The herald., 1894-12-17
James Anthony Frouds.

However diverse may be the judg-
ments paased upon the work Of Profess
sor Froude, friends and foes must unite
to recognize in him one Of the giants Of
his age. His impress upon the spiritual
development OF tho last half century has
been very deep, and would have been
deeper had he stood by himself, not
overshadowod by his friend and master.
Carlyle. His originality, combined
with his aggressive energy, was bound
to stir up contention. into whatever
field of thought he might make excurs.
ions and few men have lived 80 contin.
uously as he in an atmosphere OF acri-
monious disputation. His abandon.
meut OF the priestly pro-
fession, coupled with the outspoken
propositions Of The Nemesis OF Faith,
aroused the first bitterness against him.
and his famous defense OF Henry the
Eighth set all the dogs of controversy
upon his heels. The delivery and sub
sequent publication Of his American lee.
lures exposed him 20 reprisals from vim
dictive Irishmsn all over the world, and
all sorts Of colonial doc,rinaires felt
themselves outraged by his two books
upon the outlying provinces Of the Eng.
lsh empire. Then came the Carlyle
publications, with their unnecessarily
truthful revelations; and there were
mono go poor, after that, to do reverence
to an editor who had thus ruthlessly
(although in all unconBciousness) played
the iconoclast.
We think that the general effect OF the
many attacks made upon the great his
torian has been to create a distinctly
unfair and prejudiced opinion concern
ing the value OF his work, and that his
reputation is one that will grow rather
than diminish with the lapse of years.
Let us allow to the full for the exag-
gerated hero-worship Of many OF his
books, and for his constitutional al inability
to see things from sny other than his
own intensely individual standpoint:
let US allow for the charges OF inaccuracy
and the unscholarly use of material, not
only brought against him, but amply
substantiated. by such men as Professor
Freeman and Prof. Charles Eliot Norton
vet when ell these allowances have been
made, there still remains the great
corpus of his work, magnificent %
literature, mastery in its power OF
holding the attention, and. after all. con.
sistent with iteelf and with the method
deliberately chosen by the author to fit
with his natural predispositions. 1t ia
the ethical method, not the scientific,
and must be judged by its own standard,
unless. indeed, the possibility of an eth.
icsl method of writing history be denied
altogether. History, he said, "is a
voice forever sounding across the CEN
turies the laws of right and wrong.
Justice and truth alone endure
and live. Injustice and falsehoUd may
be long lived, ont doomsday comes at
last to them. in French revolutions and
other terrible ways" And he remarks
in another passage that "the most per-
feet English history which exists is to be
found in the historical playa of Shake
speare. Shakespeare object was
to exhibit as faithfully as he could the
exact character OF the great actors in
the national drama-the circumstances
which surround them, and the motives,
intereal and external, by which they
were influenced. to know this is to
know all. No such directness OF
insight, no such breadth of sympathy.
has since been applied to the writing OF
English history" Now Professor Free.
man, for example. did not write history
upon this theory, and consequently his
structures altogether miss the essential
point at Issue. Time. which sets most
matters right. will justify Professor
Frouds's method by preserving his
memory and by sparing his books from
oblivion. They will remain, we doubt
not, as lasting monuments of our litera.
ture, and minister not only to the de-
light but also to the instruction lin the
higher sense) of generations YET unborn.
1.-THE Dial.