MRS. WARD'S NEW NOVEL.
[To THE EDITOR or THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—In the interesting review of Mrs. Humphry Ward's book in the Spectator of June 11th one point has been entirely overlooked, and that is, the amazing ignorance displayed by that eminent writer of details familiar to every Catholic, and easily to be verified by the moat unlearned Protestant. The confusion between abstinence and fast days. the description of the priest blowing out a candle on the altar before the end of Mass because he liked the smell of wax, and of the bare altar with its purple covering prepared for Benediction, are all blunders so grotesque that a Catholic can only smile at Mrs. Ward's confidence in writing so glibly of a subject to which she has evidently given little study. May I also add that the whole atmosphere of Bannisdale is rather that of the home of an ardent convert than of an old Catholic family, and in the memory of the oldest Catholic now living it was never the custom to send the chaplain to have his meals in the pantry ? These may seem trifling blemishes to readers in general, but surely if Catholicism and Catholics are to be made the subject of a novel, it is not too much to ask that they should be treated with accuracy.—I am, Sir, &c.,
AN OLD CATHOLIC.
Previous page
