To these youthful literary influences was added an early interest in religion. Evelyn's father was a practicing Anglican and a regular churchgoer, although not rigid or doctrinaire in outlook. Evelyn himself took an early interest in Anglo-Catholicism. When the time came for preparatory school, Arthur Waugh chose for his son Lancing, which had a reputation for High Anglicanism and for educating the sons of clergymen. At Lancing, chapel attendance every morning and evening was compulsory, and on Sundays attendance at three services was required. In his autobiography Waugh recalls that he did not at the time think this requirement excessive.
As his education continued, however, Waugh came in contact with more rebellious and undisciplined schoolmates. He and his artistically and literarily inclined companions formed the dilettantes and began to dominate Lancing school life. This group was frequently cruel and snobbish to those outside their intellectual and sophisticated circle.
Before he left Lancing, Waugh realized that he had ceased being a Christian. This change occurred not only because of association with more freethinking companions and considerable reading (for example in the philosophy of Leibnitz and the Enlightenment), but also, ironically, because one of his Anglican clergyman-instructors instilled in him serious doubts about religious truths and orthodoxy.
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