The Henson Journals

[100]

Friday, September 8th, 1922.

A heavy sultry day, enervating to body and mind. Carȏe called to see the progress of the dilapidations He urged me to consent to the stripping of the ivy from the house, for, he said, it actually grew inside the rain–water pipes and burst them. I yielded reluctantly for I love the mischievous parasite better than the naked walls. After lunch I played bowls with William, but soon abandoned the game as there was a threatening of rain. There was a concourse of bodies at tea. Jack Boden and Elizabeth Smith arrived during the afternoon, & Ernest & Mrs Campbell Dodson just before dinner. These gatherings of guests play havoc with my work. I walked in the Park with Boden. He told me that his vicar, Manning, who was esteemed a liberal churchman, & had long been Secretary of Churchmen's Union, is now turning to orthodoxy, is high in favour with the Bishop of St Alban's, & has been made an hon. canon of St Alban's. He said that Foakes–Jackson is reported to have broken with Kirsopp Lane. This would not be surprising for neither of them is easily capable of working with anybody else. I learned with some concern that the silly report, as baseless as It is absurd, that J.G. meant to send me to Canterbury, was being freely discussed in certain quarters. Nothing could be more injurious to my public credit, or more likely to stain relations between the Archbishop and myself. It is difficult to see how I can take any step to restrain his idle and hurtful gossip without seeming to confirm it!

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