This kind of
interpretation is sometimes strained however, as when in Neale's edition
of the _Moral Concordances_ of St. Antony of Padua (p. 125, n.d.), v. 27
is given as applicable to St. Bartholomew.
An unexpectedly adverse opinion on the use of Bel and the Dragon as a
lesson (Nov. 23, matins, old Lectionary) is expressed by J.H. Blunt in
his _Directorium Pastorale_ (1864, p. 59): "I confess I can see no good
which can arise from the public reading to a congregation, composed
principally perhaps of young persons, of such lessons as Bel and the
Dragon, or Lev. xviii., Deut. xxii., xxv." Then he adds the following
curious note: "It is a fact that a man was once sent into a fit of loud
and uncontrollable laughter, although he was honestly preparing for holy
orders, by hearing this lesson (Bel and the Dragon) read for the first
time in the chapel of a Theological College." One cannot help thinking
that this gentleman must have had an abnormally developed sense of
humour under exceptionally bad control.
John Wesley exhibits in his Journal (July 5th, 1773) an equally low
opinion of the story, though free from ill-timed mirth: "St.
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