as a controversialist and a divine, no one who reads

this biography will question his downright sincerity and love of righteousness. We may think him right or wrong in some of his conclusions, but it is impossible not to admire the courage with which he advocated freedom of inquiry in the study of theology, and the reverential spirit he displayed in his searches after truth. He was of an eager, ardent, irritable temperament, apt to form, perhaps, a hasty judgment of persons, but patient in the investigation of principles. The storms he met with on the troubled sea of controversy some- times, as was but natural, disturbed his equanimity, and then his utterances lacked the smoothness and grace so much valued by Church dignitaries. He spoke always honestly, but not always justly, and we think Mrs. Williams would have done wisely to have omitted some of the remarks made by her husband on the conduct of living persons. A man may say in familiar conversation, or write to intimate friends, many things which he would shrink from seeing in print, which, indeed, he would not think of expressing when time had calmed his indignation. It seems a pity, therefore, that they should be preserved after his death, and it is even a greater pity that the biographer should have added also some ill- judged expressions of her own. The conduct of Dr. Thirlwall, from whom Rowland Williams expected more sympathy than he appears to have received, is said to have been wanting in moral courage, and it is observed that the general tone of his lordship's letters indicated a desire on his part to be spared trouble. Again, there are allusions to the Bishop's " temporising policy," while Dean Stanley, of all men in the world, is credited with "diplomatic equivocation."

We may note another fault in this otherwise admirable biography before passing on to more important topics. As far as the public is concerned, Dr. Rowland Williams is chiefly interesting as a Christian free-thinker. He was learned, thoughtful, and devout—a com- bination rarely to be met with in clergymen—and his views on the great religious controversies of the day are full of interest, but the narrative of his career would be more attractive if confined within a narrower compass, and the first hundred pages of the first volume might well have been reduced to twenty. Until Williams is fairly launched as a controversialist, his course resembles that of most laborious students and teachers. A few of the main facts of his life shall be noticed, with the proviso that the battle he had to fight was wholly spiritual, and that if he had lived a life of peaceable orthodoxy, his days might have been passed in sweet content, and with the high reputation that follows in the wake of great learning and of unquestionable piety. " Poverty's uncon- querable bar " never stood in the way, happily, of Rowland Williams's advancement, nor had he many years to wait before attaining a satisfactory position. From Eton, which he left with the highest character, not only for scholarship, but for unexcep- tionably good conduct, he went up to Cambridge, and graduated at King's College, where his character was soon established as a reading man. In due time he became a Fellow of King's, travelled on the Continent, took pupils, accepted for a brief period the post of assistant-master at Eton, and then, owing to a temporary break-down of health, returned to Cambridge, where in 1842 he was ordained deacon, and the following year took priest's orders.

The Life and Letters of Rowland Williams, D.D., with Extracts from his Note-books.

Edited by his Wife. 2 vole. London : Henry S. King and Co. 1874.

In the summer of that year he was appointed classical tutor of his college, a post which he held with high reputation for several years. The " luxuriousness " of the life there he found injurious and wished on that account to leave ; but the Provost induced him to remain for a time, which was not ill employed, for he gained the Muir Prize for an essay on Christian evidence adapted to the use of learned Hindris. This was a preliminary dissertation, for which Williams received £100. It was the germ of his most important work, Christianity and Hinduism.

Rowland Williams, a Welshman by birth, was ardently attached to the Principality. It was natural, therefore, that on the re- signation of the Rev. Harold Browne, the Vice-Principalship of St. David's College, Lampeter, should be offered to the Cambridge Professor. " He was looked upon," we are told, " as one who, from his learning, together with his patriotism, would do great things for Wales." He entered upon his labours in this new field—very weary labours they proved to be—in 1850, and for twelve years "gave himself up to the work with all the ardour and earnestness of his character." The difficulties with which be had to contend were manifold, and we are told that "the constant irritation of petty disputes and the controversies entailed were like a perpetual blister." But he had his reward in the hearty affection and appreciation of the students. The enthusiasm and untiring labour which marked his course at Lampeter were not thrown away, and there can be no doubt that had he been more cautious and less outspoken, Williams might have died a Welsh Bishop. But then his biography would not have been written, or if written, would probably not have been read. Williams was always a sincere son of the Church of England, and never consciously acted in opposition to his ordination vows. " The spectacle," he once wrote, " of a clergyman preaching in the name of morality against the doctrines of his own Church is to me either unintelligible or unpleasant ;" and elsewhere Mrs. Wil- liams observes that her husband " was much repelled by the lax views held by some on the question of clerical obligation, and often annoyed by the pertinacity with which such sentiments were imputed to himself. He never would agree to the principle that subscription to the Articles means mere conformity to the Church." Indeed, it is evident that nothing aroused his disgust more strongly than what he calls "the vile, destructive spirit of evading religious obligations and profiting by legal evasion." At the same time, he was always an earnest advocate of Church reform, and in a letter addressed to the Spectator in 1852, he mentions several wants of the Church, most of which are now happily supplied. In 1854, Dr. Williams commenced a course of sermons at the Univer- sity of Cambridge, which he was prevented from concluding by the illness and death of his father. They excited intense interest, and alarmed the Record. The next year he was appointed to preach the Commemoration sermon at King's College, and these Cambridge sermons, with others delivered at Lampeter, were published under the title of Rational Godliness, and " produced a profound impression." The book was vehemently opposed, espe- cially by men who had not read it. The Bishops of Llandaff and of St. David's were appealed to, and the former, to whom Williams was chaplain, requested him to resign the office, and " took the further measure of admitting students from other dioceses into that of Llandaff" :- "By thus giving way," writes the biographer, " to a popular outcry, and visiting upon differences of opinion a penalty due to moral

