The specially clerical clubs,--the Oxford and Cambridge, the Old
University, and the Athenaeum,--were black with them. The bishops and
deans, as usual, were pleasant in their manner and happy-looking, in
spite of adverse circumstances. When one sees a bishop in the hours
of the distress of the Church, one always thinks of the just and firm
man who will stand fearless while the ruins of the world are falling
about his ears. But the parsons from the country were a sorry
sight to see. They were in earnest with all their hearts, and did
believe,--not that the crack of doom was coming, which they could
have borne with equanimity if convinced that their influence would
last to the end,--but that the Evil One was to be made welcome
upon the earth by Act of Parliament. It is out of nature that any
man should think it good that his own order should be repressed,
curtailed, and deprived of its power. If we go among cab-drivers
or letter-carriers, among butlers or gamekeepers, among tailors or
butchers, among farmers or graziers, among doctors or attorneys, we
shall find in each set of men a conviction that the welfare of the
community depends upon the firmness with which they,--especially
they,--hold their own.
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