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I 


EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D., 

LORD    BISHOP    OF    WINCHESTER, 

AND  PRELATE  OF  THE  MOST  NOBLE 
ORDER  OF  THE  GARTER. 


A     MEMOIR, 
By    G.    W.    KITCHIN,    D.D., 

DEAN   OF   DURHAM. 


.  ,  .  .  iv  T(p  *Ein<rK6'jr(fi  {ffiQv,  o5  a^b  rb  KardaTrtfia  fi£yd\if 
/M0riT€la,  ii  bi  TrpaoTrjs  aurov  Svvafus-  bv  XoyL^o/xai  Kcd  roifs  dO^ovs 
eirpireadai  &yairwvTas  [(bs  ov  ipeCdercu.  iavrov.] 

Ignatii  Ep,  ad  Trail. ,  c.  iii. 


LONDON : 
JOHN    MURRAY,    ALBEMARLE    STREET. 


B^. 


HARVARD 

[UNIVERSITY 

LIBRARY 

'C'T  11  197a 


.\ 


■•■'  •.( 


Printed  by  Hazell,  Watson,  &  Viney,  Ld.,  London  and  Aylesbury. 


PREFACE, 


\  ^7HEN,  at  the  request  of  the  late  Bishop  of  Win- 
^  '  Chester's  family,  I  undertook  to  write  this  Memoir 
of  our  dear  and  honoured  friend,  my  heart  was  far  from 
light.  Apart  from  the  very  heavy  responsibility  which 
must  ever  rest  on  one  who  tries  to  interpret  the  nature 
and  life  of  a  man  of  mark,  I  had  a  special  cause  for 
anxiety  in  the  knowledge  that  to  many  I  must  seem,  as 
indeed  to  myself  I  often  seemed,  unfitted  for  so  serious 
a  task.  Nor  was  it  long  before  this  feeling  found  expres- 
sion. "The  selection,"  said  the  Occasional  Note  of  one 
of  the  weekly  papers,  "  is  not  altogether  satisfactory  to 
many  of  the  late  Prelate's  friends,  who  are  of  opinion 
that  a  Cambridge  man  ought  to  have  been  chosen."  And 
yet  the  worst  was  not  told  ;  an  Oxford  man  writing  a 
Cambridge  man's  life  may  be,  as  the  Article  says,  "  an 
anomaly  "  ;  but  what  shall  we  say  to  a  Broad  Churchman 
dealing  with  the  problems  of  a  High  Churchman's  mind  ? 
a  liberal  in  politics  with  those  of  a  person  instinctively 
conservative?  a  Dean  with  the  story  of  a  Bishop's 
activities  ?     The  more  I  thought  of  it,  the  deeper  was  my 


vi  PREFACE, 


sense  of  obligation  to  those  who  so  indulgently,  in  spite 
of  these  great  divergences,  pressed  nne  to  undertake  the 
task  ;  the  more  I  was  determined  to  accept  their  proposal 
in  a  spirit  of  watchfulness  against  myself.  It  is  his  life, 
not  my  colouring  of  it,  which  is  the  essential  matter ;  his 
view  of  things,  not  my  private  sentiments,  which  had  to 
be  portrayed.  And,  after  all,  there  was  a  large  common 
ground.  I  had  known  and  honoured  the  Bishop  from  his 
professorial  days  at  Cambridge,  some  forty  years  ago ; 
I  had  been  entrusted  with  the  education  of  three  of  his 
sons  ;  even  when  I  had  become  the  Dean  of  his  Cathedral 
no  breath  of  variance  had  ever  severed  us.  Above  all, 
I  felt  strong  in  the  support  I  received  from  Mrs.  Harold 
Browne  in  my  effort  to  depict  the  singular  beauty  of  his 
life  and  character  :  and  if  she  was  not  displeased,  I  cared 
little  for  the  rest.  My  aim  has  been  to  do  justice  to  one 
of  the  truest  representatives  of  the  Church  of  England  ; 
to  a  man  who  could  with  equal  dignity  and  simplicity  sit 
by  the  bedside  of  a  dying  cottager  or  stand  in  the  pre- 
sence of  kings.  The  mainspring  of  his  power  was  the 
love  of  Christ  his  Lord  and  Friend. 

His  was  a  long  and  consistent  life  of  faith  and  practice 
answering  thereto.  As  Horace  says  of  the  iambic  line,  in 
all  his  career  he  was  "  Primus  ad  extrcmum  similis  sibi  ;  " 
the  exact  rhythm  of  his  eighty  years  of  sojourn  here 
below  was  saved  from  monotony  by  the  harmonies  which 
penetrated  alike  his  home-life  and  his  public  career. 
Truthful,  faithful,  and  fearless,  he  bore  himself  bravely 
and  placidly  in  the  storm  and  stress  of  our  time,  and  has 
left  behind  him  an  example  which  must  be  helpful  for  us. 


PREFACE,  vii 


as  we   strive   to   adapt   the    English  Church   to   the  new 
requirements  of  these  later  days. 

I  owe  heartfelt  thanks  to  Mrs.  Harold  Browne  and  Miss 
Gore  Browne  for  their  invariable  kindness  and  help  ;  not 
least,  for  their  goodness  in  relieving  me  from  the  task  of 
compiling  the  Index  to  this  volume.  I  must  also  express 
my  obligation  to  many  friends  of  the  Bishop,  who  have 
thrown  much  light  on  his  acts  and  character.  I  wish  I 
could  have  made  the  book  as  good  and  interesting  as  it 
ought  to  be  ;  it  falls  far  short ;  yet  I  have  done  my  best, 
such  as  it  is,  and  dedicate  this  effort  to  his  ever-cherished 
memory. 


CONTENTS. 


BOOK    I. 

INTRODUCTORY 
1811— 1853. 


CHAPTER    I. 

PACK 

PARENTAGE   AND   YOUTH 3 


CHAPTER     II. 
HOLY   ORDERS  AND    PARISH   WORK 4 1 

CHAPTER    III. 
VICE-PRINCIPAL  OF   LAMPETER   COLLEGE  .  .  .  •       7^ 

CHAPTER    IV. 

VICAR   OF    KENWYN    AND   KEA I02 

b 


X  CONTENTS. 

BOOK     II. 

1853— 1863. 

CHAPTER    I. 

TAGB 

NORRISIAN   PROFESSOR 165 

CHAPTER    II. 

THE   TROUBLES    IN   THE   CHURCH  :    "  ESSAYS   AND   REVIEWS  ;  " 

BISHOP   COLENSO 200 

CHAPTER    III. 
LIFE   AND   WORK    IN   CAMBRIDGE,    1853 — 1864  .    224 


BOOK     III. 

ELY. 
1864 — 1874. 

CHAPTER    I. 
APPOINTMENT   AND   ADMINISTRATION 247 

CHAPTER    II. 
BISHOP  COLENSO,  AND  THE  CONSECRATION   OF    BISHOP  TEMPLE    29O 

CHAPTER    III. 
ORGANISATION   OF   THE   DIOCESE 337 

CHAPTER    IV. 
LATER   YEARS    IN   THE   DIOCESE   OF   ELY  .  .  .363 


CONTENTS.  XI 

BOOK     IV. 

WINCHESTEP. 
1874 — 1891. 


CHAPTER    I. 

PAGE 

APPOINTMENT 395 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE     ANGLO-CONTINENTAL    SOCIETY,    AND    THE    REUNION    OF 

CHRISTENDOM 407 

CHAPTER    III. 
THEOLOGICAL   DIFFICULTIES   AT  WINCHESTER  .  .   420 

CHAPTER    IV. 
ADMINISTRATION   AT  WINCHESTER,    1873 — 189O  .    443 

CHAPTER    V. 
RESIGNATION   AND  DEATH 484 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PORTRAIT  .  Frontispiece 

KENWYN   CHURCHYARD           ......  To  foce  p.   1 14 

THE   EAST   ANGLIAN    PRELATES          .....  „            282 

THE   BISHOP  IN    HIS  STUDY,    FARNHAM      ....  ,,           460 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


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BIBUOGRAPHY.  XV 

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33.  "National    Responsibility  and   National   Prayer."     A    Fast 

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BIBLIOGRAPHY.  xvii 

[preached  at    the    Consecration  of    St.    Paul's  Church, 
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Winchester  and  Lincoln,  and  of  the  Prolocutor  of  the 
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XVlii  BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Winchester."  Read  at  the  Primary  Visitation  of  Edward 
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56.  A  Sermon  (on  Rom.  xiv.  i)  preached  at  St.  Peter's  Church, 

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[printed  in  a  collection  of  addresses  delivered  in  the 
Advent  Ember  Week,  1878].     Nichols,  Farnham,  1878. 

58.  "  St.  Matthew  iv.  8,  9."     A  Sermon  preached  at  the  opening 

of  the  Church  Congress  at  Swansea  on  Oct.  7th,  1879. 
J.  Hodges,  London,  1879. 

59.  An  Address  in  New  College  Chapel  (Oct.  14th,  1879),  on  the 

500th  Anniversary  of  the  Foundation  of  the  College. 
(Privately  printed.)     Oxford,  1879. 

60.  "  A  Pastoral  Letter  on  Parochial  Organisations  for  Foreign 

Missions,"  addressed  to  the  Clergy  of  the  Diocese  of 
Winchester.     S.  P.  G.     Clay  &  Son,  1880. 

61.  "The  Practical  Working  of  Cathedrals."     A  Paper  read  at 

the  Church  Congress  at  Leicester  in  188 1.  J.  Hodges, 
London,  1881. 

62.  A  Sermon  preached  on  the  occasion  of  the  visit  of  the  Old 

Catholic  Bishops  to  Cambridge  and  Farnham.  [Printed 
in  the  account  of  the  visit  drawn  up  for  the  A.-C.  Society.] 
Rivingtons,  1882. 

63.  "  Antichrist."     A  Sermon  preached  at  the  opening  of  the 

Church  Congress  at  Reading,  1883.  Bemrose  &  Son, 
1883. 

64.  "Sowing  and  Seeding."     A  Sermon  preached  in  Emmanuel 

College  Chapel,  Cambridge,  on  the  300th  Anniversary  of 
the  Foundation  of  the  College.  University  Press, 
Cambridge,  1884. 

65.  "  An  Address  on  the  Advantages  of  an  Established  Church," 

delivered  at  the  Church  Congress  at  Carlisle.  Church 
Defence  Association,  London,  1884. 


BIBUOGRAPHY,  xix 

66.  "  An  Address  on  Some  of  the  Difficulties  of  Working  Men," 

delivered  at  the  Church  Congress  at  Portsmouth. 
Bemrose  &  Son,  1885. 

67.  "The   Doctrine  of  the   Church  of  England  on  the   Holy 

Communion  re-stated  as  a  Guide  at  the  Present  Time,"  by 
F.  Meyrick,  with  a  Preface  by  the  Bishop  of  Winchester. 
London  and  Oxford,  1885. 

68.  "  The  Difficulty  of  Private  Devotion,  and  the  Aids  to  it." 

[In  "  The  Spiritual  Life,"  p.  87.]     London  and  Derby. 

69.  "  Clergy    Preaching    in    Nonconformist    Chapels,"    a   Cor- 

respondence between  the  Bishop  of  Winchester  and 
Canon  A.  Basil  Wilberforce.     Hodder  &  Stoughton,  1887. 

70.  "  Evil  in  the  World."    A  Sermon  preached  on  St.  John  xvi. 

6,  7.  [In  "The  Anglican  Pulpit  of  To-day,"  p.  35.] 
London,  1886. 

71.  "Pastoral    Address    to    the    Clergy    of    the    Diocese    of 

Winchester  on  the  Present  Crisis,"  1888.     4  pp.     1888. 

72.  "A  Farewell  Address  to  the  Diocese  on  the  Occasion  of  the 

Resignation  by  Bishop  Edward  Harold  Browne  of  the 
Bishopric  of  Winchester."     1890. 


INTRODUCTORY. 


OOON  after  1  had  promised  to  write  this  Memoir  of 
*^  Bishop  Harold  Browne,  I  received  the  following  note, 
which  I  desire  to  inscribe  on  the  forefront  of  this  volume  : 
— "  We  should  wish  the  more  clerical  and  episcopal  work 
of  our  dear  one  to  be  the  prominent  characteristic  of 
his  Life  ;  he  had  such  a  wonderful  talent  for  organising 
work,  and  for  bringing  laymen  and  clergy  together,  and 
making  peace,  that  anything  bringing  this  forward  would 
be  perhaps  the  most  valuable." 

The  late  Bishop  was  by  habitual  manner  of  thought,  by 
natural  kindliness  and  sweetness  of  disposition,  by  educa- 
tion and  by  the  force  of  his  surroundings,  a  man  of  peace. 
He  knew  his  own  mind, — no  one  better  ;  his  principles,  if 
somewhat  wanting  in  breadth  and  largeness,  were  intel- 
ligible, coherent,  logical  ;  he  moved  in  a  well-marked 
middle  course,  ceaselessly  mediating  between  those  whose 
temperaments  carried  them  into  one  extreme  or  other; 
and  he  was  therefore  always  open  to  the  adverse  criticism 
of  more  impatient  souls. 

Men  of  power  may  be  broadly  divided  into  two  classes  : 
first,  those  who  through  life  are  open  to  the  impressions  of 


xxii  INTRODUCTORY, 

the  day, — inductive  souls,  ever  ready  to  add  to  the  stock  of 
their  knowledge,  to  test  their  convictions,  to  modify  their 
judgments ;  and,  secondly,  those  who  early  in  their  career 
grasp  some  general  principles,  and  use  them  throughout 
life  as  bases  unshakable,  to  which  they  can  always  resort, 
and   by  which   they  judge    all   questions   as   they  arise  : 
these  men  steady  themselves  on  a  priori  principles,  major 
premises  unalterable,  laid  down   as  solid  foundations  on 
which  belief  and  life  are  built     The  more  inductive  minds, 
on  the  other  hand,  sensitive  to  the  changes  of  tone  and 
feeling  around  them,  seem  often  to  be  swayed  by  the  current 
of  events ;  they   get  the   credit  of  being  unstable,   "  ever 
learning,  never  able  to  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth.'^ 
Their  openness  of  mind,  their  honesty  of  purpose  —qualities 
of  the   highest   worth,   and    rarely    met    with — naturally 
make  them  distasteful  to  good  average  people,  who  cannot 
appreciate  their  sympathetic  and  broad  way  of  regarding 
things  ;  to  the  thoughtless,  and  to  the  conventional,  who 
are  only  the  thoughtless  well  developed,  they  seem  quite 
unintelligible,  visionaries,  who,  unsettled  themselves,  would 
readily  unsettle  all  around  them.     The  more  conservative 
minds  are  either  puzzled  by  them,  or  have  them  in  horror. 

Men  of  deductive  minds,  the  other  class,  when  they 
are  also  men  of  strong  qualities,  gain  great  power  over 
their  generation,  alike  by  force  and  by  limitation  of 
character ;  the  fact  that  they  have  laid  down  their  bases 
of  controversy,  and  fearlessly  follow  their  convictions,  lead 
them  whither  they  may,  secures  for  them  the  respect  and 
admiration  of  the  world.  In  a  fluctuating,  uncertain 
Society,  they  are  felt  to  be  firmly  rooted  in  their  principles  ; 
we  turn  to  them  with  hope  and  with  a  sense   of  relief. 


INTRODUCTORY.  xxiii 


when  doubtful  questions  rise  and  the  world  as  it  rolls 
along  seems  near  a  crisis.  These  men  set  out  their  views 
early  in  life  with  incisive  clearness,  seeing  what  they  see 
without  confusion  or  complexity ;  they  follow  a  well- 
marked,  coherent  course  all  their  days.  No  wonder  that 
they  are  most  highly  respected.  The  more  impatient  spirits 
are,  -it  may  be,  somewhat  chafed  by  them  ;  but  they  win 
the  confidence  of  the  multitude.  If  they  are  masterful 
and  ambitious,  they  become  strong  party-leaders  ;  if  they 
are  gentle  and  retiring,  they  are  mediators  and  peace- 
makers, and  often  have  to  pay  the  penalty  of  those  who 
take  and  commend  the  middle  course;  for  they  arouse 
the  anger  and  scorn  of  the  eager  and  vehement ;  though, 
in  the  end,  all  recognise  them  as  benefactors,  and  acknow- 
ledge the  good  work  they  have  done. 

Our  Bishop,  in  the  main,  was  one  of  these  last.  His 
disposition  enabled  him  to  sympathise  with  many  with 
whom  he  did  not  agree.  His  eminent  fairness,  his  sound- 
ness of  judgment,  his  perfectly  clear  intellect,  above  all,  his 
Christian  charity,  won  for  him  the  affection  of  thousands 
who  knew  nothing  about  his  views,  and  would  have 
differed  from  them  fundamentally  had  they  known  them. 
It  was  one  of  the  permanent  sorrows  of  his  long  life,  that 
there  should  be  so  many  good  and  lovable  Christian 
people  with  whom  he  could  not  act  in  harmony.  It  is 
not  often  the  case,  but  in  him  it  was  so,— that  in  true 
dignity  and  nobleness  his  character  was  higher  than  his 
principles.  Those  principles  tended  towards  a  certain 
narrowness  and  limitation  of  relationships,  and  prompted 
him  to  stand  aloof  from  those,  however  good,  who  did  not 
come  up   to   his   standard,   whether   of  orthodoxy    or   of 


XXIV  INTRODUCTORY. 

Church  government ;  and  yet  so  loving  and  so  charitable 
was  he,  that  he  refrained  from  pushing  his  principles  to 
their  logical  conclusions.  He  loved  his  fellow-creatures 
as  he  loved  God  ;  and  was  content  to  hope  even  where 
he  was  unable  to  feel  assured.  And  so,  while  happily  he 
never  sought  to  be  a  party-leader,  his  influence  over  the 
opinions  and  actions  of  others  was  always  great  and  whole- 
some :  men  felt  that  here  was  a  genuine  Christian  spirit, 
moving  with  a  dignified  simplicity  through  the  mazes  of 
the  world  ;  they  discerned  something  of  the  character  and 
impress  of  Him  who  stilled  the  tumult  of  the  sea. 


BOOK     I. 

1811— 1853, 


M 


CHAPTER   I. 

PARENTAGE  AND  YOUTH. 

EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE  was  born  on  the 
6th  of  March,  1811,  at  Aylesbury  in  Buckingham- 
shire, where  his  parents  had  been  settled  for  several  years 
past.  It  was  an  Anglo-Irish,  not  a  Celtic  family,  a  branch 
of  the  Brownes  of  the  Neale ;  they  claimed  descent  from 
Sir  Anthony  Browne,  K.G.,  standard-bearer  to  Henry  VH. 
and  Henry  VIII.,  and  one  of  the  executors  of  the  latter 
king. 

Early  last  century  Bishop  Harold  Browne's  great- 
grandfather, Mr.  John  Browne,  lived  on  a  good  estate  in 
County  Wicklow.  This  property,  with  the  profusion  and 
easy-going  carelessness  of  an  Anglo-Irish  landlord,  he  ate 
up  entirely  in  the  course  of  his  life  ;  and  this,  as  is  not 
unfrequently  the  case,  with  excellent  results.  For  his  son 
Thomas,  our  Bishop's  grandfather,  a  handsome  man  of 
great  energy  and  of  a  wholesome  independence  of  character, 
saw  that  after  idleness  work  must  follow,  and  resolutely 
set  himself  to  stay  the  imminent  downfall  of  the  family. 
He  therefore  became  an  architect,  with  so  much  success 
that  he  not  only  provided  comfortably  for  himself  and 
his  children,  but  was  able  also  to  come  to  the  help  of 
his  poor  thriftless  father,  whom  he  bravely  supported 
with  all  filial  piety  during  the  last  years  of  his  life,  in 
spite  of  the  scriptural  precept  to  the  contrary. 

3 


4  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

The  architect  had  four  sons:  Robert;  William,  a  barrister; 
Gore,  afterwards  General  and  Governor  of  Plymouth  ;  and 
lastly,  Thomas,  Vice- Admiral.  Of  these  the  eldest,  Robert, 
was  the  father  of  our  Bishop.  He  was  born  in  1754,  and, 
after  being  educated  for  the  Bar,  at  the  age  of  twenty-one 
married  the  beautiful  Mrs.  Barrington,  General  Barrington's 
widow.  She  was  nearly  twice  his  age,  and  brought  him 
no  children,  but  died  after  nine  years  of  wedded  life,  spent 
for  the  most  part  in  France. 

Bishop  Barrington  of  Durham,  a  kinsman  of  his  wife, 
befriended  the  young  Irishman,  and  brought  him  under 
the  notice  of  the  Marquis  of  Buckingham,  then  Lord 
Lieutenant  of  Ireland.  Lord  Buckingham  treated  Mr. 
Browne  with  much  favour,  and  when  he  left  Ireland, 
persuaded  him  to  follow  him  to  England.  He  also  secured 
him  a  post  about  the  King's  person,  and  got  him  a  com- 
mission in  the  Bucks  Militia,  in  which  service  he  presently 
rose  to  be  Colonel.  While  his  regiment  was  quartered 
at  Weymouth,  he  became  acquainted  with  the  family  of 
Mr.  Gabriel  Steward,  M.P.,  of  Nottington  and  Melcombe 
in  the  county  of  Dorset,  and  on  June  loth,  1795,  was 
married  to  Sarah  Dorothea,  second  daughter  of  Mr. 
Steward. 

Shortly  after  his  marriage,  Colonel  Browne  bought 
a  house  in  Aylesbury.  In  those  days  it  was  called 
"  Aylesbury  House,"  but  is  now  styled  "  The  Prebendal," 
because  it  was  formerly  attached  to  the  prebendal  stall 
of  Aylesbury  in  Lincoln  Cathedral.  Here,  and  afterwards 
at  Morton  House,  near  Buckingham,  he  lived  for  about 
forty  years.  He  was  a  man  of  ample  means,  fine  presence, 
and  courtly  manners,  much  liked  and  respected  in  those 
parts ;  he  was  made  Justice  of  the  Peace  and  Deputy 
Lieutenant  for  the  county. 

Colonel     Browne    was    father   of   five    children,     two 


I.]  PARENTAGE  AND  YOUTH. 


daughters  and  three  sons,  of  whom  the  youngest  was 
Edward  Harold,  the  future  Bishop  of  Ely  and  of  Win- 
chester. Of  the  two  daughters  who  came  before  the  sons, 
the  elder,  Louisa,  was  an  invalid  from  her  childhood ;  the 
younger,  Maria,  outlived  the  Bishop  by  a  few  weeks, 
retaining  to  the  close  of  her  long  and  beautiful  life  the 
grace,  sweetness,  and  bright  intelligence  of  her  youth. 
Some  souls  never  grow  old,  and  bear  their  years  as  a  crown 
of  glory ;  they  seem  to  have  a  hidden  power  over  the 
frames  in  which  they  lodge.  Maria  Browne  was  a  girl  of 
fourteen  when  the  future  Bishop  was  born  into  the  world  ; 
from  his  birth  to  the  end  of  his  life  she  dedicated  herself 
to  him  with  a  sister's  love  and  almost  a  mother's  devotion. 
It  began  with  the  tenderest  care  and  affection  in  the 
Aylesbury  days,  and  by  slow,  almost  imperceptible  degrees 
changed  in  character,  though  it  remained  unchanged  in 
depth  and  warmth.  At  first  she  was  his  protector,  his 
teacher  and  adviser ;  in  later  life  she  became  his  most 
devoted  and  reverential  admirer  and  follower.  Nothing 
could  surpass  the  beauty  of  the  daily  life  led  by  this 
couple,  so  deeply  attached  to  one  another,  so  inseparable  ; 
"she  came  to  look  up  to  him,"  says  one  who  had  the 
opportunity  of  watching  their  daily  life,  "  with  a  love  that 
was  truly  reverential,  which  deepened  and  strengthened 
as  time  went  on,  until  hand  in  hand  at  last  they  crossed 
the  bar." 

When  Edward  Harold  Browne  was  born  in  i8i  i,  all  things 
in  England  were  well-nigh  at  their  worst.  Napoleon  was 
at  the  height  of  his  power,  bestriding  Europe  ;  Wellington, 
his  great  reputation  as  yet  unmade,  lay  in  the  lines  of 
Torres  Vedras;  English  home  politics  were  dark  and 
uneasy ;  the  old  King  was  g^ain  threatened  by  mental 
trouble.  Men's  hearts  must  have  sunk  within  them  when 
they  thought  of  the  genius  of  the  French  Emperor  and 


6  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D,  [Ch. 

the  vast  resources  at  his  command.  To  the  English  his 
potent  ideas  seemed  like  the  breath  of  a  volcano  before  the 
breaking  of  a  storm  of  doom  ;  the  instinctive  conservatism 
of  our  insular  race  regarded  Napoleon,  his  power  and  his 
ideas,  as  a  kind  of  incarnation  of  blasphemy,  religious  and 
political.  It  was  into  this  troubled  and  anxious  life 
Edward  Harold  Browne  was  born,  at  the  Prebendal  House 
in  Aylesbury. 

Here,  shielded  by  the  devoted  care  of  parents  and 
sister,  the  delicate  boy  spent  a  happy  and  peaceful  child- 
hood, surrounded  by  all  the  blessings  that  loving  hearts 
could  give.  It  was  when  he  was  only  three  years  old  that 
the  first  incident  in  his  life  which  has  been  preserved  took 
place.  Not  far  from  Aylesbury,  at  Hartwell,  the  exiled 
King  of  France,  Louis  XVIII.,  with  his  amiable  consort 
and  a  tiny  Court,  had  settled  down,  watching  in  the 
twilight  of  a  not  unpleasing  retirement  the  progress  of  the 
vast  drama  then  being  enacted  on  the  Continent  of  Europe. 
At  Hartwell,  Colonel  Browne,  who  had  lived  some  years 
in  France  and  spoke  French  with  ease,  was  a  welcome 
and  frequent  guest  One  day  the  King  expressed  a  wish 
to  see  the  little  Harold ;  and  accordingly,  at  his  next 
visit,  the  child  accompanied  his  courteous  father  to 
Hartwell.  As  they  entered  the  room  in  which  Louis,  who 
at  this  time  was  enormously  fat  and  flabby,  was  seated 
awaiting  his  guests,  Colonel  Browne  whispered  to  his  little 
son,  "  Now  go  up  and  kiss  his  Majesty's  hand  ; "  whereon 
the  child,  after  one  glance  at  the  monarch  in  his  chair, 
looked  up  earnestly  into  his  father's  face,  and  said  out 
loud,  with  the  clear  voice  of  an  unconscious  infant,  perfectly 
audible  to  the  astonished  King,  "  No,  father,  I  can't ;  it's 
too  fat."  It  cannot  be  said  that,  however  well  seen  he  was 
in  high  places  in  after  life,  his  first  presentation  at  Court 
was  an  unalloyed  success,  except  perhaps  in  so  far  as  it 


I.]  PARENTAGE  AND   YOUTH.  7 

enabled  a  monarch  to  hear  that  rare  thing,  the  truth,  out 
of  the  mouth  of  a  babe.  The  child's  revolt  against  the 
fatness  of  the  King  did  not  create  any  coolness  in  the 
friendship  which  existed  between  the  royal  exiles  and 
Colonel  Browne's  family ;  among  the  heirlooms  which  the 
Bishop  cherished  in  after  years  are  two  engraved  por- 
traits, the  one  of  Louis  XVIII.  and  the  other  of  the 
Duchess  of  Angoulfeme,  which  were  sent  to  the  Prebendal 
House  by  the  grateful  royalties  after  their  return  to 
France. 

When  he  was  between  eight  and  nine  years  of  age 
Harold  was  sent  to  a  school  at  Warfield,  in  which  young 
lads  were  prepared  for  Eton.  This  school,  kept  by  Mr. 
FaithfuU,  was  very  strict  and  hard  ;  yet  the  little  lad  did  well 
there,  and  Mr.  FaithfuU  used  to  say  that  he  was  "  the  best 
boy  in  the  school."  The  child-life  at  Aylesbury  remained 
for  him  a  fond  and  cherished  memory  to  the  very  end  of 
his  days.  In  a  letter  to  his  dear  friend  Bishop  McDougall 
he  tells  him  that  the  Duke  of  Buckingham,  who  had  paid 
him  a  visit  at  Farnham  Castle,  had  "  engaged  us  to  spend 
the  Sunday  on  our  way  to  Carlisle  at  Stowe.  I  shall  like," 
he  adds, "  to  revisit  scenes  which  were  like  fairyland  to  me 
in  boyhood."    (September  8th,  1884.) 

We  learn  that  at  this  first  school  "  little  Harry,"  as  his 
kinsfolk  lovingly  called  him,  showed  a  clearness  and  quick- 
ness of  intelligence  which  gave  promise  of  great  future 
excellence.  These  qualities,  in  truth,  after  having  stood 
in  his  way  in  his  schooldays,  became  most  helpful  to  him 
afterwards.  His  quickness  both  tempted  him  to  idleness 
and  made  him  impatient  of  dulness  and  drudgery.  He 
found  the  work  of  teaching  very  irksome.  He  reversed 
the  usual  order  of  things  ;  for  his  pupils  were  much  more 
appreciative  of  the  lucid  order,  the  clearness,  the  fine 
scholarship  and   transparent    earnestness  of  their  gentle 


8  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

tutor  than  he  was  of  the  privilege  of  arousing  and  guiding 
their  somewhat  apathetic  minds.  This  is  why,  in  an  age 
when,  thanks  to  Dr.  Arnold's  great  example,  the  most 
eager  and  open-minded  of  the  young  men  sent  forth  from 
the  Universities  were  turning  their  whole  energies  into 
the  new  field  of  school  work,  yearning  to  carry  forward  the 
new  gospel  of  "  moral  earnestness  "  and  "  high-thinking," 
Harold  Browne  deliberately  turned  his  face  away  from 
scholastic  openings,  refused  tempting  offers,  and  dedicated 
himself  heart  and  soul  to  the  study  of  Theology,  and 
especially  to  that  which  was  nearest  his  heart  all  the  days 
of  his  life,  the  earnest  fulfilment  of  the  duties  of  a  parish 
priest. 

In  1823,  a  slim  and  gentle  boy  of  twelve,  Harold  Browne 
was  transferred  from  Warfield  to  the  larger  life  of  Eton. 
Here  he  remained  for  four  years.  The  School  Lists  of 
that  period  show  that  the  College  contained  a  remarkable 
gathering  of  boys  destined  to  play  a  part  in  their  country's 
history.  In  1826,  a  year  before  he  left  Eton,  Harold 
Browne's  name  appears  about  halfway  up  the  middle 
division  (for  he  never  rose  to  school-eminence),  and  the 
name  next  below  him  is  that  of  the  well-known  Christ 
Church  tutor,  W.  E.  Jelf.  The  same  list  shows,  among 
the  seniors  of  the  school,  the  great  name  of  Mr.  Gladstone. 
It  contains  also  that  of  the  late  Duke  of  Devonshire,  a 
man  whose  high  powers  were  equalled  only  by  the  kind- 
liness and  genuine  nobility  of  his  personal  character. 
There  were  also  two  future  Governors-General  of  India, 
Elgin  and  Canning,  and  the  late  Duke  of  Newcastle, 
Secretary  of  State  for  the  Colonies  in  Lord  Palmerston's 
Ministry  of  1859-65,  with  other  men  of  note,  such  as  Mr. 
Spencer  Walpole,  Home  Secretary  under  Lord  Derby, 
Mr.  Ricardo,  Lord  Blachford,  and  Sir  George  Rickards. 
In  addition  to  these  statesmen  and  politicians  there  were 


I,]  PARENTAGE  AND  YOUTH.  g 

also  men  destined  to  make  their  mark  in  the  Church, 
foremost  among  whom  was  Selwyn,  Bishop  first  of  New 
Zealand  and  afterwards  of  Lichfield,  of  whom  Harold 
Browne,  in  his  last  public  speech  at  the  Diocesan  Con- 
ference at  Winchester,  spoke  warmly,  calling  him  "one 
of  the  greatest  Bishops  this  Church  of  England  has  ever 
known."  There  stands  also  the  name  of  Lord  Arthur 
Hervey,  whose  recent  death  has  deprived  the  diocese  of 
Bath  and  Wells  of  a  much-loved  Bishop  ;  and  the  original 
and  vigorous  Bishop  Abraham,  first  Bishop  of  Wellington, 
New  Zealand,  one  of  our  Bishop's  closest  friends,  who  is 
still  living  in  a  ripe  old  age.  To  these  should  be  added 
the  late  Bishop  of  Tuam,  Dr.  Bernard ;  the  Rev.  George 
Williams, — "  Jerusalem  Williams  "  as  he  used  to  be  called  ; 
and  Dr.  Goodford,  Headmaster  afterwards  and  Provost 
of  Eton.  There  were  also  some  men  of  letters,  though 
none  of  the  highest  rank  of  authorship,  such  as  Lord 
Lindsay,  author  of  the  "  History  of  Christian  Art "  (1847) ; 
Mr.  M.  J.  Higgins,  better  known  as  "  Jacob  Omnium  ; "  Mr. 
J.  H.  Jesse,  the  historical  writer ;  Latham,  the  etymologist ; 
C.  D.  Yonge,  the  lexicographer ;  and  Dr.  Badham,  who 
edited  Greek  plays.  Among  these  we  may  very  well  place, 
for  he  came  into  close  and  daily  connection  with  Harold 
Browne,  the  celebrated  actor,  Charles  Kean. 

Very  few  of  these  are  still  living.  It  is  consequently 
difficult  to  fill  up  the  picture  of  our  Bishop's  school-days, 
or  to  reproduce  the  delicate,  sensitive  boy,  who  had 
already  begun  to  outgrow  his  strength.  One,  however,  of 
his  old  friends  still  retains  a  vivid  recollection  of  those 
early  days;  for  Bishop  Abraham,  writing  from  Lichfield 
a  short  time  ago,  says  :— 

"  I  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  in  the  same  Dame's 
house  at  Eton  in  1824,  and  we  had  the  same  tutor, 
that  dear  good  man,  Bishop  Chapman.     Edward  Harold 


lO  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 


Browne  was  a   quiet,  retiring,   high-principled  boy  ;   and 
there  was  he  plunged  into  a  house  which,  without  being 
at    all    ungentlemanlike,    was    rather    Bohemian.      Only- 
fancy   a   knot  of  boys   where   Charles   Kean,   the  actor, 
was   supreme   in   the  school   of  arms  and   the   school  of 
arts.     He  kept  us  all  alive.     He  was  the  best  boxer  and 
fencer  in  the  school ;  accordingly  all  the  aspirants  to  excel- 
lence in  these  departments  came  to  our  Dame's  to  learn 
fencing  and  boxing,  and  in  the  evening  we  youngsters  had 
lessons.     But  then  also  he  was  supreme  in  the  *  School 
of  Art/ — that  art  being  acting ;  and  he  would  act  for  our 
amusement.     Woe  betide  us  if  we  laughed  when  we  should 
have  cried,  or  failed  to  catch  and  applaud  his  best  *  hits  * ! 
Charles  Kean  was  a  very  good-humoured  fellow,  and  was 
very  kind  to  us.     And  then  Harold  Browne  had  a  pecu- 
liar position  towards  him  ;  he  was  more  of  the  same  age 
and  place  in  school,  and  if  Kean  was  his  tutor  in  boxing 
and  acting,  Browne  could  repay  him  as  tutor  by  construing 
the  *  Homer '  and  *  Horace '  lessons  to  him,  and  by  doing 
numberless  verses  for  him.     Therefore,  while  I  and  others 
were  admitted  to  the  *  Galleries '  in  the  improvised  theatre, 
Browne  had  a  ticket  for  pit  or  boxes.     Anything  that  now 
seems  more  incongruous  could  hardly  be  imagined  than 
the  life  that  went  on  for  Harold  Browne's  first   year  at 
Eton  ;  but  .then  he  passed  from  the  Dame's  house  to  my 
tutor's,  which  was  the  most  orderly  and  studious   house 
in   College.      It  must   have  felt   like  passing  out  of  the 
*  still-vext  Bermoothes '  into  the  Gulf  Stream. 

