AT GENOA. 
 
 BALLIOL COLLEGE, OXFORD, 
 
 April i, 1861. 
 
 You kindly ask whether there is anything which you can 
 do. I believe not (I mean as far as I am concerned). The 
 worse the behaviour of Convocation, the better for those 
 
 1 Dr. C. J. Vaughan, now Dean 2 Dr. Stanley's mother, 
 of Llandaff. 3 Shakespeare, Tempest, iv. i.
 
 348 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xi 
 
 who are attacked by it, though not, perhaps, the better for 
 the Church of England. I made up my mind at the com- 
 mencement of the clamour that the best course was also 
 the easiest to do nothing. With my College and University 
 work I have not had time hitherto to write answers, hardly 
 to write letters, if I had had the inclination. 
 
 I am sorry that the Clergy are so determinedly set against 
 all the intellectual tendencies of the age. They are trying 
 to pledge the Church of England to the same course in which 
 the Church of Eome has already failed. The real facts and 
 truths of Christianity are quite a sufficient basis for a national 
 Church, but they want to maintain a conventional Christianity 
 into which no one is to inquire, which is always being patched 
 and plastered with evidences and apologies. I wish I could 
 persuade you that it was right to alter the Church of England 
 from within, for I think that it will never be altered from 
 without, unless it is destroyed. 
 
 I had not forgotten your words to me at Bristol about 
 freethinkers entering the ministry. But unless you admit 
 some freedom of thought, men of ability will be absolutely 
 excluded, and the Church of England will become more and 
 more the instrument of bigotry and intolerance. Moreover 
 I cannot see that freethinkers about Scripture, &c., who were 
 not contemplated by the Articles, are more nearly touched 
 by them than the High Churchmen who were, or than the 
 Evangelicals are by the Baptismal Service. Though I dislike 
 'Subscription,' I am inclined to think that if we are all dis- 
 honest together that proves us to be all honest together \ 
 
 Do you think of writing anything on the present position 
 of the Church of England 'A letter to Convocation from 
 the Prolocutor of the Lower House ' ? There will hardly occur 
 such an opportunity again of saying useful truths with equal 
 effect. And yet, perhaps, by the time the letter was ready 
 the tempest may have lulled ; and it seems a kind of profana- 
 
 1 An application of W. Gr. scribing to them (the Articles) we 
 
 Ward's saying as recorded by were not all dishonest together, 
 
 Jowett in W. G. Ward and the but all honest together.' Cf. the 
 
 Oxford Movement, p. 438, ' At one letter to B. C. Brodie of February, 
 
 time he used to say that in sub- 1845 (p. 94).
 
 Letters, 1860-1865 349 
 
 tion to contaminate the lakes and cities of the North of 
 Italy with controversy. I hope you will write, however, 
 some day. 
 
 To Miss ELLIOT. 
 
 BALLIOL COLLEGE, OXFOBD, 
 
 April i, 1861. 
 
 Let me only thank you for your great kindness and con- 
 sideration in troubling yourself about me in this storm. Such 
 letters as yours and the Dean's outweigh many times the 
 attacks of the Guardian and Record. 
 
 The truth is we have nothing to complain of and are in 
 no danger. It is obvious that any one who runs against the 
 religious prejudices of the time must expect to be a mark 
 for attacks. There seems to me to be very little malignity, 
 except perhaps in the subtle genius of the Saturday Review, 
 who no doubt supposes himself (whoever he is) to be writing 
 in the most honourable and conscientious spirit. I think 
 it should be understood that in controversy, as in love, every- 
 thing is fair. I think people may be allowed to tell lies, 
 for they really can't help it. 
 
 To DEAN ELLIOT, AT FLOKENCE. 
 
 FBESHWATER, April 16, 1861. 
 
 ... I think matters are calming down. I am very glad 
 that you were not in Convocation, as it would have been 
 impossible to have stemmed the first strength of the torrent, 
 and it would probably have been a waste of power to have 
 attempted it. 
 
 Looking at the subject (not with reference to our personal 
 interests or feelings, but) with reference to the questions 
 at stake and the interest of the Church in the long run, 
 which cannot really be separated from the interests of truth, 
 I think the course of events has been favourable. Many 
 persons have admitted into their minds inquiries which they 
 would have resisted but for the manner in which the subject 
 has been forced upon them by the Bishops. It is the be- 
 ginning of a long controversy which has now for the first
 
 350 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xi 
 
 time taken hold of the Church of England. And I believe 
 it may tend not merely to a negative and critical theology, 
 but to the making of religion more natural and effectual. 
 The false position of educated persons with reference to 
 their practice is quite as striking as their false position in 
 speculation. 
 
 This will probably reach you at Genoa or Florence, or an 
 Italian lake, some beautiful spot which should make one 
 forget that there is such a thing as controversy in the world. 
 
 To SIB ALEXANDER GRANT, IN INDIA. 
 
 FKESHWATEK, April 27, 1861. 
 
 Perhaps I shall be as well employed in writing to an 
 absent friend this Sunday morning as in going to hear 
 Mr. Isaacson preach, who calls me Judas Iscariot. Let me 
 thank you, once more, for the great pains you took about 
 my brother's * affairs, which are now quite settled, and assure 
 you what great pleasure your last letter gave me and others 
 who read it. 
 
 Lady Grant 2 is here, quite well and satisfied, as she tells 
 me, that you should be useful in a distant land. We all look 
 forward, however, to your coming home to a changed world 
 and to a changed Oxford perhaps, (for it really is changing 
 more rapidly than could have been expected,) but not to 
 changed friends. 
 
 I am living here at a lodging about half a mile from 
 Tennyson's, who talks of you with great regard and affection. 
 The other evening, going upstairs we stopped to look at 
 Maurice and you, as you hang beside one another. Tennyson 
 said, 'That man (Maurice) I never allow anything to be 
 said against, and that Mannie (Grant) there is nothing to 
 be said against.' Mrs. Tennyson wants you to be governor, 
 not of the island of Barataria, but of Madras or Bombay. 
 And / wish for you that you should leave behind you in 
 India a sort of reputation like Bishop Heber's for kindness 
 and friendship to the natives. 
 
 1 Alfred Jowett : see p. 253. 
 
 2 The Dowager Lady Grant, Sir A. Grant's mother.
 
 Letters, 1860-1865 351 
 
 I believe that you are in a far better position for doing 
 them good than you would be as a missionary or Bishop. 
 Is not the late change in the admission to writerships favour- 
 able to education? Men who owe their admission to the 
 service to education will surely believe more in its value 
 than the old civil servants. I hope you will not depend 
 only on the College 1 , but write and try to get political con- 
 nexions. We students and pedagogues lose influence often 
 by not doing our part sufficiently in the world and in society. 
 
 There has been a great tumult about Essays and Reviews, 
 which is now dwindling to a calm. The folly of the Bishops 
 has led to the book selling about 20,000 copies. I have been 
 a great deal more pleased by the kindness and support which 
 the book has called forth than hurt by the attacks of enemies, 
 which, like the attacks of mosquitoes, seem to produce little 
 impression after the first day or two. 
 
 At present I am busy with Plato, which is my reason for 
 staying away from Oxford, and have hope of finishing by the 
 end of the year. 
 
 Please to reconsider what you say about the Ethics*. It 
 must be out of print and may be set aside by some interloper. 
 Would you like me to do anything or get anything done in 
 the course of the next year ? 
 
 ... I am very desirous that you should write about India, 
 not hastily, but when you have had time to collect facts 
 and review impressions. Probably no one at present in India 
 could do so as well, and it would at once give you a position 
 above the ordinary civil servants. 
 
 So you have got a son 3 . He has my best wishes. Some 
 day you will send him over to Eton or Rugby, and perhaps 
 to Balliol, if I am living : I get more and more determined 
 to cast in my lot for life at Oxford. 
 
 Pray let me hear from you about India. I am always 
 interested. 
 
 1 Grant was now Principal of 3 The child died in infancy. 
 Elphinstone College, Bombay. In writing to the mother, Jowett 
 
 2 The first volume of Grant's said, ' One can say of infants, 
 edition of the Nicomachean Ethics more truly than of any one else, 
 of Aristotle was published in 1857. they fall asleep in Jesus.'
 
 352 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xi 
 
 To Miss ELLIOT. 
 
 TORQUAY, June 9, 1861. 
 
 I hope you will enjoy Switzerland. Don't relinquish Venice 
 (if Eome has become impossible), nor Verona, which is almost 
 equally beautiful, and the Lago di Garda. Let me tell you 
 also what I thought the most beautiful thing in the Alps the 
 Val d'Anzasca ; you go to it from Vogogna, and, if you are 
 very brave, might contrive to get over the Monte Moro to Saas 
 and Zermatt. I see you don't like to trust yourself with an 
 English summer. 
 
 The Essays and Reviews have long ceased to be talked of in 
 good society. They are permeating, as people say, the lower 
 strata : ' Gents ' in railways talk about them to their sweet- 
 hearts : God help them ! The last I heard of them was that 
 they had been condemned by a Synod of Quakers (who have 
 a certain affinity with the Bishops), which, my Quaker in- 
 formant adds, has greatly stimulated the appetite of young 
 Quakers. Though I try to make fun of them to you, you 
 must not suppose that I regard the whole affair altogether 
 as a joke. 
 
 Lord John Eussell is said to have produced a great effect 
 by a speech on Foreign Politics about ten days ago. There 
 seems to be a general feeling that he has entirely succeeded 
 as Foreign Minister. No one has gained so much in this 
 session. 
 
 To A. P. STANLEY. 
 
 i ROYAL CRESCENT, WHITBY, [1861]. 
 
 Will you kindly read the enclosed and show them to 
 Fremantle if you have an opportunity ? This ' is a man whom 
 we ought not to desert, I think. Can you find him a curacy 
 under some Eector or Bishop by whom he will not be molested? 
 He appears to me to be just the man for a Bethnal Green 
 church, or something of that sort. 
 
 I received this morning a copy of the articles against 
 Rowland Williams. They appear to be concocted in the most 
 
 1 The Rev. Charles Voysey.
 
 Letters, 1860-1865 353 
 
 monstrous spirit. . . . The Bishop of London, and still more 
 Thirl wall, have not a leg to stand upon in the Church of Eng- 
 land if the articles against Eowland Williams are affirmed. 
 Pseudo-orthodox as the Bishops are, I believe that there is not 
 one of them who might not be dethroned by a similar process 
 of inferential and constructive treason. 
 
 To Miss ELLIOT. 
 
 WHITBY, August 4, 1861. 
 
 On my way here, I went to see the Arch-heretic Dr. Williams, 
 who, for ' his soul's health ' (that is the form), has been put into 
 the Ecclesiastical Court by the Bishop of Sarum. Dr. Williams 
 is a learned and good man, and a gentleman but a Welshman, 
 which (as is the case with all Welshmen) it is absolutely 
 necessary to bear in mind, if you would judge them fairly. 
 The articles against him are monstrous. If they are admitted, 
 I think it will be impossible for any Clergyman who preaches 
 or writes or says anything, to escape the charge of heresy. 
 All Bishops (also Deans) have certainly been guilty. The only 
 possibility of avoiding such a charge will be to read the homilies 
 instead of composing anything of your own. The case comes 
 on after the Long Vacation : I do not think it will succeed 
 on any article, especially as the prosecution of it is against 
 the wish of Canterbury and London, and against an implied 
 understanding of the Bishops when they signed the letter to 
 Mr. Fremantle 1 . 
 
 Three acquaintances whom I have made this vacation 
 deserve to be noticed. One was Mr. Macleod Campbell, author 
 of the book on the Atonement, a more than ordinarily good, and 
 truthful, and spiritual man : (there are a small class of such 
 persons who lift themselves and others out of common life). 
 He was deposed in the Church of Scotland about thirty years 
 ago, Dr. Chalmers, who partly agreed with him, refusing to 
 raise a finger in his defence. My next new acquaintance (I am 
 afraid that this cannot possibly interest you) was Mr. A. J. Scott, 
 of Owens College (did you ever hear of him ?), a most excellent 
 
 1 The Vicar of Islip, to whose published letter the denunciation of 
 the twenty-five Bishops was the reply. 
 VOL. I. A a
 
 354 -Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xi 
 
 talker, one of the very few persons who satisfies you in con- 
 versation. He is also a deposed minister, and what the poor 
 call a very fine man, of handsome presence and full of thoughts 
 and words. My third acquaintance was Dr. John Brown, 
 a physician at Edinburgh, best known to the world as the 
 author of Bab and Ms Friends, and also of a most admirable 
 memoir of his own father. He is certainly a writer of real 
 genius and feeling, and a most excellent man. He had 
 a charming wife, I am told ; but his life has been utterly 
 spoiled and darkened by her going hopelessly out of her mind. 
 Do you agree with Mr. Mill in the last number of Fraser, that 
 if persons manage properly they can be sure of getting con- 
 siderable portions of happiness out of life ? 
 
 Dr. Williams's cause has as yet made no progress. He has 
 got Mr. Stephen 1 , brother of Miss Stephen at Clifton, for one 
 of his counsel. A law court is better for justice than Convo- 
 cation, but a law court easily gets inspired in these questions 
 by public opinion. None of the ordinary rules of law are 
 applicable : the judge does what he likes and the world calls 
 this common sense. Still, I hope that a Protestant judge will 
 pause before he determines that the evidences, prophecies, 
 &c., are a fiction (for that is what the decision would involve) 
 to be maintained not by weapons of reason and argument, but 
 by the authority of the Court. 
 
 Do you ever hear anything of Mazzini? He seems to be 
 more abused than any other man in this world. I think 
 he must be a great man, though a visionary and perhaps 
 dangerous. The present state of Italy is greatly due to him. 
 His defence of Borne raised the Italian character. I don't 
 suppose that you hear the truth about him in the North of 
 Italy. Some friends of mine, who know him, assure me 
 that he has the greatest fascination of manner they have 
 ever met with. 
 
 I am sorry to see Mr. resigning his living. No 
 
 doubt one ought to say, ' God bless him,' to every man who 
 makes a sacrifice for what he believes to be the truth. But 
 
 1 Sir J. Fitzjames Stephen. The Miss Stephen referred to was 
 really his cousin.
 
 Letters, 1860-1865 355 
 
 if men drop off in this way, they will at best only get into the 
 position of Nonjurors or Unitarians. If the present condition 
 of religion in England is ever to be improved, I am convinced 
 it must be through the Church of England. . . . 
 
 To DEAN ELLIOT, AT FLORENCE. 
 
 BALLIOL COLLEGE, OXFORD, 
 
 October 10, 1861. 
 
 I hear that you are thinking of giving up the Prolocutorship 
 on the ground 'that Convocation is so unjust.' 
 
 Perhaps your mind is made up. But indeed, I am truly 
 sorry if it is, and hope you will not think me impertinent for 
 telling you the reason why : 
 
 1. It seems to me that you would be doing what all High 
 Churchmen and enemies of inquiry most desire. They would 
 be extremely pleased to enthrone Canon Wordsworth in your 
 place. I hope that you will not give them this pleasure. 
 
 2. I think it is an error (and one which is almost sure to 
 cause pain in the retrospect) to retire from any position in 
 which you have attained success and honour. Never resign, 
 especially in the Church, where such a magic power attends the 
 words of any person in authority. It is true that you cannot 
 say as much, but what you say has tenfold weight and power. 
 In any matter affecting Convocation you would have a claim, 
 as Prolocutor, to be listened to by the Ministry, which you 
 would not have as a mere Dean. Though, as Chairman, you do 
 not take part in the discussion, there are doubtless ways in 
 which you may prevent evil and do good. 
 
 3. Let me suppose that you resign : in doing so, you would 
 either hold your peace or publicly give reasons. If the first, 
 your High Church friends would get exactly what they want, 
 and would repay your kindness to them by a warmly expressed 
 vote of thanks for your services. The latter course would 
 certainly produce a great effect, but hardly a lasting one. In 
 this impossible country no statement, however ably written, 
 holds out against a powerful party more than a few days. My 
 own impression is that, in case of resignation, it would be better 
 to give reasons. Still this would make you the mark for 
 
 A a 2
 
 356 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xi 
 
 violent attacks, and would lead to the attempt to push you 
 out of the stream, of religious feeling in England. I. do not 
 think that any good could be done by a statement of reasons 
 so great as might be done by remaining. 
 
 4. As to the injustice, it is quite right that Convocation 
 should be reproached with it, for the sake of the Church of 
 England. But as far as the authors of heretical books are 
 concerned, it does them no harm, and is indeed absolutely 
 unmeaning. The proceedings of Convocation ought never to 
 give them a moment's pain or uneasiness. I don't think you 
 need mind Convocation thundering against opinions with 
 which in some measure you agree. Those who hold such 
 opinions would wish, not that you should sacrifice yourself out 
 of a sense of the wrong to them (if any), but that you should 
 use all the weight which high station assists in giving, to 
 bring Convocation and the Church of England to more tolerant 
 and also more natural views of religion. . . . 
 
 To MRS. TENNYSON. 
 
 BALLIOL, November 13, 1861. 
 
 I was very glad to see your handwriting again. I am afraid 
 the last year has been an anxious and troubled one to you. 
 Still a long journey, notwithstanding its cares and illnesses, is 
 a good patch in life to look back upon. I have always found 
 pleasure in travelling after it is over. 
 
 If I am not troubling you I should like to hear again how 
 Mr. Tennyson is ; perhaps, one of the children could write and 
 tell me. I am very sorry that he should be suffering. Indeed 
 a poet deserves to have some of the good and enjoyment that he 
 gives to others. But it seems often to be otherwise. My doings 
 have been so very monotonous, that they are not worth nar- 
 rating to you. I have gone on with Plato, slowly, but I hope 
 steadily, and shall finish in the course of the next Long Vacation. 
 The interminable battle about the endowment of the Greek 
 Professorship still goes on. When I am old and the endow- 
 ment is of no value to me, it will probably be carried. 
 Dr. Stanley is the best of friends to me ; I am afraid in 
 some degree to the injury of his own interests.
 
 Letters, 1860-1865 357 
 
 To A. P. STANLEY. 
 
 FKESHWATEK, ISLE OF WIGHT, 
 
 [January, 1862]. 
 
 I am so glad that you are going with the Prince of Wales. 
 
 I have received from Lingen a document l that fills me with 
 astonishment. It is most kind, generous, thoughtful to take 
 so much trouble about me. It will be one of the happiest 
 recollections of my life that I have received such a testimonial. 
 But, my dear friend, I cannot accept it. 
 
 1. No one ought to take money from others who is not in 
 absolute need of it, or without a definite public object. 
 
 2. I am far from wishing to feast upon a grievance or go 
 in for being a martyr (don't suppose this), but I am afraid of 
 lowering the position in which you and others have placed me, 
 far beyond my deserts. 
 
 3. I should not feel on equal terms with my great friends 
 and should feel pained at my poor friends if they gave me 
 money. 
 
 Yet I really feel the greatest contentment and satisfaction 
 in the matter. I shall never complain again, but work on 
 cheerfully. If anything is done for me, well ; and if nothing 
 is done, well too. Taking the whole of my life I am sure that 
 I should do wrong in accepting a sum of money : it is not 
 worth while. I should never feel disinterested and could 
 never be equally thought so again. . . . 
 
 To A. P. STANLEY. 
 
 March 9, 1862. 
 MY DEAREST FRIEND, 
 
 The greatest trial that you could ever have in this world 
 has come at last 2 . I wish I could be with you ; it grieves me 
 to think of what you must suffer when you receive this 
 packet. May you have strength to bear it. 
 
 1 p. 306. vol. ii. p. 75. Most of the letter 
 
 2 For Stanley's answer to this has been published in the volume 
 letter, see Life of Dean Stanley, of Dean Stanley's Letters, p. 325.
 
 358 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xi 
 
 I have no faith in words being able to do anything to 
 alleviate such a blow. But the remembrance of the strong 
 inextinguishable affection of many friends may be of some 
 value even in this great trouble. Let me assure you how many 
 care for you as though you were a relative, and what a sense 
 there is (as a person said to me) of the noble and useful life 
 you have been leading- how increasing this has been since 
 your return to Oxford. Indeed, though the blank and the 
 chasm is great, other ties are beginning to weave themselves 
 for your support. Don't let yourself wither in sorrow like 
 one without hope, but embrace the ever increasing field of 
 duties that is opening before you. 
 
 I know that she was father, mother, brothers, and friends 
 to you all in one. Considering her extraordinaiy ability and 
 intense affection it was most natural. And now perhaps 
 there is only one thing that she would have cared for on 
 earth, or does care for if the spirits of the departed retain the 
 memories of such things : that the end of your life should 
 answer to the beginning of it and be consecrated, not without 
 the thought of her, to the service of God and of mankind. 
 I can hardly conceal from myself that life must be for 
 years painful to you ; but things may be done in it far 
 beyond, and of another sort from the dreams of youthful 
 ambition. 
 
 Please write to me, if you are able, to tell me whether there 
 is anything you would like me to do for you. I called in 
 Grosvenor Crescent on Friday and saw your sisters : they 
 were quite well and took their great sorrow quite naturally : 
 they were full of kindness and thought about others. You 
 need have no anxiety about them : they are sure to do exactly 
 what you would wish. All that I heard from them and from 
 Lady Stanley would have given you comfort if accidents could 
 give comfort in such an overwhelming trouble. 
 
 Write to me for another reason, which is, perhaps, a selfish 
 one, that life is very dark with me at present. I can't bear to 
 think that I shall never more see that dear kind smile which 
 used to greet me at Christ Church : that I have lost a friend 
 who will never be replaced, who always greatly over-estimated 
 me for your sake. Alas, too, we have both of us lost poor
 
 Letters, 1860-1865 359 
 
 Luke there was no life in Oxford more valuable. And on 
 Monday I sent away poor Simcox, the young undergraduate 
 that I pointed out to you as a genius as I fear in consumption. 
 He was as innocent as a girl of fourteen, and had a great 
 intelligence. It grieves me that the life should be crushed 
 out of so rare and tender a flower. 
 
 I trust you will have strength to continue your journey 
 and fulfil the great trust which you have undertaken. Don't 
 allow yourself to think of any other alternative ; indeed, it 
 would be wrong. It was her last request, and I hope you 
 will not think me hard for saying that you ought to show 
 yourself able to fulfil such a request and worthy of such a 
 mother. They told me that she never for a moment regretted 
 your absence, she was glad of it and said that 'she had 
 thought much of its being better as it is.' What should 
 you come back for? To leave a duty and do nothing, for 
 nothing can be done. All her arrangements, as I heard of 
 them from Lady Stanley, were as good and wise as possible, 
 and such as might have been expected from her. 
 
