Tait

“ Tait felt that he had been taking a rather ungracious attitude towards one who had suffered much for the sake of truth in science.
It cannot be denied that Chauvinism was one of the eccentric characteristics of Prof. Tait. He had never studied on the Continent; he never traveled, I believe, beyond the narrow confines of the British Islands; and in his later years, he became something of a. recluse. What he said of the life of Rankine, applied with still greater force to his own. "The life of a genuine scientific man is, from the common point of view, almost always uneventful. ”

“ Tait was filled with contempt. "What if it had been any of the guests that had found you two maniacs as I did. What if I had been Enslee!"
Persis was as amazed as he was. She muttered, "I know—I know—but I can't stand everything."
Tait tried to patch up his broken plan. "Harvey, you've disappointed me bitterly. But I give you one more chance to retrieve yourself. Promise me never to see Mrs. Enslee again."
Forbes shook his head.
Tait could hardly believe his senses. "My God! Must the deep friendship of two men always be at the mercy of the first woman that comes along? ”

“ But Tait, Tillotson, and Warham, each in his day, were forward-looking men. They took the inherited notion of cultural organization, and tried to give it a new life in terms of the modern world. They failed. Tait was the last of the line. Since his time, smaller men have drifted along with limited aims. Their aims are quite sensible, granting their belief. But they completely fail to stir the blood of those who seek for a vision of civilization in this world. ”

“ Disraeli, then Prime Minister, suggested another prelate for the post, but the Queen, who did not share her minister’s estimate of 108 that prelate, expressed a preference for Tait. Her choice was amply justified, for Tait united, and indeed possessed in a high degree, the qualifications which have just been enumerated. He was, if it be not a paradox to say so, more remarkable as an archbishop than as a man. He had no original power as a thinker. He was not a striking preacher, and the more pains he took with his sermons the less interesting did they become. ”

“ Tait made an elaborate pretense of indifference and showed a violent interest in the leg of a chicken. Forbes turned curry-color with shame as he answered: "Yes, Enslee announced the engagement himself—the very day I saw you last."
His head drooped as if his neck could no longer hold it up. Tait noted his harrowed look and broke out angrily:
"Don't be cut up, my boy, just because she's fool enough to marry a bigger fool than herself."
"Oh, please!" Forbes protested. He could have struck a younger man in Persis' defense, but he could only appeal to so old a man as Tait. ”

“ Though the necessary duties of his deanery were light, Tait at once, with his earnest pastoral interest, made new work for himself. His advocacy was sought by many religious associations, and he spoke for the Church Missionary Society at their anniversary in 1854; but he refused to join any of the more extreme protestant societies, and maintained his determination not to be a party man. His influence and reputation spread; and as early as 1851 Lord John Russell made no secret of his wish to recommend him for a bishopric.
In 1850 he was nominated a member of the Oxford University commission. ”

“ Tait was a Churchman by conviction; but although the work of his life was all done in England, he remained a Scotsman to the end. It was the opinion of some that he never really understood the historical position of the English Church and took no pains to learn. John Tillotson, one of his predecessors in the archbishopric, was a favourite hero of his, and in some ways the two men resembled one another. But Tait had none of Tillotson’s gentleness, and he rode roughshod over the obstacles in his way. ”

“ It was my turn to laugh, which I did, nervously.
"In Oldburgh, Tait seems to stand for the opposite of dictate," I hazarded. "That means to talk, and you won't—talk."
"But I am talking," he insisted. "I'm asking you questions as fast as ever I can." 137
"However, your technique is wrong," I replied. "You shouldn't ask questions of a newspaper woman. You should let her ask the questions, and you should furnish the answers."
"But you're not a newspaper woman now, are you?" he demanded in some alarm. "I hope not—and certainly I must ask you questions before I begin to tell you things. ”

