My own
imperfect health has induced me to give some attention to those palliative
resources which the divine mercy has placed within our reach. I have consulted
eminent men in the metropolis, and I am painfully aware of the backwardness
under which medical treatment labours in our provincial districts.«
    »Yes; - with our present medical rules and education, one must be satisfied
now and then to meet with a fair practitioner. As to all the higher questions
which determine the starting-point of a diagnosis - as to the philosophy of
medical evidence - any glimmering of these can only come from a scientific
culture of which country practitioners have usually no more notion than the man
in the moon.«
    Mr. Bulstrode, bending and looking intently, found the form which Lydgate
had given to his agreement not quite suited to his comprehension. Under such
circumstances a judicious man changes the topic and enters on ground where his
own gifts may be more useful.
    »I am aware,« he said, »that the peculiar bias of medical ability is towards
material means. Nevertheless, Mr. Lydgate, I hope we shall not vary in sentiment
as to a measure in which you are not likely to be actively concerned, but in
which your sympathetic concurrence may be an aid to me. You recognise, I hope,
the existence of spiritual interests in your patients?«
    »Certainly I do. But those words are apt to cover different meanings to
different minds.«
    »Precisely. And on such subjects wrong teaching is as fatal as no teaching.
Now a point which I have much at heart to secure is a new regulation as to
clerical attendance at the old infirmary. The building stands in Mr.
Farebrother's parish. You know Mr. Farebrother?«
    »I have seen him. He gave me his vote. I must call to thank him. He seems a
very bright pleasant little fellow. And I understand he is a naturalist.«
    »Mr. Farebrother, my dear sir, is a man deeply painful to contemplate. I
suppose there is not a clergyman in this country who has greater talents.« Mr.
Bulstrode paused and looked meditative.
    »I have not yet been pained by finding any excessive talent in Middlemarch,«
said Lydgate, bluntly.
    »What I desire,« Mr. Bulstrode continued, looking still more serious, »is
that Mr. Farebrother's attendance at the hospital should be superseded by the
appointment of a chaplain - of Mr. Tyke, in fact - and that no other spiritual
aid should be called in.«
    »As a medical man I could