He pays a visit to Brington in a few days, in company with F. Caestryck, and writes beforehand to his housekeeper to collect a few of his faithful listeners, that he may get them a few words of advice from a real live priest. It seems, from hints thrown out here and there in his letters, that Bishop Walsh was for his going to Rome to prepare himself for Orders. This was a drawback to his own plan, but events will show how wisely the Bishop arranged. Mr. Spencer's anxiety to be ordained at once and sent out to preach is an evidence of the strength of his faith. He imagined the Sacrament of Orders would have infused all ecclesiastical knowledge into his soul, and it was only when he had to work hard at the study of theology that he perceived the wisdom of blind submission to the judgment of his superiors. He goes to London to consult Dr. Bramston as to what he had better do, and he gives the result in a letter to Mr. Phillipps.
"London, Feb. 18, 1830.
"My Dear Ambrose,—I write from Bishop Bramston's study; he has left me there, and is gone to transact a little business in another room. I have passed through my interview with my father, and thank God for it. His kindness was very great, joined with great depth of feeling. I will tell you more of it soon, when we meet. I shall leave London on Saturday for Northampton, where I am to be at Lady Throckmorton's till Monday. I shall then proceed to Birmingham by a coach which passes through Northampton from Cambridge, at one or two o'clock. On the next day, Tuesday, I will go to Wolverhampton, where I hope to meet you, my dear brother. I shall have plenty more to tell you then. Now, let it suffice to say that all my family and Bishop Bramston are decidedly for the Roman plan. I suppose the Lord so intends it. His will be done and His glory advanced; I will be as wax in His hand. My father has made me quite comfortable for money, and in the most prudent way. Farewell, my brother, and believe me,
"Your affectionate
"George Spencer."
He expressed his gratitude, again and again, for the manner in which his family received him, especially as he knew that his late step was looked upon by them as "an unmixed evil." They were even willing to receive him as a guest wherever they might be staying except at Althorp; and, at Dr. Bramston's suggestion, he agreed to these terms, as well as made up his mind not to go to Brington again, in compliance with his father's wishes. These matters he arranged in a few days; he pensioned off one or two of his servants, he made his will about his stock of sermons, and it was, "Give them to the new incumbent, and let him do what he likes with them."
He had some difficulty in obeying his Bishop with regard to "the Roman plan," as he calls it. It was the first test of his obedience. He thought it was because the Bishop was weak enough to yield to the wishes of his family that he was sent. These wishes appeared to him to proceed from principles to which the Church's policy should not suit itself. There would be a noise made in the papers about his conversion, and his friends would have to answer questions about him in inquisitive circles. His father did not wish him to go to Brington, and he himself was most anxious to use the influence he possessed over his dependants in order to their conversion. To avoid these inconveniences and clashing of motives they desired he might be absent from England for some time. Some of his friends also thought going to Rome would make him Protestant again; for, he says in a letter written a few days after his arrival in Rome, "You see now that coming to Rome does not open my eyes and make me wish myself a Protestant again. You may tell all Protestants that I am under no charm, and if anything occurs to make me see that ours is an apostate Church, I shall not, I trust, perversely suffer my fate to be bound up with hers, and consent to die in her plagues." The public parade of Catholic ceremonial had not formerly produced the best of effects upon him, and perhaps it was expected the old feelings would be revived by seeing the same things once more.
The very reasons his friends had for detaining him might urge the Bishop to hasten his departure. His anxiety to go and preach Catholicity in Brington was not quite according to prudence, for though he might know the principal dogmas of faith and believe them firmly, he still needed that Catholic instinct and mode of thought which can nowhere be imbibed so quickly or so surely as in Rome. There are many traits of Protestant viewiness to be seen in his letters at this period, but,
"Quo semel imbuta est recens servabit odorem, Testa din."
It would not have been so easy to bring these properly into subjection whilst he had the thousand-and-one forms of Protestant errors seething around him, and would be forced by his zeal to seek out ways of making Catholic truth approach them. Where everything was Catholic to the very core, in might and majesty, was the best school for tutoring him into Catholic feelings and ideas. It was well also to let him see the force of prejudice, by making him experience in himself how differently things seem according to the state of one's mind. If he was shocked at Rome as a Protestant, it was well to let him know that it was because he was unable to understand as a Protestant what gave him so much joy and edification, when he could see with Catholic eyes.
A courier was leaving London for Ancona, and as he did not see any reason for delay, he took a seat with him, and started for Rome on the 1st March, and arrived on the 12th, the feast of St. Gregory. He contrived to make the acquaintance of Mr. Digby in Paris, and hear mass three times during his journey, which was considered a very quickly made one in those days. He also had a very pleasing interview with Cardinal Mezzofanti in passing through Bologna.