The Henson Journals

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Thursday, July 27th, 1922.

July 27th, 1922.

Gentlemen,

I hear from Mr Caröe that you are prepared to undertake the dilapidations of Auckland Castle, & that your estimate for doing the work amounts to £1302. I shall be ready to accept that estimate, and desire that you may be able to begin the work with as little delay as possible. I am leaving for Scotland on the 3rd of August, & shall be away until the first week in September. If the work is indoors & the painting could be finished before my return, I should be glad.

Believe me, Yours v. faithfully,

Herbert Dunelm:

Messrs Cornish & Gaymer

North Walsham, Norfolk.

"The 3rd year of our Translation" begins with the important decision expressed in the above letter. "Dilapidations" is one of those which grows in terror the longer it is fled from. Once faced & conquered it can be domesticated with comparative ease.

I walked with Brilioth to Encombe, & showed him the "Saxon" church. The inevitable vicar showed us round, & accompanied us far on our homeward journey! Does he ever visit anybody in his parish? He seems always at home, and always unemployed.

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Brilioth is engaged in a study of the Oxford Movement, and he has exhibited a praiseworthy conscientiousness in reading the literature of the Tractarians. He thinks he can distinguish between a politico–ecclesiastical and a genuinely religious movement; he is evidently fascinated by Kearman and Froude; and not a little disconnected by the rigorous anti–Protestant is not likely to hear only the conventional eulogies of Tractarianism, but the Oxford "Anglo–Catholics "have had their eye on him, and have spared no pains to make him "see light in their light." He is plainly attracted by the notion of "liberal Catholicism", but was impressed when I pointed out that the phrase itself enshrines a paradox. "Catholicism" cannot be "liberal". Many people assume that because they approve "Catholic" beliefs & practices, they are themselves "Catholic", whereas all turns on the grounds of their acceptance. "Private judgement" is not altered by the method of its exercise. I drew his attention to the framed "Inhibition" which Gore launched at me on 1909, when I preached for Jowett in Birmingham, and which now holds a prominent place on my study–wall. It is a curious comment on the spirit of "liberal Catholicism", and an impressive disproof of its claim.

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