Lucky indeed were the editors who could obtain the services of such a reviewer, and he was fortunate in being able to recommend with power the poetry of his friend, Matthew Arnold.* -- * His recommendation was entirely sincere.

"Matt.

A.'s Sohrab and Rustum," he wrote to Clough, "is to my taste all but perfect." -- Although Froude enjoyed with avidity the conversation of his chosen friends, he was not satisfied with intellectual epicureanism.

He was resolved to make for himself a name, to leave behind him some not unworthy memorial.

The history of the Reformation attracted him strongly.