thought of it, he did not
care much about Church disendowment.

But he found that he must needs go as he was driven or else depart
out of the place. He wrote a line to his friend Erle, not to ask
advice, but to explain the circumstances. "My only possible chance
of success will lie in attacking the Church endowments. Of course I
think they are bad, and of course I think that they must go. But I
have never cared for the matter, and would have been very willing to
leave it among those things which will arrange themselves. But I have
no choice here." And so he prepared himself to run his race on the
course arranged for him by Mr. Ruddles. Mr. Molescroft, whose hours
were precious, soon took his leave, and Phineas Finn was placarded
about the town as the sworn foe to all Church endowments.

In the course of his canvass, and the commotions consequent upon
it, he found that Mr. Ruddles was right. No other subject seemed at
the moment to have any attraction in Tankerville. Mr. Browborough,
whose life had not been passed in any strict obedience to the Ten
Commandments, and whose religious observances had not hitherto
interfered with either the pleasures or the duties of his life,
repeated at every meeting which he attended, and almost to every
elector whom he canvassed, the great Shibboleth which he had now
adopted--"The prosperity of England depends on the Church of her
people." He was not an orator. Indeed, it might be hard to find a
man, who had for years been conversant with public life, less able
to string a few words together for immediate use. Nor could he learn
half-a-dozen sentences by rote. But he could stand up with unabashed
brow and repeat with enduring audacity the same words a dozen times
over--"The prosperity of England depends on the Church of her
people." Had he been asked whether the prosperity which he promised
was temporal or spiritual in its nature, not only could he not have
answered, but he would not in the least have understood the question.
But the words as they came from his mouth had a weight which seemed
to ensure their truth, and many men in Tankerville thought that Mr.
Browborough was eloquent.

Phineas, on the other hand, made two or three great speeches every
evening, and astonished even Mr. Ruddles by his oratory. He had
accepted Mr. Ruddles's proposition with but lukewarm acquiescence,
but in the handling of the matter he became zealous, fiery,
and enthusiastic. He explained to his hearer