ich he had built
a fine chapel in Prince's Street, and amongst the hearers was Mr. Tillet,
then in a lawyer's office, a young man famous for his speeches at the
Mechanics' Institute and in connection with a literary venture, the
_Norwich Magazine_, not destined to set the Thames on fire; latterly an
M.P. for Norwich and proprietor and editor, I believe, of one of the most
popular of East Anglian journals, the _Norfolk News_. It was in Prince's
Street Chapel I first learned to realize how influential was the
Nonconformist public, of which I frankly admit in our little village,
with Churchmen all round, I had but a limited idea. It seemed to me that
we were rather a puny folk, but at Norwich, with its chapels and pastors
and people, I saw another sight. There was the Rev. John Alexander, with
an overflowing audience on the Sunday and an active vitality all the
week, now dining at the palace with the Bishop or breakfasting at Earlham
with the Gurneys, now meeting on terms of equality the literati of the
place (at that time Mrs. Opie was still living near the castle, and Mr.
Wilkins was writing his life of the far-famed Norwich doctor, the learned
and ingenious author of the 'Religio Medici'), now visiting the afflicted
and the destitute, now carrying consolation to the home of the mourner.
John Alexander was a man to whom East Anglian Nonconformity owes much.
In the old city there was a good deal of young intelligence, and a good
deal of it amongst the Noncons. Dr. Sexton was one of the Old Meeting
House congregation, as was Lucy Brightwell, a lady not unknown to the
present generation of readers. To a certain extent a Noncon. is bound to
be more or less intelligent. He finds a great State Establishment of
religion wherever he goes. It enjoys the favour of the Court. It is
patronized by the aristocracy. It enlists among its supporters all who
wish to rise in the world or to make a figure in society. By means of
the endowed schools of the land, it offers to the young, even of the
humblest birth, a chance of winning a prize. Conform, it says, and you
may be rich and respectable. It was said of a late Bishop of Winchester
that he would forgive a man anything so long as he were but a good
Churchman, and even now one meets in society with people who regard a
Dissenter as little better than a heathen or a publican. A man who can
thus voluntarily place himself at a disadvantage, to a certain extent,
must have exercised