The "Record" began to investigate matters,
and its vigilance was soon rewarded by an alarming discovery: the
sacrament had been administered in Chichester Cathedral on a
weekday, and 'Archdeacon Manning, one of the most noted and
determined of the Tractarians, had acted a conspicuous part on
the occasion'. It was clear that the only way of silencing these
malevolent whispers was by some public demonstration whose import
nobody could doubt. The annual sermon preached on Guy Fawkes Day
before the University of Oxford seemed to offer the very
opportunity that Manning required. He seized it; got himself
appointed preacher; and delivered from the pulpit of St. Mary's a
virulently Protestant harangue. This time there could indeed be
no doubt about the matter: Manning had shouted 'No Popery!' in
the very citadel of the Movement, and every one, including
Newman, recognised that he had finally cut himself off from his
old friends. Everyone, that is to say, except the Archdeacon
himself. On the day after the sermon, Manning walked out to the
neighbouring village of Littlemore, where Newman was now living
in retirement with a few chosen disciples, in the hope of being
able to give a satisfactory explanation of what he had done. But
he was disappointed; for when, after an awkward interval, one of
the disciples appeared at the door, he was informed that Mr.
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