s, however humble, would obtain for you
that indication before your departure?'

'This is not the land of inspiration,' replied Tancred, timidly.

'But you have your Church,' said Sidonia.

'Which I hold of divine institution, and which should be under the
immediate influence of the Holy Spirit,' said Tancred, dropping his
eyes, and colouring still more as he found himself already trespassing
on that delicate province of theology which always fascinated him, but
which it had been intimated to him by Lord Eskdale that he should avoid.

'Is it wanting to you, then, in this conjuncture?' inquired his
companion.

'I find its opinions conflicting, its decrees contradictory, its conduct
inconsistent,' replied Tancred. 'I have conferred with one who is
esteemed its most eminent prelate, and I have left him with a conviction
of what I had for some time suspected, that inspiration is not only a
divine but a local quality.'

'You and I have some reason to believe so,' said Sidonia. 'I believe
that God spoke to Moses on Mount Horeb, and you believe that he was
crucified, in the person of Jesus, on Mount Calvary. Both were, at least
carnally, children of Israel: they spoke Hebrew to the Hebrews. The
prophets were only Hebrews; the apostles were only Hebrews. The churches
of Asia, which have vanished, were founded by a native Hebrew; and the
church of Rome, which says it shall last for ever, and which converted
this island to the faith of Moses and of Christ, vanquishing the Druids,
Jupiter Olympius, and Woden, who had successively invaded it, was also
founded by a native Hebrew. Therefore, I say, your suspicion or your
conviction is, at least, not a fantastic one.'

Tancred listened to Sidonia as he spoke with great interest, and with an
earnest and now quite unembarrassed manner. The height of the argument
had immediately surmounted all his social reserve. His intelligence
responded to the great theme that had so long occupied his musing
hours; and the unexpected character of a conversation which, as he
had supposed, would have mainly treated of letters of credit, the more
excited him.

'Then,' said Tancred, with animation, 'seeing how things are, that I am
born in an age and in a country divided between infidelity on one side
and an anarchy of creeds on the other; with none competent to guide
me, yet feeling that I must believe, for I hold that duty cannot exist
without faith; is it so wild as some would think it, I woul