The Henson Journals

[140]

Tuesday, August 27th, 1918.

1485th day

Cowper, in "Conversation", dwells feelingly on the taciturnity of ordinary Englishmen:

Few Frenchmen of this evil have complained;

It seems as if we Britons were ordained,

By way of wholesome curb upon our pride,

To fear each other, fearing none beside.

He describes vividly the portentous dullness of conventional society:

The circle form'd, we sit in silent state,

Like figures drawn upon a dial–plate;

Yes, ma'am, and no, ma'am, uttered softly, show

Every five minutes how the minutes go;

Each individual, suffering a constraint

Poetry may, but colours cannot, paint.

The sense of relief when the boring duty has at length been achieved could not be pictured more justly than in these lines:

The visit paid, with ecstasy we come,

As from a seven years' transportation, home,

And there resume an unembarrass'd brow,

Recovering what we lost we know not how,

The faculties, that seem'd reduced to naught,

Expression, and the privilege of thought.

On the experience of acute personal suffering could have inspired such lines. I am free to endorse them as nowise exaggerated when applied to the "social duties" of the 20th Century.

[141]

He describes a curious revival of paganism among his contemporaries which could hardly have been more than an affectation like the sham Gothic of the period:

It has indeed been told me (with what weight,

How credibly, 'tis hard for me to state),

That fables old, that seem'd for ever mute,

Revived, are hastening into fresh repute,

And gods and goddesses discarded long,

Like useless lumber, or a stroller's song.

Are bringing into vogue their heathen train,

And Jupiter bids fair to rule again;

That certain feasts are instituted now,

Where Venus hears the lover's tender vow;

That all Olympus through the country roves,

To consecrate our few remaining groves.

And Echo learns politely to repeat

The praise of names for ages obsolete;

That having proved the weakness, it should seem

Of Revelation's ineffectual beam,

To bring the passions under sober sway,

And give the moral springs their proper play,

They mean to try what may at last be done

By stout substantial gods of wood and stone,

And whether Roman rites may not produce

The virtues of old Rome for English use.

[142]

This morning I received the following epistle:

Aug. 21st 1918

B.E.F. France

Your Grace,

My bâtman, a very nice boy, comes from Durham, and he was talking to me today about his home. He told me that Durham was "only a small place, Sir, but it's become quite famous lately because of its Dean. He has just been made a Bishop. You may have heard of him, Sir, his name is Henson".

I feel sure that your Grace's sense of humour will rejoice to hear the origin of the fame of the little place called Durham.

I am, Your Grace's obedient Servant,

E. H. Welby

The Rt. Reverend the Bishop of Hereford

I called on Mr Serres, the Vicar. He told me that some weeks since he had written to the Archbishop of Canterbury, asking permission to invite a Nonconformist Minister to read the lesson & some of the prayers on August 4th, at the special service, & that his Grace had replied, expressing sympathy with his desire, but advising him against carrying out his plan! A fortnight later the service in Canterbury took place "with his grace's approval", & there dissenting ministers both prayed & preached. I must needs suspect the Archbishop of a certain incorrigible habit of worshipping "the jumping cat"!

I called on the Matron at Marion's Hospital, and had some talk with her patients.

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