Does your husband ride still, or walk and enjoy the fresh air? Indeed fresh air, as I begin to know, is one of the greatest blessings of Heaven. I am sure he is happy and feels the gift of life in him, while you are near him.

Excuse my writing to you by the hand of my secretary, as I find it still difficult to write with my own hand'.

TO DR. GREENHILL.

BALLIOL COLlege, Oxford,

November 29, 1891.

It is very kind of you to think of me during my illness. I hope that you are yourself free from pain and anxiety.

I shall always remember with gratitude your great kindness to me when I was a youth. I was very weak and wayward in those days, and had troubles to which I was unequal, though I ought not to have been so. This College has been a haven to me for fifty-six, or, since I gained a Fellowship, fifty-three years.

I am bringing out a new edition of Plato, which, if it were not reprinting in America, would have been published by this time, and of which I hope to send you a copy, if it does not already lie too heavy on your shelves.

Excuse my writing to you by the hand of another. I am better, but find it difficult to write with my own hand. I am truly grateful to God for preserving me during the years that have passed 3.

TO THE DUCHESS OF BEDFORD.

BALLIOL COLLEGE,

December 20, 1891.

When persons only wish for the happiness of another, and when they never pass a day without doing a kindness, how can they be otherwise than happy? And when difficulties are very great they have only to ascend to the level of doing the will of God; they will be happy still. If they are 2 In Fletcher's handwriting.

'In Fletcher's handwriting.

3 In Jowett's handwriting.

determined to act rightly, to live as the best men and women have lived, there is no more difficulty of unbelief. They see, not having seen; they go out trusting in God, but not knowing whither they go. There is no delight in life equal to that of setting the world right, of reconciling things and persons to one another, by understanding them, not by embittering them. True sympathy with every one is the path of perfect peace.

I want to keep myself (rather than my friends who need it less) in such thoughts as these; they seem to be a stay to me, and the most suitable thoughts for those whose life is probably drawing to a close. I must make the most of the next three or four years. I want to fill up the gaps and omissions of the past. This fills my mind, and therefore I speak of it

to you.

RECOVERY and renewed work-Third edition of the translation of Plato-Jowett's philosophy-The Republic of Plato-Death of friends-Jowett's love of his College; last projects-Drives and conversations-Jowett at Shrewsbury (1893)—Preaches at Westminster Abbey-Failing health-Leaves Oxford for London-With Professor and Mrs. Campbell-Goes to Headley Park-Increased illness and death-Funeral-Reflections-Letters.

AT

T the beginning of 1892 Jowett's recovery was assured. Once more he could look forward to the future; and, though he could no longer hope to accomplish all his plans, he was passionately anxious, now that his life had been spared, to make a good use of the time that remained.

'It touches me,' he says in a letter to Lady Wemyss (Jan. 6, 1892), 'that you should care about my life and my work. I have more than I shall ever accomplish on hand. But I shall always be grateful for the short respite, and do not at all lament my illness. It seems to have taught me something.'

What impressed him most, in looking back on his illness, was the affectionate kindness of his friends, by which he is 'greatly refreshed and strengthened.' To Lady Airlie he writes:

'What a charming letter you wrote to me about a month ago! You must not reproach me for not having answered

sooner. It did me real good, and added to the "fragrance of life" to think that I had such a friend, though at a distance.

'You ask about my health. I get on pretty well, and try to do as much as I can. Do not be frightened by the coming on of age. I think it a very happy time, in some respects at least; you are freer from care and may be nearer to God. You must come and see me a few times before I depart.'

As soon as he was able to resume work, he wrote a preface for the new edition of Plato, and the book was presently published. It was a great satisfaction to him to see this, the most important of his literary works, issued in the best form which he could give to it. In his desire that every one who possessed the book should have it in this last and most correct edition, he arranged with the publishers to sell it at half-price to any one who offered a copy of the second edition in exchange. After his death copies were given, at his request, to all members of the College who had obtained the Ireland Scholarship during his Mastership.

This final edition of the translation of Plato was Jowett's Magnum Opus.' For fifty years he had been engaged in lecturing and commenting on Plato, in analyzing and translating his works. It was due to him more than to any other single person that Plato took the place in Oxford studies which he has held since 1853, when the final examinations on the new system began. In this length of time Jowett's views naturally underwent some change; but whatever the change might be he never wavered in his allegiance to his master. Though he hoped to find time for other studies, he was constantly brought back to him, partly by accident and partly by choice. In one of his latest letters he declares that his happiest hours have been spent with Plato.

If we ask, What was it in Plato that attracted him

so strongly? the best answer to the question is to quote the words in which he takes leave of the teacher with whom he has lingered so long:

'More than two thousand two hundred years have passed away since Plato returned to the place of Apollo and the Muses. Yet the echo of his words continues to be heard among men because of all philosophers he has the most melodious voice. He is the inspired prophet or teacher who can never die, the only one in whom the outward form adequately represents the fair soul within; in whom the thoughts of all who went before him are reflected, and of all who come after him are partly anticipated. Other teachers of philosophy are dried up and withered. After a few centuries they have become dust; but he is fresh and blooming, and is always begetting new ideas in the minds of men. They are one-sided and abstract, but he has many sides of wisdom. Nor is he always consistent with himself, because he is always moving onwards, and knows that there are many more things in philosophy than can be expressed in words, and that truth is greater than consistency.'

The beauty of the language, the dramatic power, the artistic grace, the humour and irony, which are present in all or nearly all the Dialogues of Plato, appealed strongly to Jowett's literary sense. In them his own ideal of writing seemed to be realized. Hence the project of an analysis, with which he began his Platonic studies, was found to be inadequate; analysis could not give the true Plato any more than dissection can give the living body1. Plato's teaching can only be conveyed through Plato's language; the form and the material are inseparably combined. This is of course the case with all great writers, and it is pre-eminently the case with the master of the dialogue. Not less attractive to Jowett

The analyses were retained in the introductions to the Dialogues;

and in this final edition a shorter marginal analysis was added.