*  And  you  ? '  said  the  chairman.  '  I  '11  not  be  desaiving  your
honour,'  replied  the  father ;  '  the  boy  may  follow  his  mother's
road ;  but  I  'm  bound  to  be  a  Catholic'  '  Begone  then  this
minute,'  exclaimed  the  chairman,  with  a  loud  stamp  of  his
foot  upon  the  floor ;  *  how  dare  you  show  your  face  here  ?
We  have  nothing  to  do  with  you  and  yours.'  On  my  trying
remonstrance,  when  the  vestry  resumed,  he  lifted  his  specta-
cles and  looked  at  me  transfixed,  as  a  naturalist  would  look
at  a  live  Dodo ;  and  though  there  were  signs  of  some  response
to  my  protest,  he  had  the  meeting  with  him  in  treating  it  as
an  eccentricity  and  passing  on  to  the  '  qualified  candidates.'
Yet  this  chairman,  apart  from  his  Toryism  and  Protestantism,
was  a  most  estimable  gentleman ;  of  much  benevolence  and
high  honour;  courteous  and  considerate,  and  in  great  social
request  for  positions  of  trust  and  influence.  This  vestry  inci-
dent, however,  cracked  the  ice  of  a  prejudice  which,  by  re-
peated blows,  was  gradually  and  completely  broken  up ;  and,
even  before  my  return  to  England,  a  totally  dififerent  temper
already  prevailed.
