h his wealth for the
feeding of such of the trade as could not, by diligent
carding, any longer duly feed themselves.

'Twas thus that an old man in the fifteenth century did his
godlike work to the best of his power, and not ignobly, as
appears to me.

We will now take our godly man of latter days. He shall no
longer be a wool-carder, for such are not now men of mark.
We will suppose him to be one of the best of the good, one
who has lacked no opportunities. Our old friend was, after
all, but illiterate; our modern friend shall be a man
educated in all seemly knowledge; he shall, in short, be
that blessed being,--a clergyman of the Church of England!

And now, in what perfectest manner does he in this lower
world get his godlike work done and put out of hand?
Heavens! in the strangest of manners. Oh, my brother! in a
manner not at all to be believed, but by the most minute
testimony of eyesight. He does it by the magnitude of his
appetite,--by the power of his gorge; his only occupation is
to swallow the bread prepared with so much anxious care for
these impoverished carders of wool,--that, and to sing
indifferently through his nose once in the week some psalm
more or less long,--the shorter the better, we should be
inclined to say.

Oh, my civilised friends!--great Britons that never will be
slaves, men advanced to infinite state of freedom and
knowledge of good and evil;--tell me, will you, what
becoming monument you will erect to an highly-educated
clergyman of the Church of England?

Bold certainly thought that his friend would not like that: he could
not conceive anything that he would like less than this. To what a
world of toil and trouble had he, Bold, given rise by his indiscreet
attack upon the hospital!

"You see," said Towers, "that this affair has been much talked of, and
the public are with you. I am sorry you should give the matter up.
Have you seen the first number of 'The Almshouse'?"

No; Bold had not seen "The Almshouse." He had seen advertisements
of Mr Popular Sentiment's new novel of that name, but had in no way
connected it with Barchester Hospital, and had never thought a moment
on the subject.

"It's a direct attack on the whole system," said Towers. "It'll go
a long way to put down Rochester, and Barchester, and Dulwich, and
St Cross, and all such hotbeds of peculation. It's very clear t