THE TWO BROTHERS--SCHOOL AND COLLEGE DAYS
Francis William Newman was born at 17 Southampton Street, Bloomsbury
Square, on 27th June, 1805. His father was a London banker. Rev. T.
Mozley, in his _Reminiscences of Oriel_, says he was partner in the firm
of "Ramsbottom, Newman, Ramsbottom & Co., 72 Lombard Street, which appears
in the lists of London bankers from 1807 to 1816 inclusive." He tells us
that the family of "Newman" (or, as it was originally spelt, "Newmann")
was of Dutch extraction. The father of Francis Newman had great schemes
for making England "independent of foreign timber by planking all our
waste lands."
In 1800 John Newman married Jemima Fourdrinier, and in the year 1801 John
Henry, the future Cardinal, was born. The latter and the subject of our
memoir were in effect the two sheaves before whom all the rest bowed down.
There were four other children: Charles Robert, Harriette Elizabeth,
Jemima Charlotte, and Mary Sophia.
[Illustration: SEALE'S COFFEE HOUSE, OXFORD
(NOW DEMOLISHED)
Done from an old drawing in the year when Francis Newman and John Henry
Newman stayed there with Blanco White.]
John Henry and Francis went to a school at Ealing (of which Dr. Nicholas
was head-master), then, as Mr. Mozley says, considered the best
preparatory school in the country. There were three hundred boys there at
that time, but none were so brilliant or showed so much talent as the two
Newmans. One after the other they rose to the top of the school. Frank was
captain in 1821. There was some talk of removing John Henry after he had
spent some years there, but he himself begged to be allowed to remain a
little longer. Miss Anne Mozley, in her _Life and Correspondence of John
Henry Newman_, quotes Dr. Nicholas as having said, "No boy had run through
the school from bottom to top as rapidly as John Newman." He was eight and
a half years at Ealing; yet during the whole of that time, it is reported
that his school-fellows declared they had hardly ever seen him play in any
game, though at that time games did not occupy the prominent place in the
curriculum of schools that now they do in our day.
It was not until his last half-year that one of the greatest spiritual
influences of his life began. It was one of those seemingly curious
chances which sometimes change a man's, or a woman's, whole outlook; and
beginning, as it seems at the time, quite casually, quite unconsciously,
lead not only the one chiefly concerned, but others, far afield into
absolutely new environments.
Quite, as it seems, by chance, the destiny of a lifetime approaches
through the conventional door of everyday life--steals up, lays the hand
that none can resist on the handle of some door which opens of itself into
a new, a wider world. Before one is aware of it, perhaps, one's feet have
crossed the threshold into the Land of the New Outlook, and "old things
are passed away."
In August, 1816, John Henry Newman found himself at school, in a sense
alone, because his special personal friends there had left, and thus he
began to be thrown more and more under the influence of the Rev. Walter
Mayer (of Pembroke College, Oxford), who was one of the classical masters.
Long religious talks with him had a great effect upon his mind, and he
himself traces much of his spiritual development to Mr. Mayer's point of
view in religion. He was what is known as a "high Calvinist." When school
was over for John Henry and Francis Newman, Mr. Mayer's influence was not
lost, for both the brothers wrote to him, and stayed with him, when some
time later he became curate to the Rev. William Wilson at Worton.
When his brother left school and went straight to Trinity College, Oxford
(though only fifteen years of age), Frank remained on at Ealing for a
time; and then, when he was seventeen, went up to Oxford to join him, and
be with him through the Long Vacations in preparation for entering
Worcester College in 1822. [Footnote: They lodged first at Scale's Coffee
House in 1821, then at Palmer's, in Merton Lane, in 1822. Both now are
pulled down.] In Anne Mozley's volume there occur several entries
regarding this time from J. H. Newman's letters. For instance, on 25th
Sept., "Expecting to see Frank. I am in fact expecting to see you all. I
shall require you to fill him full of all of you, that when he comes I may
squeeze and wring him out as some sponge."
