Skinner ran from subject to subject.
The Pope's action in the matter of the Sicilian revolution naturally
led the Doctor to the reforms which his Holiness had introduced into
his dominions, and he laughed consumedly over the joke which had not
long since appeared in Punch, to the effect that Pio "No, No,"
should rather have been named Pio "Yes, Yes," because, as the Doctor
explained, he granted everything his subjects asked for. Anything like
a pun went straight to Dr. Skinner's heart.
Then he went on to the matter of these reforms themselves. They
opened up a new era in the history of Christendom, and would have such
momentous and far-reaching consequences, that they might even lead
to a reconciliation between the Churches of England and Rome. Dr.
Skinner had lately published a pamphlet upon this subject, which had
shown great learning, and had attacked the Church of Rome in a way
which did not promise much hope of reconciliation. He had grounded his
attack upon the letters A.M.D.G., which he had seen outside a Roman
Catholic chapel, and which of course stood for Ad Mariam Dei
Genetricem. Could anything be more idolatrous?
I am told, by the way, that I must have let my memory play me one of
the tricks it often does play me, when I said the Doctor proposed Ad
Mariam Dei Genetricem as the full harmonies, so to speak, which should
be constructed upon the bass A.
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