dismal messengers they have dismissed to
English homes with hopeless news. No,
their wretched alms, which they are forced
to pay, is no compensation for this wholesale
pillage."

I spoke warmly, and the dean looked at
me with distrust. " That is all very good
and sound, and we are all agreed, of
course: but we must take things as we
find 'em. These people found out the
wells here, and worked 'em, and developed
'em. If I was inclined to a little sophistry
or casuistry, Mr. Austen, I would ask you,
wouldn't the myriads of rheumatic and
dyspeptic fathers whom they have restored to
health—the thousands of wasting daughters
to whose cheeks the what- d'ye- call- 'em—
Le Wheez'un"—so he pronounced it—"Well
has brought back colour; the number of
homes it has made happy! Is not all this
a sort of compensation for the weak-minded,
demoralised gambler, whom they justly
punish? And serve 'em right too. Now,
Mr. Austen."

"That's putting it very well, dean,"
said the member, laughing; " and, if I
don't mistake, Mr. Austen has benefited
amazingly himself by the gambling waters."

"Oh, no," said the dean, " there is too
much cant about all this. There, we
must take them as we find 'em. My stock-
broker, worthy man, gives money to schools,
holds plates, and all that—but he gambles
on the Exchange, and wins; and who does he
w T in from? From some one who has,
perhaps, lost his all. He made a hundred
thousand pounds in Italian stock the other
day. Some poor wretch sold in the panic,
and was destroyed. Well. He bought his
stock. Look at the merchants. Look at
Lord——, who made the last bishop, why
he games on the turf. My good sir, if
we're to go about setting right everything
we see or think wrong, why the world might
as well stop. We might all shut up. We
must give and take."

I was indignant to hear such indifference
from one in his sacred position—no heart,
no earnestness—and I answered, warmly:
"But, Mr. Dean, when we see this place
crowded with holy—I mean with officially
holy—men, is there not something more
expected than giving and taking? What
do we hear? Not a word, not a protest, not
a denunciation of the wickedness going on
about us; no thunderings from the pulpit. I
cannot understand it. Surely, if we could
suppose a Whitfield, or a Wesley, or a
Knox, or a Luther were found here——"

"Heaven forbid!" said the member of
parliament. " The place would get too
hot for me! Come, we have had enough of
this wine and of the Shepherdess; and to
show that I quite approve bf the dean's
good sense, I am going up to the gambling-
rooms now, to try what can be done with a
napoleon."

As we went out the dean spoke to me
very testily, as if he were sore and wincing
under my thrust.

"You are a little too highflying, my
friend," he said, " and not exactly cut out
for a reformer. Believe me there is no
harm in following the general consensus of
leading men. You see all the distinguished
personages here, lay and clerical, neither
protest nor approve. They go their own
way. Joshua was the only one who
succeeded in stopping the sun. Above all,
let us look at home, and keep a guard over
ourselves. While you are busy giving
directions, and helping the old ladies across
the street, saving them from the omnibuses,
you yourself may be run over."

And these are the pastors for the poor
sheep of England; smooth words to make
everything comfortable, and macadamise the
road to salvation. This man is sure to be
a bishop. Well, I shall say no more after
this. He has taken no notice of me since.

CHAPTER XII.

MONDAY THE SIXTH.—The more I look
about me in this strange world, and certainly
in this strangest of places, the more do I feel
that it is good for me morally to be here.
For my weak but well meaning soul, it
has the effect of bracing, nerving, cold
water. I shall return home strengthened
and invigorated. I am not at all sorry to
have passed by these furnaces without
being scorched. The man who shuts
himself up, and turns away his eyes, is discreet,
and if he knows himself to be weak all is
right. Nay, a greater authority than I
has written, he is bound to gird himself
up and flee as fast as his poor tottering
limbs can carry him. If I were a clergyman—
a supposition I very often make, and
there was some talk of it when I was a
boy—I would ascend my pulpit, and preach
eternally on this text. If you feel a spark
of courage and strength, face the danger
cautiously, practise, do as a man does
who goes to a gymnasium and trains his
muscles—begin to throw a half stone
weight, and increases the amount by
degrees. I would thunder this at the
congregation until they began to think it was