social and political difficulties will become plain. He
is exalted to the pitch of enthusiasm at which even supernatural
machinery may be introduced without a sense of discord. And yet,
intentionally or from the inevitable conditions of the scheme, the
satire deepens with the mystery; and the more solemn become the words
and gestures of our high priest, the more marked becomes his ambiguous
air of irony. Good, innocent Tancred fancies that his doubts may be
solved by an English bishop; and Disraeli revels in the ludicrous
picture of a young man of genius taking a bishop seriously. Yet it must
be admitted that Tancred's own theory sounds to the vulgar Saxon even
more nonsensical than the episcopal doctrine. His notion is that
'inspiration is not only a divine but a local quality,' and that God can
only speak to man upon the soil of Palestine--a theory which has
afterwards to be amended by the hypothesis, that even in Palestine, God
can only speak to a man of Semitic race. Lest we should fancy that this
belief contains an element of irony, it is approved by the great
Sidonia; but even Sidonia is not worthy of the deep mysteries before us.
He intimates to Tancred that there is one from whose lips even he
himself has derived the sacred knowledge. The Spanish priest, Alonzo
Lara, Jewish by race, but, as a Catholic prelate, imbued with all the
later learning--a member of that Church which was founded by a Hebrew,
and still retains some of the 'magnetic influence'--this great man, in
whom all influences thus centre, is the only worthy hierophant. And
thus, after a few irresistible blows at London society, we find
ourselves fairly on the road to Palestine, and listen for the great
revelation. We scorn the remark of the simple Lord Milford, that there
is 'absolutely no sport of any kind' near Jerusalem; and follow Tancred
where his ancestors have gone before him. We bend in reverence before
the empty tomb of the Divine Prince of the house of David, and fall into
ecstasies in the garden of Bethany. Solace comes, but no inspiration.
Though the marvellous Lara is briefly introduced, and though a beautiful
young woman comes straight out of the 'Arabian Nights,' and asks the
insoluble question, What would have become of the Atonement, if the Jews
had not persuaded the Romans to crucify Jesus? we are still tantalised
by the promised revelation, which melts before us like a mirage. Once,
indeed, on the sacred mountain of Sinai, a vision