Mr.
Platitude, with the Puritans: how did it fare with Laud and Charles?'

'Oh, as for the Church of England,' said Mr. Platitude, 'I have little to
say. Thank God, I left all my Church of England prejudices in Italy.
Had the Church of England known its true interests, it would long ago
have sought a reconciliation with its illustrious mother. If the Church
of England had not been in some degree a schismatic church, it would not
have fared so ill at the time of which you are speaking; the rest of the
Church would have come to its assistance. The Irish would have helped
it, so would the French, so would the Portuguese. Disunion has always
been the bane of the Church.'

Once more I fell into a reverie. My mind now reverted to the past;
methought I was in a small comfortable room wainscoted with oak; I was
seated on one side of a fireplace, close by a table on which were wine
and fruit; on the other side of the fire sat a man in a plain suit of
brown, with the hair combed back from his somewhat high forehead; he had
a pipe in his mouth, which for some time he smoked gravely and placidly,
without saying a word; at length, after drawing at the pipe for some time
rather vigorously, he removed it from his mouth, and, emitting an
accumulated cloud of smoke, he exclaimed in a slow and measured tone, 'As
I was telling you just now, my good chap, I have always been an enemy to
humbug.'

When I awoke from my reverie the Reverend Mr. Platitude was quitting the
apartment.

'Who is that person?' said I to my entertainer, as the door closed behind
him.

'Who is he?' said my host; 'why, the Reverend Mr. Platitude.'

'Does he reside in this neighbourhood?'

'He holds a living about three miles from here; his history, as far as I
am acquainted with it, is as follows. His father was a respectable
tanner in the neighbouring town, who, wishing to make his son a
gentleman, sent him to college. Having never been at college myself, I
cannot say whether he took the wisest course; I believe it is more easy
to unmake than to make a gentleman; I have known many gentlemanly youths
go to college, and return anything but what they went. Young Mr.
Platitude did not go to college a gentleman, but neither did he return
one: he went to college an ass, and returned a prig; to his original
folly was superadded a vast quantity of conceit. He told his father that
he had adopted high principles, and was determined to discountenance
everythin