The past rushed back upon her.
'Am I she who once stood on that Crimean height?' she wildly
asked-- "The Lady with a lamp shall stand . . .The lamp shows me
only my utter shipwreck.'
She sought consolation in the writings of the Mystics and in a
correspondence with Mr. Jowett. For many years the Master of
Balliol acted as her spiritual adviser. He discussed with her in
a series of enormous letters the problems of religion and
philosophy; he criticised her writings on those subjects with the
tactful sympathy of a cleric who was also a man of the world; and
he even ventured to attempt at times to instil into her
rebellious nature some of his own peculiar suavity. 'I sometimes
think,' he told her, 'that you ought seriously to consider how
your work may be carried on, not with less energy, but in a
calmer spirit. I am not blaming the past... But I want the peace
of God to settle on the future.' He recommended her to spend her
time no longer in 'conflicts with Government offices', and to
take up some literary work. He urged her to 'work out her notion
of Divine Perfection', in a series of essays for Frazer's
Magazine. She did so; and the result was submitted to Mr. Froude,
who pronounced the second essay to be 'even more pregnant than
the first. I cannot tell,' he said, 'how sanitary, with
disordered intellects, the effects of such papers will be.
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