"  But  one  trait  that  he  showed  at  the  Dame's  he  no 
doubt  retained  at  his  tutor's,  and  it  was  recognised  in 
all  his  after  life — that  was  his  goodness,  I  can  bear  witness 
to  his  thorough  simplicity  and  singleness  of  character  all 
along." 

It  may  be  gathered  from  this  glimpse  of  the  Bishop's 
boyhood  at  Eton  that  he  was  not  on  the  road  towards 
any  brilliant  success  ;  nor  did  he  look  back  on  the  time 
with  that  enthusiasm  with  which  elderly  men  speak  of 
their  old  school  and  review  their  happy,  careless  boy- 
hood. Indeed,  as  he  surveyed  it  from  the  secure  vantage- 
ground  of  high  reputation  and  accumulated  honours,  and 
with  the  long  experience  of  actual  life,  he  felt  keenly  the 


I.]  PARENTAGE  AND  YOUTH.  II 

waste  of  opportunities,  and  consequent  loss  of  power.  No 
man  ever  worked  harder  to  repair  that  loss  and  to  make 
good  the  gaps  in  his  early  training.  Some  men  work  to 
the  end  and  are  ever  learning,  and  our  Bishop  was  one 
of  these.  With  his  linguistic-  gifts  and  power  of  ordering 
and  expressing  knowledge,  and  his  trustworthy,  tenacious 
memory,  he  probably  repaired  the  waste  as  well  as  any  one 
has  ever  done.  And  yet,  in  the  judgment  of  one  specially 
well  qualified  to  have  an  opinion  on  the  point,  the  Eton 
days  were  by  no  means  a  complete  failure.  Writing  in 
1845  to  ask  Mr.  Browne  to  preach  his  consecration  sermon, 
his  Eton  tutor.  Dr.  Chapman,  just  appointed  Bishop  of 
Colombo,  speaks  of  him  as  "  so  esteemed  a  pupil  in  former 
days,"  and  he  certainly  would  not  have  so  written  had 
Harold  Browne  been  a  mere  idle,  gentlemanly  boy.  Still, 
it  is  certain  that  the  easy-going  ways  of  school  and  college 
were  a  real  source  of  regret  to  him  in  after-life,  and  were 
ever  deplored  by  him  with  a  beautiful  frankness  and 
humility.  And  yet  it  is  also  true  that  the  idleness,  so 
largely  caused  by  weakness  of  health,  had  its  advantages. 
The  specially  English  notion  that  at  a  public  school  and 
in  college  a  man  learns  more  from  his  friends  and  amuse- 
ments than  from  his  tutors  and  masters,  if  rarely  true,  was 
as  nearly  true  as  it  ever  has  been  in  his  case.  For  his  mind 
was  finely  built,  and  had  the  quality  which  Spenser  gives 
to  Una :  he  could  walk  uprightly  in  a  careless  world  ;  his 
pure  heart  assimilated  only  what  was  good  and  true  ;  so 
that  the  time  spent  under  Charles  Kean's  friendly  eye, 
though  it  may  not  have  advanced  the  elegance  of  his  Latin 
verse,  or  drenched  him,  like  Erasmus'  Pedant,  in  Ciceronian 
phrase,  and  though  it  tempted  the  boy  to  be  often  content 
with  superficial  preparations,  still  was  in  itself  an  education 
of  a  high  kind.  It  is  a  great  thing  to  kindle  the  dramatic 
instincts  of  a  boy ;  it  was   a  revelation  to  the  shy  and 


12  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D,D.  [Ch. 

somewhat  silent  lad  to  discover,  by  help  of  Kean's  genius, 
that  plays  are  bright  gems  of  language  and  true  works 
of  art, — not  merely  so  many  hundred  lines  of  dull  poetry 
to  be  deciphered  and  rendered  into  baldest  prose.  The 
hints  and  interpretations  with  which  Kean  favoured  his 
young  comrade  must  have  thrown  a  flood  of  light  on 
many  a  difficulty,  illuminating  the  quickly  receptive  mind 
of  the  future  Bishop.  Throughout  his  life  Hai*old  Browne 
retained  ah  innocent  and  antiseptic  sense  of  humour ;  and 
he  saw,  as  few  schoolboys  ever  see,  the  comical  contrasts 
which  come  into  the  way  of  those  who  have  eyes  to  see. 
There  is  one  example  of  the  manner  in  which  he  recog- 
nised the  queerly  inverted  view  of  the  value  of  things 
which  prevails  at  school.  There  was  an  old  "  sock- woman  " 
who  used  to  sell  tarts  at  the  College  gates,  and  if  her  wares 
did  not  go  oflF  to  her  mind,  she  used  in  set  manner  to 
harangue  the  youths  as  they  came  out  of  school,  on  the 
relative  merits  of  her  tarts  compared  with  those  dry 
crusts  which  they  had  been  munching  in  pupil  room  or 
school.  "  Now,  boys,"  she  would  cry  to  the  merry  circle 
round  her  stall,  "come,  buy  some  of  my  sock;  how  you 
do  waste  your  money !  You  go  and  buy  books,  and  when 
you  have  read  them,  there's  an  end  of  it ;  or  spend  it  on 
a  row  on  the  river,  and  then  it's  soon  over ;  but  if  you  buy 
a  little  good  sock,  why,  that's  something  solid,  that  does 
a  boy  good  ! "  The  Bishop  used  to  narrate  the  old  lady's 
oration  with  a  twinkle  in  his  eye  and  the  keenest  relish  of 
the  lively  scene. 

It  is  probable  that  his  kindly  humour,  which  made  him 
excellent  company,  formed  a  wholesome  antidote  against 
the  forced  solemnity  of  life  which  is  often  a  snare  to  one 
who  is  surrounded  by  the  ceremonial  of  episcopal  state. 
The  Bishop's  face,  to  the  very  end  of  his  life,  was  wont  to 
light  up  with  merriment  if  any  one  alluded  to  his  boyish 


I.]  PARENTAGE  AND  YOUTH.  13 

friendship  with  the  great  actor.  If  children  were  in  the 
rcx)m— and  he  could  never  resist  children — ^he  would 
delight  to  show  them  how  Kean  taught  him  at  Eton  to 
put  a  paper  skirt  on  two  of  his  fingers,  and  then  would 
imitate  on  a  table,  amid  the  merry  laughter  of  the 
little  ones,  the  graceful  dances  and  pirouettes  of  the 
ballet  girl. 

Harold  Browne  also  acquired  in  his  school  days  a  power 
of  the  highest  value  to  a  man  immersed,  as  he  was,  in 
continual  business.  He  learned  how  to  attend  to  two 
things  at  once ;  so  that  while  he  was  working  at  his 
books  or,  later  on,  preparing  a  sermon  or  a  charge,  he 
could  follow  and  even  take  active  part  in  the  conversation 
going  on  around  him  in  the  room.  As  he  bent  over  his 
copy  of  verses  or  translations  in  his  room  at  Eton,  while 
Kean  stood  by  reciting  and  declaiming  passages  from  his 
favourite  tragedians,  Browne  would  work  on  with  un- 
clouded mind  and  unruffled  temper,  looking  up  from  time 
to  time  with  a  smile  or  an  appreciative  nod,  or  answering 
briefly  and  pertinently  to  some  appeal  from  his  enthusiastic 
friend. 

It  was  when  he  was  just  about  halfway  through  his  school 
days  that  his  loving  mother — surely  one  of  the  sweetest 
and  best  of  women — wrote  of  him  on  the  6th  of  September, 
1826  (he  was  then  fifteen  years  old,  and  at  home  for  his 
summer  holidays) :  "  I  must  not  omit  to  say  that  I  think 
Harold  is  sweeter  than  ever,  so  amiable  and  obliging  to 
every  one,  and  amuses  himself  so  nicely  that  it  is  quite 
delightful.  Chemistry  is  at  present  his  great  delight." 
He  never  let  us  know  that  he  had  pursued  this  fascinating 
branch  of  physical  study,  though  it  explains  how  he  got 
many  of  his  best  illustrations.  No  doubt  this  enthusiasm 
for  chemistry  was  but  a  passing  phase,  an  interesting  ex- 
pression of  that  general  keenness  and  relish  for  knowledge 


14  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DJ).  [Ch. 

of  any  kind  which  marks  the  development  of  the  mind 
of  every  quick-witted  and  gifted  boy. 

So  passed  his  school  life,  side  by  side  with  a  youth 
destined  to  win  fame  on  a  very  different  stage  ;  the  one 
boy    doing    the    verses    and    translations   for    the  other, 
who  repaid  him  fourfold  with  brilliant  declamations  and 
friendly  enthusiasm  for  art  and  poetry.     So  far  as  school 
work  went  the  two  boys  helped  and  hindered  each  other 
every  day.     Thus  happily  in  school  and  study,  by  road  or 
river,  passed  the  bright  Eton  days,  in  which,  though  from 
lack  of  physical  health  and  strength  he  was  far  from  being 
a  school  hero,  he  won  the  goodwill  of  all.     After  four  years 
of  it  his  parents  thought  it  wisest  that  he  should  leave 
Eton  and  break  with  the  habits  of  school-life,  and  obtain 
a  quiet  year  of  direct  and  serious  preparation  for  Cam- 
bridge.    He    had   passed   smoothly    and   rather    listlessly 
through  these  halcyon  days,  in  which  he  shot  up  rapidly, 
till   he  was   over  six  feet  in  stature  ;  he  spent  so  much 
vital  energy  in  the  process  of  growth,  that  there  was  little 
of  it  left  for  lessons.     In  1883  the  aged  Bishop,  after  a  visit 
to   Eton,  thus   refers   to   his   delicacy   of  constitution    in 
youth  : — "  I   had  outlived  most  of  my  contemporaries.     It 
is  sixty  years  since  I  went  there,  a  fragile  boy,  twelve 
years  old  ;  for  some  years  after  that  hardly  expected  to 
grow  up  to  manhood."     Like  all  public  school  boys,  he 
cherished  throughout  his  life  a  deep-seated  pride  in  Eton, 
and,  with   his   usual   humility,  blamed   not   the   lax   and 
antiquated  system  of  the  school,  but  his  own  idleness,  for 
his  shortcomings  during  these  years. 

His  farewell  to  Eton  impressed  itself  deeply  on  his 
mind,  and  he  loved  to  tell  the  tale  of  the  Headmaster's 
last  speech  to  him.  Every  boy  leaving  Eton,  as  is  well 
known,  was  expected,  in  obedience  to  school  usage  and 
tradition,  to  call  on  the  Headmaster  to  take  leave  of  him, 


I.]  PARENTAGE  AND  YOUTH.  15 

and  to  bring  with  him  in  his  hand  (in  accordance  with  an 
ancient  custom  now  happily  no  longer  in  force)  a  paper 
or  envelope  containing  a  couple  of  £$  bank-notes.  As 
a  rule,  after  a  boy  had  placed  this  leaving-tip  on  the  Head- 
master's table,  and  had  received  in  return  the  finely-bound 
volume  which  in  after  years  was  to  remind  him  of  those 
happy  days,  he  retired  as  speedily  and  gracefully  as  he 
could  from  the  uncomfortable  interview,  glad  that  he  had 
got  through  the  heartless  and  expensive  formality.  But 
what  was  Harold  Browne's  astonishment  (he  used  to  tell 
the  story,  his  face  brimming  over  with  amusement)  when 
he  had  duly  presented  himself  with  his  offering,  and  was 
endeavouring  to  escape  out  of  the  dread  presence  of  the 
Headmaster,  to  find  himself  solemnly  addressed  by  Dr. 
Keate  with,  "  Go  back  to  your  Dame's,  boy  ;  and,  when  you 
leave,  if  I  find  you  wringing  off  knockers  or  painting 
doors,  rU  have  you  back,  sir,  and  flog  you ! "  And  with 
this  queer  piece  of  fatherly  advice  the  future  Bishop,  as 
much  amused  as  astonished,  at  last  made  his  escape  from 
the  room,  and  saw  the  mighty  pedagogue  no  more. 

The  omnipotent  birch-rod  reminds  us  of  a  little  story 
of  the  Bishop's  school  days.  When  he  had  been  for  some 
time  at  Eton,  a  senior  boy  asked  him,  "  How  often  have 
you  been  swished  ?  "  "  Not  once,"  was  the  reply  in  proud 
humility.  "  Oh !  how  long  have  you  been  here  ?  "  Harold 
replied,  "  Just  eighteen  months."  "  Humph !  then  you 
ought  to  be  ashamed  of  yourself." 

He  was  now  sent  to  a  very  different  scene  and  to  a  life 
the  opposite  of  that  which  he  had  just  been  leading. 
Instead  of  the  teeming  school,  the  lively  games  in  playing 
fields,  the  fascinations  of  the  river,  the  companionship  of 
Charles  Kean  and  Shakespeare,  there  came  a  time  of 
absolutely  serious  quietude.  His  tutor  and  guide  was  the 
Rev.  R.  Holt,  who  prepared  one  or  two  pupils  for  the  Uni- 


1 6  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

versity  at  a  lovely  spot  called  Postford  House,  about  a  mile 
from  Albury,  nestling  under  the  south  side  of  the  Downs 
which  run  from  Guildford  to  Reigate.  Postford  House 
stands  on  a  little  hill  not  far  from  the  high  road,  over- 
looking a  picturesque  sedgy  mere,  beyond  which  stretch 
chequered  woodlands,  rising  and  falling  on  the  undulating 
ground,  and  backed  up  in  the  distance  by  the  long  line 
of  chalk  hills.  Not  far  from  Postford  lay  the  village  of 
Albury,  with  a  tiny  parish  church  close  to  the  fine  mansion 
belonging  to  Mr.  Henry  Drummond,  now  the  seat  of  the 
Duke  of  Northumberland.  With  the  waving  sedges  below, 
and  woodlands,  hills,  and  glimpses  of  the  mere,  the  view 
from  Postford  windows  was  as  lovely  as  only  an  English 
country  scene  can  be. 

Here  beside  Harold  Browne  there  were  two  or  three 
other  pupils,  of  whom  one  was  a  youth  who  afterwards 
made  for  himself  a  considerable  reputation  by  publishing 
a  kind  of  modern  Book  of  Proverbs,  Mr.  Martin  Farquhar 
Tupper,  author  of  a  "  Proverbial  Philosophy "  which  ran 
through  several  editions.  The  Bishop  has  left  us  no 
information  as  to  the  terms  on  which  he  lived  with  the 
embryo  philosopher ;  though  the  two  were  undoubtedly 
thrown  much  together  during  their  year  at  Postford,  it 
is  fairly  certain  that  no  warm  boyish  friendship  sprang 
up  between  them.  Mr.  Tupper  in  "  My  Life  as  Author," 
published  in  1886,  has  only  this  very  short  reference  to 
Harold  Browne,  a  reference  which  however  gives  us  just 
a  touch  of  the  school-boy  temper  still  strong  in  the 
boys : — 

"  I  changed  to  Mr.  Holt's  at  Albury,  a  most  worthy 
friend  and  neighbour,  with  whom  I  read  diligently  for 
my  matriculation  at  Oxford,  when  I  was  about  nineteen. 
With  Holt  my  intimate  comrade  was  Harold  Browne,  the 
present  Bishop  of  Winchester,  and  he  will  remember  that 


I.]  PARENTAGE  AND   YOUTH,  \J 


it  was  our  mischievous  object  to  get  beyond  Mr.  Holt  in 
our  prepared  Aristotle  and  Plato,  as  we  knew  that  he  had 
hard  work  to  keep  even  in  the  race  with  his  advanced 
pupils  by  dint  of  midnight  oil." 

Harold  Browne's  recollections  of  Postford  are  far  more 
grave  than  this  ;  for  in  those  days  he  received  his  first 
strong  impressions  of  religion  and  of  the  seriousness  of 
life.  Early  in  this  century  all  earnestness  and  advance 
in  religion  was  concentrated  either  in  the  active  Wesleyan 
body  or  in  the  Low  Church  movement,  then  in  the  first 
flush  of  growing  enthusiasm.  The  sensitive  lad,  with  his 
naturally  religious  and  thoughtful  temperament,  could  not 
fail  to  be  deeply  touched  and  influenced  by  his  surroundings. 

"  I  have  reason  to  thank  God,"  he  writes,  "  that  I  was 
sent  there.  My  mother  was  a  sincere  and  humble  Christian, 
full  of  the  most  devoted  affection  to  her  children,  and  had 
done  her  best  to  bring  them  all  up  as  Christians.  My 
knowledge  of  religious  subjects,  however,  was  not  great ; 
and  at  Eton  I  had  gained  a  full  share  of  the  idle  habits 
of  the  school.  At  Postford  I  was  in  the  house  of  a  truly 
pious  man  ;  his  sister,  Miss  Holt,  was  one  of  the  best  of 
women  ;  and  the  rector  of  the  parish  of  Albury,  which 
church  we  always  attended  (though  it  was  not  the  parish 
church  of  Postford),  was  the  Rev.  Hugh  McNeile.  I  was 
greatly  struck,  as  a  boy  of  sixteen,  with  his  fervid  eloquence, 
and  altogether  impressed  with  the  religious  tone  of  the 
society  into  which  I  was  thrown." 

His  mother's  letters  show  how  deep  an  impression  the 
Calvinistic  (or  perhaps  one  should  say  the  Augustinian) 
theology,  which  the  young  man  heard  Sunday  after  Sunday 
from  the  pulpit  of  Albury  Church,  made  at  that  time  on 
his  sensitive  and  receptive  mind.  On  a  temperament  natu- 
rally religious,  somewhat  introspective,  and  altogether 
earnest  and  honest,  Mr.  McNeile's  teaching,  backed  up 
as  it  was  by  the  sweet  zeal  and  goodness  of  his  tutor's 
sister,  fell  with   great   power   and   influence:   the  zealous 

2 


1 8  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D  D,  [Ch. 


pastor  himself,  noticing  the  good  motions  of  the  young 
man's  mind,  his  gravity,  sincerity,  and  evident  seeking  after 
truth,  paid  him  some  friendly  attentions,  and  for  the  time 
completely  won  his  heart  and  confidence. 

"  He  has,"  writes  his  mother,  "  studied  very  closely  since 
he  left  us  ...  on  religious  subjects,  and  has  imbibed  much 
of  Mr.  McNeile's  enthusiasm,  and  I  fear  too  much  of  his 
High  doctrine  not  to  be  dangerous  for  so  young  a  person, 
and  one  of  his  turn  of  mind ;  if  not  so  to  himself,  it  may- 
be so  to  those  he  may  in  future  have  to  instruct,  should 
he  continue  as  intolerant  as  he  is  at  present." 

One  can  hardly  picture  to  oneself  the  sweet  and  charitable 
Bishop  of  later  days  thus  embracing  the  stem  and  un- 
loving Calvinistic  theology,  though  one  knows  that  what- 
ever doctrines  commended  themselves  to  his  heart  and 
intelligence  he  would  fearlessly  proclaim  and  defend,  were 
the  deductions  from  them  ever  so  intolerant  Mrs.  Browne 
goes  on : — 

"  To  me  he  is  all  sweetness,  and  where  I  cannot  go  quite 
as  far  as  he  does,  I  will  not  contradict ;  but  I  am  convinced 
much  may  be  done  even  to  the  hardened  sinner  by  mild- 
ness, whereas  even  the  anxious  enquirer  may  be  frightened 
and  disgusted,  when  these  very  high  doctrines  of  election, 
etc.,  are  so  strongly  held  and  pressed ;  and  I  am  very 
fearful  they  may  (whilst  he  is  so  young)  be  injurious  to 
himself.  The  Almighty,  who  knows  all  my  thoughts, 
knows  that  my  most  earnest  prayers  and  wishes  are  that 
my  beloved  son  may  be  a  faithful  minister  of  the  gospel, 
and  by  the  mildness,  and  at  the  same  time  the  correctness, 
of  his  doctrine,  be  the  means  of  doing  good  to  all  those 
committed  to  his  charge.  And  I  do  hope  and  trust  that 
when  he  has  studied  these  subjects  a  little  longer,  and  is 
a  little  older  [he  was  then  but  seventeen],  if  he  has  the 
good  fortune  to  fall  into  the  society  of  some  wise  and 
good  man  whose  experience  on  these  subjects  he  will  have 
an  opinion  of,  his  may  be  softened  down  without  injury 
to  him  as  a  good  Christian.  His  spirits  are  not  high,  and 
he  is  constitutionally  nervous   to  a  great  degree.     I  am 


I.]  PARENTAGE  AND  YOUTH,  1 9 

therefore  afraid  of  his  dwelling  on  these  very  high  doctrines, 
till  he  has  acquired  more  strength  of  mind  and  body  ;  and 
then  it  will  be  his  duty  to  search  and  enquire  strictly  into 
them,  and  I  would  wish  him  to  do  so." 

She  goes  on  to  beg  her  daughter  to  discourage  much 
religious  discussion  at  the  time ;  and,  by  way  of  apology 
for  such  sensible  advice,  she  adds  that : — 

"  Nothing  but  the  perfect  conviction  that  my  treasure 
of  a  child's  nerves  are  not  in  a  state  at  present  to  dwell 
on  the  higher  doctrines  could  make  me  wish  what  I  have 
above  requested/* 

Again,  writing  a  fortnight  later  (August  21st,  1828),  she 
refers  once  more  to  his  health  and  religious  anxieties  : — 

"He  is  frightfully  delicate,"  she  says,  "but  sweet  and 
affectionate  as  ever.  ...  I  think  you  know  how  truly 
anxious  I  am  that  he  should  be  a  zealous  and  active 
clergyman,  desirous  faithfully  to  fulfil  all  his  duties.  This 
makes  me  more  than  ever  alive  to  the  necessity  that 
he  should  truly  understand  the  Word  of  God,  and  not 
suffer  the  enthusiastic  turn  of  his  mind  to  lead  him  into 
error,  which  may  be  injurious  to  himself,  and  perhaps  to 
some  of  his  hearers  so  perplexing,  that  instead  of  leading 
them  to  Heaven  it  may  drive  them  to  despair.  ...  I  am 
very  fearful  for  his  dwelling  so  much  on  Election  and 
Predestination,  and  professing  himself  so  strongly  to  be 
a  Calvinist.  ...  At  his  tender  years  his  head  may  lead 
him  astray — though  I  think  it  is  one  that,  if  he  is  not  too 
bigoted,  may  be  likely  to  do  much  good.  .  .  .  With  respect 
to  his  study  of  the  Prophecies,  it  is  an  amusement  to  him 
and  will  do  no  harm,  except  that  I  think  his  dear  head 
requires  rest.  I  am  afraid  Harry  so  much  admires  Mr. 
McNeile's  manner,  that  he  will  endeavour  to  follow  it." 

From  these  letters  it  is  plain  enough  that  Harold 
Browne,  in  common  with  almost  every  man  of  religious 
feeling  in  those  days,  came  more  or  less  under  the  influ- 
ence, intellectual  and  spiritual,  of  the  Evangelical  school 
of  thought.  It  was  the  active  and  forward  school  of  that 
day  :  the  reaction  from  it  as  yet  had  hardly  begun.     Those 


20  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 


are  fortunate  whom  a  new  stream  of  opinion  catches  and 
carries  onward  as  on  a  rising  tide.  And  this  good  fortune 
came  to  Harold  Browne.  After  University  life  had  dulled 
the  edge  of  his  first  enthusiasm,  he  became  aware  of  a 
very  different  set  of  the  currents.  With  the  new  appeals 
to  antiquity  and  the  respect  for  ordinances  shewn  by  the 
rising  party,  he  contrasted  the  lack  of  solid  learning,  the 
somewhat  narrow  range  of  ideas,  the  slight  hold  on  Church 
order  and  institutions,  evident  in  the  Evangelical  leaders  : 
though  their  zeal  and  earnestness  were  undoubted,  their 
system  seemed  to  him  insufficient.  And  so  he  soon 
drifted  away  entirely  from  those  early  teachers,  while  his 
comrade  at  Postford,  Mr.  Tupper,  remained  all  through 
life  firmly  fixed  in  the  principles  he  had  learnt  under  Mr. 
Holt  and  Mr.  McNeile.  We  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  dis- 
tance which  separated  the  two  in  after  life  at  a  moment 
when  the  layman,  whose  Philosophy  did  not  altogether 
sweeten  his  religion,  had  an  opportunity  of  renewing  his 
friendship  with  the  Bishop.  Soon  after  Harold  Browne 
had  been  translated  to,  Winchester,  he  undertook  to  hold  a 
Confirmation  at  Albury,  where  at  this  time  Mr.  Tupper 
was  living ;  and  on  hearing  that  the  Bishop  was  to  come 
there,  he  addressed  a  letter  to  Farnham  Castle  expressing 
in  apologetic  fashion  his  regret  at  not  being  able  to  come 
to  his  parish  church  to  meet  and  welcome  his  old  friend 
on  his  first  visit  to  those  parts:  "the  Rector"  (Canon 
Dundas),  he  said,  "  is  such  a  Ritualist  that  I  seldom  go  to 
church  there."  When  the  Bishop  reached  the  vestry  he 
told  Mr.  Dundas  all  about  this  letter  and  the  reasons  Mr. 
Tupper  gave  for  not  being  present,  and  said  something  in 
his  kind  way  on  the  subject ;  whereto  Mr.  Dundas  replied, 
"  Well,  my  Lord,  Mr.  Tupper  gave  me  quite  a  different 
reason  for  his  absence  ;  *  for,'  said  he,  *  the  Bishop  is  a 
very  worthy  good  man,  but  I  shall  not  go  to  hear  him  ;  he 


I.]  PARENTAGE  AND   YOUTH,  21 

has  become  a  terribly  high  Churchman  ; '  and  so,  you  see, 
he  has  condemned  us  both."  Whereat  the  Bishop  was 
immensely  amused,  and  dismissed  the  subject  with  a 
hearty  laugh.  This  divergence  between  the  old  school- 
fellows was  of  long  standing  ;  so  far  back  as  1849  an  Eton 
friend  sent  Harold  Browne  a  note  from  Mr.  Tupper,  with 
the  comment,  "  I  send  you  some  of  Tupper's  papers,  and 
his  truly  characteristic  note.  You  were  anything  but 
congenial  spirits.  Distance,  however,  of  time  and  space 
may  possibly  lend  enchantment  to  the  view  and  serve  to 
remind  you  of  Auld  Lang  Syne." 

Harold  Browne  remained  at  Postford  House  about  a 
year.  The  sweet  spot,  the  tranquillity  of  the  life,  above  all 
the  unpretending  piety  and  high  principle  of  his  tutor  and 
the  tutor's  sister,  affected  him  deeply ;  and  though  later  on 
he  appears  to  have  disliked  the  extreme  Evangelical  party 
in  the  Church  as  much  as  the  Liberal  school  of  thought,  he 
ever  retained  that  higher  sense  of  duty  to  God  and  man, 
that  taste  for  parish  work,  and  those  deep  convictions  as  to 
the  spiritual  nature  of  religion,  which  came  to  him  from 
these  early  surroundings.  It  was  perhaps  not  altogether 
unfortunate  for  him  that  this  year  of  serious  work, 
following  the  happy  idleness  of  Eton,  was  in  its  turn 
followed  by  the  undergraduate  life  at  Cambridge.  The 
"  image  stamped  upon  the  clay  "  was  not  obliterated  or  even 
defaced  ;  it  was  only  covered  up  with  dust.  It  was  also 
good  for  him  that  he  was  not  pushed  on  too  fast ;  for  his 
physical  health  was  still  far  from  good.  Had  he  done 
himself  justice  at  Eton,  staying  there  till  he  had  reached 
the  higher  and  more  bracing  atmosj^here  of  the  sixth  form, 
and  had  then,  at  the  age  of  eighteen  or  nineteen,  passed  on 
to  Cambridge,  he  would  have  had  greater  control  over 
himself,  and  his  University  career  might  have  been  one  of 
the  most  brilliant  of  his  time  ;  his  abilities,  his  singular 


22  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 


versatility  of  powers,  the  tenacity  of  his  memory,  and  his 
admirable  gift  of  being  able  to  set  out  his  knowledge 
clearly  and  with  force,  would  have  secured  him  very  high 
honours.  It  is  certain  that  much  of  his  idleness  was  due 
to  weakness  in  his  young  days ;  one  may  go  further  and 
say  that  for  the  actual  work  of  life  he  might  well  have  had 
a  less  satisfactory  training  than  was  given  him  by  his  self- 
granted  leisure,  his  fine  sense  of  fun  and  humour,  coupled 
as  it  was  with  an  almost  feminine  delicacy  of  character 
and  thoughtful  tenderness  for  others.  Idle  he  was,  never 
frivolous ;  lively  and  merry  with  his  group  of  friends,  never 
tempted  into  excess.  His  influence  among  his  school  and 
college  comrades  was  far  more  widely  spread  and  much  more 
beneficial  than  if  he  had  been  the  recluse,  the  unpractical 
student,  and  had  taxed — it  may  be  had  overtaxed — his 
health  and  powers  in  the  struggle  for  the  prizes  of  the 
undergraduate  life.  Human  souls,  like  fields,  are  often  the 
better  for  lying  fallow. 

Harold  Browne  did  not  himself  think  so ;  he  always 
deplored  the  way  in  which  he  had  missed  his  youthful 
chances.  We  do  not  know  what  led  his  parents  to  fix 
on  Emmanuel  College  at  Cambridge  for  him  ;  it  was  not 
an  altogether  wise  choice.  He  went  up  thither  towards 
the  end  of  the  year  1827,  and  his  name  stands  on  the 
Matriculation  Roll  of  the  University  for  the  13th  of 
November  in  that  year ;  he  is  not  entered  on  the  College 
books  as  a  "  Pensionarius "  till  the  28th  of  the  same 
month.  He  was  then  only  seventeen  years  of  age, — some- 
what younger  than  the  average  freshman,  who  in  those 
days  went  up,  for  the  most  part,  at  eighteen. 

We  have  the  Bishop's  own  description  of  the  College  in 
his  day  : — 

"  Emmanuel,  like  Eton,  was  then  a  very  idle  though 
a   very   gentlemanlike   College.     I    am    ashamed    to    say 


I.]  PARENTAGE  AND  YOUTH,  23 

that,  notwithstanding  all  the  good  impressions  of  Post- 
ford  and  Albury,  the  idle  habits  of  Eton  came  back 
upon  me  at  Cambridge.  Notwithstanding  my  idleness,  I 
had  always  been  very  fond  of  literature  and  of  literary 
society,  and  felt  great  interest  in  mathematics.  My  tutor 
assured  me  I  could  be  Senior  Wrangler  if  I  would  read, 
but  I  could  not  bring  myself  to  read  steadily,  and  cared 
more  to  pull  stroke  of  our  College  boat,  and  to  have  her 
successful  in  the  boat-races,  than  to  take  a  distinguished 
degree.  My  classical  studies  I  utterly  neglected  all 
through  my  undergraduateship.  When  it  was  too  late  I 
bitterly  regretted  the  time  I  had  lost.  I  felt  that  I  might 
have  done  more  if  I  had  worked  .  .  .  and  I  determined  to 
be  a  harder  working  man  for  the  future,  and  by  God*s 
help  I  became  so." 

Happily  for  us,  a  few  of  his  undergraduate  friends  are 
still  living,  and  their  reminiscences  of  Harold  Browne's 
Cambridge  days  help  to  modify  not  a  little  the  self- 
condemning  tone  of  the  Bishop's  words.  We  gather 
clearly  from  them  how  marked  was  the  effect  of  his 
character  on  his  associates ;  how  quietly,  almost  uncon- 
sciously, it  raised  them  to  a  higher  level ;  anything 
mean  or  base  in  act  or  speech  was  often  left  unsaid  or 
undone,  "because  Browne  wouldn't  like  it."  There  is  no 
stronger  influence  on  the  buoyant  boyish  spirits  and 
manners  of  the  average  undergraduate  than  that  of  some 
comrade  who  is  their  equal  or  superior  in  all  College  amuse- 
ments, and  gives  himself  no  airs,  but  is  known  to  set  his 
face  resolutely  and  quietly  against  things  unrefined  and 
coarse.  The  lads  see  in  him  a  sort  of  reflexion  of  the 
home  life, — of  the  kindly,  pure  mother  and  the  graceful 
sisters,  whom  to  shock  would  be  the  act  of  a  brute,  not  of 
a  gentleman.  As  is  also  so  often  the  case  in  undergraduate 
circles,  the  group  around  Harold  Browne  admired  him 
far  more  for  the  unknown  force  of  his  latent  powers,  than 
for  the  qualities  which  saw  the  light ;  he  would  have  been 
less  of  a  hero  had  he  worked  his  best  and  shunned  society 


24  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 


and  won  the  highest  honours.  At  the  University,  where 
all  the  ambitious  lads  look  with  feverish  interest  at  the 
chances  of  the  class  lists,  the  sight  of  a  man  who  **  could 
an  he  would,"  but  would  not,  is  ever  most  attractive.  It 
appeals  to  each  man's  dream-power ;  each  wishing  to  win 
a  noble  place  in  the  lists  without  losing  the  present 
pleasure  of  the  boats,  the  dreamy  pipe,  the  idle  morning 
spent  in  an  idle  friend's  rooms,  the  lazy  stroll,  the  facile 
piano,  the  due  attention  demanded  by  "  the  willow,"  and 
all  the  hundred  charming  ways  in  which  the  cheerful 
undergraduate  wastes  the  swiftly  flying  days  of  his 
University  life.  To  such  men  their  friend  Browne  was 
something  of  a  hero,  the  kind  of  hero  who  did  not  tax 
them  with  too  much  work  or  too  much  self-denial.  He 
seemed  to  those  who  were  only  too  glad  to  be  "  lapped 
in  luxurious  ease"  to  be  their  very  pattern  man,  whose 
manner  of  life  and  apparently  easy  successes  they  might 
emulate.  "  The  best  of  both  worlds,"  the  world  of  pleasure 
and  the  world  of  work,  could  they  but  successfully  com- 
bine the  two, — where  could  such  a  Paradise  be  found  on 
earth  as  within  the  pleasant  limits  of  the  College  walls  ? 

Here  is  a  picture  of  Harold  Browne  among  these 
kindly  flattering  friends  at  Emmanuel,  drawn  by  the  pen 
of  one  of  his  old  comrades  in  boat  and  lecture-room,  the 
Rev.  J.  Sharp  : — 

"  The  Bishop  was  one  of  those  people  who  are  never  very 
demonstrative,  and  whose  influence  for  good  consists  in 
a  quiet,  reverent  calmness  of  mind  and  manner,  which 
appeals  to  what  is  good  in  others,  and  tends  to  soften  their 
asperities.  I  can  recall  with  a  vivid  recollection  our  dear 
friend  sitting  low  in  an  easy  chair,  with  his  long,  thin  legs 
stretched  out  more  than  halfway  across  the  hearthrug, 
calmly  moderating  the  keenness  of  debate,  and  helping 
the  combatants  to  see  some  good  in  each  other.  His  mind 
was  always  a  well-balanced  one;  he  had  thought  things 
out  very  carefully  and  definitely  for  himself,  and  had  very 


I.]  PARENTAGE  AND    YOUTH. 


decided  opinions,  which  he  calmly  and  clearly  expressed. 
Every  one  felt  him  to  be  a  strong  man,  and  his  opinion 
had  weight  with  all,  whether  they  altogether  agreed  with 
him  or  not.  But  above  all,  he  was  what  he  always  was 
throughout  his  life,  a  man  of  moderation  and  peace." 

