282 A Century of Science 



work ; pretentious sciolism was something that he 

 could not endure, and he knew how easy it is to 

 press garbled or misunderstood history into the 

 service of corrupt politics. He found the minds 

 of English-speaking contemporaries full of queer 

 notions of European history, especially as to the 

 Middle Ages, notions usually misty and often 

 grotesquely wrong ; and he did more than any other 

 Englishman of our time to correct such errors and 

 clear up men s minds. Such work could not be 

 done without attacking blunders and the propaga 

 tors of blunders. Freeman s assaults were not in 

 frequent, and they were apt to be crushing ; but 

 they were made in the interests of historic truth, 

 and there were none too many of them. Like 

 &quot; Mr. F. s Aunt,&quot; the great historian did &quot; hate a 

 fool ; &quot; and it is clearly right that fools should be 

 silenced and made to know their place. 



Not only foolishness and inaccuracy did Free 

 man hate, but also tyranny, fraud, and social 

 injustice, under whatever specious disguises they 

 might be veiled. In matters of right and wrong 

 his perceptions were rarely clouded. He never 

 could be duped into admiring a charlatan like the 

 late Emperor of the French. Upon the Eastern 

 Question he wielded a Varangian axe, and had his 

 advice been heeded, the Commander of the Faith- 



