g savoring of the superstitions of the Scarlet Woman in supreme
abomination; and, entertaining such opinions, it can scarcely be
supposed that a funeral oration would find much favor in his eyes,
accompanied, as it was, with the accessories of censer, candle, and cup;
all evidently derived from that period when, under the three-crowned
pontiff's sway, the shaven priest pronounced his benediction o'er the
dead, and released the penitent's soul from purgatorial flames, while he
heavily mulcted the price of his redemption from the possessions of his
successor. Small resented the idea of treading in such steps, as an
insult to himself and his cloth. Was he, the intolerant of Papistry, to
tolerate this? Was he, who could not endure the odor of Catholicism, to
have his nostrils thus polluted--his garments thus defiled by actual
contact with it? It was not to be thought of: and he had formally
signified his declination to Mr. Coates, when a little conversation with
that gentleman, and certain weighty considerations therein held
forth--the advowson of the church of Rookwood residing with the
family--and represented by him, as well as the placing in juxtaposition
of penalties to be incurred by refusal, that the scruples of Small gave
way; and, with the best grace he could muster, very reluctantly promised
compliance.

With these feelings, it will be readily conceived that the doctor was
not in the best possible frame of mind for the delivery of his
exhortation. His spirit had been ruffled by a variety of petty
annoyances, amongst the greatest of which was the condition to which the
good cheer had reduced his clerk, Zachariah Trundletext, whose reeling
eye, pendulous position, and open mouth proclaimed him absolutely
incapable of office. Zachariah was, in consequence, dismissed, and Small
commenced his discourse unsupported. But as our recording it would not
probably conduce to the amusement of our readers, whatever it might to
their edification, we shall pass it over with very brief mention.
Suffice it to say, that the oration was so thickly interstrewn with
lengthy quotations from the fathers,--Chrysostomus, Hieronymus,
Ambrosius, Basilius, Bernardus, and the rest, with whose recondite
Latinity, notwithstanding the clashing of their opinions with his own,
the doctor was intimately acquainted, and which he moreover delighted to
quote,--that his auditors were absolutely mystified and perplexed, and
probably not without design. Co