form, in
accordance with the necessities of the time.

*****

The proximate origin of the foregoing slight article, and probably the
remoter origin of the next following one, was this. Some years ago, a
day of prayer and humiliation, on account of a bad harvest, was
appointed by the proper religious authorities; but certain clergymen
of the Church of England, doubting the wisdom of the demonstration,
declined to join in the services of the day. For this act of
nonconformity they were severely censured by some of their brethren.
Rightly or wrongly, my sympathies were on the side of these men; and,
to lend them a helping hand in their struggle against odds, I inserted
the foregoing chapter in a little book entitled 'Mountaineering in
1861.' Some time subsequently I received from a gentleman of great
weight and distinction in the scientific world, and, I believe, of
perfect orthodoxy in the religious one, a note directing my attention
to an exceedingly thoughtful article on Prayer and Cholera in the
'Pall Mall Gazette.' My eminent correspondent deemed the article a
fair answer to the remarks made by me in 1861. I, also, was struck by
the temper and ability of the article, but I could not deem its
arguments satisfactory, and in a short note to the editor of the 'Pall
Mall Gazette' I ventured to state so much. This letter elicited some
very able replies, and a second leading article was also devoted to
the subject. In answer to all, I risked the publication of a second
letter, and soon afterwards, by an extremely courteous note from the
editor, the discussion was closed.

Though thus stopped locally, the discussion flowed in other
directions. Sermons were preached, essays were published, articles
were written, while a copious correspondence occupied the pages of
some of the religious newspapers. It gave me sincere pleasure to
notice that the discussion, save in a few cases where natural
coarseness had the upper hand, was conducted with a minimum of
vituperation. The severity shown was hardly more than sufficient to
demonstrate earnestness, while gentlemanly feeling was too predominant
to permit that earnestness to contract itself to bigotry or to clothe
itself in abuse. It was probably the memory of this discussion which
caused another excellent friend of mine to recommend to my perusal the
exceedingly able work which in the next article I have endeavoured to
review.

Mr. Mozley's book belongs to that class