for he sincerely cared about
temperance, the welfare of children, the advancement of the labouring
class, and the greatness of England. But there was also a sage
perception of the incidental service which his attitude in these
matters could render to his church; and he relished opportunities of
proving that a Catholic prelate could be not only a philanthropist but
also a patriot. He saw the value of the attitude, though he used it
honestly, and if he was not artful, he was full of art. Truth, for its
own sake, he neither loved nor sought, but, having once adopted
certain conclusions, doctrinal and practical, subordinated everything
else to them. Power he loved, yet not wholly for the pleasure which he
found in exerting it, but also because he knew that he was fit to use
it, and could use it, to promote the aims he cherished. To his church
he was devoted heart and soul; nor could any one have better served it
so far as England was concerned. No one in our time, hardly even
Cardinal Newman, has done so much to sap and remove the old Protestant
fears and jealousies of Rome, fears and jealousies which had descended
from days when they were less unreasonable than the liberality or
indifference of our times will allow. Truly the Roman Church is a
wonderful institution, fertile beyond any other, since in each
succeeding age she has given birth to new types of force suited to the
conditions she has to deal with. In Manning she developed a figure
full of a kind of charm and strength which could hardly have found due
scope within a Protestant body: a man who never obtruded a claim, yet
never yielded one; who was the loyal servant of a spiritual despotism,
yet apparently in sympathy with democratic ideas and movements;
equally welcome among the poorest Irish of his diocese and at the
gatherings of the great; ready to join in every good work with those
most opposed to his own doctrines, yet standing detached as the
austere and unbending representative of a world-embracing power.

* * * * *

Since these pages were written there has appeared a Life of Cardinal
Manning which, for the variety and interest of its contents, and for
the flood of light which it throws upon its subject, deserves to rank
among the best biographies in the English language. It reveals the
inner life of Manning, his high motives and his tortuous methods, his
piety and his aspirations, his occasional lapses from sinceri