BOOK TWO – YOUNG AND OLD Chapter 13 – to play bishop and banker everywhere

Two conversations:

(1) Mr. Bulstrode and Mr. Lydgate talk about the new hospital. Bulstrode wants Lydgate to back him up when decisions are made about bringing a chaplain to the old infirmary, and that being Mr. Tyke. Lydgate lets it be known that he doesn’t agree with Bulstrode’s enthusiasm for the spiritual dimension of healing. Bulstrode is not a native Middlemarch person, and neither is Lydgate. They both see the need for reform. Behind the scenes strategizing.

(2) Mr. Vincy requests that Bulstrode (brother-in-laws) write a letter to Featherstone certifying that Fred Vincy has not been borrowing money with the expectation of inheriting Featherstone’s property.

New word: Vincy refers to his son as his young scapegrace—meaning a rascal or wayward person.

Bulstrode stubbornly refuses to write on behalf of Vincy’s son. The narrator says, “To point out other people’s errors was a duty that Mr. Bulstrode rarely shrank from.”

There is some banter about “religion.” Bulstrode labels Vincy as given to “worldliness.” Vincy proceeds to make the point that Bulstrode and his peers are worldly too. Vincy says,

The only difference I see is that one worldliness is a little bit honester (sic) than another.

The back-and-forth continues. Vincy says, “I’m content to be no worse than my neighbours.” He challenges Bulstrode’s religiosity, saying,

Such doings may be lined with religion, but outside they have a nasty, dog-in-the-manger look.

He lays it on thicker to Bulstrode:

It’s this sort of thing—this tyrannical spirit, wanting to play bishop and banker everywhere—it’s this sort of thing makes a man’s name stink.

Bulstrode doesn’t like what he sees in the mirror Vincy holds up to him. The conversation ends as Bulstrode asks for a little time to consider the request.

This chapter presents a picture of religion as a cover for manipulating others. Those who practice religion see it as a conventional duty that one carries out. But their faith seems to have no power to shape their character in positive ways. Doctor Lydgate, a man of science, sees no need for religion at all.

Bulstrode’s faith cultivates no sense of humility of service in him. It is covered with a need for power and control.