sacred as his oath--more binding than his bond; fair, manly dealing is at
an end; and he who would mount the ladder of fortune, must be prepared to
soil his hands if he hope to reach the top. Legitimate trading is no
longer profitable. Selfishness is arrayed against selfishness--cunning
against cunning--lying against lying--deception against deception. The
great rogue prospers--the honest man starves with his innate sense of
honour and integrity. Is it possible to enter cheerfully upon employment
which demands the sacrifice of soul even at the outset?"

"You draw a dark picture, Mr Allcraft, slightly tinged, I trust, with the
poetic pencil. But be it as gloomy as you paint it, we have still religion
amongst us, and individuals who adapt their conduct to its principles"--

"Ay, madam," said Michael, quickly interrupting her, "I grant you all you
wish. If we did but adapt our conduct to the doctrines of the
Testament--to that unequalled humanizing moral code--if we were taught to
do this, and how to do it, we might hope for some amendment. But look at
the actual state of things. The religious world is but a portion of the
whole--a world within a world. Preachers of peace--men who arrogate to
themselves the divine right of inculcating truth, and who, if any, should
be free from the corruption that taints the social atmosphere,--such men
come before mankind already sick with warfare, widening the breaches,
subdividing our divisions. Are these men pure and single-minded? Are these
men free from the grasping itch that distinguishes our age? Is there no
such thing as trafficking with souls? Are chapels bought and sold only
with a spiritual view, or sometimes as men bargain for their theatres? Are
these men really messengers of peace, living in amity and union, acting
Christianity as well as preaching it? Ask the Papist, the Protestant, the
Independent, and the thousand sects who dwell apart as foes, and, whilst
they talk of love, are teaching mankind how to hate beneath the garb of