J. R. Hope, Esq. to the Rev. J. H. Newman.
6 Stone Buildings, Linc. Inn: Nov. 4, '43.
Dear Newman,—… As to the Roman leaning, no doubt your 'Lives,' at least many of them, must evince it; no doubt also that, unless carefully managed, it will give offence. But may not caution obviate the latter? Is it not possible to commence by lives which will not at once bring the whole set into popular disrepute? the less palatable ones being kept for a more advanced stage. May it not also be provided that in an historical work, a purely historical character shall be given to what as matter of fact cannot be denied, and which can only be objected to when it is adopted by the writers as a matter of principle in which they themselves concur? To the asceticism, devotion, and anti-secular spirit of the English saints we are, under every point of view, entitled to refer; and if any part of these virtues was displayed in necessary relation to Rome, or to Roman institutions, this in a portraiture of their lives cannot be omitted, but certainly need not be canonised as amongst their merits. It seems to me possible simply to take the Church of their times as the Church, without entering into the question whether any of the conditions under which it then existed are necessary for its existence now. And so their acts done in relation to the Church of their day may be dwelt upon, while the further question whether the Church of our day is capable of eliciting such acts may be left to the judgment of the reader.
I am not sure that I have made myself intelligible in this, and still less whether it is worth your reading, but I fancied that you wished an opinion, and I give it, valeat quantum….
Yrs ever truly,
JAMES R. HOPE.
Rev. J. H. Newman.
The Rev. J. H. Newman to J. R. Hope, Esq.
Littlemore: Nov. 6, 1843.
My dear Hope,— … You have not gone to the bottom of the difficulty. It is very easy to say, Give facts without comment; but in the first place, what can be so dry as mere facts? the book won't sell, nor deserve to sell. It must be ethical; but to be ethical is merely to colour a narrative with one's own mind, and to give a tone to it. Now this is the difficulty, altering this or that passage, leaving out this or that expression, will not alter the case. I will not answer for being aware of the tone in myself. Pusey put his finger on passages which I had not thought about. Is he to be ever marking passages? if so, he has the real trouble of being editor, not I.