The Henson Journals

[137]

Thursday, June 16th, 1927.

A very hot day. I read Rufus Jones on the American Quaker in bed before getting up. After writing to Ella, I had breakfast, and then walked to the Athenaeum, where I found George Adam Smith. He said: "As a Presbyterian I can honestly say that I find nothing to object to in your new Communion Service. It seems to me a very beautiful service". I walked to Lambeth, and spent the day until 4 p.m. with my fellow bishops. It is plain enough that we shall have endless troubles on interpretation if ever the revised Book is legalized. I had tea in the Athenaeum, & then returned to Park Lane: where I rested in puris natualibus until it was time to dress for dinner.

I dined at 32 Wimpole Street with Lord Dawson of Penn, in order to meet an American statistician Professor R. Pearl. The company numbered 16 altogether, & included Arthur Shadwell, Sir B. Mallet, Moon, & Harold Cox. I sate between mine host & J. M. Keynes of King's Cambridge.

[138]

Keynes is rather an unattractive fellow to look at dark with heavy features. He talked freely, and not uninterestingly. He had been in Russia recently, attending some academic Conference, and as his wife was Russian, he had been able to see a good deal. The worst feature of the present regime was the constant fear, in which men lived. The Cheka or Ogpu deserved its infamous reputation. Lord Dawson chatted pleasantly. He was reading 'Elmer Gantry', and spoke of the intimate connexion between emotional religion and sexual indulgence as an established and familiar fact. Moon recalled himself to my remembrance, and said that he had consented to stand as a Liberal Candidate for Oxford City. Mr F. C. Chance said that he used to meet me when I wrote for the Saturday Review. That is a distant memory now. I came away at 10.30 p.m. & returned to Park Lane.

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