The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-02-25

young gentlemen Imagine that the Office magnt
fes the man. Now Count :. told me that he
Jaw in a police court In Russia a priest brought
In In undress Of purple, and the court, Magis-
trates and all knelt and a police sergeant kvscd
mis- hand Then, rising, the Magistrate said;
You nasty, drunken beast, NJ you were drunk
| again yesterday. III make you emembcr IL
this time The priest was led out to an ndloin'
ing yard. where his clothes were torn OIL and nifty
lashes given him. when he was brought back,
half ~faintng, all knelt and received his blessing
Tho biographer says that he shall never fo's''
a conversation between the Ambassador oil q
foreign power and the Archbishop. The Am
bassador was dining at Lambeth, and showed
himself solicltous 10 prove that he WAS thoroughly
in touch with the social life Of the country to which
he had ,b+en accredited After dinner, ihs
hmbassador, sitting next my faiher, SAID politelyi
Does your Grace reside much in the country
MY father said that, as Archbishop, he was pro-
vided with a country house, and that he MAS
there as much as possible, as he preferred the
90 10 church In the e%ouniryy with an air u genial
INQUIRY, turning round In his chair Yes. IN.
almost IN the park, which The village people all
60 To- Yes. said the ambassador mediAtvely.
J always ~, 10 church myself IN the country
Gus feeling II is the one thing which combais
socialistic ideas. | think you are very Wise,
Afterwards SrhsV that n'q he islt 20 as 81 he and the nen Rmba ss,a
dor were tiyuring In the latter 8 mind as ihe two
nugurs. 4 did my best" explained Dr. Benson
listened to all | said with a charming expression
OF Incredibly, implying, we are both men OF
the world, and understand each other am
sure he thought that " as Speaking automatically
and in purely conventional language, and thar
we had known each other better, I should have
thrown OIL the mask aud avowed myself as Tree
We are told that ID. Benson during his Primary
read very little eSccp, Ia gain specific Informal
tion' lie took no interest IN current modern
literature. although he would not have avowcd
as much. lle read very few no wells, and those
with immense trouble and many groans, Miss
Austen was an author he liked but he thought
Dickens vulgar and Thackeray cynical. Shake.
spears, Virgil and Dante he put on q pinnacle
by themselves, as not quite human almost
| angels lie read keble or George Herbert aloud
TO his CONF anions. and sometimes a page Of "Pl.
grim's Progress in the evening. His free hours
were OF Hate years given almost entirely to Cyprian.
iReT "Iio, SU' Si st. John, ' Which IN was s nearly IN e s"s
pleted AT the time of his death. lie had a vague
idea Of editing ,ieorge Herlert's poems, the text
OF which he thought was corrupt, and used ~
sugges, lamentations on his Sunday walks All
his life he found pleasure IN the writing OF verse,
both English ana Latin. Latin verses he used
10 call the sweetest and prettiest things in the
world; he had a little book Of Latin verse by Leo
Alll, given him by the late Lord R~ayenswor,h.
which he read with delight He wrote a Eoou
a " ~ Ni' ''hocp III iNih 'i'th
opinions as to what was appropriate. In hymn
ology, lie held Lead, kindly Light" TO be EN-.
Phatically a poem, not a hymn, ana he much ais
liked the subleCtiyity OF much modern hymn
writing These things are for meditation and
solitude, he said, and not 10 be roared out 70
an attractive tune.
VII.
II seems that the only trace left on DR. Benson's
habits VI lne from his early Indulgence was an
almost morbid horror OF anything like waste.
even in the most tritilng matters, a horror which
presented an odd contrast 10 his splendid gen
erosity In larger Affairs. lie had the utmost 70
pugnance W Accumula,ing a fortune from his
ecclesiastical revenue. According To his son,
he would have been a richer man II he had re.
NAMED Bishop Of Truro, where he had but Is, 900
a year, instead OF going 10 Canterbury. lie
exercised a lavish hospitality, and his charitable
contributions made anonymously were sur prising
In size and numbers. He once expressed the
conviction that 1t Is our duty 10 do all our works
In q great way-.'o put up with nothing. petty
and puny." But" he added, the mother OF Mag
nihcence Is Frugalty," His generosity Was com.
blned with sn enthusiasm Tor economy quaint
tress To him that people should drink settler water
before going To bed, and, although ordered todrink
settler by his doctor, he refused 70 do so because
II seemed to hun ~ countenance luxury.
He was extraordinarily precise in keeping
accounts. and, when his son, the biographer.
was a, Cambridge, he would show himself less
than the omission Of a halfpenny on the credit
side. He Invariably gave most disproporuonae
sra'uiues TO cab drivers and P~orters. but, as long
carried in his pocket, labelled petty dis
Ussd to e say sadly, : sAh. WE'LL ,"i / b PSde rs think nS
exactly how much IL was when l was young"
or BE S ssIs s snyahl near Il U tnSis ' diaRsns A ssf.
crammed with little boxes, hanks o. string, and
The gummed paper of the edge Of sheets Of postage
stamps; things that had come 70 him By post,
and which he would not destroy and could not use.
His son recalls that, side by side with an intense
precision In detail wheIe money was concerned,
points in Or. Benson,s mind; Il used TO think
that q good deal Of this almost exaggerated ex-
actness In money matters arose from = de-
dency. to .inaccuracy, and i am certain
that the microscopic minueness with. which
he verified references was due 70 us con.
on small points, especially In questions Of ngures.s
As an instance Of his instructive tendency 70
~e1aggers,e, his dAug htsr Mentions that she heard
after q visit 70 Africa, that there were many duss
In the Sahara that had over lO0.O 900 Inhabitants
APIECE 81: imagine. ihis V have nssn : reader.
there were over 10000 palm tess In the oasis
At B!skra. At me same time he was spt 70 b
a 1es ycontrsd iSssi or Tssussa. and nsv"r ssems3
though hs was not unApt 70 cast dcuH on ne
PerSaps she1s never WaS . ssron@s, tns..no,
tary, instincts than was e1hit4tsd In he lac
Archbishop Of Canterbury. Dr.. benson, was
descended, - We have seen, from Q long line OF
Yorkshire dAlesmen, Up whom there was not q
trace Of the clerical element THIN had some
two generations OF mercantile acuteness, than q dis
solute young soldier, while, lastly, his immediate
parents were an evangelical man Of science and The
daughter OF a strong Unitarian. Nevertheless, d.
Benson himself evfnoed most decided aIistocIatie
and ecclesiastical tendencies. He cared fol-
ecclesiastical things from his earliest yearA
though his mother was a strong Protestant and
his adored schoolmaster. Prince Lee. ~ultimatsly
Bishop Of Manchester; was q man Of wide culuvs-
ton and Of liberal rather than ecclesias
tcal views The future Archbishop Of Cam
terbury, on the other hand, was deeply
imbued from the beginning with ltuIgtcA and
antiquarian tastes, and the moment he was brought
in contact with a strong High Churchman, Ike
his cousin, Christopher Sidgwick. he found him.
self, even as a boy, in his natural element AS
TO his aristocratic sympathies, these may b.
explicable by the fact that Dr.. Benson was q
strong Tory and had a great natural reverence
for authority and a high ideal OF an historical
oligarchy. Although brought up in compare
ing democratic world: dignity, stateliness 81
life, ancient buildings and refined leisurp-aI
these things were dear to his heart. Not until
he was four and forty was h brought facs 10
face with the problems OF democracy, but then
his early training and constant association with
mechanics and workingmen In his fathers fac.