In the following sketch of Murray's life and work use is made of his
letters, chiefly of letters to his mother. They always illustrate

his own ideas and attempts; frequently they throw the light of an
impartial and critical mind on the distinguished people whom Murray

observed from without. It is worth remarking that among many
remarks on persons, I have found not one of a censorious, cynical,

envious, or unfriendly nature. Youth is often captious and keenly
critical; partly because youth generally has an ideal, partly,

perhaps chiefly, from mere intellectual high spirits and sense of
the incongruous; occasionally the motive is jealousy or spite.

Murray's sense of fun was keen, his ideal was lofty; of envy, of an
injured sense of being neglected, he does not show one trace. To

make fun of their masters and pastors, tutors, professors, is the
general and not necessarilyunkindtendency of pupils. Murray

rarely mentions any of the professors in St. Andrews except in terms
of praise, which is often enthusiastic. Now, as he was by no means

a prize student, or pattern young man for a story-book, this
generosity is a high proof of an admirable nature. If he chances to

speak to his mother about a bore, and he did not suffer bores
gladly, he not only does not name the person, but gives no hint by

which he might be identified. He had much to embitter him, for he
had a keen consciousness of `the something within him,' of the

powers which never found full expression; and he saw others
advancing and prospering while he seemed to be standing still, or

losing ground in all ways. But no word of bitterness ever escapes
him in the correspondence which I have seen. In one case he has to

speak of a disagreeable and disappointing interview with a man from
whom he had been led to expect sympathy and encouragement. He told

me about this affair in conversation; `There were tears in my eyes
as I turned from the house,' he said, and he was not effusive. In a

letter to Mrs. Murray he describes this unluckyinterview,--a
discouragement caused by a manner which was strange to Murray,

rather than by real unkindness,--and he describes it with a
delicacy, with a reserve, with a toleration, beyond all praise.

These are traits of a character which was greater and more rare than
his literarytalent: a character quite developed, while his talent

was only beginning to unfold itself, and to justify his belief in
his powers.

Robert Murray was the eldest child of John and Emmeline Murray: the
father a Scot, the mother of American birth. He was born at

Roxbury, in Massachusetts, on December 26th, 1863. It may be fancy,
but, in his shy reserve, his almost farouche independence, one seems

to recognise the Scot; while in his cast of literarytalent, in his
natural `culture,' we observe the son of a refined American lady.

To his mother he could always write about the books which were
interesting him, with full reliance on her sympathy, though indeed,

he does not often say very much about literature.
Till 1869 he lived in various parts of New England, his father being

a Unitarian minister. `He was a remarkablycheerful and
affectionate child, and seldom seemed to find anything to trouble

him.' In 1869 his father carried him to England, Mrs. Murray and a
child remaining in America. For more than a year the boy lived with

kinsfolk near Kelso, the beautiful old town on the Tweed where Scott
passed some of his childish days. In 1871 the family were reunited

at York, where he was fond of attending the services in the
Cathedral. Mr. Murray then took charge of the small Unitarian

chapel of Blackfriars, at Canterbury. Thus Murray's early youth was
passed in the mingled influences of Unitarianism at home, and of

Cathedral services at York, and in the church where Becket suffered
martyrdom. A not unnatural result was a somewhat eclectic and

unconstrained religion. He thought but little of the differences of
creed, believing that all good men held, in essentials, much the

same faith. His view of essentials was generous, as he admitted.
He occasionally spoke of himself as `sceptical,' that is, in

contrast with those whose faith was more definite, more dogmatic,
more securely based on `articles.' To illustrate Murray's religious

attitude, at least as it was in 1887, one may quote from a letter of
that year (April 17).

`There was a University sermon, and I thought I would go and hear
it. So I donned my old cap and gown and felt quite proud of them.

