198 OCTOBER 



Oct. 12. The new curate has called. He is a 

 timid, retiring creature. If one asks him a question 

 to which an affirmative reply is clearly indicated, he 

 says, " Certainly I suppose so perhaps." It 

 reminds me of the Frenchman who, when called 

 upon to admire Niagara, exclaimed, "It is magnifi- 

 cent ! it is stupendous ! it is pretty well ! " This 

 good young man has evidently been much kept in 

 order. I wonder how soon he will discover that he 

 really has an opinion of his own or if he will never 

 do so. 



It must astonish and mystify a country population 

 to observe the enormous differences presented by 

 their ecclesiastical shepherds. There is in them no 

 harmonious similarity of demeanour, such as should 

 appear in brethren of one cloth. Dr. Capel, the 

 late rector of a neighbouring parish, for instance, 

 could not easily be reproduced, for which his parish- 

 ioners certainly ought to feel thankful. If he passed 

 a man who omitted to touch his hat to him, he would 

 make haste to deprive him of that necessary gear. 

 If the impertinent minion happened to be riding 

 in his donkey-cart, Dr. Capel would incontinently 

 pull him from the seat. He was, I should think, 

 rather a naughty old parson. He had nine plain 

 daughters of various advanced ages, and he would 

 look round upon them as they sat at his board at 

 dinner-time, and remark to any casual guest 



" A doosid slow thing is virtue." 



One can hardly be surprised that shortly after his 

 death, when his successor was attending a rustic 

 labourer in extremis, and was pointing a moral from 

 the parable of Dives and Lazarus, the poor old soul 