 Kest assured, my dear friend, that there is a divine love as 
 well as a human love which encompasses us, the dead and 
 the living together, which leads us through deserts and 
 solitudes for a time to make us extend the sphere of our 
 affections beyond living relatives to other men, to Himself 
 and to the unseen world. I am most afraid of your being 
 stunned by the first news ; not at all of your failing in the 
 duty which you have undertaken, if you would reflect for 
 a moment. 
 
 Let me remind you that your sermon at Oxford was one 
 of the last, if not the very last sermon that she could have 
 heard with what happiness and pride ! Will you think that 
 I make a singular request if I ask you to read over the last 
 chapters of St. John when you receive this news ? 
 
 Ever affectionately yours, 
 
 B. JOWETT. 
 
 I shall often talk to you about her when you come home, if 
 the subject is not too sad a one.
 
 360 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xi 
 
 To MRS. TENNYSON. 
 
 BALLIOL, March 31, 1862. 
 
 Will you be very much surprised if I propose a short 
 visit about Friday week? I think of spending a few days 
 with you and then going into lodgings with two of my 
 friends and pupils, either at your house or at Mrs. Dawes' 
 for a fortnight. 
 
 I can't make up my mind to leave Oxford next Term. 
 Plato, you will be glad to hear, has been making good 
 progress, but this Term has been sad to me, owing to the 
 loss of two friends, Mrs. Stanley, and Mr. Luke of Christ 
 Church, and I fear I must add a third (one of the most 
 promising undergraduates who ever came up to Oxford), who 
 appears to be in a consumption. 
 
 I hope Alfred is well, and the boys. Give my love to them. 
 I trust the poem is prospering. 
 
 To Miss ELLIOT, AT PAEIS. 
 
 OXFOBD, June 4, 1862. 
 
 . . . You greatly undervalue Plato, who is a most faithful 
 friend to me too faithful, for indeed I can't get rid of 
 him, and he is even now inviting me to come and see him 
 at Paris where he resides Bibliotheque Imperiale 1 , and I 
 would go if I could get away. I wish you would write 
 a book, and then you would be at once absolved from all the 
 duties of life. 
 
 A friend of mine says that his heart always sinks within him 
 when he sees the Dover cliffs. Do you experience this patriotic 
 sensation? I hope not. The good people of Bristol will be 
 mighty glad to see you, and especially the poor people. 
 
 Your friend Johnny Symonds was examined to-day, viva 
 voce, in the Schools ; I am told that he did capitally, and believe 
 there is no doubt of his getting a first class. Every one 
 must be glad of any good or happiness or honour coming to 
 
 1 The chief MS. of Plato's consulted in this library, now 
 Republic, Paris A., can only be Bibliotheque Nationale.
 
 Letters, 1860-1865 361 
 
 Dr. Symonds. I don't wonder at the respect felt for him. 
 I never knew any one who had such a genius for kindness. 
 
 I hope you are a Northern and not a Southern. ... I am 
 provoked with English people for siding with the South 
 because they fancy the North are 'snobs.' We were very 
 eager to teach the North good manners five months ago ; now 
 that they are winning, we seem to grow more respectful 
 towards them. 
 
 Your letter is written from the most beautiful place in the 
 world '. The place to which I direct this is, I fear, losing 
 upon the whole rather than gaining in interest and beauty. 
 I am told that you can no longer stand on the Pont Henri 
 Quatre, and look on one side at the Old, and on the other at 
 the New, for that all is new. 
 
 To HALLAM TENNYSON. 
 
 October 31, 1862. 
 MY DEAR HALLAM, 
 
 It is a long time since I have heard of you or Lionel 
 or Papa and Mama. Suppose you write and tell me the 
 news. . . . 
 
 I have been in Scotland most part of the summer. Such 
 a beautiful country, with mountains and streams and woods 
 and huge deer forests. (You must know that these forests 
 have no trees in them ; they are only huge bare hills many 
 miles in extent.) And one day I went out deer-stalking : 
 I wish you had been there. First we went on ponies to 
 the top of a mountain with dogs and men and guns and 
 a great way off in a valley and on the opposite hill we 
 saw two herds of red deer, and they did not see us, and the 
 wind did not carry the scent of us to them, as it was blowing 
 the other way. Then the people who were with the guns 
 and dogs went all round the head of the valley on the other 
 side, out of sight of the deer, several miles, and we sat at the 
 top watching them. At last they crawled down the bed of 
 a torrent (we could only just see them with a glass) ; and 
 then we heard two shots fired and down came two stags, and 
 
 1 Venice.
 
 362 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xi 
 
 away all the rest bounded with leaps that would make you 
 wonder. I ought to tell you that the stags were not like those 
 you see in a park, but red deer, much larger and stronger. 
 Give my love to Lionel and to Papa and Mama. I am writing 
 this at Torquay and go back to Oxford to-morrow. 
 
 I hope you improve in chess, and learn to look a few moves 
 forward. Think of the consequences in chess and in some 
 other things too. 
 
 Ever yours affectionately, 
 
 B. JOWETT. 
 
 Are you a Northerner or a Southerner ? 
 
 To DEAN ELLIOT. 
 
 BALLIOL COLLEGE, OXFORD, 
 
 March 4, 1863. 
 
 ... I begin to believe that the ice of the Church of England 
 is breaking up, and that the mass of the educated laity, if not 
 of the clergy, are learning to look on these subjects in a more 
 natural manner. I cannot help anticipating that increased 
 freedom of opinion may lead to a real amendment of life. 
 Hitherto, religion seems to have become more and more 
 powerless among the educated classes. Do we not want a 
 Gospel for the educated not because it is more blessed to 
 preach to the educated than to the poor, but because the 
 faith of the educated is permanent, and ultimately affects 
 the faith of the poor? 
 
 To MRS. TENNYSON. 
 
 HIGH FOECE INK, MIDDLETON IN TEESDALE, 
 
 July 14, 1863. 
 
 It is so long since I have written to you, that I am almost 
 afraid of falling out of acquaintance with you ; therefore I write, 
 a propos of nothing, from a wish to have some tidings in return 
 about yourself and Alfred and the boys. I am staying with 
 Lord Boringdon, a pupil of mine, at a country inn amid the 
 moors in Durham, busy with Plato, which is an everlasting 
 thing on my hands. We are as far out of the world as we can
 
 Letters, 1860-1865 363 
 
 well be, having no railroad within fourteen miles, and no 
 gentleman's house within five or six. I think this, and a very 
 fine country, and a warm welcome, and a curious geological 
 formation, might be an inducement to Alfred, if he comes 
 northward, to come and see us. 
 
 I have been reading Kenan's Vie de Jesus during the last 
 few days. If you have not read it, shall I give you Mr. Punch's 
 advice to young gentlemen disposed to marry don't ? Yet 
 I hardly know, as I incline to think that an intelligent and 
 educated person ought to be willing to read anything and find 
 a higher faith, not in denying but in being above everything 
 that can be said. The book is extremely interesting, and will 
 no doubt have a great effect. The Christ with which Kenan 
 presents us appears to me to be essentially a ' French ' Christ 
 with some traits taken from Kenan's own character. The 
 miracles are for the most part explained as a sort of unintentional 
 impostures, forced upon Him by the credulity of the multitude. 
 The book, though very far from presenting the ultimate truth 
 in which the world will rest, is very significant of the change 
 which is coming over the Christian Faith. May we be prepared 
 to meet it ! 
 
 I should like to hear about the boys. I hope you will find 
 a good school and send them to it without delay, as they 
 are getting too old for the matriarchal form of government. 
 
 To LADY STANLEY OF ALDEELEY. 
 
 BALLIOL COLLEGE, 
 
 November g, 1863. 
 
 This note will reach you in a house of mourning. I was 
 sorry to hear of the death of the venerable lady 1 . I am 
 glad to have seen her, and talked with her of ' the times before 
 the flood.' 
 
 Will you and Lord Stanley kindly consider Arthur's interest 
 about the Deanery of Westminster ? There is but one opinion 
 on the subject here. That cannot be better expressed than in 
 the words of one of the opposite party : ' Lord Palmerston has 
 
 1 Maria Josepha, Lady Stanley d. 1863, aged 92. See the record 
 Dowager of Alderley (nee Holroyd), of her Girlhood, Longmans, 1896.
 
 364 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xi 
 
 done very wisely in removing him from a position in which he 
 was doing great mischief to one in which he will be compara- 
 tively innocuous.' I am grieved beyond measure that such 
 a joyful occasion as his marriage should be spoilt and undone 
 by such a fatal error. 
 
 He has had a great and signal success at Oxford. If his 
 ambition were only preferment, I should be well content to 
 let him follow ' limping ' after the Archbishop of York. But 
 his ambition is of another sort than this. At present he 
 has one of the first positions in the country, touching both ends 
 of society the Queen at one end, and the poor students of 
 Oxford at the other. He is not regarded as a courtier, but 
 as the independent friend of the Queen and the Prince. If 
 he goes to Westminster, all this will be changed. Besides, he 
 is excellently fitted for Oxford, and is an admirable link 
 between College life and the world. But for London, except 
 perhaps for society, he is not equally well fitted. The clergy 
 are not capable of being influenced in the way that he supposes, 
 and his most eloquent sermons are ill-suited to an average 
 London audience. He can never expect to have any influence 
 at Oxford again ; the people here will regard him as having 
 deserted them, and will say (though untruly) that he has 
 degenerated into a courtier. My impression is that he had 
 better turn his mind at once to the antiquities of Westminster 
 Abbey. The High Churchmen will say, ' We always welcome 
 him in this field.' You see that I, and others, feel pained 
 at his leaving us without a cause. Since I wrote to him on 
 Sunday evening, I have seen several persons who all speak 
 as I do ; the Dean of Christ Church even more strongly. 
 I am sure that a person needs counsel when all his friends 
 think that he is going to make a fatal mistake. This makes 
 me write to you. I will not trouble you with any other 
 reasons. 
 
 To LADY STANLEY OF ALDERLEY. 
 
 [1863.] 
 
 I write a line to thank you very much for your note. If 
 the time at which any change can properly be made has 
 passed, I shall do all I can to soothe and help Arthur.
 
 Letters, 1860-1865 365 
 
 To LADY STANLEY OF ALDEELEY. 
 
 December 6, 1863. 
 
 Arthur's sermon ' was exceedingly interesting, and gave me 
 great hopes that my sinister auguries about the Deanery of 
 Westminster will not be verified. I thought he had a ' poke ' 
 at me in one passage which he has not printed, in retaliation 
 for various offences, such as writing to you. I most entirely 
 desire his happiness and success. 
 
 To MRS. TENNYSON. 
 
 RECTORY, DEVONSHIRE SQUARE, BISHOPSGATE, 
 
 December 21, 1863. 
 
 We all go to-morrow to see Dr. Stanley married at the 
 Abbey. I was very glad to hear that you had succeeded 
 in finding a tutor. 
 
 I am afraid that I have not thanked you for the verses 2 , 
 which I like extremely. The Homer is excellent (except 
 ' honey-hearted '). I think the alcaics a very noble imita- 
 tion, and I doubt whether people will be found for the future 
 to write barbarous hexameters, of which I am glad. 
 
 Will you give my best love to Alfred and the boys ? 
 I always think with pride and pleasure of your friendship 
 for me. 
 
 To DEAN STANLEY. 
 
 ALDERLEY, January, 1864. 
 
 Here am I in your old haunts, enjoying the kindness and 
 hospitality of Alderley. I suppose you have been rejoicing in 
 that unclouded happiness which is only granted to human 
 beings once in the course of a lifetime. 
 
 Since I saw you I have been to Berlin, and had a good deal 
 of conversation with ' our friend ' the Princess. . . . Nothing 
 could be kinder than she was to me. I think she left a some- 
 
 1 Dean Stanley's farewell ser- 2 Translation from 11. viii, and 
 mon on leaving Oxford, ' Great ' Experiments.' 
 Opportunities.'
 
 366 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xi 
 
 what different impression from what I got at Oxford, but not 
 a worse one. . . . She was very much interested about your 
 marriage, and both the Prince and she talked about you and 
 Lady Augusta and sent kind messages. Will you give my 
 most kind regards to Lady Augusta ? I scarcely know her, but 
 cannot regard her as a stranger, as she has become yours. 
 
 I went to-day to see your dear mother's monument. The 
 inscription is excellently descriptive of her. 
 
 To LADY STANLEY OF ALDEELEY. 
 
 March, 1864. 
 
 I was greatly pleased at your most kind letter. I often 
 think myself truly fortunate in having such friends. I 
 certainly would not exchange them for the best of positions 
 or preferments. 
 
 I shall try to avoid being 'snuffed out.' But I suppose that 
 life (which through a combination of unfortunate accidents 
 has been rather against me) must be a battle, and no battle 
 can be won without a battle. I believe the Judgement was the 
 cause of the defeat l . I wonder what the end of all this will be. 
 It sometimes seems as if no educated man, w r oman, or child 
 would have any more belief, if religion is to be identified with 
 the union of Dr. Pusey with the Record. 
 
 I have been reading a very clever little book (with a bad 
 title) by Miss Cobbe, called Broken Lights. It is an ex- 
 tremely good statement of the present condition of things in 
 the Church. 
 
 To MRS. TENNYSON. 
 
 BALLIOL, April 12, 1864. 
 
 I write a line to thank you for the photograph of 
 Hallam, which gave me great pleasure. I sometimes pull 
 him out and look at his honest intelligent face. I hope 
 that I shall live to be of some use to both the boys, remem- 
 bering the long and faithful friendship which their father and 
 mother have shown me. 
 
 1 See p. 315.
 
 Letters, 1860-1865 367 
 
 I hope that Alfred is not troubled at my small criticisms 011 
 his poems. I consider myself to be a ' foolometer ' and nothing 
 more. I should make the ' Sermon ' more intelligible for the 
 benefit of stupid people, and leave out the ' Sea Dreams ' and 
 'The Kinglet' and (perhaps) 'The Lincolnshire Farmer,' as 
 tending to dislocate the volume although a first-rate thing 
 of its kind. I have no doubt of the general success of the 
 volume 1 . But it should have the character of a new book 
 as much as possible. 
 
 So you have had Garibaldi with you. What did he say 
 and do ? Will Hallam or Lionel write and tell me ? I think 
 he must be intensely bored by fetes, and must wish himself 
 back in some scene of real danger and interest. I perceive 
 that the common people recognize that he is their friend 
 and one of them, and that the higher classes fall in with 
 the general admiration. 
 
 I am always anxious that Alfred should be employed about 
 some great poetical work which should express what this 
 age is longing to have expressed. When old things are 
 beginning to pass away and new things to appear, I think 
 the poet's function is very plain and clear. He fancies that 
 his thoughts have been killed by the Quarterly. My impression 
 is that he could do the work now, but could hardly have done 
 it five-and-twenty years ago. I know that I bore him about 
 this. But I shall hardly let him rest until he makes the 
 attempt. 
 
 I saw Mr. Dakyns in passing through Clifton ; he is very 
 prosperous and much liked at the College. 
 
 Love to Alfred and the boys. 
 
 To DEAN STANLEY. 
 
 ASKRIGG, July 17, 1864. 
 
 ... I have some thoughts, if there is anything left of me 
 from the Plato, of coming to town for eight or ten Sundays 
 next year and preaching and publishing the sermons in a small 
 volume. I don't mention this to any one but you, because so 
 many accidents of health, &c., may prevent. 
 
 1 Enoch Arden, &c.
 
 368 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xi 
 
 ... I was sorry to see Tait's speech in the House of Lords \ 
 cautious in a certain way, yet so utterly unconscious of the real 
 state of matters. What is Truth against an esprit de corps ? 
 The Bishops think that they are fighting a few clergymen who 
 must be put down. They are really fighting against Science, 
 against Criticism, against the Law or at least the spirit of the Law, 
 against the Conscience and moral perceptions of mankind ; things 
 which I believe to be invincible even when arrayed against that 
 figment of theologians, the Catholic Church. The Bishop 
 of Oxford certainly puts clergymen in an awkward position by 
 bringing them back to the letter of their obligation. Does he 
 consider in what a much more awkward position he puts 
 himself and the Church by wholly, without a rag to cover him, 
 giving up the very pretence of truth of fact ? 
 
 This is a village at the head of Wensleydale up in the hills, 
 far out of the world and the atmosphere of Convocation. . . . 
 I heard of your chivalrous speech in Convocation 2 . I think the 
 Bishop of London is encumbering himself and the world 
 a good deal by proclaiming the necessity of consulting Convoca- 
 tion on all occasions : especially at this time when they are 
 acting with so much violence. The natural sense of truth or 
 fair play seems to be quite ridiculous in these Church questions, 
 and no Bishop can be expected to utter them. 
 
 . . . The Ministry and the foreign policy appears to me 
 utterly contemptible, and a positive discredit to have shouted 
 for place and office while the Danes were bleeding. 
 
 To 
 
 SCOTLAND, September, 1864. 
 
 I don't know whether one colours objects with one's own 
 vision, but I sometimes think that the state of religion in 
 England gets worse and worse. The very idea of the truth is 
 becoming ridiculous, and, more and more, religious teaching is 
 losing its moral character. The two great parties which really 
 could say ' Rise up and walk ' in the last generation, hardly 
 
 1 Powers of Convocation to pass 2 Synodical condemnation of 
 judgement on Books : Hansard, Essays and Reviews : June 22 and 
 clxxvi, 1553. 24, 1864.
 
 Letters, 1860-1865 369 
 
 have any moral purpose at all. The effervescence of their 
 spirituality has passed away, and cunning, and activity, and 
 political tactics, have filled up the vacuum. Build churches, 
 fill them with Low Church ministers, or set up the authority of 
 the Church that is the great end. One healing word of the 
 evils of mankind, one voice in behalf of truth among the so- 
 called orthodox clergy, I cannot hear. I am rather afraid that 
 the Established Church, which has many advantages, rather 
 increases the evil you have not the chances of Dissent. 
 
 I often feel that I should like, if I could, to write about 
 this. What seems to be wanted is a restoration of natural 
 religion, not in the narrow abstract sense, but as based on the 
 past history of man, and as witnessed to by conscience and 
 faith, and supported by our first notions of a divine Being. 
 Natural religion should so leaven and penetrate Christianity 
 (without the word ' natural religion ' ever appearing) that the 
 doubtful points and doctrines of Christianity should drop off 
 of themselves. Utilitarianism and German theology have both 
 of them, in different ways, a zeal for criticism and for truth 
 which is very commendable. But neither of them have ever 
 found a substitute for that which they were displacing. They 
 have never got hold of the heart of the world. The attempt 
 to show the true character of the Pentateuch and the Gospel 
 History is very important negatively. But it does nothing 
 towards reconstructing the religious life of the people. 
 
 To 
 
 SCOTLAKD, September, 1864. 
 
 This is a farm-house in which I am writing : it is full of 
 religious books of the worst and most unmeaning kind ; The 
 Arminian Skeleton, &c. The people's ways seem to be honest 
 enough, so I suppose that they are not much affected by them. 
 Still a great opportunity seems to be utterly lost in the 
 education of the common people. Half the books that are 
 published are religious books. And what trash this religious 
 literature is ! Either formalisms or sentimentalisms about the 
 Atonement, or denunciations of rational religion, or prophecies 
 
 VOL. I. B b
 
 370 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xi 
 
 of the end of the world, explanations of the Man of Sin, the 
 little Horn, and the number of the Beast even these last are 
 no inconsiderable part of English literature. 
 
 People sometimes say to me, 'Ah, you don't mind raising 
 a blister occasionally, but you won't tell us what you think. ' 
 If you won't think me very egotistical I will tell you why 
 I have as yet been able to do so little on these subjects. First 
 of all because I know that it is very doubtful whether I could 
 in any degree succeed in working them out, and I certainly 
 could not succeed without entire health and rest, and a good 
 deal of reading and thought. But then at present I have the 
 translation and edition of Plato on hand, and besides this, my 
 pupils ; this last is a perfectly unlimited field, and when 
 I see men passing through College or in the University, to 
 whose course I might have given a twist in the right way, 
 if I had only had time or energy, I feel very much the re- 
 sponsibility of this. And the result is that I cannot possibly 
 add a third object to the two which I have already. But 
 when Plato is completed, if I live, I shall try schemes of 
 another sort. 
 
 To - 
 
 BALLIOL, October, 1864. 
 
 I send you a book of Polish Travels which is written by 
 a pupil of mine 1 . I want you to look at the poem of 
 Krasinski, at the end. That touches a chord far deeper than 
 ordinary poetry. 
 
 I sometimes wonder that a poet does not understand that 
 he ought to be a prophet. But no English poets seem to have 
 felt this. They have art and sentiment and imagination, but 
 no moral force. Our dear friend Clough had a touch of some- 
 thing that might have been great had he been in other 
 circumstances. There is no one whom I oftener wish for 
 back again. 
 
 I hope you cultivate peace of mind. I am sure no one has 
 more right to do so. No one can overcome physical pain ; 
 beyond this I don't see why there should be one anxious 
 
 1 W. H. Bullock, Esq., now Mr. W. H. Hall.
 
 Letters, 1860-1865 371 
 
 moment or one mental pain in our lives : at least when we 
 have determined to give everything to God. Then I think 
 we have fairly won and ought to enjoy rest. The thought 
 that should fill our minds is His all-pervading truth and love. 
 The result is with Him. Why should we vex ourselves 
 over the details of our work ? or seem to deny at each step 
 the general principle on which our minds really repose ? 
 
 To 
 
 INGLEWOOD, TORQUAY, 
 
 January, 1865. 
 
 I see that you think I am hungering after the fleshpots of 
 Egypt. But indeed that is not the case. I have long been 
 aware that this head is so oddly constructed that, if' mitres 
 were to rain from heaven as thick as hail, not one of them 
 would fit it : also I agree with Lord Melbourne, ' My dear 
 fellow, would you wear such a dress as that for 10,000 a year?' 
 Deaneries have more to be said for them. But not having 
 quite forgiven ' Anglicanus a ' for deserting me, I am not going 
 to give up the young life of Oxford (so full of hope) for the 
 dead men's bones of a Cathedral town. Still I have difficul- 
 ties ; the greatest of them all is perhaps Balliol College, 
 which is to me 'the War Office,' in which I am only an 
 inferior clerk, having to force along the inefficiency of others, 
 and this will probably continue all my life. Also, though 
 I am aware of the great opportunity which has been given me 
 at Oxford, and truly thankful to have such an opportunity, 
 I feel often very uncertain whether I can use this, owing to 
 my being tired in mind. Though I have the will, and am 
 really not afraid, yet I believe that I never had the intellec- 
 tual power which was needed for the task. But I am not 
 going to trouble you with any more such reflections. You 
 know Carlyle's saying, 'Consume your own smoke,' which 
 perhaps has the advantage of increasing the internal heat. 
 
