272 GEOEGB JOHN EOMANES isoi 



often spoke of the extreme kindliness, the ' pleasant- 

 ness ' which marked Oxford society. 



Of all the friends made in these four years, 

 Mr. Eomanes undoubtedly was most drawn to the 

 Eev. Charles Gore. 



It is very difficult, very often misleading and even 

 impertinent to speak of what one man owes to another 

 in the way of direct or indirect intellectual or spiritual 

 help. But those few persons who really watched and 

 could see the workings of G-eorge Romanes' mind, saw 

 that these Oxford years were, even before the first 

 beginnings of fatal illness, years of rapid growth in 

 what perhaps may be termed spiritual perception. 



In 1891 Mr. Gore's famous Bampton Lectures were 

 preached. Mr. Eomanes heard them all, and was 

 intensely interested by them ; he wrote many notes 

 on them for his own private use, notes by no means 

 always in agreement with them, and in his ' Thoughts 

 on Eeligion ' he refers to them. 



Many of his older friends were clergymen, and 

 he was once much amused by hearing that a 

 scientific friend in London had said, ' How on earth 

 will Eomanes stand the clerical atmosphere of 

 Oxford ? ' Another time, a very eminent scientific man 

 asked him his opinion of Liberal High Churchmen, 

 ' Do you really think these people believe what they 

 say ? ' to which Mr. Eomanes replied that he knew 

 several pretty intimately, and he was sure they would 

 all go to the stake on behalf of their Faith. 



In the spring of 1891 Mr. Eomanes was elected by 

 the committee a member of the Athenaeum Club. 

 The Journal notes : 



Pleasant dinners at Merton, Keble, &c. Visit 

 from the Gills, ^ which we much enjoyed. Lord 

 and Lady Compton, from the 6th to the 8th of June. 

 He delighted us with his magnificent singing. 



' The Astronomer Royal at the Cape and his wife. 