The preacher" target="_blank" title="n.讲道者，传教士">preacher was Bishop Wordsworth. He goes in for the union of the
Presbyterian and Episcopalian Churches, and is glad to preach in a

Presbyterian Church, as he did this morning. How the aforesaid
Union is to be brought about, I'm sure I don't know, for I am pretty

certain that the Episcopalians won't give up their bishops, and the
Presbyterians won't have them on any account. However, that's

neither here nor there--at least it does not affect the fact that
Wordsworth is a first-rate man, and a fine preacher" target="_blank" title="n.讲道者，传教士">preacher. I dare say you

know he is a nephew or grand-nephew of the Poet. He is a most
venerable old man, and worth looking at, merely for his exterior.

He is so feeble with age that he can with difficulty climb the three
short steps that lead into the pulpit; but, once in the pulpit, it

is another thing. There is no feebleness when he begins to preach.
He is one of the last voices of the old orthodox school, and I wish

there were hundreds like him. If ever a man believed in his
message, Wordsworth does. And though I cannot follow him in his

veneration for the Thirty-nine Articles, the way in which he does
makes me half wish I could. . . . It was full of wisdom and the

beauty of holiness, which even I, poor sceptic and outcast, could
recognise and appreciate. After all, he didn't get it from the

Articles, but from his own human heart, which, he told us, was
deceitful and desperately wicked.

`Confound it, how stupid we all are! Episcopalians, Presbyterians,
Unitarians, Agnostics; the whole lot of us. We all believe the same

things, to a great extent; but we must keep wrangling about the data
from which we infer these beliefs . . . I believe a great deal that

he does, but I certainly don't act up to my belief as he does to
his.'

The belief `up to' which Murray lived was, if it may be judged by
its fruits, that of a Christian man. But, in this age, we do find

the most exemplary Christian conduct in some who have discarded
dogma and resigned hope. Probably Murray would not the less have

regarded these persons as Christians. If we must make a choice, it
is better to have love and charity without belief, than belief of

the most intense kind, accompanied by such love and charity as John
Knox bore to all who differed from him about a mass or a chasuble, a

priest or a presbyter. This letter, illustrative of the effect of
cathedral services on a young Unitarian, is taken out of its proper

chronological place.
From Canterbury Mr. Murray went to Ilminster in Somerset. Here

Robert attended the Grammar School; in 1879 he went to the Grammar
School of Crewkerne. In 1881 he entered at the University of St.

Andrews, with a scholarship won as an external student of Manchester
New College. This he resigned not long after, as he had abandoned

the idea of becoming a Unitarian minister.
No longer a schoolboy, he was now a Bejant (bec jaune?), to use the

old Scotch term for `freshman.' He liked the picturesque word, and
opposed the introduction of `freshman.' Indeed he liked all things

old, and, as a senior man, was a supporter of ancient customs and of
esprit de corps in college. He fell in love for life with that old

and grey enchantress, the city of St. Margaret, of Cardinal Beaton,
of Knox and Andrew Melville, of Archbishop Sharp, and Samuel

Rutherford. The nature of life and education in a Scottish
university is now, probably, better understood in England than it

used to be. Of the Scottish universities, St. Andrews varies least,
though it varies much, from Oxford and Cambridge. Unlike the

others, Aberdeen, Glasgow, and Edinburgh, the United College of St.
Leonard and St. Salvator is not lost in a large town. The College

and the Divinity Hall of St. Mary's are a survival from the Middle
Ages. The University itself arose from a voluntary association of

the learned in 1410. Privileges were conferred on this association
by Bishop Wardlaw in 1411. It was intended as a bulwark against

Lollard ideas. In 1413 the Antipope Benedict XIII., to whom
Scotland then adhered, granted six bulls of confirmation to the new

University. Not till 1430 did Bishop Wardlaw give a building in
South Street, the Paedagogium. St. Salvator's College was founded

by Bishop Kennedy (1440-1466): it was confirmed by Pius II. in
1458. Kennedy endowed his foundationrichly with plate (a silver