Whewell's foible of omniscience might have been more easily forgiven by his colleagues if it had not been combined with an overbearing temper and an impatience of opposition which sometimes made him almost intolerable. He possibly might have been very successful as the leader of a totalitarian state, but the defects in his character prevented him from acquiring that influence in the University which was really his due. Comparatively early in his academic career his admirers saw the danger of excessive unpopularity ahead of him. Shortly after he became Master of Trinity, his friend, Julius Hare, thought fit to warn him against that arrogance which had already made him many enemies; and in March 1843, when Whewell was Vice-Chancellor, Hare saw occasion to renew that warning.