Short Studies on Great Subjects

Studies on Great Subjects, by
James Anthony Froude

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Title: Short Studies on Great Subjects
Author: James Anthony Froude
Release Date: March 6, 2007 [EBook #20755]
Language: English
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SHORT STUDIES ON GREAT SUBJECTS.

LONDON PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO.
NEW-STREET SQUARE

SHORT STUDIES ON GREAT SUBJECTS.
BY
JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE, M.A.
LATE FELLOW OF EXETER COLLEGE, OXFORD.
SECOND EDITION.

LONDON: LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 1867.

CONTENTS.
PAGE
THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY 1
TIMES OF ERASMUS AND LUTHER: Lecture I 26 Lecture II 50
Lecture III 75
THE INFLUENCE OF THE REFORMATION ON THE SCOTTISH
CHARACTER 102
THE PHILOSOPHY OF CATHOLICISM 124
A PLEA FOR THE FREE DISCUSSION OF THEOLOGICAL
DIFFICULTIES 133
CRITICISM AND THE GOSPEL HISTORY 159

THE BOOK OF JOB 185
SPINOZA 223
THE DISSOLUTION OF THE MONASTERIES 265
ENGLAND'S FORGOTTEN WORTHIES 294
HOMER 334
THE LIVES OF THE SAINTS 363
REPRESENTATIVE MEN 384
REYNARD THE FOX 401
THE CAT'S PILGRIMAGE:
Part I 419

Part II 422

Part III 427

Part IV 430
FABLES: I. The Lions and the Oxen 433 II. The Farmer and the Fox
434
PARABLE OF THE BREAD-FRUIT TREE 436

COMPENSATION 439

THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY:
A LECTURE DELIVERED AT THE ROYAL INSTITUTION
FEBRUARY 5, 1864.
Ladies and Gentlemen,--I have undertaken to speak to you this evening
on what is called the Science of History. I fear it is a dry subject; and
there seems, indeed, something incongruous in the very connection of
such words as Science and History. It is as if we were to talk of the
colour of sound, or the longitude of the rule-of-three. Where it is so
difficult to make out the truth on the commonest disputed fact in
matters passing under our very eyes, how can we talk of a science in
things long past, which come to us only through books? It often seems
to me as if History was like a child's box of letters, with which we can
spell any word we please. We have only to pick out such letters as we
want, arrange them as we like, and say nothing about those which do
not suit our purpose.
I will try to make the thing intelligible, and I will try not to weary you;
but I am doubtful of my success either way. First, however, I wish to
say a word or two about the eminent person whose name is connected
with this way of looking at History, and whose premature death struck
us all with such a sudden sorrow. Many of you, perhaps, recollect Mr.
Buckle as he stood not so long ago in this place. He spoke more than an
hour without a note--never repeating himself, never wasting words;
laying out his matter as easily and as pleasantly as if he had been
talking to us at his own fireside. We might think what we pleased of Mr.
Buckle's views, but it was plain enough that he was a man of
uncommon power; and he had qualities also--qualities to which he,
perhaps, himself attached little value, as rare as they were admirable.
Most of us, when we have hit on something which we are pleased to
think important and original, feel as if we should burst with it. We

come out into the book-market with our wares in hand, and ask for
thanks and recognition. Mr. Buckle, at an early age, conceived the
thought which made him famous, but he took the measure of his
abilities. He knew that whenever he pleased he could command
personal distinction, but he cared more for his subject than for himself.
He was contented to work with patient reticence, unknown and unheard
of, for twenty years; and then, at middle life, he produced a work which
was translated at once into French and German, and, of all places in the
world, fluttered the dovecotes of the Imperial Academy of St.
Petersburg.
Goethe says somewhere, that as soon as a man has done anything
remarkable, there seems to be a general conspiracy to prevent him from
doing it again. He is feasted, fêted, caressed; his time is stolen from
him by breakfasts, dinners, societies, idle businesses of a thousand
kinds. Mr. Buckle had his