the highest kind of pleasantness which brings out what is best in our friends. It may not be appreciated at the time, but it is looked back on afterwards with gratitude. We may mention, in conclusion, a third epitaph. It is on a tombstone in the cemetery of Père-la-Chaise: "She loved and she was loved." Let us try to deserve this.

CHAPTER XXVII

MANNERISMS

How seldom one sees an all-round man, what the ancient Greeks called a harmonious one-that is, a man developed equally in all parts of his nature! Most of us are more or less warped, deformed, and out of proportion. Generally this is caused by our surroundings and manner of life. It has been said of me, for instance, by an American interviewer, that I acquired a habit of slow walking by attending frequent funerals.

I have seen this advertisement: "Wanted, a curate with a catholic mind." Catholic we know means universal, so what was asked for was a myriad-minded man. And his remuneration was only to be £130 a year. He could not be got for the price.

The majority of men by the time they reach middle life wear the scars of their business and profession. Probably this is what is meant by the saying that it takes nine tailors to make a

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man, or the term third sex" that is given to clergymen. A really cultured man ought to pass in a crowd and not be outstanding. He should have no badges or labels to distinguish him. He should be without mannerisms of any kind-simply a man all there.

Opinions differ about clerical dress. Some think that as a clergyman is always on duty he ought not ever to get into mufti. Others hold that a livery is offensively celestial, and tends to separate parsons into a caste, thus spoiling their influence. But an ordinary clergyman, however much he may wish to hide his office, cannot do so merely by laying aside his hat and collar. It does not need a Sherlock Holmes to detect him. Any one in a hotel hall when tourists rush for rooms from an incoming train can pick out the English parson by the intonation of his voice as he asks for a room. He monotones this litany or supplication. He may also be known by his unctuous, dearly-beloved way of shaking hands. Indeed, one who has theological differences at the tips of his fingers can tell by the mode of his salutation to what school of thought or thoughtlessness a clergyman belongs. The ideal parson is an evangelical High Churchman with liberal leanings, but few are this, and the particular brand of narrowness to which a clergyman belongs is marked by his mannerisms. Evan

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gelicals, for instance, use the word "do" where it is not required. In extempore prayer, instead of saying, "We believe," We thank Thee," they say, "We do believe," "We do thank Thee." The High Churchman proclaims himself by posturing at "mass," and his broad brother by his omniscient agnosticism and lower criticism.

It is a clerical mannerism to speak of being called here and there by God. When a clergyman accepts a new post he does not say that he accepts it because it is worth fifty pounds a year more than the one he has, or because there is a better house, or because he or his wife having fought with their neighbours, wish to get away. No, the Almighty is in 'ifficulties and wants his help. When will "religious religious" people discover that it is no use lying to God, or for God, or to themselves? Even on his knees in prayer a man who had been offered thousands a year and the title of "Lord," or "Your Grace" (imagine St. John allowing himself to be called "Your Grace !") will say that he only goes up higher because he feels that the Lord hath need of him.

The mannerism of putting "D.V." on church notices also comes from want of humour and of real reverence. As if anything could take place against the will of the Almighty!

If a preacher is "bumptious on the one hand or abject on the other, a congregation gets

its back up, and this will break the back of the best sermon ever composed. Rowland Hill said to a youth who had gone into a pulpit with great self-confidence, and broken down in the middle of his sermon, "Young man, had you ascended the pulpit in the spirit in which you descended, you would have descended in the spirit in which you ascended.”

A telling preacher in his opening remarks gains the goodwill of his hearers, and makes them feel both that he has something to say and that he can say it by his manner.

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The actor's reply is well known when asked why his words, which were not true, affected an audience more than the preacher's words, which are true. Because I say what is false as if it were true, while you say what is true as if it were false." We speak with emotion when informed that our chimney is on fire; but we are quite calm, if not indifferent, when preaching about temperance, righteousness and judgment to come. A preacher of Elizabeth's reign exclaimed, "Woe is me ! at the playhouse it is not possible to get a seat, whilst at the church voyde seats are plenty." If voyde seats are plenty " in the church now, as then, we clergymen must take much of the blame. In the prayer-stall we are not as earnest as the actor is on the stage, at the lectern not as

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