Chapter 9: Character of the Young Oxford Don
CHAPTER 9
CHARACTER OF THE
YOUNG OXFORD DON
YOUNG Newman was a thin and wiry man. From sketches we know he had a prominent nose and a wide mouth. He wore small spectacles with a metal frame. The color of his eyes was gray-blue; the color of his hair light brown. He walked fast and wrote just as fast. He was shy in large company but talkative and humorous among friends.
Newman’s Autobiographical Writings gives a good picture of his spiritual character, his weaknesses, and earnest desire for Christian holiness. This candid confession confirms that Newman’s life, like that of most men, was a mix of good and bad inclinations and actions, a complex fusion of noble and selfish human and spiritual motives. His diary entries indicate that Newman strove to acquire and grow in human and supernatural virtues, desiring to become a man of proven character. He gave generously of his time and money to family, friends, and parishioners. One entry reads: “gave sacrament money to poor women.”1 His diaries record frequent letter writing and many appointments and meals with friends.
As a Fellow, he earned money by giving private classes to students, which was a common practice at Oxford, but the students were often late to pay for his services. On one such occasion a diary entry reads: “I have but a few shillings left in my pocket, and owe many bills.”2 In November, he prayed more earnestly for relief, and the post brought him a letter with an enclosed payment of £25 from one of his students.3 By December 1823, pupils still owed him nearly £100.4
The young Oxford don also earned some money for articles that he wrote for the Encyclopedia Metropolitana and from different administrative positions he held at Oxford. In October of 1824, he was elected Junior Treasurer at Oriel, which provided him £60 per year, and in March of 1825, he was appointed Vice-Principal of St. Alban’s, which provided him with an additional £50 per year.
Newman enjoyed a modest living within his means. At Oriel he had a servant, as was the custom in the colleges. He paid for the keep of a horse that he liked to ride, for exercise and for the pleasure of riding. As a Fellow he did not travel much, and when he did, it was by coach (like most people) or on horseback. He ate meals in the College Hall, and sometimes in the Common Room except for the occasional entertainment of friends in his own rooms.
In addition to his own expenses, Newman’s early financial burdens included the support given to his brothers, Francis and Charles. When Mr. Newman died in 1824, his wife was left with a small income of £150 from £5000 invested in funds at three percent. She and her three daughters lived almost “in trunks,” traveling from relatives to friends when they did not stay at an establishment at Strand-on-the-Green in London, which their aunt operated as a boarding home. This business ran a deficit, which John Henry also supported with sums of money. When he became Tutor at Oriel in 1826 his financial situation changed since he began to earn between £600 and £700 each year.
Newman was meticulous about recording expenses and debts. He acquired this experience while acting as Bursar for St. Alban’s Hall and as Junior Treasurer at Oriel. In 1825, he was able to boast to his mother: “I have balanced my [Junior Treasurer’s accounts], (between £4000 and £5000) to a few shillings!”5 He would promptly send payments to creditors and ask Fellows at Oriel to send in payments corresponding to their lodgings and other expenses. He was good at acknowledging and thanking people for monetary contributions to the projects he organized.
The young don was very focused with his studies, recording the books he read, the subjects he researched, and the sermons or essays that he wrote. Due to his ambitions, Newman was sometimes excessively saddened by academic setbacks, but he persevered in his objectives. Determination and perseverance were among his lifelong traits, exhibited first at Oxford, and then later at the Catholic University of Ireland and the Birmingham Oratory.
Newman was punctual in keeping his religious obligations. He read the Bible daily, and with time knew it very well. In the year 1823, he recorded memorizing the Epistle to the Ephesians and chapters of Isaiah. During the Long Vacation of 1826, he began to learn Hebrew in order to read some of the books of Scripture in their original language. That vacation he made it through Genesis and continued with Exodus.
Early on, the Oriel Fellow accepted all the Christian doctrines taught by the Creeds. He relied on the Creeds as the sure guide for correctly understanding the Sacred Scriptures, and he exerted himself in examining and weighing theological doctrines to distinguish error from truth. Passion for the truth in religious matters kept him from easy compromises or fast solutions to intellectual difficulties. He had a strong faith in God’s goodness and justice that he tried to foster in his parishioners. From an early age, he had a deep sense of hope in Divine Providence at work in his life and that of all individuals.