It is necessary, before touching further on the college life of the two
famous brothers, to remember that early in life there was a strong
spiritual antagonism between them as regarded their points of view--
religious, social, political, etc. And this notwithstanding the fact that
a very real affection for each other existed in both, which made the
inevitable disputes in no sense unfriendly bouts, but only the exercise of
two keen wits of very different calibre.
[Illustration: WORCESTER COLLEGE, OXFORD
VIEW OF COLLEGE BUILDINGS FROM THE GARDENS]
[Illustration: WORCESTER COLLEGE, OXFORD
FRONT QUADRANGLE]
Both had been trained in a home of strict Calvinism. Both had eminently
religious tendencies. Both, when the time came for judging for themselves,
threw aside the grim tenets which they had been taught as children to
believe, and struck into absolutely different paths.
There is a very pathetic incident in their home life, which occurred just
before Frank Newman went to college, which reveals to the thoughtful
reader a world of information as to what was the attitude of thought in
that household.
I quote from J. H. Newman's diary:--
"Sept. 30, 1821. Sunday. After dinner to-day I was suddenly called
downstairs to give an opinion whether I thought it a sin to write a letter
on Sunday. I found dear F---- had refused to copy one. A scene ensued more
painful than any I have experienced." And adds, "I have been sadly
deficient in ... patience, and filial obedience."
I quote this chiefly to show that at sixteen Francis Newman [Footnote: In
later years Francis Newman declared that he had been "converted" in 1816,
and again confirmed in religious conviction in 1819, from the influence of
the writings of Dr. Doddridge.] was certainly under the Calvinistic
influence still, and that he was very dogged in upholding its rules and
restrictions. During the last months of the year 1822, the latter read
with his brother at Oxford, and from time to time, in his letters home, J.
H. Newman mentions him [Footnote: _Letters and Correspondence of J. H.
Newman_, by Anne Mozley.] as working and reading in preparation for
entering Worcester College.
"Frank ... seems to have much improved.... I am convinced that he knows
much of Greek as a language, in fact is a much better Greek scholar than
I.... Again, he is a much better mathematician than I am. I mean, he reads
more mathematically, as Aristotle would say."
It is necessary here to mention a great blow which fell on the Newman
family soon after John Henry Newman had gone to college. His father's bank
failed. There was no bankruptcy, and everyone was paid in full, but still
it naturally proved a time of great family trial; for though his father
took the Alton brewery and tried to make his way in this new line, yet it
was not a successful venture. Happily, by this time, J. H. Newman was not
only able to maintain himself, but also to help his people. Rev. T. Mozley
mentions that in 1823 Newman had been elected to a Fellowship at Oriel,
adding that "it was always a comfort to him that he had been able to give
his father" (who did not live many years after the bankruptcy), "this good
news at a time of great sorrow and embarrassment."
In 1826 Francis Newman took first-class honours in classics and
mathematics, and gained a Fellowship in Balliol College. The college
authorities described his as one of the best "Double Firsts" ever known.
As, however, he felt conscientiously unable to sign the Thirty-nine
Articles, he was obliged to resign his Fellowship, and could not take his
M.A. degree.
Many a man must have felt in his inmost self that a bona fide signing to
_all_ of the Articles was a task beyond his mental reach. There are points
in numbers 8, 17, 22, 25, for instance, which are difficult indeed to
reconcile with the highest ideal of the Christian religion. One looks at
the reprinted introduction (1562) which prefaces them, and one sees that
_it_ was traceable to that irreligious old sensualist, the father of Queen
Elizabeth. One sees that it dated back to the time when the Church in this
country began to be more especially "by _Law_ established," instead of "by
Christ established," as was the case in early ages of its formation. One
sees, too, that part of the reasons for this preface being set forth was
very evidently the reiteration of the kingly assertion that "We are
Supreme Governor of the Church of England," although the ostensible reason
was because of the "curious and unhappy differences" which seemed, in His
Majesty's opinion, to show the wisdom of decisive adjudication with
respect to those "fond things vainly invented," for which some of his
subjects had so great an affection.
