Edward Augustus Freeman 283 



ful would ere now have been sent back to Brusa, 

 or beyond. But while in politics and in criticism 

 he could hit hard, his disposition was as tender and 

 humane as Uncle Toby's. Eminently character- 

 istic is the discussion on fox-hunting which he car- 

 ried on with Anthony Trollope some years ago in 

 the " Fortnightly Review," in which he condemned 

 that time-honoured sport as intolerably cruel. 



Mr. Freeman was very domestic in his habits. 

 When not travelling, he was to be found in his 

 country home, writing in his own library. When 

 he was in the United States, it amused him to see 

 people's surprise when told that he did not live in 

 a city, and did not spend his time deciphering 

 musty manuscripts in public libraries or archives. 

 He used to say that, even in point of economy, he 

 thought it better to dwell among pleasant green 

 fields and to consult one's own books than to take 

 long journeys or be stifled in dirty cities in order 

 to consult other people's books. His chief subjects 

 of study favoured such a policy, for most of the 

 sources of information on the eleventh century, 

 as well as upon ancient Greece, are contained in 

 printed volumes. Now and then he missed some 

 little point upon which a manuscript might have 

 helped him. But one cannot help wishing he 

 might have stayed among the quiet fields of Somer- 