 I entirely agree with you about the TJieodicee 2 . Instead of 
 
 1 Dean Stanley wrote in the newspapers under this nom de guerre. 
 
 2 P- 384- 
 
 B b 2
 
 372 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xi 
 
 this sham religion, which is true neither to the facts of 
 history nor to human nature, people must begin again and 
 gather first from conscience, secondly from experience, [more] 
 of the nature of God, and of His manner of working in the 
 world. There is a good deal of difficulty in reconciling these 
 not the old metaphysical difficulty but a practical one. 
 For though conscience tells us that God is just and true, and 
 though experience tells us that man has an indefinite power 
 of turning evil into good, both in himself and in the world 
 this hardly seems true for the mass of mankind ; the stream 
 of improvement is so narrow in the whole of the world and 
 the whole of histoiy, and such a mere rivulet, even in the 
 improving countries, that instead of casting your eyes far 
 and wide over the world, you have rather to look forward to 
 some ideal future. And so far as religion has any dwelling- 
 place on earth, I suppose we should rather, like the Jewish 
 prophets, get the habit of looking onwards to the future and 
 not backwards to the past. This would be a new kind of 
 Millenarianism founded on fact and not on the interpretation 
 of prophecy. All countries and all individuals hang to the 
 past, but they seem hardly to think of the future ; and the 
 tendency of the popular religion is to make us imagine that 
 it will be at least as bad, if not worse than the present, and 
 to be cured by the same fictitious remedies. The world are 
 always being told that they are to make no progress in religion, 
 and therefore they never do make any progress. 
 
 The danger in this Theodicee is the danger of being too 
 abstract. There seem to be wanting intermediate ideas and 
 associations to take the place of the systems of doctrine in the 
 human mind. ' God is just ; God is true.' These are great 
 'types,' as Plato would have said, in which to cast our ideas 
 of God ; but where are they to be found in nature, and how 
 are they to be engraven in the human heart ? The best chance 
 seems to me to be through the old forms of religion, showing that 
 this, more really and persistently than anything else, was what 
 th%y meant, though often, as for example in their ideas of the 
 divine justice, led from entertaining such an idea into a per- 
 version of all justice in the popular doctrine of the Atonement. 
 ' Whom ye ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you.' The
 
 Letters, 1860-1865 373 
 
 whole world and all things in it, instead of being secular and 
 external to revelation, needs to be brought back within the 
 sphere of revelation. 
 
 I have been staying with Tennyson, who is in great want 
 of a subject for a poem. Can you think of one ? It is worth 
 while, if you can. I have given him one the ' Grandmother,' 
 which has answered, and have been urging Galileo upon him, 
 but he is not inclined to this. He has been amusing himself 
 with translating passages of Homer. 
 
 To MRS. TENNYSON. 
 
 BALLIOL, February 27, 1865. 
 
 You will have seen that Christ Church have agreed to 
 endow the Greek Professorship at last, after having done and 
 undone the same thing ten years ago. But Dr. Pusey, who 
 first raised the opposition, has got his party into a scrape, and 
 therefore to get them out again has made Christ Church fulfil 
 their obligation (not a legal one, but I think a moral one, as 
 they had estates given them for the support of the Professor- 
 ship). I am neither grateful nor ungrateful. You must not 
 look a gift horse in the mouth. I was rather glad that you 
 did not write to congratulate. Having more money I hope 
 to get more done for the undergraduates. 
 
 I hope Alfred is well and at work. I always maintain that 
 he should look forward with hope to the remaining age of life, 
 as he may do greater, more human, more divine things than 
 he has done yet. Life ought to harmonize man and become 
 stronger and also gentler as we get older. ... I sometimes 
 think that poets have not done enough for the good and 
 elevation and inspiration of the world. I believe that the 
 world, however bad, would put a crown upon the head of any 
 one who would really instruct them. 
 
 To DEAN STANLEY. 
 
 INGLEWOOD, TORQUAY, 
 
 March 10, 1865. 
 
 Many thanks indeed for your kind letter. We thought 
 that my mother was dying on Saturday, but since then she
 
 374 Life of Benjamin Jowett 
 
 has revived and the disease seems to have left her she is 
 however so very weak that we are quite uncertain about her 
 recovery, which can only be a very slow one. All last week 
 she must have been very near death. I am glad that you 
 saw her. I cannot thank you enough for your kind letter. 
 
 So you wish me to marry. I don't wonder at this when 
 I see and rejoice to see how happy and successful the experi- 
 ment has been in your case. But I have come to the conclusion 
 that I am better as I am now. I could not marry without 
 giving up Balliol, on which my life has been spent, and pro- 
 bably signing the XXXIX Articles over again, or having to make 
 a statement of opinions to a Bishop, if I took a living or could 
 get a Deanery or Canonry : and I am obliged always to deduct 
 about 400 a year from my income (this is a matter which 
 I never mention and do not you mention ; it has continued 
 nearly twenty-five years I never like to speak or to think 
 of it). The position at Balliol is a painful one, but I get more 
 used to it, and I think the influence and usefulness, if I may 
 say so, are greater or, certainly, not less. My chief desire is 
 to make the most of the years that remain. I am glad of this 
 additional 460 a year because it will enable me to do a great 
 deal more than I do at present in the Professorship in the 
 way of composition and additional lectures, and also leave 
 more leisure for permanent work. 
 
 Life has had a good deal of painfulness to me (not this 
 matter of the Professorship, or the attacks of people in the 
 newspapers). But I always feel that I have had a wonderful 
 compensation in the devotion and attachment of friends and 
 pupils. ' No one has better friends ' (don't you think so ?), and 
 among them I reckon you and Lady Augusta.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 REFOEMS AT BALLIOL. 1865-1870 
 
 (Aet. 48-53) 
 
 IMPROVED circumstances Reforms in Balliol and the Univer- 
 sity Effects of experience Characteristics Speculation and 
 action Health impaired Mr. Robert Lowe The poet Browning 
 Meeting with Mr. Gladstone Death of his mother Second series 
 of Essays and Reviews Why never completed Scott made Dean of 
 Rochester The Mastership in view. 
 
 ' "DROSPERITY is the blessing of the Old Testament, 
 -*- adversity of the New. Still that Old Testament 
 blessing would do a great deal of good to some of us.' 
 So Jowett had written to Mrs. Tennyson in November, 
 1 86 1. A portion of 'that Old Testament blessing' was 
 now his. And as good fortune, like bad, sometimes comes 
 ; not single,' the grant of the salary was shortly followed 
 by his becoming the owner of the small estate in the 
 West Riding of Yorkshire which derived to him from 
 his grandmother's family 1 . To a friend meeting him 
 in the north of England about this time he said, 
 ' I am going to look after my estate ; you did not 
 know that I was a landed proprietor ! ' Years passed, 
 however, before the settlement of certain legal com- 
 plications enabled him to enter fully into his inheritance, 
 and, by realizing, to shake off that burden. The estate 
 (at Birstwith and Telliscliffe, in the forest of Knares- 
 borough) was finally sold for about 5,500. 
 
 1 See p. 9.
 
 376 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xn 
 
 It was now that he began those liberal gifts to younger 
 men, which were so often repeated in later years. His 
 manner in doing such things was always felt to enhance 
 the benefit 1 , and it should be added that while his 
 generosity had no limit, the claims of kindred obtained 
 the foremost place. 
 
 In November, 1865, Mr. Ilbert 2 , who had been elected 
 to a Fellowship in 1864, completed his year of probation, 
 and his vote turned the scale in favour of the promotion 
 of liberal measures in College meetings. This put an 
 end to what had sometimes troubled Jowett more than 
 the ' persecution ' the weary striving against the dead 
 weight of a majority in his efforts to make Balliol 
 what he saw that it ought to be. Some plans which 
 he had long meditated now took practical shape. The 
 ground was laid for a revision of the College Statutes ; 
 Balliol Hall was established ; College lectures, instead of 
 being imposed compulsorily, were left open to the free 
 choice of the undergraduates, if only they attended 
 a certain number ; the Divinity teaching was remodelled, 
 Jowett himself undertaking part of it ; and the first 
 step was made towards an inter-collegiate system, by 
 having one Lecture-list for Balliol and New College 
 combined. All this was effected in the years between 
 1865 and 1868. In January, 1869, Jowett was appointed 
 preacher for the College 3 . By the summer of 1868 
 
 1 The following paragraph, to give up his hope of going 
 
 signed W. Y. A., appeared in the to Germany in the vacation. A 
 
 New York Nation, in 1893, after few days later the Tutor was sent 
 
 the Master's death : for, and received an envelope 
 
 ' Meeting a young graduate with the words, " I hope you will 
 
 who was making a living by pri- go to Germany : good-bye ! " 
 vate tuition, he asked him how 2 SirCourtenayPeregrinellbert, 
 
 he was getting on ; the Tutor K.C.S.I., C.I.E. 
 replied that he had few pupils 3 Resolutions of the majority 
 
 that Term, and had been obliged (i) for abolishing Catechetics,
 
 E-ssh4**Sw .''";.; 
 
 ^TlfiSf': ; ifef
 
 1865-1870] College Reforms 377 
 
 the front quadrangle had been rebuilt by Waterhouse; 
 Jowett, as usual, showing a keen interest in matters 
 architectural ; and some of his old pupils were invited 
 by him to lecture in the new Lecture Room. An oppor- 
 tunity was thus given to the young Scotch Professors 
 who were Balliol men (and having no summer duties, 
 were able to give their courses in the Easter Term) 
 to make their voices heard in Oxford. In lecturing 
 on Sophocles, I suppose that I was his deputy, as 
 Professor of Greek. Nichol also lectured on English 
 Literature in the Hall of New College, and E. Caird 
 on Moral Philosophy. 
 
 The question of extending the benefits of the Uni- 
 versity to poorer students had greatly occupied him for 
 several years. A scheme which he had proposed was 
 thus explained by him in a letter to a friend on October 19. 
 1866: 
 
 ' I found that my scheme of University Extension was very 
 favourably received. I want men (i) to live in lodgings which 
 we are to build and furnish, and let at a rent of 10 a year : 
 (2) to be allowed to attend the College lectures free : (3) to 
 have small Exhibitions of .25 a year given away by exami- 
 nation among the successful candidates of the middle-class 
 examinations 1 and others. I reckon that paying 10 a year 
 for rent, and having nothing to pay for instruction, they could 
 live for the academical year of twenty-four weeks on 50 
 a year, or, deducting the Exhibition, for 25 a year: (4) 
 I would allow the ordinary Scholars and Exhibitioners to live 
 in the same way, and their expenses would be completely 
 covered. The College would take the responsibility of the 
 management and instruction of all these lodgers out. 
 
 1 At present not a tenth or a twentieth part of the ability of 
 
 (2) for restricting the number of * These, since called the Local 
 Clerical Fellowships,were quashed Examinations, had been estab- 
 by the Visitor on appeal. lished in 1861.
 
 378 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xn 
 
 the countiy comes to the University. This scheme is intended 
 to draw from a new class, and with this object I should propose 
 that the subjects of examination be not confined to Latin and 
 Greek, but embrace physical science, mathematics, &c. The 
 great difficulty in working it out is the present state of the 
 Grammar schools. 
 
 ' I think that this College in five or six years' time would be 
 able to give 600 a year towards such a scheme. But a large 
 outlay would be required for the building and the Exhibitions. 
 I should hope to raise this by subscription.' 
 
 This scheme was carried in College meeting without 
 a division, and it was agreed also to petition the Heb- 
 domadal Council to pass a Statute giving the necessary 
 permission to lodge out l . Meanwhile, in pursuance of the 
 main object, the long since thought of plan of a Balliol 
 Hall was carried into effect: suitable premises were 
 rented in St. Giles', and the young institution was placed 
 under the charge of Mr. T. H. Green, a lay Fellow of 
 Balliol already much respected in Oxford as a philoso- 
 phical teacher and thinker. He had friends amongst the 
 Nonconformists, and had done excellent public service 
 as a member of the Schools Inquiry Commission of 
 1862. Jowett wrote to H. H. Lancaster: 
 
 'At this College we are going to try a small scheme of 
 University Extension : e. g. men to lodge out and pay no 
 College fees, receiving education gratuitously ; and we hope also 
 to supplement this by Exhibitions.' 
 
 The Hall was still maintained, and proved a valuable 
 aid, although in 1868 it became less essential, through 
 the success of a larger scheme. For plans of University 
 Reform were again rife in Parliament and in Oxford. The 
 relation of the Colleges to the University was much dis- 
 
 1 From a leaflet entitled The ' originated in a request addressed 
 
 Hebdomadal Council and the Lodg- to the Hebdomadal Council by 
 
 ing Statute, Dec. 6, 1867, it appears Balliol College at the end of 
 
 that the proposed Statute had October, 1866.' Cf. vol. ii. p. 126.
 
 1865-1870] < Lodgers out * 379 
 
 cussed. In 1867 two Statutes were promulgated at Oxford, 
 and then several measures introduced in the House of 
 Commons. That which found most favour was Mr. Ewart's 
 Bill, 'To open the benefits of Education in the Universities 
 to students without obliging them, to be members of 
 a College.' Jowett made it known that Balliol, at all 
 events, was ready to give teaching gratis to members 
 of the College not living within its walls. And on the 
 second reading, June 5, 1867, Mr. Lowe remarked that 
 ' to their great honour the Tutors of Balliol had resolved 
 that, if poor students were allowed to become members 
 of the College without being obliged to live within the 
 walls, they would give to all such students the benefit of 
 their tuition the best in the University of Oxford 
 making no charge whatever for it V The Bill was referred 
 to a Select Committee, and Jowett was examined on July 
 15 and 1 6. He not only accepted the principle of 'un- 
 attached students,' but suggested methods for applying 
 it successfully, such as the appointment of a Delegacy for 
 the purpose, and special arrangements for their tuition 
 and discipline. He further observed that to render the 
 scheme effectual, a good share of the emoluments, in the 
 shape of ' University Scholarships,' should be thrown open 
 to them. Against those who, with Mr. Mark Pattison, 
 were clamouring for the ' endowment of research ' 
 and the absorption of College Revenues for the pro- 
 motion of learning, he steadily maintained that learning 
 should not be dissevered from teaching, and that no 
 Professorship should be endowed without the prospect of 
 a class 2 . In the following year (i 868) a Statute was passed 
 at Oxford by which the requirement of twelve terms' 
 residence in College, which had remained for four 
 
 1 Hansard, vol. Ixxxvii. p. 1613. 
 
 2 Reports from Committees, 1867, xiii. 132 ff.
 
 380 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xn 
 
 centuries, was finally done away l . This measure on the 
 part of the University may have been hastened not 
 only by the petition above referred to, but by the 
 action of Balliol College. No time was lost by Jowett 
 in taking advantage of the Statute. He gave notice 
 of two important motions to be proposed in College 
 meeting in October, 1868: (i) for a remission of the 
 terminal charges to out-College students, and (2) for the 
 foundation of 40 Exhibitions (six to be awarded in each 
 year) : the candidates to be elected after an examination 
 in general subjects as well as in Latin and Greek. This 
 involved a very serious sacrifice of time and money on 
 the part of the Tutorial staff, as the Exhibitioners paid 
 no Tutorial fees. 
 
 An important factor which came in aid of these improve- 
 ments, was the munificence of Miss Brakenbury, who gave 
 a large benefaction for the new buildings, and founded 
 scholarships, which were applied to the support of students 
 in law, in history and physical science. On October 20, 
 1868, Jowett wrote to his mother : 
 
 ' Oxford, or rather Balliol, is much pleasanter than formerly '. 
 I have no longer any trouble in carrying out my views, from 
 the Fellows ; and I believe that we shall succeed in making 
 it a really great place of education. One thing gives me great 
 pleasure ; that our new building is really beautiful the best 
 thing that has been done in Oxford in this way. An old lady 
 has given us about 15,000 towards the completion of it. You 
 will be glad to hear also that I carried a plan for poor students.' 
 
 He said to a friend who remarked on the prosperity of 
 Balliol : ' Yes, I think we have repaired the old house 
 pretty well.' 
 
 There were other features in the life of Oxford at this 
 
 1 The enactment that every a responsible Principal dates from 
 Scholar or Scholar's servant 1420. See Lyte, Hist, of Univ. 
 shoulddwell in a Hall governed by p. 200.
 
 1865-1870] Ritualism at Oxford 381 
 
 period which were less pleasing to him, but he does not 
 seem to have regarded them with very deep anxiety. 
 
 Sacerdotalism was reviving, in the shape of Ritualism, 
 a phenomenon not unconnected with the then nascent 
 phase of Aestheticism. There was also a movement in 
 the Catholic world to take advantage of the admission of 
 Dissenters by bringing Newman back to Oxford, and 
 establishing a Roman Catholic College in the University. 
 Jowett witnessed this without alarm ; he was more con- 
 cerned about the new fashion of ritualism which seemed 
 to be spreading amongst the weaker undergraduates ; 
 some of whom got up the semblance of a chapel in their 
 rooms, with vestments and incense. The silliness of this 
 'playing at church,' even more than the superstition, 
 annoyed him *. A similar feeling had been expressed in 
 a letter of December 24, 1865 : 
 
 'If you were to walk abroad you would be very much 
 surprised to see the changes in our London churches. There 
 is a sort of aesthetico-catholic revival among them. I wonder 
 how many more spurious forms of Christianity are to appear in 
 these latter days. Muscular Christianity, which was upon the 
 whole a better form, is gone out. A sagacious High Church- 
 man whom I know thinks that there will be an Evangelical 
 Kevival, which impresses me chiefly because he says it. How 
 strange these "toys in the blood" are! I find myself often 
 wishing that the Established Church were either demolished 
 or greatly enlarged. Certainly the tyranny is very great on 
 education and opinion.' 
 
 It is needless to say that the project of a Roman 
 
 1 After describing this to a sometimes I could compound for 
 
 friend he adds, ' Is not this very this Bibliolatry by accepting the 
 
 funny ? ' But he had given one of Sacrifice of the Mass. There is 
 
 his undergraduate pupils a man- an idea in that.' Now, Bibliolatry 
 
 vais quart dheure on the subject. seemed to be giving place to a 
 
 Once he had said, ' I almost think more paltry form of superstition.
 
 382 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xn 
 
 Catholic College was over-ruled, and Cardinal Newman, 
 though he afterwards visited Oxford, remained at the 
 head of the Oratory at Birmingham. 
 
 From this point onwards Jowett's energies were 
 more than ever concentrated upon Balliol and Oxford ; 
 and the intensity with which he now threw himself 
 into practical life created an impression, which prevailed 
 even among those who worked with or under him, that 
 his mind was relaxing its former speculative bent, and 
 that the self-imposed task of translating the Classics was 
 lessening his interest in Theology. That this idea 
 represented only a partial truth appears from the tenor 
 of the correspondence appended to this chapter, and will 
 be still more evident when the contents of some of his 
 note-books are made public 1 . Reason has been shown 
 above why he may have been less communicative than 
 formerly in his intercourse with some of those amongst 
 whom his life was cast, and whom he was bent on 
 directing towards definite ends. 
 
 His intellectual activities were to a great extent 
 absorbed in the work on Plato, which appeared intermin- 
 able. But his contemplative faculties were not idle, 
 although the expression of his thoughts on the greatest 
 things, except what could be made relevant to the Platonic 
 Dialogues, seems to have been reserved for intimate 
 friends away from Oxford. The problem of which he 
 had written to Stanley many years earlier, ' Truth ideal- 
 ized and yet in action 2 ,' was still that which he 
 persistently set himself to solve. Nor had he by any 
 means relinquished his theological designs, which grew 
 from year to year. A Commentary on the Gospels was 
 to follow hard on the translation of Plato. On this there 
 gradually supervened the vision, which never left him. 
 1 See vol. ii. p. 85, &c. 2 p. 92.
 
 1865-1870] Sermons in London 383 
 
 of a Life of Christ, and also the conception, which 
 sometimes competed with this, of a short treatise upon 
 moral ideas. These far-reaching plans remained inevit- 
 ably in abeyance while Plato was unfinished. And there 
 was another reason why the prosecution of such schemes 
 should be delayed : to have given the world a new 
 speculative shock before his practical efforts had taken 
 a firm hold, might have checked the rising prosperity 
 of Balliol. 
 
 Meanwhile it occurred to him that by means of preach- 
 ing he might give form and substance to those positive 
 views of religious truth which he regarded as essential 
 and permanent. The expedient of making sermons the 
 vehicle of his theological views had been suggested to 
 him by Mrs. Vaughan in 1857, in the hope that he 
 might entertain it instead of republishing his work 
 on the Epistles. He then wrote to A. P. Stanley: 
 ' I have two doubts about the proposal : (i) "Whether 
 it is possible ; (2) Whether it is expedient ; because it 
 seems cowardly to delay publishing a second edition 
 which I find it almost impossible to get time to 
 complete.' But the reception of his sermons in London, 
 about 1864, led him to think more favourably of the 
 notion, and, with this object, in the summer of 1865 he 
 wrote a whole volume of theological notes. And the 
 idea was further encouraged by the opportunity of 
 preaching in Westminster Abbey 1 , which came in 1866 
 and was repeated annually till 1893. 
 
 1 How little he had sought for He adds, ' I wish you were 
 
 this appears from a letter to Dean a Bishop. Then the national 
 
 Stanley, of April 24, 1865 : ' I shall clergy might find a place in which 
 
 not expect you to appoint me to they could dwell securely. A 
 
 preach at the Abbey either in this great effort will be made to 
 
 or in future years. I really don't prevent this. That is a reason for 
 
 care, and I think this is better.' desiring it.'
 
 384 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xn 
 
 The more ambitious plans, however, though post- 
 poned, were not relinquished, but often occupied his 
 thoughts, especially in vacation time. 
 
