In his summary of the period which closed with the death of George II., Horace Walpole writes:—­’The Church was moderate and, when the Ministry required it, yielding.’  From the point of view of this writer, whose sentiments on religious matters exactly corresponded with those of his father, nothing could have been more satisfactory than this state of things.  To those who look upon the Church merely as a State Establishment, ‘moderate, and, when the Ministry require it, yielding,’ would represent its ideal condition.  But to those who believe in it as a Divine institution, the picture will convey a different impression.  They will see in it a worldly man’s description of the spiritual lethargy which had overtaken English Christendom.  The expression will not be deemed too strong when it is remembered what was, as a matter of fact, the real state of affairs so far as the practical work of the Church was concerned.  Under the very different conditions amidst which we live, it is difficult to realise what existed, or rather what did not exist, in the last century.  What would now be considered the most ordinary part of parochial machinery was then wanting.  The Sunday school, which was first set on foot about the middle of this century,[679] was regarded with suspicion by many of the clergy, and vehemently opposed by some.  The interest in foreign missions which had been awakened at the beginning of the century was not sustained.  The population of the country had far outgrown the resources of the National Church, even if her ministers had been as energetic as they were generally the reverse; and there were no voluntary societies for home missions to supply the defects of the parochial machinery.  The good old plan of catechising not only children but domestic servants and apprentices on Sunday afternoons had fallen into disuse.[680] In the early part of the century plans had been set on foot for the establishment of parochial libraries, but these had fallen through.  In short, beyond the personal influence which a clergyman might exercise over his friends and dependants in his parish (which was often very wholesome and also very extensive), his clerical work consisted solely in reading the services and preaching on Sundays.  When Boswell talked of the assiduity of the Scottish clergy in visiting and privately instructing their parishioners, and observed how much in this they excelled the English clergy, Johnson, who would never hear one word against that Church of which he was a worthy member and a distinguished ornament, could only reply, ’There are different ways of instructing.  Our clergy pray and preach.  The clergy of England have produced the most valuable books in support of religion, both in theory and practice.’  The praise contained in this last sentence was thoroughly deserved.  The clergy, if inactive in other respects, were not inactive with their pens; only of course the work done in this direction was done by a very small minority.