254 IDLEHURST : 



of tongues are not found, has a quite peculiar 

 influence upon the people. So far as I have ob- 

 served, this theory is not very common in clerical 

 society ; from peppery Diocesans to giddy Deacons, 

 the clergy rely, as it appears to me, too much 

 upon precept. But the Rector of Arnington is 

 singular, as is well understood in the Deanery by 

 this time. 



To the Rectory bank of graces (so to call it) 

 Mrs. Lydia's chief contribution is this impregnable 

 peace : it is almost solely hers ; or what part of 

 it may now be the Rector's, assuredly began from 

 her. His own peace, if one may judge, is of the kind 

 which has to be fought for and held by the sword ; 

 a sort which can have little pacific effect upon 

 others. Be this as it may, the repose that never 

 leaves the Rectory precincts has a positive in- 

 fluence in the life of the parish ; and I know 

 how often I have come to be charmed out of a 

 restless temper in its magic air. Many other 

 virtues are there that blow upon the village from 

 that household, like Plato's " breeze bringing health 

 from out of good neighbourhoods ; " but for its own 

 wealth and its peculiar use in present needs, that gift 

 of stillness is above all the rest. 