This  picture  of  the  College  fireside,  with  the  group  of 
lively  lads  around  it,  the  ever  animated  discussion,  the  one- 
sided enthusiasm  of  youth,  with  the  spare  figure  of  Harold 
Browne  as  umpire  and  mediator  in  the  midst,  carries  any 
old  University  man  back  to  days  long  past,  when  there 
was  "  heart-affluence  in  discursive  talk ; "  it  pictures  for 
us  such  a  scene  as  Tennyson  draws  in  his  fine  lines  on 
Arthur  Hallam  in  the  days  of  the  "  Apostles,"  when  after 
wide  debate — 

"  At  last  the  master-bowman,  he 

Would  cleave  the  mark.    A  willing  ear 
We  lent  him.    Who  but  hung  to  hear 
The  rapt  oration  flowing  free 

"  From  point  to  point  with  power  and  grace, 
And  music  in  the  bounds  of  law, 
To  those  conclusions,  when  we  saw 
The  God  within  him  light  his  face." 

— In  Memoriam^  Ixxxii. 

And  the  "  long  thin  legs  stretched  out  more  than  halfway 
across  the  hearthrug "  were  not  unseen  in  later  days ;  for 
the  Bishop  had  a  slow  circulation,  and  loved  to  warm  his 
feet  at  the  fire,  till  it  almost  seemed  as  if  the  light  and 
warmth  tempted  his  limbs  to  grow  still  longer.  In  those 
days,  as  indeed  always,  he  must  have  been  most  excellent 
company  ;  his  courtesy,  his  modesty  and  simplicity  of  soul, 
his  ready  fund  of  anecdote,  the  acuteness  of  his  mental 
vision,  which  caught  the  points  of  any  talk,  his  enviable 
memory  and  faculty  of  orderly  thought, — all  these  things 
made  him  an  admirable  companion.  There  is  a  vivid 
description  of  him  in  the   Emmanuel   life  from   the   pen 


26  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D,  [Ch. 


of  his  most  intimate  friend,  the  friend  who  brought  him 
the  greatest  happiness  of  his  life,  Mr.  Philip  Carlyon,  the 
cousin  of  his  future  wife.  Mr.  Carlyon  can  well  speak 
of  these  College  times,  the  days  of  the  great  Reform 
agitation,  and  the  first  serious  shaking  of  English  society. 
He  was  about  two  years  younger  than  Harold  Browne, 
and  took  his  degree  in  1834,  following  his  friend  as 
Tyrwhitt  Hebrew  Scholar  in  1836  : — 

"  The  charm  which  hung  like  a  halo  round  him  all  his 
life  drew  to  him  a  large  circle  of  friends  at  Cambridge  ; 
but  no  one  during  my  five  years  of  residence  in  College 
saw  so  much  of  him  as  1.  We  regularly  took  our  walks 
together ;  we  pulled  together  in  the  same  boat.  His 
popularity  hindered  him  from  being  a  hard  student,  and 
the  width  of  his  reading  diverted  him  from  due  preparation 
for  his  degree,  so  that  his  place  both  in  the  Mathematical 
and  Classical  Tripos  was  no  index  of  his  powers.  .  .  . 
When  his  name  appeared  so  much  lower  than  it  ought  to 
have  been  among  the  Wranglers,  some  friends  advised  him 
to  go  in  for  the  Classical  Tripos  on  the  strength  of  his 
scholarship,  which  was  known  to  be  good.  Unwillingly 
and  unwisely  he  yielded  to  this  pressure,  and  made  matters 
worse,  having  laid  aside  for  two  years  his  classical  studies  ; 
and  instead  of  improving  his  position,  he  was  rewarded 
with  a  Third  Class  in  Classics.  His  great  talents  were 
nevertheless  well  known  and  appreciated  ;  and  his  general 
learning,  his  deep  theological  reading,  his  talking-power, 
and  his  unfailing  grace  of  manner,  were  sure  to  win  him 
success.  .  .  .  One  of  his  most  intimate  Cambridge  friends 
was  Professor  John  Grote,  brother  of  the  historian,  whom 
I  have  heard  him  call  the  cleverest  man  he  knew :  it  was 
a  treat  to  hear  these  two  champions  take  opposite  sides  in 
an  argument.  Grote  was  massive  and  impetuous,  Browne 
keen  and  polished  ;  and  what  was  said  in  those  days  of 
Professor  Sedgwick  and  Dr.  Graham  of  Christ's  might 
have  been  said  of  them  :  *  It  was  a  duel  between  a  sledge- 
hammer and  a  razor.' 

"  In  society  he  was  always  delightful,  always  a  perfect 
gentleman,  cheerful  and  often  playful,  though  never  losing 
his  dignity.  He  was  the  same  as  an  undergraduate  as  in 
his   after   life.     His   hospitality  was  unbounded,  and  two 


I.]  PARENTAGE  AND  YOUTH,  2J 


such  gatherings  were  probably  never  witnessed  at  Ely  as 
his  reception  of  Archbishop  Lycurgus  of  Syra  and  the 
*  bis-sex-centenary '  celebration  of  Ely  Cathedral. 

"  At  College  his  tall  and  spare  frame  hindered  him  from 
joining  in  most  athletic  sports,  and,  excepting  in  the  boat- 
ing season,  his  out-door  exercise  consisted  almost  entirely 
of  constitutional  walks,  most  frequently  on  the  Madingley 
Road,  where  we  often  met  Airy,  who,  ten  years  his  senior, 
has  now  followed  him  to  his  rest.  Two  seasons  he  was 
stroke  of  the  Emmanuel  boat,  which  long  maintained  a 
high  place,  fourth  or  fifth,  on  the  river.  In  one  race  he 
resigned  his  oar  to  a  former  captain,  and  we  got  bumped  ; 
on  another  occasion  the  third  boat  had  bumped  the  second, 
and  we  chased  the  head  boat  to  the  winning  post,  though 
without  catching  her ;  it  was  a  desperate  effort  on  the 
part  of  a  future  Bishop  of  Ely  and  Winchester  to  overtake 
the  future  Bishop  of  New  Zealand  and  Lichfield  {ix.  Bishop 
G.  A.  Selwyn),  who  was  then  stroke  of  the  first  John's, 
head  of  the  river." 

Many  years  after,  when  Harold  Browne  was  Bishop  of 
Winchester,  he  recalls  these  happy  young  rivalries,  and  his 
letter,  as  a  tribute  to  the  high  qualities  of  Bishop  Selwyn, 
ought  not  to  be  lost : — 

*'  Farnham,  April  x^th,  1878. 

"  The  death  of  Bishop  Selwyn  is  a  great  sorrow  to  me. 
I  remember  him  well  at  Eton,  as  the  noblest  specimen  of 
a  manly  truthful  boy.  At  Cambridge,  as  you  know,  we 
pulled  in  the  races  together,  and  for  a  time  he  and  I  used 
to  meet  in  the  councils  of  stroke  oars.  I  saw  the  last  of 
him  on  his  way  out  to  New  Zealand,  when  he  spent  two 
or  three  days  at  Exeter  in  184 1.  I  have  watched  him 
through  his  grand  career  in  New  Zealand,  and  for  eleven 
years  we  have  been  brother  Bishops  in  England  on  terms 
of  true  brotherly  regard.  He  was  not  free  from  crotchets, 
or  he  would  not  have  been  a  Selwyn ;  but  I  doubt  if 
there  was  a  truer,  braver,  or  more  disinterested  man  in 
Christendom — a  true  hero,  the  greatest  English  missionary 
bishop  since  St.  Boniface.  May  we  meet  him  hereafter 
through  the  grace  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ ! " 

Though  in  his  first  year  Harold  Browne  won  a  College 


28  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D,  [Ch. 


scholarship,  a  prize  given  specially  to  encourage  a  pro- 
mising undergraduate  near  the  outset  of  his  time,  he  failed 
entirely  to  turn  his  mind  to  work.  Facility  and  ability- 
falling  short  of  genius  can  do  most  things,  if  combined  with 
self-control  and  steady  habits  of  reading ;  but  this  was  the 
very  thing  in  which  the  bright  youth  failed.  Quickness 
and  cleverness  without  knowledge  are  sadly  ineffective 
when  a  man  is  set  down  before  a  stiff  Mathematical  paper, 
as  Harold  Browne  found  to  his  sorrow  when  the  Tripos 
List  was  issued  and  he  saw  his  name  low  down  among  the 
Wranglers,  in  the  twenty-fourth  place.  He  proceeded  to 
the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts  on  January  13th,  1832. 

Throughout  his  life   Harold   Browne  had    an   amiable 
weakness  for  deferring  to  the  advice  of  his  friends ;  and 
when   the    Mathematical    List   was    out,   he    showed    an 
unlucky  distrust   in  his  own  better  judgment,  and   tried 
another  tilt  with  the   Examiners.     The   years  of  neglect 
had   played   more   havoc  with  his    languages   than  with 
his   figures;   after  a  short  and  sharp   burst   of  work,  he 
found  himself  in  the  Third  Class  of  the  Classical  Tripos, 
a  petty  distinction,  which,  but  for  the  good  stuff  in  him, 
would  have  stamped  him  with  the  fatal  brand  of  mediocrity. 
Instead  of  this,  the  failure  seems  to  have  stung  him  into 
a  new  energy,  as   a  keen  cold  bath  brings  tingling  life 
into  languid  and  sleepy  limbs ;  and  he  set  himself  with 
all   his   heart   to    repair    the    mischief   done.      After    his 
degree,  which  he  took  just  before  his  twenty-first  birth- 
day,   he    went    vigorously    to    work,    turning    his    whole 
attention  to  the  study  of  Theology  and  of  the  languages 
auxiliary  to  it 

Happily  for  himself  and  the  English  Church,  Harold 
Browne  was  not  hampered  by  lack  of  means ;  .  for  his 
parents,  possessed  of  a  comfortable  property,  were  only  too 
glad  to  give  him  another  chance  of  winning  University 


I.]  PARENTAGE  AND   YOUTH.  29 

distinctions  ;  and  the  young  man  himself  was  now  eager  to 
do  something  which  might  help  towards  his  own  support. 
He  therefore,  with  the  very  best  results,  stayed  on  at 
Cambridge,  as  a  diligent  and  exemplary  student.  He  soon 
proved  that  his  companions'  estimate  of  him  was  well- 
founded.  He  worked  hard  at  Divinity,  and  especially,  with 
marked  success,  applied  himself  to  the  study  of  the  Hebrew 
language,  which  he  and  his  friend  Carlyon  read  diligently 
under  the  care  and  tuition  of  old  Mr.  Barnard,  then  teacher 
of  Hebrew  in  the  University.  His  natural  gifts  and  quick- 
ness, now  that  they  had  a  congenial  subject,  enabled  him 
to  make  rapid  progress.  And  this  was  tested  before  very 
long.  In  the  following  year,  1833,  the  Crosse  Theological 
Scholarships  were  thrown  open  to  competition  among 
Bachelors,  and  Harold  Browne  won  one  of  them.  Next 
year  his  linguistic  studies  came  into  play;  we  find  him 
gazetted  first  Tyrwhitt  Hebrew  Scholar  for  the  year  1834, 
after  having  been  "  complimented  by  his  Examiners  for  his 
accurate  and  extensive  knowledge  of  the  Hebrew  tongue." 
And  lastly,  before  the  end  of  1835  he  gained  the  Norrisian 
Prize  Essay  Medal.  This  excellent  essay  was  printed.  In 
a  note  to  his  mother  the  young  essayist,  with  a  touch  of 
pardonable  pride,  relates  how — 

"**the  Master  of  Trinity  sent  for  me  to  compliment  me  on 
the  unusual  excellence  of  my  prize  essay,  and  regretted 
that  the  prize  was  so  inadequate  to  its  merits.  He  also 
gave  me  sundry  hints  about  the  Hulsean  lecture  and 
Christian  Advocateship,  which,  as  he  is  one  of  the  Electors, 
is  rather  satisfactory.  The  former  is  worth  three  hundred 
a  year,  but  is  only  an  annual  office ;  they  are  both  very 
high  honours.  I  got  through  my  Latin  speech  with  less 
trouble  and  nervousness  than  I  had  anticipated."  (January 
31st,  1836.) 

Thus  Harold  Browne  to  some  extent  repaired  the  failure 
of  his  Tripos  places,  shewed  that  he  was   making  rapid 


30  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 


and  brilliant  advance  in  theological  study,  and  laid  solid 
foundations  for  the  high  reputation  he  afterwards  justly 
enjoyed  as  one  of  the  earliest  and  most  trusted  members 
of  the  now  rising  Cambridge  School  of  Divinity. 

During  these  years,  as  Harold  Browne  tells  us  in  a  letter 
to  Mr.  Carlyon,  he  took  each  Long  Vacation  some  pupils 
for  a  reading  party,  and  seems  to  have  thoroughly  enjoyed 
these  summer  work-holidays.  They  are  an  institution 
which  fits  in  singularly  well  with  the  tastes  and  habits 
of  young  Englishmen :  the  memory  of  these  fascinating 
outings  lingers  long  and  fondly  in  the  hearts  of  all 
who  have  been  so  fortunate  as  to  share  in  them.  "  In 
1832,"  says  the  Bishop,  "we  were  in  Wales;  in  1833 
at  Inveraray;  in  1834  at  Ilfracombe ;  and  in  1835  at 
Heidelberg,  and  afterwards  in  Switzerland."  As  a  rule 
a  reading  party  is  small,  the  numbers  not  exceeding  five 
or  six  ;  but  so  popular  was  Harold  Browne  that  his  second 
group,  that  which  went  to  the  Highlands,  was  made  up  of 
a  round  dozen,  eleven  pupils  and  their  tall  young  tutor. 

The  first  party,  which  went  to  North  Wales  in  1832, 
settled  down  first  at  Pwlheli,  and  then  moved  to  Maentwrog. 
On  the  subject  of  this  party  there  exists  a  letter,  written 
four  years  after  by  Professor  John  Grote,  the  metaphysician, 
who  was  one  of  the  little  company ;  it  is  worthy  of  being 
quoted  because  it  shows  what  esteem  and  affection  for 
Harold  Browne  filled  the  hearts  of  all  who  were  brought 
under  his  influence.  The  letter  is  dated  only  "  Sept.  4 "  ; 
but  as  it  was  written  on  one  of  those  quarto  sheets  on 
which,  in  the  quiet  days  before  envelopes  and  postage 
stamps,  laborious  letters  used  to  be  sent,  we  have  the  date 
on  the  postmark  on  the  back  of  it, — 1836. 

"  My  dear  Browne, — I  think  your  heart  seems  warmed 
at  the  idea  of  Maentwrog  and  Moelwyn,  and  that  your 
legs  must  already  be  feeling  an  inclination  to  move  in  that 


L]  PARENTAGE  AND  YOUTH.  3 1 


direction.  I  hope  you  will  write  again,  and  go  over  some 
more  recollections  in  your  letter;  for  I  think  one  of  the 
chief  effects  of  it  will  be  to  make  you  desire  still  more  to 
see  the  old  places  again,  and  that  is  what  I  want  you 
to  do. ...  I  do  not  think  you  need  be  afraid  of  the  dissolu- 
tion of  the  fairy  charm,  the  impression  will  be  the  better 
for  a  little  refreshing, — and  the  charm  will  be  increased 
by  the  association  in  the  same  scenes  of  your  feelings  in 
1832  and  1836.  It  is  only  when  one  fancies,  from  Sir 
Walter  Scotfs  novels  or  such,  some  fine  castle  or  mountain, 
which  on  inspection  may  turn  out  to  be  a  poor  hovel  or 
hill,  that  one  had  better  stay  at  home  and  confine  oneself 
to  one's  idea  of  it.  I  am  myself  very  curious  to  know  what 
I  shall  think  of  the  mountains  and  valleys  now,  which  then, 
being  the  first  I  had  ever  seen,  impressed  me  more  than 
any  others  have  since.  You,  I  think,  were  better  pleased 
with  them  than  with  Scotland,  or  else  you  were  then  in 
a  better  humour  with  external  nature.  And  then  the 
climate  is  such  an  important  feature  in  the  landscape,  that 
a  place  where  it  is  always  raining,  like  Inveraray,  must 
look  horrid.  To  be  sure,  it  did  rain  in  Wales — as  on  that 
agreeable  day  when  we  of  Dolgelly  started  for  the  week's 
tour,  and  soon  got  weatherbound  at  Trawsfynydd,  till  you 
helped  us  on  with  a  vehicle.  But  then  what  a  glorious 
walk  the  next  morning  up  the  Vale  of  Festiniog,  and 
thence  from  Maentwrog  to  Beddgelert !  Such  a  day  might 
well  make  up  [for]  a  hundred  of  wet.  Then  you  know 
we  shall  just  be  in  Wales  at  the  time  of  year  we  were 
travelling  about  on  our  way  out  of  it  last  time — and  the 
leaves  will  look  so  beautiful  and  the  air  so  clear.  Do  you 
not  remember  the  day  we  left  Dolgelley  in  the  car,  and 
the  walk  next  day  to  Llangollen,  and  church  at  Wrexham 
in  the  evening  ?  Somehow  or  other,  all  our  most  interesting 
walks  were  on  the  Sundays.  Well,  I  do  not  think  we  could 
have  spent  them  better,  whatever  we  shall  have  to  say 
when  we  are  in  the  pulpit;  and  the  next  best  way  of 
spending  them  is  writing  these  remembrances,  which  I 
hope  may  have  the  effect  of  keeping  in  a  ferment  your 
Welsh  ideas.  I  am  off  from  here  probably  on  Monday, 
October  3rd,  vid  Birmingham  or  Oxford  ;  consequently  not 
very  far  from  you "  [Browne  was  then  at  Morton  House, 
Buckingham].  "  I  would  come  and  see  you,  but  considering 
Mrs.  Browne's  health,  if  she  is  not  better  it  will  not  be 
pleasant  to  you,  and  if  she  is  (which  for  everybody's  sake 


32  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D,  [Ch. 


I  hope  may  be)  you  will  meet  me  at  Northampton  or 
Buckingham,  or  where  you  like,  and  we  will  be  off  together 
for  the  mountains.  Never  mind  Carlyon — make  him  go  too. 
Not  that  I  mean  seriously,  do  not  mind  your  old  friend, 
and  him  Philip  Carlyon  ;  only  by  all  means  come  to  Wales, 
if  you  can,  and  we  will  attack  the  Principality  at  any 
point  you  like,  N.  or  S. — anywhere.  Do  not  be  alarmed 
for  fear  I  should  bring  a  Fellowship  with  me— no  danger  : 
four  vacant,  but  I  have  been  so  idle  ;  in  fact  I  cannot  nail 
myself  down,  etc.,  etc.,  and  my  fine  mind  (oh  the  flattery 
of  letters !  People  shouldn't  say  in  a  letter  what  they  would 
not  to  a  man's  face — I  never  said  such  a  thing  in  mine 
to  you,  though  with  so  much  more  reason)  is  too  fine  to  fix 
to  anything. 

•  «  •  •  •  • 

"  As  you  will  not  cross  your  own  writing  I  presume  you 
will  not  like  to  read  mine  crossed,  so  hoping  to  hear  from 
you  soon,  I  remain,  my  dear  Browne, 

"  Your  affectionate  friend, 

"  J.  Grote." 

The  second  reading  party  took  place  the  following  year, 
1833,  and  led  Harold  Browne  to  the  Highlands  of  Scot- 
land, where  at  Inveraray,  side  by  side  with  many  of  his 
dearest  friends,  he  stayed  a  while,  in  charge  of  a  most 
interesting  single  pupil,  Matthew  Hale,  who  afterwards 
became  the  first  Bishop  of  Perth  in  Western  Australia. 
At  Inveraray  there  was  a  large  and  lively  Cambridge 
party,  eleven  strong,  among  whom  were  J.  Grote,  Philip 
Carlyon,  Joseph  Buckley,  and  other  friends.  One  record 
of  their  doings  survives.  Some  of  the  company,  joined 
by  Harold  Browne,  essayed  one  day  the  ascent  of  Ben 
Cruachan. 

"  After  gaining  a  considerable  height  up  the  mountain 
side,"  says  Mr.  Carlyon,  "they  found  themselves  caught 
in  impenetrable  mist,  and  had  to  abandon  the  attempt, 
and  turned  back.  Judging  that  a  stream  must  eventually 
reach  the  bottom  of  the  mountain,  they  followed  one  for 
some  time,  till  as  it  grew  steeper  and  steeper  Philip  Carlyon, 


\ 


I.]  PARENTAGE  AND   YOUTH.  33 


who  was  the  slightest  and  lightest  of  the  party,  was  sent 
forward  to  reconnoitre.  Presently  he  came  to  the  head  of 
a  waterfall,  the  lower  part  of  which  was  hidden  by  the 
rocks.  To  get  a  view,  regardless  of  the  prudent  proverb, 
he  leapt  before  he  looked,  and  dropping  down  some  feet, 
alighted  on  a  hog-backed  slippery  rock  ;  and  then  found 
to  his  dismay  that  he  could  neither  get  down  nor  climb 
up  again.  At  last  his  friends  came  up,  and  found  him 
crouching,  looking  quite  scared,  against  the  face  of  the 
cliff.  A  stunted  oak  tree  overhung  the  chasm,  at  a  few 
feet*s  distance ;  but  it  was  too  far,  or  rather  too  serious  a 
risk,  for  him  to  jump  at  it  from  the  insecure  footing  of 
a  damp  and  rounded  rock.  So  the  friends  held  grave 
consultation  over  his  head  ;  they  felt  he  had  not  nerve 
enough  to  hold  out  till  one  of  the  party  made  his  way  to 
the  village  far  below,  and  hastened  back  with  a  rope, — tiiey 
were  not  prepared  to  tear  up  and  splice  their  shirts.  At 
last  they  hit  on  an  expedient.  The  oak  bending  over  the 
chasm  was  somewhat  above  the  point  on  which  Carlyon 
was  standing  ;  the  heaviest  of  the  party  was  directed  to 
climb  into  the  tree  and  to  get  on  one  of  the  branches  which 
overhung  the  spot,  and  to  bend  it  down  with  his  weight, 
till  it  came  within  Carlyon's  reach.  Meanwhile  Browne, 
as  the  tallest  man  of  the  party,  had  to  catch  hold  of  his 
friend  in  the  tree  by  the  legs,  so  as  to  prevent  his  being 
dislodged  by  the  strain  when  the  lad  in  peril  made  his 
jump.  The  jump  was  safely  made  ;  Carlyon  caught  hold 
of  both  man  and  bough,  and  was  hoisted  up  in  triumph 
and  safely  brought  to  bank."  "  On  another  occasion,"  says 
Carlyon,  "  we  risked  our  lives  by  persuading  the  ferryman 
to  take  us  over  to  Inveraray  in  a  storm.  Midway  we  were 
shipping  seas,  and  could  not  tack  ;  crowds  on  the  quays 
were  watching  our  peril." 

The  memory  of  these  days  remained  fresh  in  the  mind 
of  Harold  Browne  all  his  life,  not  so  much  because  of  the 
teaching  work  he  had  to  do,  but  because  of  his  strong 
pleasure  in  the  converse  of  intelligent  companions,  and  per- 
haps even  more  because  of  his  love  for  the  glories  of  nature. 
He  was  well-nigh  a  worshipper  of  mountain  scenery. 

"  I  remember  to  this  day," — we  again  are  quoting  Mr. 
Carlyon, — "the  intense  and   almost  choking  delight,   ex- 

3 


34  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch- 

pressed  by  a  gasp,  that  seized  him  on  his  first  sight  of 
Loch  Awe  and  Ben  Cruachan.  Another  scene  that  took 
possession  of  him  was  the  glory  of  a  brilliant  aurora 
borealis,  that  suddenly  gleamed  over  Ben  Cruachan  at 
midnight,  when  we  were  benighted  on  the  Loch,  and  had 
failed  to  find  our  landing-place." 

There  seems  to  have  been  (though  no  account  of  it 
remains)  another  reading  party  in  1834,  which  was 
established  at  that  bright  Devonshire  watering-place, 
Ilfracombe. 

Next  Long  Vacation  he  went  abroad,  and  Philip  Carlyon 
with  him.  There  is  a  brief  reference  to  it  in  Mr.  Carlyon's 
hand : — 

"In  summer  1835  we  spent  three  months  together  on 
the  Rhine,  journeying  home  through  Switzerland.  An 
attack  of  typhoid  at  Heidelberg  so  prostrated  him  that 
the  world  came  nigh  being  the  poorer.  The  effect  of  this 
illness  weakened  him  for  years.  ...  I  can  only  sum  up 
these  notes  with  my  own  experience  that  the  secret  of 
his  power  was  Love.  He  was  a  most  loving  and  lovable 
man  ;  and  nobody  could  have  fully  appreciated  him  unless 
they  had  seen  him  at  home  amidst  his  family  and  servants, 
by  kindly  love  setting  an  example  of  a  perfect  Christian 
life.  And  now  to  everyone  who  knew  him  well  his  memory 
must  be 

"  •  Dear  as  the  holy  sorrow, 

When  good  men  cease  to  live.*"* 

In  the  course  of  the  following  spring,  Harold  Browne 
appears  to  have  thought  seriously  about  standing  for  one 
of  the  Fellowships  which  in  those  days  were  open  at 
two  or  three  Oxford  Colleges  to  graduates  of  either 
University  ;  and  he  went  so  far  as  to  set  himself  to  collect 
testimonials  for  the  purpose.  His  aim  is  shown  by  a  very 
kind  letter  from  Dr.  Samuel  Lee,  then  Regius  Professor  of 
Hebrew  at  Cambridge,  which  accompanied  a  testimonial 
with  date  of  November  12th,  1835. 

*  Keble,  "  Christian  Year,"  27th  Sunday  after  Trinity. 


I.]  PARENTAGE  AND   YOUTH.  35 

"  As  to  advice,"  he  writes,  "  I  know  not  what  to  say. 
A  Fellowship  at  Oxford  is,  beyond  all  doubt,  better  than 
mere  expectations  at  Cambridge,  which,  after  all,  may 
never  be  worth  much  when  realised.  The  Fellowships  at 
Magdalen  aie,  I  believe,  good.  Certainly  the  College  is  a 
large  one,  and  on  that  account  worth  trying  for.  At 
Oxford  your  Hebrew  will  tell  much  better  than  at 
Cambridge,  as  will  also  your  theology.  It  is  a  great  pity 
that  Colleges  generally  do  not  break  down  that  foolish 
consideration  of  county  preference.  On  the  present 
occasion  Emmanuel  will  have  more  reason,  I  believe,  to 
r^ret  your  loss,  than  you  will  in  migrating  to  Oxford." 

This  allusion  to  "  county  preference "  arose  out  of  the 
fact  that  at  Emmanuel  there  was  but  one  Buckinghamshire 
Fellowship,  and  no  second  Buckinghamshire  man  could 
become  a  Fellow  there  so  long  as  it  was  occupied  ;  so  that 
Harold  Browne's  prospects  in  that  direction  were  blocked. 
How  far  the  Oxford  venture  was  prosecuted  we  do  not 
know ;  he  certainly  was  never  elected  at  Magdalen ;  nor 
are  we  anywhere  told  that  he  went  up  to  the  sister 
University  to  push  his  candidature.  It  would  be  idle  to 
speculate  on  what  might  have  followed  had  he  been 
thrown  into  the  very  heart  of  the  young  Oxford  Movement, 
with  his  theological  knowledge,  his  deep  respect  for 
primitive  antiquity,  and  his  habit  of  forming  a  careful 
judgment  and  adhering  to  it  tenaciously.  Whatever 
might  have  been  the  result,  it  is  certain  that  his  direct 
intervention  in  the  movement  would  have  had  a  calming 
and  steadying  influence  on  the  development  of  events. 
It  might  have  fallen  to  him  to  be  the  means  of  restoring 
confidence  and  a  clear  direction  to  the  party  after  the 
heavy  blows  it  received  from  the  secession  of  Newman 
and  others  of  the  leaders. 

The  severe  shaking  which  the  Heidelberg  drain-fever 
inflicted  on  Harold  Browne's  constitutioh  appears  to  have 
disinclined  him  for  any   more    ventures   in    the  way  of 


36  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

reading  parties  ;  there  were  no  more  of  them  for  him  after 
1835.  There  were  also  other  reasons  for  their  discon- 
tinuance ;  after  putting  on  his  M.A.  gown,  on  April  3rd, 
1835,  he  found  plenty  of  work  at  home.  For  in  the  spring 
of  1836  his  father  died  ;  and  his  mother,  who  had  been 
ailing  some  time,  fell  into  health  so  weak  that  he  was 
unwilling  to  be  far  from  one  for  whom  he  ever  cherished 
the  warmest  and  most  filial  affection.  Indeed,  Mrs. 
Browne  needed  all  the  care  and  time  he  could  give  ;  her 
health  steadily  grew  worse,  until  before  the  end  of  the  year 
she  passed  away  in  stedfast  hope  and  confidence,  and  the 
peace  of  a  firm  and  simple  faith.  Her  death,  coming  so 
soon  after  that  of  Colonel  Browne,  was  a  terrible  blow  to 
her  tender-hearted  and  affectionate  son.  To  the  end  of 
his  life  he  spoke  of  his  mother  with  deep  reverence  and 
love  :  his  aflTection  for  her  was,  as  it  deserved  to  be,  one 
of  the  very  strongest  influences  of  his  life.  When  both 
parents  were  thus  taken  away  in  1836,  the  home  of  so 
many  sweet  memories  at  Morton  was  inevitably  broken 
up.  The  eldest  son,  who  had  been  invalided  home  from 
Burmah,  established  himself  with  his  two  sisters  in  a 
pretty  old  house,  Rushden  Hall,  near  Higham  Ferrers  in 
Northants.  Here  they  lived  very  comfortably  for  about 
nine  years,  after  which  time,  their  means  having  become 
more  straitened,  the  house  was  given  up,  and  the  two 
sisters  found  hearty  welcome  under  the  hospitable  roof 
of  their  brother,  then  Vice- Principal  of  Lampeter.  From 
that  moment  to  the  time  of  their  deaths  the  two  sisters 
always  had  a  place  at  their  brother's  fireside,  and  followed 
him  faithfully  and  lovingly  from  point  to  point  of  his 
distinguished  career. 

The  year  1836  marked  Harold  Browne's  more  definite 
entry  into  the  public  life  of  his  University.  Hitherto  he 
had  done  some  little  work   for  his  College,  Emmanuel  ; 


I.]  PARENTAGE  AND   YOUTH.  37 

now,  as  a  young  Master  of  Arts,  he  had  become  eligible 
for  more  responsible  posts,  and  was  invited  to  enter  on 
more  important  fields  of  work.  Thus,  he  was  invited  this 
year  to  become  tutor  and,  if  he  took  Orders,  Chaplain,  of 
Downing  College ;  and  at  almost  the  same  moment  Dr. 
Archdall,  Master  of  Emmanuel,  asked  him  to  undertake 
the  Sadlerian  Lecturership,  a  College  office  with  no  higher 
duties  than  the  instruction  of  the  Second  Year's  men  in 
Algebra  and  the  Freshmen  in  Euclid ;  he  also  undertook 
the  College  Greek  Testament  Lectures. 

These  lectures  were  easily  combined  with  his  light  work 
at  Downing  College.  He  had  to  move  thither  in  the  autumn 
of  1836;  and  the  undergraduates,  contrary  to  the  custom 
of  Colleges,  which  as  a  rule  wisely  discourages  testimonials 
to  tutors  on  their  departure,  presented  Harold  Browne 
with  a  fine  copy  of  St  Augustine  s  works,  as  a  mark  of  the 
beneficent  influence  he  had  already  begun  to  exert  on  all 
who  came  under  his  teaching. 

He  was  probably  glad  to  retain  some  hold  on  his 
own  College  when  he  adventured  himself  so  far  out  of 
the  University  world  as  to  the  precincts  of  Downing.  For 
that  College  then  had,  and  has  always  had,  an  odd  exist- 
ence peculiar  to  itself  and  apart  from  the  rest  of  the 
University.  There  it  stands  aloof,  with  buildings  rather 
like  a  rambling  country-house  than  a  college,  resting 
placidly  in  green  and  level  meads,  which  recall  to  mind 
some  gentleman's  park,  far  from  towns  and  noise  and 
intellectual  strife.  Here  it  seemed  to  slumber  peacefully, 
untouched  by  the  growing  turmoil  of  the  town,  and  care- 
less of  University  excitements  and  struggles,  the  temporary 
home  and  refuge  of  a  few  men  who,  for  one  reason  or 
another,  had  passed  the  usual  undergraduate  time  of  life, 
and  were  constantly  a  continual  source  of  wonder  and 
amusement  to  the  intolerant  youth  of  twenty  years,  who 


.^ 


38  EDIVARD  HAROLD  BROIVNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

seem  to  regard  a  young  man  of  thirty  as  a  grey-beard,  and 
are,  consciousl}^  or  unconsciously,  unsympathetic  and  even 
insolent  towards  him.  Not  a  few  were  the  gibes  and  jokes 
attempted  by  the  undergraduate  world  when  Harold 
Browne,  tall  and  thin  as  a  lath,  entered  on  his  untried 
duties  at  Downing.  The  men  there  all  appear  to  have  been 
his  seniors,  some  being  married ;  and  he,  with  his  youthful 
looks,  seemed  like  a  boy  among  them  :  they  declared 
that  he  was  fulfilling  the  scripture,  that  "  a  little  child  shall 
lead  them."  And  there  was  truth  in  it ;  Harold  Browne's 
accurate  knowledge,  his  beautiful  courtesy  and  instinctive 
power  of  bearing  himself  so  as  to  command  attention  and 
respect,  at  once  won  the  esteem  of  his  odd  flock,  and  he 
gained  without  difficulty  their  confidence  and  affection. 

