The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-01-24 00:00:00

DEAN STANLEY AND THE WORKING

MEN'S CLUBS.

On Monday evening, on the invitation of the Dean
of Westminster, two hundred and thirty represen-
tatives of the 'Working Men's Club and Institute
Union, met at tea in the College Hall, Westminster.
The Dean is president of the union, and it is his
annual custom to invite as many members as the
hall will accommodate to a club soirée. After tea
he explains to his guests in homely conversational
style the history of the place in which t ley are
met, unfolds the traditions of the Jerusalem Chamber,
invites his visitors to inspect that venerable apartment,
and afterwards receives them in the Deanery, and en-
tertains them with his pictures and his books. On
Monday evening the company met besides the
Dean a number of such of his friends as Lord
Hatherley, Mr. Thom is Hughes, Q.C., Mr. and
Mrs Drummond, Sir G. Daunt, and the Thor.
W. Rogers. There are about 500 metropolitan and
provincial clubs embraced in the union, and Monday
night's assembly contained representatives from up-
wards of a hundred of them.
The Dean's now familiar yearly story about the
ancient building was listened to with eager attention,
the bearers even checking applause till the tale was
finished, lest they should miss any portion. The
reference to the ancient use of the apartment as the
abbots' dining hall, and the account of the reception
there of Elizabeth Woodville, when, with her youngest
son, she sought refuge from Richard, Duke of
Gloucester, evoked the keenest interest—an interest
still more warmly roused by the Dean when be pointed
to a picture over the entrance to the Jerusalem
Chamber of the abbot who received the mother of the
unfortunate Princes. The picture was a copy from
a brass on Abbot Estney's tomb.
The Dean reluctantly infotmed the working men of
his reasons for now doubting the tradition that the
tables on which the night's tea was laid were Spanish
chestnut from the wreck of the Armada,for an examina-
tion of the ancient wood showed it not to be of Spanish
chesnut, but elm, and it was questioned by some
whether the timber of the tables could ever have
formed part of a ship.
The stove in the middle of the hall suggested an in-
teresting story about the Westminster boys, who now
had the use of the hall as a place for dining and
supping. In former days, as the custom of the time
was, there was no stove, but a central hearth, with an
open fire, the smoke from which got away through an
opening in the roof. One of the pranks of the West-
minster boys was that of trying to leap over this
hearth. No doubt it was a difficult thing to do, and
one day a boy fell upon the fire and burned the palms
of his hands. This boy was afterwards Archbishop
Longley, and to the end of his life he bore the marks
on the palm of his hands of his accident in that hall.
The coats of arms above the raised table in the hall-
the Dean explained to be those of Westminster and of
Oxford and Cambridge.
At the annual school examination by the heads of
Christ Church and Trinity Colleges, the Dean and
those learned principals sat at dinner beneath these
heraldic designs. It was his custom on these occasions
to devote one-half of the dinner time to learning all he
could about Oxford from the Dean ot Christ Church,
and to devote the remainder of the time to learning
from the Master of Trinity all he had to tell about
Cambridge. It was incredible the amount of informa-
tion that was thus attained before the dinner was
over—(laughter and cheers)—and he assured them this
was one of the most agreeable dinner parties he had
throughout the year.

"You will see," said the Dean in concluding the
history of the hall, "through how many changes this
room has passed, and it still serves a good purpose.
That is what happens to our institutions in England.
They go through a great many changes. Still, after
all, if we keep them we shall be able to turn them to
some good account."

