Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: PART I THE EMOTIONAL LIFE CHAPTER I THE SOLITARY BY CHOICE There strayed awhile, amid the woods of Dart, One who could love them, but who durst not love. A vow had bound him ne'er to give his heart To streamlet bright, or soft, secluded grove. 'Twas a hard, humbling task, onwards to move His easy-captured eyes from each fair spot, With unattached and lonely step to rove O'er lonely meads which soon its print forgot; Yet kept he safe his pledge, prizing his pilgrim lot.1 A Heart which could love but durst not love, the heart of the pilgrim turned towards the new Jerusalem, open, no doubt, to the slightest wayside attractions, but, in spite of this, faithful to the end to the vow he had made not to give himself to any creature, perhaps we may have the right to sum up in this melancholy and noble symbol the emotional life of Newman. I say perhaps, to remind the reader that we are plunging into a dark forest, and to prepare him for the movements, to and fro, of a curiosity at once unfettered and persevering which, attracted by this magnificent subject for analysis, would like to reduce the element of mystery to a minimum. Let us stop one moment on the surface of the subject and ask ourselves how his contemporaries regarded Newman in his everyday life. The common impression was said to be that of graciousness, simplicity, a reserve somewhat chilling, and, occasionally, alarming. 1 The verses are of 1831. See Verses on Various Occasions, p. 57. Nothing more characterised Newman than his unconscious refinement. Thus speaks a good judge, the poet Aubrey de Vere.] It would have been impossible for him to tolerate coarse society, or coarse books, or manners seriously deficient in self-respect and respect for others. There was also in him a tenderne...