Page:Man Who Laughs (Estes and Lauriat 1869) v2.djvu/50



RSUS was soon afterwards startled by another alarming circumstance. This time he was the person concerned. He was summoned to Bishopsgate, before a commission composed of three important personages,—three doctors, called overseers. One was a Doctor of Theology, delegated by the Dean of Westminster; another, a Doctor of Medicine, delegated by the College of Surgeons; the third, a Doctor in History and Civil Law, delegated by Gresham College. These three experts in omne re scibili had the censorship of everything said in public throughout the bounds of the hundred and thirty parishes of London, the seventy-three of Middlesex, and, by extension, the five of Southwark.

Such theological jurisdictions still exist in England, and do good service. In December, 1868, by sentence of the Court of Arches, confirmed by the decision of the Privy Council, the Reverend Mackonochie was censured, besides being condemned to pay costs, for having placed lighted candles on a table. The liturgy allows no jokes.

One fine day Ursus received from the delegates an order to appear before them, which was, luckily, given into his own hands, and which he was therefore enabled to keep a secret. Without saying a word, he obeyed the citation, shuddering at the thought that he might be considered culpable to the extent of being suspected of