 A valued friend the same, if I mistake not, whose 
 MS., when submitted to him by Arthur Clough, had 
 ' given him the impress of a new mind l ' had projected 
 a work on the Moral Government of God, frequently 
 referred to in his letters as the Theodicee. His remarks 
 on this and other high subjects show that his specu- 
 lative thought was still awake 2 . Nor does he abate one 
 jot of heart or hope, although his hope is less firmly 
 anchored than formerly upon the Church of England. 
 For his thoughts about the religion of the future had 
 taken a wider range, and seemed to draw him at 
 different times in different directions. That decay of 
 religion against which he had so long striven, appeared 
 to him at times inevitable and yet most lament- 
 able, since no other form of idealism could reach the 
 poor. But again, the position of an English clergy- 
 man, being independent of his congregation and of 
 clerical synods, was favourable to freedom. And yet 
 once more the actual constitution of the Church was 
 seen to foster prejudice and subserviency. ' The Church 
 is in a bad way in the nineteenth century,' he wrote 
 to Mrs. Lewis Campbell, 'but not worse than it has 
 always been. I suppose that while using its services 
 we ought not to set our hearts either upon the Church 
 of the present or the Church of the future, but to fix 
 our minds upon God and upon our own lives.' 
 
 1 See p. 270. except as their own employers. 
 
 2 A speculation on the Labour I cannot help hoping that Eng- 
 question appears as early as land, the old country, may raise 
 June, 1865 : ' I sometimes think the condition of the working 
 that the time will come when classes as much as America, the 
 workmen will refuse to work new one.'
 
 1865-1870] Self-criticism 385 
 
 But the old hopes were ever ready to revive. 'Our 
 younger clergy,' he would say, ' are preaching more 
 about the Christian life, and less on points of doubtful 
 disputation.' He was ever scanning the horizon to 
 discern the rise of any new spirit or mode of life, and 
 to estimate it. All claimed his observation that entered 
 into the genius of the time. His strong conservative 
 instincts remained averse to ' new moralities V and to 
 aesthetic or sentimental fancies, but he looked calmly 
 and steadily at all. To one set of so-called phenomena 
 indeed he deliberately closed his eyes. In one of his 
 earlier essays he had spoken by way of illustration of 
 ' Clairvoyance, if there be such a thing.' But in the 
 end he refused to listen to the whisperings of occult 
 doctrine which from time to time prevailed. He loved 
 the open day. ' I do not mean to say that I can 
 account for everything; and I feel that there is some- 
 thing in me to which such things appeal. But they 
 are so inextricably mixed up with charlatanism and 
 lies that it is mere waste of time and intellect to inquire 
 into them V 
 
 Above all, at this period, as at each critical stage 
 in his career, he was busy in reviewing his own life 
 and bent on beginning anew from within. To one who 
 asked, ' Can a man improve himself after forty ? ' he 
 replied, ' I am long past forty, and I mean to improve 
 myself pretty considerably, I can tell you ! ' The result 
 of this was often apparent in his advice to younger 
 men. His power of generalizing and of detaching 
 his thought, or rather the expression of it, from all 
 personal content, often veiled what was really the out- 
 come of intimate experience : his seemingly abstract 
 observations were really autobiographical. The trials to 
 
 1 Cf. Sir T. Browne, Christian Morals, i. 12. 2 Cf. vol. ii. p. 76. 
 
 VOL. I. C C
 
 3 86 
 
 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xn 
 
 which he had been subjected, and the effort involved 
 in acting as if they were not, had given to his mental 
 constitution the touch of iron. To be independent of 
 all persons, never to worry, to listen more to what 
 his enemies said of him than to his friends 1 , to find 
 a modus vivendi with everybody, and above all c never 
 quarrel V were among the rules which he laid down for 
 himself. He perceived that he had resented some things 
 too keenly, and that his opinions of persons and their 
 acts had been too much influenced by his own feelings ; 
 also that he had been too free and open in criticizing 
 persons to one another 3 . 
 
 In looking round on his acquaintance he had been 
 amazed to think of the amount of promise and capability 
 which they had shown in youth, compared with the 
 inadequacy of their performances, whether the failure 
 arose from mistaking their career or from the fatal indul- 
 
 1 What did his enemies say ? 
 I may be permitted here to quote 
 an advocatus didboli who shall be 
 nameless : ' With a singleness of 
 mind which is more than merely 
 Christian, he has an element of 
 bitterness, which nothing but his 
 solitary character can have pre- 
 vented him from struggling 
 against and which makes it no- 
 toriously difficult for most of his 
 equals in age to get on with him. 
 With all his goodness he is a 
 tyrant and careless of giving pain, 
 or rather can't help giving it.' 
 
 2 This was a piece of advice 
 which Jeune, when Master of 
 Pembroke, had been in the habit 
 of giving to undergraduates. A 
 young relative who had been 
 pushing his fortunes abroad was 
 
 entertained by Jowett on his 
 return. In giving an account of 
 his proceedings he happened to 
 say, 'When a man insults me, I 
 always ask him to dinner.' Jowett 
 burst into loud laughter and, 
 rubbing his hands, exclaimed, 
 ' You'll do, my dear boy, you will 
 do!' 
 
 3 The motive of this ' defect of 
 his quality' appears in an early 
 letter to Stanley : ' Here I am at 
 my old trade, Detraction ! I think 
 the greatest evil of the present 
 day insincerity, half moral, half 
 intellectual.' His later feeling 
 was, ' I want to know people as 
 they are, but to have expressed 
 my thoughts about them some- 
 times makes me helpless in deal- 
 ing with them.'
 
 1865-1870] Increasing Gentleness 387 
 
 gence of some foible (as Hamlet says, 'the o'ergrowth 
 of some complexion ') ; and he was resolved, within his 
 sphere of influence, to obviate or check such waste to 
 the utmost of his power. Though often foiled he would 
 return to the charge again and again. Even amidst 
 playful sallies (as in his letters to Morier) this serious 
 aim is not lost sight of. But his criticism, while it 
 became more searching, was more and more softened 
 with gentleness and courtesy, and at rare moments he felt 
 and expressed compunction for having 'made the heart 
 of the righteous sad ' by pressing friends with counsel 
 which he afterwards saw to have been unsuited to their 
 case. In these unwearied attempts at guiding others, 
 he found as Socrates had found men of poetic tempera- 
 ment his chief difficulty. The poet seemed to him a 
 kind of prophet ; and he thought with St. Paul, that 
 ' the spirit of the prophets ' ought to be ' subject to the 
 prophets ' : but their genius was too wilful, too uncon- 
 trollable. Any impression made on them was sure to be 
 washed out by the next tide. Yet he persevered. 
 
 It was sometimes thought that in urging people 
 against the grain he had misread their characters, and 
 it may be that in individual cases he miscalculated. 
 He was sanguine in his view of possibilities, and apt to 
 credit others with a power of self-conquest equal to his 
 own 1 . But if his advice could have been followed it 
 would often have been for good. 
 
 He found that his own studies had been too restricted ; 
 and he set himself tasks apart from Plato, such as 
 
 1 Much of his own work was Stanley, ' I should be slow to un- 
 done invita Minerva. He was dertake again a work requiring 
 impatient of detail, yet he so much minute labour as a corn- 
 laboured out four long commen- mentary on Scripture. It dims 
 taries, each a task sufficient for the eyes of the mind.' 
 a lifetime. In 1853 he wrote to 
 
 C C 2
 
 388 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP.XII 
 
 reading through the Bible, Polybius, Lucian, Plutarch, 
 &c. Also he began to see, in looking backward, that his 
 life had been too predominantly intellectual, and that 
 for deeper and more lasting influence some fusion of 
 intellect and feeling was indispensable. Emotion as well 
 as will and intellect there had always been, but the 
 critical faculty had taken head, and he now realized 
 anew the force of Aristotle's words, ' pure thought alone 
 is ineffectual.' What Jowett says of Greek literature 
 became more and more applicable to himself: 'Under 
 the marble exterior was concealed a soul thrilling with 
 spiritual emotion 1 .' While more than ever convinced 
 that nothing in the world not even the Christ of 
 the Gospels should be exempt from criticism, and that 
 no fact of history not even the miracle of the Resur- 
 rection should be accepted without sufficient evidence, 
 he was also more and more persuaded that mere intel- 
 lect, however keen, was barren apart from the full and 
 just development of feeling, imagination, and, above all, 
 volition. 
 
 Reaction against his former self is one source of 
 continual growth in Jowett's life-career, which must be 
 recognized in appreciating any part of it. And yet 
 the combination of criticism with will and sympathy, 
 though, as has just been said, it only now came 
 fully into consciousness, must always be regarded as 
 one of his most pervading and permanent character- 
 istics. A friendship, once established, meant for him 
 that his friend should have no rest while any fault 
 remained unreproved, any defect unremedied. And if 
 that friend's position in life were such as to give oppor- 
 tunities for influence or distinction, Jowett was never 
 
 1 Introduction to the Phaedrus, sub fin. (vol. i. p. 423 of third 
 
 edition).
 
 1865-1870] Persistent Counsel 389 
 
 weary of inciting to fresh exertions, nor would desist 
 from the attempt because of advancing age, although 
 he was well aware that 'miracles are only wrought 
 upon the young.' Perhaps never was an equal friend- 
 ship more complete than that between him and Stanley, 
 from 1844 to 1849, and at no moment was that friend- 
 ship more perfectly attuned than when Jowett wrote 
 the letter from Beaumaris in I846 1 , in which he dwelt 
 on his friend's deficiencies, and urged him to over- 
 come them. Again and again throughout their inter- 
 course the same persistent effort reappears. At one 
 moment indeed, in 1849, 'the inexorable Jowett' has 
 been somewhat too insistent, and his comrade begins 
 to find it irksome to have his genius thus subdued. 
 The irrepressible Mentor retires for a space ; but again, 
 years afterwards, he sees a crushing blow impending 
 over his friend far from home, when in the midst of a 
 responsible task ; and he writes to him that letter of 
 thoughtful sympathy in which he seeks to obviate a 
 possible shrinking from the course of duty 2 . And only 
 a twelvemonth before Stanley died came that strange 
 exhortation to ' fix his mind exclusively on higher things,' 
 to ' plan out a course of study and writing,' and in short 
 to commence a ten years' labour that should crown his 
 life 3 . That is the way in which Jowett dealt with 
 other persons also, too numerous to think of. And it 
 was the presence of a firm, persistent will, in combination 
 whether with the criticism or the sympathy, which made 
 it so effectual. Hence it resulted that a letter of consola- 
 tion from him, as a friend remarks, 'was not only the 
 greatest comfort, but seemed to have the effect of making 
 one pull oneself together.' There was a depth of reality 
 
 1 See p. 152. 2 p. 359. 
 
 3 Vol. ii. p. 177. Dean Stanley s Letters, p. 442.
 
 390 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xn 
 
 in all his intercourse that is difficult to describe : inex- 
 haustible hopefulness went along with unaffected disap- 
 pointment even at small defects. And when he saw 
 that some fault, such as egotism or eccentricity, was all 
 but ineradicable, he still laboured at overcoming it. 
 
 But his advice even when distasteful was always care- 
 fully weighed, and if it were sometimes aimed too high, 
 this was in accordance with his rejection of the practical 
 fatalism 'that men can only be what they are,' and 
 his resolute clinging to the ideal which he saw so clearly. 
 Still in some cases it might be rejoined that his counsel 
 resolved itself into, ' Do as I mean to do,' or ' Do not 
 as I did formerly.' 
 
 He tried to meet every man, woman, and child on their 
 own ground, yet in such a way as to impress on each 
 of them something that was all his own. It cannot be 
 denied that in general society, especially in Oxford, 
 the scene of so many responsibilities, this persistent 
 effort was apt to create about him an atmosphere of 
 restraint. His presence was felt to dominate all that 
 surrounded him, giving an almost painful thrill, and, 
 unconsciously to himself, tending to damp the initiative 
 of other men. When a topic had been raised that 
 interested him, he at once put the question that went 
 directly to the heart of the matter ; and there he left it. 
 
 His ideas were gaining at once in speculative range 
 and comprehensiveness and in directness of aim. He 
 reasoned more and more in the concrete, striving at 
 every step to take in the many-sidedness of things and 
 persons, and to look steadily at the whole of everything. 
 Plato in the Phaedrus has imagined a dialectic in which 
 the various complexity both of outward things and of 
 personalities is to be comprised. Jowett's mind seemed 
 always to be approaching some such goal, and in con-
 
 1865-1870] Characteristics 391 
 
 versation he sought to present that aspect of a complex 
 subject which he conceived best suited to his respondent, 
 and to the purpose in view. In this sense he might be 
 said to argue ad hominem : to the believer he appeared 
 a sceptic, to the sceptic a believer, to the Humanitarian 
 an Economist, to the Conservative politician a Socialist, 
 and so forth. If told that some liberal-minded friend 
 was growing conservative, he would say, 'Is he ? the 
 rascal ! I must prick him.' In his fearless outlook on 
 the future he kept clear possession of the present with 
 all its conditions ; and if these were altered in a manner 
 contrary to his previous ideas, he adapted himself to 
 the altered state with unfailing readiness of resource. 
 Thus practical and speculative thoughts were never wholly 
 sundered, yet they were resolutely kept apart. 
 
 One thing is very noticeable throughout, as to his 
 estimate of character: his judgement of those with 
 whom he had to do invariably softened when they were 
 dead. This may seem a commonplace ; but it is true 
 of Jowett in a special degree. It then appeared how 
 deeply he had appreciated what was best in them, and 
 that the temporary difference which had veiled this 
 appreciation even from himself had been magnified by 
 the earnestness with which he had sought to perfect 
 what he thought defective, and to draw those round him 
 on towards some goal of perfection. In this effort, as he 
 was ready to acknowledge, he was sometimes mistaken, 
 and failed to take sufficient account of individual 
 peculiarities. 
 
 Two sayings of Erasmus might well be applied to him 
 in every period of his career : first, what he said of Colet : 
 ' Conversation is his chief pleasure, and he will keep it 
 up till midnight, if he finds a companion ' : and, secondly, 
 what he said of Sir Thomas More: ' When he can give
 
 392 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xn 
 
 nothing else, he gives advice. He is patron general 
 to all poor devils.' 
 
 The energy with which he threw himself into each 
 fresh avocation led to a forgetting of ' the things behind,' 
 that was sometimes a little provoking to those who 
 worked with him. In resuming a piece of work which 
 had been laid aside, instead of taking it up again where 
 it was left, he seemed to regard it as a res Integra to 
 be considered over again from the beginning. This 
 was one of many causes of apparent procrastination. 
 
 The period now under review was in many ways 
 a time of new departures. For example, he was gradually 
 becoming aware of impending changes in Political 
 Economy. ' I used to know the old science,' he says ; 
 ' the new applications rather puzzle me, but I shall 
 have to make them for myself.' 
 
 Two public questions mainly occupied him during these 
 years : (i) the Condition of the Poor, and (2) Education. 
 
 (i) His attention had been recalled to the former 
 subject through the sympathy with philanthropic efforts, 
 which began at Clifton, in connexion with the Destitute 
 Incurables 1 . He now becomes more deeply concerned 
 about the state of the lower classes generally and the 
 best methods of dealing with it. 
 
 In 1865- he wrote elaborate papers on the subject, 
 in which he took up the question of equalizing rates 
 on property, and the best means of using the money 
 when obtained ; and also made a number of suggestions 
 as to (a) Sick ; (6) Aged ; (c) Incurables ; . (d) Mad persons ; 
 (e) Destitute children. It was in this connexion that he 
 became finally convinced of the importance of Sanitary 
 Reform. Although he had long held generally that 
 moral improvement could not be effected without 
 
 1 P- 343-
 
 1865-1870] Primary Education and Mr. Lowe 393 
 
 material changes, a certain fastidiousness, and perhaps 
 some prejudice from early association 1 , had kept his 
 mind from dwelling on the subject. But when once 
 persuaded, he held firmly to the importance of these 
 things. ' That is a good gospel that you preach,' he 
 said to a friend who was zealous about such matters. 
 
 (2) With the Education question his mind had long 
 been busy, and it was stimulated into fresh activity 
 on the subject through his increasing intimacy with 
 Mr. Robert Lowe. He had always thought that a great 
 opportunity for educational purposes was lost for the 
 country by statesmen taking no advantage for this end 
 of the high tide of prosperity which followed the aboli- 
 tion of the Corn Laws. He now pressed his views very 
 earnestly upon Mr. Lowe, whose name, after the 
 enactment of the Revised Code, was more identified 
 with popular education than that of any other public 
 man. Two letters on the subject attest his eager 
 interest and his characteristic way of going to work : 
 
 [1867?] 
 
 ' I had a very pleasant stay with Gorgias 2 , who is the best 
 of friends with me. I can hardly tell whether he will be 
 induced to take up the subject of Education. We had a sort 
 of consultation about it at which L. assisted, and he said that 
 he would see what could be done if opportunity offered. L. 
 and he both thought that it was useless for any one to bring 
 forward the subject who was not in the Ministry. They agreed 
 that the first step was to have educational districts, on which 
 the inspectors could report, and that this would involve divesting 
 the inspectors of their denominational character. Gorgias 
 thought strongly that a general permissive Bill for rating 
 should be introduced, and was quite willing to support this. 
 But he was against introducing any compulsion on parents.' 
 
 1 See the letter to F. T. Palgrave, p. 414. 
 
 2 i.e. Mr. Lowe.
 
 394 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xn 
 
 [1868.] 
 
 ' I went and took luncheon with Lowe, who appears to be 
 profoundly in earnest about Education, and talked extremely 
 well about it. I ventured to give him a sort of lecture about 
 being more conciliatory, and the necessity of uniting persons 
 and classes if he means to do anything with Education. He 
 quite agreed, and thought that he would draw up a short Bill. 
 I am more hopeful about him than I ever was before, notwith- 
 standing his desertion of the classics 1 .' 
 
 He visited Mr. and Mrs. Lowe at their country house 
 near Caterham, Surrey, and on one occasion entertained 
 the company there by reading long passages from his 
 translation of the Phaedrus. 
 
 The edition of the Republic, which he had hoped to 
 finish, in a year or two, was now thrown aside for 
 the translation of the whole of Plato, that is to say, 
 of the genuine Dialogues, to which some doubtful ones 
 were afterwards added. It is not wonderful that the 
 end of this labour seemed to fade before him as he 
 advanced in it. For his design enlarged ; he revised 
 again and again, and he never turned aside from 
 other calls upon him, which grew and multiplied. 
 Also, lie was at last forced to limit his hours of labour. 
 
 For the long strain of the preceding years had 
 told. ' All things come to those that wait ; ' but some- 
 times they come when the power of using them is 
 partly spent. He had never had a severe illness, but 
 his health from time to time had been unequal 2 , though 
 
 1 In lecturing at Edinburgh wearing of broadcloth to people 
 
 (Nov. 1867), and in a speech who had not a shirt to their backs.' 
 
 to the Liverpool Philomathic 2 In the summer of 1858, when 
 
 Society (Jan. 1868), Mr. Lowe was struggling with his second edi- 
 
 understood to disparage classical tion of St. Paul, he made a short 
 
 education. Jowett told me that expedition in the Lake country, 
 
 when taxed with this Lowe had ' Even then, 1 says the Warden of 
 
 said, 'I could not recommend the Merton, 'he felt that he could
 
 1865-1870] Loss of Health 395 
 
 his great recuperative powers enabled him to rally from 
 brief intervals of exhaustion and depression. But in 
 the years 1866 and 1867 he became gradually convinced 
 of the necessity of husbanding his physical powers in 
 order to make the most of life. He tried certain ex- 
 periments in diet, and for a time even attempted total 
 abstinence 1 . As early as 1861 he had complained to 
 Dr. Symonds, of Clifton, of ' headache, powerlessness of 
 brain, want of sustained thought, and imperfect memory V 
 A throat affection to which he was liable, especially in 
 springtime, now threatened to become chronic. He had 
 overworked his eyesight : the pince-nez, so familiar in 
 the recollection of many friends, became a necessity, and 
 this, with the use of the steel pen, which he reluctantly 
 adopted, tended to alter his handwriting. His advice 
 to friends in sickness, which often both consoled and 
 strengthened them, was ' to keep the mind above the 
 body.' 'Little time is lost through ill-health, though much 
 is lost through idleness,' he would say in encouraging 
 a delicate pupil 3 ; and he had a profound belief in 
 the possibility of dominating infirmities by an effort of 
 will ; but he now found that there were limits to this. 
 A friend who had shared many of his thoughts, now 
 
 not trust his heart for mountain help one of his dependents by his 
 
 climbing : and in walking from example. 
 
 Langdale to Lodore he paused so 2 Life of J. A. Symonds, vol. i. 
 often and advanced so slowly up p. 188. His power of memory 
 the steep ascent of Rossett Gill as often seemed dependent on con- 
 to make it impossible to reach our ditions of health. But it is also 
 destination before dark.' Cf. Life true that the very vividness of his 
 of J. A. Symonds, vol. i. p. 187 : thoughts tended to swallow up 
 ' Toiling up Constitution Hill from details in general views, and that 
 the cathedral (at Bristol), he the intensity of each new phase 
 said, " Our young legs don't mind of mind obliterated past impres- 
 this, do they ? " puffing all the sions for the time. 
 time. 1 3 Benjamin Jowett, by Lionel 
 1 His motive in this was to Tollemache, p. i.
 
 396 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP. XH 
 
 pressed upon him the expediency of remitting somewhat 
 the intensity of his continuous labour. ' I perceive,' he 
 wrote, 'that you will keep me living and thinking to 
 the utmost of my power. And I am very glad to have 
 a friend who can help me to do this. Twenty years 
 of life probably remain to both of us, and how much 
 might be done in that time, with the experience that we 
 already have and the increasing influence that time gives.' 
 He yielded to his friend's advice in promising to cease 
 from study always at midnight ; and when this did 
 not prove sufficient, he cut down his work for a time 
 to three hours a day. Writing from Alderley Edge in 
 March, 1867, he says : 
 
 ' I am not going to work hard, but only three hours a day, 
 and never more than an hour at a time, or after eleven o'clock 
 at night. I think that you are partly right and have done me 
 a great service.' 
 
 'But I mean to do more in three hours than I used to 
 do in six,' he said to me. He had given similar advice 
 to pupils who suffered from overwork, as early as 1853. 
 ' I owe him,' says one, ' what I consider the most valuable 
 piece of practical advice which I ever received : to limit 
 my reading to five hours a day, including lectures, but 
 always to read with concentrated attention V 
 
 This change in his habits was on the whole maintained, 
 although the late hours were after a while replaced by 
 an hour or more every morning before breakfast. In 
 the course of 1867 he hit upon another plan for easing 
 his labours. His College servant, Knight, had a son, 
 Matthew 2 , now aged fourteen, to whose education Jowett 
 had given attention personally : making him repeat the 
 Latin Grammar and lines of Virgil at odd times (for 
 example, while his dinner, brought from the kitchen half 
 1 Cf. p. 203. 2 See vol. ii. p. 3, &c.
 
