Puslapio vaizdai
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gets to work. The very evening of the day on which he has this experience of singular elation, his son comes home in disgrace, having been sent down from Oxford for some foolish escapade. The same day Canon Ronder, the newly appointed Treasurer of the Cathedral, who is destined to be the main instrument of the Archdeacon's downfall, arrives in the town. Blow follows quickly upon blow. Canon Ronder, who has determined to drive him out of the place, procures his defeat on a vote at a Chapter meeting, the utter insignificance of the point at issue only serving to emphasize the exasperation of the Archdeacon at being beaten in a field in which hitherto he had been unquestioned master. Soon follows his son's mésalliance; then his wife leaves him for a lover. Next, having wandered one day in distraction of mind into the grounds where a fair is being held, he is attacked and badly maltreated by a gang led by Davray and Hogg the inn-keeper, his son's father-in-law.

But it is not only these misfortunes which finally break him. The gods have another weapon ready. Quem Deus vult perdere, prius dementat. Dazed and bewildered as he is by the overturning of his world, his hatred of Canon Ronder, whom he rightly enough suspects of plotting against him, becomes an obsession closely akin to madness. He quarrels with him openly, and with the utmost bitterness. In a fit of ungovernable passion, to which, we are told, he had always been liable, he knocks down Hogg in the public street. In every way he plays into the hands of his opponents. But though pitiably weakened in both mind and body, he fights to the bitter end. He goes to a meetng of the Cathedral Chapter to make a last despairing effort, doomed to failure, to prevent a Clergyman whom he considers practically an Atheist from being appointed to an important parish, and dies on his familiar battleground, denouncing his colleagues with his last breath for having betrayed, as he believed, his beloved Church.

So perishes the victim of Nemesis, the prey of the jealousy of the gods, who in addition to heaping upon him every kind of misfortune, use his own character, which he is incapable of changing, as one of the instruments of his undoing. There is both boldness and irony in choosing a Christian Cathedral for

the setting of a drama played out in exactly the spirit of Greek Tragedy, an irony heightened by the fact that this man believed himself to be, as according to his lights he was, a faithful and devoted servant of the Church of Christ.

Canon Ronder is a far more complex character than the Archdeacon. He resembles him indeed in his determination to be the leading force in any circle in which he finds himself, but there the likeness ends. Canon Ronder does not desire to be conspicuous. To exercise the chief power without appearing to do so is his aim. His method of obtaining supremacy is not to strike out openly at those who stand in his way, but to undermine their position by exceedingly clever intrigue. He has not, or persuades himself that he has not, any personal animosity towards his victims, but desires to effect their removal in as painless a manner as possible, and once they are out of his way sincerely wishes them well. He is a most suitable instrument to accomplish the downfall of the Archdeacon, who is quite incapable of meeting intrigue and finesse with similar weapons. He cannot knock Ronder down as he did Hogg; but the open and violent hostility he displays towards him is almost as crude a method of attack against such an opponent as physical violence, and only serves to make the Canon's victory more certain.

But before the end Canon Ronder is partially aware that he has meddled with and set in motion forces much more powerful and far-reaching than he had ever anticipated. He discovers that it is not possible for one man to play with another's life, and be able to decide at exactly what point the game shall end. The inhabitants of a French-Canadian village on the St. Lawrence were once asked by visitors why, in a time of drought, they did not request their priest to pray for rain. They replied that they did not do so because he was 'trop capable'. A previous effort of his had resulted in their fields being flooded! Canon Ronder proves himself 'trop capable'. The gods help him to attain his object, which is also theirs, by showering misfortunes upon his opponent; but he is victorious only, so it is hinted, at the cost of that peace of mind which is his chief good, and which for him depends not only upon the successful issue of his plans, but also on his retaining the

goodwill and approval of all his friends in the course of action which he pursues. He succeeds only too well in his object of getting rid of the Archdeacon; yet we leave him doubting, for the first time in his life, whether he has been altogether wise. Nemesis probably, as Davray warns him in other words, is lurking round the corner, ready to fall upon him when the proper time comes.

