These apologies were accepted in a few generous words by Mr Bradlaugh:-- "On my own behalf, and that of my wife, I am content with these apologies. To have accepted less would have shown my disregard of her honour and my own. To have required more would have been to punish with too great severity those whose own frank avowals show that they acted rather with precipitancy than with 'malice prepense.' "(Signed) CHARLES BRADLAUGH." If I could believe that Mr M'Sorley _had_ frankly--to repeat Mr Bradlaugh's word--repented in fact, as well as in appearance, I should pass this libel now with but slight allusion, and have considered myself bound by my father's promise not to make the writer's name public.[30] In the immediate locality it was impossible that the authorship of such an astounding concoction should long remain secret, and for long afterwards Mr M'Sorley's name was bandied about with small jests amongst the irreverent youngsters of the neighbourhood. The apology was made under considerable pressure: members of the congregation threatened to leave the Church, a lawsuit loomed in the distance, and a horsewhipping in the near future.[31] "This fellow," said Mr Bradlaugh,[32] speaking thirteen years later, and still withholding the name, "I compelled to retract every word he had uttered, and to pay £100, which, after deducting costs, was divided amongst various charitable institutions. The reverend libeller wrote me an abject letter begging me not to ruin his prospects in the Church by publishing his name. I consented, and he has since repaid my mercy by losing no opportunity of being offensive. He is a prominent contributor to the _Rock_, and a fierce ultra-Protestant." [Footnote 30: In 1872 Mr Bradlaugh had occasion to address a letter in the _National Reformer_ to the Rev. Mr M'Sorley, dealing with a sermon of his published in the _Tottenham and Edmonton Advertiser_, but he did not make the slightest allusion to the clergyman's former conduct. Mr M'Sorley died in 1892.] [Footnote 31: I remember that some one, I know not whom, put the horsewhip in the hall in readiness, and this impressed upon the minds of us children the dreadful depths of Mr M'Sorley's depravity! Our father never said a harsh word or raised his hand in anger to one of us, and we knew that the person must be very bad indeed if the possibility of a whipping could be even contemplated!] [Footnote 32: _The Weekly Dispatch_, November 16, 1879.] So much for the bitter lament and frank avowal of an ordained minister of the Church of England!