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FRO QBE, JAMES ANTHONY. 



racy and impartiality. In neither of these two 

 particulars can Froude be said to shine. Impar- 

 tial he could not be, from the very necessity of 

 his nature. He was a born hero-worshiper, and 

 he had all the hero-worshiper's enthusiasms. 

 Accurate he doubtless intended to be, and for 

 this end delved deep down among original rec- 

 ords overlooked by his predecessors in the same 

 field ; but selection of certain facts for special 

 insistence upon, and suppression of or slight 

 allusion to others of equal or greater importance, 

 was the course of a writer to whom picturesque- 

 ness is more than photographic accuracy. The 

 charge that " the facts were to Mr. Froude texts 

 for his discourse, not the stuff and substance of 

 it," must be accounted true in the main; and it 

 is this that bars him out from the front rank of 

 historians, although the brilliance and pictur- 

 esqueness of his work might entitle him to a 

 place among that select few. His accounts of 

 the Spanish Armada and the death of Queen 

 Mary of Scotland, for instance, are almost un- 

 equaled as pieces of historical description. 

 Hardly second to his power as a master of pic- 

 turesque narrative is his ability to grasp the 

 main issues of any particular period and present 

 them to the reader in a forcible, intelligible 

 fashion. 



While his history was in progress he wrote 

 much for periodicals, especially for the " West- 

 minster Review " and " Eraser's Magazine," and 

 he was for some months of 1871 the editor of 

 the latter periodical. In 1869 he was installed 

 rector of the University of St. Andrews, and ob- 

 tained the degree of LL. D. Although he came 

 under the influence of Carlyle as a writer not 

 far from the time he was writing " The Nemesis 

 of Faith," yet it was ten years later that the 

 two men became intimate friends, remaining in 

 that relation till the death of Carlyle, in 1881. 

 Up to 1872 Froude was still a deacon in the 

 Established Church, but in September of that 

 year he took advantage of the new Clerical Dis- 

 abilities Act and formally withdrew from the 

 diaconate a step which he would doubtless 

 have taken before had it been legally possible 

 for him to do so. 



In the autumn of 1872 he visited the United 

 States, and delivered a course of lectures on the 

 relations of England and Ireland, in which he 

 insisted that the troubles in Ireland were the 

 fault of the Irish people, and this position was 

 naturally much criticised. He was followed in 

 his American tour by Father Burke, an Irish 

 Dominican, who lectured to large audiences on 

 the same subject, but from a standpoint the op- 

 posite of that of the historian, his lectures being 

 reprinted with the title "English Misrule in 

 Ireland." Mr. Fronde's researches in the field 

 of Irish history appeared in 1872-74. entitled 

 "The English in Ireland in the Eighteenth 

 Century," a work which, possessing much of the 

 charm of his greater history, exhibits some of 

 the same faults. It has the charm of picturesque 

 detail, the same vigor and vivid description, but 

 the impartial, unprejudiced reader can hardly 

 fail to dissent very widely from the historian's 

 conclusions. His main thesis being that Irish- 

 men are responsible for all that is amiss in their 

 island, facts appear to be marshaled in support 

 of this theory heightened in color and related 



in extenso when favorable ; suppressed, softened, 

 or minimized when of an opposite character! 

 His course in this matter is not altogether easy 

 to understand, since he seems to have had no 

 natural prejudice against Ireland and its people, 

 and was wholly wanting in the religious zeal 

 that furnishes some excuse for the rancor of 

 Father Burke. 



In 1874 he was sent by the Earl of Carnarvon, 

 Colonial Secretary, to the Cape of Good Hope, 

 in order to make inquiries regarding a recent 

 insurrection among the Caff res, returning to 

 England in the following spring. His impres- 

 sions of South Africa were not long afterward 

 delivered as lectures before the Philosophical 

 Institution of Edinburgh. Ten years later he 

 made an extended tour, visiting Australia, New 

 Zealand, the West Indies, and the United States. 

 This tour resulted in a book called " Oceana," 

 concerning which very diverse opinions have 

 been expressed. One American writer styles it 

 " a charming narrative," another calls its author 

 insular and jaundiced, while an English writer 

 characterizes it as fresh and original. In this, 

 as well as in the larger number of his works, he 

 displays the literary skill of a man of a high 

 order of talent, if not of genius, and whether 

 we assent to his conclusions or not, we must ad- 

 mit the charm of his style. The accuracy of 

 some of the statements was called in question 

 by a member of the New Zealand House of Rep- 

 resentatives in an article in the " Nineteenth 

 Century" for August, 1886. A further result of 

 his journey about the world was a volume en- 

 titled "The English in the West Indies," in 

 which he urges that England should govern its 

 possessions in the West Indies after the East 

 Indian model, and abolish local representative 

 assemblies. 



As the close friend of Carlyle he became his 

 literary executor, and in the fulfillment of this 

 trust he published a " Life of Carlyle," in seven 

 volumes, " Reminiscences of Carlyle," and " Let- 

 ters and Memorials of Jane Welsh Carlyle." 

 None of his other works, widely as they have 

 been discussed, excited so much controversy, so 

 much hostile interest, as the Carlyle publica- 

 tions, and it must be said that they afford abun- 

 dant reason for it. Here, indeed, his course ap- 

 pears extremely difficult to understand. He 

 felt for Carlyle almost the veneration of a son 

 for a father, yet Carlyle's bitterest foe could 

 hardly have painted a more repellent portrait of 

 the philosopher of Chelsea. It was desirable, of 

 course, to have an honest likeness, but such hon- 

 esty could not be obtained by strenuous insist- 

 ence upon weaknesses and faults. To the de- 

 fects in Carlyle a disproportionate space is given, 

 and we get from these pages an unfaithful, dis 

 torted impression of Carlyle's personal char 

 ter, however well-intentioned the biographer 

 may have been. Cromwell might say to the 

 artist, " Paint me as I am," but even he would 

 not have asked to have the mole on his cheek ex- 

 aggerated in Sir Peter Lely's canvas. Froude : s 

 relations with Carlyle were so intimate that h< 

 doubtless knew what his friend was willing 

 have published in the " Reminiscences," but ii 

 this matter he might have exercised a mor 

 judicious editorship. Carlyle throughout lif 

 put very little restraint upon himself in tl 



