64 IDLEHURST : 



the less exacting Theological Colleges, who empties 

 his church on principle, by means of scaring innova- 

 tions ; there is the aged B.A., withered and exhaust, 

 mock-venerable with unkempt beard and bleating 

 voice ; we have the good easy man, his own patron, 

 who drives an admirable pair and confines his paro- 

 chial labours chiefly to subscription-lists ; we have the 

 essential townsman, broken down after an East-End 

 cure, retiring to the repose of the rectory, about as 

 well fitted to comprehend his flock as to judge stock 

 and roots. On the other hand, the Rural Dean is a 

 fine gentlemanly old cleric, an Oxford prizeman, a 

 good horseman, tall and straight, silver-haired, work- 

 ing fairly well at his seventieth year ; others we know, 

 obscure, middle-aged curates, young incumbents, 

 zealous and not wholly unwise, who are for the most 

 part very creditable to their order. But whether a 

 parish be in a state of " high organization " or dead 

 neglect ; whether the church be full or empty ; the 

 character of the parishioners hardly seems to be 

 affected. To outward appearance, at least, the flock 

 seems to respond in a curiously small degree to the 

 character and the works of the parson. In Arnington 

 there are perhaps reasons in the Rector himself for the 

 absence of any very noticeable elevation of standards. 

 I can imagine that the constraint I have felt at times 



