388 EETIBEMENT, TO 1897 : OF BOOKS, ETC. 



drink! That he had bursts of this, as of other vices, he 

 tells us (and Johnson) candidly, but I did not know that 

 he succumbed to it, and at so early an age. 



I quite agree with you, that the Board schools give 

 quite as much religious instruction as is good for the children 

 of the school, and that anything further should be supplied 

 from other sources. But whatever I may think of the 

 dogmatic religious teaching given in the voluntary schools, 

 I do not suppose it has a particle of bad effect it is all 

 washed away. There is, my dear La Touche, an under- 

 current of jealousy in the attitude of the Kadicals, to both 

 Landlords and Church, which blinds them to the good 

 that these do and have done. My idea is that the propor- 

 tion of good Landlords to bad = that of good Workmen to 

 bad, if not greater. Changes for the better must come 

 slowly, and in the process you must help the lame dogs 

 over the stiles. I do hate doctrinaire Politics. 



