began, and that he realised his own powers. In October, 1836, four
months after Hurrell's death, he came into residence at Oriel. That
distinguished society was then at the climax of its fame; Dr. Hawkins
was beginning his long career as Provost; Newman and Church were
Fellows; the Oriel Common Room had a reputation unrivalled in Oxford,
and was famous far beyond the precincts of the University. But of
these circumstances Froude thought little, or nothing. He
felt free. For the first time in his life the means of social
intercourse and enjoyment were at his disposal. His internal
weakness had been overcome, and his health, in spite of all he had
gone through, was good. He had an ample allowance, and facilities
for spending it among pleasant companions in agreeable ways. He had
shot up to his full height, five feet eleven inches, and from his
handsome features there shone those piercing dark eyes which riveted
attention where-ever they were turned. His loveless, cheerless
boyhood was over, and the liberty of Oxford, which, even after the
mild constraint of a public school, seems boundless, was to him the
perfection of bliss. He began to develop those powers of
conversation which in after years gave him an irresistible influence
over men and women, young and old. Convinced that, like his brothers
and sisters, he had but a short time to live, and having
certainly been full of misery, he resolved to make the best of his
time, and enjoy himself while he could. He was under no obligation
to any one, unless it were to the Archdeacon for his pocket-money.
His father and his brother, doubtless with the best intentions, had
made life more painful for him after his mother's death than they
could have made it if she had been alive. But Hurrell was gone, his
father was in Devonshire, and he could do as he pleased. He lived
with the idle set in college; riding, boating, and playing tennis,
frequenting wines and suppers. From vicious excess his intellect and
temperament preserved him. Deep down in his nature there was a
strong Puritan element, to which his senses were subdued.
Nevertheless, for two years he lived at Oxford in contented
idleness, saying with Isaiah, and more literally than the prophet,

"Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we shall die."

It was a wholly unreformed Oxford to which Froude came. If it
"breathed the last enchantments of the Middle Age," it was mediaeval
in its system too, and the most active spirits o