In his account of the Jerusalem Chamber Dean
Stanley said was called the Jerusalem Chamber
because in those days, (the time of Richard IL) it was
hung with tapestry which represented the story of the
siege of Jerusalem. The tapestries have long since
perished, but the name has remained: and you will see
that over the chimneypiece in the chamber there
are three texts written to keep up the recollection
of the name. These express the beet wishes we
could have either about Church or country, °Lie
rays, "Oh, pray for the peace of Jerusalem," for we
wish all classes, and all persuasions, and all parties,
and all denominations in England to be as much as
possible at peace with each other. (Cheers.) The next
is, "Oh. build thou the walls of Jerusalem," That
is meant to express that in the Jerusalem, whether
of Church or nation, there are still a great many good
things to be done. The walls are still building. Do
not pull down the old walls, but go on finishing your
work. The third text is, "Jerusalem which is above
is free." Well, the freedom both of Church and nation
is very important. We should keep up, both in the
nation and in the Churzh, the freedom, subject to the
law, of doing what we think right and saying what we
think right. This is what we of the Church covet for
ourselves and, as citizens of England, for every citizen
of the great English commonwealth. You may re-
member Shakespeare's description of how Henry IV.,
when seized with illness in the Abbey, was taken into
this Jerusalem Chamber. They took him there because
of its better fireplace. The King, when he came to
himself, asked the name of the chamber. He was
answered, "Your Majesty, it is called the Chamber
of Jerusalem." Then he said, "I shall not recover.
It was told to me when I was a boy that I should die
at Jerusalem. That I always thought to mean that I
should die in the holy wars; but my end is approach-
ing, and this is the place where my end shall be;' and
Shakespeare makes him say of this Chamber, "In
that Jerusalen shall Harry die." In that chamber,
too (the Dean proceeded to remind his hearers), the
dying King made the speech to his wild son, the coin-
panion of Falstaff, which converted him from his evil
ways.

The first time the chamber was used for festive pur-
poses, so far as he knew, was when Dean Williams gave
a banquet to the French Ambassador there on the
occasion of the marriage of Prince Charles (after-
wards Charles I. and Henrietta Maria.
The excellent fireplace which led to Henry IV.'s
death in that apartment was also the explanation of
the We of the Jerusalem Chamber by the Westminster
Assembly of Divines. They commenced their sittings
in Henry VlL's chapel, but as the weather grew
cold they asked if there was no place where they
could be warmer, and they found the Jerusalem
Chamber so warm that they kept on holding
their meetings there. As with the Presbyterian
divines so with Convocation, they forsook the cold
Abbey for the warm chamber, and thus in the Jeru-
salem Chamber the revised Prayer Book was drawn
up, And, now the Jerusalem Chamber was from
time to time occupied by a number of scholars partly
of the Church of England and partly of the different
dissenting communions up and down the country, who
met there to do their best to make a more correct
translation of the Old and New Testament. After
those preeent had sten the room he had described, he
would ask them to p,,:03 through a smaller chamber
built in the time of Henry VII, and called Jericho
Chamber from its neighbourhood to the Jerusalem
Chamber. There they would enter the Deanery, and
see the pictures and books which they would find there
open to their inspection.
Lord Hatherley, addressing a few words to the meet.
lag at the request of the Dean, expressed his pleasure
at meeting any assembly which included Westminster
people. He had been so long in that neighbourhood
that he felt as if it were his original habitation.
He had been more than fifty years a house-
holder in that city. He commenced
Dean's.yard, and always witnessed with
his house-
ghroeldatin
gsaitnisfaction the sacred work going on at
the Abbey. The Dean had asked him to correct
any mistakes in his story. That was a task so light
that he could only compare it to that of writing the
famous chapter on snakes in Ireland. He must ex-
press his gratitude to the Dean for the opportunity of
being present and hearit gan address so interesting and
so full of hearty synlothy and affectionate regard for
his hearers.
nio
Mr. Hodgson Pratt, secretary to the u n, intro-
duced two representative workiilg meP express,
in
the name of the meeting, thei tor
thanks to Dean
Stanley.
Mr. James Low, president of the Borough of
Hackney Club, moved a vote of thanks to the Dean,
for whom, he said, his fellow-workmen entertained the
i
highest respect and admiration. NVorkiDg aler?_were
often told of a desire on the part of those of higher
social rank to extinguish class feelings. Tnose who so
expressed themselves should know that it Viestneny
themselves that must bridge the gulf. The wo g
men'could not. The working men, however, re cog,:
nised that the Dean of Westminster did not talk about
doing this, but did it. (Cheers.)
Mr. Fishbourne, secretary to the St. James's Club,
Soho, seconded the motion, which was heartily
adopted.
After a brief reply from the Dean, the company
dispersed themselves through the various rooms thrown
open to them, and there spent the remainder of an
agreeable evening.

TIM LIE Pourg.—The grandma of a little four year
old had been telling her one day not to say people lied,
but rather that they were mistaken. Her grandmother,
to amuse her, told her a bear story, which was a tough
one to believe. After she had finished, the little girl
looked into her face and exclaimed, "Grandma, that
is the biggest mistaken I have ever heard."—Boston
Traveller. ,•• kiss_ J :J