Untitled - Electric Scotland

1834-41] CONTINENTAL TOUR 63
followed the * movement thus far without serious mistrust
Mr. Newman s Tract on the Breviary had been published
a few months before, and it now became evident that
there were two forces at work among the Tractarians, one
of which, whether consciously or not, was tending de
finitely Romewards. For the present, however, there
was no open rupture.
In the long vacation of 1837 Tait was again
abroad, first with W. C. Lake, and then with Ramsay
Campbell. His diary is full of notes about the systems
in vogue for the support of church fabrics, the mainten
ance of the clergy, the various systems of elementary
education, and the like. Their route comprised Antwerp,
Cologne, Bonn, Frankfort, Strasburg, Berne, the Simplon,
Milan, Verona, and Venice. Thence home by Innsbruck,
Munich, and the Rhine.
"
English Protestants," he
writes, "should gain a lesson from the multitude of little
chapels one sees everywhere."
Verona and Venice seem
to have captivated him beyond all other places on this
long and comprehensive
tour. Monasteries and libraries
he visited whenever it was possible, and described their
pictures and books with curious and painstaking accuracy.
Towards the close of the year 1837, the Rev. Walter
Kerr Hamilton, who was at that time Vicar of St. Peter s,
Oxford, 1
appealed to Tait to exchange his pastoral work
at Baldon for a curacy under him in Oxford. Tait at
first welcomed the suggestion :-
"
I cannot but feel that such a connection might be of the
greatest use to myself as a preparation for the most important
duties of my profession, and as I enjoy the blessing of very good
health and strength and lungs, and have not the slightest objec
tion to hard work, perhaps I might hope not to be an inefficient
assistant to you. I feel also, what is of still greater importance,
1 For an accovhit of Mr. Hamilton s views and position at this time, see
Canon Lidclon s Sketch of Walter Kerr Hamilton, pp. 12-15.