Nonetheless, Newman was often impatient with correspondents, and at times imprudent and harsh with parishioners. He recorded how he severely reprimanded a coachman who had been a heavy drinker.6 His personal annotations convey sorrow for failures in charity toward others, especially family members, and the resolve to be more charitable in his dealings with them. But the Achilles’ heel of the young Newman was pride. The Oxford don had to fight a great deal against the inclination to vanity and pride, which, given his intellectual talent and his pursuit of an academic career, were more pronounced in him than in the average man. Newman must have experienced repeated temptations in this area because his diary records a persistent petition to God for Him to take away the desire for praise and his excessive concern for a good name.
When Newman’s brother Francis obtained two first-class honors that he himself had not achieved, Newman saw this as a divine lesson in humility and, with good humor, alluded to the Greek play Electra, calling his brother “avenger of his father.” John Henry, whose pride was mixed with a noble sense of family honor, felt that Francis had obtained, for their father, the honors that he had failed to win.
“Snapdragon,” a poem Newman wrote in 1827, on the eleventh year of his academic life, reflects an ongoing desire and struggle to be humble. He wished to be like a simple snapdragon that covers the walls of the Oxford towers and halls: “Humble—I can bear to dwell / Near the pale recluse’s cell, / And I spread my crimson bloom.”7 In the final verses, the young writer recognized his God-given talents by comparing himself to the simple flower that, in addition to its crimson blooms, emits a pleasant fragrance. Newman did not have a false humility; while he chastised himself for vanity, he admitted his talents and considered his academic successes as Heaven’s response to his prayers. In the last verse of “Snapdragon,” he repeated his desire to live and die dedicated to university life. Although Newman would always remain a university man and an educator at heart, this wish would not be granted to him.
In diary entries, Newman accused himself of exaggerating matters and of being worldly. By the latter, he was referring to the wholesome comfort enjoyed in the company of many of his peers, hardly a worldliness in the sense of sinful revelry. Once he wrote to his mother: “I dined out once, and was three times out in the evening; to two music parties, and one dance.”8 This, however, was innocent fun; from his youth Newman practiced temperance and lived a chaste life. As expected for a young man, Newman was tempted by impure thoughts, but he did not fall into improper behavior with women or indulge, as did most of his peers, in excessive drinking.
For a few years after having read William Wilberforce’s Practical Christianity in 1821, he considered it improper for a Christian to attend a play and gave this advice to some friends, such as Simeon Lloyd Pope, a clergyman friend of Trinity days. He thought it was a frivolity to be avoided by a clergyman. He soon came to understand, however, that attending decent plays posed no contradiction with Christian piety.
Newman admitted having many defects, including anger (in particular toward his brother Frank), contentiousness, and ill temper. He would have to fight against these defects all his life. His contentiousness was shown in controversies, in which he was quick to draw out the consequence of arguments and reach conclusions regarding their cogency and truthfulness. Although he was often correct, he lacked a charitable tone, as was often the case in discussions over religion with his brothers, especially Charles.
His sharp wit in response to slights or disagreements would sometimes get the worst of him in confidential letters to friends. Still it displayed his talent as a controversialist, and in the course of some controversies while at the university, he made efforts to forgive his opponents and pray for them. With some, he would correspond even if only to acknowledge having received their letters.
As a result of daily self-examination, Newman had a good self-knowledge and formulated firm desires to overcome defects and grow in specific virtues. In one of his sermons, he wrote what could be a summary of his own battle for virtues: “a fight is the very token of a Christian.”9 Newman’s defects were evident in his dealings and correspondence with others, but equally evident was his determination in fighting sin and striving for virtue.
It would be incomplete to paint a picture of Newman’s character with an eye only to his pride, vanity, and contentiousness. He was a very bright, quick-witted, generous, and determined person with a passion for the truth. He was a kind and loyal friend devoted to the service of others. His sensitive and serious nature was complemented by his capacity to forgive and by good humor. He had sincere interest in people, a keen knowledge of their traits, and the ability to inspire them. These qualities were only enriched by his love for classical music and literature. With these qualities and many virtues, the Oriel Fellow and deacon was well prepared for Holy Orders.
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1LD, Vol. II (Dec. 21, 1829), 179.
2AW (October 10, 1823), 194. He had £2 in the bank and was expecting £50 or part thereof from a student.
3AW (November 4, 1823), 194.
4AW, 195.
5LD, Vol. II, JHN to Mrs. Newman (July 16, 1825), 242-43.
6See LD, Vol. I (August 1824), 187-88.
7“Snapdragon,” in VV (October 2, 1827), 17-19; 18.
8LD, Vol. I, JHN to Mrs. Newman (March 12, 1822), 124.
9John Henry Newman, Discourses Addressed to Mixed Congregations, 120, available at: http://www.newmanreader.org/works/discourses/index.html.