ld
not write poetry for a generation or two, so dry and prosaic did he find
it; but at that very time his own efforts in hymnody on one side and on
the other his lyric prose, almost too richly ornate for general wear,
were touching new springs of feeling. By and by, he issued in
conjunction with others a set of liturgical services, which did much to
lend dignity to congregational worship. And what gave unique influence
to his ideas was his intimate connection from 1840 to 1885 with
'Manchester College,' London, one of the successors to the old
'Academies' (now after its several migrations handsomely housed at
Oxford). At this college, as professor of mental and moral philosophy
and for many years as Principal, he made a deep and lasting impression
on the minds of most of the leading scholars and preachers. His great
works. _Types of Ethical Theory_ and _A Study of Religion_, gathered up
the harvest of long study and exposition in these subjects, and are the
most important of their kind given by Unitarians to the world.

In accordance with what has been indicated, the later attitude of
Martineau, and naturally of his pupils--though the principle of free and
independent judgment is and always has been insisted upon--has been
radical in respect to Biblical, and especially to New Testament,
studies. An influence in this department more direct than his own was
formerly found in the writings and lectures of _John James Tayler_
(1797-1869), his predecessor as Principal. This ripe and fearless
scholar brought home to Unitarians the wealth of continental literature
on the subject. The 'old school' stood aghast as the tide of 'German
criticism' overflowed the old landmarks of thought; and when Tayler
himself issued a work strongly adverse to the apostolic authorship of
the Fourth Gospel distress was extreme. In these matters, however, the
tide proved irresistible, and the next generation of preachers and
students were among the most ardent translators and popularizers of the
new views of Jewish and Christian origins. The 'free' character of the
pulpits has made the way easier than in most other denominations for the
incoming of modern thought in this and other directions.

The influence of natural science upon the trend of Unitarian opinion has
hardly been second to that of Biblical criticism. Some names in the list
of prominent Unitarians are celebrated in this connection--_Louis
Agassiz_ (1807-73), for example, on the American