'This gaudy world grows pale before
The beauty of Thy face.

'Till Thou art seen it seems to he
A sort of fairy ground,
Where suns unsetting light the sky,
And flowers and fruit abound.

'But when Thy keener, purer beam
Is poured upon our sight,
It loses all its power to charm,
And what was day is night...

'And thus, when we renounce for Thee
Its restless aims and fears,
The tender memories of the past,
The hopes of coming years,

'Poor is our sacrifice, whose eyes
Are lighted from above;
We offer what we cannot keep,
What we have ceased to love.'

Such were Newman's thoughts when an unexpected event occurred
which produced a profound effect upon his life: Charles Kingsley
attacked his good faith, and the good faith of Catholics in
general, in a magazine article. Newman protested, and Kingsley
rejoined in an irate pamphlet. Newman's reply was the Apologia
pro Vita Sua, which he wrote in seven weeks, sometimes working