 1865-1870] Pupils at Balliol 397 
 
 an hour before, was lying still untouched within the 
 fender). Under Jowett's supervision Matthew had 
 learned to write a beautiful hand, and had, as Jowett once 
 said to me before the boy, ' a good sprag memory V He 
 now employed him regularly in transcribing the notes to 
 the Republic -, and in other ways as an amanuensis. The 
 use he made of Matthew may serve to exemplify Jowett's 
 method of composition. A page which had been written 
 would be scribbled over with corrections almost innumer- 
 able, and given to Knight to copy. The copy was again 
 corrected till it was almost illegible, and then had to be 
 copied over again, and so on. His amanuensis became, as 
 a matter of course, a favoured pupil. 
 
 'He would occasionally ask me to write essays for him, 
 says Mr. Knight, 'but he taught me most more Socratico, by 
 conversation. We talked of everything under the sun, and he 
 endeavoured to arouse my interest in the most varied topics. 
 This educational process was the more effective because he 
 expected me to understand all of which he spoke, and so com- 
 pelled me to use my mind to the utmost of my power. Finding 
 that I had a taste for Architecture, he gave me a copy of 
 Fergusson's Architecture, and used to discuss the various 
 buildings in Oxford with me, and to speak of the Cathedrals 
 which he had visited.' 
 
 If the completion of his literary labours was frequently 
 delayed, the work of teaching and educating was unin- 
 terrupted. The cry of heresy did not succeed in warning 
 off men of high standing in the country from sending 
 their sons to Balliol. It is needless to enumerate well- 
 known names, but one connexion with a noble house 
 deserves to be mentioned, as it was the commencement 
 
 1 Shakespeare, Merry Wives, transcribed for him by the kind- 
 iv. i. ness of Mr. Jackson of Worcester, 
 
 2 A great part of the com- a former pupil, 
 mentary had been previously
 
 398 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xn 
 
 of one of Jowett's deepest and most lasting friendships. 
 The Honourable Francis Charteris, son of Lord Elcho 1 , 
 came to Balliol in 1865. 
 
 Other pupils belonging to this period who were de- 
 stined to after distinction were : "William Addis, William 
 R. Anson, Ernest H. Coleridge, Henry Craik, John Arthur 
 Godley, C. B. Heberden, F. H. Jeune, Andrew Lang, 
 Kenneth Muir Mackenzie, Ernest J. Myers, Richard 
 Lewis Nettleship, William Wallace, John Cook Wilson. 
 Also of exceptional promise, though foiled by ill health 
 or early death, were Alfred Barratt and Edwin Harrison. 
 The latter was one of Jowett's chiefest friends. 
 
 From 1867 onwards Jowett held the College in his 
 hand, and he was practically Master. Still his ends 
 could not be effected without a certain amount of friction. 
 His views were steadily opposed by a small but compact 
 minority; nor were his followers in Balliol the sort 
 of persons who could be absolutely reckoned on to vote 
 mechanically in his favour. They were men of active 
 intellects and independent minds, who shared his liberal 
 principles, but did not therefore accept his fiat on every 
 practical question. The continual need of persuasion 
 and management, and of over-ruling opposition, grew 
 more and more distasteful to him ; it was the one crook 
 in his lot ; and it may be that the painfulness of the 
 position in part accounted for what seemed to his younger 
 colleagues the undue vehemence with which he some- 
 times pressed his advantages. Long pent-up forces are 
 impetuous when they find an outlet, and impetuosity, 
 although mostly held under firm control, and often 
 unsuspected, was one of his native characteristics. 
 
 The annual progress amongst his friends in Scotland, 
 preceding and following his summer sojourn at Pitlochry, 
 1 Now the Earl of Wemyss.
 
 1865-1870] Friends in Scotland 399 
 
 Tummel Bridge, or Grantown, had now become an 
 established custom with. him. His visits to Lord Airlie 
 at Cortachy and the Tulchan, and to Linlathen and 
 Camperdown, as well as to St. Andrews, Edinburgh, and 
 Glasgow, were amongst his rare pleasures. A visit to 
 Cortachy, in which he met Lord Kimberley and others, is 
 referred to in a letter to his mother. 
 
 The competition for vacant Scotch Professorships, on 
 the part of old Balliol men, continued, and became 
 painfully interesting. John Nichol's rejection for the 
 Logic Chair at Glasgow in 1864 had been a keen 
 disappointment to Jowett; and when, in 1866, the Chair 
 of Moral Philosophy in the same University fell vacant, 
 he was disposed to press Nichol's claim. Edward Caird 
 was unwilling to stand against Nichol. But there were 
 other strong candidates ; and when it became known 
 that a majority of the electors would in any case not 
 vote for Nichol, Jowett, with Nichol's full concurrence, 
 urged Caird to declare his candidature. In the successful 
 result of this policy, no one rejoiced more heartily 
 than Nichol himself. Jowett was much pleased with 
 the way in which Nichol took his friend's election and 
 his own failure. 
 
 Jowett made a special visit to Edinburgh in the winter 
 of 1866, having agreed to give two lectures at the Philo- 
 sophical Institution on Socrates 1 . He stayed with the 
 Sellars. On this or some similar occasion, in the Sellars' 
 drawing-room, Professor Blackie sang, unasked, a song of 
 his own making on ' The Burning of the Heretic ' : then 
 stepped across to Jowett and said, ' I hope you in Oxford 
 don't think we hate you.' ' We don't think about you/ 
 was the impassive reply. 
 
 Again, in the spring of 1869, soon after his friend 
 1 The first of these will be published in Lectures and Addresses.
 
 400 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xn 
 
 Sir A. Grant's election to the Principalship of Edinburgh 
 University, he delivered before the same audience two 
 lectures on Education, (i) in Youth and (2) in After Life, 
 which were much appreciated 1 . He also preached for 
 Dean Ramsay in St. John's Episcopal Church, taking 
 for his subject the Divisions of Christendom 2 . 
 
 On his southward journeys he was a frequent guest 
 at Lea Hurst, in Derbyshire, the seat of Mr. Nightingale. 
 
 A new acquaintance of great interest comes now to be 
 mentioned. Mr. Robert Browning had returned to 
 England from Florence in 1865, after the death of Mrs. 
 Browning, and was engaged in composing The Eing and 
 the Book, which appeared in 1868. He was anxious to 
 have his son educated at Oxford, and made Jowett's 
 acquaintance. A warm friendship was quickly formed 
 between the two men; not the less sincere on Jowett's 
 part because he was not, as yet, an admirer of Mr. 
 Browning's poetry. ' Ought one to admire one's friend's 
 poetry ? ' was one of the few questions of casuistry which 
 I have heard him raise. But he was keenly interested 
 in the story which Browning had told him as forming 
 the subject of the new poem. Jowett's first impressions 
 of his new acquaintance were thus communicated in 
 
 a letter to a friend: 
 
 1 June 12, 1865. 
 
 1 1 thought I was getting too old to make new friends. But 
 I believe that I have made one Mr. Browning, the poet, who 
 has been staying with me during the last few days. It is 
 impossible to speak without enthusiasm of his open, generous 
 nature and his great ability and knowledge. I had no idea 
 that there was a perfectly sensible poet in the world, entirely 
 free from vanity, jealousy, or any other littleness, and thinking 
 no more of himself than if he were an ordinary man. His 
 
 1 These will also appear in the volume mentioned above. 
 
 2 The text was i Cor. xii. 13.
 
 1865-1870] Hospitalities 401 
 
 great energy is very remarkable, and his determination to make 
 the most of the remainder of life. Of personal objects he 
 seems to have none except the education of his son, in which 
 I hope in some degree to help him 1 .' 
 
 Another friendship, maintained by many pleasant 
 visits, was that for Sir Henry Taylor and his family. 
 This he probably owed to Mrs. Cameron. 
 
 In the summer of 1867, being now more in funds than 
 formerly, he sought to return some of the hospitality 
 which he had received. He thus describes the occasion 
 to a friend who could not be present : ' What do you 
 think that I have been doing for the last two days? 
 Entertaining a large party of folks, Mr. Browning, Lady 
 Airlie, Mr. Matthew Arnold 2 , Mr. Munro of Cambridge, 
 Mr. Lecky, the Lingens, &c. Mr. Lecky is an extremely 
 tall and very thin man, with a free expression and a great 
 deal of genius. I like him and Mr. Munro of Cambridge 
 (who is a great scholar) very much.' It appears from 
 his letter to Mrs. Tennyson of July 29, 1867, that he 
 had indulged a vain hope of persuading the Laureate 
 to be of the party, and so to effect a meeting between 
 Tennyson and Browning. 
 
 These festivities, repeated in May, 1869, were a char- 
 acteristic anticipation of many similar hospitalities 
 during his Mastership, which was not yet in view. He 
 felt the interruption to his work, but threw himself into 
 the unaccustomed business with hearty enjoyment ; over- 
 coming, as well as he could, his habitual shyness. While 
 expecting his guests, he said to me, quoting Abraham 
 Slender, 'I had rather than forty shillings I had my 
 
 1 The lastwords I heard Brown- and said, 'Jowett knows how I 
 
 ing utter were spoken to myself love him.' 
 
 shortly after his visit to the 2 See Matthew Arnold's account 
 
 Master, in the summer of 1889. of the dinner in Hall, Letters of 
 
 He grasped my hand at parting Matthew Arnold, vol. i. p. 365. 
 
 VOL. I. D d
 
 402 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xn 
 
 book of songs and sonnets here 1 .' When they had all 
 departed, he said, ' It is sad dissipation ; but it is worth 
 doing, though one can do nothing else for the time.' 
 It may be mentioned, in passing, that his rooms in the 
 Salvin Building had been decorated with a collection of 
 works of art : etchings of Rembrandt, casts from Michael 
 Angelo, &c., which he had gathered from time to time 
 with the advice and assistance of his friend, Mr. F. T. 
 Palgrave 2 . 
 
 In the following year (1868) he took Browning's 
 poems with him into the country, and, when staying with 
 Mr. Evelyn Abbott on his way north, at Filey, in York- 
 shire, he read one night a passage from Luria 3 'very 
 beautifully.' He thought that Browning's poetry showed 
 great learning, but that the world had succeeded better 
 in assimilating Tennyson. ' Browning deserves a shady 
 First,' he said, as reported by Mr. Tollemache. To me 
 somewhat earlier he had said, ' Browning has more know- 
 ledge, wit, and force of mind than Tennyson, and I can 
 imagine him at any moment rising to the first rank in 
 poetry. At present he is hardly a poet.' 
 
 Two matters of grave importance claimed his atten- 
 tion in 1869-1870, the Voysey trial and the project for a 
 second series of Essays and Reviews. The prosecution of 
 the Rev. Charles Voysey for heretical doctrine became 
 imminent in the course of 1869. In spite of many 
 wise cautions from Jowett 4 , Mr. Voysey had found it 
 
 1 Shakespeare, Merry Wires, for a clergyman holding liberal 
 i. i. opinions to be too cautious in his 
 
 2 See p. 285. mode of stating them ? Such 
 
 3 Act v. The speech of Luria caution is not timorousness or 
 beginning ' My own East ! ' self-interest, but the condition 
 
 * e.g. 'Shall I state to you my of any real usefulness.' (Feb. 8. 
 conviction that it is impossible 1861.)
 
 1865-1870] Mr. Charles Voysey 403 
 
 impossible to avoid this entanglement. Far from re- 
 proaching him, Jowett continued to advise and help 
 him : attending meetings of counsel, suggesting the line 
 of defence, &c. But the case in its earlier stage had 
 gone adversely, and the constitution of the Committee 
 of Privy Council at this juncture made it improbable 
 that they would reverse the judgement of the court 
 below. Jowett saw that to proceed further would 
 endanger freedom, not for himself, but for others in the 
 Church of England. The following letters to Mr. Voysey 
 will show what course he took : 
 
 OXFORD, February, [1870]. 
 
 I do not think that there would be any giving up of the 
 truth or of the cause of freedom by your resignation. That 
 appears to me to be the right course, if your counsel and 
 lawyers are of opinion that there is no hope of a favourable 
 issue on the principal points. 
 
 Your reason for resigning would be generally appreciated, 
 viz. that you fear lest by trying the question under unpropitious 
 circumstances you may curtail the liberty of others. Your 
 sermons and the articles of accusation against you contain 
 most of the distinctive tenets of the Anglican Church, and 
 it would appear ridiculous and impolitic to settle these at 
 one swoop by the authority of Phillimore, Chelmsford, and 
 others, and would probably overthrow the tribunal itself. 
 That is my view, and is in general that of H. B. Wilson, 
 with whom I had the opportunity of conversing about the 
 matter last week. I should like you to hear his opinion ; 
 for he has experience and is very acute in these matters. 
 I should like also to talk the matter over with Bowen, 
 whom I shall see this day week. 
 
 There is no hurry, I suppose, about the resignation, as 
 the cause cannot come on until November, and perhaps 
 not then. I shall not mention your possible intention 
 of resignation to Bowen or to any one, and I would advise 
 you not to speak of it yourself. It will require some 
 
 D d 2
 
 404 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xn 
 
 consideration if you determine to resign : What is the best 
 time and manner of doing it? I shall be glad to help in 
 any way that I can. 
 
 With sincere regard and respect, 
 
 Believe me, yours most truly, 
 B. JOWETT. 
 
 TUMMEL BRIDGE, PITLOCHRY, N.B., 
 
 August 14, [1870]. 
 
 I have nothing to say in answer to your note except to 
 assure you that I have never considered you as under the 
 slightest personal obligation to me. In giving my name to 
 your defence fund I acted on public grounds. 
 
 As to the main question, I still think with Dean Stanley, 
 Mr. Westlake, Lord Justice James, and others, that it is 
 very undesirable to pursue this trial further ; that nothing 
 can be gained and that something will probably be lost 
 in the way of liberty; that though to myself personally 
 these decisions are not important, they affect very hardly 
 a great many Liberal clergymen ; and also that the discussion 
 of the limits of the Articles and Liturgy leads to casuistical 
 questions (like No. 90) about the meaning of the words, 
 which the public ill understand, and which do not tend to 
 the cause of truth. 
 
 I saw Messrs. Shaen's letters some time ago. But I do 
 not think that the decision of the York Court does bind the 
 Church ; and that I find to be the opinion of others. 
 
 Although his own special work in Theology had 
 been relegated to the future, he now consented to 
 undertake a more immediate task, which was nothing 
 less than to contribute two long essays to a second 
 series of Essays and Reviews. Mr. H. B. Wilson had 
 been pressing for this for some time past ; and Dr. John 
 Muir, of Edinburgh, the Sanskrit scholar, was eager 
 in promoting the idea. Other possible contributors are 
 mentioned in the letter to Professor Caird appended 
 to this chapter.
 
 1865-1870] New Testament Revision 405 
 
 Jowett had applied to Grant, who declined, on the 
 ground that his share in such a volume might cripple 
 his usefulness in Edinburgh l . Mr. "Wilson himself under- 
 took two essays, (i) on the Principles of the Reformation, 
 and (2) on the Sacramentarian Theory, and Jowett finally 
 chose for his subjects the Religions of the World and 
 the Reign of Law. For the former he read largely 
 and wrote many notes, but neither essay was completed. 
 The volume came to nothing, chiefly, I believe, in con- 
 sequence of the illness of Mr. Wilson, whose health, 
 already broken, was shattered by a stroke of paralysis 
 shortly after this. But Jowett himself may well have 
 hesitated, after his appointment to the Mastership, to 
 risk another storm while his honours, in which Balliol 
 was involved, were ' in their newest gloss.' The only 
 portion of the projected work which saw the light, so 
 far as I am aware, was my own essay on the Revision 
 of the English New Testament, which was published 
 in the Contemporary Review, in May, June, and August, 
 1876. 
 
 The subject recalls another consideration. The Com- 
 mittee of Revisers began to sit in 1870. It is perhaps 
 one of the most regrettable consequences of the theo- 
 logical odium which surrounded Jowett's name, that 
 he was passed over, not only for the Oxford Theological 
 Board of Studies (which he had recommended in 1848), 
 but for this more important committee, which included, 
 as a matter of course, the name of Dr. Kennedy, as 
 Professor of Greek in the University of Cambridge 2 . 
 A remark of Jowett's on the work of the committee 
 when it appeared is perhaps worth recording here. 
 
 1 He bad accepted a share in ment had come in the way. 
 the former volume (see above, 2 The selection rested with the 
 p. 275), but the Madras appoint- Convocation of the English Clergy.
 
 406 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xn 
 
 ' They seem to have forgotten that, in a certain sense, 
 the Authorised Version is more inspired than the original. ' 
 
 Early in the October of 1869, Jowett met Mr. Gladstone 
 at Camperdown House, Dundee, where both were guests 
 of the Earl of Camperdown. It was not the first occasion 
 of their meeting 1 ; but a country house gives opportunities 
 which are not to be had in London, and for the few days 
 which Jowett spent at Camperdown the politician and 
 the thinker were much together. He had looked forward 
 with great eagerness to this visit, and his host reports 
 that he had never seen him so absorbed in any one. They 
 talked incessantly for hours in the library and about 
 the grounds. Jowett was very much provoked one 
 morning when Gladstone had insisted on rising early 
 and going to hear an Episcopal preacher at Perth. 
 Mr. Gladstone at this time was considering the outline 
 of his first Land Bill of 1870, and Ireland was one chief 
 topic of their conversations. Mr. Gladstone tried to 
 impress on Jowett's mind that no one hitherto had 
 understood the Irish, or had rightly sympathized with 
 them. Jowett came straight from Camperdown to 
 St. Andrews, and told me of the great interest he had 
 felt in this meeting. ' It was the first time,' he said, ' that 
 any one of such great simplicity had been in so exalted 
 a position.' It would be curious and interesting to mark 
 the sequel ; but it seemed to him to be full of peril, 
 because the great statesman was 'so powerful and so 
 unsound.' He observed that Mr. Gladstone failed to 
 recognize the truth, that the moral excuses for political 
 crime ought not to make a statesman less firm in 
 repressing it. 
 
 On the Sunday after his return to Balliol in October, 
 
 1 They had breakfasted together in London.
 
 1865-1870] The Loss of his Mother 407 
 
 he was summoned to Torquay, where his mother was 
 dying. She died on October 16. Her death moved him 
 deeply, and called up many old memories. The following 
 passage from a sermon which he preached a few years 
 afterwards may be, to some extent, as the Rev. W. H. 
 Langhorne has suggested, a picture drawn from recollec- 
 tions of his own family : 
 
 ' The thought of our childhood touches us when we remember 
 that we were once as they are now surrounded by brothers 
 and sisters who have gone different ways in life : some to 
 distant lands, where they rest and will no more return to us ; 
 and others, like ourselves, have been fighting the battle of life 
 here for twenty or thirty years or more, to rest like them 
 before long. 
 
 ' The history of any family recalls many recollections known 
 to themselves only : of little acts of kindness done to one 
 another, and inseparable companionships, and old servants and 
 their rare devotedness and self-surrender : of some mistakes 
 and misunderstandings, too, which may have arisen out of 
 differences of character. We can see now how they might 
 have been avoided, but we could not place ourselves above 
 them at the time. 
 
 'The old family life, the house in which we dwelt, the 
 circle which met round the fire or the dinner-table, the very 
 books and furniture we used, are still present in the mind's eye, 
 and the memory of these is sweet to us. They are a sort of 
 Kingdom of Heaven in the past, and to some of us there seem 
 to be none who can look on us as others have.' 
 
 After this he spent what time he could at Torquay, 
 haunted by his mother's image, ruminating on old 
 memories, and finding the quiet of the bereaved house- 
 hold conducive to uninterrupted labour. 'I like this 
 place, at which I always do more and with less exertion 
 than anywhere else.' 
 
 His work proceeded as before, without check or 
 intermission. Returning from Torquay to Oxford on
 
 408 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xn 
 
 November 18, he was once more 'immersed in juvenile 
 English Essays,' and 'feeling that a new place puts 
 the sorrow in a new light.' He found satisfaction in 
 the election to a Fellowship of Mr. Lewis Nettleship, 
 'a University scholar, and a man of some genius as 
 well, with a slight trace of Clough in him.' Clough's 
 sister was at this time looking for some post in which 
 she might promote the higher education of women, and 
 Jowett conferred often with his friend William Rogers, 
 of Bishopsgate, about a scheme for a new girls' school of 
 which they hoped that she would be the head. The 
 arrangement was not concluded, for shortly after this 
 Miss Clough saw her way to starting Merton Hall at 
 Cambridge, the germ of Newnham College, over which 
 she presided so long with eminent success. But the 
 fact is noticeable, as marking Jowett's first contact with 
 a movement which sprang into vigorous life soon after 
 this ; but from which at first he seemed to hold back, 
 with his habitual tendency to resist practical novelties. 
 
 It is pathetic to recall the fact that Mrs. Jowett did 
 not live to see the dawn of a new hope about the Master- 
 ship, which had been the object of her son's frustrated 
 ambition sixteen years before. The first trace of this in 
 his correspondence appears in a letter of December 26, 
 1869 (the day after his mother's birthday), written from 
 Torquay, with reference to a visit to Caterham in the 
 previous week : 
 
 ' I had a delightful visit to Mr. Lowe, who is a devoted 
 friend to me. It is impossible to see him at home and not to 
 be charmed with him. . . . He said that he had been told by 
 Gladstone to ask whether he could do anything for me. I told 
 him that I did not intend to leave Oxford, and therefore that 
 the only thing that could be done for me would be to make 
 Scott a Dean or a Bishop. Mr. Lowe thought that this would
 
 u5
 
 The Mastership Letters, 1865-1870 409 
 
 be done, and set about the matter with great zeal. But I do 
 not expect this, nor much care 1 .' 
 
 Dr. Scott was appointed to the Deanery of Rochester 
 in June, 1870, and Jowett's election as his successor in 
 the Mastership was a foregone conclusion. The news 
 came to him when staying at a country house, the home 
 of a friend. ' He leant his head against the mantel- 
 piece and prayed aloud, " spare me a little, that I may 
 recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more seen." ' 
 He wrote to his sister : 
 
 ' You will have seen that Scott is to be the new Dean of 
 Kochester, which will make me Master of Balliol. This is 
 Lowe's doing. I find great good will in Oxford about the 
 proposal. I consider this is the second piece of good luck 
 which I have had in life the election to the Fellowship thirty- 
 two years ago was the first. 
 
