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FRINTED BY WILLIAM OSTELL, HART STREET, BLOOMSBURY.

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THE PATHFINDER,

A JOURNAL OF

PURE THEISM AND RELIGIOUS FREETHOUGHT,

THE ORGAN OF INDEPENDENT RELIGIOUS REFORM.

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OR, AN ENGLISH RECTOR IN SEARCH OF A CREED.
A TALE; BY P. W. P.

CHAPTER VII.

AFTER DINNER CHAT ABOUT THE CLERGY.

"WELL, George, so for some time at least, this is to be our last evening together."

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Yes, Doctor, it must be our night of adieus, and the worst part of it is my being compelled to go away without the hope of returning, except upon a flying visit."

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May joy be with you, for-(and you will forgive me for not giving you the original; my Italian has grown somewhat rusty)-as poor Francesca says, 'If the King of the Universe were our friend we should pray to him for thy peace.' But going away furnishes no reason for looking so thoroughly woebegone and gloomy. Sooner or later, as the old saw has it, the best of friends must part. Cheer up, man, and let us make the best of it."

This conversation was carried on in the snug dining-room wherein Doctor Moule received, and without formality, spent the evening with his favourites. It was commonly called the Bachelor's Hall, and for the excellent reason that, excepting the female domestics, none of the fair sex were permitted to enter it. Lester had on this day dined with the Doctor, but the meal was a very heavy affair, for it had been eaten in silence; both seemed to feel oppressed by the thought of parting. Neither was this so strange as it would at first appear. Generally, men form friendships with those of their own age, here there was a great disparity of years; but the truth is, that Doctor Moule saw in Lester, the friend of his youth, the Colonel, revived again, and Lester looked upon the Doctor as a second father. Thus their attachment depended upon other than the ordinary sources, and it was more like that of the father and son than it was like ordinary friendship. But as Doctor Moule had remarked, Lester looked woe-begone, and hitherto all his attempts at throwing off the load from his spirits had been baffled.

VOL. VI. NEW SERIES, VOL. II,

B

"I wish I could be cheerful," said he, "for although at length it seems that I am about to become of some use in the world, which should make one glad, still it is not pleasant to leave the old place, the old haunts, the old friends; and, to be plain with you, Doctor, the fact of having to leave you behind saddens me.

"Oh, yes, a neat little dish of flattery for the old man, served up in the Colonel's best style; it is delicate, but a little too highly seasoned. But in a little time you will be getting a Deanery; or, who knows? perhaps a Bishoprick, and the old place will be forgotten."

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"I hope not; and as to Deanery or Bishoprick, I would not accept either, I have no ambition in that direction. But there is no danger of their being offered; I feel, indeed, that the current will not run in that direction, and as to happiness, why probably the future will not yield me half as much as I have already enjoyed in this old parlour. Still I'll not meet trouble half way."

"No, nor bow before it when it comes. Trouble has no power wherewith to crush us unless we bend our backs to make its labour all the lighter. And why should you speak of trouble? You are strong and healthy, blessed with what I call a cast-iron constitution, and although only in your twenty-third year, you have a living worth six hundred pounds a-year, with the handsomest girl in the shire pledged to become your wife. What more do you want? Why, if at that age your humble servant had been so fortunate, I should have gone frantic with delight, instead of keeping my senses to enjoy my good luck."

"You mistake me, Doctor; instead of being discontented with fortune, it is with myself I am dissatisfied. It is that very six hundred a-year which troubles me. I cannot enter into possession of it without feeling how little will be given in return. And why receive wages without being able to perform the stipulated labour? I cannot but feel guilty of injustice in taking it. No man hires a gardener without first ascertaining the fitness of the hired man; but regarding my fitness there was practically no inquiry. The examination was a miserable delusion, and so far as my own convictions are concerned, I feel to be utterly incapable of performing the duties of my office as they should be performed. I seem to myself to have wasted many years, at least they have not been wisely employed, for although I read a great deal I positively do not know anything well. The Bodleian met all my wants, but it was only in desultory reading. I read works upon Egypt, Greece, and Rome, works upon Art in all its forms, and was Goth enough to dive into the most valuable treatises upon Modern Science, where, in fact, I seemed to be more at my ease than in any other. But although I obtained an insight into many things, I mastered none, and now it appears that I have to do it all over again.

"What you read has not been lost. Now that you are settling down into the Clerical profession your studies will be mainly theological, but all the other, desultory as it was, will prove useful at times when least expected. But you are suffering from a compound disease which my physic will not reach. The first is an attack of conscientiousness in regard to your income, as being more than you are worth. It is a very rare disease, very rare, and I know of no remedy to recommend. I should advise, however, that you make speedy application to some of the Bishops, for as no men do less for their incomes than they do, they must be acquainted with some remedy wherewith to quiet the voice of conscience. Secondly, you are suffering

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