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few minutes till the service began, he became so restlessly impatient, that there seemed every probability of his hurriedly departing. When the congregation stood up to begin, Lady Edith so far did the honours of her pew as to offer the stranger her prayer book, which he politely accepted, and immediately made a vain attempt to find the places. He dived into the middle, then looked at the titlepage, ran his eye over the list of contents, tried again, and at length with a look of polite entreaty held it out to Beatrice, who, blushing with surprise, opened up the right place, and quietly returned it to him. After this, for several minutes all went right, but again he was completely at a loss; therefore, closing the volume, and giving a shrug of despairing indifference, he contented himself afterwards, with merely standing, sitting, or kneeling as others did, with mechanical precision.

When the appointed chapters were about to be read, the stranger, seeing Beatrice's large Bible open on the desk, bent forward that they might read it together, which secretly astonished her; and in any other place, she would have felt actually diverted at the sort of easy gentlemanlike assurance with which he made himself so completely at home among those to whom his very name was unknown. The stranger's singing too, when he joined in the hymns, appeared beautiful beyond description, as the quality of his voice was so rich, deep, and full,

that Beatrice had never heard its equal for pathos, melody, and expression, while he had evidently both science and taste.

When the venerable Bishop began his sermon, Beatrice could not but perceive that the stranger's countenance continued to wear the aspect of listless indifference with which he had observed the whole service, and that he looked with clandestine impatience at his watch; but when the aged Prelate proceeded solemnly to describe the soul's journey from time to eternity, his attention became gradually enchained. Eyes that had seemed quenched in weariful ennui awoke by degrees to life, and the incognito at last listened with rapidly increasing interest, till in the end his whole spirit was obviously aroused, his very soul brightened in a very expressive countenance, and he was evidently entranced while listening with intense attention to what seemed new, as well as deeply interesting to one who obviously appreciated at its great value the talent and piety of the venerable preacher.

When the Bishop, old and full of years, in a voice of majestic energy and pathos, announced the sublime and holy tenets of his church, the words rolled forth with a pomp and power of intellectual eloquence which riveted the imagination, convinced. the judgment, and gained the heart of every individual who listened. Long and thoughtfully he inculcated a deep study of the infallible Scrip

tures, which speak to the universal heart of human nature, being clear and sublime as nature itself. The same Great Being, he said, was the author of both, making both so easy to the simplest understanding that a child can find enough in either for the nourishment of life, though in each there are depths and mysteries, which ages of study by the wisest heads cannot entirely fathom. The Bishop aroused the highest and noblest emotions of which the human heart can be conscious, and to which every human heart must respond, while proving that all which is founded on Bible truth in the Romish system is equally held by Protestants; who , reject only, with a just abhorrence, the disfiguring excrescences engrafted on the sound body of truth by Papists, who endeavoured to subvert the sacred volume while keeping it from general readers, and teaching that all faith or morals consist in a blind, unquestioning, slavish obedience to the priest.

"The Jesuits," he said, "now rule in the Vatican; for even the Pope obeys the Jesuit Cardinals, who kiss his foot but tie his hands, while their object is to enthral the free and intellectual population of Great Britain under the same iron yoke of ignorance, idolatry, and real infidelity as Italy, Portugal, Spain, and other countries, drenched in guilt and superstition."

When the Bishop's eloquent voice became hushed there followed a solemn silence that might be felt,

while the congregation seemed unwilling to let their attention be released from the influence of a mind so commanding in its power, so rousing in its appeals, and so majestic in its kindest sympathies.

While a collection took place after service for the village library and schools, Beatrice observed the glitter of gold in the stranger's hand, as he clandestinely dropped in his contribution, and soon after he followed, with an air of thoughtful gravity, when the congregation slowly dispersed. They streamed out from the church without looking up or speaking, for each individual was impressed by the venerable Bishop's sacred admonitions, so that they felt a newly awakened consciousness how awful is life, with its responsibilities, its fears, and even its hopes, and "what a mystery to man is man."

Lady Edith and Beatrice were exchanging recollections of much in the sermon, by which they had been peculiarly interested, in explanation of those venerable certainties which they hoped never to forget, when their lingering thoughtful steps were overtaken by the stranger, who politely opened the church-yard gate to let them pass, and bowing with the easy self-importance of one accustomed always to be cordially welcomed, he said,

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May I be permitted, Lady Edith, to escort you towards home? Do not, I entreat you, consider

mine a case of Popish aggression, though this has been in fact, my first appearance within any Protestant church,-not, I hope, my last. You must have perceived that the service was new to me, and shall I add, very interesting. The majestic simplicity of an intellectual service, unaccompanied by incense, images, pantomime and repetitions, was new to one like myself, long accustomed to Italian Cathedrals, and long wearied of Italian mummeries, where I never heard any preacher fit to dot the 's, or to stroke the t's of our venerable friend to-day."

"You are lately from abroad?" asked Lady Edith, with polite curiosity.

"Yes! I arrived by a most romantic conveyance last week-the mail-gig," replied the incognito, with a humorous glance to Beatrice. "But," he continued, in a tone of perfect frankness, and of some gravity," my motives in going to church were not so serious as my feelings in coming away. Let me acknowledge that, having been disgusted at Rome lately by the fooleries of a monastic establishment into which I was inveigled, and with all the frivolous baubles and purchased indulgences offered me if I would become a superstitious devotee, I

have found that the best cure for Romanism is a residence at Rome."

"No wonder!" observed Lady Edith: "a Papist buying absolutions might well say, ' I cannot afford

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