The Henson Journals

[81]

Wednesday, December 14th, 1921.

I spent the morning in working on the "Charge" which I must give to the Ordination candidates. Why do I waste so much time in thinking over, and writing out, an address, which, if delivered extemporaneously "from the surface of the mind" would probably be far more effective? I suppose it is an odd kind of self–respect which makes me shrink from shoddy work: but I doubt my own wisdom in this matter.

Clayton and I motored into Durham, and attended the rendering of Gounod's music in the cathedral. We sate in the Throne, & thought the music sounded better there than in the stalls. After the performance I had tea with the Dawson Walkers. Clayton brought Mr Arrowsmith, the clergyman to whom Gouldsmith has offered S. Gabriel's, to join the car, & go with me to Auckland. After dinner I had some talk with him, & found him attractive and straight forward. But his health leaves much to be desired. He is to consult his physicians, & let me know their decision.

Sir Walter Scott's last words were worthy of him: they were addressed to his son–in–law, and biographer: – "Lockhart, I may have but a minute to speak to you. My dear, be a good man – be virtuous – be religious – be a good man. Nothing else will give you any comfort when you come to lie here."

I read them to William, whose recent study of Scott's novels has made interested in Sir Walter, and I think he was impressed. Hazlitt's Essay on Sir W. Scott is a curious blend of shrewdness, malignity, and appreciation. He belittles the poetry excessively: he praises the novels judiciously: he abuses the man grossly. But Hazlitt was at every point the very contradiction of Scott. The only trait which the two men seem to have had in common was a passionate love of Shakespeare. "His (Hazlitt's) reading was necessarily fragmentary in youth, & he confessed frankly to the many blanks which he never filled. His love of reading afterwards diminished, and it is said that he never read a book through after he was thirty." "He was driven to isolation by his wayward temper and obstinate adherence to his peculiar political creed. He despised the whigs, loathed the tories, & vehemently attacked the radicals of Beutham's school."

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