The Henson Journals

[151]

Friday, November 2nd, 1928.

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All Souls Day:–

I preached in the College Chapel. The attendance of Fellows & Quondams was small, & most of the younger men left the chapel before the Communion. Daily service has been abandoned under the new r&eacutegime, & the great Chapel is evidently regarded rather as a "white elephant". My sermon was certainly not a great performance, but it was listened to with attention, & several of my hearers afterwards expressed their appreciation. It was just 44 years almost to the day since first I worshipped in that place, & as I sate there in the old stalls, I could not but people them with the figures of those who then occupied them. There were but 3 survivors – my 'twin' Pember, now Warden, Oman, & Cholmondeley.

After the service I walked to Christ Church, and called on Watson. He took me to see the really noble improvement which Christ Church, at considerable sacrifice of corporate income, made by pulling down slums, and thus giving an open view of the Hall & Quadrangle. It is a very noble prospect indeed. I suggested that he should enlarge his letter on 'Synods', & let me print it as an Appendix to my Charge, & he consented.

[152]

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I lunched in the buttery, and then picked up Kenneth for a walk.

I dined in College. There was a numerous gathering for the Gaudy. The Latin Speech was excellent, though the modern pronunciation added to the normal difficulty of understanding it. The orator, Moon, is a son of an old Oxford House man. Lang, who beams with renewed youth since his advancement, sang the Mallard Song with much vigour. I never heard it sung better. The speeches in Common Room seemed to me above the normal standard. I did not stay long, for I felt alien and melancholy. We drank Lang's health. The combination of Fellowship & the Visitorship in the same Lauds is unprecedented. It seems agreed that the Visitor cannot remain a Fellow.

Rouse the young fellow who, himself the son of an artisan, is an ardent member of the Labour Pary, is preparing a thesis on the Reformation in Cornwall. He is said to have become a fast friend of Lord David Cecil, Fellow of Wadham, who is the youngest son of Lord Salisbury, and instructs Kenneth in History.

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