 ' I wish that our dear mother had been alive to hear this 
 news.' 
 
 LETTEES, 1865-1870. 
 
 To E. B. D. MORIER. 
 
 Address OXFORD, March 7, [1865]. 
 My DEAR SIR JoHN 2 , 
 
 I knew that you would have died for me (at least after 
 the fashion in which your renowned ancestor died on the field 
 of battle) ; but I had no idea that you would write to me 
 
 1 It appears, however, from a the vacant bishopric of Man- 
 previous letter, written early in Chester was given to Jowett's old 
 October, that be had already been acquaintance, Fraser of Oriel, 
 counting on the possibility of pre- 2 He jestingly compared his 
 ferment coming to Scott. Even 'fat friend' to Fal&taff; see 
 now this was a hope deferred, for Shakespeare, i Henry IV, v. 4.
 
 410 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xn 
 
 of your own accord. I did not believe such a thing to be 
 within the compass of nature. 
 
 I am delighted to hear of the commissionership *. That is 
 a real opportunity for doing something. . . . 
 
 You are very good in rejoicing at my endowment. Christ 
 Church are getting great credit for this, which they did and undid 
 ten years ago, and which Dr. Pusey has now carried because he 
 knew that he must be beaten in the University. But I shan't 
 look a gift horse in the mouth. I was always very fond of 
 money, for money is a means of doing mischief, and I have 
 always been a great lover of mischief. I am not insensible 
 to the value of 125 a quarter, though on the other hand I do 
 not know how to get on without the character of a 'martyr.' 
 To be a martyr is a delightful position and just suits me ; it 
 consists in doing nothing, and that I understand. As an un- 
 feeling but sagacious friend once said to me, ' Next to having 
 a good place, there is nothing like a good grievance.' How 
 much more truly might you be called a martyr to the gout ! 
 Like your great ancestor, again, you have found that there was 
 something mysteriously wrong in the great toe. Yet don't 
 suppose, my dear fellow, that I am not sorry you should have 
 been in bed for six weeks. . . . 
 
 When do you go to Vienna? and will you be in England 
 next summer? I wonder whether your wife, who is worth 
 ten of you for any practical purpose, would write and tell me. 
 
 To 
 
 OXFORD, March 16, 1865. 
 
 Prayer, as at present conducted, is an absurdity, if it means 
 praying for fine weather, &c. (faith must snap in the face of 
 universal obvious facts) ; or an ambiguity of the worst kind, 
 if the Theologian refuses to say, in reference to an action of 
 everyday life, whether it is supposed to have this effect or not. 
 
 There is nothing that more requires to be stated than that 
 prayer is a mental, moral, spiritual process, a communion or 
 
 1 Morier was British member of to inquire into the Austrian tariff 
 the Mixed Commission at Vienna (March, 1865).
 
 Letters, 1865-1870 411 
 
 conversation with God, or an aspiration after Him and resig- 
 nation to Him, an anticipation of heaven, an identification of 
 self with the highest law, the truest idea, the blending of true 
 thought and true feeling, of the will and the understanding, 
 containing also the recognition that we ask for nothing but to 
 be better, stronger, truer, deeper than we are. I am afraid 
 that the anthropomorphism of much of what is called revealed 
 religion has obscured the natural religion of men on this subject. 
 On the old theory, all answers to prayer were necessarily 
 miraculous, and therefore the belief in them could not be 
 otherwise than unreal. 
 
 I think that 'the human race is inspired.' But how short 
 the moments of inspiration have been a little stream in Greece 
 and Judaea dammed up after a century or two in the original 
 fountain : all other progress, or nearly all, is but the dilution 
 of this water of life. Great men like Luther and Bacon have 
 been inspired, but how muddy the inspiration has been with 
 the previous elements ! Even Spinoza is a schoolman warring 
 against scholasticism : I mean in such things as his notion 
 of substance and the importance that he attaches to mere logical 
 demonstration. 
 
 To 
 
 May 28, 1865. 
 
 I send you some books, one very good book among them, the 
 works of a Saint, and one very bad book, Fable of the Bees 
 one of those books which are condemned equally by the world 
 and the Church ; by the world because it is partly true, and 
 by the Church because it is partly false, or vice versa one 
 of those books which delight in turning out the seamy side 
 of society to the light. (Don't read it if you object to the coarse- 
 ness of parts.) Dr. Johnson says, 'Mandeville, sir, never did 
 me any harm, but he opened my views into life very much.' 
 Nor do I think it a bad thing to read the book with patience 
 and ask how much is true of ourselves. 
 
 Also I send you some of my translations 1 of Plato. I have 
 done the whole of Plato in that way. If you look at any- 
 
 1 This refers to the Analysis, The Republic was still the only 
 which was now nearly complete, dialogue fully translated.
 
 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xn 
 
 thing, read the Crito, and the end of the Phacdo and the 
 Apology. 
 
 Plato has been a great labour. Yet I like being in such 
 good company always. There is nothing better in style and 
 manners, not even 'in the first circles.' I more and more 
 wonder at the things which he saw and prophesied. Hardly 
 anything important about law or natural religion which has 
 ever been said may not be found in Plato. 
 
 To 
 
 PlTLOCHRY, August 31, 1865. 
 
 1 certainly mean when my Plato is finished to devote two 
 or three years to preaching, giving up my whole mind to this 
 and publishing the sermons. (I try to collect 'stock' for 
 myself ; that is the term cooks give to their materials for soup. ) 
 I have not told this design to any one but you, and I mean to 
 go about it as quietly as I can, putting off the more heterodox 
 aspect of things until I have gained, if I can, some hold. 
 
 There are a great many other things that might be done, 
 e.g. a Commentary on the New Testament, at once true and 
 practical. This should be the joint labour of many persons. 
 Also tracts of another sort from those which are commonly 
 circulated among the poor. 
 
 Any religious movement should be also, like that of the 
 Jesuits, an educational movement. And this, I think, is to 
 a considerable extent going on at the schools ; e. g. Harrow, 
 Eugby, Marlborough, and even Winchester. And there is 
 a great change in education at the Universities, especially at 
 Oxford. When I was an undergraduate we were fed upon 
 Bishop Butler and Aristotle's Ethics, and almost all teaching 
 leaned to the support of doctrines of authority. Now there 
 are new subjects, Modern History and Physical Science, and 
 more important than these, perhaps, is the real study of 
 metaphysics in the Literae Humaniores school every man for 
 the last ten years who goes in for honours has read Bacon, 
 and probably Locke, Mill's Logic, Plato, Aristotle, and the 
 history of ancient philosophy. See how impossible this makes 
 a return to the old doctrines of authority.
 
 Letters , 1 865-18 jo 413 
 
 The ' Hebrew Conservative l ' has just found this out, which 
 he ought to have found out long ago, and is going to try to 
 upset all this by appointing what he calls a Board of Studies, 
 who would be nominated by himself and his friends. But 
 I think that we can hinder him, as the Tutors are almost all 
 on our side. 
 
 I was going to say when I made this digression, that I think 
 something needs to be done for the educated, similar to what 
 J. Wesley did for the poor. A real religious movement among 
 the educated would be more permanent than any revival. 
 What is wanted just now is not preaching for the poor, but 
 teaching in schools, better and more of it, and preaching to 
 the clergy and educated classes. 
 
 To SIB ALEXANDER GEANT. 
 
 August 27, 1865. 
 
 I have been working at Plato steadily for the last two months, 
 and make some impression, although the work is veiy long. 
 I believe you will see the four volumes in India in the course 
 of next year. 
 
 I have been reading Grote with very great interest, but 
 with a good deal of disagreement. The mode of handling 
 critical questions is very defective : his arguments about 
 the Canon of Plato are like the arguments of divines about 
 the Canon of Scripture, and I think also without fancy 
 that there is far more in Plato than he supposes. I object 
 to a kind of modern rule by which he judges him, and I 
 don't believe Socrates to have been a mere professor of 
 negation, as he supposes. 
 
 I hope we shall live to see more of one another before life is 
 over. Meanwhile take care of your health, save your money 
 and come home as fast as you can, and keep the notion of 
 collecting materials and thoughts for some work in view which 
 you may execute when you come home. I may possibly live 
 twenty or twenty-five- years longer, and I can assure you that 
 I mean to make the utmost of the years that remain, more than 
 I have done, and I hope you will do the same. . . . 
 
 1 Dr. Pusey.
 
 414 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xn 
 
 This is really written in Scotland, Tummel Bridge Inn. 
 Pitlochry, which has been the best, I think, of my summer 
 residences. 
 
 To F. T. PALGRAVE. 
 
 OXFOED, September 26, 1865. 
 
 I most entirely agree with your remark about the [Cambridge] 
 Apostles. We must try and avoid that at Oxford. To teach 
 men how they may learn to grow independently and for them- 
 selves, is perhaps the greatest service that one man can do for 
 another, and how to grow, if possible, in after life. I hate to 
 meet a man whom I have known ten years ago, and find that 
 he is at precisely the same point, neither moderated, nor 
 quickened, nor experienced, but simply stiffened ; he ought 
 to be beaten. He had the charm of youth once ; now, like 
 many a pretty girl, he has the plainness of middle life. 
 
 Is it too late to alter ' Sanatory ' ? The word has a bad 
 smell, and reminds me of a story that some one told me of 
 Mr. Chadwick's children, 'playing at drains.' Poor innocents ! 
 'gracious,' 'ennobling,' 'elevating.' ... I mean to make the 
 utmost use of my money and my time for the future, and I am 
 a good deal strengthened in this by the affection that you and 
 many of my pupils have so abundantly shown me it seems 
 to me like the only return that I can make. And perhaps 
 my free way of life is as good for this purpose as any position 
 could be. 
 
 To E. B. D. MORIER, C.B. 
 
 OXFORD, January 10, 1866. 
 MY DEAR OLD FELLOW, 
 
 Let me tell you what real and honest pleasure your 
 success gives me. You have, indeed, accomplished a great 
 work. And I think this is only the beginning and not 
 the end J . 
 
 I am sure that you are right about these international 
 questions becoming of great importance. Europe will be 
 much more one nation in fifty or even in twenty-five years 
 (if only some of the limbs could be reset by L. N. 2 or any 
 
 1 See p. 436. 2 Louis Napoleon.
 
 Letters, 1865-1870 415 
 
 other operator). The force of the international commercial 
 principle will be much greater on the continent than in 
 England, because there is no insularity. 
 
 I should like to see two rough calculations made : (i) the 
 present cost of the standing armies of Europe, (2) the loss 
 (incalculable really) that the nations of Europe incur from 
 Protection, (i) would probably be much above 100 millions 
 sterling per annum ; (2) would probably be much above 1000 
 millions sterling per annum. Subtract (i), add (2). When 
 we think of these things and think of the evils of caste, priest- 
 hood, petty princes, oppressed nationalities, &c., does not 
 Europe seem to be at the beginning and not at the end of 
 her politics ? 
 
 I am fond of dreaming of a millennium, not in the super- 
 stitious sense, but of one which we may make, and which 
 you may help to make when you have reached the higher 
 diplomatic position many opportunities will occur. 
 
 I am delighted at the C.B. I never thought you would be 
 the 'fat knight'; that is the only thing wanting to complete 
 the parallel. 
 
 You kindly ask me to write to you about myself, but that 
 subject will soon come to an end. For I have had no adven- 
 tures ; only carrying on pupils and the everlasting book which 
 has now got into four or perhaps five volumes, including 
 a complete translation of Plato. I keep on hand also notes 
 for sermons, which I mean to work up when Plato is finished ; 
 in one respect I am glad to have held my tongue about 
 Theology, for I begin, as I fancy, to see my way clearer. 
 
 Five hundred a year additional is certainly a great comfort. 
 Thou wilt come to me yet to borrow a thousand pounds and 
 thy love, Jack, is worth a thousand pounds 1 . 
 
 I have made two new friends during the last year one. 
 Mr. Browning, whom 1 like extremely ; he is a man of great 
 genius and power without the faults of genius the other, 
 R. Lowe, whom I also like ; he is a very honest man and very 
 clear and able ; it is only in politics that he is a cynic, for in 
 his natural character he is a kindly, genial man, having a great 
 
 1 Shakespeare, 2 Henry IV, i. 2.
 
 416 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xn 
 
 interest in Plato and the classics, which is a bond between us. 
 Also he has administrative imagination, but is devoid of all 
 power of political construction ; his measures contradict his 
 own first principles. 
 
 I see that I am getting to gossip with you as we used to do 
 at Berlin. Are you coming to England this summer ? If not, 
 I shall certainly go to Darmstadt ; I shall like making friends 
 with your little girl, being always a lover of children, who 
 are delightful creatures. . . . 
 
 Will you give my kindest regards and love to your wife and 
 child ? Two things I wonder at : (i) Why you retain your old 
 undergraduate affection for me. (2) Why your wife is not 
 jealous. I can only wish you in return the accomplishment 
 of some really great work, not this year or next, but as the 
 result of life. That is a reward fitting the most faithful of 
 friends. 
 
 I believe that your wife thinks me an ambitious dreamer 
 who suggests impossibilities to you. I should like to make 
 all my old pupils ambitious, if I could, of living like men and 
 doing silently a real work. I think that this sort of idealism 
 increases upon me as I get older. But I should be more 
 disposed also to leave the way and manner to themselves, 
 and to allow for differences of individual character. 
 
 To 
 
 April 6, 1866. 
 
 Surely while life can be of any use the prayer should be 
 not only, ' Thy will be done,' but, ' Let me live to do Thy will, 
 O Lord.' 
 
 Thank you for wishing me a long life. I think that I do 
 desire that, sans teeth, sans eyes, sans ears, sans everything, 
 except mind. It seems to me that I have made so many 
 mistakes, and started so late in life, that I would, if I can, 
 still have my life before me. I think that I had hardly any 
 idea of what sort of a place the world was until about fifteen 
 years ago. I see the same fault in the rising generation of 
 young men they ought to be in character and judgement 
 at twenty-three where they don't arrive until thirty-three. 
 And they take so long fermenting.
 
 Letters, 1865-1 8 jo 417 
 
 To 
 
 [THE DEANERY, WESTMINSTER,] June, 1866. 
 
 I shall not answer your letter, but I shall do what you ask. 
 Part of my work cannot be given up for three weeks or 
 a month. But I shall reduce the Plato to about one-half 
 for the next two months, and that will leave the work very 
 light during the first part of the vacation. And I will never 
 work after twelve for the future. 
 
 I am quite well in health, but I am aware that my 
 mind is tired. It seems wrong to give up any man who is 
 dependent on me, and it seems wrong to give up the Plato. 
 And the end of that has been that every meal is utilized, 
 and every hour taken up in seeing the men, or in lecturing, 
 or both. But I will manage better another Term. 
 
 Lowe's speech * was one of the most able speeches ever made 
 against all reform in all ages. There was a sort of philoso- 
 phical appeal to history and experience, which in the House of 
 Commons neither Gladstone nor any one else seems able to 
 answer. I suspect that L. has supplied a good many political 
 ideas to London society this season. 
 
 My friends here talk to me a great deal about Carlyle, 
 whom they saw in the winter. I can't say that I altogether 
 like him : a man of genius, and in some respects the first man 
 living, an independent man, a tender-hearted man the most 
 graphic of all painters, though in an irregular, magic-lantern way. 
 Yet, on the other hand, a man totally regardless of truth, 
 totally without admiration of any active goodness a self- 
 contradictory man, who investigates facts with the most 
 extraordinary care in order to prove his own preconceived 
 notions. He has stirred up the minds of young men (those 
 impressionable beings), but not really elevated them. I know 
 that he can say things with a tenderness and power in con- 
 versation that no one else attains. But this does not atone 
 at all to me for his utter recklessness and his habit of ex- 
 pressing his own personal fancies in the likeness of intellectual 
 truths. If I were engaged in any work more than usually 
 
 1 On the Reform Bill of 1866. 
 VOL. I. E e
 
 418 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xn 
 
 good (which I never shall be), I know that he would be the 
 first person to utter a powerful sneer, and if I were seeking 
 to know the truth, he would ridicule the very notion of 
 an ' homunculus ' discovering the truth. I don't think that 
 he has any real insight, but only a great power of painting 
 and embossing and crystallizing scenes real or imaginary. 
 Nor is he a great doer, nor even a great artist. 
 
 The spirit of the twenty-third Psalm and the spirit of the 
 ninetieth Psalm should be united in our lives. 
 
 To 
 
 August 12, 1866. 
 
 I don't think that the war 1 was right, or the coup d'etat 
 right, or that Germany may not very likely become an odious 
 military aristocracy. But I think that we must accept fails 
 accomplis, or in politics we become hopeless and isolated, anti- 
 pathetic to all things, sympathetic with nothing. This is a 
 state of great weakness, when all our ideas are dominated by 
 antagonism to L. N. The L. N. regime has fallen very hard 
 on the press and literary men ; it was bad in its beginning and 
 is immoral in its private ways. Still it has some elements 
 of real greatness which are wanting in other Governments of 
 Europe. 
 
 I am really taking care of my health, for I never work more 
 than six hours a day, and before going back to Oxford I mean 
 to have an entire rest. You see that I am obliged to go 
 through this long mechanical labour of translating Plato, 
 about 2100 pages ; this will be finished next March. Then 
 I have about half-finished a sketch of the history of the Early 
 Greek Philosophy, and of Plato. I fancy this to be important 
 because the history of Greek ideas is the history of the ideas 
 of the civilized world, and to most persons the very notion 
 that ideas have a history is a new one. I want to throw 
 my whole mind into this when the translation is done. Then 
 I have also an edition of the Republic with notes, which 
 is likely to be used by students in the Schools, in which I try 
 
 1 The ' Seven Weeks' War ' between Prussia and Austria.
 
 Letters, 1865-1870 419 
 
 to give, in a condensed form, modern views of the questions 
 treated of, as well as explanations of the Greek. So that, you 
 see, I have my hands full, and am not idle, though people 
 naturally think I am gone to sleep or am dead. 
 
 (I told my mother to send you one of my sermons. The 
 other 1 is, I fear, still in the pocket of Dr. Stanley's cassock. 
 The sermon on Prayer has too much negation and too little 
 positive. A lady told me that it would be a good excuse to 
 my pupils for not going to church.) 
 
 To PROFESSOR LEWIS CAMPBELL. 
 
 TUMMEL BRIDGE, PITLOCHRY, N.B., [1866]. 
 
 I am at one of my old haunts with Lord Donoughmore and 
 E. Myers, who is good enough to be his tutor, preparing 
 the Republic for the press ; also some Divinity lectures for 
 next Term. I shall hope to come to St. Andrews about 
 September 8 for a month, and then, as iron sharpeneth iron, 
 I shall be sharpened by you. At present I am going on in 
 a very plodding, mechanical manner. 
 
 To PROFESSOR JOHN NICHOL. 
 
 [1866.] 
 
 I imagine that when this reaches you the matter of the 
 Professorship will have been settled. . . . But I cannot help 
 writing to assure you that nothing which happens to you is 
 indifferent to me. I think that I would do anything to promote 
 your interests, and you must promote them yourself. You and 
 I are in the same difficulty ; we can look for no external help, 
 but must fashion our lives for ourselves, and that ought to unite 
 us : if opportunities don't come, we must look at life calmly and 
 make them ; it is no use complaining of having public opinion 
 against us. We have challenged that, although perhaps un- 
 designedly, and now we must fight it out and make a place for 
 ourselves. You know as well as I do that to have written 
 a good book is worth a great deal more both in real useful- 
 
 1 i.e. the first which he preached at Westminster. 
 E e 2
 
 420 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xn 
 
 ness and distinction than to have gained many professorships. 
 ... I hope that you will contrive to do something in the way 
 of writing this vacation. Don't fall into the mistake that 
 I have made during the last ten years, of being too much of 
 a drudge, and getting nothing done. 'Mais nous changerons 
 tout cela \ ' 
 
 To HENRY H. LANCASTER. 
 
 October 18, 1866. 
 
 Whately was a very narrow, clear intellect logical, shallow, 
 with a genius for illustration very conceited and egotistical, 
 but also very noble and disinterested, quite princely in his use 
 of money, and utterly careless of popular favour. He was 
 certainly a man of great force of character in a narrow sense 
 a great man ; much more distinguished than any other Bishop 
 and much more honest. Considering the pranks he played as 
 Archbishop, putting his head under water at a dinner-party, 
 crowing like a cock to the clergy, sitting swinging on a chain 
 in College Green while his house was building, throwing a 
 boomerang on Sunday, &c., he must have been a very remark- 
 able man to be respected at all, for he trampled underfoot all 
 respectabilities and conventionality. He was narrow and bigoted 
 in theology v. his charges. 
 
 To 
 
 ALDERLEY EDGE, January i, 1867. 
 
 I must tell you again and again not to despair to keep some 
 sort of life and light in your mind, and not to lose sight of the 
 consolations of the future. Most persons of deep feeling have 
 alternations of light and dark, and we should let the sun shine 
 sometimes. Even in London it does this. 
 
 January, 1867. 
 
 What do you think that I am doing ? Nothing. For during 
 the last week I felt an extreme idleness and stupidity, and 
 satisfied myself with the sophistical theory that you suggested 
 to me, that the brain needed to go to sleep, and put off beginning 
 
 1 This letter has been quoted in Knight's Life of Nichol.
 
 Letters, 1865-1870 421 
 
 again till January 15, and feel as unwilling to work as any 
 negro. 
 
 Now I am putting your doctrines into practice, you must 
 occasionally enforce them by your own example, or I shall 
 relapse. I am changing my views of life and begin to think 
 that rest and recreation are really required if I am to last for 
 twenty years longer. And I mean to get younger as I get 
 older, even sans hair, sans teeth, and, what is worse, sans 
 memory, and sans everything. And I am hoping that ten 
 years hence, according to your advice, I shall succeed in 
 making myself disagreeable to somebody. Will you adopt my 
 view? . . . 
 
 The worst of planning anything for Gorgias is that the 
 execution, even if he could be got to take it up, requires not 
 more ability, but more policy, more reticence and management 
 of mankind, than he seems to be capable of. He is the quickest, 
 the clearest, the ablest, and one of the most public-spirited men 
 (really) whom I have ever known, but he wants to do every- 
 thing by force. He is the only man that I see who would 
 fearlessly attempt great administrative reforms. But when 
 he came to have a whole profession, the Army, Church, arrayed 
 against him. and he came to be deserted by his colleagues, he 
 would be likely to sink under the load of unpopularity. 
 
