forts of a mind on their own age, which else had made the
next their own. Careless of worldly opinions, these extraordinary men,
with the simplicity of children, are mere beings of sensation;
perpetually precipitated by their feelings, with slight powers of
reflection, and just as sincere when they act in contradiction to
themselves, as when they act in contradiction to others. In their
moral habits, therefore, we are often struck with strange contrasts;
their whole life is a jumble of actions; and we are apt to condemn
their versatility of principles as arising from dishonest motives; yet
their temper has often proved more generous, and their integrity
purer, than those who have crept up in one unvarying progress to an
eminence which they quietly possess, without any of the ardour of
these original, perhaps whimsical, minds. The most tremendous menace
to a man of this class would be to threaten to write the history of
his life and opinions. When Stubbe attacked the Royal Society, this
threat was held out against him. But menaces never startled his
intrepid genius; he roved in all his wild greatness; and, always
occupied more by present views than interested by the past events of
his life, he cared little for his consistency in the high spirit of
his independence.

The extraordinary character of Stubbe produced as uncommon a
history. Stubbe had originally been a child of fortune, picked up
at Westminster school by Sir Henry Vane the younger, who sent him
to Oxford; where this effervescent genius was, says Wood, "kicked,
and beaten, and whipped."[264] But if these little circumstances
marked the irritability and boldness of his youth, it was equally
distinguished by an entire devotion to his studies. Perhaps one of
the most anomalous of human characters was that of his patron, Sir
Henry Vane the younger (whom Milton has immortalised in one of the
noblest of sonnets), the head of the Independents, who combined with
the darkest spirit of fanaticism the clear views of the most sagacious
politician. The gratitude of Stubbe lasted through all the changeful
fortunes of the chief of a faction--a long date in the records of
human affection! Stubbe had written against monarchy, the church, the
university, &c.; for which, after the Restoration, he was accused
by his antagonists. He exults in the reproach; he replies with all
that frankness of simplicity, so beautiful amid our artificial
manners. He denies not the charge; he never