STATE OF ENGLAND IN 1685.

327

and the fastidious Buckingham forgot to sneer; men whose chap.

address, politeness, and knowledge of the world qualified-

them to manage the consciences of the wealthy and noble;men with whom Halifax loved to discuss the interests of em-pires, and from whom Dryden was not ashamed to own thathe had learned to write. * The other section was destined toruder and humbler service. It was dispersed over the country,and consisted chiefly of persons not at all wealthier, and notmuch more refined, than small farmers or upper servants.

Yet it was in these rustic priests, who derived but a scantysubsistence from their tithe sheaves and tithe pigs, and whohad not the smallest chance of ever attaining high professionalhonours, that the professional spirit was strongest. Amongthose divines who were the boast of the Universities and thedelight of the capital, and who had attained, or might reason-ably expect to attain, opulence and lordly rank, a party,respectable in numbers, and more respectable in character,leaned towards constitutional principles of government, livedon friendly terms with Presbyterians, Independents, andBaptists, would gladly have seen a full toleration granted toall Protestant sects, and would even have consented to makealterations in the Liturgy, for the purpose of conciliatinghonest and candid Nonconformists. But such latitudina-rianism was held in horror by the country parson. He was,indeed, prouder of his ragged gown than his superiors oftheir lawn and of their scarlet hoods. The very consciousnessthat there was little in his worldly circumstances to distinguishhim from the villagers to whom he preached led him to holdimmoderately high the dignity of that sacerdotal office whichwas his single title to reverence. Having lived in seclusion,

* “I have frequently heard him (Dryden) own with pleasure, that ifhe had any talent for English prose it was owing to his having often readthe writings of the great Archbishop Tillotson.” Congreve’s Dedicationof Dryden’s Plays.