“ He had not the full support of either of the two great clerical parties; he sympathised with what was best in each of them; but neither of them entered into the object which he set before him—that of claiming an all-embracing national influence for the church of England—and only a few, of whom Walter Farquhar Hook [q. v.] was one, showed that they could welcome the appointment of a just man not precisely of their own views.
Tait’s first acts as bishop were designed to stimulate evangelistic efforts. ”

“ It contained a series of seven papers, all but one by clergymen, which aimed at showing how Christianity was affected by the modern conditions of knowledge and thought. Two of the writers—Benjamin Jowett, tutor (afterwards master) of Balliol, and Frederick Temple, headmaster of Rugby (afterwards archbishop of Canterbury) —were Tait’s personal friends; and when an outcry was raised in orthodox circles against the book, the bishop held a conference with them, at which they gathered that he saw nothing in their essays which could fairly be blamed. ”

“ Maitland Tait observed, as the audience courteously saluted the ancient emblem of hostility, and the echoes of applause died away. "Since we're going to get no tea here, can't we drive by some place up-town? There's a good-looking place in Union Street—" 122
"But that would make you very late for your engagement, I'm afraid," I demurred. "It will take some little time to drive in."
He looked at me wonderingly for a moment.
"My engagement? Oh, yes—but it can wait."
"Then, if it can, I'm afraid Mrs. Walker will not let you off. ”

“ Though only lecturer in mathematics and logic, he was early associated with Tait in the work of superintending the moral and religious training of the undergraduates. He had the faculty of winning the confidence of his juniors, and his conversation was felt as a potent stimulus by men of a fibre very unlike his own—by Benjamin Jowett, by Arthur Penrhyn Stanley [q. v.] , and Arthur Hugh Clough [q. v.] Too potent it proved for Clough, who in 1839 escaped with relief from ‘the vortex of philosophism and discussion whereof Ward is the centre’ (Remains, i. 84) . ”

“ Creative rural imagery is always comparatively flat."
Thirty years after its first appearance, Mr Tait published a new edition of the song in Mr Thomson's Collection, vol. iv., in which he has, by alterations on the first half stanza, acknowledged the justice of the strictures of the Ayrshire bard. ”

“ He awoke once during the night to find himself with a photograph of his lady-love in one hand and the handkerchief in the other. This arrangement stung him to the heart, and he made as though he wanted to throw the handkerchief out of the window.
“But no!” he said to himself in time, “I might need it as a reminder that I must brace myself and drive all thoughts of Miss Beattison out of my mind.” ”

“ He also, with three other tutors, commenced a system of religious instruction for the Balliol servants, and offered to create an endowment for its perpetuation.
But that which made the greatest impression on the world was his bearing and conduct in reference to the Oxford movement. Keble’s assize sermon on national apostasy was preached just before Tait took his degree (14 July 1833) , and the ‘Tracts’ were begun in September. Tait’s closest friends and colleagues, William George Ward [q. v.] and Frederick Oakeley [q. v.] , were entirely carried away by the current ”

“ Mr. Felix Johnstone, also bespattered by the waiter’s munificence, for which he was devoutly grateful, as it gave him an excuse for leaving the table, walked to the door as if he expected to be hanged outside. As he bowed himself out with a calm born of the supremest desperation, three glances were daguerreotyped on his brain—the flaming visage of the Bishop burning with a look of very unapostolic rage ”

“ Ancient, ancient beyond thought are the Taithu, the race of the Silent Ones. Far, far below this place where now we sit, close to earth heart itself were they born; and there they dwelt for time upon time, laya upon laya upon laya—with others, not like them, some of which have vanished time upon time agone, others that still dwell—below—in their—cradle. ”

“ I hope you believe me."
"A city editor doesn't have to be believed, but has to be obeyed," I responded, rising again from my chair where I had dropped to lock my desk. "Now, what is it I must do?"
"Well, I have a hunch that you will succeed where Clemons and Bolton and Reade have failed," he said. "And the foolish way the fellow acts makes it necessary for us to use all haste and strategy!"
"The fellow?"
"Maitland Tait. A day or two ago it was understood that he might remain in this town for several days longer—then to-day comes the news that he's straining every nerve to get away to-morrow!" ”

