The Henson Journals

[437]

Monday, October 11th, 1915.

434th day

I spent most of the morning in the drawing–room writing letters, & then strolled as far as the cattle–market, where I was entertained by the spectacle of the salesmen handling the beeves, sheep, & swine. There was much brutality in the process which displeased me. After lunch Ruth took me into the Cathedral, & pointed out many interesting features. The long series of archiepiscopal tombs is a priceless possession. It is in respect of historic monuments that my Durham fails. By comparison with Canterbury it is but an empty shell. I attended Evensong. Mason read the first lesson, & I could understand nothing: the Dean read the second, & was easily audible. Then Ella & I had tea at the Deanery. Wace shewed the portraits of his predecessors with much urbanity, & many humourous observations. As we were leaving, he observed "Durham would be a fine place if it weren't for W–tk–ns." I could not but agree that the drawback was real. We called on the Bishop of Dover, and Mrs Walsh, who are both on the sick list. Canon Moore came to dinner. I seized the opportunity of learning something about the new Bishop of Newcastle, who was for some years a don at St Edmund's Hall in Oxford when Moore was Principal. But he would not commit himself to more than the most cautious observations. He said that he was unfeignedly surprised at Wild's preferment, for he had never observed in him any extraordinary powers; that he understood that he had been well–liked as Vicar of St Giles's, Oxford: & that he supposed his main qualification for a bishoprick lay in his comparative freedom from party–ties. He was, perhaps, more Broad than either High or Low: but nothing very decisive!

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