IN THE EUROPEAN ATMOSPHERE-1853-1856 545 



wise. He was, I think, the last archbishop of Canterbury 

 who used this means of enhancing his dignity. Wilber- 

 force, Bishop of Oxford, was far better; but, after all, 

 though his preaching showed decided ability, it was not 

 of the sort to impress one deeply, from either the reli 

 gious or the intellectual point of view. 



Then, and at various times since, I have obtained more 

 from simpler forms of worship and less pretentious 

 expositions of the Gospel. 



As to religious influence in France, there was little. 

 I lived in the family of a French professor, a devout 

 Catholic, but Gallican in his ideas, so much so that he 

 often said that if he could wake up some morning and 

 hear that the Pope had been dispossessed of his tem 

 poral power, it would be the happiest day of his life, since 

 he was persuaded that nothing had so hampered the 

 church and, indeed, debased it as the limits imposed 

 upon the papacy by its sovereignty over the Roman 

 states. 



A happy impression was made upon me by the simple, 

 philanthropic character of the Archbishop of Paris at 

 that period Sibour. Visiting a technical school which 

 he had established for artisans in the Faubourg St. An- 

 toine, I derived thence a great respect for him as a man 

 who was really something more than a &quot; solemnly con 

 stituted impostor &quot;; but, like the archbishops of Paris 

 who preceded and followed him, he met a violent death, 

 and I have more than once visited and reflected over the 

 simple tablet which marks the spot in the Church of St. 

 ^Etienne du Mont where a wretched, unfrocked priest as 

 sassinated this gentle, kindly, affectionate prelate, who, 

 judging from his appearance and life, never cherished 

 an unkind feeling toward any human being. 



The touching monuments at Notre Dame to his prede 

 cessor, Affre, shot on the barricades in 1848 when im 

 ploring a cessation of bloodshed, and to his successor, 

 Darboy, shot by the Communards in the act of blessing 

 his murderers, also became, at a later period, places of 



II. 35 



