the contrary, had a quite extraordinary practical and
administrative power; and she combines with it, even at her
advanced age (seventy-nine), my father's passion for knowledge, and
the sentiment and fancy of a young girl."

The product of the union of such characters could hardly be otherwise
than unique; and we see in Charles Kingsley a man of powerful
nature,--strong, aggressive, administrative,--but at the same time
deeply poetical, and tender almost to weakness. We find in him a union
of the intensest sympathy with the weak and helpless, and a
comprehension of the flaws and defects which make up their character,
which seems at times merciless and almost heartless. We find in him
remarkable combative power, united to a desire to use that power purely
and simply for the defence and protection of those who are unable to
protect and help themselves. We find a man who can deal heaviest blows,
who loves the excitement of a battle, and never shuns an occasion for a
fight in behalf of humanity, but who was so sensitive to an unfair
thrust from an opponent that his life was permanently embittered by the
injustice and malignity of literary and political critics of the
opposing party. In short, he united a royal aggressiveness shaped and
guided entirely by his Christian principles, and a tenderness and
sensitiveness such as are rarely found in so strong and fearless a man.

In childhood he is described as strong and active, but not expert at any
games; while he bore pain wonderfully well, and excelled in all feats
that required nerve and daring. He was well prepared when he went to
Cambridge, and obtained a scholarship at Magdalen the first year. He
disliked the prescribed course intensely, and sometimes neglected his
work and gave himself up to wild sport in the fens, which then presented
much of the bleak picturesqueness which he has immortalized in his prose
idyls. He was very popular, but not very sociable, and lived then, as
afterwards, a most strenuous life. On July 6, 1839, while visiting in
Oxfordshire, he met his future wife, Fanny, the daughter of Pascoe
Grenfell and Georgiana St. Leger his wife. Circumstances seemed to give
the lover very little hope, and in intervals of recklessness Kingsley
often dreamed and talked of going to America and joining the wild
hunters on the prairies. Had he done so, what bits of strong and
striking description should we not have had! Few writers have the
photographic