The Waverley novels, by Sir Walter Scott, complete in 12 vol., printed from the latest English ed., embracing the author's last corrections, prefaces & notes.

PEVERIL OF THEE PEAK. 449
the results? for I think you have already seen enough of the evils of civil
war, to be wary of again awakening its terrors in a peaceful and happy
country."
"They that are drenched with poisonous narcotics," saicld the Major,
" must be awakened by their physicians, though it were with the sound of
the trumpet. Better that men should die bravely, with their arms in their
hands, like free-born Englishmen, than that they should slide into the
bloodless but dishonoured grave which slavery opens for its vassals-But it
is not of war that I was about to speak," he added, assuming a milder tone.
"The evils of which England now complains, are such as can be remedied
by the wholesome administration of her own laws, even in the state in which
they are still suffered to exist. Have these laws not a right to the support
of every individual who lives under them? Have they not a right to yours?"
As he seemed to pause for an answer, Peveril replied, " I have to learn,
lMajor Bridgenorth, how the laws of England have become so far weakened
as to require such support as mine. When that is made plain to me, no man
will more willingly discharge the duty of a faithful liegeman to the law as
well as the King. But the laws of England are under the guardianship of
upright and learned judges, and of a gracious monarch."
" And of a House of Commons," interrupted Bridgenorth, "no longer
doting upon restored monarchy, but awakened, as with a peal of thunder, to
the perilous state of our religion, and of' our freedom. I appeal to your own
conscience, Julian Peveril, whether this awakening hath not been in time,
since you yourself know, and none better than you, the secret but rapid
strides which Rome has made to erect her Dagon of idolatry within our
Protestant land."
Here Julian seeing, or thinking he saw, the drift of Bridgenorth's suspicions, hastened to exculpate himself from the thought of favouring the
Roman Catholic religion. "It is true," he said, " I have been educated in
a family where that faith is professed by one honoured individual, and that
I have since travelled in Popish countries; but even for these very reasons
I have seen Popery too closely to be friendly to its tenets. The bigotry of
the laymen-the persevering arts of the priesthood-the perpetual intrigue
for the extension of the forms without the spirit of religion-the usurpation
of that church over the consciences of men-and her impious pretensions to
infallibility, are as inconsistent to my mind as they can seem to yours, with
common sense, rational liberty, freedom of conscience, and pure religion."
" Spoken like the son of your excellent mother," said Bridgenorth, grasping his hand; "for whose sake I have consented to endure so much from
your house unrequited, even when the means of requital were in my own
hand."
"It was indeed- from the instructions of that excellent parent," said
Peveril, "that I was enabled, in my early youth, to resist and repel the
insidious attacks made upon my religious faith by the Catholic priests into
whose company I was necessarily thrown. Like her, I trust to live and die
in the faith of the reformed Church of Englandl."
"The Church of England!" said Bridgenorth, dropping his young friend's
hand, but presently resuming it-" Alas! that church, as now constituted,
usurps scarcely less than Rome herself upon men's consciences and liberties; yet, out of the weakness of this half-reformed church, may God be
pleased to work out deliverance to England, and praise to Himself. I must
not forget, that one whose services have been in the cause incalculable,
wears the garb of an English priest, and hath had Episcopal ordination.
It is not for us to challenge the instrument, so that our escape is achieved
from the net of the fowler. Enough, that I find thee not as yet enlightened
with the purer doctrine, but prepared to profit by it when the spark shall
reach thee. Enough, in especial, that I find thee willing to uplift thy testimony, to cry aloud and spare not, against the errors and arts of the Church
VoL. VII.-29 2 N 2