gs determined to be
the friend of his clergymen;--and yet he thought himself obliged to say a
word. There were matters in which Dr. Wortle affected a peculiarly
anti-clerical mode of expression, if not of feeling. He had been foolish
enough to declare openly that he was in search of a curate who should have
none of the "grace of godliness" about him. He was wont to ridicule the
piety of young men who devoted themselves entirely to their religious
offices. In a letter which he wrote he spoke of one youthful divine as "a
conceited ass who had preached for forty minutes." He not only disliked,
but openly ridiculed all signs of a special pietistic bearing. It was
said of him that he had been heard to swear. There can be no doubt that
he made himself wilfully distasteful to many of his stricter brethren.
Then it came to pass that there was a correspondence between him and the
bishop as to that outspoken desire of his for a curate without the grace
of godliness. But even here Dr. Wortle was successful. The management of
his parish was pre-eminently good. The parish school was a model. The
farmers went to church. Dissenters there were none. The people of Bowick
believed thoroughly in their parson, and knew the comfort of having an
open-handed, well-to-do gentleman in the village. This third episcopal
difficulty did not endure long. Dr. Wortle knew his man, and was willing
enough to be on good terms with his bishop so long as he was allowed to be
in all things his own master.

There had, too, been some fighting between Dr. Wortle and the world about
his school. He was, as I have said, a thoroughly generous man, but he
required, himself, to be treated with generosity. Any question as to the
charges made by him as schoolmaster was unendurable. He explained to all
parents that he charged for each boy at the rate of two hundred a-year for
board, lodging, and tuition, and that anything required for a boy's
benefit or comfort beyond that ordinarily supplied would be charged for as
an extra at such price as Dr. Wortle himself thought to be an equivalent.
Now the popularity of his establishment no doubt depended in a great
degree on the sufficiency and comfort of the good things of the world
which he provided. The beer was of the best; the boys were not made to
eat fat; their taste in the selection of joints was consulted. The
morning coffee was excellent. The cook was a great adept at cakes and
puddings. The Docto