Francis Newman by the time he had reached the age of twenty-five, however,
had been finding out, more and more, that he could not receive most of the
Church dogmas. While his brother and he had been practically re-adapting
to their needs and growing personal convictions the Calvinistic religion
(some writers, I am aware, consider that to have been more Puritan than
Calvinistic), given them by their mother in their childhood days, John
Henry Newman had drawn ever closer to the authority of the Church, while
Francis found himself seceding more and more from her, and more and more
drifting into undogmatic religion. It will be remembered that there had
been originally an idea that he should take Holy Orders. This, however,
very soon during his college life he found to be impracticable of
attainment, owing to his own pronounced and undogmatic views.
At that time, Cardinal Newman has said, earnest religious feeling among
the undergraduates was decidedly rare. Only one in every five could be
called religious-minded. So that the influence of these two young men,
whose very evident purpose was to attain some measure of spiritual truth,
was the more remarkable and powerful among their fellow students.
It was J. H. Newman, indeed, on one occasion who, on remonstrating with
those in authority, that the undergraduates should make their communions
at certain stated intervals because of the fact that he himself had seen
some of them get intoxicated at the college "breakfasts" on the _very_ day
after the service--was met by the remark that even if such a thing _did_
happen, they would rather not know of it!
Not far from Oxford there is a little village called Worton (or W_a_rton,
as I see in old papers it used to be spelt), or rather there are two
villages--Over Worton and Nether Worton, or Upper Worton and Lower Worton.
They lie between Banbury and Woodstock, near Oxford. Mr. Bateman, in his
_Life of Bishop Wilson_ (1860), says "their united population, consisting
of farmers and agricultural labourers, does not exceed two hundred." From
one village to the other is a distance of about three-quarters of a mile,
or perhaps a little less by the field path. Mr. Bateman says that before
Bishop Wilson came, "the church was much neglected, as a sporting curate
used to race through the services so as to get through in as little time
as possible."
Mr. Wilson revolutionized all this. He was accustomed to preach straight
to "his people." He seems, indeed, to have preached too "straight" for
some, for after some sermon he had given in an adjoining parish, a lady
who had "sat under him" said to her vicar, "_Pray_ do not let Mr. Wilson
preach here again. He alarms me so."
I am indebted to the Rev. W. H. Langhorne, present Rector of Worton, for
the following information about the place. He tells me that the church is
of the thirteenth or fourteenth century; Early decorated, but so altered
by Derick in 1844 "as almost to destroy its identity." The chalice in Over
Worton Church has the date 1574 upon it. The rectory is about one hundred
years old. The low building attached to it on the left (in the photograph)
was added in 1823. The parish of the two Wortons has for years been a
family living in the possession of the Wilsons, so an old friend, a
relation of Bishop Wilson, tells me. It was at Worton Church that John
Newman preached his first sermon, 23rd June, 1825.
Rev. Walter Mayers went as curate, in 1823, to Rev. William Wilson, and
took charge of Worton parish. In the following year he met--and later
married--my aunt Sarah Giberne. She and her sister had been staying with
Rev. and Mrs. William Wilson, and it was there that Mayers first made her
acquaintance. Mr. Mayers asked Frank Newman, during the Long Vacation, to
come and help him in teaching the pupils who came to read with him at
Worton. Newman was then nineteen. He had been four years longer at the
Ealing School, under the tuition of Walter Mayers, than his brother, who
had gone to Oxford, according to the notion prevalent at that time, at
about the age of fifteen or sixteen. Francis Newman says, consequently, "I
knew him (Mayers) much better than did my brother.... He allured me to his
new curacy, three miles from Deddington, Oxon, to help him in mathematics
with his pupils; first 1822, and again in 1823, after his marriage."
It was in connection with this marriage of Mr. Mayers to Sarah Giberne
that the two families of Newman and Giberne first became acquainted, and
that friendship began which lasted throughout their lives.
