Lavengro · Chapter
LXVII explained
After a night of disturbed dreams, the narrator awakens in a luxurious room and struggles with a superstitious urge to touch objects.
What happens
After a night of disturbed dreams, the narrator awakens in a luxurious room and struggles with a superstitious urge to touch objects. He takes a morning stroll to clear his mind, then returns to find his host gazing at a portrait that serves as his inspiration for writing. The host explains his seriocomic creative process and later introduces the Reverend Mr. Platitude, a priggish clergyman who despises Dissenters and advocates for Church authority. The host recounts Platitude's history and his own moderate Church of England views. The narrator decides to leave, refusing the host's offer of indefinite stay, and departs after a brief farewell.
Themes in this chapter
Religion and Priestcraft
The chapter features a heated discussion on Church authority, Dissenters, and the role of the clergy, with Mr. Platitude advocating for a powerful Church and the host defending a moderate, tolerant Anglicanism.
Freedom vs. Convention
The narrator resists superstitious impulses and rejects dependence on his host, asserting his independence, while the host's creative process defies conventional literary borrowing.
Characters to notice
- Lavengro
The narrator wakes from strange dreams, resists superstitious urges, and decides to leave his host's house despite an offer to stay.
- The Landlord
The host reveals his creative process inspired by a portrait, discusses his moderate Church of England views, and offers the narrator a place to stay.
- The Reverend Mr. Platitude
A priggish clergyman who argues for Church authority against Dissenters, has traveled to Italy, and is described as a tool of a sharking priest.
Key passages
“Begone! I exclaimed, ye sorceries, in which I formerly trusted—begone forever vagaries which I had almost forgotten; good luck is not to be obtained, or bad averted, by magic touches; besides, two wizards in one parish would be too much, in all conscience.”
The narrator forcefully rejects his old superstitious habits, declaring that luck cannot be controlled by magical actions and noting that one wizard in the parish is enough.
This moment shows the narrator's conscious effort to overcome irrational compulsions, linking to themes of freedom and self-control.
“My works, as you are aware, are of a seriocomic character. My neighbours are of opinion that I am a great reader, and so I am, but only of those features—my real library is that picture.”
The host explains that his writing is inspired not by books but by the portrait of his landlord, which he considers his true source of creative ideas.
This reveals the host's unconventional creative method and his playful attitude toward literary originality.
“That of the Vicar of Wakefield—good, quiet, Church of England which would live and let live, practises charity, and rails at no one; where the priest is the husband of one wife, takes care of his family and his parish—such is the religion for me, though I confess I have hitherto thought too little of religious matters.”
The host describes his religious views as a tolerant, practical Anglicanism modeled on the Vicar of Wakefield, emphasizing charity and family over dogma.
This contrasts sharply with Mr. Platitude's high-church authoritarianism and underscores the host's moderate, humane approach to faith.