The Henson Journals

[632]

Monday, May 8th, 1916.

644th day

The weather which was doubtful enough at morning improved sufficiently as the day passed to permit Ernest and me to make an expedition in the car. We went to Raby, and called at the castle, but, as Lord Barnard was out, I left a card, and came away. Then we visited Staindrop Church, & viewed the tombs of the Westmorelands and the Clevelands. The Church itself has unusual architectural interest. We then returned on our tracks, and, skirting Durham through Neville's Cross, went on to Finchale, where we viewed the ruins of the Priory, and had tea in the farm–house. We got back to the Deanery about 6.30 p.m. Here we found that the Bishops of Durham & Dover had already arrived. Three unmarried ladies of suitable age came to dinner, Miss Headlam, Miss Christopher, & Miss Cooper, and we passed the evening without friction. Ernest was a great acquisition, &, by his quaint humourous descriptions of life on the Canadian prairie, amused & informed us all. The more I see of him, & talk with him, the better I like him, and, I think, the higher I rate his powers. If he could master a certain instability of purpose which has certainly hitherto marked his career, I think he might make his mark, and that a very honourable one, in the ranks of the Christian ministry.

[630]

The "British Weekly" for July 2nd 1908 contains an article on 'F. W. Robertson of Brighton' by "Claudius Clear" (i.e. W. Robertson Nicoll)

"On two or three occasions I had the advantage of discussing the subject with his son, the late Mr C. B. Robertson, of the Foreign Office. Mr R. had the deepest veneration for his father's memory, & was the jealous custodian of his reputation. He read & collected every appreciation that appeared, & it may be of interest to say that he thought one by Dr W. J. Dawson the best of all. He was inclined to agree that a new biography shd be written, but he hesitated to interfere with Dr Brooke's excellent work. …..

It is pretty well known that a very large number of R.'s letters are still unpublished. Many of them were addressed to the late Lady Byron. These are in the hands of his trustees. There are many other manuscripts, which are, perhaps, more accessible. Also, for some reason or another Dr Brooke exercised an extra–ordinary reserve. It will be seen on reference that we are not allowed to have the name of Mr R.'s correspondents, with very few exceptions. The time has, perhaps, come when these names should be published. I believe that every one of these correspondents is now dead, & I understand that a great majority of the letters were addressed to ladies. …..

"Principal Blomfield, in the British Monthly for August 1903, was allowed to give some particulars of his friend Lady Shuckburgh, R.'s daughter."

[628]

"It is much regretted that we have no authoritative knowledge of Robertson today beyond that published long ago in the memoir of Stopford Brooke. It seems as if the time had come to remove some very unnecessary veils, & to draw still further on the rich stores of his correspondence." W.R.N.

The "British Weekly" published some notes from "People who remember Frederick Robertson.":–

C. A. J. writes:

"When ministering in the service of his church, the robes worn greatly added to the dignity of his bearing, & he had a most impressive & reverent appearance. His reading, too, of the service was truly impressive & devotional. I remember in this connection the great force & power given to the Decalogue, with the result that it came as if direct from the lips of Moses the Law–giver…. His voice, never loud or noisy, was singularly clear and expressive, & his manner, though in no way theatrical, could not fail to impress."

J. G. at the age of 15 had met R. at Wiesbaden in 1847, & was immensely impressed by his preaching in the hotel.

"At that time Mr R. was leaving, or had just left, Cheltenham, & said he felt quite unsuited for cultured people such as were in a place like that: he could not kow–tow to them, & a rough village congregation, not easily hurt by plain speaking, was more to his taste. Instead of that he went to Brighton, & there made his mark."

[626]

Dean Stanley wrote a brief paper on F. W. Robertson which was found among his papers after his death, and published in the "Century".

'The Dean assigns Mr Robertson a very high place among preachers. "It is not too much," he remarks, "to say that he has become, beyond question, the greatest preacher of the 19th century, the most widely admired, & with the most powerful reasons for this widespread judgment." He refers to the circumstance, that his are the only sermons that have been published in the Tauchnitz's edition, "side by side with the novels of Dickens or the essays of Macaulay." …… "Other preachers, other teachers, have arisen since, but there is no one who so filled the place allotted to him as Frederick Robertson did at the time, & there is no one who so holds that place now that he has departed from us."[']

"British Weekly," Sept: 17, 1903, has the following in "The Correspondence of Claudius Clear" (i.e. Sir Robertson Nicol [Nicoll].):–

"It is only four years since the widow of a most brilliant & influential preacher of the Victorian period died. She survived her husband for forty years. He died young, and his great reputation came after his death. His life was written copiously & sympathetically, but she is hardly named in it, & had no voice in its preparation – never even saw the biographer. Her husband's name & story were & are the theme of constant discussion, & though much has been told of him, much has been kept back. She who lived with him through all the great years must have been able to tell what no one else could have told …… But she kept a perfect silence till her lips were sealed in death."

[624]

I entertained the following at lunch:–

1.	The Sub–dean.
2.	The Bp. of Jarrow
3.	Knowling
4.	Cruickshank
5.	Lillingston.
6.	Precentor
7.	Sacrist
8.	Dennett
9.	May
10.	Ellis
11.	J. G. Wilson
[x] 12.	Chancellor Smith
[check] 13.	Hon: Can. Hopkinson
14.	" " Scott
[check] 15.	" " Sykes
[check] 16.	" " Guest–Williams
[check] 17.	" " Gouldsmith
18.	" " Haworth
19.	" " Fowler
[x] 20.	" " Colling
21.	" " Paterson
22.	" " Macdonald
[check] 23.	" " Cooper
[x] 24.	" " Roberson
25.	Archdeacon Derry
26.	Watson
[check] 27.	Tolliday
[check] 28.	Bothamley
29.	Thomas.
30.	Master of Sherburn
[x] 31.	Poole
32.	Bayley

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