Sarah Giberne was the daughter of Mark Giberne, who, in partnership with
Mr. George Stainforth, was court wine merchant in 1750. He came of an old
French family, descended from the noble Jean de Giberne, Sieur de
Gibertène, in the sixteenth century. The family owned two castles in the
country of the Cevennes, which were destroyed by the Camisards. In the
seventeenth century some of the family came over and settled in England,
and it was from this branch of it that Gabriel de Giberne, secretary to
Sir Horace Mann, was descended, and from his son Mark--Sarah Giberne--who
married Rev. Walter Mayers.
I shall now give extracts from the diary of Mrs. Benjamin Pearson (_née_
Charlotte Elizabeth Giberne), to which I have access through the kindness
of my cousin, Mr. George Pearson. It was in the spring of 1823 that Sarah
and Charlotte Giberne spent a week with John Whitmore and his wife, Maria,
the daughter of their father's partner, Mr. Stainforth (of the firm
"Stainforth & Giberne"). Mrs. Pearson mentions that they both helped her
and her sisters to a "knowledge of the Scriptures and of the Christian
life."
[Illustration: WORTON CHURCH, OXFORDSHIRE
FROM AN OLD PRINT
BY KIND PERMISSION OF REV. V. H. LANGHORNE]
[Illustration: HOLY TRINITY, WEST END, OVER WORTON, MAY, 1905
BY KIND PERMISSION OF REV. W. H. LANGHORNE, PRESENT RECTOR OF WORTON]
"We were introduced by Maria, Mrs. Whitmore, about June, 1823, to a good
clergyman who had lately come to reside at Walthamstow, about two miles
from our home" (they were living at Wanstead), "the Rev. William Wilson,
who received us into his friendship, and whose preaching we attended with
joy and profit for several years.
"It was on Christmas Day of this year, I think, that we first heard the
Rev. Walter Mayers preach from Nahum i. 7 a most beautiful experimental
discourse which impressed us very much. On making enquiry concerning him,
we found that he was Mr. Wilson's curate at Worton, in Oxfordshire, and
that he received pupils into his house. Later, their brother, Charles
Giberne, was sent for a year to him. This led to Mr. Mayers being invited
to dinner at our house. There he formed an attachment to Sarah, to whom he
was married the following year, 1824.
"In the midsummer holidays, 1825, I went to pay a visit to Walter and
Sarah, and it was then I first made acquaintance with John and Frank
Newman. The latter was spending the Long Vacation with Mr. Mayers to
assist him in teaching the young men, though he was only nineteen. Among
these pupils was Charles Baring, seventeen years old, afterwards Bishop of
(the Palatinate see) Durham.
"John Newman walked over from Oxford to breakfast one morning: he was then
twenty-four, and a most interesting young man; but him I only saw then
once, whereas his brother (Frank) was our daily companion, and took great
pains in instructing Sarah (Mrs. Walter Mayers) and myself in Political
Economy. His talents and piety attracted my admiration, for I had never
seen such young men before. They had both been pupils of Mr. Mayers at a
large school at Ealing (in which he was a master), and were considered to
be converted in very early life."
Later on is another entry:--
"In the midsummer holidays of 1825" (John Henry Newman was ordained priest
on 29th May, 1825), "I went to stay with Walter and Sarah Mayers, and then
began my first acquaintance with John Henry Newman and his brother Frank.
The former having walked over from Oxford, seventeen miles, to breakfast,
and repeating Milman's beautiful hymn from the _Martyr of Antioch_,
'Brother, thou art gone before us.'
"He was just twenty-four, and his brother Frank, who came soon after to
assist Walter Mayers with his pupils ... was only twenty, but as bright a
specimen of a young Oxford student as I had ever met with. They had both
been considered converted in early youth, and so uncommon an event was it
to me to meet with Christian young men" (men, that is, whose religion was
their motive power, and not only used in the conventional and cold
formality then usual in the case of so many families in England), "that my
admiration knew no bounds. Of course, I told my sister Maria ... all this,
and she was quite prepared to appreciate in like manner, when she went to
stay at Worton the following summer."
