The Henson Journals

[115]

4th Sunday after Trinity, July 1st, 1928.

I went to the School Chapel at 8 a.m., and received the Holy Communion. Williams celebrated, using the form in the Prayer Book save for the substitution of the "Dominical Summary" for the Ten Commandments. Everything very reverent and refreshing. I attended Mattins in the Chapel. There was no sermon, & a great crowd. The hearty chanting & singing pleased me much. Before the service the Headmaster showed me the Memorial Cloister, which is far the best War memorial I have yet seen. After service he showed me the Garden (formerly the Warden's) the charming 15th century chantry in which the smaller boys worship, & the dining Hall. Everything is delightful, & brings home poignantly the measure of moral & mental impoverishment involved in never having been at public school. I lunched with Mrs Cruickshank in her house where she lives with a brother who has just returned from Burmah. Another brother is Rector of the Parish (S. John's). I looked into the church which is interesting. The pulpit is that in which Bishop Ken was wont to preach, and there is a 15th century screen. Much of it seemed to be of the Norman period.

[116] [symbol]

Paine, Caröe's indispensable clerk–of–the–works, showed me and the Headmaster the old episcopal house built by Wren, which is being adapted for the "palace" of the little diocese, which still bears the famous name, Winchester. Wolvesy, as it is called, is neither mean in aspect nor narrow in accommodation, but it is a woeful substitute for Farnham Castle. And the expenditure incurred in the work of adaptation is very considerable.

Evensong was at 5 p.m., and was prefaced by the sermon. The chapel was crowded, & (save for one coughing boy) attentive. Wolmer declared the sermon 'splendid' but then? The Dean of Hereford, an old schoolmaster, approved it, and this is more to the point. For the rest, I don't know whether it was, or was not, a failure. The Warden, Kenyon, thought it suitable.

After service I called at the Deanery, & had a brief conversation with Hutton, who looks exactly like a French abbé of the Regency! Sleek, deferential, plump, and most accurately dressed. He says that he is more than 68 years old, and very hostile to the proposal of retirement at 70!! But he is incapable of taking large views of anything: & talks most fatuously about Prayer Book Revision.

[117] [symbol]

Lord Middleton with his wife and son came to supper. The lad is rather a heavy looking fellow of perhaps seventeen. He is the only son of the second Lady Middleton. Lord M. was in excellent spirits & talked incessantly. He spoke very interestingly about Mussolini, whom he dislikes and distrusts. The king of Italy appears to be a mere cipher, whom the despot Duce orders about freely.

How much truth is there in the egotistic chatter of retired and aging statesmen? It is a serious question for little else could have been the foundation of most of the records which we dignify with the name of history. Memory is always untrustworthy, vanity is rarely absent, the desire to impress the listener is always present. There is no available check on the statements made. Yet, if personal reminiscence & the gossip of contemporaries had been discarded by historical writers, how dull & cold would be their narratives have been! And what light is thrown on documents when they can be read in connexion with a coherent conception of their authors! Portraits do beyond question possess evidential value, for a man's face confirms or disallows his reputation. Indeed, I think the National Portrait Gallery an indispensable pendant to the Record Office.