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

1854-I860]

Isolation

245

is coming to see you, and has promised to bring a ball as'big
as your head.
I hope that you are a good boy and never afraid of anything.
Has Mama been dressing up like a beggar-woman lately?
Iwill come and playat soldiers next summer, but in thewintertime I must do lessons. A little monkey of an old gentleman,
who dresses himself in black and has three pokers walk before
him, has been teazing me lately, and I should be in a great row
if I had not such good friends as Mama, Papa, and Tornie.
Good-bye, Tornie dear.
Don't forget UNCLE JOWETT.
PS.-Please not to let anybody read this letter but yourself.
The friendship of Bishop Ewing was another source of
comfort which did not fail him at this time. The Bishop
wrote as follows, shortly after Mrs. Ewing's death 1:'Jowett has been of use to me, because he believes in the great
essentials-the life of the dead and the deity of Christ. What
he says is very comforting, because he knows on what foundations our faith rests. Others have been most kind and sympathizing; but cut-and-dry sentiments, in which everything is
taken for granted, do me no good at all.'
In spite of such alleviations, the situation was not the
less grave. He retained his calm demeanour, keeping an
obstinate silence under all attacks, and could even make
allowance for the asperity of his assailants, taking account of Pusey's Huguenot ancestry and S. Wilberforce's
Evangelical origin. 'Mere Christian love,' he said,
'should make one tolerant, but philosophy is also a great
help.' What grieved him more than the attacks, was to
find that (through the action of others) he had given real
offence to simple minds, and also that he received so
little support from his old comrades. 'I thought I had
so expressed myself that religious minds could not be
offended.' ' Men join in denouncing what they admit in
1 Life of Alexander Ewing, p. 253.