We come now to the time which, whether for happiness or regret, inevitably
enters into the lives of most men on this earth--the time when they first
meet "the Woman they Never Forget." It does not follow that they are able
to marry her, but it _does_ follow that, meet whom they may later, no one
will ever oust from her place that first woman in their memories.
Francis Newman was only twenty-one when he first met her.
Maria Rosina Giberne was a beautiful girl, possessing special charm of
manner. It was not long after his first meeting with her that Frank Newman
fell passionately in love with her. Long talks on scientific and religious
subjects passed between them. But though he cared for her, evidently her
feeling for him was only that of friendship and interest, for when, later,
he asked her to marry him, she refused. He did not, however, take this for
an absolutely final decision (as in effect it was), for five or six years
later, when he was on his missionary journey to Syria, and he wrote and
begged her to give him a different answer, she refused him again.
[Illustration: OVER WORTON RECTORY, OXFORDSHIRE
BY KIND PERMISSION OF REV. W. H. LANGHORNE, PRESENT RECTOR OF WORTON]
The extracts that follow are from her diary of the summer at Worton in
1826--the year she first met the Newman brothers. The extracts are taken
from an autobiography of hers, which was originally written in French for
the nuns of the "Order of the Visitation" convent at Autun, Saône et
Loire, to which she went, as professed nun, after her conversion to the
Roman Church.
This is Maria Rosina Giberne's description of Worton (to which I have
access by the kindness of my cousin):--
"It was a delightful place; far from towns and quite country. There I
spent my days as much as possible under the trees, or in the fields
sketching the lovely views. My sister had told me that Mr. Francis Newman
and a friend were coming to the village to spend the vacation. I did not
pay much attention, being preoccupied with this delicious solitude. In a
while the two friends appeared, and I enjoyed hearing them talk, having a
great respect for learned men, although far from being learned myself. I
asked them questions and propounded religious difficulties which troubled
me. I was struck with his (Frank Newman's) piety, which had nothing
affected about it like the manner of some good people. We often talked
whilst I was sketching in the fields, and he explained to me many things
in Holy Scripture that I had not understood. Before leaving the village he
expressed a wish that I could become acquainted with his sisters.... This
idea pleased me much, and on returning home I gave our mother no peace
until she gave me permission to invite two of his sisters to spend a
fortnight with us.
"They accepted the invitation, and Mrs. Newman brought her three
daughters--Harriet, Jemima, and Mary. She left Harriet and Mary with us. I
was much taken at once with Mary, who was nice-looking, unaffected, and
only seventeen years of age. I was resolved to make friends with them,
otherwise should not have been greatly attracted by Harriet who had a way
I could not understand, and who embarrassed me greatly by her knowledge of
religious matters, because I had thought that I might be able to lead
_them_ to the good way, [Footnote: In some notes she expressly says this
was Frank Newman's suggestion primarily.] and behold, they seemed to know
all beforehand, and often showed me that I was mistaken in my
explanations.... I remember the first thing I opposed with all my might
was the idea of a visible Church, and it was not till long afterwards,
when I was staying with their mother in the country, that I took up this
idea. It was, I think, in the winter of 1827 that I embraced this
doctrine.
"Then in the summer the Newman family stayed some months at Brighton.
After John Newman's death the family had no settled home, but moved from
place to place. It happened that one of Maria Rosina's married sisters was
also at Brighton, and consequently it naturally followed that the two
families of Newman and Giberne met often.
"Naturally we called now and then to see Mrs. Newman, who invited us one
day to spend the afternoon and evening, and then, for the first time, I
became acquainted with Mr. Newman, now Father Newman. It was a great
pleasure, for I had heard so much about him, and I enjoyed seeing him
though he spoke very little to me, and paid me no compliments or special
attentions like most young men of our acquaintance, who neglected the
ladies of their families. The delicate and repeated attention of Mr.
