either a cosmopolitan
philosopher, or a passionless recluse. Froude was an ardent patriot,
and his early studies in hagiology had led him to the conclusion, not
now accepted, that St. Patrick never existed at all. His scepticism
about St. Patrick might have been forgiven to a man who had probably
not much belief in St. George. But Froude could not help running amok
at all the popular heroes of Ireland. In the first of his two papers
describing a fortnight in Kerry he went out of his way to depreciate
the fame of Daniel O'Connell. "Ireland," he wrote, "has ceased to
care for him. His fame blazed like a straw bonfire, and has left
behind it scarce a shovelful of ashes. Never any public man had it in
his power to do so much good for his country, nor was there ever one
who accomplished so little."*

--
* Short Studies, vol. ii. p. 241.
--

That O'Connell wasted much time in clamouring for Repeal is perfectly
true. But he was as much the author of Catholic Emancipation as
Cobden was the author of Free Trade, and that fact alone should have
debarred Froude from the use of this extravagant language. For though
an article in Fraser's Magazine is a very different thing from a
serious history, print imposes some obligations, and even two or
three casual sentences may show the bent of a man's mind. Whatever
Froude wrote on Ireland, or on anything else, was sure to be widely
read, and to affect, for good or for evil, the opinion of the British
public. It was therefore peculiarly incumbent on him not to flatter
English pride by wounding Irish self-respect.

While Froude was writing his English in Ireland he received an
invitation to give a series of lectures in the United States. "The
Yankees," he says to Skelton,+ "have written to me about going over
to lecture to them. I am strongly tempted; but I could not tell the
truth about Ireland without reflecting in a good many ways on my own
country. I don't fancy doing that, however justly, to amuse Jonathan."
These words certainly do not show implacable bitterness
against Ireland. Brought face to face with responsibility, Froude
always felt the weight of it, and he was never consciously unfair. He
was under a strong sense of obligation, which he felt bound to
fulfil. It is impossible not to admire the chivalrous and intrepid
spirit with which he undertook singlehanded to justify the conduct of
his countrymen before the American people, and to persuade them that
England had provoca