450 NOTES OF THE MONTH. 



as are a disgrace to a moral people, and a disgust to the decent and 

 reflecting among all ranks if he would let fly his religious wrath 

 only against such splendid nuisances as the <e gin-palaces," whose 

 princely revenues are drawn from the very vitals of the poor, he 

 should have our hearty commendation. They are at any rate unne- 

 cessary of a Sunday. It is quite enough that these poisoners for a 

 penny should be allowed to rot the livers of the poor during six days 

 of the week : they do not keep houses of refreshment for the tra- 

 veller. The devil himself, if he were a wayfarer, would be ashamed 

 to bait in them. The less, then, that they are open the better ; the 

 honest trader, selling a wholesome draught or dram, might thus have 

 his turn ; and if he broke the Sabbath by his trading, he would not 

 break constitutions, which is something in his favour. Strike your 

 harpoon into these leviathans of sin, Sir Andrew, and leave the 

 minnows alone. 



CHURCH SERMONS. An advertisement appeared in the Times the 

 other day to this effect : 



" To THE COUNTRY CLERGY. Twenty manuscript sermons, warranted 

 original, fitted for a country congregation. Apply " to the house of a re- 

 spectable firm of booksellers in Cornhill. 



This advertisement of ready-made eloquence proves one of two 

 things either that the clergy of the Church of England are the most 

 incompetent men in the world for their office, or else the most indo- 

 lent, which is worse. If a vicar or rector, as the case may be (for 

 we cannot imagine for one moment that lazy luxuries of the sort men- 

 tioned come within the narrow means of poor curates), is incapable 

 of writing twenty sermons for himself (each one, upon a fair average, 

 requiring perhaps twenty minutes to deliver it, and the whole taking 

 twenty Sundays selected out of twelve months to go through the new 

 purchase), he is incompetent, totally and entirely : if from gross idle- 

 ness he snatches at this advertised bargain, what can we say or think 

 of him ? Why, the sooner such a drone is expelled from the clerical 

 hive the better; for he is of less value to society than the pauper 

 peasant who breaks stones at sixpence a day, butjfinds Ms own ham- 

 mer. One word more the Church of England affects to be surprised 

 at the contempt in which it is held by some men, and at the apathy 

 and indifference of others. Can these things be wondered at, when 

 the obnoxious idleness of its members is thrust up to one's very eyes 

 advertised in Gath and published in Askalon ? Look around at 

 the dissenting world, and there you see men always diligent in their 

 calling. Look even at the labours of that great Paganini of the re- 

 ligious world, Mr. Irving : one day preaching to Jews the next, to 

 the stage-cads and Jerusalem-pony proprietors of Hampstead; the 

 following day, three times to congregations in as many several places ; 

 and all this without any fixed fee or reward ! Twenty sermons such 

 as those advertised, however " original" and " warranted" would go 

 but a small way with such a man. One of his two-hours-long orations 

 would swallow up some eight or ten of the twenty, " marrow, bones, 

 and all !" If the church clergy, at least the indolent do-little r or- 

 nothing portion of that body, are not ashamed of themselves, why 



