Middlemarch
CHAPTER LIII
It is but a shallow haste which concludeth insincerity from
what outsiders call inconsistency—putting a dead mechanism
of ‘ ifs’ and ‘therefores’ for the living myriad of hidden suckers
whereby the belief and the conduct are wrought into mutual
sustainment.
M
r. Bulstrode, when he was hoping to acquire a new in-
terest in Lowick, had naturally had an especial wish
that the new clergyman should be one whom he thoroughly
approved; and he believed it to be a chastisement and ad-
monition directed to his own shortcomings and those of
the nation at large, that just about the time when he came in
possession of the deeds which made him the proprietor of
Stone Court, Mr. Farebrother ‘read himself ’ into the quaint
little church and preached his first sermon to the congre-
gation of farmers, laborers, and village artisans. It was not
that Mr. Bulstrode intended to frequent Lowick Church or
to reside at Stone Court for a good while to come: he had
bought the excellent farm and fine homestead simply as a
retreat which he might gradually enlarge as to the land and
beautify as to the dwelling, until it should be conducive to
the divine glory that he should enter on it as a residence,
partially withdrawing from his present exertions in the
