If it "breathed the last enchantments of the Middle Age," it was mediaeval in its system too, and the most active spirits of the place, the leaders of the Oxford Movement, were frank reactionaries, who hated the very name of reform.

Even a reduction in the monstrous number of Irish Bishoprics pertaining to the establishment was indignantly denounced as sacrilege, and was the immediate cause of Keble's sermon on National Apostasy to which the famous "movement" has been traced.

John Henry Newman was at that time residing in Oriel, not as a tutor, but as Vicar of St.Mary's.

He was kind to Froude for Hurrell's sake, and introduced him to the reading set.

The fascination of his character acted at once as a spell.