At  this  time  we  get  another  example  of  the  difficulties 
to  which  his  boyish  appearance  exposed  him.  In  the 
summer  of  1836  he  was  selected  to  examine  the  upper 
forms  at  Rugby ;  and  went  thither  to  Dr.  Arnold's  house 
to  cany  out  his  engagement.  No  sooner  was  the  examina- 
tion over  than  one  of  those  stories  which  are  the  joy  of  the 
undergraduate  mind  began  to  circulate  in  Cambridge.  It 
was  said  that  immediately  on  his  arrival  at  the  School- 
house  he  was  shown  up  into  the  Headmaster's  Library, 
where  his  brother  examiner,  Mr.  Claughton,  was  already 
established.  He  and  Claughton  had  never  met;  and  the 
latter  looking  up  from  his  book,  beheld  a  tall  stripling 
somewhat  bashfully  entering  the  room  ;  he  at  once  jumped 
to  the  conclusion  that  this  was  a  sixth  form  boy,  quietly 
ordered  him  to  sit  down  at  the  table,  and  handed  him  an 
examination  paper.  In  vain  did  Harold  Browne  protest, 
the  inexorable  Oxonian  would  not  be  induced  to  loosen 
his  grasp  until  Dr.  Arnold  had  been  sent  for  to  vouch  for 
the  truth  of  his  declaration  that  he  was  not  a  victim  but 
a  brother  examiner.     This  tale  long  ran  current  at  .both 


I.]  PARENTAGE  AND   YOUTH,  39 

Universities ;  and  after  the  Bishop  had  been  translated  to 
Winchester,  Dr.  Millard,  Vicar  of  Basingstoke,  reminded 
him  of  the  story  and  asked  him  whether  there  was  any 
truth  in  it.     In  reply  the  Bishop  said  : — 

"The  story  is  nearly  true.  It  was  in  1836;  I  was  a 
young  M.A.,  young  of  my  standing"  [he  was  not  yet 
twenty-five]  "  and  younger  in  my  looks.  Claughton  and  I 
met,  dressed  for  dinner  in  Arnold's  drawing-room  before 
any  one  else  was  downstairs,  I  think,  and  we  talked  to  one 
another.  He  took  me  for  a  sixth  form  boy,  invited  me 
to  dine  on  the  first  day  with  the  examiners,  and  talked 
kindly  to  me,  as  to  one  who  needed  patronage  and 
encouragement.  He  did  not  give  me  a  paper  of  questions, 
as  it  was  not  then  the  time  of  questions.  He  was  much 
amused  when  he  found  that  I  was  his  brother-examiner. 
He  has  often  referred  to  it  since  we  have  iJeen  brother 
bishops.  We  vowed  eternal  friendship  there..  I  hope  it 
will  prove  eternal  indeed!" 

The  little  tale  is  a  charming  picture  of  the  man :  one 
can  see  that  no  one  could  resist  the  unaffected  kindliness 
which  showed  through  every  word  and  act  of  his  life  ;  his 
fellow-examiner  discovered  quickly  enough  that  under  the 
boyish  and  modest  exterior  there  was  a  sterling  and  trust- 
worthy comrade,  whose  only  desire  was  to  do  justice,  and, 
if  possible,  gracious  justice,  to  all  whom  he  had  to  examine 
and  judge.  His  sound  scholarship  and  accurate  memory, 
his  courtesy  and  conscientiousness,  made  him  an  admirable 
examiner ;  though  he  might  sometimes  have  been  almost 
too  forbearing,  remembering  his  own  former  idleness.  For 
he  never  could  be  severe  in  judgment ;  if  he  could  not 
speak  well  of  a  man,  he  kept  silence  instead  of  condemn- 
ing.    I  never  heard  him  say  an  unkind  word  of  any  one. 

There  is  still  living  an  old  pensioner  of  Emmanuel, 
Mr.  Charles  Mortlock,  who  was  "Gyp*s  boy"  in  the 
College  when  Harold  Browne  was  there  ;  he  can  still  call 
to  mind  how  in  1836  he  carried  the  young  tutor's  house- 


40  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch.  I- 

hold  goods  across  from  Emmanuel  to  Downing,  and 
established  him  in  his  new  quarters.  He  also  remembers 
that  Mr.  Browne  used  to  be  called  Mr.  Brown-e,  as  a 
dissyllable,  to  distinguish  him  from  sundry  other  Mr. 
Browns  in  the  College  and  University.  Mortlock  was 
very  emphatic  when  asked  about  his  master's  ways  ;  his 
face  quite  lighted  up  as  he  said,  "  Yes,  he  was  always  very 
generous  to  everyone  ;  I  can  well  remember  that  if  I,  as 
his  Gyp's  boy,  had  done  him  any  little  bit  of  service, 
there  was  always  a  piece  of  cake  or  an  apple  or  summat 
for  me."  Mortlock  also  stated  that  when  Mr.  Browne  left 
Downing  the  undergraduates  presented  him  with  a  hand- 
some piece  of  plate  as  a  token  of  their  gratitude  and 
regard  ;  thoUgh  it  is  not  unlikely  that  the  old  man  was 
thinking  of  something  of  the  kind  rather  later  in  his 
career.  "  He  always  treated  everyone  alike,"  he  added, 
'*  and  was  a  real  gentleman ;  he  was  still  delicate  in  the 
chest  in  those  days,  and  always  wore  flannel ; "  and  as  a 
last  little  reminiscence  he  informed  me  that  Mr.  Browne 
and  Mr.  Edge  used  to  take  their  daily  walk  together  along 
the  Trumpington  Road.  Mr.  Edge,  who  is  still  living, 
took  his  degree  from  Emmanuel  College  two  years  later 
than  Harold  Browne,  and  was  one  of  his  most  intimate 
and  lifelong  friends.  He  has  furnished  one  or  two 
touches,  which  bear  on  this  period  of  Harold  Browne's 
life. 

*'  We  were  very  intimate,"  he  says,  "  at  College ;  so  much 
so  that  he  gave  up  rooms  in  a  distant  part  of  the  College, 
and  took  rooms  in  my  staircase,  opposite  to  mine,  that  he 
might  be  close  to  me.  So  again,  in  our  *  Squire'  days," 
\i.e.y  while  yet  unordained]  "we  were  fast  and  furious 
correspondents,  and  I  had  at  one  time  literally  carpet 
bags  full  of  his  letters  to  me," — letters,  I  fear,  all  lost  or 
destroyed. 


CHAPTER   II. 

HOLY  ORDERS  AND  PARISH  WORK. 

FOR  some  years  past  Harold  Browne's  mind  had  been 
turning  more  and  more  towards  Holy  Orders.  The 
general  seriousness  of  his  disposition,  his  facility  as  a 
linguist,  and  the  clear  definiteness  of  intellect,  found 
plentiful  scope  for  their  exercise  amid  the  intricate 
problems  of  dogmatic  theology.  Few  young  men,  per- 
haps, have  been  better  fitted  by  character,  capacity,  and 
training  for  clerical  life ;  yet  it  is  strange  to  see  what 
difficulties,  many  and  vexatious,  he  had  to  surmount  before 
he  could  even  win  his  way  to  a  bishop's  examination  table. 
In  1834,  when  he  was  but  just  of  age  for  Deacon's  Orders, 
he  applied  to  Dr.  Sparke,  Bishop  of  Ely,  and  received  in 
reply  a  formal  letter  to  the  effect  that  a  University  scholar- 
ship could  not  be  taken  as  a  title  for  Orders ;  but  that 
if  he  were  to  become  Fellow  of  his  College,  or  should 
wish  to  act  as  a  curate  within  the  diocese,  all  preliminary 
difficulties  would  disappear.  Soon  after  he  made  another 
attempt  on  the  Bishop,  offering  himself  this  time  not  as 
University  scholar,  but  as  Subtutor  to  his  College.  Again 
he  received  an  unfavourable  reply ;  the  Bishop  cannot 
entertain  such  an  application  unless  Mr.  Browne  can  show 
him  that  the  College  statutes  require  the  Subtutor  to  be 
in  Orders.  After  these  rebuffs,  Harold  Browne  appears  to 
have  desisted  for  a  time;  it  was  not  till  April  1836  that 

41 


42  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

we  find  him  again  making  application  to  a  bishop.  He 
then  wrote  to  Dr.  Kaye,  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  from  Morton 
House,  Buckingham,  offering  himself  as  a  candidate  for 
Orders.  He  had  no  claim  whatever  on  the  consideration 
of  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  beyond  the  fact  that  he  was 
living  at  Buckingham,  which  was  in  the  ancient  diocese  of 
Lincoln.  He  did  not  suggest  that  he  would  take  work  as 
a  curate  in  that  diocese.  A  letter  from  his  mother  throws 
some  light  on  it  Writing  on  the  8th  of  March,  1836,  she 
speaks  of  her  son's  birthday,  and  says  it  was  the  anni- 
versary of  "  that  day  that  blessed  me  with  one  of  the  best 
and  dearest  sons  that  mother  ever  possessed.  .  .  .  May 
you,  my  beloved,"  she  continues,  "have  a  happy  and 
prosperous  year,  and  be  blessed  with  an  increase  of  health 
and  strength  to  enjoy  every  blessing  the  Almighty  may  be 
pleased  of  His  great  goodness  to  bestow  upon  you.  A 
good  son  maketh  a  glad  father — how  happy  and  grateful 
ought  I  to  be  who  am  blessed  with  five  good  and  affec- 
tionate children."  Then  she  suggests  that  he  should  apply 
for  ordination  to  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln  :  "  I  shall  be  very 
glad  if  that  can  be  accomplished,  for  I  think  it  will  be 
a  comfort  to  my  dear  son  on  many  accounts." 

The  Bishop's  reply  says  simply  and  curtly  that  it  is 
impossible ;  that  he  does  not  accept  Fellowships  as  titles, 
except  in  the  case  of  Fellows  of  King's,  "  that  College  being 
a  portion  of  the  diocese  of  Lincoln." 

As,  however,  Harold  Browne's  duties  at  Downing  were 
supposed  to  be  coupled  with  the  Chaplaincy  to  the  College, 
it  became  necessary  once  more  to  try  the  Bishop  of  Ely. 
And  here  he  met  with  a  fourth  rebuff.  The  Bishop  replies 
that  he  doubts  whether  the  Chaplaincy  is  a  permanent 
office  ;  at  any  rate  iie  can  hardly  believe  that  it  is  per- 
manent enough  to  serve  as  a  Title  for  Orders,  and  moreover 
he  adds  that  he  is  not  prepared  (even  supposing  that  it  is 


ll.l  HOLY  ORDERS  AND  PARISH  WORK,  43 

a  Title)  to  accept  any  man  as  a  candidate  for  Orders,  unless 
the  post  he  proposed  to  fill  carries  with  it  a  stipend  of  at 
least  £7$  a  year.  This  was  very  disappointing :  to  many 
it  would  have  seemed  as  if  the  hand  of  Providence  were 
pointing  in  some  other  direction,  and  indicating  that  the 
aspirant  was  a  man  not  fitted  for  Holy  Orders.  Heirold 
Browne  had  happily  a  wholesome  dash  of  obstinacy,  and 
persevered.  On  the  7th  of  September,  1836,  he  addressed 
another  letter  to  the  Bishop,  which  ran  as  follows  : — 

"  My  Lord, — I  have  to  apologise  to  your  Lordship  for 
asking  ordination  at  your  hands  under  rather  unusual 
circumstances  ;  but  1  trust  that  when  I  have  detailed  them, 
you  will  consider  them  such  as  to  warrant  your  acceding 
to  my  request.  I  am  Assistant  Tutor  of  Emmanuel  College, 
Cambridge,  an  office  which  I  have  now  held  two  years. 
I  took  my  degree  of  M.A.  in  July  1835.  1  am  at  present 
excluded  from  a  Fellowship  by  a  restriction  which  prevents 
two  persons  of  the  same  county  from  being  Fellows  at  the 
same  time,  and  the  Senior  Fellow  is  of  the  same  county 
with  myself.  As  however  he  fully  intends  to  take  the  first 
good  living  that  offers,  and  the  Master  and  Fellows  have 
kindly  expressed  much  anxiety  that  I  should  not  resign 
my  present  situation,  I  feel  it  incumbent  on  me  to  reside. 
Your  Lordship  will  perceive  that  these  circumstances  pre- 
vent the  possibility  of  my  obtaining  a  curacy  or  other 
strictly  legitimate  Title  for  Orders,  and  at  the  same  time 
that  I  cannot  but  feel  the  great  disadvantage  of  entering 
late  on  my  intended  profession. 

"In  this  situation  I  have  resolved  to  plead  to  your  Lord- 
ship what  is  virtually  equal  to  a  Fellowship,  though  not 
a  real  Title  according  to  the  canon  law.  The  Subtutorship 
which  I  hold  is  in  value  ;^I20  a  yeai*,  which,  I  presume,  is 
as  much  as  the  endowment  of  many  Fellowships.  I  also 
have  just  held  (what  has  sometimes,  I  believe,  been  con- 
sidered a  Title)  two  University  Scholarships,  viz.,  the  Crosse 
Theological  and  the  Tyrwhitt  Hebrew  scholarship,  the 
former  of  which  I  have,  however,  resigned.  I  am  aware 
that  they  are  not  necessarily  a  Title,  but  I  submit  to  your 
Lordship  that  they  are  in  accordance  with  the  spirit,  though 
not  the  letter,  of  the  canon  law  ;  and  I  trust  your  Lordship 
will  see  that  the  object  which  I  have  in  view  is  not  emolu- 


44  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

ment  but  the  desire  of  becoming  early  accustomed  to  the 
duties  of  my  profession,  and  therefore,  if  possible,  a  more 
useful  member  of  it. 

"  I  have  to  apologise  for  troubling  your  Lordship  with  so 
many  details,  which  were,  however,  necessary  to  explaining 
my  case  ;  and  I  have  the  honour  to  be,  my  Lord, 
"  Your  Lordship's 

"  Most  obedient  humble  servant, 

"Harold  Browne." 

It  must  be  allowed  that  this  very  reticent  letter,  in  which 
there  is  no  hint  as  to  his  views  on  religion  or  theology,  or 
any  words  shewing  the  high  view  he  certainly  took  of  the 
sacred  obligations  of  a  clerical  life,  was  not  very  well  fitted 
to  convince  or  move  the  Bishop  of  Ely.  There  had  been  a 
change  at  that  Cathedral :  Bishop  Sparke  was  no  more,  and 
his  place  had  been  taken  by  Joseph  Allen,  formerly  Bishop 
of  Bristol ;  who  appeared  at  first  just  as  unwilling  to  meet 
Harold  Browne's  wishes  as  his  predecessor  had  been.  He 
wasted  no  time  over  his  reply  ;  it  was  despatched  from  the 
Cloisters,  Westminster,  on  the  day  on  which  he  received 
the  application.  In  it  he  takes  no  notice  of  Mr.  Browne's 
arguments  and  appeals,  and  replies  in  the  hardest  and 
briefest  terms : — 

"  Sir,— I   am   sorry  to  say  that,  consistently  with   the 
rules  I  am  obliged  to  lay  down  in  regard  to  titles  for  Orders, 
I  cannot  ordain  you  upon  your  Assistant  Tutorship. 
"  I  remain.  Sir, 

"  Your  faithful  servant, 

«J.  Ely. 
"Harold  Browne,  Esq." 

Bishop  Allen,  however,  appears  to  have  made  some 
enquiries  respecting  Mr.  Browne ;  for  a  few  days  later  the 
Bishop  addressed  another  letter  to  him,  in  which  he  says 
he  had  learnt  that  the  Chaplaincy  at  Downing  College 
was  a  statutable  office,  and  also  that  Mr.  Browne  was  a 
man  of  reputable  life  and  excellent  character.     He  there- 


II.]  HOLY  ORDERS  AND  PARISH  WORK.  45 

fore  waives  his  objection  and  overrides  his  "  rule,"  and  is 
willing  to  admit  the  young  man  as  a  candidate  for  Orders. 
Harold  Browne's  reply  is  as  strange  as  the  rest  of  the  trans- 
action. As  one  reads  it  one  is  tempted  to  say  :  Here  is  a  man, 
already  notable  at  Cambridge,  and  pointed  to  as  one  of  the 
most  rising  of  the  younger  Masters,  a  man  destined  to  be  pre- 
eminent hereafter  as  a  parish  priest,  as  a  learned  theolo 
gian,  as  a  pattern  bishop,  obliged  to  sue  at  the  Bishop's 
gate  almost  in  fonna  pauperis.  He  is  accepted  after  much 
demur  and  difficulty,  as  a  great  favour,  and  now  he  has  to 
beg  for  a  relaxation  of  the  rules  as  to  admission  ;  he  is 
diffident  as  to  his  knowledge  of  the  very  rudiments  of 
Theology.  He  writes  with  a  modesty  all  his  own ;  a  less 
honest  and  more  prudent  man  would  have  held  his  tongue. 
He  petitions  for  a  relaxation  of  the  Bishop's  rule  of  three 
months'  previous  notice;  he  humbly  confesses  that  he  is 
**  not  prepared  for  a  particular  examination  in  Divinity." 
It  is  probable  that  when  he  penned  these  deprecatory 
lines  his  stores  of  theological  knowledge  exceeded  those 
of  the  prelate  before  whom  he  was  to  appear,  and  who 
replied  with  gracious  condescension,  "  I  could  not  in  the 
common  course  of  things  have  admitted  you  on  so  short 
a  notice,  whatever  had  been  the  conveniency  to  Downing 
College,  had  I  not  had  special  information  about  you,  on 
which  I  could  place  good  reliance ; "  and  he  continues 
with  a  warning  that  he  must  "read  professedly"  for 
Priest's  Orders,  ending  up  with  a  hint  that  no  more  back 
doors  or  other  irregularities  would  be  allowed  ! 

And  thus  Harold  Browne's  approach  to  Holy  Orders 
was  fenced  round  with  difficulties,  as  if  he  had  been  some 
young  fellow  of  idle  habits  or  profound  ignorance.  We 
may,  however,  safely  believe  that  from  the  moment 
Bishop  Allen  came  into  personal  communication  with 
him,  all  suspicions  and  reluctance  vanished  away.     Edward 


46  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

Harold  Browne's  name  stands  on  the  roll  of  those  who 
were  ordained  Deacons  by  Bishop  Allen  on  the  first 
Sunday  in  Advent,  November  26th,  1836. 

We  have  now  reached  a  point  in  our  Bishop's  life,  at 
which  it  may  be  fruitful  to  pause  a  moment  and  consider 
the  principles  on  which  he  built  up  his  belief  and  ruled 
his  days.  These  matters  once  settled,  he  never  again  felt 
obliged  to  reconsider  them,  but  remained  fixed  in  his 
orbit  to  the  end  of  his  life.  This,  though  it  gave  a  certain 
want  of  freshness  to  his  mental  development,  made  his 
career  consistent  throughout;  new  views  of  life  and  of 
the  relations  of  men  with  God  and  with  one  another 
affected  him  comparatively  little ;  the  structure  he  had 
built  was  coherent,  logical,  leaving  no  room  for  later 
additions,  no  opening  for  fresh  decoration  and  adornmenL 
The  Bishop's  learning  and  power  of  exposition  gave  great 
weight  to  the  moderate  and  conservative  position  which 
he  thus  took  up  and  maintained  to  the  very  end.  Every 
one  knew  at  once  what  side  he  would  take ;  his  utterances 
were  well-balanced,  tinted  by  a  sweet  charity  ;  and  the 
Church  naturally  loves  and  honours  so  consistent  a 
character. 

We  have  seen  how  deeply  in  his  younger  days  at 
Postford  Harold  Browne  had  been  influenced  by  the 
Calvinistic  teaching  he  had  listened  to  in  Albury  Church. 
Puzzling  questions  as  to  the  problems  of  life,  the  relations 
between  the  human  soul  and  its  destiny,  the  mystery  of 
freewill  and  necessity,  matters  which  have  ever  occupied 
thoughtful  souls,  crowded  on  the  young  man's  mind,  and 
filled  it  with  dark  anxiety.  The  cry  "  De  profundus,"  which 
rose  from  his  troubled  heart,  and  deepened  his  naturally 
strong  sense  of  personal  responsibility,  long  received  no 
answer ;  the  impressions  of  Postford,  in  spite  of  the  lively 


II.]  HOLY  ORDERS  AND  PARISH  WORK.  47 

and  often  thoughtless  surroundings  of  College  life,  often 
darkened  his  soul,  and  led  him  to  picture  himself  as 
dwelling  in  a  world  ruled  by  an  offended  Deity. 

The  essential  matter  in  the  Aiigustinian  theology  is 
the  direct  relationship  between  man  and  God.  It  asks 
solemnly,  "deep  calling  unto  deep,'*  How  is  it  with  your 
soul  ?  Are  you  one  of  God*s  called  and  chosen  ?  If  so, 
all  is  well.  Be  not  presumptuous :  "  strait  is  the  gate, 
and  few  there  be  that  find  it."  There  is  a  simple  and 
somewhat  awful  directness  about  this  theology.  It  takes 
no  heed  of  the  intermediaries  which  frail  man  would  fain 
place  between  himself  and  his  Maker.  The  Church  is  but 
a  messenger  of  the  Divine  decrees,  not  a  way  of  access  to 
a  loving  Father.  The  feeling  of  the  all-pervading  power 
of  God  crushes  our  weak  sense  of  individual  freedom  and 
responsibility ;  in  some  mysterious  way  life  is  so  planned 
that  men  get  all  the  discredit  of  their  evil  deeds,  which 
they  are  free  to  do,  while  if  there  is  any  good  thing  in 
them,  it  is  not  theirs.  The  gentler  theology  of  the  school 
which  Mr.  Simeon  first,  and  then  his  lieutenant  and 
follower  Mr.  Carus,  long  led  at  Cambridge,  a  theology 
which  appealed  to  the  more  affectionate  qualities  of  his 
character,  did  much  to  modify  the  early  impressions  of 
Postford  Hill ;  and  he  retained  throughout  his  life  a  grate- 
ful remembrance  of  their  goodness.  His  shrinking  from 
their  party  in  after  life  was  due,  not  to  any  doubts  as  to 
their  sincerity  and  piety,  but  to  his  conviction  that  they 
had  not  grasped  certain  principles  which  he  deemed  essential 
to  the  life  of  the  Church. 

We  do  not  know  by  what  steps  his  mind  freed  itself 
from  the  bonds  of  Calvinism.  He  doubtless  detected  in 
the  leaders  of  it  a  want  of  cultivation  and  an  unwillingness 
to  recognise  the  claims  of  learning.  Many  a  pulpit  in 
those  days  resounded  with  denunciations  of  carnal  know- 


48  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

ledge  and  worldly  literature.  Puritanism  has  ever  looked 
askance  at  the  wisdom  of  this  world ;  and  this  ill-will 
towards  intellectual  life  must  have  been  most  distasteful 
to  Harold  Browne,  with  his  strong  love  of  letters  and  keen 
appreciation  of  the  masterpieces  of  classical  scholarship. 
Their  vehement  protests  against  the  world,  their  treatment 
of  all  things  not  strictly  religious  as  snares  of  Satan, 
must  have  shocked  the  man  who  had  so  lately  been  the 
companion  of  Charles  Kean  in  his  studies  of  our  dramatic 
literature.  Above  all,  Harold  Browne  soon  observed  that 
the  denunciations  of  worldly  learning  did  not  conceal  the 
fact  that  there  were  huge  blanks  in  the  teacher's  own 
knowledge ;  and  that  the  School  was  indifferent  to  many 
thoughts  and  convictions  included  in  the  idea  of  a  Church. 
They  had  little  grasp  of  the  historic  bases  of  Christianity. 
It  was  to  them  a  Divine  revelation  of  God's  will,  retold  in 
each  generation  for  the  heirs  of  salvation ;  not  the  steady 
growth  of  the  Church,  that  great  family  of  God  in  Christ. 
And  lastly  Harold  Browne's  linguistic  gifts,  turned  as  they 
were  towards  the  special  study  of  the  sacred  texts,  brought 
him  into  direct  collision  with  those  who  too  often  seemed 
to  think  that  the  English  Version  of  the  Scriptures  was  itself 
a  direct  verbal  revelation  not  to  be  touched  by  the  pro- 
fane hand  of  criticism.  Much  as  in  after  life  the  Bishop 
shrank  from  the  bold  views  of  those  who  handled  the 
criticism  of  the  Bible,  and  recoiled  from  a  movement  of 
which  he  could  not  see  the  outcome,  still  he  had  thought 
about  the  problems  calling  for  solution,  and  was  too 
strong  and  too  learned  to  be  content  with  the  shutters  with 
which  pious  people  try  to  keep  the  light  of  the  sun  off 
the  sacred  flame.  And  so  he  soon  diverged  on  this  side 
from  the  old  friends :  not  because  he  had  less  belief  in  the 
sacred  texts,  but  because  he  had  come  to  deal  with  them 
as  a  scholar.     And  there  were  other  lines  of  difference  :  as 


II.]  HOLY  ORDERS  AND  PARISH  WORK.  49 

he  studied  the  fabric  of  the  early  Christian  Church,  the 
form   of  a   mighty   institution   rose   up   before   his   eyes. 
Personal  questions,  even  that  deep  mystery  of  the  salvation 
of  souls,  began  to  take  a  more  subordinate  place.    As  he 
thought  more  about  the  general  conception  of  a  Christian 
Church,  "built  upon   the  foundation  of  the  apostles  and 
prophets,  Jesus   Christ  Himself  being   the  chief  comer- 
stone,"  the  individual  grew  less  prominent,  the  social  fabric 
loomed  larger  and  more  magnificent,  as  he  looked.     And 
with  the  grasp  of  this  conception  came  a  more  solemn  view 
of  the  importance  of  the  two  Sacraments  of  Baptism  and 
Holy  Communion,  and  a  strong  belief  in  Episcopacy  as 
the  only  right  governing-power  in   the  Church.     And  to 
these  thoughts,  as  they  revolved   in  his   mind,  he  found 
little  or  no  response  from  his  old  friends.     They  were  too 
particularist  for  him  ;  the  life  of  the  Christian  community 
was,  he  thought,  omitted   from    their   scheme.     At   any 
rate  the  relative  sizes  and  proportions  of  things  seemed 
different  to  him  and  to  them. 

And  so  Harold  Browne  made  the  one  great  change  of 
his  life,  and  passed  from  the  older  Evangelical  school 
to  the  new  and  enthusiastic  party  now  rising,  through 
clouds  of  suspicion  and  dislike,  into  prominence.  The 
change  once  made,  his  moderation  hindered  him  from 
pushing  forward  with  the  party ;  so  that  he  was  in  the 
main  the  same  in  1890  as  in  1836,  when  he  first  knelt 
before  the  Bishop  of  Ely  at  his  ordination.  In  his  farewell 
address  to  the  Winchester  Diocesan  Conference,  in  October 
1890,  he  makes  allusion  to  these  early  days.  He  describes 
his  yearnings  after  a  firm  and  intelligible  basis  for  his  belief 
After  alluding  to  the  diverse  shades  of  opinion  in  the 
Church,  he  refers  to  his  own  eager  search  for  a  primitive 
foundation ;  in  which  he  followed  those  Anglican  divines^ 
Hooker,  Jewel,  and  others,  who  appealed  back  from  Rome 

4 


50  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D,D,  [Ch. 


to  the  first  three  centuries  of  the  Christian  era,  and  urged 
that  the  Church  of  England  should  return  to  primitive 
practice.  Then,  he  continued,  came  the  "Tracts  for  the 
Times,"  which  he  had  gladly  accepted,  because  they  too, 
in  the  main,  advocated  a  return  to  primitive  Christianity. 

"  Something,"  he  says,  "  of  the  kind  was  in  the  air  before 
Newman  arose,  a  great  genius,  to  put  it  into  form  and 
shape.  I  can  well  remember  that  some  pf  us  in  our  early 
studies  had  our  minds  directed  by  the  teaching  of  primitive 
antiquity  ;  some  of  us  not  moving  in  the  same  direction — 
at  least  not  springing  from  the  same  principles — as  the 
Oxford  school  went  upon." 

Again,  speaking  of  the  study  of  the  English  Reformation 
divines,  he  says  : — 

"  What  struck  me  at  first  was  that  they  all  referred  to 
primitive  antiquity  ;  that  their  great  arguments  against  the 
Roman  Church  were  derived  from  the  writings  of  the 
Fathers.  My  own  mind  was  so  directed :  I  took — feebly 
it  may  be,  but  still  I  took — to  the  study  of  primitive 
antiquity  and  of  the  early  Fathers  from  that  time  Then 
came  out  the  *  Tracts  for  the  Times '  ...  no  wonder  that 
many  of  us  were  very  much  struck  and  carried  away  by 
the  zeal  of  the  Tract-writers,  because  they  so  turned  our 
attention,  especially  to  the  primitive  antiquity  which  we 
had  already  learnt  to  honour.  I  wish  I  could  think  that 
they  and  all  their  followers  had  still  adhered  to  the 
principles  of  primitive  antiquity." 

And  that  these  principles  were  firmly  fixed  in  Harold 
Browne's  mind  at  this  early  period  of  his  life  and  expe- 
rience is  very  clearly  seen  from  the  following  letter  to  his 
eldest  sister,  on  the  Roman  controversy  : — 

*'  Exeter,  April  9M,  1842. 
"My  dearest  Louie,— I  should  much  like  to  meet 

again  Miss ,  though  I  have  no  time  to  buckle  on  armour 

needful  for  encountering  the  argument  of  her  priests.  But 
those  who  humbly  and  sincerely  seek  for  truth  cannot 
fail  to  be  interesting  and  edifying  companions.     I  quite 


II.]  HOLY  ORDERS  AND  PARISH  WORK.  51 

agree  with  her  in  thinking  the  majority  of  the  Oxford 
writers  in  the  British  Critic^  etc.,  *  very  Roman.'  Perhaps 
I  do  not  agree  with  you  in  your  inference.  Nor  indeed 
do  I  think  that  it  is  much  proof  that  they  are  Romish, 
that  the  members  of  the  Roman  Church  think  them  so. 
The  latter  have  been  used  to  esteem  all  Protestants, 
and  the  English  Church  among  the  rest,  what  many 
Protestants  are,  heretics  of  the  deepest  dye — little  better 
than  the  rationalists  of  Germany  and  Switzerland.  Even 
the  English  they  believed  to  be  contemners  of  all  Sacra- 
ments, believers  in  the  Church  merely  as  a  State  religion, 
and  the  clergy  as  well-educated  laymen.  Therefore  we  well 
know  the  Pope  was  delighted  with  Hooker's  *  Ecclesiastical 
Polity,'  and  declared  it  a  book  of  most  profound  learning 
and  piety.  Therefore  we  know  the  Roman  clergy,  many 
of  them,  have  been  wont  to  say  that  our  Reformers,  Cranmer 
and  Ridley,  were  much  more  nearly  Roman  Catholics  than 
Protestants  such  as  the  English  clergy  of  our  day.  So 
that  if  in  our  days  Church  principles  had  been  revived  no 
more  strongly  than  Hooker  and  Andrewes  revived  them 
in  their  day,  or  even  than  Ridley  would  have  held  them, 
and  did  hold  them,  in  his  day,  I  should  have  fully  ex- 
pected that  as  of  course  there  would  be  a  cry  of  Popery 
(as  there  was  against  Hooker)  ;  so  the  Roman  Church 
would  have  hailed  the  revival  as  an  incipient  return  to  her 
ow^n  bosom.  So  that  no  cry  of  Popery  among  Protestants, 
or  welcoming  from  Romanists,  moves  me  one  whit  in  my 
judgment  concerning  the  learned  writers  at  Oxford.  Still, 
in  my  very  worthless  judgment,  they  are  now  doing  almost 
as  much  harm  as  when  they  first  wrote  I  believed  they 
were  doing  good.  They  now  no  longer  aim  at  reviving 
the  doctrines  and  discipline  of  the  primitive  but  of  the 
middle-age  Church ;  and  whilst  they  justly  condemn  the 
errors  which  infect  most  of  the  Reformed  Churches,  and 
from  which  the  Church  of  England  has  not  utterly  escaped, 
they  yet  seem  to  overlook  (herein  I  do  not  include  Dr. 
Pusey,  who  protests  earnestly  against  them)  the  monstrous 
errors  which  the  Roman  Church  has  solemnly  recognised 
as  her  own  in  the  Council  of  Trent  as  well  as  in  her 
general  practices,  especially  the  fearful  interposing  of  other 
mediators  besides  the  One  between  God  and  man.  So 
long  as  they  strove  to  revive  only  the  great  doctrines  of  the 
early  Church,  which  had  been  forgotten,  I  was  thankful  for 
their  labours  ;  so   soon  as  they  strive  to  palliate   errors, 


52  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

even  with  good  motives,  I  distrust  them.  Perhaps  hardly 
ever  has  truth  been  revived  without  its  advocates  running 
into  extremes.  At  the  Reformation,  when  unhappily 
there  was  sadly  little  humility  anywhere  and  terrible  self- 
seeking  almost  everywhere,  very  few  escaped  this  danger. 
Hooker  was  the  first  great  reviver  of  sound  doctrine 
amongst  us,  and  his  work  must  always  stand  first  on 
the  list  of  English  Divinity.  Probably  there  was  less 
appearance  of  running  into  extremes  at  that  revival  than 
in  any  that  has  ever  taken  place,  though  then,  as  at  the 
Reformation,  the  revivers  were  called  on  to  become  martyrs, 
and  in  very  many  cases  confessors,  more  to  be  admired 
and  having  more  to  go  through  than  most  martyrs.  It 
is  remarkable  that  he  who  most  nearly  of  all  approached 
to  an  extreme,  and  who  (except  his  royal  master)  was 
most  signally  a  martyr — I  mean  Archbishop  Laud, — yet 
was  so  far  from  Popery,  that  I  believe  all  competent  judges 
have  considered  his  'Answer  to  a  Jesuit*  the  ablest  and 
most  powerful  work  ever  written  against  Rome.  Then 
came  the  Puritan  reaction,  which  of  course  I  cannot  con- 
sider as  merely  running  into  extremes,  as  I  believe  it  was 
almost  without  mixture  of  good.  After  the  fierce  sway  of 
Puritanism  was  over — at  least  as  persecuting  as  Rome  ever 
was — there  arose  another  revival,  and,  among  the  non- 
jurors, this  too  led  to  extremes,  though  never  to  anything 
like  Romanism.  Then  came  a  reign  of  dull  lifelessness,  in 
which  not  only  Church  doctrine  but  all  Christian  doctrine 
seemed  lost.  The  revival  of  truth  came  from  without  the 
Church,  even  from  dissenters  ; — ^happily  their  piety  was 
imbibed  by  some  of  the  clergy,  and  with  it  the  revival  of 
the  most  important  Christian  truth,  the  doctrine  of  the 
Cross.  Unhappily  that  doctrine  was  too  much  viewed 
subjectively  as  benefiting  us,  to  the  exclusion  in  some 
degree  of  the  even  more  important  objective  view  of  it, 
as  a  work  great  in  itself  and  to  be  the  means  of  leading 
us  out  of  self  and  to  a  contemplation  of  a  belief  in  Christ 
Himself,  and  not  only  of  the  benefits  we  derive  from  Him. 
I  have,  however,  no  doubt  of  the  good  service  done  by 
those  who  replaced  the  theology  of  Paley  by  that  of 
Newton  and  Scott,  though  the  latter  was  defective.  We 
had  then  lost  all  sight  of  the  great  doctrines  connected 
with  our  privileges  as  members  of  Christ  and  as  having 
the  real  presence  of  our  Lord  vouchsafed  to  us.  We  had 
quite  forgotten  the  doctrines  of  Communion  of  Saints,  of 


II.]  HOLY  ORDERS  AND  PARISH  WORK.  53 

bearing  the  Cross,  of  the  efficacy  of  the  Sacraments,  and 
of  the  mysterious  awfulness  of  our  own  nature  as  members 
of  one  great  whole,  the  Body  of  Christ  and  Temple  of 
the  Holy  Spirit.  All  these  doctrines  are  to  be  found  in 
our  Liturgy  in  the  writings  of  the  Primitive  Church,  and 
in  those  of  the  best  of  our  divines  before  the  Revolution 
[of  1688].  Such,  in  the  first  instance,  the  Oxford  writers 
were  reviving.  They  have  run  into  extremes,  as  might 
perhaps  be  expected  of  men  brought  up  in  such  an  age  as 
this,  when  self-discipline  has  been  wholly  untaught ;  and  as 
I  think  the  ill  state  of  the  Church  just  before  the  Reforma- 
tion was  much  the  cause  of  the  errors  of  many  of  the 
Reformers,  so  I  believe  the  low  state  of  opinion  and 
practice  among  us  now  is  responsible  for  the  extremes  into 
which  all  people  at  present  seem  inclined  to  run,  in  what- 
ever direction  they  are  searching  for  truer  and  better  things 
than  the  food  on  which  they  have  hitherto  been  fed.  As, 
however,  the  errors  of  Luther  and  Calvin,  which  I  think 
monstrous,  do  not  in  the  least  degree  prevent  me  from 
believing  the  Reformation  a  necessary  thing,  and  a  protest 
against  Popery  most  indispensable,  so  neither  will  the 
errors  of  any  who  advocate  certain  positive  truths  prevent 
me  from  esteeming  those  truths  essential,  as  much  as  I 
esteem  the  avoidance  of  Popery  as  essential.  I  therefore 
in  all  these  troubles  hope  to  be  able  to  fall  back  on  what 
I  believe  the  nearest  approach  to  Divine  Truth  to  be  found 
in  the  present  unhappy  state  of  the  Church,  ?>.,  not  the 
opinions  of  Cranmer  or  Ridley  or  Laud  or  Pusey,  of 
Luther  or  Calvin,  or  any  name  you  like  to  mention,  but  the 
doctrines  of  the  Church  in  England,  as  they  are  embodied 
in  the  Prayer-Book.  I  take  them  to  be  the  best  comment 
on  Scripture  I  have  ever  met  with.  I  deeply  lament  that 
at  present  our  position  separates  us  from  the  Churches  in 
communion  with  Rome,  and  from  the  imperfect  Protestant 
Churches  of  the  Continent.  Perfection  in  a  National 
Church  1  never  expect  to  see  till  the  whole  Church  is 
again  made  "  One  in  Christ " — if  that  happy  time  is  ever 
to  be  brought  about  in  this  world.  I  feel,  however,  (I  hope 
a  humble)  confidence  that  with  all  its  blemishes  the  English 
Church  is  the  purest  in  the  world ;  miserably  indeed 
defective  in  discipline,  and  so  producing  but  a  very  partial 
effect  towards  the  sanctifying  of  its  members,  yet  still  the 
purest  and  best ;  and  I  thank  Him  who  is  the  Head  of  His 
Church  that  He  has  cast  our  lot  where  we  have  less  to 


54  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

puzzle  US  than  we  should  have  had  elsewhere,  as  we  can 
see  the  excellence  of  that  ordinance  which  God  has 
appointed  for  our  souls,  and  not  be  tossed  about  from  one 
to  another  in  order  to  find  at  last  repose.  I  do  not,  how- 
ever, wish  to  conceal  that  I  am  most  exceedingly  distressed 
at  the  divisions  of  Christians,  and  the  utter  want  of  unity 
even  in  the  bosom  of  our  own  Church,  and  withal  the 
almost  total  suspension  of  all  spirit  of  charity  and  even 
decency  among  many  controversialists.  At  first  the 
Oxford  writers  were  singularly  free  from  bitterness,  but 
latterly  some  of  them —though  with  most  honourable 
exceptions — have  manifested  a  spirit  of  sarcasm  and  want 
of  courtesy  most  unbecoming  sinners  when  writing  on 
subjects  so  sacred. 

