in the habit of taking that exercise bare-backed, now he was resolved
to get into a saddle, and ride like a gentleman. Henceforth he might be
seen mounted upon one of his father's horses, quite erect, and with but
one spur, which was, in fact, the only spur, except the whiskey bottle,
that had been in the family for three generations. This was used, he
declared, for no other purpose in life than that of "stimulating the
animal to the true clerical trot."

From the moment he became a mounted man he assumed an air of less
equivocal command in the family; and not only to his own relations was
this authority manifested, but to his more distant acquaintances, and,
in short, to the whole parish. The people now began to touch their hats
to him, which act of respect he returned as much in imitation of the
parish priest as possible. They also began to ask him what o'clock
it was, and Denis, with a peculiar condescension, balanced still with
becoming dignity, stopped, pulled out his watch, and told the hour,
after which he held it for a few seconds to his ear with an experienced
air, then put it in a dignified manner in his fob, touched the horse
with the solitary spur, put himself more erect, and proceeded with--as
he himself used to say, when condemning the pride of the curate--"all
the lordliness of the parochial priest."

The notions which the peasantry entertain of a priest's learning are as
extravagant as they are amusing, and such, indeed, as would be too
much for the pedantic vanity inseparable from a half-educated man to
disclaim. The people are sufficiently reasonable, however, to admit
gradations in the extent of knowledge acquired by their pastors; but
some of the figures and illustrations which they use in estimating their
comparative merits are highly ludicrous. I remember a young man, who,
at the age of twenty-two, set about preparing himself for the church. He