Froude himself called it in after life a "cry of pain," meaning that it was intended to relieve the intolerable pressure of his thoughts.

It is not a novel, it is not a treatise, it is not poetry, it is not romance.

It is the delineation of a mood; and though it was called, with some reason, sceptical, its moral, if it has a moral, is that scepticism leads to misconduct.
That unpleasant and unverified hypothesis, soon rejected by Froude himself, has been revived by M.Bourget in Le Disciple, and L'Etape.
The Nemesis of Faith is as unwholesome as either of these books, and has not their literary charm.

It had few friends, because it disgusted free-thinking Liberals as much as it scandalised orthodox Conservatives.

If it were read at all nowadays, as it is not, it would be read for the early sketches of Newman and Carlyle, afterwards amplified in memorable pages which are not likely to perish.
-- * Chapman, 1849.
-- In a letter to Charles Kingsley, written from Dartington on New Year's Day, 1849, Froude speaks with transparent candour of his book, and of his own mind: "I wish to give up my Fellowship.