I DEDICATE THIS VOLUME TO

S. L. L.

WHO HAS DONE SO MUCH TO LIGHTEN MY LABOUR AND TO

ENHANCE MY PLEASURE IN COMPILING IT.

PREFACE.

IT may be well by way of introduction to this volume, to state, as simply and in as few words as possible, the aim and scope which I proposed to myself in compiling it.

My end has been to contribute, as far as I could, to the wider and more accurate knowledge of a writer concerning whom an amount of ignorance and misunderstanding still prevails, which is especially surprising, considering the high place he admittedly holds, both as a thinker and a master of style. A recent critic has described him, as "the man in the working of whose individual mind the intelligent portion of the English public is more interested than in that of any other living person." This description is, I think, correct : and yet, although Dr. Newman's inner life has from various circumstances been laid completely bare to the world, there is probably no living person who has been so strangely and so persistently misconceived. the cause of those misconceptions it is not necessary for me to inquire. It is sufficient to remark that for the last ten years they have been gradually clearing away, and

1 Austin: Poetry of the Period, p. 178.

that he has himself provided the best means for their removal in the books to which the verses quoted on my title-page so aptly apply. In the following pages I have endeavoured to give an account through extracts from those books, of his present views on the chief matters of general interest on which he has written from time to time. I have sought especially to present his mind on the great religious questions which have so largely exercised the intellect of this age, and which, even in the judgment of those who are unable to accept his conclusions, he has faced, investigated, and determined for himself with an unflinching courage, and an swerving steadfastness of purpose, almost as rare, perhaps, as the high mental endowments which he has brought to the task.

un

Dr. Newman's writings, most of them of an occasional character, extend to thirty-four volumes, and in making my selections from them, I have been careful to choose passages which, while suffering the least by severance from the context, would present the ideas I was desirous to exhibit in their completeness and maturity. Hence the title I have given it—a title, I may observe, which does not altogether satisfy me, but for which I have been unable to find any better substitute in English. Hence, too, it is, that I have drawn chiefly from his later writings, for it is, of course, in his Catholic works that his views are found in their full development and final resolution.

Such has been the principle upon which I have proceeded in making my selections. In classifying them, my task was less difficult, as each seemed naturally to fall under one of the four divisions of Personal, Philosophical, Historical, and Religious. Part I., denominated Personal,

with the exception of the letter appended to it, is taken entirely from the Apologia. Part IV., which is termed "Religious," is subdivided into three sections, styled respectively Protestantism, Anglicanism, and Catholicism, and is intended to exhibit Dr. Newman's views on the more salient characteristics of those systems. Omissions in the text-they are always immaterial-are' duly noted, and a few words which I have been obliged to introduce for the sake of continuity, are enclosed in brackets, as are also any notes added by me. The notes printed without brackets are Dr. Newman's, and, with one exception, will be found in the original text.

In compiling my volume I have primarily endeavoured to consult for readers who, from want of leisure or from other reasons, are unable to procure and peruse for themselves Dr. Newman's writings at large, and who desire to possess, in a compendious form, a summary, prepared with his approval, of his ultimate judgments on the most important matters of which he has written during the last half century. There is, however, another class to whom also my volume may possibly be of service. It may, I think, prove sometimes useful to persons more or less acquainted with Dr. Newman's works, but not always able to find, just when they want it, some striking passage which dwells vaguely in their memories. For the convenience of such readers I have taken care to make the index as copious as I could. On the whole I may, perhaps,. say, that I have endeavoured to construct my volume on much the same principles as those which Lord Bacon lays down for the compilation of a book

1 By the marks . .

2 Thus [

].

3 At p. 437.