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not feel able to accept-for presentation to him: a tangible proof of the permanency of his influence.

Art had comparatively few votaries at Oxford, and, in fact, was regarded by many as a subject alien to the place, when Ruskin was appointed as its first professor, and played the part of the fairy godmother to the Cinderella of studies. He brought it out of obscurity into prominence, and invested it with a character and status to which it had previously been a stranger.

Previous to the appointment in 1856 of Sir F. Gore Ouseley, as Professor of Music, the art was at a very low ebb in the University, for there was little or no official encouragement, and neither the chair nor the musical degree was of any repute. It is true that a distinguished composer, Sir Henry Bishop, occupied the chair, but it was mainly an honorary appointment, the stipend attached to the office being merely nominal, so he did not lecture and rarely visited the University. At his death the stipend was largely increased, and a singularly felicitous appointment was made in the choice of Sir F. Ouseley as his successor. He became an active living force, and his remarkable talent and energy raised music to a position it had never previously occupied at Oxford, and the high standard he set up for the degree greatly enhanced its value.

A moving spirit in that progressive policy which has done so much to bring the University into closer touch with the country at large was Sir Henry Acland, and he is also entitled to be gratefully remembered by a citizen, like myself, for his constant efforts to promote a good understanding between gown and town in the face of old antagonisms. Devoted as he was to the University, of which he was so distinguished an alumnus, he never forgot that he was a citizen also. With his persuasive force, which could do so much to ensure a favourable reply, he at every opportunity put to the University the question, "And what, in particular, can we do for the city in whose midst we live?" Hence it was mainly owing to his forethought and advocacy that the University treasure-houses, its museums, libraries, and lecture-rooms were made much

more available than they had been to outsiders and to Oxford citizens in particular. Trusted by both gown and town, he was a connecting link between the two, and thereby a powerful agent in the cause of peace and amity.

CHAPTER XXVIII

Some Recollections of a Church-goer-The Dawn of a Belief-Religious Gloom-Early Church-going-St. Martin's Church Cakes-Church Wanderings-The Tractarian Movement Theological Battles.

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WING to the delicacy of the subject and the difficulty of treating it without arousing latent susceptibilities and stirring up the embers of controversy, I was in two minds as to whether I would write this chapter at all, and, as it is, I have left it nearly to the finish. But I felt that, if I let it be inferred that the ordinary citizen stood altogether aloof from the religious movements of his age, I should be doing him an injustice, and, in addition, the Victorian period could not be truly pictured if no count were taken of such movements and their effect upon the individual. So I determined to run all risks and round off my narrative with such personal experiences as have befallen me in relation to a subject which, after all, concerns us far more intimately than any other.

On looking back, one can see how much one is the creature of circumstances during the formulation of a belief, upbringing and environment being such important factors in the case. The more this is realized, the more tolerant it should make us of those whose creeds, even if they be poles asunder, do not synchronize with our own. The workings of a child's inexperienced mind, when first faced with conditions and problems to which it is a stranger, are worth recalling in after years, if they help to a better comprehension of some of the trials incidental to the spring-tide of the thinking powers. "The happy days of childhood" has passed into a stereotyped phrase, mainly owing to a natural disposition to consign early troubles to the limbo of forgetfulness. Arising out of this