offences, the Bishop was led into an action of exceeding unfairness and tyranny to the individual, as well as one productive of much injury to the College, in the difficulties thereby thrown in the way of him whose whole life was devoted to its best interests. Truly it is in the name of religion that the greatest acts of injustice are perpetrated. Is there, indeed, any other profession than the Church in which tyranny such as this would be tolerated ? "

Inspiration was the rock on which Williams was supposed to have foundered. He saw, as every man must see who dares to use his Protestant privilege of free inquiry, that the old, mechanical theory of inspiration is utterly untenable, that the Bible contains a human element, and that the truth of Christianity is not de- pendent on the accuracy of figures in the Pentateuch, or on the authorship or strictly historical value of the Book of Daniel. His views on Prophecy were also regarded as unorthodox, and these were confirmed by a prolonged study of the Hebrew text and by his translation of the Prophetical Books. He regarded the pro- phetical question as the key to his position theologically. In his Biblical researches, Williams considered that he erred too much, if possible, from caution, rather than from too daring an investi- gation of the sacred records, and it is clear that his method of study did not in any degree dimin'sh his reverence for the Bible. At all events, whether right or wrong in the result of his inquiries,

the claim of free inquiry for the members of the Church of England into all questions connected with Biblical criticism was never put forth more courageously, and the legal sanction gained for this freedom by the Privy Council judgment in connection with the famous Essays and Reviews proves that it was not put forth in vain.

The controversy caused by the publication of that once-famous volume has so entirely passed away, that it is unnecessary to re- vive it, but it may be as well to observe that Dr. Williams was far from accepting many of the opinions put forth by his fellow- essayists. In the thick of the excitement caused by the publica- tion of the Essays and Reviews, Williams, having been previously presented to the vicarage of Broadchalke, a parish on the Wilt- shire Downs, within a pleasant drive of Salisbury, bade farewell to Lampeter, and took up his residence in his new home. He had a wife now to cheer his loneliness, and one, if we may judge from this biography, in every way fitted to be a help-meet. A pleasant picture of his life as a rural vicar is given in these pages. It shows that his vast learning did not incapacitate him for the homely and useful duties of a country clergyman. He taught regularly in the Sunday-school and night-school, and his best boys might, it is said, have passed a first-class examination in Scriptural know- ledge :—

"Perhaps there was nothing which struck friends who came from a distance more—accustomed as they were to think of him chiefly with reference to his great talent and learning—than to see him on a Sunday in the school, surrounded by his plough-boys. He had a wonderfully- simple way of teaching, and a special gift of imparting knowledge in a form suited to the comprehension of those he was teaching. Nothing gave a greater idea of the versatility of his genius than the power he had of adapting himself, both in pulpit, class-room, and private, to his hearers."

One of his most popular acts was the letting of a large portion of the glebe land in allotments to the poor ; he also established a co-operative society, and there was no detail of parish business which he considered beneath his notice :—

" His ordinary visits to the poor were as those of a friend,—he in- terested himself in their families and their concerns. He was always gladly welcomed, and would chat with the men at odd times, whenever he met them, about their work, their crops, or whatever interested them. In times of sickness and sorrow his parishioners always used to look for his visits, and could not say enough of the comfort they derived from his spiritual ministrations. His charities were open-handed; he never grudged either time or money if a service was to be rendered to any one, and always welcomed gladly any fresh proposal for helping any of the people. His

theory was to teach them as far as possible to help themselves. Practically, to the old and the sick and those overburdened with large families nothing ever seemed too much for him to do, and his generosity led him often to be imagined much richer than was really the case."

Dr. Williams seems to have been also perfectly capable of preaching to a rustic audience so as to arrest their attention :—

" The silence and stillness with which people listened to him were a

proof of the effect upon his hearers Two watchwords which might be said pre-eminently to characterise his preaching were his favourite motto,—' The Spirit before the Letter,' and The Truth of Christ.' By the latter lie meant that which Christ taught, Christ's revelation of the Father, Christ's leading men thereby to the Father."

Rowland Williams, it is evident, was not oppressed by the weight of his great learning. He could enjoy a rural life among homely people, and he found time also, while prosecuting the severest studies, to keep pace with the light literature of the day, to write articles for the Reviews, to compose and publish verses, and to interest himself in politics. One of the most instructive features of the biography, we may observe in passing, is the correspondence with thoughtful persons whose doubts he attempts to solve, and the interest of this correspondence is greatly enhanced by the writer's comments on or recommendation of the works of well- known authors. Several beautiful and suggestive passages we had marked for quotation, but already perhaps we have said enough to induce our readers to take up this biography of an earnest and reverent-minded man, whose life was marked by a noble concentration of purpose, by a spirit of self-sacrifice, and by the absence of all mean ambition.