, as he knocked. "Mr Egremont, is he at
home?"

"The gentlemen of the deputation? Yes, my master gave particular orders
that he was at home to you. Will you walk in, gentlemen?"

"There you see," said the tall delegate. "This would be a lesson to
Thorough Base."

They sat down in an antechamber: the servant opened a mahogany
folding-door which he shut after him and announced to his master the
arrival of the delegates. Egremont was seated in his library, at a round
table covered with writing materials, books, and letters. On another
table were arranged his parliamentary papers, and piles of blue books.
The room was classically furnished. On the mantelpiece were some ancient
vases, which he had brought with him from Italy, standing on each side
of that picture of Allori of which we have spoken.

The servant returned to the ante-room, and announcing to the delegates
that his master was ready to receive them, ushered into the presence of
Egremont--WALTER GERARD and STEPHEN MORLEY.

Book 4 Chapter 6

It is much to be deplored that our sacred buildings are generally closed
except at the stated periods of public resort. It is still more to be
regretted that when with difficulty entered, there is so much in their
arrangements to offend the taste and outrage the feelings. In the tumult
of life, a few minutes occasionally passed in the solemn shadow of some
lofty and ancient aisle, exercise very often a salutary influence: they
purify the heart and elevate the mind; dispel many haunting fancies, and
prevent many an act which otherwise might be repented. The church would
in this light still afford us a sanctuary; not against the power of the
law but against the violence of our own will; not against the passions
of man but against our own.

The Abbey of Westminster rises amid the strife of factions. Around its
consecrated precinct some of the boldest and some of the worst deeds
have been achieved or perpetrated: sacrilege, rapine, murder, and
treason. Here robbery has been practised on the greatest scale known
in modern ages: here ten thousand manors belonging to the order of the
Templars, without any proof, scarcely with a pretext, were forfeited
in one day and divided among the monarch and his chief nobles; here
the great estate of the church, which, whatever its articles of faith,
belonged and still belongs to the people, was seized at various times,
under various pretences, by an assembly that continually chan