"  I  have  thus  given  you,  dearest,  at  full  length  my  view 
of  the  present  state  of  affairs,  in  no  spirit  of  controversy, 
but  that  you  may  see  what  I  think  of  them.  That  there 
are  earnest  and  sincere  Christians  among  Roman  Catholics, 
among  the  Oxford  writers,  among  the  Low  partyJn  the. 
Church,  and  among  dissenters  too,  I  am  most  happy  to 
hope  and  believe.  I  trust,  though  not  one  yet  in  body, 
we  may  be  made  perfect  hereafter  in  One,  though  truly  I 
feel  it  ^.  fearful  t\\\ng  to  say  that  we  are  not  one  in  body 
as  well  as  in  spirit,  when  the  Apostle  says  there  is  but  One 
Body,  and  asks,  *  Is  Christ  divided  ? '  But  \  do_think  that 
the  religion  prevailing  among  the  great  bo3y  of  nominal 
Christians  in  the  Church  of  England  is  no  religion  at  all, 
but  rather  a  mockery  of  all  truth  and  a  defiance  of  all  piet>% 
I  am  sure  it  is  now  a  time  to  be  increasing  in  prayer  for 
the  spirit  of  a  sound  mind  ourselves,  and  for  unity  in 
Christ's  Church  for  which  He  shed  His  precious  blood,  and 
which  by  His  grace  will  hereafter  be  presented  without 
spot.     God  bless  you. 

"  Ever,  dearest,  I  trust,  your  brother  in  the  Lord  as  well 
as  in  the  flesh, 

"Harold  Browne." 

We  may  pause  at  this  point  to  note  the  bases  of  his 
scheme  of  life  and  of  belief.  Where,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
claims  of  Established  Churches,  he  appeared  to  draw  his 
convictions  and  arguments  from  the  life  of  the  Church  in 
times  later  than  the  first  three  centuries,  there  was  indeed 


II.]  HOLY  ORDERS  AND  PARISH  WORK.  55 

a  seeming  abandonment  of  his  general  principle,  on  the 
ground  that  the  theory  of  National  Churches  had  brought 
into  prominence  and  sanctioned  relations  between  Church 
and  State  which  did  not  exist  in  the  early  days  of  Chris- 
tianity. With  this  exception,  Harold  Browne  followed 
the  theology  and  Church  government  of  the  three  earliest 
centuries  of  the  Christian  era  ;  appealing  first  to  the  Bible 
and  then  to  the  Primitive  Church  for  his  authority  in  all 
he  said  or  did. 

His  life  and  belief  acted  on  one  another.  This  is  always 
the  case ;  the  historic  element  ever  modifies  the  intel- 
lectual. And  the  beautiful  qualities  of  his  character,  and 
consistency  of  his  life,  arrested  in  some  cases  the  logical 
development  of  his  principles,  in  other  cases  strengthened 
the  force  of  the  doctrines  he  held  so  clearly  and  commended 
with  so  great  a  power  of  persuasion.  Deep  beneath  all 
lay  a  firm  belief  in  the  love,  the  goodness,  the  providence 
of  God  Few  are  the  souls  which  really  believe  in  God, 
recognising  His  presence  in  the  world,  not  as  a  fierce 
avenger  but  as  a  loving  Father.'  Harold  Browne  was  one 
of  these ;  from  childhood  upwards,  a  pure  and  godly  man. 
No  doubt  his  kindness  led  him  into  mistakes  ;  the  luxury 
of  generosity  often  led  him  to  help  unworthy  objects. 
This,  however,  was  a  very  venial  and  even  a  lovable 
fault ;  perhaps  the  worst  that  can  be  said  of  it  is  that  it 
was  unfair  to  others,  and  that  it  sometimes  encouraged 
genteel  beggary  of  a  very  unwholesome  type.  There  was 
too  in  it  a  touch  of  the  patronage  with  which  the  "  upper  " 
are  always  tempted  to  spoil  their  communications  with  the 
"  lower  "  ranks  of  society.  Harold  Browne  could  see  the 
popular  difficulties  of  the  time  ;  he  was  deeply  interested 
in  the  working-man  questions  which  have  now  become  so 
prominent  He  regarded  these  matters  with  the  kindly 
eyes  of  one  who,  passing  through  squalid,  crowded  streets, 


56  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

sees  the  misery  there  and  longs  to  carry  consolation  into 
the  dark  places,  yet  still  does  not  allow  his  Christian 
brotherhood  to  obliterate  the  accustomed  divisions  of 
rank. 

The  principles  by  which  his  course  was  guided  were 
mainly  these.  First,  he  felt  a  genuine  loyalty  for  Holy 
Writ,  which  he  regarded  as  the  ultimate  rule  of  faith  and 
practice.  Next,  in  face  of  the  difficulties  surrounding  the 
careful  study  of  the  Bible,  he  asked  how  the  authority 
of  Scripture  could  be  upheld,  and  its  true  interpretation 
secured.  To  this  question  there  are  three  replies :  one  of 
the  well-known  type,  which  denies  our  right  to  doubt  or 
criticise,  and  holds  that  Holy  Writ  carries  with  it  a  con- 
viction of  its  own, — in  other  words,  that  the  Bible  is  to  be 
accepted  on  the  internal  evidence  alone ;  a  second  solution 
seeks  to  bring  the  external  form  of  the  revelation  under 
the  laws  of  evidence  to  which  we  subject  all  our  knowledge, 
and  by  which  we  pronounce  books  genuine  or  not  according 
as  they  satisfy  the  canons  of  sound  criticism ;  and  thirdly, 
there  is  the  theory  of  those  who  hold  that  neither  internal 
evidence  nor  external  and  historic  proof  is  sufficient  (regard 
being  had  to  the  extreme  gravity  of  the  issues),  but  that 
God  has  created  His  Church  to  be  the  guardian  of  the 
faith,  the  bulwark  and  interpreter  of  Holy  Scripture,  and 
that  we  must  appeal  to  authority  and  tradition  for  our 
faith.  Harold  Browne  took  a  middle  course.  He  saw 
that  there  was  truth  in  all  three  views.  He  was  deeply 
impressed  with  the  intrinsic  power  of  Revelation,  and 
acknowledged  the  happiness  of  the  man  who  trod  those 
inner  courts,  undisturbed  by  the  questionings  of  the  world 
without  At  the  same  time,  he  was  large-minded  and 
strong  enough  to  recognise  the  existence  of  real  difficulties, 
and  to  see  that  objectors  are  not  to  be  waved  aside  as  if 
they  were   people  of  the   Korah  tribe,  presumptuous   in 


11]  HOLY  ORDERS  AND  PARISH  WORK.  57 

Stepping  in  where  the  authorised  priests  alone  might  tread. 
Against  inquiry  and  fair  criticism  he  never  said  a  word 
— he  was  prepared  to  deal  honestly  with  all  honest  folk ; 
and  his  mind  was  singularly  well  fitted  for  the  study 
of  evidences,  and  the  weighing  of  claims  for  and  against 
doctrines  or  passages  of  Scripture,  or  interpretations  read 
into  the  words  of  Holy  Writ  by  the  exigences  of  formal 
theological  systems.  We  may  not  think  his  Essay  on 
Inspiration  his  happiest  effort :  at  any  rate  it  is  a  thoroughly 
fair  and  honest  statement  of  the  views  and  conclusions  at 
which  he  had  arrived.  In  the  third  theory  as  to  Scripture 
he  took  even  more  interest  For  his  mind  rested  firmly 
on  the  fabric  of  the  Church ;  and  he  was  willing  to  regard 
it  as  the  guardian  and  depository  of  the  faith  and  of  the 
Holy  Books.  On  the  other  hand,  he  had  no  sympathy 
whatever  with  the  Roman  theory,  even  as  it  was  modified 
by  the  "  Irvingite  "  or  "  Catholic  Apostolic  "  Church.  He 
was  willing  to  give  great  weight  to  tradition ;  but  when 
he  found  dogma  so  developed,  as,  if  not  to  contradict 
Scripture,  at  least  to  require  ingenious  adaptation  to  it, 
he  at  once  fell  back  on  the  view  that  the  ultimate  authority 
lies  in  the  Scripture  itself,  not  in  the  Church,  which  had 
often  failed  to  interpret  it  correctly.  To  his  mind  the  very 
conservative  attitude  of  the  English  Reformers  was  most 
acceptable ;  he  refers  again  and  again  to  their  clear  protest 
against  the  mediaeval  theory  of  faith  and  religion,  and  is 
never  weary  of  laying  it  down  that  the  basis  of  his  faith 
is  Christ  the  Redeemer  and  Teacher,  as  displayed  in  Holy 
Writ,  and  as  expounded  in  the  first  three  centuries  of  the 
Christian  era.  This  gave  him  on  the  one  side  his  scheme 
of  doctrine,  on  the  other  side  his  scheme  of  Church  govern- 
ment ;  and  both  these  he  desired  to  test  by  the  authority 
of  Scripture  and  the  utterances  of  the  primitive  Church ; 
nor  did  he  hesitate  to  apply  the  well-known  formulary  of 


58  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

Vincentius  of  Lerins,  "Quod  semper,  quod  ubique,  quod 
ab  omnibus,"  as  the  test  of  all  his  principles.  It  is  a 
formula  the  full  application  of  which  is  hardly  possible,, 
so  soon  as  we  have  passed  from  very  early  times ;  and 
even  then  the  "  ab  omnibus  "  must  often,  as  has  been  said 
in  scorn,  mean  the  judgment  of  the  majority.  But  without 
pushing  this  view  of  unity  too  far,  Harold  Browne  saw 
that  in  the  main  it  provided  a  fairly  solid  ground  on  which 
to  build  up  the  theory  of  the  Church,  and  that  it  enabled 
the  Reformed  Church  of  England  to  reject  accretions  of 
doctrine  and  use  which  could  be  shown  not  to  belong  to 
the  days  in  which  the  New  Testament  was  written,  or  to 
the  earlier  ages  of  the  Christian  faith. 

Perhaps  the  most  marked  feature  of  the  Bishop's  scheme 
of  belief  was  his  unshaken  confidence  in  Episcopacy  as 
the  one  plan  of  Church  government  which  can  be  traced 
back  to  apostolic  days  in  an  unbroken  line.  The  first  aim 
of  the  Oxford  Movement  was  to  reassert  this  episcopal 
theory  of  the  Church,  treated  federally  ;  each  state  having 
its  own  Church,  and  each  Church  presided  over  by  its  own 
Bishops,  and  no  two  Bishops  being  permissible  in  one 
place.  It  accordingly  became  Harold  Browne's  object  to 
assure  Churchmen  that  their  faith  rested  on  the  faith  of  the 
primitive  Church,  and  was  in  all  essentials  identical  with 
it ;  and  also  that  the  Apostolic  Succession  has  continued 
unbroken  in  the  English  Church,  in  spite  of  the  confusions 
of  .the  Reformation  period.  That  the  English  Church  of 
to-day  is  the  direct  successor  of  the  early  English  Church  ; 
that  in  the  main  its  doctrines  and  theory  of  discipline  are 
the  same  ;  that  it  has  always  protested  against  the  inter- 
ference of  Rome  :  these  were  among  our  Bishop's  most 
cherished  postulates.  Closely  attached  to  this  federal 
scheme  of  Episcopacy  was  the  desire  for  a  "  Reunion 
of  Christendoni."     In  theory  every  Church  desires  to  be  in 


II.]  HOLY  ORDERS  AND  PARISH  WORK,  59 

communion  with  all  other  Christian  bodies.  We  profess  to 
desire  that  the  Church  throughout  the  world  should  be  one ; 
while  at  the  same  moment  we  raise  our  own  barriers  against 
the  fulfilment  of  this  desire.  The  Greek  Church  stands 
apart,  not  consenting  to  accept  the  "  Filioque "  clause ; 
the  English  Church  does  not  see  her  way  to  remove  those 
words  from  the  Creed ;  the  Roman  Church  will  hold  no 
communication  with  those  who  are  not  of  her  obedience  ; 
and  so  on.  The  Anglican  theory  in  turn  excluded  the 
non-episcopal  bodies,  as  it  held  that  the  vitality  of  a  Church 
depends  essentially  on  its  form  of  government.  Sur- 
rounded with  these  difficulties,  Harold  Browne  was  hard 
pressed  between  principle  and  feeling.  It  was  very  painful 
for  him  to  regard  whole  breadths  of  his  fellow-countrymen, 
the  nonconformists,  as  outside  the  pale  of  the  Church, 
consigned  to  vague  "  uncovenanted  mercies."  Perhaps, 
though  he  never  went  away  from  his  principles,  he  closed 
his  eyes  to  their  more  severe  application,  ;and  while  he 
could  not  recognise  these  irregular  bodies,  forbore  to 
think  of  them  as  doomed,  or,  at  any  rate,  as  in  more  than 
grievous  peril. 

This  sketch  has  been  drawn  out  somewhat  at  length, 
because  this  was  apparently  the  critical  time  in  formation 
of  our  Bishop*s  principles  and  opinions. 

Harold  Browne  was  at  the  time  of  his  ordination  tutor 
of  Downing  College,  and  soon  also  became  Chaplain  there. 
In  addition  to  these  duties,  he,  acted  during  his  diaconate, 
as  volunteer  curate  in  a  country  parish  in  Cambridge- 
shire. This  was  Fen  Ditton,  a  little  village  a  few  miles 
below  Cambridge,  on  the  river  as  it  runs  towards  Ely. 
Here  he  preached  his  first  sermon,  and  made  his  first 
essays  in  pastoral  work.  In  after  years  he  would  relate 
with  great  amusement  how,  coming  out  of  church  on 
Trinity  Sunday  morning,  after  having  preached  as  clearly 


6o  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DJ>.  [Ch. 

as  he  could  on  the  topic  of  the  day,  an  old  woman  stopped 
him  in  the  road  to  thank  him  for  his  "  beautiful  sermon  ; " 
**  for/*  said  she,  quite  earnestly,  "  I  never  did  see  so  clear 
before  how  there  were  three  Gods"! 

His  sojourn  at  Downing  College  lasted  only  a  single 
year.  In  October  1837,  Mr.  Wellcr,  who  then  held  the 
Buckinghamshire  Fellowship  at  Emmanuel,  took  a  College 
living,  so  vacating  his  Fellowship.  And,  before  the  close 
of  the  year,  Mr.  Browne  was  unanimously  elected  as  Mr. 
Weller's  successor. 

**  This,"  says  his  sister  Maria  in  a  letter  dated  November 
28th,  1837, "  will  render  him  very  comfortable,  and  was  much 
needed,  for  he  was  working  himself  to  death  for  a  pittance 
that  would  not  keep  him  out  of  debt, — ^and  he  has  no 
expensive  indulgence  except  a  few  books.  I  fear  from  his 
letters  he  is  far  from  strong,  but  hope  when  his  mind  is 
more  at  rest  his  health  will  improve." 

Thus,  before  the  close  of  the  year,  to  the  great  gratifica- 
tion of  his  old  friends,  he  was  once  more  happily  esta- 
blished in  Emmanuel  College,  and  resumed  his  place  as 
Assistant  Tutor.  Next  year,  while  he  was  still  Junior 
Fellow,  the  much  more  lucrative  post  of  Senior  Tutor  of 
his  College  was  given  him  by  the  Master,  Dr.  Archdall ;  and 
this  office  he  held  till  his  marriage  in  1840.  A  passage 
in  one  of  his  letters  shows  the  view  he  took  of  his  new 
duties : — 

"  I  think  I  may  say,"  he  writes  of  this  period,  "  that  I 
strove,  more  than  was  the  custom  among  tutors  of  Colleges 
then,  to  infuse  a  religious  tone  into  my  lectures  and  into 
my  intercourse  with  the  young  men  of  my  College.  I 
always  looked  on  my  College  as  if  it  were  my  parish. 
My  pupils  almost  invariably  treated  me  with  great  kind- 
ness and  respect,  I  may  almost  say  with  affection.  The 
students  of  Emmanuel  College  twice  testified  their  good- 
will towards  me  ;  once  by  presenting  me  with  a  handsome 


U.]  HOLY  ORDERS  AND  PARISH  WORK,  6l 

copy  of  St  Augustine's  Works,  when  I  moved  to  Downing^ 
and  afterwards  by  giving  me  a  large  silver  salver  when  I 
married  and  left  Cambridge." 

At  the  Advent  Ordination  (December  3rd,  1837), 
Harold  Browne  was  admitted  to  Priest's  Orders,  with  his 
new  Fellowship  for  a  title.  And  thus  he  blossomed  forth 
into  the  full-blown  University  Don,  and  for  about  three 
years  worked  hard  at  the  problem  of  the  discipline  and 
education  of  undergraduates.  The  letter  quoted  above 
testifies  to  the  deep  religious  principles  underlying  all 
his  endeavours;  it  shows  us  that  even  in  these  earlier 
days  his  heart  was  far  more  set  on  religious  influence 
than  on  the  ordinary  courses  of  College  lectures  ;  it  could 
already  be  seen  that  if  any  call  towards  parish  work  came 
to  him,  it  would  hardly  be  resisted.  And  yet  those  years 
were  very  valuable  to  him.  He  learnt  how  to  put  his 
knowledge  into  clear  form,  so  that  exposition  of  whatever 
he  was  called  on  to  teach  became  natural  to  him  from 
this  time. 

And  now  came  that  which  is  the  turning-point  of  every 
true  man's  career— his  meeting  with  and  engagement  to  his 
future  wife.  No  man  ever  went  through  less  of  romance 
before  marriage ;  no  one  ever  was  mated  with  a  more  true 
and  loving  helpmate.  It  was  in  the  vacation  of  1838 
that  Harold  Browne  first  met  Miss  Elizabeth  Carlyon, 
who  exerted  so  sweet  and  healthy  an  influence  on  all 
his  future  life.  In  1838  he  went  down  into  Cornwall  to 
pay  a  visit  to  his  intimate  College  friend,  Mr.  Philip 
Carlyon,  who  was  at  that  time  at  his  uncle's  house  at 
Truro.  During  his  short  visit,  though  he  did  not  openly 
declare  himself,  he  saw  quite  enough  of  Miss  Carlyon  to 
make  him  desire  to  see  more ;  so  much  so,  that  when  the 
summer  vacation  of  1839  came  round,  he  found  it  necessary 
(at  least  so  he  professed)  to  make  a  second  visit  to  Corn- 


62  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

wall,  that  he  might  see  something  more  of  that  picturesque 
county.  Whatever  might  be  the  pretext,  there  is  no 
doubt  that  the  real  attraction  was  the  lady  whom  he  had 
admired  the  year  before.  He  accordingly  once  more 
accepted  the  ready  hospitality  of  Dr.  Carlyon's  house, 
and  arrived  there  soon  after  the  beginning  of  the  long 
vacation.  Dr.  Carlyon  was  a  man  of  note  in  the  West 
Country.  Like  many  of  his  forefathers,  he  was  educated 
at  Pembroke  College,  Cambridge.  In  1798,  soon  after  he 
had  taken  his  degree,  he  was  elected  Travelling  Fellow 
of  his  College.  After  three  wander-years  as  Fellow, 
Mr.  Carlyon  returned  home,  and  in  1806  forfeited  his 
Fellowship  by  marrying  his  cousin.  He  then  took  his 
M.D.  degree  and  settled  in  Truro  as  a  fully  qualified 
physician. 

"  Here  he  was  universally  beloved  and  respected.  He 
was  a  J. P.  for  town  and  county,  and  when  he  retired  from 
practice  in  1849  he  spent  his  life  in  promoting  whatever 
seemed  to  him  to  be  likely  to  benefit  his  neighbours.  He 
was  a  friend  to  many  useful  charitable  institutions.  He 
died  in  1864  ^^  the  ripe  age  of  eighty-seven,  having  lived 
to  see  his  son-in-law,  to  whom  he  was  deeply  attached, 
promoted  to  the  bishopric  of  Ely." 

The  Carlyons  are  a  very  ancient  Cornish  stock.  Lysons, 
in  his  History  of  Cornwall,  says : — 

"This  family  has  been  settled  at  Tregrehan,  in  the 
parish  of  St.  Blazey,  more  than  three  centuries.  It  is  most 
probable  that  they  were  originally  of  the  same  family  as 
the  Carlyons  of  Carlyon  in  Kea,  which  *  Barton  '  belonged 
to  a  family  of  that  name  at  an  early  period." 

Things  went  very  smoothly  ;  long  before  the  visit  ended 
the  young  tutor  had  asked  Elizabeth  Carlyon  to  become  his 
wife.  No  difficulty  or  objection  seems  to  have  been  raised. 
After  the  engagement  had  been  made  public  they  spent 


II.]  HOLY  ORDERS  AND  PARISH  WORK,  63 

some  time  together,  first  at  Truro,  and  then  at  Tregrehan, 
the  home  of  Miss  Carlyon's  uncle,  the  head  of  the  family. 
There  they  learnt  more  and  more  to  recognise  each  other's 
excellences. 

"  The  time,"  says  Mrs.  Harold  Browne,  "  went  much  too 
quickly,  as  Mr.  Browne  was  obliged  to  return  to  Cambridge, 
and  we  did  not  meet  again  till  just  before  our  marriage. 
In  the  meantime  our  correspondence  was  very  constant, 
although  each  letter  at  first  cost  thirteenpence.  Before 
however  the  year  was  over,  we  had  (and  doubtless  made 
full  use  of)  the  benefit  of  the  penny  post,  then  first 
introduced." 

Few  couples  have  had  so  little  opportunity  for  sweet 
communings  in  the  interval  between  engagement  and 
marriage:  the  rides  through  Cornish  lanes  in  the 
vacation  of  1839  were  almost  their  only  chances.  Yet 
the  marriage  was  very  far  indeed  from  being  one  of  the 
"  marry  in  haste,  repent  at  leisure  "  kind.  Both  dis- 
positions were  sound  and  true ;  there  was  nothing  to 
hide  on  either  side  ;  and  probably  they  understood  each 
other  better  than  many  a  couple  who  have  had  years  of 
courtship  without  discerning  the  difficulties  which  lay 
before  them.  As  both  were  in  earnest  in  their  Christian 
calling,  both  full  of  the  most  genuine  Christian  charity, 
both  prepared  to  make  the  best  of  everything  in  the 
wedded  life,  and  hand  in  hand  to  face  danger  and  sorrow 
as  well  as  peace  and  joy, — their  short  courtship  was  the 
fair  frontispiece  to  the  solid  volume  of  their  half-century 
of  faithful  unity  in  Christ  and  in  each  other. 

And  if  there  had  been  any  doubts,  they  must  surely 
have  been  swept  away  when  the  household  at  Truro 
entertained  an  angel  unawares  in  the  unlikely  person  of  a 
rather  crazy  Irishwoman.  For  it  had  come  to  the  ears  of 
an  old  servant  and  pensioner  of  the  Brownes,  that  her 


64  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D,  [Ch- 

"dear  Master  Harold"  had  got  himself  entangled   in  a 
love  affair : — 

"  Your  name  and  writing,"  says  an  old  friend,  "  induced 
us  the  other  day  to  pay  a  little  attention  to  a  very  interest- 
ing poor  Irishwoman.  .  .  .  We  proceeded  from  buying 
matches  to  giving  her  a  breakfast,  and  succeeded  well  in 
making  the  poor  creature  forget  her  cares  for  an  hour  or 
two;  and  she  has  promised  to  visit  us  again.  I  never 
heard  so  much  of  your  history  before  as  she  imparted  to 
us — nor  was  1  before  aware  that  you  had  so  much  Irish 
blood  in  your  veins.  The  poor  creature  is  very  grateful 
to  you  and  your  sisters." 

And  this  "poor  creature"  was  the  assuring  angel  who 
came  to  the  house  at  Tregrehan.  She  had  been,  in  the 
old  Aylesbury  days,  a  kind  of  "  hen-wife,"  taking  care  of 
the  poultry  and  yard-pets  of  the  family,  and  had  been 
kindly  treated  by  all.  Harold  had  been  her  special 
favourite,  and  after  the  break-up  of  the  home  she  grew 
restless,  being  rather  unsettled  in  mind,  and  took  to  a 
roving  life,  visiting  from  time  to  time  the  houses  of  her 
old  friends,  "  to  see  how  they  were  getting  on."  And  now, 
having  heard  of  the  engagement,  she  tramped  all  the  way 
from  Bucks  to  Cornwall,  selling  matches  and  sleeping  in 
sheds  and  under  trees,  till  at  last  she  reached  Tregrehan, 
where  Miss  Carlyon's  uncle.  General  Carlyon,  treated  her 
kindly,  and  was  not  a  little  amused  by  the  poor  creature's 
talk  and  enquiries.  Old  Mary's  anxieties  were  completely 
set  at  rest  by  her  visit  to  Cornwall ;  she  gave  her  hearty  con- 
sent to  the  match.  The  little  incident  is  trifling,  save  in  so 
far  as  it  throws  a  light  on  the  kindly  and  patriarchal  ways  of 
both  families,  and  proves  that  the  loving  qualities  of  Harold 
Browne's  character  won  full  sympathy  from  his  wife's  kinsfolk. 

During  the  nine  or  ten  months  of  this  happy  engage- 
ment two  proposals,  both  highly  gratifying  to  Mr.  Browne, 
and  both  indicative  of  the  great  esteem  and  confidence  he 


II.]  HOLY  ORDERS  AND  PARISH   WORK,  65 

had  inspired  in  the  minds  of  all  with  whom  he  had  to  do, 
were  made  to  him ;  either  post  would  have  enabled  him 
at  once  to  marry,  both  were  carefully  considered  and  both 
firmly  though  gratefully  declined.  The  one  offer  probably 
tempted  him  but  little ;  he  was  asked  in  November  1840 
to  become  Head  of  the  Training  College  at  Chelsea,  a 
post  afterwards  offered  to  and  accepted  by  Derwent 
Coleridge.  The  work  of  a  schoolmaster,  and  still  more 
that  of  a  trainer  of  teachers,  was  one  for  which  he  felt  no 
vocation,  and  he  seems  to  have  declined  it  at  once.  The 
other  offer  was  far  more  tempting  ;  it  was  the  Headship 
of  Bishop's  College  at  Calcutta,  a  Theological  Seminary 
in  which  young  men,  mostly  Hindoos,  were  being  pre- 
pared for  missionary  clerical  work  in  India.  His  sister, 
on  April  loth,  1839,  writes  that : — 

"  Harold  has  just  declined  a  very  flattering  offer  by  the 
advice  of  his  friends,  who  all  thought  that  the  exertion  in 
such  a  climate  as  Calcutta  would  kill  him." 

His  letter  to  his  sister  shows  with  how  cool  a  judgment 
he  treated  this  grave  and  interesting  offer.  There  is  not 
in  it  a  touch  of  feeling.  He  neither  refers  to  his  engage- 
ment nor  does  he  seem  to  have  been  affected  by  the 
strictly  missionary  aspect  of  the  question.  He  weighs 
the  matter  dispassionately  ;  he  has  no  call  to  go,  and 
sees  no  difference  between  training  young  men  destined 
for  parishes  and  other  occupations  in  England,  and  the 
forging  of  the  weapons  with  which  new  battles  are  to  be 
fought  against  the  vast  forces  of  half-civilised  heathendom 
in  India.  Disappointing  as  the  point  of  view  is,  there  can 
be  no  doubt  that  the  decision,  without  being  heroic,  was 
quite  prudent. 

'•  Emmanuel  College,  March  i^tA,  1839. 
"  My  dearest  Molly, — I  write  this  evening  that  I  may 
not  keep  you  longer  in  doubt,  to  say  that  I  have  dcter- 

5 


66  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D,  [Ch. 


mined  not  to  accept  the  offer  of  Bishop's  College.  I  have 
taken  all  the  counsel  I  can  get.  Carlyon  and  Blunt  are 
both  in  Cambridge  at  this  moment,  and  they,  as  well  as 
all  my  friends  here,  are  against  my  going.  Your  letter 
therefore  decided  me  against  it.  I  have  of  course  had 
some  anxiety  on  the  subject,  as  I  fear  I  have  caused  you 
much.  But  I  believe  I  have  determined  rightly  in  not 
going.  I  cannot  write  what  I  think  or  feel  on  the  subject. 
1  trust  I  am  not  influenced  by  selfish  motives  in  taking 
my  present  course,  and  I  can  only  pray  that  I  may  be 
made  more  useful  in  my  present  and  future  stations  than 
I  should  have  been  had  I  gone  to  India.  After  all,  it  is 
doubtful  whether  the  Head  of  a  College  containing  twenty 
or  thirty  candidates  for  the  ministry  in  the  Colonies  is  so 
much  more  useful  a  sphere  than  the  tutor  of  a  College 
consisting  of  forty  or  fifty  candidates  for  the  parochial 
ministry  in  England.  If  this  be  a  right  statement  of  the 
question  I  think  the  doubt  is  considerable. 

"  Your  most  attached  brother, 

"Harold  Browne." 

These  offers,  although  they  were  rejected,  appear  to 
have  quickened  his  desire  to  take  to  parish  work.  And 
so,  when  a  sole  charge  at  Stroud  in  Gloucestershire  was 
offered  to  him  by  Matthew  B.  Hale  (afterwards  Bishop 
of  Western  Australia),  at  that  time  Vicar  of  the  Mother 
Church  at  Stroud,  he  consulted  those  so  deeply  interested 
in  his  movements  at  Truro,  and  finding  that  there  would 
be  enough  to  live  on,  and  that  Miss  Carlyon  was  willing 
to  make  the  venture,  he  accepted  the  offer,  gave  notice 
of  resignation  of  his  College  duties,  and  made  ready  to 
qualify  himself  for  his  new  work  by  bringing  with  him  the 
best  helper  and  comrade  he  could  have  chosen,  his  bride. 

Edward  Harold  Browne  and  Elizabeth  Carlyon  were 
married  at  Bath  on  the  i8th  of  June,  1840  ;  at  the  earliest 
moment  at  which  he  could  get  away  from  tutorial  work  at 
Emmanuel.  His  pupils,  who  even  in  the  short  time  during 
which  he  had  been  in  charge  of  them  had  learned  to  value 
and  to  love  him,  marked  their  esteem  and  regret  at  his 


II.]  HOLY  ORDERS  AND  PARISH  WORK.  67 


going,  by  combining  together  to  present  him  with  a  very 
handsome  piece  of  plate,  dedicated  to  him  "in  suos  se 
penates  recepturo,"  on  going  away  to  set  up  house  for 
himself. 

The  sole  charge  of  a  lately  consecrated  church,  Holy 
Trinity,  Stroud,  with  a  district  of  the  parish  conventionally 
assigned  to  it  by  the  Vicar,  began  a  new  era  in  Harold 
Browne's  life,  and  may  be  said  to  have  fully  confirmed  him 
in  his  preference  for  practical  rather  than  educational 
work.  To  the  end  of  his  days  he  looked  back  on  his 
brief  sojourn  at  Stroud  with  gratitude  and  pleasure.  The 
new  wqdded  life,  the  solemn  charge  of  what  was  really  a 
parish,  the  first  undertaking  of  all  the  fatherly  duties  and 
responsibilities  of  a  parish  priest,  the  beauty  and  healthi- 
ness of  the  valley  in  which  Stroud  lies,  and  lastly  the 
intelligence  of  the  manufacturing  population,  all  com- 
bined to  leave  on  the  new  curate's  mind  an  excellent  and 
lasting  impression.  And  Stroud  received  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Browne  with  kindliest  welcome.  No  one  was  a  truer 
friend  to  the  young  couple — then  or  afterwards — than  was 
the  Vicar  of  the  parish,  Mr.  Hale.  To  him  we  owe  a 
graphic  picture  of  the  new  curate's  work  and  life  in  his 
new  home,  which  I  venture  to  print  in  full: — 

"  My  dear  Sir, — I  now  reply  to  your  letter,  written  at 
the  suggestion  of  Mrs.  Harold  Browne,  to  ask  for  infor- 
mation about  the  late  Bishop's  residence  at  Stroud. 

**  I  am  not  at  all  surprised  to  hear  that  you  find  nothing 
about  it  in  the  documents  already  in  your  possession.  In 
the  first  place  the  late  Bishop  was  in  that  parish  only  a 
very  short  time,  and  in  the  next  place,  so  far  as  one  knows, 
his  work  there  was  not  in  any  way  linked  with  any  later 
steps  in  his  career.  It  was,  if  I  may  so  say,  an  episode  in 
his  career.  It  was  the  beginning  of  his  life  as  a  married 
man,  and  the  beginning  of  his  work  as  a  parochial  clergy- 
man ;  and  I  am  rejoiced  to  have  Mrs.  Browne's  testimony, 
now  lately  givep  to  me,  that  the  episode  was  a  happy  one. 


