The organ is a Protestant instrument, and in organ music the London churches do very well; the Protestant congregations are, musically, more enlightened; the flattest degradation is found among the English Catholics, and he instanced the Oratory as an extraordinary disgrace to a civilised country, relating how he had heard the great Mass of Pope Marcellus given there by an operatic choir of twenty singers.  In the West-end are apathy and fashionable vulgarity, and it was at St. Joseph’s, Southwark, that the Church had had restored to her all her own beautiful music.  Monsignor had begun by coming forward with a subscription of one thousand pounds a year, and by such largesse he had confounded the intractable Jesuits and vanquished Father Gordon.  The poor man who had predicted ruin now viewed the magnificent congregation with a sullen face.  “He has a nice voice, too, that’s the strange part of it; I could have taught him, but he is too proud to admit he was wrong.”  However, bon gre mal gre, Father Gordon had had to submit to Monsignor.  When Monsignor makes up his mind, things have to be done.  If a thousand pounds had not been enough, he would have given two thousand pounds; Monsignor was rich, but he was also tactful, and did not rely entirely on his money.  He had come to St. Joseph’s with the Pope’s written request in his hand that St. Joseph’s should attempt a revival of the truly Catholic music, if sufficient money could be obtained for the choir.  So there was no gainsaying, the Jesuits had had to submit, for if they had again objected to the expense, Monsignor would come forward with a subscription of two thousand a year.  He could not have afforded to pay so much for more than a limited number of years, “but he and I felt that it was only necessary to start the thing for it to succeed.”

Mr. Innes told his daughter of Monsignor’s social influence; Monsignor had the command of any amount of money.  There is always the money, the difficulty is to obtain the will that can direct the money.  Monsignor was the will.  He was all-powerful in Rome.  He spent his winters and springs in Rome, and no one thought of going to Rome without calling on him.  It was through him that the Pope kept in touch with the English Catholics.  He had a confessional at St. Joseph’s, and he was au mieux with the Jesuits.  It was the influence of Monsignor that had given Palestrina his present vogue.  But a revival of Palestrina was in the air; through him the inevitable reaction against Wagner was making itself felt.  Monsignor had made all the rich Catholics understand that it was their duty to support the unique experiment which some poor Jesuits in Southwark were making, and the fact that he had come forward with a subscription of one thousand a year enabled him to ask his friends for their money.  He had told Mr. Innes that a dinner party which did not produce a subscriber he looked upon as a dinner wasted.  Monsignor knew how to carry a thing through; his influence was extraordinary; he could get people to do what he wanted.