Barchester Towers

n was for ten days hourly asked in the cathedral city of Barchester,

Lord - was going to give place to that Lord -. The illness of the good old man was long and lingering, and it became at last a m

ithout excitement. The breath ebbed from him almost imperceptibly, and for

promised the bishopric to Dr Grantly. He was too discreet a man for that. There is a proverb with reference to the killing of cats, and those who know anything either of high or low government places, will be well aware that a promise

passed a night at the house of the master of Lazarus. Now the master of Lazarus-which is, by the bye, in many respects the most comfortable, as well as the richest college at Oxford,-was the archdeacon's most intimate friend and most truste

ppy and elated, to resume his place in the palace, and to continue to perform for the father the last duties of a son; whic

l lived; and the tidings of the fall of the ministry became more frequent. Sir Lamda Mewnew and Sir Omicron Pie, the two great London doctors, now came down for the fifth time, and declared, shaking their learned heads, that another week of life was impossible; and as they sat down to lunch in

e vacant at the same period. There was much doubt as to the names of the men who were to succeed to power, and a week must elapse before a Cabinet was formed. Would not vacancies be

life might yet hang there for weeks to come. Sir Lamda Mewnew and Sir Omicron Pie had thrice been wrong, and might yet be wrong thrice again. The old bishop slept during twenty of the twenty-four hours, but during the short periods of his waking moments, he knew both his son and his dear friend Mr Harding, the archdeacon's father-in-law, and would thank

were now leaving office would soon return to it. No probable British prime minister but he who was now in, he who was so soon to be out, would think of making a bishop of Dr Grant

roud, wishful, worldly man, sank on his knees by the bedside, and taking the bi

in-law. He was standing close beside the archdeacon before he was perceived, and would have also knelt in prayer had he not feared that his doing so might have caused some sudden start, and have disturbed the dying man. Dr Grantly, however, instantly perceived him, and rose from his knees. As he did so Mr

feeble voice as he woke-'God bless you-may God b

jaw fell a little from its place, and the eyes, which had been so constantly closed in sleep, now remai

Harding, still pressing the other's

other, speaking all but in a whis

the room, and immediately, with pract

Mrs Phillips?' a

and curtseying with a solemn face; 'His lordship's gon

great relief-dear good, excellent old man. Oh that ou

or a meek, mild, gentle-spoken Christian, his lordship was-' and Mrs Phillips

velled from the death chamber to the closet of the prime minister. He had brought himself to pray for his father's life, but now that th

How, without appearing unfeeling, was he to forget his father in the bishop-

ast, in answer to Mr Harding. 'We

will see him again to-morrow morning,' said he; 'We had better

urther consolation, the archdeacon suggested that a telegraph message should be immediately sent off to London. Mr Harding who had really been somewhat surprised to find Dr Grantly, as he thought, so much

his weakness, 'We must send a message at once; we don't kno

do it, only I don't know e

g table, and taking pen and ink, wr

tric Te

-, Downing Stree

of Barches

y the Rev. Sep

y'll probably make you copy it on to one of their own slips; that's all you'll have to do: then you'll have

s called on to perform his duties as such at rather an unseemly time;

my name into i

hat name so proper as that of so old a friend as yourself? The Earl won't look at t

entered to poor bishop's bedroom. He had found the moment so inopportune for any mundane tidings, that he had repressed the words which we

turning back, 'I forgot to t

d the anxiety of his dismay, although under the circumstances of th

come down by electric telegraph, and that the tidi

he message all the same. The news must be sent to some one, and there is at present no one else in a position to receive it. Do it at onc

nceived, but not described! How he was preparing his thunder for successful rivals, standing like a British peer with his back to the sea-coal fire, and his hands in his breeches pockets,-how his fine eye was lit up with anger, and his forehead gleamed with patriotism,-how he stamped his foot as he thought of his heavy associates,-how h

e was enclosed, and having read it, he

he Ear

rl of -'s c

f again on

te friend's chance of possess

f the bishop elect. The British Grandmother declared that Dr

official knowledge, declared in favour of an eminent naturalist, a gentleman most completely versed in the knowledge of rocks and minerals, but supposed by many to hold on religious subjects no special doctrines whatever. The Jupiter, that daily paper which, as we all know,

he demise of the late bishop, Dr Proudie kis

quent to the dispatch of the message he heard that the Earl of - had consented to undertake the formation of a ministry, and from that moment he knew that his chance was over. Many wil

ng priests in the Church of England. A lawyer does not sin in seeking to be a judge, or in compassing his wishes by all honest means. A young diplomat entertains a fair ambition whe

a curate. If we look to our clergymen to be more than men, we shall probably teach ourselves to think that they are less,

r. He was his father's only child, and his father had left him great wealth. His preferment brought him in nearly three thousand a year. The bishopric, as cut down by the Ecclesiastical Commission, was only five. He would be a richer man as archdeac

nful, were not fated to be realised; and Dr