Practically expelled from his college, regarded by his own family as almost a black sheep, he found himself taken up, and treated as an equal, by a writer of European fame, whom of all his contemporaries he most admired.

In deference to Carlyle he rewrote his opening paragraphs, and added useful dates.

European history and spiritual England do come into far greater prominence "as we proceed." The abbreviation and summary of extracts might, I think, have been carried farther with advantage.

But it is curious that Froude was attacked for the precisely opposite fault of treating his authorities with too much freedom.

Carlyle, who knew what historical labour was, saw at once that Froude dealt with his material as a born student and an ardent lover of truth.