The Henson Journals

[135]

Monday, August 29th, 1921.

We left Bulford Manor at 9.30 a.m. and motored to Salisbury, where we stopped in order that I might show William the Cathedral. Then we continued our journey to Southampton through very pleasant country. The rather bleak scenery of the Salisbury plain was exchanged for the sylvan charms of the New Forest. At Southampton we lunched comfortably at the Dolphin Hotel, and I seized the opportunity of visiting the hairdresser, & getting the dust washed out of my hair. We crossed from Southampton to Cowes in about an hour. The embarking and disembarking of the motor evoked much interest among the passengers on the steamer. From Cowes we motored through Newport & Shanklin to Luscombe Hill where we arrived at about 4.30 p.m. Monty Bere and his wife were at tea. He is beneficed in the Island, and looks rather spectral. After tea, the Bishop and I called to inquire after the health of Page Roberts, who, on resigning the deanery of Salisbury, came to reside at Shanklin. His wife gave us so ill an account of the old man that I had to abandon all hope of getting an interview with him. He is in his 86th year, & plainly near his end. The Bishop and I continued our walk to the top of the hill,& enjoyed the noble prospects which it commands. We discussed many subjects, inter alia that of the proposed division of the diocese of Winchester into 3 dioceses, – Winchester, Guildford, and Portsmouth.–a subject on which the Bishop evidently feels strongly. I agree with him that the scheme is preposterous.