Ministers, Her Majesty's Next. BY THE MEMBER FOR THE Missing Links. By ANDREW WILSON, Ph.D. Napoleon, Prince. By JUSTIN HUNTLY MCCARTHY Old Tavern Life, The. By HENRY BARTON BAKER Parliament, Men of Letters in. By THE MEMBER FOR THE CHILTERN 34 471 Pilgrimage, A, to Glastonbury. By EDWARD WALFORD, M.A. Sun, the, Vital Air in. By RICHARD A. PROCTOR . Tavern Life, The Old. By HENRY BARTON BAKER Tobacco-smoking. By FREDERICK H. DALY, M.D. . Mr. Dunphie's "Sweet Sleep "-The Order of St. Katharine- The persistence of vulgar errors-George Eliot and the extent of My attempt to get to Boulogne-Mr. Swinburne and the New A book of "Small-talk"-The phylloxera in Médoc-The names Vital Air in the Sun. By RICHARD A. PROCTOR 248 379 505 631 Wants of Ireland, The. By ARTHUR ARNOLD War and its attendant Maladies. By F. R. GRAHAME 60 ILLUSTRATIONS TO “UNDER WHICH LORD ?"` DRAWN BY ARTHUR HOPKINS. "LET US UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER, MR. LASCELLES" Frontispiece 168 "A WORD CAME HISSING OUT WITH THE SPARKS". to face page "THEY WERE SEATED SIDE BY SIDE ON THE COUCH "YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU ARE SAYING" THE CHAPTER XIX. FOOT TO FOOT. HE wind blew keen and the snow fell fast, but Richard, unconscious of all things outward and without the sense of personal discomfort, knew nothing of either as he walked hurriedly onward. The pain at his heart overpowered all other feelings, and what the day was like was as much a matter of indifference to him, writhing under his intolerable anguish, as it is a matter of indifference to the tortured wretch at the stake whether it is in the gloom of the night, or under the glory of the noonday sun, that his limbs are racked and his flesh burned-as it is to the dying whether it is in the morning or the evening when the eternal farewell is given. He knew only these two things, which in fact were one :—that his life as it had been-that life of peace and love and honour-had come suddenly to an end; and that his wife and child had withdrawn themselves from him at the instance of a stranger in whom they believed more than they believed in him. He confessed bitterly that his enemy had been stronger than he, and had carried the citadel of that dear wife's faith, that child's sweet reverence, which until now he had held as his own, impregnable against the whole world. And now, what could he himself do?-poor crownless king whom love had once anointed, and whose dominion fanaticism and falsehood had taken from him! What could he do?-how recover what he had lost?-keep what he still held? Not knowing where he went nor how he walked, he ploughed his way mechanically onward; turning over scheme after scheme of action in his mind, and never striking VOL. CCXLV. NO. 1783. B on reasonable possibilities, never coming to satisfaction in any. Certainly he could leave the place; break away from his work; delegate to an agent his duties; and make a new life for himself and his family elsewhere; but what good would come from that? Those fatal ecclesiastical nets were spread on all sides; and wherever he turned he saw the same deadly influences besetting those who were dearest to him. East or west, there stood the priest between him and his honour, him and his happiness-there rose up the Church, the grim shadow of which hung like a cloud over his home and shut out the light of the sky. It was not to be supposed that all this change in Hermione and Virginia depended on Mr. Lascelles and Sister Agnes only; though they had undoubtedly been the prime movers in the "conversion" of which they made so much account, and were still the central points round which the rest revolved. Yet Richard could not hope that, even if he took them away from Crossholme, these dear blinded enthusiasts of his would unchristianize themselves and go back to their old attitude of toleration and indifference-tolerant to his atheism because indifferent to Christianity. To go abroad, say, and break the chain of continuity here, might be of use so far as interrupting the special influence of one man went ; but it would not destroy their belief in the creed, nor loosen the grip of the accredited professors of that creed. Therefore it would not restore the old order of life. And again, if he decided to go, and they refused? Influenced by Mr. Lascelles, who held her conscience in the hollow of his hand, Hermione well might so refuse, both for herself and her daughter; and how could he compel them by main force? If they resisted quietly, passively said they would not-made no arrangements-opposed simply the resistance of inertia-could he have them carried by men's arms to this carriage, that hotel, and treat them as refractory prisoners are treated by their gaolers? What indeed could he do? Should he speak to Mr. Lascelles? -defy him?-forbid him?-argue with him dispassionately on the social inexpediency, the personal indelicacy of thus interfering in a man's house? Should he forget his own pride and dignity, and stoop to a pitiful plea for compassion ?-a whining prayer, as of a conquered slave, suing the strong master for mercy and forbearance ? Should he place the matter on the ground of elemental right and wrong?—on the sacredness of the marriage tie, the inalienable rights of the father, the iniquity of filial disobedience, and the danger of conjugal estrangement? Let him lay out the ground as he would, he saw no chance of good or profit. The vicar would join his long white |