66 EVIDENCE AND EXAMPLES. 



temperament, He was alert, ready, quick to compre- 

 hend, to defend and attack. The intellect took an 

 unduly large share in the fashioning of his life. Like 

 most great religious leaders, he was undisturbed and 

 unstained by tumultuous passion. His sister remarked 

 that he was " not incapable of affection/' but that it was 

 reserved for his followers. If he had in some degree 

 the failings of the unduly active and intellectual nature 

 he escaped those of the unduly impassioned tempera- 

 ment : he was the direct opposite of all that is morose, 

 brooding, fanatical, self-indulgent, implacable, or 

 cruel. 



Newman's failings, if they were failings, were dis- 

 tinctly those of the temperament of which he was so 

 illustrious an example. He had something of fit- 

 fulness, something of censoriousness and petulance ; his 

 self-importance and self-confidence were colossal, but 

 they sat well on the shoulders of colossal genius. 

 Russell Lowell advises neglected poets not to be too 

 sure that they are great poets because Wordsworth was 

 long neglected, and it does not follow that every self- 

 confident youth will become a leader of men because 

 his self-confidence is derided by his fellows. Newman 

 was so derided in early life. At school a certain guild 

 was talked of, but young Newman must be its leader or 

 it should come to nothing: it came to nothing. A school 

 journal was started; Newman must be its editor or it 

 should be shattered: it was shattered. A little later 

 he visited his home and announced himself to be the 

 recipient of a supernatural message. He was not a 

 little resentful when his divine mission was doubted. 

 But if Newman was not to be a leader of boys he 

 became a leader of men. He put no limit to the 

 extent of his leadership. He knew his own power 



