Short Studies on Great Subjects   By: James Anthony Froude (1818-1894)

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.