The Henson Journals

[191]

Thursday, October 4th, 1917.

We went to S. Gregory's chapel, & received the Holy Communion at 8 a.m. After breakfast we walked to the station, & caught the 10.29 train to York. The weather, which had been threatening, became definitely hostile: & we arrived in York under heavy rain, which continued most of the day. I spent the afternoon in a long talk with the new Dean, Foxley Norris, on affairs ecclesiastical. He is a man with an interesting heredity; of artistic temperament; of varied parochial experience: of good presence: & good intentions. He has been a Tractarian by training, & counts still as a High Churchman: but he has no sympathy with the new "Catholics", & is taking a "wider" attitude. He told me that in his whole experience as a parish priest, he had never known a case in which the reserved sacrament was necessary. The Archbishop of York, he says, suffers stick from his unfortunate speech about "sacred memories" of the Kaiser. So deeply is it resented that, when his Grace preaches, the people will not come to hear him. This is an illustration of the irrational dourness of Yorkshiremen. I preached in the Minster at the Harvest Thanksgiving which was held at the inconvenient hour, 5 p.m. The service was held in the Choir, which was fairly filled. Acoustically York Minster has an evil reputation, but I was assured that everybody could hear. We returned to Durham after dinner. On the way I had much talk with a wounded officer, who told me that his name was Brown, that he was a nephew of the popish Canon Brown, & that he had been educated at Ushaw.

---