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

Letters, 1846-180o

I59

It is against all the rules of Political Economy to be in
favour of a poor law, but in the present case, does it not seem
as if the barbarous nature of the people and the interests of the
landholders are leagued against it equally? Suppose the rental
of Ireland ~36,ooo,ooo, and one-third of it to have been
collected, why not reduce the landholders a little and make
them understand that the crisis of their country requires
a little more than 'giving up pastry'? Unless Ireland makes
much greater sacrifices it is impossible to persuade England to
make the necessary sacrifices.
To A. P. STANLEY (ON HIS RETURN FROM SPAIN).
[OXFORD, April or May, I847.]
L fpLaKap L KaL TptLrOLaKapIt Kat /mlaKapu)TaTE' 1 ut sis vitalis metuo 2:
but think you may possibly recover from this historical surfeit.... This is only to greet you; it is a waste of time writing
as you return to these bustling scenes so soon. 'Had it not
been for the battle of Tours,' Oxford might have been Granada,
St. Mary's a mosque, you exegetical professor of the Koran,
giving equal offence both to the Sonnites and Shuites.
I am delighted to hear of the prosperity of your tour,
although I was not there to plan it. I hope I shall live to see
the East some day and (not in Moses's company) 'make
a pilgrimage to the Holy City.'
There is nothing to tell here; stagnant omnia. With your
Sermons and my Essays I have done nothing; the last, because
I found it so difficult to rewrite them.
I have been reading the Counter-Reformation in Ranke.
How strange the causes which religious changes depend upon!
At one time scarce any Catholics in Austria, at another all
France on the point of joining the Huguenots. At Gratz
in 1596 all Protestants, I598 all the Lutheran Ministers expelled; compare Oxford 1844 to 1847. 'If you mark the
history of the Popes well, look you, the history of the Heads of
Houses comes indifferent well after it 8.'
1 'Happy, thrice happy, nay 2 'Too happy to live long.'most happy!' Cf. Ar. Eccl. Horace, Sat. II. i. 60.
II29. Cf. Shakesp., Henry V, iv.7. 35.