The Henson Journals

[176]

Wednesday, August 22nd, 1923.

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The weather was uncertain, like that of a typical April day. There was a thunder–storm in the course of the morning, and a sharp deluge during the afternoon. In the intervals there was bright sunshine, & the day ended quite civilly. William arrived from Hereford with the car about midday. After lunch we left Stowe House, and motored by way of Kenilworth & Banbury to Cuddesdon, where we arrived about 7.15 p.m. On the way we stopped to look at the remains of the great castle of Kenilworth. Ella, who had seen them before, remained in the car, while William and I went round the castle with the guide, a most loquacious & dogmatic example of his class. We had tea at Leamington.

Burge received us with his usual courteous benignity, & his wife with her frank yet embarrassed kindness. Staying in the Palace are Mrs Illingworth, the widow of the well–known divine, and a young lady whose name escapes me.

The last time that I slept under this roof was on May 26th, 1887, the night before my Ordination to the Priesthood. For my diaconate the preceding year, I had been lodged in the Theological College. Bishop Mackarness was then nearing his end, & his physical weakness was distressingly apparent.

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