A CONTRAST. 



185 



and fortitude \ but he was not prevented by pride from giving 

 vent to his sorrow. In Scripture we often read of those who 

 " lifted up their voice and wept : " the ancient Romans, and 

 many continental nations, have not the stoicism which is the 

 boast of wild Indians ! He subsequently wrote to a bereaved 

 sister : " And now, struggling against the words of faith as 

 I have written them, rise up the deep sobs of anguish at the 

 parting. Nature will have it so, and I do not think it wrong. 

 I trust you will let the same feelings find their natural expres- 

 sion. I found great relief, even from the wild cries of agony, 

 when I watched by my mother's lifeless form. It is one way 

 by which the bursting heart finds repose : even the Lord 

 experienced and hallowed these outpourings." 



He was in no danger of excess of feeling in a fine, large 

 cruciform church, which he entered that evening, and found it 

 arranged as a Protestant preaching-place. " The pulpit was a 

 huge elevated platform, with an entablature of masonry with 

 buttresses, as though it needed all that, to withstand the 

 heaviness of the preaching and the doctrine. . . . After a 

 lecture on the history of Paul as dry as tinder . . . they sang 

 the hymn, ' Watchman, tell us of the night.' A young lady 

 shouted the inquiry, and a fat old watchman bellowed the 

 reply ; and then the choir generally yelled a chorus, to the great 

 delight of the congregation, who all turned round to listen and 

 look on : evidently thinking it a fine amusement after a dry 

 sermon. Then they stood up to look at the parson blessing 

 them, and the church was cleared in a marvellously short time. 

 I went to look at the organ, being close by : the organist was 

 shocked at any musical person hearing him, explaining that he 

 was a decent hand at fiddling, but could not do justice to the 

 organ. I thought he did quite well enough for. the instrument 

 and the singing. If I had to choose my religion between 

 Catholic and Protestant from that day's specimen, I fear the 

 Seven Sacraments * would carry the day against the Two." 



Throughout his tour he frequently expressed his interest in 



* At the Roman Catholic Cathedral there were large oil paintings from 

 Poussin's " Sept Sacremens." 



