The life and letters of Benjamin Jowett, M. A., master of Balliol college, Oxford.

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Life of Benjamin Jowett

[CHAP. VIII

private conversation.' 'How hard it is to find a perfectly
firm will!' With reference to one whom he had thought
at least as far advanced in speculation as himself, he said,
'I have often talked to on these subjects; he was
as free as air.' Even the attitude of Stanley, his fellowlabourer, did not altogether satisfy him:-' He has failed
to make people understand what he meant.' On the
other hand he was quite touched when the Bishop of
Bath and Wells, whom he had formerly visited (and
had aided with salutary counsel in the conduct of the
Denison case), paid him the common attention of
a morning call. In what Jowett felt about all this,
as he himself was afterwards fully aware, there was
some exaggeration of sensitiveness, an almost fond
simplicity, and a want of knowledge of the world. He
said in I857, 'People go on expecting more from friendship than it can ever give.' And when a pupil, who was
leaving Oxford for another sphere, on Jowett's saying,
'I am sorry for you, going amongst people whom you
cannot understand,' replied cheerfully, 'I suppose I shall
find them out in time,' he rejoined with sudden bitterness,
' Oh yes, you will find them out!' His letters to younger
men, and his own memoranda, are full of remarks on
the evils of a sensitive nature.
'Without were fightings;' but there was no sign of
'fears within.' His courage was unabated and his will
only roused to more strenuous action. The Balliol Tutorship, which he could not afford to relinquish, continued to be the main centre of his operations. It
was natural, after what had happened, that he should
feel the limitations of the sphere. His ambition had been
awakened only to be suppressed, and he sometimes
hankered after the society and culture of Trinity College,