“ It is probable, that the people of Taiti deal amongst each other with unquestioned sincerity. Whether they be at home or no, by day or by night, their houses are always open. Every one gathers fruits from the first tree he meets with, or takes some in any house into which he enters. ”

“ In his letter Tait used the symbol for Maxwell, because in thermodynamics there is the equation Maxwell addressed one of his odes to Tait as "The chief musician upon Nabla."
Tait's Quaternion project had now developed into a formal introduction to Quaternions; an announcement of the forthcoming book appeared soon after Tait removed to Edinburgh. He had now ceased to teach pure mathematics; he and Prof. William Thomson had sketched out an elaborate treatise on natural philosophy in four volumes' ”

“ As he saw Alice, a wonderful light leapt to his eyes, and in the soft Seminole tongue he murmured: “It is the Water-Lily come back,” and he stooped and kissed the fair young hand which hung by her side.
“Ah, no, Tallahassee,” exclaimed the elder lady, with a rising mist in her eyes and a quiver in her voice which showed that she forgave the present neglect for the sake of the old and faithful memory, “Water-lilies fade as even great warriors fade. I am the friend whose husband you saved at Homosassa, and this new Water-Lily is my grand-daughter.” ”

“ Thus accustomed to live continually immersed in pleasure, the people of Taiti have acquired a witty and humorous temper, which is the offspring of ease and of 259joy. They likewise contracted from the same source a character of fickleness, which constantly amazed us. Every thing strikes them, yet nothing fixes their attention: amidst all the new objects, which we presented to them, we could never succeed in making them attend for two minutes together to any one. ”

“ Like most other natives of Africa, the Wa Taita are exceedingly superstitious, and this failing is turned to good account by the all-powerful "witch-doctor" or "medicine-man." It is, for instance, an extraordinary sight to see the absolute faith with which a Ki Taita will blow the simba-dawa, or "lion medicine ", to the four points of the compass before lying down to sleep in the open. ”

“ The Angels, Heaven's Inhabitants, even they
Created were also on the first Day;
For when the Earth's Foundation it was laid,
We read in Scripture, that 'tis of them said,
That at its laying they did so rejoice,
They sung together with united Voice:
These Creatures were made Beings so refin'd,
Yet a Degree above the human Kind;
And by the Effect of creating Power,
Angels were made entirely Spirits pure,
That have no Substance that's of ought we call
Flesh, Blood or Bones, or Ought material. ”

“ This cause, however, does not exist at Taiti, since, as we have already said above, the people there are not troubled with such insupportable insects. The custom of painting is accordingly a mere fashion, the same as at Paris. Another 253custom at Taiti, common to men and women, is, to pierce their ears, and to wear in them pearls or flowers of all sorts. The greatest degree of cleanliness further adorns this amiable nation; they constantly bathe, and never eat nor drink without washing before and after it. ”

“ Another matter which was agitating men’s minds was the publication in 1862 by Colenso, bishop of Natal, of the first volume of his work on the Pentateuch and the Book of Joshua, which showed complete divergence from orthodox views on the subject of inspiration. There was a great outcry against Colenso, who had come to England; several of the English bishops inhibited him from preaching in their dioceses, and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel withdrew from him the disposal of their grant for Natal. To both these steps Tait was opposed. ”

“ The very smell of wine or brandy disgusted them; they likewise shewed their aversion to tobacco, spices, and in general to every thing strong.
There are two races of men in the isle. The inhabitants of Taiti consist of two races of men, very different from each other, but speaking the same language, having the same customs, and seemingly mixing without distinction. The first, which is the most numerous one, produces men of the greatest size; it is very common to see them measure six (Paris) feet and upwards in height. ”