The Henson Journals

[204]

Monday, October 28th, 1918.

1547th day

The post brought me a very kind & informing letter from Firth in which inter alia he refers me to Marvel's"Mr Smirke : or, the Divine in Mode: being certain Annotations, upon the Animadversions on the Naked Truth". As I had the book, I looked up the reference, & was richly rewarded. It is a racy & powerful piece. Bishop Hamilton Baynes came to lunch. I had some talk with him about Reunion. His scheme of exchanging Ordination with Berry of Carr's Lane hangs fire. The High Church bishops are afraid of it, and the more it is considered, the less attractive it appears. At 3 p.m. I took the Bishop to the Cathedral Library for a meeting of the British & Foreign Bible Society. This was a woeful fiasco, for the Dean had arranged an organ recital in the Cathedral at the same hour together with an unveiling of a window to the late organist, Dr Sinclair. Thus everybody went to the more attractive fuction, & the Bible Society was deserted! There are disadvantages about octogenarians deans.

After making a short speech to open the meeting, I went off to the station, & caught the 4 p.m. train to London. When I was getting into the Tube at Paddington the gentleman who had been my companion in the train introduced himself as the person who had written to me about Lilley's fitness to be a Canon of Westminster. I said that, while I agree that Lilley might fitly be appointed to a Westminster canonry, I did not think he was fitted for parochial charge. He seemed little contented with this answer, & enlarged rather tiresomely on L's merits!

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