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to maintain their kitchen fires at the due clerical intensity of red , have dined with Dukes , merely through the sermons which they did not write , and the theology which they had too much wit ever to
acquire . Englishmen like to be brow-beaten by a great man ; they like to be put down by a person whose position is not to be questioned . "We may endeavour to persuade ourselves to the contrary , but the best half of our London society is composed of those who would sell their very soul for a Bristol-stone necklace .
People are charmed in the Park with a grand startling charge of social cavalry , provided , if they cannot override admiring gazers , themselves , they have superb carriage-horses or high-stepping bloodmares of other people ' s to make folks get out of the way and rush to the sidewalk . Ah ! what envy and astonishment is felt as the coronet or the " red hand , " or the fiery plushes , or clattering plate —the whole a blessed vision of some unknown fashionable sainthood
—flashes , like a meteor , by . Idolaters of the great world , who cannot dash about themselves , like to do it by deputy . Go , we say , into the Parks . Go into Parliament . Go into the House of Peers . Investigate- —like some curious little animal , with restless movements and sharp , though clever eyes—one of your busiest Members of Parliament at his breakfast of papers and red-tape—dry food that ! Tet all that , he would persuade you , he munches .
Bag Bishops and Baronets in this your moral pursuit of game , feathered and unfeathered—those who fly into the aristocratic heaven and bask in the direct beams of royalty , and dingy clericals , and other longers after fleshpots and fine things , who can only creep envious into their holes , at a distance , when the day is done ; ministers of state ; officials of all colours ; men who
have things to give , and men who want those things : garters , have things to give , and men who want those things ; garters , stars , ends of ribbon , doctors ' -gowns , batons of field-marshals , all the grand odds and ends , all the tinsel and velvet , and nodding ostrichfeathers and sticks and staves , which constitute the droll masquerade of which this queer , social , and political world of us English is
composed : —where , ask we , and we ask it confidently—shall you find , in all this procession , this harlequinade of mingled royalties and rags , true religion , real honour , self-sacrifice , Christian charity , pure patriotism ? Is there anything that can enable us to lay our hand honestly on our heart and aver that , to the best of our poor miserable ability , we have done God's work here , and hope for His grace in
the future world , which , whatever we may think of our certain long lease of life , is speeding fast towards us—nay , perhaps , is at the door ! Either the Christian religion is true , or it is not . If it is true , then we are mad in leaving the care of our souls to the last : — thinking , struggling , trying , scrambling for anything rather than for that which is all in all . Ah ! my friend , consider well ! And , this
very clay follow with less eager appetite and with less sharp eyes some fancied good thing , towards the seizing of which thine own desire , or thy wife ' s prompting , or thy children ' s murmurs at thy slow advance , urge thee . If thou hast it now in thy hand , and if thou
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Untitled Article
to maintain their kitchen fires at the due clerical intensity of red , have dined with Dukes , merely through the sermons which they did not write , and the theology which they had too much wit ever to
acquire . Englishmen like to be brow-beaten by a great man ; they like to be put down by a person whose position is not to be questioned . "We may endeavour to persuade ourselves to the contrary , but the best half of our London society is composed of those who would sell their very soul for a Bristol-stone necklace .
People are charmed in the Park with a grand startling charge of social cavalry , provided , if they cannot override admiring gazers , themselves , they have superb carriage-horses or high-stepping bloodmares of other people ' s to make folks get out of the way and rush to the sidewalk . Ah ! what envy and astonishment is felt as the coronet or the " red hand , " or the fiery plushes , or clattering plate —the whole a blessed vision of some unknown fashionable sainthood
—flashes , like a meteor , by . Idolaters of the great world , who cannot dash about themselves , like to do it by deputy . Go , we say , into the Parks . Go into Parliament . Go into the House of Peers . Investigate- —like some curious little animal , with restless movements and sharp , though clever eyes—one of your busiest Members of Parliament at his breakfast of papers and red-tape—dry food that ! Tet all that , he would persuade you , he munches .
Bag Bishops and Baronets in this your moral pursuit of game , feathered and unfeathered—those who fly into the aristocratic heaven and bask in the direct beams of royalty , and dingy clericals , and other longers after fleshpots and fine things , who can only creep envious into their holes , at a distance , when the day is done ; ministers of state ; officials of all colours ; men who
have things to give , and men who want those things : garters , have things to give , and men who want those things ; garters , stars , ends of ribbon , doctors ' -gowns , batons of field-marshals , all the grand odds and ends , all the tinsel and velvet , and nodding ostrichfeathers and sticks and staves , which constitute the droll masquerade of which this queer , social , and political world of us English is
composed : —where , ask we , and we ask it confidently—shall you find , in all this procession , this harlequinade of mingled royalties and rags , true religion , real honour , self-sacrifice , Christian charity , pure patriotism ? Is there anything that can enable us to lay our hand honestly on our heart and aver that , to the best of our poor miserable ability , we have done God's work here , and hope for His grace in
the future world , which , whatever we may think of our certain long lease of life , is speeding fast towards us—nay , perhaps , is at the door ! Either the Christian religion is true , or it is not . If it is true , then we are mad in leaving the care of our souls to the last : — thinking , struggling , trying , scrambling for anything rather than for that which is all in all . Ah ! my friend , consider well ! And , this
very clay follow with less eager appetite and with less sharp eyes some fancied good thing , towards the seizing of which thine own desire , or thy wife ' s prompting , or thy children ' s murmurs at thy slow advance , urge thee . If thou hast it now in thy hand , and if thou