The Henson Journals

[75]

Friday, June 1st, 1923.

Foreigners much admire at our English sheep, because they do not (as those beyond the seas) follow their shepherds like a pack of dogs, but wander wide abroad: & the popish priests tell their simple folks, that this disobedience of our sheep happeneth unto us, because (risum teneatis , amici?) we have left the great shepherd, the Pope; whereas they did so long before our separation from Rome, because, freed from the fear of wolves (infesting them in foreign parts), they feed safely in the fields, needing neither guide to direct, nor guard to defend them.

Fuller, 'Worthies' Buckinghamshire.

Strong wrote to me consenting to second the resolution about the Courts, and adding an explanation of his position. I sent a copy of the proposed resolution to the Abp of C. inviting his criticisms. After lunch I motored with my guests to Brancepeth, & showed them the parish church.

The Archbishop told me he was assured to the time of my appointment to Westminster in 1900, that Lord Salisbury had intended to offer the canonry to him, but was persuaded by his sons to offer it to me. This kind of gossip is commonly baseless, but it has an influence on those who accept it, and, more often than not, an influence which is not wholesome .

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