He loved his familiar surroundings, for nothing can vulgarise Oxford.
He found men who still read the classics as literature, not to convict Aeschylus of violating Dawes's Canon, or to get loafers through the schools.

He was not in all respects, it must be admitted, abreast of modern thought.

His education had been unscientific, and he cared no more for Darwin than Carlyle did.

He had learnt from his brother William, who died in 1879,* the scope and tendency of modern experiments, and astronomical illustrations are not uncommon in his writings.

But the bent of his mind was in other directions, and he had never been under the influence of Spencer or of Mill.