the Church against the State as Froude is for the
State against the Church. When Mr. Goldwin Smith resigned the
Professorship of Modern History, or contemplated resigning it Stubbs
wrote to Freeman, "It would be painful to have Froude, and worse
still to have anybody else." He received the appointment himself,
and held it for eighteen years, when he gave way to Freeman, and
more than a quarter of century elapsed before the painful event
occurred. By that time Stubbs was Bishop of Oxford, translated from
Chester, and had shown what a fatal combination for a modern prelate
is learning with humour. If Froude had been appointed twenty years
earlier, on the completion of his twelve volumes, he might have made
Oxford the great historical school of England. But it was too late.
The aftermath was wonderful, and the lectures he delivered at Oxford
show him at his best. But the effort was too much tor him, and
hastened his end.

--
* Dr. Jackson. + Mr. Monro. ^ Dr. Paget. # Mr. Warren.
--

It must not be supposed that Froude felt only the burden. His powers
of enjoyment were great, and he thoroughly enjoyed Oxford. He had
left it forty years ago under a cloud. He came back in a dignified
character with an assured position. He liked the familiar buildings
and the society of scholars. The young men interested and amused
him. Ironical as he might be at times, and pessimistic, his talk was
intellectually stimulating. His strong convictions, even his
inveterate prejudices, prevented his irony from degenerating into
cynicism. History, said Carlyle, is the quintessence of innumerable
biographies, and it was always the human side of history that
appealed to Froude. He once playfully compared himself with the
Mephistopheles of Faust, sitting in the Professor's chair. But in
truth he saw always behind historical events the directing
providence of God. Newman held that no belief could stand against
the destructive force of the human reason, the intellectus sibi
permissus. Froude felt that there were things which reason could not
explain, and that no revelation was needed to trace the limits of
knowledge. Sceptical as he was in many ways, he had the belief which
is fundamental, which no scientific discovery or philosophic
speculation can shake or move. Creeds and Churches might come or go.
The moral law remained where it was. His own creed is expressed in
that which he attributes to Luther. "The faith which Luther himself
would have de