Towards the close of the year 1834, Earl Spencer died. George, of course, felt it deeply; he loved his father with, if possible, more than filial affection, for he could look up since his childhood to his paternal example; and all the virtue he was able to practise during his younger days, despite the occasions into which he was cast, he attributed chiefly to the influence of his father's authority. The country lost a statesman, and the Catholics an advocate in the noble earl; his death was therefore regretted by more than his immediate family; but there was one great reason why his son felt so deeply--his father had not died a Catholic. There were many things to make up for his exclusion from the _mementoes_ of his son in the mass, as not being one of those _qui nos praecesserunt cum signo fidei_; such as, his real natural goodness, his acting up to his lights, and his kind treatment of his son; but they were, of course, poor, weak assuagements to the stern fact that he could not pray publicly for the repose of his soul, and only, by the merest conditional permission, even privately. Father Spencer goes shortly after to Althorp. The new earl thinks proper to prohibit his brother speaking to any except those of his own rank while visiting there. He had, of course, his reasons, but it was a sore trial to Father Spencer, who ever loved the poor, and never felt so happy as when exercising his patience in listening to the detailed account of their sufferings, or in trying to relieve them by words or alms. He put up with it, and a _thank God_ soon made him at home amid lords and ladies for the time of his short stay. {227}