CARDINAL¹ NEWMAN'S NATURALNESS[35]

[35] Guardian², 20th August 1890.

Every one feels what is meant when we speak of a person's ways being "natural," in contrast to being artificial, or overstrained, or studied, or affected³. But it is easier to feel what is meant than to explain and define it. We sometimes speak as if it were a mere⁴ quality of manner; as if it belonged to the outside show of things, and denoted the atmosphere, clear and transparent⁵, through which they are viewed. It corresponds to what is lucid⁶ in talk and style, and what ethically⁷ is straightforward⁸ and unpretentious. But it is something much more than a mere surface quality. When it is real and part of the whole character, and not put on from time to time for effect, it reaches a long way down to what is deepest and most significant in a man's moral nature. It is connected with the sense of truth, with honest self-judgment, with habits of self-discipline, with the repression⁹ of vanity, pride, egotism. It has no doubt to do with good taste and good manners, but it has as much to do with good morals—with the resolute¹⁰ habit of veracity¹¹ with oneself—with the obstinate¹² preference for reality over show, however tempting—with the

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