“Wood?” said I.
“I hope not,” said the man in black; “no, if I be consulted as to the material for the statue, I should strongly recommend bronze.”
And when the man in black had said this, he emptied his second tumbler of its contents, and prepared himself another.
CHAPTER XCIV.
Prerogative—Feeling of Gratitude—A Long History—Alliterative Style—Advantageous Specimen—Jesuit Benefice—Not Sufficient—Queen Stork’s Tragedy—Good Sense—Grandeur and Gentility—Ironmonger’s Daughter—Clan Mac-Sycophant—Lick-Spittles—A Curiosity—Newspaper Editors—Charles the Simple—High-flying Ditty—Dissenters—Lower Classes—Priestley’s House—Saxon Ancestors—Austin—Renovating Glass—Money—Quite Original.
“So you hope to bring these regions again beneath the banner of the Roman See?” said I; after the man in black had prepared the beverage, and tasted it.
“Hope,” said the man in black; “how can we fail? Is not the Church of these regions going to lose its prerogative?”
“Its prerogative?”
“Yes; those who should be the guardians of the religion of England are about to grant Papists emancipation and to remove the disabilities from Dissenters, which will allow the Holy Father to play his own game in England.”
On my inquiring how the Holy Father intended to play his game, the man in black gave me to understand that he intended for the present to cover the land with temples, in which the religion of Protestants would be continually scoffed at and reviled.