3-028-222 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Mr J. A. Froude, the historian, 1871. Engraving from a photograph by Messrs. Elliott and Fry. 'Mr. Froude's...own private convictions, of which his writings have made no secret,...are manifestly compatible with a devout faith in the Divine rule, with the keenest sense of human responsibility, and with the highest esteem for righteousness, public or private. He insists upon the sterner virtues almost in ascetic measure...No highly-educated man of the present day, not a debater in the lists of party strife, has uttered so many paradoxical opinions with reference to matters within the range of political science and experience. It is still more painful to observe that he has been led, through his partiality for a selfish and headstrong tyrant, into unworthy sophistries and distortions of facts, seeking to excuse the worst acts of injustice, of ingratitude, and of cruelty perpetrated by Henry VIII. He may be right in believing that Anne Boleyn was a guilty wife; but he is very wrong in pretending to justify the monstrous behaviour of her husband...Besides these graver faults in Mr. Froude's history of Henry VIII., it has some literary defects...'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.