ything it was the want of Puritan
earnestness, of serious purpose in life. He had an instinctive
sympathy with men of action, whether they were soldiers, sailors, or
statesmen. For mere talkers he had no respect at all, and he was
under the mistaken impression that they governed the country through
the House of Commons. He never realised, any more than Carlyle, the
vast amount of practical administrative work which such a man as
Gladstone achieved, or on the other hand the immense weight carried
in Parliament by practical ability and experience, as distinguished
from brilliancy and rhetoric. The history which he liked, and to
which he confined himself, was antecedent to the triumph of
Parliament over the Crown. Warren Hastings, he used to say,
conquered India; Burke would have hanged him for doing it. The House
of Lords acquitted Hastings; and so far from criticising the
doubtful policy of the war with France in 1793, Burke's only
complaint of Pitt was that he did not carry it on with sufficient
vigour. The distinction between talkers and doers is really
fallacious. Some speeches are actions. Some actions are too trivial
to deserve the name. But if Froude was incapable of understanding
Parliamentary government, he very seldom attempted to deal with it.
The English in Ireland is a rare and not a fortunate, exception. The
House of Tudor was far more congenial to him than either the House
of Stuart or the House of Brunswick.

Froude delivered his Inaugural Lecture on the 27th of October, 1892.
The place was the Museum, which stands in the parks opposite Keble,
and the attendance was very large. In the history of Oxford there
have been few more remarkable occasions. Although the new Professor
had made his name and writings familiar to the whole of the educated
world, his immediate predecessor had vehemently denied his right to
the name of historian, and had assured the public with all the
emphasis which reiteration can give that Froude could not
distinguish falsehood from truth. If anything could have brought
Freeman out of his grave, it would have been Froude's appointment to
succeed him. It is the custom in an Inaugural Lecture to mention in
eulogistic language the late occupant of the chair. No man was less
inclined to bear malice than Froude. His disposition was placable,
and his temperament calm. Freeman had grossly and frequently
insulted him without the faintest provocation. But he had long since
taken his revenge,