The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-10-25
JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE.
A Biographical Study.

Il VI Iic
James Anthony Forude. the celebrated
historian, was born in 1918 and ended his
earthly career Oct. Is, 1894. He was there
fore 76 years old when he Glied-a fair old
age for man who had lived so laborious
life as man of letters. He studied at
oxford university and took his degree in
lSiO. He had intended entering the Uni
yersity of the Church of England but
finding 1t inconsistent with honesty. TO
subscribe to a creed which he did not be-
lieve he abandoned the idea of entering
the university.
Unlike some men of his abilities he
soon found his sphere and became lit
erary man. In 1Si7 he published "The
Shadows of the Clouds" and two years
= later, The Nemesis Of Faith" These
first efforts were sufficient to prove that
he was writer of great power. He and
a younger brother, Richard Hurrel
Froude, were starting in life at the time
of the Oxford movement in which John
Henry Newman played so prominent a
part. Froude's brother would have gone
with Newman into the fold of Rome had
he lived. Two currents marked the
stream of that movement one setting in
the direction of Rome and the other in
the direction of rationalsm or disbelief in
traditionalism as represented by the An
glicans and Roman Catholics churches.
Froude was among those who went out.
II II II
Soon afterwasrd he came under the in
fiuence of Carlyle and found in his writ
ings that help which he needed in his
then unsettled state of mind. His liter
airy course is marked from beginning to
end by the early impulses which led him
to abandon the University of the Church
of England. His Life and Times Of
Thomas Beckett" Short Studies on
Great Subjects Essay on Bunyan
Essay on Luther" Life and Letters of
Carlyle" and other works will ever stand
as monuments to his vast industry, learn
ing and power.
But the work that will entitle him to
the proudest place among the great his
torical writers of the world is his His
tory of England from the Fall of Wolsey
to the Death of Elizabeth" In this as in
his other works, We see the same lofty
devotion to truth, wide grasp and COM
prehension of great movements, the same
intensity of feeling and business imagina-
tion which are the essentials of great
historian. Like Carlyle, whom he called
his master, he was not satisfied with hear
say or secondhand reports, but studied
the sources of history and searched into
original documents of the widest range
in order to arrive at just conclusions.
One of the points he has cleared up is
the character of Henry VIII. He has not
endeavored to make q saint of him, but
he has shown him to be, for that age, q
great, brave and honorable man. Besides.
he has shown him to be a man who was
capable of learning the lessons taught by
the course of events. He, who was once a
devout adherent of the Roman Catholic
church and the opponent of Luther, not
long after, came to see the corruptions of
the clergy, the rottenness of the monastic
system, and the grievances suffered by
the people, and so became the patron OF
reform. This new view is not sustained
by any ingenious process of reasoning,
but by q fair presentation of facts, as
they are presented in contemporary doc
uments. Henry ordered the bishops to
prepare a new version Of the Bible In the
language of the people and also command
ed that the services of the church should
be conducted in the same language.
Much has been made in Henry's dlsfAvor
out of the execution of More, and Bishop
Fisher. But If we consider that More was
one Of the most eminent men in the state,
while Fisher was one of the most prom
inent men in the church, and both of them
refused to take the oath of loyalty to
Henry as against the interdlct put upon
him by the papal communication the
matter appears in very different light
Henry was then engaged in a deadly
StruBBle with tne pdpdCy ana TO let tneSe
men stand as the supporters of the as
sumptions of the papacy at such time
was to endanger, If not to lose his throne
Besides More and Fisher had plenty of
time to consider the mater and both per-
sisted in their refusal to take the oath of
loyalty.
II H.
Let any one who is desirous of knowing
the truth, take the trouble, or rather en-
joy the pleasure Of reading the twelve
volumes of Froude's history and he will
find that the aim of the author is to vim
dicate and not to pervert the truth of his
tory He makes 1t clear that England at
that time was the battle ground between
the Papacy and the Reformation, and
that Henry VIII was led by the drift of
events to become the central figure in
the struggle, and Elizabeth after. him in
spite of herself. The efforts of the Papacy
to crush the Reformation eliminated In
the Spanish Armanda under Philip ii of
Spain. and the destruction of that vast
fleet was the crisis in the great struggle
so fruitful in its results to the English
race and the world.
D. j. Williams.
Peckville oct. %.