The Henson Journals

[159]

Thursday, June 20th, 1929.

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The heat last night was tropical, & it continues. I walked to the club, and wrote letters including one to the Times pointing the moral of the episode in S. Ethelberga's Bishopgate, that the blessing of the Church should be formally given to the marriage of a guilty divorcé is shocking, but the Rector can plead his right under the statute. Ought the church to acquiesce in this situation?

I lunched with the Dean of Westm, in the Jerusalem Chamber, & had some talk with Miss Faithfull, about the modern girl!

[I had tea with Vernon Storr and then went to the hair–dresser.]

I dined with the Worshipful Company of Armourers & Brasiers. The Hall in Coleman Street with its numerous adornments of armour, and a noble display of plate, much of it ancient, is extremely interesting & attractive. The guest of the evening was Sir [160] [symbol] George J Milne, Chief of the Imperial General staff & I sate between him and the Master of the Skinners' Co. (a Mr. Herbert Game) with both of whom I had much conversation. The Bishops of Worcester and Chichester also dined. The Japanese Ambassador, a heavy enigmatic man, and I responded for the Visitors, and Ernest proposed the Toast of the Company. It was a pleasant dinner.

This Company was not burnt out at the Great Fire, and therefore retained its plate. Pieces of the 14th. and 15th. centuries were exhibited. In the reception room in a glass case was the suit of armour made by the Armourers for Queen Elizabeth's Champion, Sir Henry Lee, an extraordinary specimen of the metal–worker's art. Mr. Ramsay, whom I knew well at Oxford, where he was a member of the Hospital Congregation, came to speak to me, but I could not at first recognize him. Thirty years work changes.

[161]

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Pearce made, in my judgment, a much better 'after–dinner speech' than I. He has a rather pompous parson's manner which detracts from the effect of his speaking: but he has curious skill in applying texts to his immediate purpose, and he expresses himself felicitously. There is no hesitation or apparent nervousness: and, if he does not make any vivid impression, he does not arouse any violent distaste. He is certainly quite adequate to the occasion. Now I am apt to be stilted, awkward, disconnected, and irrelevant. My dislike of unprepared discourse handicaps me badly when I am called on to speak unexpectedly, while my fastidious choice of words handicaps me badly in speaking. Moreover, while I am capable of really effective strokes in satire, I am destitute of that playful gaiety which is the true mark of successful after–dinner speaking. Men are keen to hear me because, for some unimaginable reason, they expect much, but they are more puzzled than pleased, and more interested than amused.

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