Newman to his mother and sisters therefore aroused my admiration and
respect."
[Illustration: SKETCH OF NEWMAN FAMILY BY MARIA ROSINA GIBERNE
BY KIND PERMISSION OF MR. J. R. MOZLEY.
As one faces the picture, John Henry is sitting on Mrs. Newman's right;
Francis William to her left; Harriet to the right of John; Jemima below
her mother.]
To my mind there speaks, in this last sentence, something unusual too as
regards the writer, who, accustomed to the "compliments and special
attentions" which other young men paid her, could yet appreciate and
admire these delicate thoughtfulnesses which _this_ young man, who saw so
much further into the inner heart and meaning of things, loved to show to
his own mother and sisters instead of to other people's sisters, as was
and is the ordinary way of most young men.
In some other MSS. by Maria Rosina, sent me from the Oratory, Birmingham,
[Footnote: By the kindness of Father Bacchus.] there is a rather different
account, in which there is mention of Frank Newman having even then shown
a great tendency to free thought.
She adds: "I had not a suspicion that there was any danger of his getting
to care for me, for, firstly, he was two years younger than I was; and,
secondly, because I myself was occupied almost altogether with the thought
of how to rid myself of the narrow religion which was becoming every day
more unbearable, and also because I had no other thought for him than for
Robert." (Robert Murcott was a young man belonging to a family with whom
her people were intimate, and who had always wished to marry her. He went
out to India, and when he died left her all his money.)
In years to come, a great and lasting friendship began between her and
Cardinal Newman--a friendship which lasted unbroken to the end. When he
went to Rome for the red hat, he was too ill to call and see her at Autun
on his way home, but he had previously been to see her there.
The picture of the Newman family given here was drawn in chalks by her
when she was a girl at a little cottage at Horspath (near Nuneham, in
1829), at which the Newmans were staying. It had been offered them by Mr.
Dornford, Fellow, tutor, and proctor of Oriel, and afterwards rector of
Plymtree.
In the book, to which allusion has before been made, by Rev. Thomas
Mozley, there is a description of Maria Rosina in later life. He says she
was "tall, strong of build, majestic, with aquiline nose, well-formed
mouth, dark penetrating eyes, and a luxuriance of glossy black hair. She
would command attention anywhere.... She was very early the warmest and
most appreciative of Newman's" (John Henry Newman's) "admirers.... Her
great power lay in the portraits she did in chalks.... Besides many
portraits of Newman himself ... she drew a portrait of old Mr.
Wilberforce...."
The portrait of Maria Rosina in this volume was painted by herself in the
spring of 1827, to send to her eldest brother, George Giberne (at Dhoolia,
Candeish), afterwards Judge in the Bombay Presidency (East India Co.). On
the back of it her brother had written in pencil:--
"Yes, here's a silent, thoughtful thing, and yet
Her soft blue eye beams Eloquence: her lips
Oh! who could teach his spirit to forget
Their deep expressiveness, that far eclipse
All that kind nature to this world hath given,
All we can see of Earth, or guess of Heaven."
[Illustration: MARIA ROSINA GIBERNE
FROM A PAINTING BY HERSELF]
At this time she had taken many portraits of her friends, and I have, in
my own possession, one of Miss Wigram, and one, in a riding-hat, of her
sister Emily, both done in chalks, as is her picture of herself sent to
her brother. Later on she went to Rome, where for twenty years she studied
art and copied pictures "for the use," Mr. Mozley says, "of English
chapels." Years after, when my aunt was in the convent of the Order of
Visitation at Autun, she wrote an interesting letter to Cardinal Newman,
which is given by Miss Anne Mozley in her _Letters and Correspondence of
John Henry Newman_ alluding to the old days when their friendship, which
had never wavered during all the years which had gone by, was but just
beginning:--
"I do not want to talk of myself. I want to tell you of my entire sympathy
with you in what you say and feel about the anniversary of dear Mary's"
(the Cardinal's youngest sister) "death." (She died 5th Jan., 1828.) "This
season never comes round without my repassing in my heart of hearts all
the circumstances of those few days--my first visit to your dear
family.... Who could ever have been acquainted with the soul and heart
that lent their expression to that face, and not love her? My sister Fanny
and I arrived at your house on 3rd January, and sweet Mary, who had drawn
figures under my advice when she was staying with us at Wanstead, leant
over me at a table in the drawing-room, and in that sweet voice said, 'I
am so glad you are come; I hope you will help me in my drawing.'"
