OLD HIGHLAND DAYS.
(To THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR:1
Sin,—I am very sorry you think "ungenerous " the sentence, or rather the fragment of a sentence, which you quote from my preface to " Old Highland Days " (Spectator, May 25th). and I think 'it would have been only fair if you had completed the quotation. Alluding to the antagonism of my father to materialism, I said he fought against it " in any shape, whether in its crude or naked form of anti-religion, or dis- guising its irreligion in the cloak of established ceremony and superstition, or sitting smugly in its pew before his eyes." I did not say or imply that established ceremony and supersti- tion were always a cloak for irreligious materialism, nor did I omit to say that he was equally opposed to the materialistic spirit when lie found it in his own or a similar Communion. Surely no candid High Churchman will deny that in many individuals the observance of ritual (in his own case the expression of deep spiritual feeling) is a mere cloak for essential materialism; any more than a candid Nonconformist will deny the essential materialism of many who are regular and even zealous participants in the forms of worship customary in our Free churches. For your appreciation of my father I thank you sincerely.—I am, Sir, &c., [We publish our correspondent's letter, but we cannot admit that our comment was unjustifiable.—ED. Spectator.]
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