Four Years in France: or, Narrative of an English Family's Residence there during that Period; Preceded by some Account of the Conversion of the Author to the Catholic FaithBeste, Henry Digby
Religion
Four Years in France: or, Narrative of an English Family's Residence there during that Period; Preceded by some Account of the Conversion of the Author to the Catholic Faith
Beste, Henry Digby
France -- Description and travel
At the time when I became a member of Magdalen College, he had just
taken the degree of Bachelor of Arts. A young under-graduate cannot help
regarding with some deference one already in possession of the first of
those academical honours to which himself aspires. Paget was besides
three or four years older than me. This advantage of degree and age was
not so great as to cause any subjection on my part; I looked up to him,
but, if the pun may be allowed, did not suspect him. He, on his part,
treated me with the greatest kindness and familiarity. He was, as he
said, the second son of a second son of a second son of a younger branch
of a noble family. He had not much given himself to classical studies,
but he was well skilled in antiquities, including heraldry; witness the
exactitude of his own pedigree: he was well read in English history,
particularly that of the time of Charles I. with every personage of
which he might be said to be intimately acquainted. He had a great love
and good taste for the fine arts and for music. His conversation was, in
the highest degree, pleasing; it was lively, allusive, full of anecdote:
his manner of expressing himself was at once forcible and easy; his
judgment was discriminating, his temper gentle and equal. I never think
of him without regretting his loss; and he is often recalled to my
memory by the benefit and instruction which I have derived from his
friendship.
We used to sit together hour after hour, cozing: I believe I must thus
spell the word we have derived from the French _causer_; no other word
has the same meaning. He would take up scraps of paper, and draw
admirable caricature likenesses of the members of the college, not
sparing the person before him; then a stroll round the walks; and then,
as we passed by the door of my rooms on our return, "come in again," and
so, another hour's coze. Soon after the commencement of our
acquaintance, he began the studies which he thought requisite as a
preparation for being ordained a minister of the Church of England. I
had the result of these studies, which he pursued according to his own
taste, for there is or was no rule in this matter: great admiration of
the character of Archbishop Laud; lamentation of the want of splendor
and ceremonial in the Anglican service; blame of those clergy who
allowed church authority to slip from their hands, lowering themselves
into teachers of mere morality. He gave himself very little trouble
about the opinions of the dissenters, condemning them all in a lump by a
sort of ecclesiastical and political anathema; but he took great pains
to convince himself that the Church of England was in the right in its
polemical dispute with the Church of Rome. He was willing to allow to
the bishop of that city a préséance above all other bishops, not merely
on account of the former imperial dignity of the city, but also on
account of his succession to St. Peter, who had the same precedence
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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