This letter only made
matters worse. The orthodox decried it as timid, and the liberals
denounced it as irregular. The same influences were exerted in the
sister island, and the Protestant archbishops in Ireland issued a
joint letter warning the faithful against the "disingenuousness" of
the book. Everything seemed to increase the ferment. A meeting of
clergy and laity having been held at Oxford in the matter of
electing a Professor of Sanscrit, the older orthodox party, having
made every effort to defeat the eminent scholar Max Miller, and all
in vain, found relief after their defeat in new denunciations of
_Essays and Reviews_.
Of the two prelates who might have been expected to breast the
storm, Tait, Bishop of London, afterward Archbishop of Canterbury,
bent to it for a period, though he soon recovered himself and did
good service; the other, Thirlwall, Bishop of St. David's, bided
his time, and, when the proper moment came, struck most effective
blows for truth and justice.
Tait, large-minded and shrewd, one of the most statesmanlike of
prelates, at first endeavoured to detach Temple and Jowett from
their associates; but, though Temple was broken down with a load of
care, and especially by the fact that he had upon his shoulders the
school at Rugby, whose patrons had become alarmed at his connection
with the book, he showed a most refreshing courage and manliness.
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