Theobald hated the Church of Rome, but he
hated dissenters too, for he found them as a general rule
troublesome people to deal with; he always found people who did not
agree with him troublesome to deal with: besides, they set up for
knowing as much as he did; nevertheless if he had been let alone he
would have leaned towards them rather than towards the High Church
party. The neighbouring clergy, however, would not let him alone.
One by one they had come under the influence, directly or
indirectly, of the Oxford movement which had begun twenty years
earlier. It was surprising how many practices he now tolerated which
in his youth he would have considered Popish; he knew very well
therefore which way things were going in Church matters, and saw
that as usual Ernest was setting himself the other way. The
opportunity for telling his son that he was a fool was too
favourable not to be embraced, and Theobald was not slow to embrace
it. Ernest was annoyed and surprised, for had not his father and
mother been wanting him to be more religious all his life? Now that he
had become so they were still not satisfied. He said to himself that a
prophet was not without honour save in his own country, but he had
been lately- or rather until lately- getting into an odious habit of
turning proverbs upside down, and it occurred to him that a country is
sometimes not without honour save for its own prophet.
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