At
Cambridge you were shielded from impurity by every obstacle which
virtuous and vigilant authorities could devise, and even had the
obstacles been fewer, your parents probably took care that your means
should not admit of your throwing money away upon abandoned characters.
At night proctors patrolled the street and dogged your steps if you tried
to go into any haunt where the presence of vice was suspected. By day
the females who were admitted within the college walls were selected
mainly on the score of age and ugliness. It is hard to see what more can
be done for any young man than this. For the last four or five months
you have been a clergyman, and if a single impure thought had still
remained within your mind, ordination should have removed it:
nevertheless, not only does it appear that your mind is as impure as
though none of the influences to which I have referred had been brought
to bear upon it, but it seems as though their only result had been
this--that you have not even the common sense to be able to distinguish
between a respectable girl and a prostitute.
"If I were to take a strict view of my duty I should commit you for
trial, but in consideration of this being your first offence, I shall
deal leniently with you and sentence you to imprisonment with hard labour
for six calendar months.
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