kes he did make were more serious. He trespassed on the
preserves of Brewer, who criticised him severely without deviating
from the standard of a Christian and a gentleman. Even over the
domain of Stubbs, and the consecrated ground of the Norman Conquest
itself, Green ranged without being Freemanised as a poacher. But then
Green was Freeman's personal friend, and in friendship Freeman was
staunch. They belonged to the same set, and no one was more cliquish
than Freeman. Liberal as he was in politics, he always professed the
utmost contempt for the general public, and wondered what guided
their strange tastes in literature. Dean Stephens has apparently
suppressed most of the references to Froude in Freeman's private
letters, and certainly he drops no hint of the controversy about
Becket. But the following passage from his "Concluding Survey" is
apparently aimed at Froude.
Freeman, we are told, "was unable to write or speak politely"--and if
the Dean had stopped there I should have had nothing to say; but he
goes on--"of any one who pretended to more knowledge than he really
had, or who enjoyed a reputation for learning which was undeserved;
nay, more, he considered it to be a positive duty to expose such
persons. In doing this he was often no doubt too indifferent to their
feelings, and employed language of unwarranted severity which
provoked angry retaliation, and really weakened the effect of his
criticism, by diverting public sympathy from himself to the object of
his attack. But it was quite a mistake to suppose, as many did, that
his fierce utterances were the outcome of ill-temper or of personal
animosity. He entertained no ill-will whatever towards literary or
political opponents."

There is more to the same effect, and of course Froude must have been
in Stephens's mind. But the reputation of a great historian is not to
be taken away by hints. It may suit Freeman's admirers to seek refuge
in meaningless generalities. Those who are grateful for Froude's
services to England, and to literature, have no interest in
concealment. Froude never "pretended to more knowledge than he really
had." So far from "enjoying a reputation for learning which was
undeserved," he disguised his learning rather than displayed it, and
wore it lightly, a flower. That Freeman should have "considered it to
be a positive duty to expose" a man whose knowledge was so much wider
and whose industry was so much greater than his own is strange. Th