68  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 


"  Stroud  might  fairly  claim  to  be  considered  a  pleasant 
parish  to  work  in.  The  population  was  about  eight  thou- 
sand ;  mostly  labouring  people  or  mill-hands  connected  with 
the  different  woollen  cloth  manufactories.  They  were  for 
the  most  part  decently  housed.  The  mill-owners,  and 
other  well-to-do  people,  were  extremely  warm-hearted  and 
kind,  and  they  desired  to  make  things  pleasant  for  their 
pastors. 

"  The  late  Bishop  had,  as  a  separate  charge,  a  new 
church,  consecrated  only  a  few  months  before  he  came,  and. 
by  private  arrangement,  a  separate  district  connected 
with  it. 

"  I  need  not  say  how  greatly  I  was  helped  and  supported 
in  my  care  of  the  parish  by  having  so  able  a  man  and 
a  dear  friend  at  that  district  church.  It  must  be  also 
equally  needless  for  me  to  say  that  he  made  his  mark  in 
the  parish.  I  will  mention  only  one  illustration.  Thirty- 
years  after  the  time  I  have  now  been  speaking  of,  viz.,  in 
the  year  '72,  I  met  at  Sydney,  in  the  drawing-room  of  the 
Bishop  of  Sydney,  a  very  worthy  person,  who  had  left 
Stroud  when  I  was  there  to  emigrate  to  New  South  Wales. 
This  person  produced,  for  my  inspection,  a  testimonial  which 
he  had  received  from  his  employer,  and  upon  the  same 
sheet  of  paper  were  added  a  few  commendatory  words 
from  myself,  with  my  own  signature.  He  had  kept  up 
his  interest  in  Church  matters  at  Stroud,  and  asked  me 
a  variety  of  questions  about  men  and  events,  and  one  of 
his  questions  was  this :  *  And  who  was  that  tall  gentle- 
man who  used  to  preach  such  very  good  sermons  ? '  My 
pleasure  may  be  imagined  when  I  made  answer,  *  That 
tall  gentleman  now  occupies  a  distinguished  place  amongst 
the  English  Bishops.' " 

At  Stroud  the  young  couple  lived  in  a  house,  called 
"Tower  Hill  House,"  which,  as  Mrs.  Browne  says, 

"  was  great  only  in  name,  except  perhaps  in  the  size  of  its 
porch,  which  one  of  our  friends  used  to  say  looked  as  if  it 
could  carry  away  the  house  on  its  shoulders  ;  but  there 
was  a  beautiful  view  of  the  rich  hills  and  vales  round 
Stroud  from  its  windows,  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  dis- 
trict were  a  particularly  pleasant  set  of  people,  rich  and 
poor.  Oddly  enough,  I  remember  an  anecdote  of  one  of 
our  best  poor  people,  a  widow,  who  insisted  on  marrying 


II.]  HOLY  ORDERS  AND  PARISH  WORK.  69 


a  drunken  good-for-nothing  man,  and  when  we  expostu- 
lated with  her  she  said  it  was  a  temptation  of  the  evil 
one  she  could  not  resist  At  least  she  could  repent,  and 
I  doubt  not  she  did  so  at  leisure." 

Mr.  Browne,  however,  had  little  time  at  Stroud  to  watch 
the  outcome  of  any  part  of  his  work  among  these  friendly 
Gloucestershire  people.  For  before  he  had  been  there 
quite  six  months  the  Perpetual  Curacy  of  St  James's 
Church,  Exeter,  was  offered  to  him,  and  he  accepted  it  at 
once,  because  it  was  a  more  independent  position,  and 
brought  him  nearer  to  Cornwall.  It  also  seemed  likely 
to  provide  a  rather  larger  stipend.  And  to  Exeter  he 
removed  forthwith,  to  read  himself  in  at  his  new  cure ; 
his  license  bearing  date  of  April   i6th,  1841. 

St  James's  was  a  district  church  taken  in  1836  out  of 
the  large  and  outgrown  parish  of  St  Sidwell  ;  and  St. 
Sidwell's  was  the  name  of  a  populous  suburb  of  Exeter 
outside  the  east  gate  of  the  city.  Ecclesiastically  it  was 
only  a  chapelry,  annexed  early  in  the  sixteenth  century 
to  the  parish  of  Heavitree,  and  only  raised  into  a  rectory 
in  1867.  At  St  James's  Harold  Browne  laboured  faith- 
fully for  about  nine  months,  living  in  one  of  a  row  of  newly 
built  and  very  plain  houses,  called  Salutary  Place ;  the 
houses  had  for  their  outlook  little  but  a  brick-field,  and  the 
view  was  barely  redeemed  from  a  dead  level  of  suburban 
unfinished  ugliness  by  the  two  towers  of  the  Cathedral 
Church,  visible  in  the  distance.  Here  Mr.  Browne  had 
charge  of  a  population  of  over  three  thousand  souls. 

In  the  course  of  the  summer  the  mother-church  of 
St  Sidwell's,  in  the  gift  of  the  Dean  and  Chapter  of 
Exeter,  fell  vacant,  was  offered  to  him,  and  accepted. 
Mr.  Browne  was  licensed  to  it  as  a  Perpetual  Curate  on 
February  i6th,  1842.  It  was  a  more  anxious  cure  of 
souls  even  than  St  James's  ;  there  were  more  than  four 


70  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D,  [Ch. 

thousand  inhabitants,  in  many  parts  very  thickly  packed 
on  the  ground ;  and,  as  Mrs.  Harold  Browne  says, 
"although  the  principal  street  looked  broad  and  well-to- 
do,  it  hid  behind  it  numerous  lanes  and  alleys,  and  rooms 
where  each  comer  might  house  a  family,  and  yet  *  a  lodger 
occupy  the  middle.'"  Here  was  a  large  church,  the 
largest  in  Exeter.  The  old  St.  Sidwell's  had  been  rebuilt 
once  in  1659,  ^ind  again  in  18 12,  and,  considering  the 
period,  is  a  very  creditable  structure,  the  tower,  pillars, 
and  some  other  parts  of  the  older  building  having  been 
retained. 

The  family  of  Sir  John  Mowbray,  M.P.  for  the  Uni- 
versity of  Oxford,  lived  at  Hill's  Court  in  the  parish,  and 
were  very  much  interested  in  the  new  Vicar. 

"  I  have  very  distinct  recollection,"  says  Sir  John,  "  of 
hearing  much  of  him  from  my  mother,  especially  during 
1842  and  1843,  of  frequently  hearing  him  in  the  pulpit, 
meeting  him  at  dinner  at  my  father's  house,  and  once 
dining  with  him.  I  very  distinctly  recollect  how  the  tone 
and  character  of  the  services  were  at  once  raised,  and  how 
deeply  we  were  all  impressed  with  the  earnestness  and 
devotion  of  our  new  pastor  ;  how  much  we  appreciated  his 
sermons,-— thoughtful,  practical,  learned  without  any  parade 
of  scholarship.  Socially,  I  know  his  high  gentlemanlike 
bearing,  and  Mrs.  Browne's  charming  and  natural  manners, 
won  the  hearts  of  all.  To  me  it  was  the  commencement 
of  a  friendship  which  I  valued  more  and  more  as  years 
went  by  ;  and  it  was  my  singular  good  fortune  to  see 
them  in  all  their  homes  (except  Lampeter)— at  Exeter,  at 
Heavitree,  Kenwyn,  Cambridge,  Ely,  Farnham,  St.  James's 
Square  and  Dover  Street.  And  it  was  a  great  delight  to 
receive  them  at  my  home  in  Warennes  Wood,  where  my 
dear  mother  always  spent  three  months  every  year  up 
to  1887,  when  she  was  ninety-five.  She  had  the  most 
affectionate  recollection  of  the  good  Bishop  from  St. 
Sidwell's  days,  and  he  was  always  very  fond  of  her." 

Any  one  who  knows  the  kindly  hospitality  of  Warennes 
Wood    and    the    clever   and    delightful    family    gathered 


II.]  HOLY  ORDERS  AND  PARISH  WORK,  yi 

happily  round  Sir  John  in  his  beautiful  home,  will  under- 
stand with  what  pleasure  the  Bishop  turned  aside  from 
his  more  regular  duties  to  enjoy  a  quiet  day  among  his 
old  Exeter  friends. 

The  pastoral  work  done  by  Harold  Browne  at'  St. 
Sidweirs  was  in  every  way  exemplary ;  he  devoted  him- 
self with  unflagging  energy  to  his  heavy  duties,  although 
he  was  still  so  weak  in  body,  chiefly  from  the  after-effects 
of  the  Heidelberg  fever  of  1835,  that  he  was  "  at  one  time 
obliged  to  use  a  saddle-seat  in  the  pulpit,  though  his 
activity  and  work  in  the  parish  were  wonderful."  There 
exists  a  foolscap  sheet  containing  a  record  of  names  of 
parishioners,  and  notes  as  to  their  characters  and  con- 
ditions. It  is  a  very  simple  piece  of  work,  kindly  and 
affectionate,  and  gives  the  impression  of  a  diligent  and 
careful,  though  not  at  all  inquisitorial,  house  to  house 
visitation. 

At  this  time  Mr.  Browne  appeared  to  be  quite  in  the 
forefront  of  the  new  Church  Movement.  His  Bishop,  the 
well-known  "  Henry  of  Exeter,"  whose  fame  as  a  Church 
lawyer  and  fighting  man  was  great  half  a  century  ago, 
was  much  attracted  by  the  earnest  young  theologian  at 
St  Sidwell's,  and  always  treated  him  with  marked  courtesy 
and  kindness.  Bishop  Philpotts  issued  a  charge  in  1842, 
insisting  on  daily  services  where  they  could  be  had,  and 
weekly  communions ;  he  also  instructed  his  clergy  to  wear 
the  surplice  in  the  pulpit  instead  of  the  black  gown.  The 
Bishop's  instructions  were  right,  as  a  matter  of  Church 
order  :  the  morning  sermon  is  treated  as  a  definite  portion 
of  the  Communion  office,  dealt  with  so  as  not  to  draw  too 
marked  a  line  between  the  ante-communion  and  the  more 
solemn  portion  of  the  service  ;  it  forms,  in  this  connection, 
the  protest  of  the  Church,  at  the  time  of  its  highest  office, 
against  a  purely  emotional  religion.     And   so,  when  the 


72  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 


Bishop's  charge  appeared,  Harold  Browne  obeyed,  not 
merely  because  he  had  promised  to  obey,  but  because  he 
really  thought  his  Bishop  right,  and  sympathised  warmly 
with  his  wish  to  infuse  more  order  and  life  into  the 
services  of  the  Church. 

In  order  to  make  the  matter  as  clear  as  he  could  to  his 
parishioners,  he  preached,  in  October  1 842,  a  sermon  on  the 
subject,  which  is,  except  for  his  Prize  Essay  at  Cambridge, 
the  earliest  of  his  published  writings.  It  is  entitled  "  On 
Daily  Prayer  and  Frequent  Communion,"  and  is  dedicated 
to  his  flock  in  words  which  show  the  bent  of  his  mind  at 
this  early  period  of  his  ministry : — 

"  To  my  Parishioners,  for  whose  use  and  at  the  request 
of  some  of  whom  it  is  printed,  I  dedicate  this  sermon  ;  in 
the  earnest  hope  that  it  will  please  God  to  revive  among 
them  a  spirit  of  primitive  piety,  and  to  give  them,  as  His 
people,  the  blessing  of  peace." 

After  rather  rashly  affirming  that  "  the  Church  was 
founded  here  in  Apostolic  times,  and  is  of  Apostolic 
descent,"  he  goes  on  to  draw  a  distinction,  hardly  neces- 
sary for  his  argument,  between  the  Churchman  and  the 
dissenter : — 

"  The  one,"  he  says,  "  adheres  steadfastly  to  the  Apostles' 
doctrine  and  fellowship,  and  i/ie  other  is  cut  off  from  both'' 

It  is  his  most  unflinching  statement  of  the  view  then 
coming  into  prominence,  according  to  which  a  man  who 
did  not  accept  Episcopacy  was  practically  cut  off  from  all 
certainty  of  salvation.  Then,  after  developing  his  subject, 
Mr.  Browne  continues  thus  : — 

"The  decided  expression  of  our  reverend  Father  the 
Bishop,  that,  where  possible,  daily  prayer  and  weekly  com- 
munion ought  to  be  revived,  especially  in  town  parishes, 
has  determined  the  clergy  of  this  parish  to  offer  to  all  who 
will  the  power  of  worshipping  Him  twice  every  day,  and  of 


II.]  HOLY  ORDERS  AND  PARISH  WORK,  y^ 


receiving  the  sacrament  of  Chrisf  s  Body  and  Blood  every 
week.  There  will  be  prayers  in  this  church  (St.  SidwelFs) 
every  morning  at  ten,  and  there  will  be  prayers  at  St. 
James's  every  afternoon  at  four;  and  there  will,  by  God's 
permission,  be  the  Holy  Communion  here  every  Sunday." 

Mr.  Browne  also  determined  to  wear  the  surplice  in  the 
pulpit,  and  so  to  carry  out  to  the  full  his  Bishop's  wishes. 
He  was  so  thoroughly  in  earnest,  and  both  he  and  his 
devoted  wife  were  so  much  beloved  already  in  the  parish, 
that,  so  long  as  he  remained,  matters  were  quiet.  When, 
however,  in  the  following  year  he  left  St.  Sidwell's,  the 
pent-up  ill-feeling  broke  out  all  the  more  vehemently,  and 
took  the  form  of  riots,  which  threw  the  city  into  uproar 
and  confusion.  Mr.  Browne's  unlucky  successor  at  St 
Sidwell's,  Mr.  Courtenay,  was  so  much  troubled  and 
harassed  by  a  disturbance  which  interfered  sorely  with 
all  his  work,  and  with  his  chances  of  living  at  peace  with 
his  parishioners,  that  the  troubles  probably  caused,  or 
at  any  rate  hastened,  his  death.  One  of  the  lighter 
features  of  this  controversy  may  be  seen  in  an  epigram 
which  was  printed  in  one  of  the  local  newspapers  soon  after 

Mr.  Browne  had  left  Exeter : — 

« 

"A  very  pretty  public  stir 

Is  getting  up  at  Exeter 

About  the  surplice  fashion; 
And  many  angry  words  and  rude 
Have  been  bestowed  upon  the  feud, 

And  much  unchristian  passion. 

**  For  me,  I  neither  know  nor  care 
Whether  a  parson  ought  to  wear 
A  black  dress  or  a  white  dress, 

Filled  with  a  trouble  of  my  own — 

A  wife  who  lectures  in  her  gown, 
And  preaches  in  her  nightdress ! " 

Bishop  Medley,  at  that  time  Mr.  Browne's  neighbour  in 


74  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D,  [Ch. 


Exeter,  wrote,  some  years  later,  a  letter  which  glances  at 
their  life  in  those  early  days. 

"In  this  barren  and  desolate  shore,"  he  writes,  "  every 
trace  of  England  is  precious ;  and  I  love  to  think  of  our 
snug  little  evenings  at  the  Dean's,  where  we  undertook  a 
task  for  which  you  were  really  fitted,  of  interpreting  the 
Minor  Prophets.  Like  all  human  efforts,  we  did  less  than 
we  intended,  and  never  reached  Zechariah,  I  believe,  or 
never  finished  it.  How  well  I  recollect  the  exact  spot 
where  our  footsteps  turned  opposite  ways  in  those  wet  and 
miry  evenings,  and  how  often  I  longed  to  have  a  little  more 
of  your  company." 

The  tone  of  affection  and  regret  which  runs  through  this 
letter  is  very  touching.  We  see  too  how  in  these  early 
days  Mr.  Browne  impressed  all  who  came  in  his  way  with 
his  courtesy,  affection,  and  soundness  of  learning  and 
churchmanship. 

It  was  during  their  brief  stay  at  Exeter,  which  between 
St  James's  and  St.  Sidwell's  did  not  occupy  quite  two 
years,  that  their  eldest  child,  Alice,  was  born  to  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Browne.  She  was  born  at  the  White  Hart,  Bath. 
They  had  been  on  a  visit  to  their  kinsfolk  at  Rushden 
Hall,  and  were  travelling  westward  on  their  return.  At 
that  time  the  long  Box  Tunnel  was  not  yet  opened,  and 
the  last  portion  of  the  journey  had  to  be  taken  in  any  rough 
vehicle  which  the  Company  could  provide.  Unfortunately 
their  carriage  was  shaky  and  the  road  bad  ;  and  the  baby 
was  born  at  Bath.  She  felt  the  consequences  of  this  hasty 
entrance  into  the  world,  and  although  she  lived  almost 
to  womanhood,  she  was  from  the  beginning  a  helpless 
invalid,  who  demanded  great  care  and  attention,  and,  as 
is  so  generally  the  case  with  those  for  whom  we  have  to 
supply  either  the  physical  strength  or  the  mental  power 
necessary  for  life,  wound  herself  very  tightly  round  their 
heartstrings. 


II.]  HOLY  ORDERS  AND  PARISH  WORK,  75 


"  There  must  be  cloud,"  says  Mrs.  Harold  Browne,  "  as 
well  as  sunshine  in  most  lives,  and,  although  we  were 
blessed  in  never-failing  love,  we  had  great  sorrows  in  the 
loss  of  six  dear  children.  Our  eldest  child  was  an  invalid 
from  her  birth,  having  been  shaken  into  the  world  by  a 
rough  journey  from  an  unfinished  railway  line  between 
Oxford  and  Bath,  where  she  was  prematurely  born  in 
1841  ;  she  lived  to  be  seventeen  years  old,  and  although 
she  was  perfectly  made  and  quite  sensible,  she  was  never 
able  to  control  any  of  her  muscles,  and  was  obliged  to  be 
held  in  the  arms  of  others,  even  when  sitting  or  lying 
down.  She  had  high  spirits  notwithstanding,  and  a  great 
sense  of  fun,  laughing  heartily  at  any  amusing  story  either 
read  to  her  or  in  conversation.  She  inherited  her  father's 
love  for  animals  and  had  many  pets ;  one  dog  especially 
watched  over  her. 

**  I  have  given  this  account  of  our  dear  Alice,  as  her 
state  of  health  greatly  affected  her  father,  who  was  quite 
devoted  to  her  and  constantly  tired  himself  by  carrying 
her  about  in  his  arms.  This  also  often  prevented  my 
going  with  my  husband  to  Cambridge  or  elsewhere  on  his 
duties  ;  so  we  were  often  separated,  but  we  never  failed 
to  write  to  one  another  every  day.  Our  second  child, 
Edith,  was  bom  at  Ivy  Cottage,  Exeter,  and  went  with  us 
to  Lampeter,  where  two  years  after  she  was  taken  from 
us  by  scarlet  fever  after  only  two  days'  illness.  Three 
sons  and  one  little  daughter  were  born  at  Lampeter,  only 
two  of  whom  lived  to  grow  up,  riarold  and  Barrington. 
Thirlwall,  Robert,  and  Dorothea  were  born  at  Kenwyn,  and 
have  been  mercifully  spared  to  us.  Beatrice  and  Walter 
died  at  Exeter  when  quite  young.  A  baby's  death  almost 
breaks  one's  heart  at  the  time,  however  well  we  know  that 
they  are  taken  in  love  to  their  Saviour's  bosom.  My  dear 
husband's  heart  was  sorely  tried  by  these  bereavements, 
and  for  the  first  seventeen  years  of  our  married  life  the 
clouds  seemed  more  felt  than  the  sunshine.  But  there  is 
*  a  silver  lining  to  every  cloud,'  and  the  great  kindness  and 
sympathy  of  our  relations  and  friends,  and  the  love  of  our 
dear  children,  and  our  deep  love  for  one  another,  enabled 
us  by  God's  blessing  to  live  happily  in  the  beautiful  homes 
which  afterwards  fell  to  our  lot.  We  lived  in  fourteen 
different  homes  during  the  fifty  years  of  our  married 
life." 


CHAPTER   III. 

VICE-PRINCIPAL  OF  LAMPETER   COLLEGE. 

THE  license  of  Mr.  Courtenay  as  new  Incumbent  of  St- 
Sidweirs,  Exeter,  is  dated  August  19th,  1843  J  so  that 
Mr.  Browne  had  charge  of  that  parish  just  eighteen  months. 
He  now  removed  from  Exeter  to  Lampeter  College,  of 
which  he  had  been  appointed  Vice-Principal.  The  place 
deserves  more  than  a  passing  notice.  It  lies  in  the  Vale 
of  the  Teify,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  salmon  rivers  in 
South  Wales,  and  is  in  the  diocese  of  St  David's,  in  a 
pleasing  and  hilly  district  In  1843,  it  was  little  more  than 
a  village,  with  a  population  of  less  than  a  thousand;  it 
consisted  of  one  long  street,  wide  and  straggling,  with 
small  stone  houses  on  either  side,  the  roofs  of  which  were 
thatched  and  blackened  by  the  smoke  of  peat-fuel  dug 
from  the  neighbouring  bogs.  The  neighbourhood  was  thinly 
peopled  with  Welsh-speaking  inhabitants.  There  was  a 
fair  grammar-school ;  and  at  such  schools,  up  to  the  second 
quarter  of  this  century,  Welsh  lads  ambitious  of  Holy  Orders 
were  mainly  educated.  Of  special  training  there  was  hardly 
a  trace.  Struck  by  the  crying  wants  of  his  diocese.  Bishop 
Burgess  had  determined  to  set  aside  a  tenth  of  his  income 
towards  the  establishment  and  endowment  of  a  College  for 
theological  students,  and  for  eighteen  years,  nearly  the 
whole  time  of  his  sojourn  at  St  David's,  he  steadily  accu- 
mulated capital  for  this  purpose.    Roused  by  his  enthusiasm, 

76 


Ch.  III.]      VICE-PRINCIPAL  OF  LAMPETER  COLLEGE,  yy 


friends  of  the  Principality  in  England  and  Wales  sent 
him  no  little  help  ;  he  also  received  ;f  i,ooo  from  King 
George  IV. 

In  1822  he  opened  his  Welsh  Theological  College,  though 
without  buildings.  These  soon  followed  ;  and  by  1827  the 
College  at  Lampeter  was  built,  at  a  cost  of  ;^20,ooo  ;  in  the 
following  year  it  was  incorporated  by  Royal  Charter,  and 
in  1829  formally  opened  and  occupied  by  the  students 
It  consisted  of  a  chapel,  a  hall  and  library,  rooms  for 
scholars,  and  houses  for  the  professors.  It  stands  pictur- 
esquely on  the  site  of  the  ancient  castle,  of  which  the  keep, 
a  big  mound  planted  with  trees,  with  a  walk  climbing  up 
it  and  a  summer-house  with  a  fine  view  at  the  top,  is  in  the 
garden  of  the  Vice -Principal,  and  was  a  favourite  retreat  of 
Mr.  Browne. 

"  The  Vice-Principars  house  was,"  says  Mr.  Browne's 
successor,  "  an  ugly  little  plastered  rough-cast  villa  outside, 
with  sufficient  and  convenient  accommodation  within  ;  the 
drawing-room  was  very  pleasant,  the  other  two  rooms  were 
small." 

For  twenty  years  from  the  time  of  its  opening,  St.  David's 
College  had  been  very  much  out  of  the  world.  The  nearest 
town,  Llandovery,  was  twenty-two  miles  off;  access  to  it 
was  by  a  stage  coach,  over  roads  none  too  good  or  easy. 
The  Bishop  had  placed  the  College  there  because  he  wished 
the  students  to  run  into  no  social  temptations  ;  a  considerate 
thought,  which  unfortunately  worked  very  ill ;  for  the  lads 
often  needed  cultivation  and  the  refinements  of  life,  and, 
left  to  themselves,  were  by  no  means  unwilling  to  take  their 
recreation  in  the  village  ale-house,  from  which  the  advan- 
tages of  better  society  might  have  weaned  them. 

The  form  of  constitution  favoured  by  Bishop  Burgess, 
and  laid  down  by  Charter,  was  also  unfortunate.  The 
Bishop  of  St  David's  was  permanent  Visitor,  and  the  Dean 


78  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DJ>,  [Ch. 


of  St  David's  Principal ;  a  scheme  which  worked  badly, 
as  the  Dean  took  small  share  in  the  actual  teaching, 
knew  little  of  the  needs  of  students,  and  yet  had  almost 
autocratic  power  over  the  finance,  the  commissariat,  and 
the  domestic  management  of  the  College.  With  the  best 
of  Deans  this  arrangement  would  have  been  unfortunate ; 
as  it  was,  here  lay  the  main  difficulty  for  the  young 
Institution.  In  addition  to  this  drawback,  which  placed 
responsibility  without  authority  on  the  Vice-Principal's 
shoulders,  Lampeter  had  other  sources  of  difficulty  :  these 
were,  first,  the  want  of  a  sufficient  endowment,  in  conse- 
quence of  which  the  education  could  not  be  made  so  cheap 
and  economical  as  was  desirable  for  poor  students  ;  secondly, 
the  College  could  not  grant  Degrees,  till  1853,  when  it 
received  the  power  of  conferring  only  those  of  B.A.  and 
B.D.  ;  then,  the  students  were  painfully  unprepared  at 
starting  ;  and  lastly,  the  English  bishops,  and  even  some 
Welsh,  regarded  men  who  had  been  trained  at  Lampeter 
with  a  chilling  coldness. 

Dr.  Ollivant,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Llandaff,  was  the 
first  Vice-Principal,  and  held  the  office  till  the  year  1843, 
when  he  was  called  back  to  Cambridge  as  Regius  Professor 
of  Divinity. 

The  following  letter,  from  the  Dean  of  St.  David's, 
began  the  negotiation  which  ended  in  the  transference  of 
Mr.  Browne,  his  family  and  interests,  from  Exeter  to 
Lampeter  : — 

"St.  David's  College, 
''April  loik,   1843. 

"  Reverend  Sir, — You  may  possibly  have  heard  that 
Dr.  Ollivant,  the  new  Regius  Professor  at  Cambridge, 
occupied  for  many  years  the  office  of  V.-P.  (with  the  Pro- 
fessorship of  Hebrew)  at  this  College.  That  office  is  still 
vacant,  and  your  name  having  been  mentioned  to  the 
Bishop  of  St.  David's  in  very  high  terms,  I   am  induced 


111.]  VICE'PRINCIPAL  OF  LAMPETER  COLLEGE.  79 


thus  to  trespass  upon  you,  to  enquire  whether  you  would 
be  inclined  to  enter  into  a  negotiation  on  the  subject— if 
such  a  post  would  be  likely  to  meet  your  wishes. 

**  There  is  a  comfortable  house,  detached  from  the 
College,  though  in  the  grounds  ;  a  garden,  stables,  and 
coach-house.  The  rates  and  taxes  of  the  premises  are 
paid  out  of  a  common  fund.  The  money  income,  I  believe 
I  may  safely  say,  would  average  ;^6oo  per  annum.  The 
duties  are  not  very  onerous,  consisting  almost  entirely 
in  daily  lectures  with  the  Theological  Class  in  Hebrew, 
Greek  Testament,  Pearson  or  Grotius,  occupying  on  the 
whole  about  one  and  a  half  or  two  hours. 

**  A  gentleman  of  the  name  of  North  is  at  present  my 
only  resident  colleague.  We  are  both  married  men  with 
families.  I  mention  this  fact,  as  I  understand  you  are 
yourself  married,  and  I  presume  your  lady  would  be 
interested  in  such  an  enquiry.  In  this  remote  country,  it 
is  well  to  be,  in  some  degree  at  least,  independent  of 
external  resources  as  to  society.  Begging  the  favour  of 
a  reply,  "  I  am.  Reverend  Sir, 

"  Your  faithful  servant, 
"Llewelyn  Lewellin. 

*'The  Rev.  E.  H.  Browne." 

The  communication  was  so  unexpected  that  Mrs.  Browne 
writes,  "  At  that  time  we  knew  nothing  of  Lampeter,  not 
even  being  quite  sure  as  to  where  it  was  ; "  and  it  must 
have  seemed  like  banishment  to  them.  They  had  no 
connection  with  Wales  ;  the  position  of  St.  David's 
College  was  far  from  being  secure ;  it  seems  strange  that 
Mr.  Browne  should  have  entertained  the  proposal.  There 
were,  however,  one  or  two  good  reasons  for  it.  First,  he 
had  discovered  that  a  large  parish  well  worked  was  very 
exhausting  to  his  strength  ;  and  there  was  also  another  and  a 
very  serious  reason  for  a  change.  Mr.  Browne's  obedience 
to  his  Bishop's  orders  as  to  preaching  in  a  surplice  and 
daily  prayers  had  offended  many  of  his  parishioners  ;  and 
though,  from  respect  for  his  personal  character,  they  had  not 
as  yet  broken  out  into  active  opposition,  he  felt  that  trouble 


8o  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 


was  in  the  air,  and  he  must  have  keenly  felt  the  risk  he  was 
running.  He  might  any  day  have  to  face  an  outbreak  ; 
and  with  an  outbreak  much  of  his  influence  on  the  parish 
would  go  at  once,  whatever  might  be  the  end  of  it  There 
was  also,  of  course,  the  hope  that  at  Lampeter  there  would 
be  an  improved  income,  with  fewer  calls  on  it. 

The  Head  of  his  College,  Dr.  Archdall,  in  congratulating 
him  on  his  appointment,  makes  the  great  mistake  of  think- 
ing that  he  is  going  to  a  quiet  scene  of  dignified  repose. 

"  I  trust,"  he  says,  "you  will  find  comfort  and  repose 
and  leisure  at  Lampeter,  provided  the  *  Rebecca '  rabble  do 
not  break  in  upon  your  peace  and  quiet  In  going  to 
settle  yourself  there  you  will  not  have  many  turnpikes 
to  pay." 

At  the  close  of  the  summer  vacation  of  1843,  Mr. 
Browne  removed  to  Lampeter,  reaching  St  Davids 
College  at  a  time  when  the  "  Rebecca  "  riots  were  in  full 
swing.  The  early  numbers  of  the  Illustrated  London 
News  contain  fancy  pictures  of  the  doings  of  "  Rebecca  '* 
and  "  Charlotte."  These  two  personages,  unmistakably 
men  in  size  and  walk,  the  sons  of  a  Welsh  nobleman^ 
were  not  dressed  as  women,  but  wore  shirts  over  their 
ordinary  attire  ;  and  in  this  garb  headed  the  farmers  and 
peasantry  of  South  Wales  in  their  practical  protest  against 
the  turnpike  system.  The  tolls  were  high,  the  bars 
frequent,  and  the  tax  pressed  heavily  on  the  farmers. 
Though  the  origin  of  the  name  "  Charlotte  "  is  uncertain, 
that  of  "  Rebecca "  is  plain.  As  is  so  often  the  case 
in  the  nomenclature  of  peasant-revolt,  it  has  its  origin  in 
Scripture,  and  is  taken  from  Gen.  xxiv.  60:  "And  they 
blessed  Rebekah,  and  said  unto  her,  .  .  .  Let  thy  seed 
possess  the  gate  of  those  that  hate  them."  As  the  Vice- 
Principal's  house  at  Lampeter  was  close  to  the  turnpike 
gate,   the   Vicar    of   the   parish   warned   the    new    comer 


III.]  VICE-PRINCIPAL  OF  LAMPETER  COLLEGE.  8 1 


that  any  night  he  might  be  aroused  by  "  Rebecca."  He 
advised  him  to  show  no  lights  in  any  of  the  rooms, 
as  it  was  one  of  the  unwritten  laws  of  "  Rebecca "  that 
those  who  made  no  sign  should  not  be  molested,  while  a 
light  in  a  window  would  be  sure  to  attract  unpleasant 
attention.  This  precaution  Mr.  Browne  unluckily  could 
not  take,  for  the  little  Alice  must  have  a  light  in  her 
room ;  and  perhaps  he  was  inclined  to  make  little  of  the 
warning.  If  so,  he  was  soon  undeceived.  A  few  days 
later,  about  two  in  the  morning,  the  family  were  aroused 
by  a  volley  of  guns,  and  by  the  noise  of  the  demolition  of 
the  gate ;  the  light  in  a  bedroom  at  once  attracted  the 
attention  of  the  rioters,  one  of  whom  threw  a  turf  and 
broke  the  window,  to  the  alarm  of  the  invalid  child  and 
her  nurse  ;  no  other  dan>age,  happily,  was  done,  and,  as 
Mrs.  Harold  Browne  said,  "  We  always  used  to  call  it  our 
first  card."  Later  on,  when,  in  other  parts  of  Wales,  the 
rioting  became  more  serious,  troops  were  called  out,  and 
the  disturbances  put  down.  The  Welsh  argument,  how- 
ever, prevailed  ;  the  heavy  tolls  were  greatly  reduced,  and 
a  better  system  began,  which  has  since  spread  all  over 
England  and  Wales. 

The  duties  attached  to  the  office  of  Vice-Principal  at 
Lampeter  were  for  the  most  part  very  congenial  to  Harold 
Browne.  He  had  to  give  lectures  in  Dogmatic  Theology^ 
sometimes  in  Church'  History ;  he  also  taught  Hebrew 
for  the  Old  Testament,  and  Greek  for  the  New  ;  the  draw- 
back being  that  many  of  his  pupils  had  to  begin  almost 
from  the  very  rudiments,  and  rarely  acquired  more  than 
the  outlines  of  either  language.  In  Dogmatic  Theology, 
Mr.  Browne's  labours  bore  more  fruit;  for  it  is  to  the 
lectures  at  Lampeter  that  we  owe  his  well-known  "  Expo- 
sition of  the  Thirty-Nine  Articles." 

He  had  such  clearness  and  power  of  explanation,  sucji 

6 


82  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

a  gift  of  orderly  arrangement  of  facts,  such  a  pleasant 
utterance  and  moderation  and  winning  friendliness  of  tone, 
that  one  of  those  who  heard  his  lectures  says  that  "  they 
were  all  that  first-rate  lectures  should  be."  As  a  preacher, 
also,  he  won  golden  opinions.  For  "  his  sermons,"  as  the 
aged  Archdeacon  North  says,  in  reminiscences  of  the 
Bishop  written  only  a  few  months  before  his  own  death, 

"  were  plain  in  style,  yet  impressive  from  their  earnest 
manner  of  delivery,  full  of  instruction  and  of  practical 
lessons.  Many  a  clergyman,"  he  adds,  *'  now  long  esta- 
blished in  the  ministry  throughout  England  and  Wales, 
still  remembers  the  valued  addresses,  which  instructed 
their  minds  and  told  effectually  on  their  hearts  and  lives. 
What  especially  marked  his  character  was  the  spirit  which 
affected  all  who  were  in  contact  with  him,  and  who  felt 
the  subtle  power  of  high  character  and  example  in  a  gifted 
man  of  God." 