I have already suggested that in the case of the Archdeacon's son and his wife we get the impression of some influence at work, which they are unable to resist, driving them to assist in his ruin, the former reluctantly and after long hesitation, the latter with a desperate intensity of purpose which forces her on, utterly regardless of consequences. There is a further hint that sinister powers are abroad in the malignant hostility shown by the publican Hogg to the Archdeacon. He had no real grievance against him, but appears to have been actuated by the devilish hatred of a blackguard and sensualist for a clean-living gentleman, proud of his exalted position, whom Hogg knew to despise and loathe him, and upon whom therefore he is determined to bring shame and dishonour.

The novel has been criticized in some quarters as holding up the Church, and incidentally religion, to contempt. In reality it does nothing of the kind. For one thing, no one who was not in close sympathy with Christian ideals could have drawn such a beautiful and essentially Christian character as the aged Bishop. Naturally, for the purpose of the story, the cabals and intrigues of the Chapter are brought to the forefront, for it is to these that the characters concerned react. No doubt, however, in the background there was plenty of sound Christian work going on at Polchester Cathedral, only description of it does not come into the scope of the story.

At the same time, the writer does incidentally expose a danger which has always threatened organized religion, namely that to some men at any rate the organization may become more interesting and absorbing than the cause in the interests of which it has been created, and so come to be an end in itself, instead of merely a means of helping on the cause for which it exists. Anyone who has had experience in ecclesiastical administration knows how real this danger is. Such

work must be done, but unless careful watch is kept on himself by the administrator, it is apt to produce a spiritual deadness for which no amount of ability in serving tables can compensate. Appointments to parishes have to be made, funds have to be dealt with, property has to be managed; and from this side of the work no member of a Cathedral Chapter, nor indeed anyone holding high ecclesiastical office, can wholly escape. Efficiency in this department of the Church's work is unfortunately apt to be mistaken, and not only by those who excel in it, for spiritual efficiency. Moreover, it is a side of Church life in which success is naturally more obvious to the eyes of the world than is possible or even desirable in the spiritual sphere, and consequently, things being as they are in this imperfect world, efficiency therein is often more likely to lead to promotion than the possession of high spiritual powers. This constitutes a real temptation to able and ambitious men. But on the whole, men have their eyes open to this danger, and organizations are kept fairly well in their proper subordinate place. The author of this story implies that in this particular instance the Cathedral, originally erected by pious men to the glory of God, has itself become a sort of god, exacting full dues from its worshippers. Such a thing might occasionally happen. But it is neither inevitable nor common. There is no real necessity that legitimate pride in a magnificent House of Worship and all that pertains to it should degenerate into such idolatry. More usually men find in such places a stimulus and inspiration to the worship of God.

If my interpretation of this story is correct, the query placed after the title of this paper is justified. The setting alone reminds one of Trollope's tales; the method of treatment of his material by the younger writer, and the object he has before him, are entirely different. His purpose is not primarily to draw a typical picture of English Cathedral life, nor to raise a cheap laugh at religion by exposing the weaknesses of this particular phase of ecclesiastical organization, but to show how in life there are hidden forces at work, stronger than the strongest of men; and that while men fondly imagine that they are manipulating circumstances to suit their own ends, meritorious or otherwise, it is destiny or fate which

really controls the course of events. The result is a powerful and absorbing though in some respects a disagreeable story, in which the conception of life is Greek rather than Christian. Personally I am inclined to consider it the ablest of the novels. the author has so far produced. Certainly between him and Trollope there is not only the gulf of years, but of method, temperament, and outlook on life. Whether he will win a higher place in the temple of fame than Trollope secured in his day is another question. At least the younger writer owes nothing to the elder, except perhaps the suggestion of the frame-work of his story. But being himself the son of a distinguished Bishop, and having a personal knowledge of Cathedral life, he would quite probably have selected this particular subject, even if the Barchester stories had never been written.

Bishopscourt, Kingston.

EDWARD J. BIDWELL.

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