P. H. GOSSE: NATURALIST AND EVANGELIST

THE life that PHILIP HENRY GOSSE lived was, internally, strangely isolated; the line he was fond of quoting: 'My mind to me, a kingdom is,' represented his self-containment. He read the Times that he might observe 'the decadence of the nations, both Eastern and Western, in their downward progress;' not with overflowings of pity, but to find confirmation of his views with regard to the pre-millennial advent of the Lord. He had little interest in mankind. 'He regarded man rather as a blot upon the face of nature than as its highest and most dignified development.