 I trust that you never allow yourself to doubt that you can 
 still complete your life (lives, like pictures, lose more than 
 half their value by being unfinished), and that in the greatest 
 suffering you are in the hands of God, who has thus far made 
 you His instrument. 
 
 To DR. GREENHILL, AT HASTINGS. 
 
 BALLIOL COLLEGE, April 3, [1867]. 
 MY DEAR GREENHILL, 
 
 It may be, as you say, that in what remains of life we 
 shall not see much of one another. For our work has to be 
 done in different places, and probably we have got to look 
 at many things in very different ways. But I shall always 
 remember with pleasure and gratitude that old kindness of 
 thirty years ago. I have since found the blessing and the good
 
 422 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xn 
 
 of giving away money to others, and I think that you first 
 showed me the way to do this. 
 
 I cannot say that I shall pray for your boy at his confirmation 
 (though he has my best wishes). But, if he comes to Oxford, 
 I will try to help him as far as I can, in his College course, for 
 your sake. 
 
 With very kind regards to Mrs. Greenhill, 
 
 Believe me, yours truly and affectionately, 
 
 B. JOWETT. 
 
 To 
 
 OXFORD, May 31, 1867. 
 
 I want you to admit the possibility of better and happier 
 days coming ; and I believe that they will come, not exactly 
 in the sense which youthful holiday-making, love-making 
 follies expect them, but days in which you will see your work 
 more fully carried out, and bless God for the retrospect 
 of the past with all its great trials. 
 
 What do you think that I have been doing during the last 
 month? Translating the Politics of Aristotle. You will say 
 that I am mad about translating. But I am not. It was 
 necessary to read the book carefully for my work upon Plato, 
 and the translation is much wanted, and is now half finished. 
 
 To 
 
 OXFORD, June, 1867. 
 
 At what a rate the chariot of democracy is driving ! It 
 almost takes away one's breath. Last week the democratic 
 movement might have been stopped, the Ministry driven 
 from office, and a Bill something like that of last session 
 introduced. But all that is now impossible. Household 
 suffrage, lodger franchise, one year's residence, are fairly 
 given and cannot be withheld. And if the Conservatives 
 are, as appears, really willing to give up principles which 
 they held sacred a month ago, the Bill is certain to pass. 
 For their opponents cannot, if they would, oppose them, 
 and the Lords dare not. 
 
 Think of the effects on the Church of England (that of
 
 Letters, 1865-1870 423 
 
 Ireland is gone anyhow) and on the whole country. Then 
 of the exultation of the Jew, who has revenged all his 
 personal wrongs, triumphed over the virtue of Gladstone, 
 made himself an historical name, and really done a great 
 service (not taking into account the means). He has got 
 his pound of flesh out of these Tory magnates, who have 
 scoffed at him. People have often said that he would be 
 the leader of the Eadicals, but they never guessed that he 
 would accomplish it by making the Tories Eadicals. There 
 is something that is not quite intelligible in his colleagues 
 neither actively supporting nor opposing him. Think of all 
 this also in connexion with the Conservative reaction of six 
 years ago. . . . 
 
 That you may not think me mad in translating the Politics, 
 I transcribe a short passage for you. 
 
 ' Now we ought to be careful of the health of the inhabitants ; 
 and this will depend, first, on the situation and aspect of the 
 place ; secondly, on the use of good water, the care of which 
 ought to be made a first object. For those things which we 
 use most and oftenest have the greatest influence on health ; 
 and water and air are of this nature,' &c. Ar. Pol. vii. 2. 4. 
 
 And I could find similar passages in Plato's Laws. 
 
 To 
 
 OXFORD, June, 1867. 
 
 When you think that you have done nothing, that may 
 be in some degree true, as a fact, amid the difficulties and 
 hindrances of human things. But is not the greater part 
 a certain state of nerves or a certain attitude of character, 
 like the way which good people have of declaring that they 
 are miserable sinners? 
 
 I like to hear my friend Mr. Browning say, 'I have just 
 finished a poem (I am ashamed to tell you the length about 
 20,000 lines) : I am sure that it is by far the best thing 
 which I have yet done, and when I have done that I shall 
 try to do something better still, and so on as long as I 
 live.' And I like to think of myself as beginning and not 
 ending.
 
 424 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xn 
 
 My boy 1 , who is extremely clever, has been reading 
 St. Theresa's life in the English. 'Don't you think, sir, 
 that she was religiously mad ? ' ' Well, not a very bad kind 
 of madness.' 'Are not all persons mad who take sincerely 
 to a monastic life ? ' He is only fourteen, and he seems to 
 me to be always reading and thinking about what he reads. 
 
 To 
 
 -. \J 
 
 OXFORD, July 18, 1867. 
 
 I went before the Committee z on Monday, and was examined 
 for an hour, and then cross-examined for more than three hours 
 on Tuesday. Lowe, who was present, was quite satisfied, and 
 very much pleased, but I don't trust his judgement of my 
 performance, because he is partial to me. (And yet how often 
 in the last four years have I been encouraged by good words, 
 which I did not believe notwithstanding?) To return to our 
 Committee, I really believe that we shall succeed in getting 
 free Education at Oxford independent of the Colleges, which 
 will make an enormous difference. You have no idea how 
 much greater liberality there is at Oxford than at Cambridge 
 about University matters. I read the Cambridge evidence ; it 
 was quite miserable to see the adhesion, even of liberal men 
 among them, to the old routine. 
 
 I sometimes think that the work of Christ lasted only three 
 years, and we have (probably) five, six, and seven times three 
 years to live though I remember that you object to having 
 life parcelled out to you twenty years at a time. But why not 
 look at this another way ? God has given you a work to do, 
 of which about one-third or about one-half is completed : why 
 should you not look forward to saying ' It is finished ' ? If 
 there have been mistakes, let us watch and observe them for 
 the future, and let us try to get the intensity without the 
 drawbacks. If we don't, are we not as stupid as the people 
 who refuse to clear out drains, which as you, and I who have 
 been taught by you, know is the lowest depth of human 
 stupidity ? 
 
 1 Matthew Knight. z See p. 379.
 
 Letters, 1865-1870 425 
 
 To MES. TENNYSON. 
 
 July 29, 1867. 
 
 I daresay that you have received a book of Persian poems 
 (Omar Khayyam) with a French translation. When Alfred 
 has read them, will you send them to Mr. Fitzgerald ? I heard 
 that they were being published under the superintendence 
 of M. Jules Mohl, and begged a copy of them for him, as he 
 certainly has a right to the first copy which arrives in England. 
 I hope that he will be stimulated to make some more of his 
 admirable translations. 
 
 M. Mohl is only responsible for the printing of the Persian. 
 He disapproves of the translation and the notes, which, he says, 
 are written under a 'pernicious Sufi influence.' I am on my 
 way to Scotland, where I hope to be settled in a day or two at 
 the old work. However, I feel that I am printing, which is 
 the beginning of the end. 
 
 The party was very pleasant. Mr. Browning was very sorry 
 to miss you and Alfred. I shan't give up all hope of seeing 
 you next year. 
 
 Will you do me a little favour ? There is an old lady whose 
 courage and clear-headedness have done (or rather may have 
 done) me a very considerable service. She is very desirous 
 of having Alfred's autograph. Will you send me, without 
 troubling him, a few lines ? I hope Hallam is well. Tell him 
 to write to me : I always like to hear from the boys. . . . 
 
 I am very glad to hear of your Surrey purchase. 
 
 To PROFESSOR LEWIS CAMPBELL. 
 
 STKATHPEFFEE, NB. DINGWALL, 
 
 August 3, [1867]. 
 
 I made acquaintance with ' Ecce Homo ' the other day. 
 He is a very modest, good sort of man. His book has the 
 advantage of considering the subject in some way, whereas 
 most persons are contented with words and formulas. But 
 it is wholly uncritical in not examining the documents and 
 unspiritual in regarding Christ as the founder of a Church 
 rather than as a sacred individual and unphilosophical in
 
 426 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xn 
 
 imagining that moral defects are reached by the Church in 
 the same way that legal offences are reached by the law. 
 
 I should have liked very much to have seen and talked 
 with Eothe l , who is an excellent man. In criticism all the 
 German divines seem to me unsatisfactory, with the exception 
 of the Tubingen (barring some degree of fancifulness and 
 hypercriticism in them), and in a religious point of view these 
 are unsatisfactory too. 
 
 To 
 
 STRATHPEFFER, DING WALL, 
 August 4, 1867. 
 
 I read St. Theresa yesterday (the book which the boy 2 
 says that I am always reading). I know that the visions 
 are all imaginations. Still the book has a great interest for 
 me. I think that this is in some degree due to the style, 
 for as a literary work it has very great merit : but much 
 more the attraction is the intensity of feeling, so far beyond 
 anything that is now to be found in the world. Some day 
 I should like to draw out at length in a sermon how feeling 
 and intellect ought to be combined. The secret seems to be 
 lost in modern times. 
 
 To THE MARQUIS OF LANSDOWNE. 
 
 ST. ANDREWS, September 14, 1867. 
 
 I think that you deserve your holiday after eight weeks' 
 work. Still I hope that you will not give up the resolution 
 of finishing the Ethics before you return to Oxford. One 
 owes it to oneself as a matter of honour and conscience to 
 carry out resolutions. I am always sensible when I say these 
 sort of things to you that if I had been placed in your 
 circumstances in early life I should never have read at all. 
 The great importance of the matter makes me dwell on these 
 ' personal ' subjects. 
 
 The object of reading for the Schools is not chiefly to attain 
 
 1 Author of the Theologische Ethik. I had seen him at Heidel- 
 berg. L. C. 2 Matthew Knight.
 
 Letters, i86f-i8jo 427 
 
 a First Class, but to elevate and strengthen the character for life. 
 If you ask how this is to be effected, I would say the means 
 was, first, hard work ; secondly, a real regard for the truth, and 
 independence of mind and opinion ; thirdly, a consciousness 
 that we are put here in different positions of life to cariy out 
 the will of God, although this is rather to be felt than expressed 
 in words. I think you would find an advantage also in getting 
 more hold on politics and literature, and getting to know all 
 manner of persons who are worthy of being known. 
 
 To E. B. D. MOEIER, C.B. 
 
 [1867.] 
 MY DEAR SIB JOHN \ 
 
 I was just thinking of sending another letter in search of 
 the last, when your first letter came. I rejoice at your victory 
 over the man in buckram, but I am sorry to hear that, like your 
 great namesake, you are still troubled with the gout. . . . 
 
 How is it, my dear Sir John, that you make so many 
 enemies ? I have quoted the place to you before, but I must 
 quote it again, because it contains such excellent advice : ' Use 
 them well, Davy, use them well ' (that is to say, all the genteel 
 rogues, sneaks, and men in buckram that you come across), 
 'for they are arrant knaves and will backbite.' Also, as I am 
 taking upon me to give advice to a great diplomatist, hear 
 another wise saying : 'I forgave him, not from any magnanimity 
 of soul and still less from Christian charity, but simply because 
 it was convenient to me. ' The moral of which is that you should 
 
 make friends with the Eight Honourable H at the earliest 
 
 opportunity. If you 'imitate the honourable Romans,' I com- 
 mend to you as a diplomatist the example of that great Ancient 
 (not that I believe he ever lived) to whom it was only necessary 
 to do an injury in order to make him your friend. 
 
 I am getting on well with my Oxford plans. By the dog 
 of Egypt if I may be allowed to swear after the manner of 
 Socrates it is not difficult to manage a College when you have 
 a large majority. Formerly all my schemes used to fail, but 
 now they succeed. 
 
 1 See pp. 409, 436.
 
 428 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xn 
 
 To ALFRED TENNYSON. 
 
 m March 8, 1868. 
 
 MY DEAR TENNYSON, 
 
 Will you look at the enclosed letter which, though long, is 
 not unamusing, and will you see whether you can write a few 
 lines addressed to Sellar or Professor Fraser (who is an ex- 
 cellent man) which might be of service ? I would not ask you 
 to do such a thing for any one but Grant, and there is no reason 
 why you should do it at all if you think that you can't or 
 would rather not, as I have not spoken to them. But I am 
 sure that a ' pithy ' word from you would have effect, and if 
 you don't mind it had better be addressed to Professor Fraser, 
 as he is not supposed to be a friend of Grant's \ 
 
 I hope that you are well and have ' thoughts which voluntary 
 move harmonious numbers ' : I heard of you in London, where 
 you were reported to be looking ' quite youthful. ' 
 
 Don't write any more in Magazines if you can help : indeed 
 it is a good-natured mistake and will do you harm. The 
 Magazine- writers say, ' Art thou become as one of us ? ' &c. 
 
 With most kind regards to Mrs. Tennyson and the boys, 
 
 Believe me, dear Tennyson, 
 Ever yours, 
 
 B. JOWETT. 
 
 To 
 
 December 16, 1868. 
 
 My voluntary Divinity lectures have come to an end : 
 I think prosperously, judging by the examination. I must 
 invent some more general subjects for next Term. I think 
 that I shall endeavour to preach once a month as long as I live. 
 . . . There is nothing I believe in less than the effect of a 
 great deal of routine or mechanical work. 
 
 To 
 
 December 28, 1868. 
 
 I have been looking through Janet's book on Materialism ; 
 interesting but not very good, and written with a party spirit 
 
 1 Sir Alexander Grant was standing for the Principalship of Edin- 
 burgh University against Sir James Simpson.
 
 Letters, 1865-1 8 jo 429 
 
 against Materialists. I think that a philosopher may very well 
 ask himself whether he is writing for his own generation or 
 for the ages to come. All flatter themselves that they are 
 doing the last when they are really doing the first ; and the 
 beginning of philosophy is to be aware of the illusion. As 
 Hegel, Kant, Sir W. Hamilton, Cousin have passed away, so 
 also Comte and Mill will pass away. And what next ? Any- 
 thing that is to be permanent must recognize all facts and all 
 our highest moral ideas, and leave no sort of knowledge outside 
 which may undermine the fabric. And it must begin again, 
 like Bacon, by purging away indirect notions, such as matter 
 and mind, cause and effect, which to many seem to be the 
 foundation of the faith. And it must avoid sentiment and 
 sentimentalism, and must be aware how all classes, poets, 
 prophets, metaphysicians, physicists, have their narrow and 
 limiting points of view. 
 
 To 
 
 January 17, 1869. 
 
 All persons' thoughts seem to be turning towards the poor 
 of London, and your thoughts should be in that direction too. 
 The question is : How is this perpetual flocking into the towns 
 and accumulation of masses of pauperism there to be prevented ? 
 Is it practicable to say that food shall under no circumstances 
 be given without a previous labour test ? First, the Poor Law 
 requires to be recognized in London ; secondly, all private 
 charity must be required to conform to certain regulations. 
 I do not see why there should not be a rate in aid, say, over 
 the whole of London, when the poor's rate is less than 25. in 
 the pound : (i) for Education, (2) Emigration, (3) Sanatory 
 Improvements. 
 
 I am appointed College Preacher. I begin my preaching on 
 Sunday, January 31. I see that I have undertaken a difficult 
 enterprise, and if I do not succeed greatly, I shall fail greatly. 
 What shall I begin preaching about ? ' The Truth makes free, ' 
 or 'The Nature of God,' or 'In understanding be ye men'? 
 I want to keep before myself that the work which I have to do 
 in Oxford, both in the way of religion and education, is much
 
 430 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xn 
 
 greater than it has been hitherto, now I have got a standing 
 ground in the College. The preliminaries are all well enough 
 now, but a long time has been taken in attaining them. And 
 I do not know whether life or power remains for all that 
 I have to do. Where I am now I ought to have been ten 
 years ago. 
 
 To 
 
 January 31, 1869. 
 
 I send you my sermon written (rather hastily) but never 
 preached, through a ridiculous contretemps. The Catechetical 
 Lecturer l had forgotten that I was to preach on the last Sunday 
 in every month, and started to his legs before I could stop him. 
 As the sermon is rather patchy and ill expressed I am not very 
 sorry. The fault of all my sermons is that they have many 
 crude ideas and jump from one to another, instead of a single 
 one well developed. I wish that I had more time. 
 
 I tried the subject which you suggested, but got into a muddle 
 about it and gave it up. I seem to have so little to say about 
 this when I have once said that God works by fixed laws and 
 that we have the power of co-operating with them. 
 
 I think that biographical sermons would be good, reading 
 the lesson of individual lives. This is suited to mixed con- 
 gregations and is new : Wesley, St. Bernard, &c. 
 
 I have been reading some of Newman's sermons over again. 
 I am rather surprised at their great reputation. For they are 
 not really good, except here and there, as literary works. 
 I think that South's are the best sermons in English. In 
 general the Puritan divines have a great deal more life in them 
 than the Anglican. Kobertson is far better than Newman. 
 
 To 
 
 March 16, 1869. 
 
 Now the hour of midnight is striking, so, in accordance with 
 our compact (having read Polybius), I will leave off. And 
 some day I will make another compact with you. not to speak 
 
 1 Edwin Palmer. Jowett had a habit of making a long pause 
 before rising to preach.
 
 Letters, 1865-1870 431 
 
 evil of any one, which I am always doing, and which I always 
 feel to be a great weakness, and can often trace in myself to 
 a personal motive. I think it is well to know people as they 
 really are, but that it would be nobler and better to hold one's 
 tongue about them. 
 
 I was glad to see Mr. Mundella exhorting the trades unions 
 to take up education. I am inclined strongly to think that 
 the spirit of education and improvement of the dwellings of the 
 poor may come from some inspiration of their own. 
 
 To 
 
 May 19, 1869. 
 
 I don't mind real prophetic denunciations of bad people, 
 and I wish to keep my head clear about political people and 
 their motives. But I think if you ever mean to act in the 
 world you should exercise great reticence in speaking of them. 
 
 This is my theory, but has not been my practice hitherto. 
 
 I think that things are said against people chiefly from a want 
 of self-control. And when you come to act with them or talk 
 with them, your influence over them seems to be taken away 
 by the consciousness that you have not always spoken well 
 of them (perhaps deservedly). I think that the world requires 
 infinitely more courage and infinitely more caution than it 
 possesses at present. 
 
 I had a very nice party here on Saturday. 
 
 To 
 
 May 28, 1869. 
 
 We have three compacts : First, that you are to give an 
 hour a day to writing or some unprofessional occupation (and 
 not to overwork), in return for which I will observe hours 
 and days. All this is to be strictly observed. Secondly, we 
 have a minor compact, not to be observed so strictly, not to 
 speak evil of others even against Simon Magus not to ' bring 
 a railing accusation '; this, however, may be occasionally broken 
 when human nature can endure no longer. N.B. It does not 
 rest on any religious ground, butmerelyon expediency. Thirdly, 
 we will have a great compact that every year is to be calmer,
 
 432 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xn 
 
 happier, and more efficient and productive of results than the 
 one which has preceded. 
 
 I lecture on Political Economy. I really knew the old 
 Political Economy, but I have to invent the new, which is not 
 a satisfactory process. 
 
 To 
 
 June 28, 1869. 
 
 Please not to suppose that I am thinking about the Master- 
 ship when I said that I ought to have been where I am ten 
 years ago 1 . That used to trouble me in days before I knew 
 you, and when I was uncertain of the future of the College. 
 But I have sometimes thought that I ought not to have spent 
 so much time in lecturing and so little in writing. To lecture 
 is a great strain and the effect is comparatively slight. How- 
 ever, if the mistake has been made, I shall not continue to 
 make it. I intend not to give more than four lectures a week 
 after this Term. 
 
 To MRS. JOWETT. 
 
 July 4, 1869. 
 
 I was intending to come and see you this week. But 
 I found that I must stay at Oxford and get a portion of Plato 
 completed. The first volume, pp. 620, is now completed. There 
 will be five or six of them. 
 
 I think the sermons 2 have been fairly successful. I will 
 send you one or two of them when I get them back, as I have 
 lent them. 
 
 On Saturday I go to Mr. Nightingale's at Lea Hurst, when 
 I hope to meet Miss Nightingale, who has not been there for 
 nine or ten years. (Did you see her paper in Good Words called 
 ' Una and the Lions 3 ' ?) Thence I am going to see the Vaughans 
 and Mr. Wilson, and to Scotland to work. 
 
 You will be glad to hear that I am prospering in College, 
 and in every way I am in a better position than formerly. 
 They have been making great changes in the University, which 
 will. I think, be for the advantage of Balliol College. Students 
 
 1 p. 430. 2 Preached in Balliol Chapel. 
 
 3 Good Words for June i, 1869.
 
 Letters, 1865- i8jo 433 
 
 are now to be allowed to lodge out, which will enable them to 
 come to Balliol instead of going to other Colleges. If we had 
 a little more money we could absorb the University. 
 
 To 
 
 [DoNCASTEK, with the Vaughans], 
 
 July, [1869]. 
 
 The first condition of working for a few years longer is 
 absolute calmness : the great effort must be a quieter one, 
 more free from anxiety and personality. As we get older we 
 ought to know ourselves, and to know the world, better, and 
 to direct the blow better, and to be indifferent about the result, 
 knowing that no single thing is of so much importance as 
 appears at the time, if we only go on to the end. The secret 
 of rest is to live and act on a higher stage of life. 
 
 To 
 
 TUMMEL BRIDGE, July 15, [1869]. 
 
 I will promise you not to work after eleven o'clock at 
 night. I enjoy being here, and work with pleasure. Here 
 is a good air, good food, perfect retirement, and a pleasant 
 stream, which is always murmuring night and day much 
 better than the best society. 
 
 To 
 
 July 29, [1869]. 
 
 I get more and more struck, I think, with the practical 
 infidelity of the present age, including the Bishops and the 
 newspapers. The spirit of a part of the age is expressed 
 in C. Buller's witticism : ' Destroy the Church of England, 
 sir? why you must be mad ! It is the only thing which 
 stands between us and real religion.' 
 
 Is the Church of England like an old house which will 
 stand for ever unless it is pulled down ; or like the figure of 
 the Etruscan king suddenly exposed to the air? Figures of 
 speech may be found for all things. But I think there will 
 be changes : Because ideas have sustained a rude shock by 
 
 VOL. I. F f
 
 434 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xn 
 
 the easy victory over the Irish Church ; because Bibliolatry 
 can only support itself by priestcraft, and that the English 
 people will not stand. 
 
 To THE MAEQUIS OP LANSDOWNE. 
 
