undergraduate
Oxford, and belonging to another college, between which and Green's
there existed much rivalry, who, having been defeated by Green in
competition for a University prize, said, "If it had been any one
else, I should have been vexed, but I don't mind being beaten by a man
I respect so much." My friend knew Green very slightly, and had been
at one time strongly prejudiced against him by rumours of his
heterodox opinions.

So much for those undergraduate days on which recollection loves to
dwell, but which were not days of unmixed happiness to Green, for his
means were narrow and the future rose cloudy before him. When anxiety
was removed by the income which a fellowship secured, he still
hesitated as to his course in life. At one time he thought of
journalism, or of seeking a post in the Education Office. More
frequently his thoughts turned to the clerical profession. His
theological opinions would not have permitted him to enter the
service of the Church of England, but he did seriously consider
whether he should become a Unitarian minister. It was not till he
found that his college needed him as a teacher that these difficulties
came to an end. Similarly he had doubted whether to devote himself to
history, to theology, or to metaphysics. For history he had
unquestionable gifts. With no exceptional capacity for mastering or
retaining facts, he had a remarkable power of penetrating at once to
the dominant facts, of grasping their connection, and working out
their consequences. He had also a keen sense of the dramatic aspect of
events, and a turn, not unlike Carlyle's, partly perhaps formed on
Carlyle, of fastening on the details in which character shows itself,
and illumining narrative by personal touches. On the problems of
theology he had meditated even at school, and after taking his degree
he set himself to a systematic study of the German critics, and I
remember that when we were living together at Heidelberg he had begun
to prepare a translation of C. F. Baur's principal treatise. As he
worked slowly, the translation was never finished. Though not
professing to be an adherent of the Tuebingen school, he had been
fascinated by Baur's ingenuity and constructive power.

Ultimately he settled down to metaphysical and ethical inquiries, and
devoted to these the last thirteen years of his life. During his
undergraduate years the two intellectual forces most powerful at
Oxford had been the writings of J. H