We  may  imagine — at  least  those  who  are  at  all
acquainted  with  the  practical  operation  of  the  Romish
church  —  we  may  imagine,  but  it  must  be  impossible  to
describe,  the  consternation  and  misery  a  measure  of  this
nature  must  necessarily  have  inflicted  upon  the  nation.
By  the  Roman  Catholic  system,  when  in  full  and
unchecked  vigour,  as  in  the  time  of  Philip  Augustus,  the
two  characters,  or  rather,  to  speak  more  strongly  and  yet
more  justly,  the  two  existences  of  Christian  and  Citizen  were
inseparably  united,  and,  indeed,  completely  confounded;
and  therefore,  in  issuing  this  stern  interdict,  the  church
did  in  reality  suspend  all  the  common  acts  of  the  civil,  as
well  as  the  more  solemn  offices  of  the  religious  life.  The
clergy,  in  obedience  to  the  mandate  of  the  Pope,  held


204  HINTS    ON    ANGLING.
