rather to neglect the education of the little lad who so gladly put
himself under the kind priest's orders. At first they read much and
regularly, both in Latin and French; the Father not neglecting in
anything to impress his faith upon his pupil, but not forcing him
violently, and treating him with a delicacy and kindness which surprised
and attached the child, always more easily won by these methods than by
any severe exercise of authority. And his delight in their walks was to
tell Harry of the glories of his order, of its martyrs and heroes, of
its Brethren converting the heathen by myriads, traversing the desert,
facing the stake, ruling the courts and councils, or braving the
tortures of kings; so that Harry Esmond thought that to belong to the
Jesuits was the greatest prize of life and bravest end of ambition; the
greatest career here, and in heaven the surest reward; and began to
long for the day, not only when he should enter into the one church
and receive his first communion, but when he might join that wonderful
brotherhood, which was present throughout all the world, and which
numbered the wisest, the bravest, the highest born, the most eloquent of
men among its members. Father Holt bade him keep his views secret,
and to hide them as a great treasure which would escape him if it was
revealed; and, proud of this confidence and secret vested in him,
the lad became fondly attached to the master who initiated him into
a mystery so wonderful and awful. And when little Tom Tusher, his
neighbor, came from school for his holiday, and said how he, too, was
to be bred up for an English priest, and would get what he called
an exhibition from his school, and then a college scholarship and
fellowship, and then a good living--it tasked young Harry Esmond's
powers of reticence not to say to his young companion, "Church!
priesthood! fat living! My dear Tommy, do you call yours a church and
a priesthood? What is a fat living compared to converting a hundred
thousand heathens by a single sermon? What is a scholarship at Trinity
by the side of a crown of martyrdom, with angels awaiting you as your
head is taken off? Could your master at school sail over the Thames on
his gown? Have you statues in your church that can bleed, speak, walk,
and cry? My good Tommy, in dear Father Holt's church these things take
place every day. You know Saint Philip of the Willows appeared to Lord
Castlewood, and caused him to turn to the one true