Men and Women

“Bishop Blougram’s Apology” is made over the wine after dinner to defend himself from the criticisms of a doubting young literary man, who despises him because he considers that he cannot be true to his convictions in conforming to the doctrines of the Catholic Church.  He builds up his defence from the proposition that the problem of life is not to conceive ideals which cannot be realized, but to find what is and make it as fair as possible.  The bishop admits his unbelief, but being free to choose either belief or unbelief, since neither can be proved wholly true, chooses belief as his guiding principle, because he finds it the best for making his own life and that of others happy and comfortable in this world.  Once having chosen faith on this ground, the more absolute the form of faith, the more potent the results; besides, the bishop has that desire of domination in his nature, which the authorization of the Church makes safer for him.  To Gigadibs’ objection that were his nature nobler, he would not count this success, he replies he is as God made him, and can but make the best of himself as he is.  To the objection that he addresses himself to grosser estimators than he ought, he replies that all the world is interested in the fact that a man of his sense and learning, too, still believes at this late hour.  He points out the impossibility of his following an ideal like Napoleon’s, for, conceding the merest chance that doubt may be wrong, and judgment to follow this life, he would not dare to slaughter men as Napoleon had for such slight ends.  As for Shakespeare’s ideal, he can’t write plays like his if he wanted to, but he has realized things in his life which Shakespeare only imagined, and which he presumes Shakespeare would not have scorned to have realized in his life, judging from his fulfilled ambition to be a gentleman of property at Stratford.  He admits, however, that enthusiasm in belief, such as Luther’s, would be far preferable to his own way of living, and after this, enthusiasm in unbelief, which he might have if it were not for that plaguy chance that doubt may be wrong.  Gigadibs interposes that the risk is as great for cool indifference as for bold doubt.  Blougram disputes that point by declaring that doubts prove faith, and that man’s free will preferring to have faith true to having doubt true tips the balance in favor of faith, and shows that man’s instinct or aspiration is toward belief; that unquestioning belief, such as that of the Past, has no moral effect on man, but faith which knows itself through doubt is a moral spur.  Thus the arguments from expediency, instinct, and consciousness, all bear on the side of faith, and convince the bishop that it is safer to keep his faith intact from his doubts.  He then proves that Gigadibs, with all his assumption of superiority in his frankness of unbelief, is in about the same position as himself, since the moral law which he follows has no surer foundation than the religious law the bishop follows, both founded upon instinct.  The bishop closes as he began, with the consciousness that rewards for his way of living are of a substantial nature, while Gigadibs has nothing to show for his frankness, and does not hesitate to say that Gigadibs will consider his conversation with the bishop the greatest honor ever conferred upon him.  The poet adds some lines, somewhat apologetic for the bishop, intimating that his arguments were suited to the calibre of his critic, and that with a profounder critic he would have made a more serious defence.  Speaking of a review of this poem by Cardinal Wiseman (1801-1865), Browning says in a letter to a friend, printed in Poet-lore, May, 1896:  “The most curious notice I ever had was from Cardinal Wiseman on Blougram—­i.e., himself.  It was in the Rambler, a Catholic journal of those days, and certified to be his by Father Prout, who said nobody else would have dared put it in.”  This review praises the poem for its “fertility of illustration and felicity of argument,” and says that “though utterly mistaken in the very groundwork of religion, though starting from the most unworthy notions of the work of a Catholic bishop, and defending a self-indulgence every honest man must feel to be disgraceful, [it] is yet in its way triumphant.”

6.  Brother Pugin:  (1810-1852), an eminent English architect, who, becoming a Roman Catholic, designed many structures for that Church.

34.  Corpus Christi Day:  Thursday after Trinity Sunday, when the Feast of the Sacrament of the Altar is celebrated.

45.  Che:  what.

54.  Count D’ Orsay:  (1798-1852), a clever Frenchman, distinguished as a man of fashion, and for his drawings of horses.

113.  Parma’s pride, the ’Jerome . . .  Correggio . . . the Modenese:  the picture of Saint Jerome in the Ducal Academy at Parma, by Correggio, who was born in the territory of Modena, Italy.

184.  A chorus-ending from Euripides:  the Greek dramatist, Euripides (480 B. C.- 406 B. C.), frequently ended his choruses with this thought—­sometimes with slight variations in expression:  “The Gods perform many things contrary to our expectations, and those things which we looked for are not accomplished; but God hath brought to pass things unthought of.”

316.  Peter’s . . . or rather, Hildebrand’s:  the claim of Hildebrand, Pope Gregory VII (1073-1085) for temporal power and authority exceeding Saint Peter’s, the founder of the Roman Church.

411.  Schelling:  the German philosopher (1775-1854).

472.  Austrian marriage:  the marriage of Marie Louise, daughter of the Emperor of Austria, to Napoleon I.

475.  Austerlitz:  fought with success by Napoleon, in 1805, against the coalition of Austria, Russia, and England, and resulting in the alliance mentioned with Austria and fresh overtures to the Papal power and the old French nobility.

514.  Trimmest house in Stratford:  New Place, a mansion in the heart of the town, built for Sir Hugh Clopton, and known for two centuries as his “great house,” bought with nearly an acre of ground by Shakespeare, in 1597.

516.  Giulio Romano:  Italian painter (1492-1546), referred to in “Winter’s Tale,” v. ii. 105. —­Dowland:  English musician, praised for his lute-playing in a sonnet in “The Passionate Pilgrim,” attributed to Shakespeare.

519.  “Pandulph,” etc.:  quotation from “King John,” iii. i. 138.

568.  Luther:  Martin (1483-1546), whose enthusiasm reformed the Church.

577.  Strauss:  (1808-1874), one of the Tuebingen philosophers, author of a Rationalistic “Life of Jesus.”

626.  “What think ye,” etc.:  Matthew 22.42.

664.  Ichors o’er the place:  ichor=serum, which exudes where the skin is broken, coats the hurt, and facilitates its healing.

667.  Snake ’neath Michael’s foot:  Rafael’s picture in the Louvre of Saint Michael slaying the dragon.

703.  Brother Newman:  John Henry (1801-1890), leader of the Tractarian movement at Oxford, which approached the doctrines of the Roman Church.  The last (90th) tract was entirely written by him.  The Bishop of Oxford was called upon to stop the series, and in 1845 Dr. Newman entered the Romish Church.

715.  King Bomba:  means King Puffcheek, King Liar, a sobriquet given to Ferdinand II, late king of the Two Sicilies. —­Lazzaroni:  Naples beggars, so called from the Lazarus of the Parable, Luke 16.20.

716.  Antonelli:  Cardinal, secretary of Pope Pius IX.

728.  Naples’ liquefaction:  the supposed miracle of the liquefaction of the blood of Saint Januarius the Martyr.  A small quantity of it is preserved in a crystal reliquary in the great church at Naples, and when brought into the presence of the head of the saint, it melts.

732.  Decrassify:  make less crass or gross.

744.  Fichte:  (1761-1814), celebrated German metaphysician, who defined God as the “moral order of the universe.”

877. “Pastor est tui Dominus”:  the Lord is your shepherd.

915.  Anacreon:  Greek lyric poet of the sixth century B. C.

972. In partibus Episcopus, etc.:  “In countries where the Roman Catholic faith is not regularly established, as it was not in England before the time of Cardinal Wiseman, there were no bishops of sees in the kingdom itself, but they took their titles from heathen lands.”