 TUMMEL BRIDGE, PITLOCHEY, 
 August 8, 1869. 
 
 I was very much pleased to hear of your approaching 
 marriage, and wish you and both of you every good and 
 happiness in life. A marriage brightens up a family and 
 does good in all sorts of ways. And the greatest good of 
 all is the effect on a man's own character of having some 
 one for whom he deeply cares and who deeply cares for him. 
 
 There is a considerable touch of poetry in being in love, 
 and there ought to be also a touch of poetry in life. I mean 
 by ' a touch of poetry ' some romantic desire to do good, 
 some ideal higher than the opinions of the world. There 
 is nothing that your future wife will care about half so 
 much as your being honoured and distinguished. 
 
 No one ever had blessings more richly showered upon 
 them than you have, including this last and greatest blessing. 
 And, to speak plainly, I want you to consider how you can 
 use this great wealth and rank for the highest purposes. 
 
 You have two almost inexhaustible interests, the manage- 
 ment of your estates and political life. You will probably 
 hold your estates for fifty years, in which time almost any- 
 thing may be accomplished for the agriculture, for the houses, 
 and, above all, for the people. I wish that you would 
 sometimes think what you would desire to have done twenty- 
 five years hence. This seems to be very important in the 
 management of landed property. There is another thing 
 which occurs to me to say to you. It is of great importance 
 if you have a large property to know all about it with the 
 least possible trouble. And with this view I would train all 
 the people whom I employed to make returns of the state of 
 the farms, houses, schools, and sums spent upon them. I 
 should begin by getting an accountant to put the accounts into 
 the very best form. But I daresay that you have already much
 
 Letters, 1865-1870 435 
 
 greater experience of business than I have, and therefore my 
 hints may appear superfluous. 
 
 Great success in politics depends on working, and the 
 power which you have of taking an interest in them. It is 
 easy to foresee the coming questions. The Irish Land, 
 National Education, Pauperism. Do you possess the art of 
 picking other people's brains? I mean, besides reading 
 and study of questions, getting hold of the person who knows 
 most about them viva voce, and learning his opinions. This 
 is a great shortening of labour and saves many mistakes. 
 
 I look back with great pleasure to the time which we 
 spent together at this place. We might have succeeded 
 better, but I don't care much about the Second Class, as I see 
 that you are not going to be a second-class man for life. I feel 
 very strongly your regard for me, and I wish that I could 
 have done more for you than I did. I shall be delighted 
 to see you again, and hope that you will bring your bride to 
 visit me at Oxford. 
 
 [PS.] I heard of the engagement from you first. 
 
 To 
 
 TUMMEL BRIDGE, August 9, 1869. 
 
 I agree with you very much about the Prayer Book, and 
 have never thought that the relaxation of subscription is any 
 great assistance to us. The making people repeat the Creed, 
 prayer for fine weather, and other relief from temporal 
 calamities ; also, in another way, the reading of parts 
 of the Old Testament, is thoroughly demoralizing. And do 
 but think of the hymns they sing. A good essay might be 
 written on the Ideal of Public Worship. 
 
 You require (i) some common feeling concentrated in special 
 acts or words ; (2) the greatest latitude for individual thought 
 or prayer ; (3) every word should be true ; (4) every word 
 should be elevating. You would have to select out of 
 ancient liturgies and mediaeval prayers. For no one can 
 write a prayer now any more than he can compose an epic 
 poem : and in some ways antiquity has such a curious religious 
 power, stronger perhaps than the belief in a future life. 
 
 F f 2
 
 436 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xn 
 To 
 
 [September i, 1869, at CORTACHY.] 
 
 I enclose a letter from my beloved ' Jack l . ' Jack ' has got 
 two commissions from the Government, or rather, three : (i) to 
 report upon the land laws of Prussia (this is for the Cobden 
 Club) ; (2) to report upon the Poor Law in Prussia (I helped 
 to get him this) ; (3) the Ecumenical Council. 
 
 To (AFTER THE DEATH OF MRS. JOWETT). 
 
 TOEQUAY, October 23, 1869. 
 
 I have her face following me as she looked when she was 
 alive. It was the pleasantest face, when she was laid to rest, 
 and the youngest for her age that I ever saw. 
 
 More and more for myself I see two or three things which 
 this late trouble rather tends to impress on me. First, that 
 I must be absorbed in my work and use all means towards 
 this (not neglecting health), and shut out all trivial thoughts 
 and personal feelings of all sorts. Secondly, that I must 
 aim at perfect calmness. As you get on in life this is the 
 only way in which strength can be husbanded and made 
 effectual. Thirdly, that I must try to act more simply and 
 on a larger scale, not tiring myself with mere drudgery, or 
 shrinking into a coterie, or caring only for the affection 
 of admiring friends. Few persons have worked harder, 
 and yet I have wasted a great deal of time and have not 
 
 managed well. 
 
 TORQUAY, October 31, 1869. 
 
 I went to see my dear mother's resting-place to-day. Her 
 appearance seems to follow me about. I was pleased to see 
 that some friend had put flowers on the grave. 
 
 To E. B. D. MORIER, GB. 
 
 INGLEWOOD, TORQUAY, 
 
 November 3, 1869. 
 
 I should like very much to hear from you. I am staying 
 here (for the next fortnight) in consequence of the death of my 
 
 1 Mr. Morier, who, from being blance, was always called ' Jack ' 
 very fat, ' his waist being great,' with his familiars, 
 as well as other points of resem-
 
 Letters, 1865-1870 437 
 
 dear mother. She was taken from us a few days ago, quite 
 painlessly (for she was thought to be asleep). As you may 
 suppose, this has made a great blank to us. 
 
 I hope you are well and vigorous and have made progress 
 in your three schemes. To be at Darmstadt is very dull, 
 but in some respects it is advantageous, because it gives 
 you time to read and write and make a name for yourself, 
 which you may never have again. I like being here because 
 I never go out and have absolute undivided time for work. 
 In this way I get on far better, for I have generally been 
 at a great disadvantage, having two lives to lead instead 
 of one. 
 
 I hope you will not disappoint us in your reports ; if you 
 send me any of them I shall read them carefully. 
 
 To E. B. D. MOEIEE, C.B. 
 
 INGLEWOOD, TORQUAY, 
 
 November 12, 1869. 
 
 Many thanks for your kind letter, which gives me great 
 pleasure. My mother's death makes me think of many things. 
 I seem to see her constantly, and I hope the memory of her 
 will follow me about through life. Her loss makes me feel 
 that the time is shorter for myself, and I am determined to 
 make the utmost use of the years which remain. 
 
 I am glad that you are so well ; now that you are well do 
 not let yourself get ill again or you will spoil all. I believe 
 that anybody may keep well, (i) who takes great care about 
 diet and exercise, (2) who lives in fresh air, and who, (3) 
 being determined to do his work, never allows an anxious 
 thought to intrude : (4) Shall I add, who does not make 
 a chimney of himself ? 
 
 I am rather sorry that you are going so much intp the historical 
 and antiquarian view of the question J , because I do not see 
 how this can be made a basis of legislation for the present, 
 and people like Lord Granville or Lord Clarendon (as you 
 know better than I do) will not read further than Charlemagne 
 
 1 Of the Prussian Land Laws : see p. 436.
 
 438 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xn 
 
 in your essay, if you go back to such topics. Do not be 
 oppressed with your work, but limit it, and if you get per- 
 plexed, stop for a day or two and begin again. My plan in 
 writing now is to read over and over again every day twenty 
 or thirty pages of what I have written, after reading some- 
 thing on the subject. I generally find that without trouble to 
 myself new thoughts occur to me. You will be an eminent 
 writer some day. But no one reaches that without immense 
 labour. 
 
 To - 
 
 TORQUAY, November 12, 1869. 
 
 The weeks pass well with me here, for I do neither more 
 nor less than I intended, and am none the worse. My dear 
 mother's face follows me about, and though I can hardly 
 believe that she is gone, never to return, I feel a sort of 
 companionship in that. 
 
 To 
 
 INGLEWOOD, TORQUAY, 
 
 December 31, 1869. 
 
 There was a time ten or twelve years ago when I was out 
 of health and overworked and had only lukewarm help from 
 friends. Then life did seem dark and miserable. But that 
 has long passed away. 
 
 I do not anticipate much from Mr. Lowe's zeal and kindness. 
 For Gladstone will surely say (if he has no mind to appoint 
 Scott) that he cannot make a man a Bishop for the sake of 
 doing me a favour, for which too he will never get any credit. 
 I am quite happy to be as I am. Though I acknowledge that 
 I should be glad to carry on the College without this perpetual 
 strife. 
 
 To MBS. TENNYSON. 
 
 INGLEWOOD, TORQUAY, 
 
 -MT m December 31, 1869. 
 
 DEAR MRS. TENNYSON, 
 
 I am at the old place, and at the old work, though indeed 
 I feel that this is not the old place, since my dear mother was 
 taken from us.
 
 Letters, i86^-i8jo 439 
 
 I am very much pleased with the new volume l . I think that 
 Alfred must feel a great satisfaction in having worked out, 
 though in another way, his old thought of King Arthur. He 
 has done enough and more than enough for a lifetime. But 
 still I hope that he means to go on, and that he may find new 
 ideas and feelings suggested by the successive periods of life. 
 
 I have come here to work at my book, of which I hope 
 that a few months will now see the completion. At the end 
 of the vacation, about the last week in January, I shall hope 
 to come and spend a day or two with you, if you will have me. 
 I often think with gratitude how many happy days during the 
 last fourteen years I have spent with you, and hope that this 
 much-prized friendship may last as long as I live. 
 
 With most kind regards to Alfred and the boys, 
 
 Believe me, dear Mrs. Tennyson, 
 
 Ever yours affectionately, 
 
 B. JOWETT. 
 
 To 
 
 INGLEWOOD, TORQUAY, 
 
 January 12, 1870. 
 
 . . . The Bishopric 2 with which I amused you and myself 
 is all a flare, as I suspected. Mr. Lowe says : ' Try again, better 
 luck next time.' 
 
 But I can tell you a better thing. I finished Vol. iii to- 
 day, and shall send the few remaining sheets to the printer 
 to-morrow. 
 
 I do not care about the matter at all. I have long seen that 
 my main chance either of usefulness or distinction is writing. . . . 
 
 I stay here to Sunday week and shall then take a few days' 
 holiday. I work hard, but I find myself quite well. . . . 
 
 To 
 
 TORQUAY, January 14, 1870. 
 
 How very good of you to write me a scrap of a note because you 
 thought I should be grieved about the Bishopric of Manchester. 
 
 1 The Holy Grail: published an 'advanced' copy, 
 early in 1870. Jowett had seen 2 For R. Scott : see p. 408.
 
 440 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xn 
 
 Fraser is a contemporary and acquaintance of mine an 
 honest, free-spoken man a good speaker and preacher not 
 much speculative intelligence, and what there is will probably 
 disappear in the episcopal swaddling. 
 
 There is a good deal both of comfort and of serious meaning 
 in that saying of Lord Melbourne's, 'My dear fellow, would 
 you wear such a dress as that for 10,000 a year ? ' 
 
 This is the best place in which I ever was for work, the 
 only place in which I do any work. And as yet I do not feel 
 the worse, and expect to survive until the ist of June. 
 
 To E. B. D. MOEIEE, C.B. 
 
 [January, 1870.] 
 
 ... I spent two days in a Scotch house 1 with Gladstone, 
 who talks (I thought) rashly about the Land Question. 
 I imagine that he and Bright are the only members of 
 the Cabinet who are likely to be in favour of extreme 
 measures. 
 
 Have you read any books about the Irish Question ? I am 
 told that the right books are : (i) The Eeport of Lord Devon's 
 Commission ; (2) Lord Dufferin's book ; (3) Mr. Maguire's 
 book. The great difficulty is the small holder. When it is 
 said, as Gladstone says, that land is a question of life and 
 death to the Irish peasant, I think it should be remembered 
 that he has the Poor Law and employment as a farm labourer 
 and emigration. G. had a ridiculous notion (he had a great 
 many) that the reason why the Irishman in America hung 
 about the great cities was that he had such melancholy 
 recollections of agriculture in his own country ! 
 
 I am hoping to finish Plato if I am industrious and don't go 
 visiting this spring. If I am alive I shall come and see you at 
 the beginning of the summer, and bring the four volumes with 
 me. It would have been a gain for me if Scott had been 
 made a Bishop, but I don't complain, for I have the College 
 better in hand than formerly. I shall go on as I have done 
 with the College, and try to find more time for writing. 
 Though I am not yet old, I feel that the years are getting 
 
 1 Viz. Camperdown, near Dundee. See p. 406.
 
 Letters, 1865-1870 441 
 
 on. I think in the next ten or fifteen years I must do what 
 I have to do. 
 
 ... I am very anxious that you should take care of your 
 health, and should make the reports 1 a success. Would you 
 like me to look at any of them ? I am sure that you may 
 become a first-rate writer : the great art is to combine weighty 
 words with perfect consecutiveness. You have plenty of 
 imagination and expression a severer logic is the thing to be 
 aimed at. 
 
 If you come over to England for a day or two, let me know 
 and I will try to meet you. We must both of us do our 
 utmost in life, and a good talk is sometimes a great help 
 in this. 
 
 To PROFESSOR EDWARD CAIRD. 
 
 January 28, [1870]. 
 
 I feel very guilty in not having answered either of your kind 
 letters. I did not answer the first because I hoped to come to 
 you, and I did not answer the second because I had something 
 of importance to say which I was not able finally to determine. 
 These are the excuses that bad correspondents make. I do not 
 defend myself, and can only hope that you have attributed my 
 silence to the true cause carelessness, and the pressure of other 
 matters during the last few months. 
 
 What I am going to speak about I will request you to keep 
 strictly private. Wilson and I have determined to have 
 a second volume of Essays and Reviews, to appear on or about 
 January i, 1871. We mean to take every possible pains that 
 this volume should be adequate to the subjects of which it treats, 
 and should be written in a religious spirit. Wilson proposes 
 to write on the progressive principle of Protestantism, showing 
 the element of progress in the Eeformation, and the element 
 of fixedness. I am intending to write (perhaps) two essays. 
 The first, on the Keign of Law, showing (i) the relation of 
 the laws of Nature to Morality, and (2) the impossibility of 
 
 1 Morier's report on The Agra- by the Cobden Club in their series 
 rian Legislation of Prussia during of Essays on Systems of Land 
 the Present Century was published Tenure in Various Countries.
 
 442 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xn 
 
 basing religion on miracles. The second essay would be on 
 the present and future position of the Church of England, 
 discussing its present state and possibilities of establishment 
 and disestablishment. Campbell has promised to write on the 
 mis-translations and mis-readings of the English New Testa- 
 ment. Wejfchink also of applying to Stanley, to Miiller, to 
 Deutsch, cPattison, and Dean Elliot. I think that we shall go 
 on even if several or all of these refuse. 
 
 You will anticipate that this explanation is a preface to 
 a request that you would join us. We are going to propose to 
 you to write on Morality, Religion, Theology, though any 
 other subject which agreed with the general design of the 
 book we should gladly accept. What do you think ? (Excuse 
 bad writing in a railway.) Of course no one can write on 
 these subjects without incurring a certain amount of odium, 
 and the adversaries will probably be bitter, because they think 
 that they have extinguished us, and will find that they have 
 not. The old name is likely both to command attention and 
 bring odium. The position which we are likely to take up is 
 the most hateful to them, that of religious men who care about 
 the truth. On the other hand I care nothing at all for abuse 
 I have nothing to fear or expect and I think it a duty to do 
 what I can to meet the low superstition and the low material- 
 ism of the day. In another ten years half the English clergy 
 will be given up to a fetish priest-worship of the Sacrament. 
 What course religion will take in Scotland it is difficult to say. 
 But it is plainly our duty to see what we can do towards 
 meeting this. The English bishops will do nothing nor, 
 I fear, Dr. Temple. . . . Our principles are not worth much if 
 they are not intended to elevate human life and are only matter 
 of academical discussion. 
 
 I think you are much in the same independent position as 
 myself, and that is a reason why I ask you. We propose to 
 be careful not to get entangled with the law. I have great 
 confidence in Wilson's ability and high principle. Poor 
 Williams, whose warmth of temper might have been trouble- 
 some to us, has been taken just as we were about to apply 
 to him. I think that we shall probably insert in the preface 
 a short notice of Baden Powell and of him. If you join us
 
 Letters, 1865-1870 443 
 
 I shall hope that we may have suggestions from you about the 
 form of the book, and about the persons to be^ engaged. We 
 feel that it is a very serious undertaking and great responsibility, 
 but are determined <rw $ea> 1 to go on. The volume would be 
 500 or 550 pages, and your essay might be of any length up to 
 sixty or eighty pages. In June I get rid of Plato, and shall 
 devote the last six months to this. 
 
 To 
 
 OXFORD, January 30, 1870. 
 
 ... I am glad that you liked my sermon. They none of 
 them seem to me at all good. I want boundless leisure to 
 write really good sermons, if I could at all, and these are 
 struck off rather at a heat and scamped towards the end. . . . 
 
 Here I commence the old routine for the thirtieth time at 
 least. I have a better chance now than formerly, having 
 the whole entirely under my control. And I hope to take 
 a particular and individual interest in every man in College. 
 That is my aim. The College re-elected me preacher yesterday. 
 
 To 
 
 February 19, 1870. 
 
 I go on happily here. I see nearly every undergraduate 
 once a week, and I find that has a good effect on me, and 
 I hope on them. 
 
 To PEOFESSOE EDWAED CAIED. 
 
 BALLIOL COLLEGE, February 24, [1870]. 
 
 I am very glad to hear that you are able and willing to 
 join us. The Plato will be off my hands by July i, and 
 then I shall devote my time to constructing two essays 
 one on the Keign of Law and another on the Life of Christ 
 as the Centre of the Christian world for the book. 
 
 Since I wrote to you I have spoken to Bowen and to Max 
 Miiller. Max Miiller hesitates. He is giving some lectures 
 in London on the Science of Eeligion, and he says that he 
 
 1 'God helping us.'
 
 444 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, xn 
 
 wishes to see the effect of them first. Bowen will help us 
 if he can possibly find time, and is to let me know in April. 
 He will take for his subject the position of the Church of 
 England, (i) if established, (2) if disestablished ; and the future 
 modes of proceeding in either alternative. He is an excellent 
 writer and will be a most valuable aid. 
 
 Wilson is also writing to Dr. Davidson, and will ask him 
 to write an essay on the important mis-translations of the 
 Old Testament parallel to Campbell's on important mis-transla- 
 tions of the New Testament. I put before Campbell the con- 
 siderations of which you speak, but he does not seem to be 
 moved by them, and if our book is what I hope we shall make 
 it, and he is careful with his own essay, I do not think he will 
 be injured by his association with us. 
 
 I quite agree with you in what you say about the importance 
 of having an eminent scientific man among the contributors. 
 The difficulty is to find a suitable person. I think that 
 I will talk over the matter in confidence with Henry Smith 
 and will write to you again about this in a few days. 
 
 I hope that we may be able to spend a few days together 
 in the summer and talk over our respective portions of 
 the work. I sometimes think that the world is getting de- 
 moralized by the utter disregard of truth. People have no 
 fixed principles and no education in the higher sense, and all 
 sorts of Eitualisms and Spiritualisms and Aestheticisms take 
 their place (just at this moment the Aesthetic seems to have 
 got a curious hold at Oxford). The spirit in which we want 
 to write is the simple love of truth, the reassertion of the 
 truism that there is such a thing as truth, and that the alarms 
 and vague fears of scepticism foundations of society under- 
 mined, &c., &c. are simply tiresome, and unmeaning to a 
 reasonable man. 
 
 I think that an interesting mode of treating your subject 
 would be to point out historically how Keligion comes first 
 in the growth of Human Nature then Morality parts company 
 with it and in some degree reacts upon it : and how they 
 must be reunited and perfectly identified before the work is 
 completed. The true conception of Theology would seem 
 to be the perfect intellectual expression of this.
 
 Letters, 1865-1870 445 
 
 The more we can avoid Hegelianism, Germanism, or direct 
 assaults upon received opinions, the better. 
 
 There is a striking expression of Diderot's that ' all revealed 
 or national religions are only perversions of the Religion of 
 Nature.' This is true if the words ' Religion of Nature ' be taken 
 in the highest sense. And perhaps the truth would be better ex- 
 pressed by calling them tendencies toward a Religion of Nature. 
 
 Excuse my writing to you by the hand of another, which, 
 having a great deal to do, I find to be a great assistance. 
 
 I am very sorry to hear of the death of Lord Barcaple 1 . 
 Did you know him at all ? He was one of the best people in 
 Scotland. 
 
 To LADY STANLEY OF ALDERLEY. 
 
 OXFORD, June u, 1870. 
 
 Thank you very much for your kind note. I believe that it 
 is to be as you suppose. There is certainly a great pleasure 
 and pride in being the Head of Balliol College, and I hope 
 that I may be able to do something worth doing. 
 
 Lyulph's letter is extremely interesting. I wish that he 
 were still a Fellow 2 . 
 
 To DEAN STANLEY. 
 
 OXFORD, June 13, 1870. 
 MY DEAR STANLEY, 
 
 Thank you for your most kind note, which gave me great 
 pleasure. I am delighted at the prospect of having the 
 Mastership, because it offers such great opportunities, and 
 also because I want more rest and leisure to think, and I 
 have been overworked for many years past. It doubles the 
 pleasure to me that you and many others rejoice with me. 
 
 I have two schemes in which I want your help : I will tell 
 you about them when we meet on Saturday. 
 
 Thank you for reminding me that your mother would have 
 been pleased. 
 
 1 Edward Francis Maitland, a Jowett's great regret, had resigned 
 Scottish Judge. his Fellowship in 1869. 
 
 2 The Hon. E. L. Stanley, to
 
 446 Life of Benjamin Jowett 
 
 To MBS. TENNYSON. 
 
 June, 1870. 
 MY DEAR MRS. TENNYSON, 
 
 A thousand thanks for your kind note : it rejoices my 
 heart that my friends rejoice. I must now endeavour to see 
 very seriously 'what can be made of a College.' 
 
 May I have the pleasure of coming to see you for a few 
 days on Wednesday next ? 
 
 Plato is nearly finished, and I hope to bring him out on 
 the same day, September 7, on which I am formally elected 
 to the Mastership. 
 
 With love to Alfred (in haste). 
 
 Ever yours, 
 
 B. JOWETT. 
 
 END OF VOL. I.
 
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