The Case of Richard Meynell

Mrs Humphry Ward
쐀Case of Richard Meynell, The

Project Gutenberg's The Case of Richard Meynell, by Mrs. Humphry Ward Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the header without written permission.
Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is important information about your specific rights and restrictions in how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.
**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
Title: The Case of Richard Meynell
Author: Mrs. Humphry Ward
Release Date: January, 2006 [EBook #9614] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on October 10, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CASE OF RICHARD MEYNELL ***

Produced by Andrew Templeton, Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan and PG Distributed Proofreaders

THE CASE OF RICHARD MEYNELL
BY MRS. HUMPHRY WARD
1911

TO THE MEMORY OF A BELOVED CHILD

A FOREWORD
May I ask those of my American readers who are not intimately acquainted with the conditions of English rural and religious life to remember that the dominant factor in it--the factor on which the story of Richard Meynell depends--is the existence of the State Church, of the great ecclesiastical corporation, the direct heir of the pre-Reformation Church, which owns the cathedrals and the parish churches, which by right of law speaks for the nation on all national occasions, which crowns and marries and buries the Kings of England, and, through her bishops in the House of Lords, exercises a constant and important influence on the lawmaking of the country? This Church possesses half the elementary schools, and is the legal religion of the great public schools which shape the ruling upper class. She is surrounded with the prestige of centuries, and it is probable that in many directions she was never so active or so well served by her members as she is at present.
At the same time, there are great forces of change ahead. Outside the Anglican Church stands quite half the nation, gathered in the various non-conformist bodies--Wesleyan, Congregational, Baptist, Presbyterian, and so on. Between them and the Church exists a perpetual warfare, partly of opinion, partly of social difference and jealousy. In every village and small town this warfare exists. The non-conformist desires to deprive the Church of her worldly and political privileges; the churchman talks of the sin of schism, or draws up schemes of reunion which drop still-born. Meanwhile, alike in the Church, in non-conformity, and in the neutral world which owes formal allegiance to neither, vast movements of thought have developed in the last hundred years, years as pregnant with the germs of new life as the wonderful hundred years that followed the birth of Christ. Whether the old bottles can be adjusted to the new wine, whether further division or a new Christian unity is to emerge from the strife of tongues, whether the ideas of modernism; rife in all forms of Christianity, can be accommodated to the ancient practices and given a share in the great material possessions of a State Church; how individual lives are affected in the passionate struggle of spiritual faiths and practical interests involved in such an attempt; how conscience may be enriched by its success or sterilized by its failure; how the fight itself, ably waged, may strengthen the spiritual elements, the power of living and suffering in men and women--it is with such themes that this story attempts to deal. Twenty-two years ago I tried a similar subject in "Robert Elsmere." Since then the movement of ideas in religion and philosophy has been increasingly rapid and fruitful. I am deeply conscious how little I may be able to express it. But those who twenty years ago welcomed the earlier book--and how can I ever forget its reception in America!--may perhaps be drawn once again to some of the old themes in their new dress.
MARY A. WARD

ILLUSTRATIONS BY CHARLES E. BROCK
"'My dear fellow! No woman ought to marry under nineteen or twenty'"
The Rectory
"Meynell, as he hesitatingly advanced, became the spectator of a scene not intended for his eyes"
"He shook hands with the Dean"
"'I wonder whether she's ever had any real joy--a week's--a day's--happiness--in her life?'"
"The old shepherd looked after her doubtfully"

BOOK I

MEYNELL
"Truth fails not; but her outward forms that bear The longest date do melt like frosty rime, That in the
Continue reading on your phone by scaning this QR Code

 / 187
Tip: The current page has been bookmarked automatically. If you wish to continue reading later, just open the Dertz Homepage, and click on the 'continue reading' link at the bottom of the page.