THE COUNTRY HOUSE 297 



the case under discussion. In fact, I have 

 found the mechanic, or even the labourer, 

 display more public spirit than gentlemen of 

 the medical profession. It is notorious, of 

 course, that in the case of public footpaths, 

 commons, schools, and rural housing, the 

 land-agent and the lawyer invariably range 

 themselves on the side of the possessing class. 



There is, at any rate, I am told, the clergyman. 

 He certainly has his livelihood secure from the 

 disfavour of landowners or farmers. But can 

 it be said of him that he is invariably beloved 

 by the poor ? There are, of course, individual 

 clergymen who have spoken out nobly on the 

 side of the poor, but country labourers know 

 that the parson belongs to the same class as 

 the squire, that he is a persojia gi'ata in every 

 country house, and is imbued with the same 

 feelings and class interests which, unfortunately, 

 when he takes Holy orders, he does not 

 renounce. He is still one of "the gentry," 

 and in that phrase lies an unbridgeable chasm. 



The parson, however, is a human being like 

 any other professional man. His family is 

 probably large and his income extremely small, 

 and it may be that he is dependent on the Easter 

 offerings of the wealthy, just as the game- 



