Page:Early Reminiscences.djvu/281

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1852-1856 22S In April, 1916, a Mr. Henry Brierley, of Wigan, whom I know not, upon the death of his sister, in looking over her bundles of letters lighted on one from his brother Samuel Brierley, dated 23 February, 1855, from which he sent me the following extract. I give it with considerable repugnance, and admit it only as showing the sort of life we were leading, and not on account of anything said about myself. " I have just returned from King's College Chapel, where Chawner, myself, Martin of Corpus, and Gould of Clare Hall have entered into a bond to go every Wednesday and Friday during this holy season, instead of attending dinner in Hall. I cannot tell you how it is, but I feel a great satisfaction in practising this ' very little amount of self-denial,' as Martin calls it. I can assure you that these two new friends of mine are the most perfect patterns of Christians and Catholics I ever saw. Martin is a tall well-made man with jet-black hair, and a very handsome Roman nost, which, coupled with his very orthodox way of conducting himself in Church matters has obtained for him the title of ' Pope.' This I can assure you is by no means a fit and proper name for him, as he detests Popery. Many people, you may be sure, swear at his doings, but they need not, for his life is entirely in accordance with his professions. " Gould is a tall, thin, pale man, in fact like Mr. Sharpe, without his sternness. I dare say you will smile at what I am going to say, but I care not, for you would say the same, if you saw him. He has the sweetest face I ever saw in my life, always serene and undisturbed, with an almost supernatural brightness about it. In fact, I never saw a face anything like it in my life. When we first came up to Cambridge, because he kept his chapels with unvarying punctuality, stayed away from Hall two or three times in the week to attend service at King's, was known to spend much of his time in devotion, and much of his money in almsgiving, and conducting himself altogether according to his faith, he was called mad. But two years have passed, and his former revilers (none he has now), find him pursuing the course with which he started, and very many of them follow his example. He is well known to all the orthodox clergy of Cambridge, and is universally beloved by them, and by the undergraduates who really know him." Q