Mr.  Browne  soon  encountered  far  more  serious  difficulties 

than  were  thrown  in  his  way  by  the  outbreaks  of"  Rebecca  " 

and  his  rough  company.     The  College,  after  about  fourteen 

years  of  existence,  had  made  but  little  progress,  and,  as 

one  of  the  onlookers  said,  "Harold  Browne  in  1843  found 

it  in   the   worst    possible   condition."      It   combined    the 

rawness  of  a   new   institution   with    some   of  the  abuses 

and  laxity  of  administration  which  people  associate  with 

ancient   foundations.     The  College  had  never  had  a  fair 

chance ;    and   the   Professor,    who   went   there   eager   for 

studious  work  and  teaching,  soon  found  himself  confronted 

with  some   most   trying   questions  of  management.     His 

seven   years   at   Lampeter  were  a  ceaseless  struggle  for 

the  rule  of  common  sense  and  honesty.     A  more  harassing 

position  can  hardly  be  imagined.     The  problem  was  how 

to  raise  the  intellectual  and  social  standing  of  the  students, 

while   it  was  not  possible   to  charge  such  fees   as  would 

provide   funds  for   first-rate  help ;   the  bad  system  of  the 

•commissariat  also  made  economies  impossible. 


III.]  VICE-PRINCIPAL  OF  LAMPETER  COLLEGE.  83 

The  following  letter  from  Bishop  Thirlwall,  addressed 
to  Mr.  Browne  after  he  had  left  Lampeter,  illustrates  this 
point : — 

"Abergwili,  March  12M,  1850. 

"  My  dear  Sir, — I  find  that  some  statements  have 
been  made  lately  in  the  Daily  News  by  a  person  signing 
himself  '  Giraldus,'  to  the  effect  that  the  regulation  by 
which  a  certificate  of  two  years*  residence  at  a  Grammar 
School  is  required  from  candidates  for  admission  at 
Lampeter  has  been  frequently  and  notoriously  violated. 
My  attention  was  drawn  to  the  subject  by  the  Archdeacon 
of  Cardigan,  who  added  his  own  testimony  as  to  one 
instance,  the  case  of  a  person  of  the  name  of  Green,  who, 
as  he  states,  was  with  him  for  five  months,  and  having 
learnt  the  Latin  Grammar  had  just  crept  into  the  Delectus 
and  then  'became  without  any  certificate  from  him  a 
member  of  St  David's  College.'  Do  you  remember  such 
a  person,  and  any  of  the  circumstances  of  his  admission  ? 
And  are  you  able  to  inform  me  whether  a  certificate  is 
actually  required  according  to  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the 
regulation  ? 

"  I  wish  to  learn  from  you  as  exactly  as  I  can  how  the 
case  stands  before  I  address  the  Dean  on  the  subject. 
And  I  should  be  much  obliged  if  you  could  suggest  some 
mode  of  guarding  against  such  abuses  in  future. 

^*  I  am,  my  dear  Sir, 

"  Yours  faithfully, 
"  C.  St.  David's." 

"  With  difficulty,"  says  the  Archdeacon,  "  he  got  Oxford 
and  Cambridge  examiners;  all  was  irregular,  in  studies, 
finance,  everything  ;  he  did  much  in  the  way  of  palliation 
and  remonstrance," 

I  am  specially  fortunate  in  having  received  from  Canon 
J.  J.  Douglas,  B.D.,  J.P.  of  Kirriemuir,  N.B.,  a  very  graphic 
and  pleasing  picture  of  the  outset  of  Harold  Browne's 
work  at  Lampeter.  Canon  Douglas  was  one  of  the 
students  at  the  time  of  the  new  Vice-Principal's  arrival, 
and  writes  of  him  with  vivid  remembrance : — 

"Dr.  OUivant  had  been  a  stiff  and  stern  man,  and  did 


84  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D,  [Ch. 


not  succeed  in  gaining  the  affection  of  the  students.  The 
new  Vice-Principal  soon  succeeded  where  his  predecessor 
had  failed.  I  remember  his  figure  perfectly  well, — tall  and 
graceful,  with  light  hair,  a  slight  stoop,  and  an  amiable 
facial  expression.  His  young  wife  we  all  thought  a  very 
charming  person,  and  admired  her  extremely.  They 
resided  in  the  Vice-PrincipaFs  house  a  little  to  the  north 
of  the  College.  We  often  saw  with  great  interest  their 
little  children  as  they  were  taken  out  by  the  nurse  regularly 
for  an  airing  in  a  small  perambulator. 

"  The  new  Professor  soon  effected  a  great  improvement 
in  the  religious  tone  of  the  College  Chapel  services,  notably 
in  the  increased  number  and  in  the  demeanour  of  the 
communicants.  Mr.  Browne's  manner  was  indicative  of 
unaffected  reverence  and  devotion.  His  sermons  I  do 
not  remember,  but  I  know  that  we  divinity  students  always 
looked  forward  to  them  as  a  great  treat,  and  carefully 
attended  to  every  word. 

"  At  that  period  there  were  *  great  searchings  of  heart ' 
in  regard  to  the  doctrine  of  Baptismal  Regeneration,  and 
the  Professor  of  course  often  discoursed  upon  it  in  the 
lecture  room,  and  also  in  private  conversations.  A  set 
of  men  called  *  Saints '  disliked  this.  The  majority  of  the 
students,  however,  adopted  the  Professor's  views  as  in 
harmony  with  the  teaching  of  the  Prayer-Book.  A  more 
faithful  son  of  the  English  Church  never  existed.  It  was 
touching  and  beautiful  to  hear  him  speaking  of  her  as  *  My 
Mother  ' — *  my  Mother  the  Church  of  England.' 

"  The  Professor  took  a  lively  and  affectionate  interest 
in  all  the  Divinity  students,  and  repeatedly  invited  those 
who  cared  to  go  to  his  private  house.  In  his  well-arranged 
drawing-room  he  used  to  give  us  an  excellent  tea  and 
make  us  read  Hooker  and  Pearson  on  the  Creed,  inter- 
spersed with  his  comments  and  interesting  conversation. 
Mrs.  Browne  was  generally  present  on  these  occasions. 
They  were  both  particularly  kind  to  us,  and  we  in  our 
turn  were  very  grateful  and  conceived  a  great  regard  for 
them. 

"  The  Professor  was  also  an  excellent  Hebrew  scholar, 
and  evidently  always  carefully  prepared  his  lecture  on  the 
Old  Testament.  We  studied  with  him  a  large  portion  of 
the  Book  of  Proverbs  in  the  original.  I  can  truly  say  that 
to  him  I  owe  not  only  my  first  religious  impressions  but 
also  the  principles  of  Church   doctrine   and  practice.      I 


III.]  VICE-PRINCIPAL  OF  LAMPETER  COLLEGE,  85 


never  can  forget  the  kind  instructions  he  gave  me  at  my 
last  viva  voce  examination  in  December  1844,  just  before 
I  went  up  to  York  to  be  examined  by  the  Archbishop's 
chaplains  for  Deacon's  orders." 

And  the  Vicar  of  Rhymney,  Prebendary  Evans,  who 
left  the  College  in  1848,  and  was  therefore  all  his  time, 
three  years  and  a  half,  under  Harold  Browne,  adds  one  or 
two  touches  to  the  picture  : — 

"  He  was,"  he  says,  "a  tall,  slender  man  with  very  long 
fingers.  All  the  collegians  looked  up  to  him  with  the 
highest  respect  His  lectures  on  the  Articles  were  so  lucid, 
so  well-arranged,  and  so  exhaustive,  that  we  signed  a 
petition  asking  him  to  publish  them.  Such  was  the  origin 
of  the  book  which  has  ever  since  been  the  standard  work 
on  the  Articles.  His  sermons  were  searching,  incisive, 
and  impressive.  I  often  saw  some  of  the  students  in  tears 
when  he  was  preaching.  .  .  .  He  was  remarkable  for  his 
gentleness  and  his  genuine  piety  ;  we  all  regarded  him  as  an 
eminently  pious  man ;  and  he  was  so  gentle  that  I  never 
saw  him  in  a  passion.  I  never  heard  him  utter  a  harsh 
word  whatever  the  provocation  might  be." 

In  April  1848,  Mr.  Browne,  descending  some  stairs,  had 
a  very  severe  fall,  and  was  laid  up  in  consequence ;  his 
side,  which  had  suffered  once  before  from  an  accident 
in  Switzerland,  specially  giving  him  pain.  Rheumatic 
symptoms  shewed  themselves,  and  had  to  be  treated  with 
plasters  and  strong  liniments.  These  successive  injuries 
caused  him  trouble  in  after  life,  though  he  was,  as  a  rule, 
a  healthy  man. 

The  domestic  life  of  the  young  Professor  at  Lampeter 
was  of  untold  value  as  a  humanising  element  for  the 
rougher  Welsh  students.  Though  his  career  there  began 
in  the  midst  of  storm  and  clouds,  his  transparent  goodness, 
his  real  sense  of  religion,  as  to  which  the  Welsh  are  ever 
very  sensitive,  his  gentle  influence  and  unaffected  kindli- 
ness, before  long  made  him  very  dear  to  the  whole  place, 


86  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DS>,  [Ch. 

Students  and  inhabitants  alike.  Had  he  been  a  Welshman 
they  could  not  have  liked  him  better ;  the  impulsive 
element  in  the  Welsh  character  was  touched  at  once. 
Their  servants  clung  to  them  affectionately  and  loyally ; 
their  factotum,  Daniel  Ollivant,  who  had  taken,  according 
to  the  clannish  Welsh  usage,  his  late  master's  name,  and 
was  gardener,  groom,  coachman,  and  even  sometimes 
waited  at  table,  lived  with  them  all  the  time  they  were  at 
Lampeter  ;  onfe  of  their  most  favourite  servants,  Esther 
Davies,  came  to  them  at  first  in  her  pretty  Welsh  dress,  and 
stayed  in  the  household  more  than  forty  years,  following 
the  Bishop's  fortunes  from  place  to  place  with  unswerving 
fidelity,  watching  like  a  mother  over  the  children,  and 
in  the  end  marrying  the  Bishop's  body-servant. 

"The  Bishop  married  them,"  says  Mrs.  Browne,  "our 
daughter  and  a  cousin  being  bridesmaids,  and  all  our  sons 
and  Miss  Browne  being  present." 

This  devotion  of  their  servants  bears  eloquent  testimony 
to  the  kindness  and  sympathetic  consideration  with  which 
all  were  treated  in  that  household  ;  it  also  unfortunately 
sometimes  led  to  wastefulness  on  the  part  of  the  domestics. 
And  an  open-handed  kindness,  so  liable  to  be  imposed 
on  right  and  left,  marked  all  the  dealings  of  the  young 
Professor  and  his  family  with  all  around  them. 

Archdeacon  North  writes  of  these  days  : — 

"  *  To  do  good  and  to  distribute  forget  not  *  was  a  maxim 
which  ruled  the  practice  of  both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Harold 
Browne,  with  whom  may  be  associated  his  sister  Miss 
Browne,  whose  memory  lives  still  in  fond  recollection  of 
many  friends  of  those  distant  days.  .  .  .  Poor  and  sick 
were  blessed  by  benevolence,  the  unostentatious  exercise 
of  which  distributed  benefits  known  only  to  the  recipients, 
excepting  friendly  observers,  who  could  not  fail  to  infer 
from  their  effects." 

No  wonder  that  Mrs.  Harold  Browne  could   say  that 


III.]  VICE-PRINCIPAL  OF  LAMPETER  COLLEGE,  8/ 


"  we  found  the  peasantry  most  warm-hearted  people, 
grateful  for  any  kindness  shown  them.  They  did  not 
speak  much  English  then,  but  we  soon  got  to  understand 
one  another." 

"  Love  will  find  out  the  way "  is  as  true  of  Christian 
charity  as  of  courtship.  Let  us  see  the  warmth  of  their 
Celtic  affections  in  the  letter  of  "an  old  carpenter  and 
great  friend,"  as  Mrs.  Browne  calls  him,  one  Enoch  Jones, 
who  was  moved  by  tidings  of  the  Bishop's  translation  to 
the  See  of  Winchester,  long  years  after  these  Lampeter 
days,  to  write  as  follows  : — 

"  I  hope  you  will  forgive  poor  old  Enoch  in  taking  such 
liberty  in  writing  to  you  to  express  is  feelings :  when  he 
bird  that  you  wos  made  Bishop  of  Winchester  he  cryed 
with  joy  and  went  to  ask  Esther  Davis  was  it  true  ?  and 
when  she  answer  yes  my  feelings  went  that  I  coud  harly 
speck  with  joy. — ENOCH  JONES." 

The  young  couple  were  open-handed  up  to  and  even 
beyond  their  means ;  and  as  the  repute  of  the  generosity 
of  the  Vice-Principars  house  spread  abroad,  not  only  the 
inhabitants  of  Lampeter,  but  the  Welsh  from  villages 
around,  trooped  in  whenever  they  were  in  trouble,  or  could 
make  it  appear  that  they  were.  It  is  told  of  one  old 
fellow  from  the  hills,  who  had  trudged  in  to  Lampeter  one 
day  to  see  what  he  could  get,  that  he  came  up  the  street 
asking,  "  Where  is  the  gentleman  who  gives  to  all  ?  "  (Pie 
maeV  gur  boneddig  sy'n  rhoi  i  bawb  ?),  and  when  he  heard 
that  Mr.  Browne  had  just  bidden  farewell  to  the  College 
and  was  gone  away  for  good,  he  filled  the  whole  road  with 
lamentation. 

The  influence  Mr.  Browne  exercised  over  all  around 
him  was  exactly  what  had  been  wanting  at  Lampeter 
before  his  time  ;  one  of  his  old  pupils  writes,  "  He  had 
immense  influence  over  the  men,  and  raised  the  College  to 


88  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch.  [ 


a  high  standard."  No  one  who  has  come  under  the 
influence  of  that  beautiful  life  can  ever  forget  it.  Nor  can 
it  be  wondered  at  that  the  houses  in  the  country  round 
(especially  the  houses  of  Mr.  Brigstock  of  Blaenpant,  Miss 
Webley  Parry,  and  Mr.  Charles  Morris)  were  all  thrown 
open  gladly  for  the  reception  of  the  Vice-Principal  and  his 
wife.  Now  at  one  house,  now  at  another,  they  spent  a 
night  or  two,  leaving  behind  them  most  pleasant  memories. 

"Our  visits  to  the  Bishop  of  St.  David's"  (Connop 
Thirlwall),  says  Mrs.  Browne,  "  we  always  enjoyed  ;  I  think 
the  most  sociable  time  was  at  breakfast,  when  great  discus- 
sions went  on,  not  always  learned.  The  Bishop  was  very 
fond  of  flowers  and  animals "  [that  large-souled  nature  of 
his  could  not  help  having  sympathy  enough  and  to  spare 
for  all  manner  of  God*s  creatures]  ;  "  several  cats  and  three 
dogs  at  least  lived  in  the  house ;  one  dog  called  *  Wop ' 
was  an  animal  of  great  character,  not  always  loved  or  even 
respected  by  the  clergy.  A  large  amount  of  bread  and 
toast  was  collected  after  breakfast  and  taken  by  the  Bishop 
to  feed  his  birds  in  the  aviary,  and  his  *  gooseys,*  as  he 
called  them,  who  came  waddling  up  to  the  banks  of  the 
river  as  soon  as  they  heard  his  voice.  There  were 
beautiful  walks  and  drives  about  Abergwili  (the  Bishop's 
palace),  and  no  lack  of  amusement  indoors,  for  every  book 
that  came  out  seemed  to  find  its  way  there.  The  Bishop 
used  often  of  an  evening  to  stand  by  the  drawing-room 
chimneypiece,  a  book  in  one  hand  and  a  paper-cutter  in 
the  other,  his  eyes  shut  as  if  in  sleep ;  yet  he  heard  all 
that  was  said,  and  rather  astonished  his  friends  sometimes 
by  making  a  sudden  but  very  apt  observation  on  what 
they  had  been  saying.  My  husband  valued  his  friendship 
exceedingly  ;  it  lasted  till  his  death." 

With  his  many  lectures  and  conscientious  determination 
to  make  his  teaching  as  sound  and  good  as  possible,  Mr. 
Browne's  days  were  fully  occupied  ;  he  learnt  Welsh,  and 
also  Arabic  and  Syriac,  which  he  studied  by  fixing  up 
notes  on  grammar  and  vocabulary  above  his  washstand, 
so  that  he  might  commit  them  to  memory  while  he  dressed  ; 


III.]  VICE-PRINCIPAL  OF  LAMPETER  COLLEGE.  89 


profuse  of  money,  he  was  chary  of  time,  and  throughout 
his  life  a  rapid  and  diligent  student.  Nor  did  he  forget 
the  social  interests  of  his  students;  from  time  to  time 
they  were  invited  to  his  house,  that  they  might  see  a  little 
of  the  pleasures  of  a  refined  and  affectionate  home-life. 
In  these  more  social  hours  Mr.  Browne  gathered  infor- 
mation from  the  young  men  regarding  those  points  of  bad 
management  which  so  seriously  injured  the  College,  and 
were  a  continual  trouble  and  annoyance  to  his  upright  and 
generous  nature.  Sometimes,  the  little  parties  turned  to 
lighter  things,  and  the  evening  was  spent  merrily  enough 
in  quiet  games,  or  in  composing  poems  and  charades.  Of 
these  one  or  two  have  survived,  and  may  be  set  down  here 
as  specimens  of  the  simple  amusements  of  a  winter's  night. 
The  first  is  by  Mr.  Browne  himself,  an  innocent  charade : — 

*'  My  first  with  even  pace 
Moves  in  unvaried  round; 
But  as  it  moves  it  makes 
What  man's  dull  course  will  bound. 

"  My  next  its  warnings  heed, 
Warnings  of  fear  and  love, 
Lord  of  the  world  below, 
Heir  to  the  world  above. 

"Oft  in  the  stilly  night, 
When  slumber's  chain  hath  bound  us, 
My  whole  with  voice  of  night 
His  guardian  care  spreads  round  us.'' 

And  no  doubt  the  ancient  guardian  of  the  night  often 
made  the  silent  street  of  Lampeter  echo  with  his  cry. 

Mrs.  Harold  Browne  followed  in  a  lighter  strain,  not 
fearing  to  make  play  with  the  arcana  of  women's  dress  ; 
or  Miss  Browne,  with  her  clever  poetic  turn,  rose  to  a 
somewhat  higher  flight  as  she  praised  and  sported  with 
the  incoming  of  spring. 


90  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROJVNEt  D.D.  [Ch. 


When  Mr.  Browne  had  spent  more  than  a  year  at 
Lampeter  he  was  presented  to  the  sinecure  Rectory  of 
Llandewi  Velfrey  in  the  county  of  Pembroke,  with  which 
went  a  Canonry  or  Prebend  in  St.  David's  Cathedral. 
This  piece  of  preferment  is  in  the  gift  of  the  College  at 
Lampeter,  and  is  usually  held  by  the  Vice-Principal  as 
a  help  to  his  narrow  income.  The  value  of  it  is  ;f  200  a 
year.  The  spiritual  care  of  the  inhabitants,  some  six 
hundred  in  number,  is  entrusted  to  a  Vicar,  whose  income 
IS  somewhat  larger  than  that  assigned  to  the  Rector. 

Mr.  Browne  set  himself  steadily  to  raise  the  level  of 
the  Church  in  Wales,  by  endeavouring  to  turn  into  it 
the  religious  enthusiasm  of  the  Methodist  preachers,  by 
slaking  the  fiery  Evangelicalism  of  Welsh  churchman- 
ship,  and  by  providing  the  Church  with  well-equipped 
pastors. 

The  main  difficulty  lay  in  the  relations  between  the 
Principal  and  the  College.  Nothing  can  exceed  the  severity 
with  which  the  late  Archdeacon  of  Cardigan  speaks  of 
these  matters.  One  would  gladly  set  such  squalors  aside 
and  draw  nothing  but  the  brighter  lights.  Justice,  how- 
ever, to  the  College  in  its  early  struggles,  and  to  the  valiant 
young  Vice-Principal,  demands  that  the  matter  should  not 
be  passed  over.     As  Archdeacon  North  sadly  says  : — 

"  The  darker  shades  were  a  perpetual  source  of  affliction 
to  me  and  my  dear  colleagues  the  several  Vice-Principals. 
...  I  bore  the  martyrdom,  which  also  made  the  progress 
of  the  College  hopeless,  for  some  years  afterwards." 

He  characterises  the  evil  as  "  thwarting  a  scheme  of  Sir 
T.  Phillips,  the  generous  donor  of  the  Library,"  and  as  a 
"positive  obstruction  to  our  progress." 

Whatever  the  Vice-Principal  may  have  felt  or  thought, 
he  seems  to  have  laboured  on  in  silence  from  1843  to  1848, 
and  only  to  have  begun  to  shew  signs  of  restlessness  in 


III.]  VICE-PRINCIPAL  OF  LAMPETER  COLLEGE,  91 


that  famous  "year  of  revolutions."  The  temper  of  the 
time  perhaps  even  penetrated  to  Lampeter,  and  set  students 
and  tutors  moving  against  an  irresponsible  despotism. 
What,  however,  appears  to  have  roused  Mr.  Browne  to 
open  action  was  the  rumour  which  reached  Lampeter  to  the 
effect  that  another  and  a  rival  institution  was  about  to  be 
established  by  the  Bishop  of  St  David's  at  Llandovery  ; 
this  apparently  set  him  enquiring  how  the  Lampeter 
College  could  be  made  more  efficient  and  more  economical, 
so  as  to  meet  the  strain  of  competition.  He  also  wrote 
a  letter  on  the  subject  to  the  Bishop,  which  shews  that 
his  mind  was  turning  towards  work  in  his  old  University 
of  Cambridge,  and  that  his  friends  there  had  not  lost  sight 
of  or  forgotten  him.  We  have  not  the  actual  letter  sent 
by  the  Vice-Principal  to  the  Bishop  of  St  David's,  but 
only  Mr.  Browne's  draft,  with  phrases  which  may  have 
afterwards  been  altered.  Such  as  it  is,  in  the  great  dearth 
of  materials  for  this  period  of  the  Bishop's  life  we  give  it 
as  it  stands.  The  paper  is  undated ;  it  belongs  to  the 
summer  of  1848: — 

*'  My  Lord, — I  may  well  apologise  to  your  Lordship  for 
venturing  to  trouble  you  with  a  subject  almost  entirely 
concerning  myself.  To  detain  you  as  little  as  I  can,  some 
friends  of  mine  at  Cambridge  (for  whom  I  entertain  con- 
siderable respect)  have  begged  me  to  become  a  candidate 
for  the  Professorship  of  Hebrew  soon  likely  to  be  vacant, 
with  an  assurance  that  I  have  a  good  prospect  of  success, 
as  some  of  the  probable  candidates  are  not  likely  from 
various  causes  to  meet  with  support  (I  bear  a  better 
character  than,  I  fear,  I  deserve.)  My  first  reply  was  that 
I  did  not  think  I  should  succeed ;  that  I  did  not  think 
myself  qualified  to  compete  with  such  persons  as  Dr.  Mill, 
etc., — did  not  think  it  right  to  take  an  office  for  which  others 
were  better  fitted,  and  for  which  I  feared  I  was  not  qualified ; 
and  lastly  that  I  felt  it  my  duty  not  to  leave  a  post  in 
which  I  hoped  I  was  useful,  for  one  for  which  I  might  not 
be  so  well  qualified.     The  two  former  objections  have  been 


92  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D  [Ch. 


combated  by  my  friends  with  various  arguments.  The 
last  alone  is  that  on  which  I  take  the  liberty  of  writing  to 
your  Lordship. 

"  It  has  been  forced  on  my  notice  lately  that  the  College 
to  which  I  am  attached  is  in  a  very  precarious  positioa 
Popular  opinion  runs  strongly  against  some  things  con- 
nected with  it.  Even  the  improvements  lately  introduced, 
whilst  they  have  had  no  time  to  produce  good  fruit,  have 
tended  to  frighten  many  from  coming  to  us,  and  to  make 
them  look  out  for  an  easier  as  well  as  a  cheaper  passport 
to  Ordination.  Just  at  the  same  moment  springs  up  the 
school  at  Llandovery,— not  a  school,  but  *an  institution 
between  a  grammar  school  and  a  university.'  The  general 
feeling  of  the  people  is  that  it  is  to  supersede  Lampeter, 
and  the  enthusiasm  with  which  it  was  welcomed  a  few 
days  since  has  of  course  tended  to  strengthen  this  belief. 
How  far  it  is  the  wish  of  some  connected  with  it  that  this 
should  be  the  case  remains  to  be  seen.  I  need  hardly  tell 
your  Lordship  that  if  young  men  imagine  they  can  finish 
their  education  at  such  a  place  as  Llandovery,  they  will 
never  incur  the  additional  expense  of  going  to  Lampeter. 
Thus,  just  at  the  time  when  in  one  department  at  least 
most  important  improvements  were  making,  there  seems 
considerable  danger  that  the  College  will  almost  cease  to 
exist. 

"  It  would  be  very  impertinent  in  me  to  ask  your  Lord- 
ship to  express  on  this  subject  any  opinion,  beyond  what 
you  may  be  inclined  to  give.  But  I  trust  you  will  allow 
me  to  put  it  in  the  following  point  of  view. 

"A  month  ago  I  gave  up  all  thought  of  being  a  candidate 
for  the  Professorship  at  Cambridge,  in  great  degree  because 
I  thought  Lampeter  a  most  important  post,  because 
(however  small  my  abilities  and  however  cramped  by 
circumstances)  I  thought  and  hoped  I  was  of  use  there, 
and  because,  though  not  a  very  desirable  place  of  residence* 
yet  I  had  there  the  means  of  maintaining  my  family.  1 
knew  indeed  then  that  the  College  was  in  bad  odour.  Yet 
I  hoped,  from  the  many  marks  of  respect  I  continually 
received,  that  I  was  not  the  cause  of  its  low  esteem.  Since 
that  time,  however,  I  have  seen  reason  to  think  and  know 
that  others,  less  interested,  think  that  without  strong  sup- 
port the  College  must  go.  In  that  case  I  should  lose  at 
once  the  means  of  being  useful  and  of  providing  for  my 
family,  and  should  retire  from  a  sphere  of  labour  in  which 


III.]  VICE-PRINCIPAL  OF  LAMPETER  COLLEGE,  93 

I  had  worked,  unsuccessfully  perhaps,  but  to  the  best  of 
my  power  and  against  great  disadvantages,  with  discredit 
if  not  disgrace. 

"How  this  may  turn  out  must  in  some  degree  depend 
on  the  view  your  Lordship  may  take  of  it  I  do  not  mean 
that  your  Lordship  can  fully  control  events  or  opinions. 
But  they  will  be  materially  influenced  by  your  [judgment], 
and  I  should  feel  greatly  obliged  if  you  could,  consistently 
with  your  own  views  of  prudence,  give  me,  in  strict  con- 
fidence, such  a  degree  of  light  on  the  prospects  of  the 
College  as  may  serve  to  direct  me  a  little  in  my  present 
difficulties." 

Bishop  Thirl  wall's  reply,  dated  July  17th,  1848,  endea- 
vours to  shew  that  the  proposed  Llandovery  "  Institution  '* 
ought  not  to  affect  the  fortunes  of  Lampeter  unfavourably, 
not  being  *  in  pari  materie,'  and  ends  with  a  rather  frigid 
phrase,  asking  the  Vice-Principal  not  to  go  away.  It  seems 
evident  from  the  manner  of  the  letter,  that  though  Bishop 
Thirlwall  did  not  pay  much  heed  to  the  Llandovery 
scare,  he  still  did  not  doubt  that  Mn  Browne  was  wise 
in  thinking  about  a  move  to  some  more  congenial  and 
permanent  post. 

The  subject  of  a  Training  College  for  Welsh  Clergy, 
and  the  scheme  of  a  separate  Welsh  University,  were 
much  debated  during  the  summer  months  of  1848.  Sir 
Thomas  Phillips,  who  had  been  a  munificent  benefactor 
to  Lampeter,  appears  to  have  suggested  the  plan  to  the 
Welsh  Episcopate  and  clergy.  The  Welsh  Bishops,  how- 
ever, jealous  of  anything  which  might  seem  to  tend 
towards  severance  from  England,  and  not  so  proud  as 
they  might  have  been  of  the  ancient  British  Church  of 
which  they  are,  in  a  sense,  the  representatives,  were  definitely 
opposed  to  the  scheme ;  and  Bishop  Thirlwall,  the  fourth 
of  them,  writing  on  August  5th,  1848,  after  having  seen 
the  written  opinions  of  the  other  three,  summed  up  the 
opposition  in  a  strong  letter  to  Sir  Thomas  Phillips. 


94  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D,  [Ch. 


All  this  set  of  Welsh  opinion  was  very  alarming  to 
those  whose  interests  and  work  were  bound  up  with  the 
prosperity  of  Lampeter.  Mr.  Brovme,  Mr.  North,  and 
perhaps  one  or  two  outside  friends,  held  anxious  discussions 
as  to  the  right  course  to  be  taken:  it  is  plain  that  the 
Vice-Principal,  while  he  was  ready  to  face  any  difficulties 
which  might  arise,  was  at  the  same  time  thinking  about 
withdrawal  from  the  scene.  His  peaceful  disposition  and 
sensitiveness  made  him  reluctant  to  give  pain,  if  it  could 
be  avoided.  We  may  imagine  how  unwillingly  he  set 
himself  about  this  time  to  write  the  following  letter  to 
the  Principal  of  St  David's  College,  Dr.  Lewellin,  whom 
he  rightly  regarded  as  the  chief  difficulty  in  the  way  of 
such  a  reform  as  might,  with  vigorous  and  capable  teaching 
and  administration,  win  for  the  College  the  confidence  of 
students  and  a  much  needed  modicum  of  success.  The 
letter  is  undated  and  (being  only  a  draft)  has  been  left  in 
an  unfinished  state  ; — 

"Mv  DEAR  Dr.  Lewp:llin, — I  should  much  prefer 
speaking,  but  that  in  communications  of  importance 
mistakes  are  prevented  by  writing.  And  I  should  be  very 
sorry  to  express  myself  so  that  you  should  misunderstand 
me. 

"  I  write  to  you  now  because  I  feel  that  our  existence 
as  a  body  is  not  only  threatened,  but  in  imminent  danger 
of  dissolution.  I  am  myself  so  little  .satisfied  with  our 
position  that,  unless  we  right,  I  shall  seek  some  other 
sphere  of  action  ;  and  I  hope  it  will  not  be  thought  by  you 
arrogant  or  offensive  if  I  add  that  one  strong  reason 
which  weighed  with  me  against  becoming  a  candidate  for 
the  Professorship  at  Cambridge  was  the  a-ssurance,  which 
had  previously  been  given  mc  in  several  quarters,  that  if 
[I]  have  to  leave  the  College  it  would  be  the  signal  for 
its  speedy  and  probably  total  dissolution.  Had  I  heard 
nothing  but  this,  I  should  have  been  sufficiently  aware  of 
our  dangerous  position.  But  I  have  heard  a  great  deal 
more,  and  am  sure  that  we  are  now  so  out  of  favour  with 
the  higher  powers,  with  the  clergy,  and  most  of  all  with 


III.]  VICE-PRINCIPAL  OF  LAMPETER  COLLEGE.  95 

the  gentry,  that  nothing  but  a  vigorous  effort  can  save  us, 
and  this,  I  fear,  may  be  too  late.  I  have  never  before 
fully  entered  on  the  topics  on  which  I  now  propose  to 
write,  because  I  have  feared  to  moot  questions  which 
might  disturb  that  feeling  of  friendship  which  has  existed, 
and  I  trust  will  yet  exist,  between  us,  and  might  interfere 
with  the  harmony  of  the  collegiate  body.  But  I  now  have 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  I  must  do  so  or  go  ;  and  that, 
if  we  cannot  make  some  changes  which  will  bring  us  the 
confidence  of  the  public,  we  must  make  up  our  minds  to 
retire  in  favour  of  Archdeacon  Williams  [/>.  of  Llandovery]. 

"The  two  things  about  which  I  have  long  heard  the 
greatest  complaints  are  : — 

"  1st.  The  inefficiency  of  our  examinations,  and  the 
very  unqualified  men  we  have  admitted  to  the  College. 
This  I  have  always  strongly  felt ;  and  have  therefore 
always  been  an  advocate  for  examiners  from  without. 
Their  appointment  will,  I  hope,  in  a  measure  remedy  the 
defect  and  remove  the  complaint. 

"  2nd.  The  expense  of  the  education  here  ;  the  fact  that 
the  affairs  of  the  College  are  all  administered  by  one,  and 
that  the  most  irresponsible,  member  of  it ;  that  the  Principal 
is  at  once  tutor,  bursar,  steward,  and  even  farmer  and 
butcher ;  and  that  the  accounts  are  not  sufficiently  public. 

"  I  am  naturally  very  unwilling  to  allude  to  this,  but  I 
hear  of  it  in  all  directions,  and  I  am  sure  that  it  raises  the 
strongest  prejudice  and  the  hardest  suspicions  against  you 
everywhere.  I  do  not  wish  to  conceal  from  you  that  I 
have  from  the  first  personally  felt  that  in  many  points 
there  was  an  absolute  control  exercised  in  the  College 
utterly  inconsistent  with  the  constitution  of  a  corporate 
body,  utterly  unlike  what  is  exercised  in  any  other  College 
in  the  kingdom,  and  particularly  unlike  that  which  in  the 
original  constitution  of  this  College  was  evidently  contem- 
plated. I  have,  however,  endeavoured  to  suppress  any 
feelings  of  the  kind  which  were  chiefly  personal,  and  speak 
now  from  public  motives. 

"  I  have  constantly  had  to  defend  you  from  accusations 
which  are  current  against  you  ;  and  I  am  sure  you  are  in 
no  degree  aware  of  the  intensity  of  the  public  feeling  on 
this  head. 

"  The  two  points  especially  objected  to  in  this  particular 
are  the  management  of  the  Scholarship  fund,  to  which  I 
have  already  called  your  attention,  and  the  providing  of 


96  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DD.  [Ch. 

the  dinner.  The  former  you  have  already  given  attention 
to,  and  have  done  what  I  should  have  thought  enough  to 
satisfy  objections.  The  latter  I  should  earnestly  wish  you 
to  take  into  serious  consideration.  The  last  year  that  we 
audited,  the  dinners  came  to  ;^I7  los.  to  each  man  on  the 
average.  The  greatest  number  of  weeks  that  we  ever 
reside  is  twenty-seven,  giving  about  13J.  a  week,  or  nearly 
2s.  a  day,  for  each  man's  dinner, — considerably  more  than 
it  costs  in  either  University.  I  am  inclined  to  think  that 
a  better  mode  of  purveying  would  remedy  this. 

"  I  may  add  that  one  of  the  greatest  causes  of  public 
indignation  is  that  you  provide  the  College  from  your  own 
farm.  Whatever  advantages  may  accrue  from  this,  it  is 
so  very  unpopular  a  thing  that  I  cannot  but  hope  you  will 
give  it  up." 

The  evils  which  goaded  Mr.  Browne  to  write  this  letter 
must  have  become  an  intolerable  burden  before  he  could 
have  been  moved  to  take  such  decided  action. 

And  the  letter  was,  in  fact,  the  preface  to  a  series  of 
Resolutions  to  be  laid  before  the  Bishop  of  St.  David's. 
Mr.  Browne  had  now  received  from  the  Bishop  of  Exeter 
the  offer  of  the  important  living  of  Kenwyn,  near  Truro, 
and  he  felt  that  a  man  on  the  point  of  departure  might 
speak  his  mind  with  freedom  and  break  through  the  crust 
of  bad  custom,  and  so  leave  to  his  successor  a  much  better 
chance  of  raising  the  College  than  he  himself  had  enjoyed. 
He  would  avoid  the  likelihood  of  a  quarrel,  and  of  un- 
pleasant communications  with  the  Principal ;  while  his 
successor  would  arrive  without  any  prejudice  against  him, 
and  would  be  able  to  take  up  and  carry  on  the  requisite 
reforms  without  so  much  difficulty. 

