Page 179 - of-human-bondage-

satisfied with vague statements.
‘I believe in the Whole, the Good, and the Beautiful.’
Hayward with his loose large limbs and the fine carriage
of his head looked very handsome when he said this, and he
said it with an air.
‘Is that how you would describe your religion in a census
paper?’ asked Weeks, in mild tones.
‘I hate the rigid definition: it’s so ugly, so obvious. If you
like I will say that I believe in the church of the Duke of
Wellington and Mr. Gladstone.’
‘That’s the Church of England,’ said Philip.
‘Oh wise young man!’ retorted Hayward, with a smile
which made Philip blush, for he felt that in putting into plain
words what the other had expressed in a paraphrase, he had
been guilty of vulgarity. ‘I belong to the Church of England.
But I love the gold and the silk which clothe the priest of
Rome, and his celibacy, and the confessional, and purgato-
ry: and in the darkness of an Italian cathedral, incense-laden
and mysterious, I believe with all my heart in the miracle of
the Mass. In Venice I have seen a fisherwoman come in, bare-
foot, throw down her basket of fish by her side, fall on her
knees, and pray to the Madonna; and that I felt was the real
faith, and I prayed and believed with her. But I believe also in
Aphrodite and Apollo and the Great God Pan.’
He had a charming voice, and he chose his words as he
spoke; he uttered them almost rhythmically. He would have
gone on, but Weeks opened a second bottle of beer.
‘Let me give you something to drink.’
Hayward turned to Philip with the slightly condescend-

1 Of Human Bondage