majority of them are of such a class that the change has no deep religious significance. There are thousands of ordinary people whose only convictions, such as they are, regard certain fundamental points of Christianity, and who are drawn into one or other sect by the merest accident—by contact with a zealous or particularly affable proselytiser, by the influence of relatives, by kindness, taste, and a host of non-religious considerations. In fact it is only too clear (and not unnatural) that many associate with the Church of Rome for purely æsthetic considerations. It is well known that many of the much vaunted converts of Farm Street and of Brompton are simply décadents who are attracted by the sensuous character of the services, and who would transfer their devotion to a temple of Aphrodite if one were opened in West London with similar ceremonies.
Matrimonial considerations are also very powerful agents in the cause of the Church. Many Catholic priests and families insist upon 'conversion' before admitting a non-Catholic to matrimonial relation. The only 'convert' I am responsible for was a young lady who was engaged to be married to a Catholic; she drank in my instructions like water, never finding the slightest intellectual difficulty; and a few years afterwards, being jilted by him, she happily returned to Anglicanism with the same facility. One of my colleagues was summoned to attend a Catholic who was seriously ill. The wife met him at the door, and
