fault did not lie with
him. Shy and sensitive as he was, he had a sociable disposition and was
naturally fitted to make friends. But he had come from a solitary life
at a tutor's to a college where the men were clannish, most of them
Welshmen, and few of them disposed to look outside their own circle for
friends. Had Green been as fortunate as William Morris, his life at
Oxford might have been different; but there was no Welshman at Jesus of
the calibre of Burne-Jones; and Green lived in almost complete isolation
till the arrival of Boyd Dawkins in 1857. The latter, who became in
after years a well-known professor of anthropology, was Green's first
real friend, and the letters which he wrote to him show how necessary it
was for Green to have one with whom he could share his interests and
exchange views freely. Dawkins had the scientific, Green the literary,
nature and gifts; but they had plenty of common ground and were always
ready to explore the records of the past, whether they were to be found
in barrows, in buildings, or in books. If Dawkins was the first friend,
the first teacher who influenced him was Arthur Stanley, then Canon of
Christ Church and Professor of Ecclesiastical History. An accident led
Green into his lecture-room one day; but he was so much delighted with
the spirit of Stanley's teaching, and the life which he imparted to
history, that he became a constant member of the class. And when Stanley
made overtures of friendship, Green welcomed them warmly.

A new influence had come into his life. Not only was his industry, which
had been feeble and irregular, stimulated at last to real effort; but
his attitude to religious questions and to the position of the English
Church was at this time sensibly modified. He had come up to the
University a High Churchman; like many others at the time of the Oxford
Movement, he had been led half-way towards Roman Catholicism, stirred by
the historical claims and the mystic spell of Rome. But from now
onwards, under the guidance of Stanley and Maurice, he adopted the views
of what is called the 'Broad Church Party', which suited his moral
fervour and the liberal character of his social and political opinions.

Despite, however, the stimulus given to him (perhaps too late) by
Dawkins and Stanley, Green won no distinctions at the University, and
few men of his day could have guessed that he would ever win distinction
elsewhere. He took a dislike to the system of history