The next day she was taken ill at dinner, and on the ensuing evening--
dead.
She goes on to say: "Do you recollect that you and I are the only
survivors of that event?"
But to go back to the end of the college life of the subject of this
memoir. In the year 1828, Frank Newman was working amongst the poor at
Littlemore, near Oxford. His brother [Footnote: _Reminiscences of Oriel_,
by Rev. T. Mozley.] at that time was vicar of S. Mary's, the University
Church, and as the hamlet of Littlemore had then no church, [Footnote: A
church was built there later by Newman. In Ingram's _Memorials of Oxford_,
1838, it is said that in former days Littlemore was beautifully wooded,
and that in Saxon times there was a convent (of which there still remain
some ruins) which was called by the Saxon name of the "Mynchery," and
which belonged to the nuns of the Benedictine Order, and the church which
Alfred built on the site of the University Church of to-day, was known as
early as the Conquest as "Our Lady of Littlemore."] he attended to the
spiritual needs of the people there. Indeed, he considered it his duty to
go there every day; and Francis worked also constantly with him in
teaching the villagers. Some little time later, his mother and sisters
came to live at Horspath, in Iffley village, close to Oxford. They, too,
assisted in parochial matters, taught in the schools, visited the sick,
and generally helped the brothers.
By this time John Henry Newman's sermons were attracting great attention
in Oxford, and whenever he preached his University sermons, he had a
crowded congregation of undergraduates. The college authorities, however,
did not approve of his popularity with the undergraduates, and in Canon
Carter's _Life and Letters of Archdeacon Hutchings_, there is a note
showing this:--"I went to Christ Church in 1827.... Newman was at Oriel,
and for the last two years of my time Vicar of S. Mary's. But it was the
object of the college authorities to prevent our going to hear him preach,
and the chapel services were so arranged as to make it impossible."
In 1829 Dr. Pusey was Professor of Hebrew and Canon of Christ Church, and
as he had been for some years the close friend of Frank Newman's brothers,
it was inevitable that the former should see a great deal of him at that
time. He was delighted with Pusey's first books; but it was for the
"pietism and rationalism" which he found in them, more than for any hint
of the spirit of Churchmanship which distinguished his other works so
much. J. H. Newman had been a tutor at Oriel College since 1826. Oriel
College, Rev. Thomas Mozley tells us, was then "held to be in the very
front of academic progress ... with a Provost" (Edward Hawkins) "who owed
his election largely to Newman." Newman, Robert Wilberforce, and Froude
were close friends. Dr. Hawkins had a strong influence over John Newman.
Indeed, he had won love and respect from almost everyone; "he spoke
incisively, and what he said remained in the memory"--so much a part of
his own strong convictions and thought did it seem to be.
Yet Francis Newman was as convincing in his _writings_, at any rate, as
his better-known brother, who, as some thought, "overshadowed" him in the
eyes of the world to a large extent. A friend of mine, writing to me a
short time since, said that a statement had been made recently, by some
one entitled to judge of the matter, that Francis was the "greater of the
two brothers."
Be this as it may, certainly both were pioneers "in a world movement of
reconstruction." Both were prophets in a sense. Both were mental Samsons--
giants among the crowd of those who never see a yard beyond their own
narrow scope of vision. Both were inspired movers of the crusade of
purity, of new and original points of view, and of reformation in the old.
It is true neither could work with the other shoulder to shoulder. _But
they worked._ And it is possible to have a great brotherly affection
notwithstanding strong antagonism of views which render combined work
impossible.