e some sturdy fellows amongst them, I do not deny," said the man
in black, "especially amongst the preachers, clever withal--two or three
of that class nearly drove Mr. Platitude mad, as perhaps you are aware,
but they are not very numerous; and the old sturdy sort of preachers are
fast dropping off, and, as we observe with pleasure, are generally
succeeded by frothy coxcombs, whom it would not be very difficult to gain
over. But what we most rely upon as an instrument to bring the
Dissenters over to us is the mania for gentility, which amongst them has
of late become as great, and more ridiculous, than amongst the middle
classes belonging to the Church of England. All the plain and simple
fashions of their forefathers they are either about to abandon, or have
already done so. Look at the most part of their chapels, no longer
modest brick edifices, situated in quiet and retired streets, but lunatic-
looking erections, in what the simpletons call the modern Gothic taste,
of Portland stone, with a cross upon the top, and the site generally the
most conspicuous that can be found; and look at the manner in which they
educate their children, I mean those that are wealthy. They do not even
wish them to be Dissenters, 'the sweet dears shall enjoy the advantages
of good society, of which their parents were debarred'. So the girls are
sent to tip-top boarding-schools, where amongst other trash they read
_Rokeby_, and are taught to sing snatches from that high-flying ditty the
'Cavalier ---'

'Would you match the base Skippon, and Massey, and Brown,
With the barons of England, who fight for the crown?'

he! he! their own names. Whilst the lads are sent to those hot-beds of
pride and folly--colleges, whence they return with a greater contempt for
everything 'low,' and especially for their own pedigree, than they went
with. I tell you, friend, the children of Dissenters, if not their
parents, are going over to the church, as you call it, and the church is
going over to Rome."

"I do not see the justice of that latter assertion at all," said I; "some
of the Dissenters' children may be coming over to the Church of England,
and yet the Church of England be very far from going over to Rome."

"In the high road for it, I assure you," said the man in black, "part of
it is going to abandon, the rest to lose, their prerogative, and when a
church no longer retains its prerogative, it speedily loses its own
respect, and that