The writer was at

alleged Jewish descent o and it proved to be a curious instance of i of nothing.

is stated definitely in Dr. Barry's Cardinal Newman «that its « real descent was Hebrew». Dr. Barry, in answer to my inquiries, referred me to the article on J.-H. Newman in the Encyclopædia Britannica as his authority, and undoubtedly that article first broached the suggestion. I happened to know personally the writer in the Encyclopedia Britannica and communicated with him. In reply he pointed out that he had in his article never alleged Jewish descent as a fact, but only suggested its possibility. « There is no evidence for it », he added, « except « the nose and the name ». For those, then, who agree with the Present writer that the nose was Roman rather than Jewish, the evidence remains simply that the name « Newman » betokens Hebrew origin — a bold experiment in the higher criticism. I may add that in a more recent Correspondence Dr, Barry agrees with me that no Satisfactory evidence on the subject has been

Pédie britannique a été la première à émettre, sans Preuve, cette opinion. M. William Barry, dans son gros ouvrage sur Newman, s'est empressé de l'adopter et d'échafauder Jà-dessus tout un système extraordinairement fantaisiste : le caractère de son héros, les Particularités, les nuances de son esprit, s'ex- Pliquent à ses yeux par l'hérédité israélite. Ces déductions étranges ont le tort de reposer sur une erreur. Il est aujourd'hui hors de doute que le père de Newman était de souche Purement anglaise. M.

Barry lui-même en a convenu d'ailleurs!, .M. Wilfrid Ward, à qui nous devons une histoire absolument définitive du grand cardinal, écrivit à l’auteur de

ÉD

adduced. » — Wilfrid Warp. ‘fe of Cardinal Newman. Vol. 1 ; c. II, ad calcem, p. 27.

1. Voir à l’article Newman, au tome X° de la Catholic Encyclopædia, page 794, col. 2°

L'auteur, William BARRY, après avoir dit : « It is stated that the name was at one time spelt Newmann ; it is certain that many Jews, english or foreign, have borne it ; and the suggestion has been thrown out that to his Hebrew affinities the cardinal owed, not only his cast of features, but some of his decided characteristics, — €. g. his remarkable skill in music and mathematics, his dislike of metaphysical speculations, his grasp of the concrete, and his nervous temperament »,— ajoute : « But no documentary evidence has been found to confirm the suggestion. »

Par le fait même s'écroule donc tout le magnifique échafaudage d'hypothèses servant d'appui au Wewman de M. le Dr. William Barry.

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