mother, each would be sure of a greeting and a few words of
talk when they met the Rector on his rounds. In society he might at
times be too impetuous or insistent, when questions were stirred in
which he was deeply interested. Tennyson tells us how he 'walked hard up
and down the study for hours, smoking furiously and affirming that
tobacco was the only thing that kept his nerves quiet'. Green compares
him to a restless animal, and Stopford Brooke speaks of his
quick-rushing walk, his keen face like a sword, and his body thinned out
to a lath, and complains that he 'often screams when he ought to speak'.
But this excitability was soothed by the country, and in his own parish
he was at his best. He would never have been so beloved by his
parishioners, if they had not found him willing to listen as well as to
advise and to instruct.

His first venture into public life met with less general favour. The
year 1848 saw many upheavals in Europe. On the Continent thrones
tottered and fell, republics started up for a moment and faded away. In
England it was the year of the Chartist riots, and political and social
problems gave plenty of matter for thought. Monster meetings were held
in London, which were not free from disorder. The wealthier classes and
the Government were alarmed, troops were brought up to London and the
Duke of Wellington put in command. Events seemed to point to outbreaks
of violence and the starting of a class-war. Frederick Denison Maurice,
whom above all men living Kingsley revered, was the leader of a group of
men who were greatly stirred by the movement. They saw that more than
political reform and political charters were needed; and, while full of
sympathy for the working classes, they were not minded to say smooth
things and prophesy Utopias in which they had no belief. Filled with the
desire to help his fellow-men, indignant at abuses which he had seen
with his own eyes, Kingsley came at once to their side. He went to
London to see for himself, attended meetings, wrote pamphlets, and
seemed to be promoting agitation. The tone in which he wrote can best be
seen by a few words from the pamphlet addressed to the 'Workmen of
England', which was posted up in London. 'The Charter is not bad, if the
men who use it are not bad. But will the Charter make you free? Will it
free you from slavery to ten-pound bribes? Slavery to gin and beer?
Slavery to every spouter who flatters your self-conceit and stirs up
bi