In  a  second  letter  to  his  sister,  dated  October  31st,  1849, 
he  reviews  the  position  clearly  : — 

"  The  Canonry  (at  St.  David's)  is  not  bribe  enough.  I 
would  rather  have  Kenwyn  without,  than  Lampeter  with, 
a  Canonry.  But  we  all  fear  that  it  may  be  a  duty  not  to 
leave  St.  David's  in  such  a  pinch  of  need.     Melvill,  you 


in.]  VICE-PRINCIPAL  OF  LAMPETER  COLLEGE,  97 

see,  13  like  a  man  beside  himself.  But  the  Bishop's  letter, 
for  hiiHy  is  unusually  strong  and  warm.  I  have  written 
again  to  both,  combating  their  conclusions ;  but  I  feel 
that  if  they  are  right  we  must  sacrifice  wishes  to  duty. 
And  Lizzy  feels  it  most  of  all,  and  never  offers  one 
argument  for  Kenwyn.  It  is  a  sad  trial  to  us.  It  did 
seem  as  if  a  ray  of  sunshine  had  at  length  fallen  upon  us. 
Now  it  is  all  dark  again,  as  far  as  this  world  goes.  May 
God  give  us  grace  to  judge  and  act  rightly." 

It  was  probably  with  Kenwyn  in  view  that,  on  the  7th 
of  November,  1849,  Harold  Browne  addressed  another  long 
letter  to  the  Principal,  of  which  we  have  the  draft : — 

"S.  D.  C,  November  'jth,  1849. 

"My  dear  Mr.  Dean, — This  is  a  time  of  no  small 
anxiety  to  me.  .  It  happens  also  to  be  one  of  no  ordinary 
interest  to  the  whole  College  and  the  Church  in  South 
Wales.  In  some  respects  I  see  the  hope  of  brighter 
prospects.  •  But  I  feel  quite  sure  that  it  is  now  a  question 
of  the  greatest  moment,  what  steps  the  College  itself 
takes.  It  may  either  sink  altogether,  or  be  the  chief 
educator  of  the  clergy  of  Wales. 

"  My  remaining  here  is  very  uncertain.  On  the  whole 
it  is  more  likely  that  I  shall  not  But  it  is  my  earnest 
wish,  whether  I  go  or  stay,  to  secure  the  best  interests  of 
the  College  at  this  crisis,  and  I  may  add  your  own.  I  have 
already  opened  a  question  with  you  to  which  I  now  recur. 
The  dissatisfaction  which  I  have  said  prevails  concerning 
the  internal  management  I  have  every  reason  to  believe 
increases.  I  fully  expect  that  if  1  leave  the  College,  as 
there  will  be  some  change  by  that  movement,  so  it  will  be 
a  signal  for  an  explosion  of  such  feelings,  unless  something 
be  done- to  soothe  and  satisfy  them. 

**  I  have  felt  my  own  position  overpoweringly  painful, 
from  the  consciousness  that  we  are  the  objects  of  general 
suspicion,  and  that  I  had  no  power  to  remove  it.  And 
should  circumstances  lead  me  to  remain  here,  I  could  not 
consent  to  do  so  without  first  stipulating  that  the  whole 
management  of  the  College  should  be  put  on  such  a 
footing  as  to  satisfy  the  public,  and  to  enable  me  to  feel 
that  our  labours  here  were  not  both  useless  and  thankless. 
On  the  other  hand,  if  I  leave  the  College,  I  have  hitherto 


98  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

felt  that  my  post  was  on  these  accounts  so  difficult,  and 
that  if  my  predecessor  had  acted  as  I  now  propose  to  act 
it  would  have  been  so  much  easier,  that  I  am  determined 
not  to  go  without  endeavouring  to  persuade  you  to  adjust 
matters  so  that  hereafter  the  College  and  my  successor 
may  have  a  less  difficult  game  to  play. 

"  I  trust  that  in  this  you  will  feel  that  I  am  actuated  by 
no  motive  but  a  sense  of  duty.  I  may  add,  a  sense  of  duty 
to  myself  as  well  as  to  others,  for  so  I  feel  that  I  may  be 
the  means  of  freeing  you  from  the  distressing  suspicions 
which  rest  on  you,  even  more  than  on  all  besides. 

"  You  know  that  the  accounts  are  the  chief  ground  of 
complaint.  I  am  sure  that  an  enquiry  will  be  demanded 
from  without,  if  it  be  not  first  courted  from  within.  Let 
me  beg  you  to  anticipate  the  demand,  and  so  place  your- 
self on  a  much  better  footing  than  you  could  otherwise 
occupy. 

"  But  the  accounts  are  not  the  only  subject  of  complaint. 
Another  is  that  the  business  of  the  College  is  transacted 
by  one  person.  This  is  protested  against  as  giving  no 
security  to  the  public  against  mismanagement.  It  is  added 
that  the  Principal,  as  being  the  least*  easily  called  to 
account,  is  the  very  last  member  of  the  College  who  ought 
to  have  such  power  entrusted  to  him. 

"If  you  knew  what  is  said  on  this  subject  you  would 
not  think  me  unreasonable  in  urging  it  on  you.  I  have 
reason  to  think  that  all  connected  with  the  College  are  as 
well  aware  as  I  am  of  what  I  say,  and  fully  agree  in  my 
view  of  the  question.  But  I  am  in  that  position  which 
calls  on  me  to  be  the  mover  ;  and  though  the  position  be  a 
painful  one  I  am  resolved  not  to  shrink  from  it  That  my 
conduct  in  this  is  that  of  your  true  friend  I  am  also  well 
assured  ;  though  I  am  always  afraid  that  it  may  appear 
otherwise  to  you. 

"  The  proposal  which  I  am  prepared  to  make,  is  that 
henceforth  the  affairs  of  the  College  of  all  kinds  be  con- 
ducted strictly  after  the  model  of  University  Colleges.  I 
should  propose  to  divide  the  accounts  and  management 
between  three  persons,  as  they  are  divided  there  ;  which 
will  prevent  the  danger  of  such  suspicions  being  allowed 
to  rest  on  one.  I  should  propose  audits  by  the  whole 
corporate  body  twice  yearly.  I  should  propose  that  all 
business  be  transacted  in  regular  formal  College  meetings, 
everything  done  by  College  order,  entered  regularly  in  the 


III.]  VICE-PRINCIPAL  OF  LAMPETER  COLLEGE,  gg 

order  or  minute  book,  and  that  everything  be  constantly 
open  to  the  inspection  of  any  persons  who  have  a  reason- 
able claim  to  demand  it 

"  How  it  may  be  best  to  give  eflfect  to  these  proposals 
I  am  not  quite  certain.  But  one  of  these  two  modes  I  will 
suggest  Either  let  a  committee  of  clergymen  from 
different  parts  of  the  diocese  be  appointed  to  inspect 
matters  and  report,  or  else,  let  the  whole  corporate  body, 
yourself.  Archdeacon  Bevan,  Melvill,  North,  and  myself, 
meet,  with  the  sanction  of  the  Bishop,  and  make  future 
arrangements,  as  well  as  consider  any  subject  of  accounts 
which  may  seem  to  them  desirable.  I  am  ready  to  submit 
my  own  proposals  to  them. 

"  I  will  only  add  that  concerning  the  providing  of  dinners, 
I  propose  that  it  be  done  as  at  the  Universities,  by  contract 
with  the  cook  or  butler,  or  any  other  person  who  will  con- 
tract for  them  on  fair  terms. 

"  I  can  assure  you  of  my  firm  persuasion  that  such 
arrangements  as  I  now  propose  are  not  only  likely  to  save 
the  College  from  utter  ruin,  but  will  place  you  in  a  position 
in  every  way  higher  than  that  which  you  now  occupy, 
a  position  free  from  suspicion,  and,  I  incline  to  believe, 
[ofj  much  more  certain  if  not  much  greater  pecuniary 
advantages — and  one  much  more  resembling  the  post  of 
the  dignified  head  of  a  College,  and  less  resembling  that 
of  the  master  of  a  common  grammar  school. 

"  Believe  me  that  though  I  feel  my  first  duty  is  to  try 
and  save  the  College  (and  if  I  do  not  do  it,  no  one  else  will), 
yet  it  is  my  hope  and  earnest  desire  to  serve  you  also.  I 
see  that  I  can  do  this  only  by  distinctly  and  definitely 
proposing  the  arrangements  I  have  already  referred  to,  as 
the  sole  conditions  on  which  I  will  consent  to  remain  in  the 
College,  if  I  determine  to  remain  ;  and  as  my  distinct  pro- 
posals now  as  a  member  of  the  corporate  body,  before  I 
leave  it,  in  case  of  my  determining  to  go  into  Cornwall. 

"  I  have  written  this,  as  I  generally  do  when  I  have 
important  business  to  discuss,  as  far  better  than  speaking. 
I  trust  you  will  give  it  your  best  consideration,  and  believe 
me  that,  whether  here  or  in  Cornwall,  yourself  and  the 
College  will  both  be  the  objects  of  my  sincere  interest  and 
regard,  as  you  are  daily  the  subject  of  the  prayers  of, 
"  My  dear  Mr.  Dean, 

"  Yours  very  sincerely, 

"  E.  Harold  Browne." 


100  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE;  D.D,  [Ch. 

This  remarkable  letter  is  more  eloquent  in  what  it  does 
not  say  than  in  what  it  does.  The  very  vagueness  of  it 
leaves  an  impression  that  there  were  unlimited  grounds  for 
dissatisfaction,  and  that  things  were  on  the  edge  of  a  kind  of 
revolution.  Harold  Browne  was  to  be  the  Mirabeau  of  the 
movement,  which  should  end,  not  in  the  overthrow  of  the 
autocrat,  but  in  the  substitution  of  constitutional  in  the 
place  of  irresponsible  government  The  Vice-Principal 
was  a  conservative  reformer,  aiming  at  a  reform  which 
should  be  carried  out  along  lines  well  known,  tried,  and 
found  successful — at  least  to  a  certain  point — in  the  ancient 
Universities. 

Dean  Lewellin  appears  to  have  received  his  Vice- Prin- 
cipal's remonstrance  in  the  same  friendly  spirit  in  which 
it  was  penned.  He  replied  without  bitterness,  expressing 
himself  ready  to  meet  Mr.  Browne  and  to  consider  the 
suggestions  laid  before  him  in  the  letter  given  above  ;  and 
to  his  note  we  have  this  reply  : — 

"S.  D.  C,  November  12M,  1849. 

"  My  dear  Mr.  Dean,— I  write  to  tell  you  that  I  have 
accepted  the  offer  of  the  Bishop  of  Exeter,  and  therefore 
must  consider  my  days  at  Lampeter  as  numbered.  I  need 
hardly  tell  you  that  I  shall  not  leave  it  without  many  and 
deep  regrets,  though  I  trust  I  am  doing  right,  and  hope  for  a 
blessing  on  my  future  undertaking.  I  hope  we  shall  one  day 
be  able  to  persuade  Mrs.  Lewellin  and  yourself  to  pay  us 
a  visit  in  our  future  home,  if  it  please  God  to  spare  us  all. 

"  I  am  much  obliged  by  your  kind  note,  and  for  your 
readiness  to  meet  my  proposals.  I  thought,  even  if  I 
stayed,  and  I  still  more  think  now  that  I  am  to  go,  that  it 
will  be  on  all  accounts  desirable  that  any  new  arrange- 
ments should  be  discussed  by  a  committee  and  not  by  us 
two  alone.  I  shall  soon  have  ceased  to  be  a  member  of 
the  College.  And  if,  as  I  am  sure  is  the  case,  there  is  any 
unfavourable  spirit  abroad,  it  will  probably  be  allayed  by 
a  meeting  of  that  nature,  and  arrangements  may  be  so 
made  more  readily  than  any  other  way. 


III.]  VICE-PRINCIPAL  OF  LAMPETER  COLLEGE,  lOI 

"  I  should  propose  that  you,  as  Principal,  summon  a 
meeting  of  the  whole  body,  as  soon  as  Melvill  returns  from 
town.  I  will  lay  before  them  my  own  views,  which  I  shall 
be  happy  to  talk  over  with  you  first,  if  you  desire  it.  They 
are  simply,  as  I  mentioned  to  you,  to  assimilate  this 
College  to  an  University  College.  I  hope  not  to  be  obliged 
to  leave  this  till  the  end  of  term,  when  I  shall  have  com- 
pleted six  years  and  a  half  of  residence.  I  trust  my 
successor  will  be  a  more  efficient  and  a  more  prosperous  man 
than  I  have  been  here,  and  that  the  College  will  soon  rise 
out  of  the  cloud  which  has  lately  obscured  it 

"  Yourself  and  Mrs.  Lewellin  will  have  our  best  hopes 
and  prayers  for  your  happiness  and  comfort  here  and 
hereafter. 

**  Believe  me,  my  dear  Mr.  Dean, 
"  Very  sincerely  yours, 

"  E.  Harold  Browne." 


CHAPTER   IV. 

VICAR  OF  KENWYN  AND  KEA. 

WHILE  this  negotiation  was  going  on,  Mr.  Browne, 
though  he  reserved  his  right  to  remain  at  Lampeter, 
had  made  up  his  mind  to  leave  the  College. 

On  the  one  hand  his  friends  at  Cambridge,  on  the  other 
side  the  Bishop  at  Exeter,  were  eager  to  tempt  him  back 
to  them.  In  the  same  month  Mr.  Browne  was  assailed 
from  both  sides.  From  Cambridge  came  a  letter  from 
Dr.  Archdall,  the  Head  of  his  College,  urging  him  to 
become  a  candidate  for  the  Norrisian  Professorship,  likely 
to  be  vacated  by  the  promotion  of  Professor  Corrie.  He 
also  received  a  letter  from  the-  Bishop  of  Exeter  ;  so  that 
before  he  began  to  deal  with  Dean  Lewellin,  he  knew 
that  the  road  was  open  for  his  retreat,  should  the  position 
at  Lampeter  become  untenable. 

The  Bishop  offered  him  the  large  and  valuable  benefice 
of  Kenwyn-cum-Kea,  in  Cornwall.     He  writes  : — 

"  I  scrupled  to  make  the  offer  to  you,  because  I  feared 
that  by  your  removal  I  should  rob  the  Church  in  South 
Wales  of  one  of  its  best  supports.  I  have,  however,  lately 
heard  that  the  health  either  of  yourself  or  Mrs.  Browne 
makes  you  desirous  of  establishing  yourself  in  Cornwall. 
This  intelligence  has  removed  every  scruple,  and  I  no 
longer  hesitate  to  offer  you  that  Vicarage,  with  a  Prebend 
(very  ill-endowed)  in  the  Cathedral  at  Exeter,  and  my 
Chaplaincy  for  Cornwall. 

I02 


Ch.  IV.]  yiCAR  OF  KENWYN  AND  KEA,  103 

"The  income  of  Kenwyn  is,  I  believe,  between  ^^500 
and  ;^6oo  per  annum  net,  after  paying  large  outgoings 
for  curates,  etc.  The  Prebend  is  merely  sufficient  to  pay 
the  expenses  of  journeying  to  Exeter  to  preach  your  turns 
in  the  Cathedral.  The  Chaplaincy  carries  with  it  only 
burthens ;  yet  of  such  a  kind  as  will,  I  hope,  accord  with 
your  own  Church  feelings,  for  I  shall  need  a  confidential 
assistant  in  Cornwall. 

If  the  offer  is  satisfying  to  you,  I  shall  rejoice  to  have 
brought  you  back  to  the  diocese  of  Exeter.  At  all  events 
I  have  pleasure  in  thus  testifying  my  high  estimation  of 
you. 

"  I  am,  dear  Sir, 

"  Yours  sincerely, 

"  H.  Exeter." 

From  Cambridge  also  came  a  hint  that  he  might  be 
made  Regius  Professor  in  succession  to  Ollivant. 

"  Harold  says,"  writes  Mrs.  Browne,  "  there  never  was 
any  man  made  so  miserable  by  having  the  best  preferment 
of  two  dioceses  thrust  upon  him,  with  the  addition  of  a 
Regius  Professorship  in  the  distance ! " 

We  have  in  a  letter  from  Mr.  Browne  to  his  favourite 
sister,  a  sketch  of  his  views  as  to  Kenwyn.  It  is  obvious 
that  his  heart  went  out  towards  the  proposal,  and  that, 
if  duty  would  allow,  inclination  was  hot  for  the  change. 

"  Kenwyn,"  he  says,  "  is  beautifully  situated,  an  excellent 
house,  on  a  hill  about  a  mile  from  Truro.  All  the  town 
population  is  divided  into  districts,  in  which  there  are 
separate  district  churches  and  clergymen.  The  church 
is  easy  to  fill,  the  place,  I  believe,  very  healthy,  the  popula- 
tion rural.  The  Prebend  may  be  a  step  to  a  Canonry,  for 
the  Canons  elect  out  of  the  Prebendaries.  It  is  close  to 
Lizzy's  family.  The  house  is  large  and  good,  almost  too 
large.  These  are  the  pros.  The  cons  are,  leaving  the 
Bishop  of  St.  David's,  Melvill,  and  Mr.  North,  and  leaving 
this  College  to  get  more  in  the  mud  than  ever,  I  fear. 
The  population  of  Kenwyn,  though  not  large  now,  is 
scattered ;  and  less  of  income.     I  should  have   probably 


I04  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Cil 


£700  instead  of  £'900  a  year.  But  I  always  fear  Lampeter 
may  fail  at  any  time.  Kenwyn  is  a  good  living,  and  there 
are  other  advantages." 

Mr.  Browne  appears  to  have  deferred  his  reply  to  the 
Bishop  of  Exeter  till  the  day  before  that  on  which  he  dates 
his  first  communication  to  the  Dean  of  St.  David's.  On 
the  6th  of  November  he  notifies  to  Bishop  Philpotts  that 
he  desires  to  accept  his  offer.  No  wonder:  whether  one 
looks  at  Lampeter  or  at  Kenwyn,  there  was  much  to  turn 
the  scale  in  favour  of  the  latter.  The  new  post  would  be 
a  return  to  clerical  from  professional  or  scholastic  work  ; 
and  Mr.  Browne's  mind  ever  turned  towards  the  duties  of 
the  priest  rather  than  towards  those  of  the  prophet.  Next, 
the  move  would  be  a  rise  from  a  subordinate  to  an  inde- 
pendent position  ;  from  being  under  an  unsympathetic 
Principal,  to  a  place  of  honour  as  the  trusted  adviser  for 
Cornwall  of  the  Bishop  of  the  diocese.  He  also,  thought 
it  would  be  of  real  benefit  to  his  family.  At  Lampeter 
neither  wife  nor  children  seemed  strong  and  well ;  to  go  to 
Kenwyn  was  to  take  Mrs.  Browne  back  to  the  place  where 
she  had  spent  her  youth,  where  she  was  much  beloved, 
where  her  father  was  living  honoured  of  all.  And  one 
can  well  believe  that  the  work  at  the  College  was 
much  against  the  collar  ;  the  Welsh  students  were  dis- 
contented with  the  management ;  there  was  no  buoyancy 
about  the  work,  but  rather  a  feeling  of  precariousness. 
Any  day  there  might  be  an  explosion,  after  which  he 
would  find  himself  left  with  the  weight  of  failure  and 
of  poverty  on  his  shoulders.  It  was  of  this  time  that 
Mrs.  Browne,  speaking  one  day  to  Mrs.  North,  the  wife 
of  his  most  zealous  and  capable  colleague,  exclaimed  in 
despair,  "  If  Harold  remains  here  longer  he  will  go  mad !" 
And,  lastly,  the  kind-hearted  Vice-Principal  saw  in  the 
remove  a  painless  way  of  putting   a  stop   to  that   large 


IV.]  VICAR  OF  KENWYN  AND  KEA,  105 

expenditure  in  charity  which  had  in  the  six  years  of  his 
Lampeter  life  made  him  a  prey  to  every  needy  person, 
worthy  or  unworthy,  who  could  get  access  to  him  and 
could  wheedle  the  shillings  out  of  his  pocket 

And  so  the  balance  dipped  towards  Cornwall.  Mr. 
Browne  had  consulted  friends  whom  he  trusted,  and 
especially  Bishop  Thirlwall. 

The  Bishop  of  St.  David's  clearly  saw  that  Mr.  Browne 
could  come  to  no  other  conclusion,  for  he  writes,  even 
before  the  communications  with  the  Dean,  the  following 
letter  :— 

"  Abergwili,  Novetnlmr  tst,  1849. 

"  My  dear  Sir, — I  felt  myself  bound,  for  the  sake  of  the 
College  and  the  diocese,  to  set  before  you  all  the  circum- 
stances depending  on  my  own  will,  which  might  by 
possibility  induce  you  to  stay  with  us.  But  I  did  not 
imagine  that  they  could  have  any  great  weight  with  you, 
so  far  as  your  own  interest  is  concerned.  And  after  the 
statement  contained  in  your  last  letter  I  must  say  that  I 
cannot  even  so  much  as  wish  to  persuade  you  to  come  to 
a  different  resolution  from  that  which  you  would  have 
adopted  if  you  had  not  heard  from  me,  or  from  Mr. 
Melvill.  Great  as  will  be  my  concern  for  the  public  loss, 
it  would  only  be  exchanged  for  a  different  kind  of  regret, 
which  I  should  never  cease  to  feel,  if  I  had  induced  you  to 
make  such  a  sacrifice  of  your  domestic  happiness  as  would 
evidently  be  involved  in  your  retaining  your  present 
situation.  I  would  rather  beg  you  at  once  to  abandon  all 
thoughts  of  such  a  sacrifice,  which  I  really  think  is  not 
called  for  by  any  consideration  of  duty.  You  will  certainly 
have  made  sacrifice  enough,  and  will  perhaps  have  con- 
ferred the  most  important  of  all  benefits  on  the  College, 
if  you  adopt  the  course  which  you  suggest,  of  bringing  its 
affairs  into  a  better  train,  and  of  giving  occasion  for  some 
provisions  which  may  guard  against  the  recurrence  of  past 
abuses.  This  is  the  only  favour  which  I  can  now  request 
from  you,  and  I  believe  that  you  are  the  only  person  from 
whom  I  could  expect  ever  to  receive  such  a  one.  And 
unless  some  such  step  be  taken  by  a  person  occupying  a 
like  position  in   the   College,  I   see  no  prospect,  or  even 


I06  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D,  [Ch. 

possibility,  of  any  reformation.  I  hear  painful  reports  in 
various  quarters  of  surmises  and  suspicions  with  regard  to 
the  management  of  the  College,  but  they  do  not  afford  me, 
as  Visitor,  sufficient  ground  for  taking  the  initiative  in 
instituting  an  official  enquiry,  which  nevertheless  appears 
to  have  become  necessary,  if  it  were  only  to  satisfy  the 
public  mind.  If  set  on  foot  by  you,  it  would  undoubtedly 
be  conducted  in  the  way  most  likely  to  lead  to  a  happy 
result. 

"Yours  faithfully, 

"  C.  St.  David's." 

Mr.  Browne's  decision  brought  the  subject  of  a  change 
in  the  College  administration  to  a  point.  He  felt  that  it 
was  the  time  for  him  to  speak  out ;  and  drew  up  a  plan 
for  the  redistribution  of  powers  and  functions,  for  the 
better  adjustment  of  finance,  and  for  the  creation  of  a 
governing  body,  composed  of  the  members  of  the  College 
staff.  The  scheme  appears  to  have  been  something  of 
this  kind :  Taking  a  Cambridge  College  as  the  type,  he 
proposed — (i)  That  finance  and  management  should  be 
entrusted  to  three  persons,  and  that  the  whole  staff  (or 
corporate  body)  should  act  as  auditors  twice  a  year ; 
(2)  That  all  College  business  should  be  transacted  in  formal 
College  meeting,  with  a  proper  minute-book  containing 
the  "  Acta  "  of  such  meetings  ;  (3)  That,  with  the  sanction 
and  approval  of  the  Bishop  as  Visitor  of  the  College, 
the  corporate  body,  consisting  of  the  Principal,  the  Vice- 
Principal,  Mr.  Melvill,  Mr.  North,  and  the  Archdeacon  of 
Cardigan,  should  form  a  committee  to  meet  and  draw  out 
a  scheme  of  management. 

This  scheme,  in  form  of  resolutions,  Mr.  Browne  submitted 
to  Bishop  Thirlwall ;  who  approved  of  it,  accepted  it,  and 
convened  a  meeting  of  the  College  staff.  At  this  meeting 
Mr.  Browne  moved  his  resolutions,  which  were  at  once 
adopted,  as  the  basis   of  an  entirely  new  administration. 


IV.]  VICAR  OF  KENIVYN  AND  KEA.  lO/ 

Mr.  North,  afterwards  Archdeacon  of  Cardigan,  was 
appointed  the  first  **  Steward,"  with  charge  of  the  actual 
catering  and  the  financial  affairs  of  the  College — the  side 
on  which  reform  was  most  needed — and  he  "  with  much 
care  and  method  readjusted  the  management  of  supplies, 
and  reduced  the  charges  on  these  accounts  for  the  students 
to  one-half  their  former  amount,  and  all  this  with  an  im- 
proved arrangement  for  their  comfort" 

Thereupon  Mr.  Browne  began  to  make  preparations  for 
departure.  This,  as  may  well  be  believed,  elicited  a 
chorus  of  regrets  from  all  his  Lampeter  friends.  The 
inhabitants  stood  aghast  at  the  news. 

The  Bishop  of  the  diocese  speaks  in  terms  of  strong 
regret  when  he  hears  of  it : — 

"  I  shall  always,"  he  says,  "  feel  myself  under  obligations 
to  you  for  the  benefits  you  have  conferred  on  the  College 
and  the  diocese  by  your  residence  among  us." 

The  students  of  the  College,  who,  some  little  time 
before,  had  joined  in  memorialising  the  Vice-Principal, 
begging  him  to  publish  his  lectures  on  the  Articles,  directly 
they  heard  of  his  going  collected  a  considerable  sum  of 
money,  and  had  his  portrait  painted  by  Graves,  to 
be  placed  in  the  College  Hall,  where  it  hangs,  as  a 
memorial  of  the  best  beloved  of  those  men  of  mark  who 
have  struggled  as  Vice-Principals  to  lift  the  unwilling 
Institution  to  a  higher  level.  Towards  this  portrait  the 
poor  parent  of  one  of  the  students  sent  the  considerable 
subscription  of  ;^3,  with  his  regrets  that  "  the  College  has 
been  deprived  of  his  valuable  services,  as  well  as  that  the 
*  poor  and  broken  in  spirit  *  in  this  neighbourhood  have 
lost  the  Christian  succour  of  one  of  the  most  kind-hearted 
and  benevolent  of  men." 


I08  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D  D.  [Ch. 


Many  years  after,  when  Dr,  Jayne,  then  Principal,  now 
Bishop  of  Chester,  wrote  to  invite  the  Bishop  of  Winchester 
(April  1880)  to  revisit  the  College,  he  says  :  "  It  would  give 
the  greatest  pleasure  not  only  to  the  College  Board  and  to 
your  old  pupils,  but  to  the  whole  town  of  Lampeter,  in 
which  your  memory  is  warmly  cherished." 

Very  soon  after  Mr.  Browne  had  left  the  College  came 
a  supplemental  charter  granting  to  the  governing  body  of 
St.  David's  College  the  power  of  conferring  the  degree  of 
Bachelor  of  Divinity  on  such  students  as  had  duly  passed 
through  the  course  ;  and  on  the  first  occasion  of  conferring 
Degrees,  in  June  1853,  a  banquet  was  held  in  honour  of  this 
marked  advance  in  the  fortunes  of  the  College.  The  chair 
was  taken  by  the  Principal,  Dean  Lewellin,  who  with 
excellent  tact  and  temper  made  no  allusion  to  the  changes 
which  Mr.  Browne  had  brought  about,  changes  which  must 
have  been  very  distasteful  to  him  ;  for,  if  many  men  have 
been  pleased  with  themselves  for  resigning  their  crown,  none 
have  ever  felt  gratified  at  being  deposed.  "In  proposing 
the  health  of  their  late  colleague,  Mr.  Harold  Browne, 
the  Principal  spoke  warmly  of  the  many  excellent  and 
amiable  qualities  which  distinguish  that  gentleman :  his 
nice  sense  of  honour,  his  strict  impartiality,  his  great  zeal, 
his  piety  and  unequalled  charity;"  all  which  was  true 
and  generously  said.  It  is  strange,  however,  that  he  made 
no  reference  to  the  most  marked  characteristic  of  alU 
Mr.  Browne's  great  stores  of  learning  and  mastery  of  his 
subjects,  and  the  clearness  and  ability  with  which  he 
handled  the  topics  on  which  he  lectured. 

One  of  his  old  pupils,  in  January  1850,  contributed  to 
the  pages  of  the  Haverford-West  newspaper  the  following 
sketch  : — 

"  In  person,  Professor  Browne  is  tall,  too  tall  for  his 
breadth.     He  has  a  very  pleasing  countenance,  approaching 


IV.]  VICAR  OF  KENWYN  AND  KEA.  109 


to  handsome,  and  has  what  is  called  a  young  look ;  but 
what  is  most  remarkable  about  it  is  its  expression — open 
and  benignant,  in  nothing  common  or  trivial,  but  almost 
invariably  betokening  strong  force  of  character.  His 
actions  correspond  :  there  is  nothing  frivolous  about  them, 
nothing  of  the  business  man,  nothing  hurried,  but  mostly 
calm,  collected,  earnest,  gentlemanly,  strong.  In  the  pulpit, 
he  is  quite  sui  generis^  not  eloquent,  but  always  to  the  point ; 
argumentative,  aiming  to  instruct  rather  than  to  persuade — 
to  dazzle  he  never  tried.  His  language  is  condensed,  never 
quaint ;  his  ideas  as  it  were  overleap  his  words,  which  latter 
are  simple  and  arranged  with  very  slight  regard  to  rhythm. 
His  manner  of  delivery  is  modest — too  modest,  but  ener- 
getic in  the  extreme :  as  earnest  as  any  pious  man  can 
wish  it.  His  voice  deep  and  loud,  not  much  varied  or 
over-musical,  and  emitted,  as  a  singer  would  say,  in  the 
staccato  style ;  or  one  may  say  as  well,  very  emphatically. 
In  the  lecture-room  he  is  surprising  for  the  extent  and 
soundness  of  his  learning,  for  the  vast  amount  of  comment 
he  is  able  to  make  on  the  text  in  hand,  which  he  delivers 
with  difficulty,  but  with  a  perfect  abandonment,  except 
where  he  has  occasion  to  give  an  opinion  of  his  own  ;  then 
his  modesty  creates  an  evident  change  of  manner.  In 
explaining  a  point  he  turns  it  over  and  over  again,  so  as 
to  make  it  intelligible,  one  would  think,  to  the  meanest 
capacity  in  the  room.  He  never  aflfects  display  ;  never 
utters  what  he  thinks  irrelevant ;  never  aims  at  amus- 
ing. ...  To  sum  up,  he  is  always  to  the  point,  seldom 
overdoes  anything^  seldom  aims  at  dazzling.  He  is,  taking 
him  all  in  all,  about  the  best  specimen  of  a  Christian 
gentleman  we  have  seen  ;  and  to  complete  his  character, 
he  gives  away,  so  we  are  told,  about  half  his  income  in 
charity. — A  Student  of  St.  David's  Collie." 

And  thus  Mr.  Browne  passed  away  from  Lampeter, 
returning  to  parochial  work  and  more  directly  spiritual 
duties  with  a  sigh  of  relief.  He  seems  to  have  been 
consulted  about  his  successor,  and  to  have  advised  the 
appointment  of  Mr.  Williams,  a  brilliant  Fellow  of  King's, 
a  Welshman  of  the  Welshmen,  one  of  the  most  devout 
and  prayerful  of  men,  a  liberal  High  Churchman  of  an 
independent  type,  endowed  with  one  of  the  purest  natures 


I  lO  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D,D.  [Ch, 

and  most  penetrating  and  philosophical  intellects  ever 
seen  at  Cambridge.  Here  was  a  man  who,  it  was  hoped, 
combined  all  the  qualities  required  ;  his  Cambrian  enthu- 
siasm, his  learning,  his  fearless  love  of  truth,  his  chivalrous 
defence  of  the  spirit  against  the  letter,  seemed  to  mark 
him  out  as  the  future  leader  of  Welsh  Churchmanship. 
All  his  friends  regarded  his  appointment  to  Lampeter  as 
only  the  first  step  towards  a  Welsh  bishopric.  It  was,  as 
it  fell  out,  just  the  other  way.  Had  Mr.  Williams  stayed 
on  at  King's,  taking  life  easy,  and  meddling  little  with 
the  theological  movements  of  the  day,  his  goal,  or  rather 
the  go^l  his  admirers  set  up  for  him,  would  probably  have 
been  reached.  Lampeter  was  fatal  to  the  most  gifted  of 
its  teachers :  his  fine-strung  irritable  temperament  was  ill 
suited  to  the  drudgery  of  the  daily  work,  and  his  fearless 
advocacy  of  the  truth  awakened  all  the  suspicions  of 
religious  people.  They  admired  and  feared.  Though  he 
was  a  devoted  High  Churchman,  full  of  the  grandest  con- 
ceptions of  the  spiritual  life  of  the  Church,  the  chief 
persons  in  high  place  in  the  Church  regarded  him  as 
dangerous.  His  influence  over  the  College  diminished  ; 
the  Bishop  of  St.  David's  ceased  to  support  him  ;  the 
Calvinistic  Welsh  were  scared  and  scandalised.  Many 
things  he  did  just  thirty  years  too  soon,  and  his  vigorous 
and  thoughtful  writings  added  fuel  to  the  fire,  by  a  keen- 
ness of  thrust  and  bitterness  of  tone  which  alarmed  and 
alienated  many  who  had  no  quarrel  with  his  conclusions. 
His  paper  on  Bunsen  and  Biblical  Research  in  "  Essays 
and  Reviews"  naturally  created  great  excitement,  and 
prudent  people  felt  that  this  wild  champion  of  truth, 
who  defied  conventionalities  just  as  he  rode  a  half-broken 
high-spirited  horse,  galloping  over  the  rough  hills  near 
Lampeter,  and  as  he  went  shouting  aloud  devout  prayers 
to  God,  was  not  the  man  to  guide  the  fortunes  of  a  weak 


IV.]  VICAR  OF  KENWYN  AND  KEA,  1 1 1 

and  struggling  theological  college.     Of  that  College  we 
may  say,  as  he  himself  said  of  marriage : — 

"  It  is  not  every  temper  he  could  bear  to  live  with  ;  and 
although  not  likely  to  be  happy  without  a  wife,  he  thought 
he  might  possibly  be  less  happy  with  one." 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  it  was  with  a  light  heart 
and  with  a  happy  family  around  him  that  Mr.  Browne 
bade  farewell  to  Lampeter  and  his  Welsh  friends.  Fare- 
wells to  old  comrades  and  friends  are  but  as  a  piquant 
garniture  to  life,  when  one  is  eager  for  new  work  and 
changed  scenes.  And  Kenwyn  promised  to  be  all  he 
wished  for:  plentiful  clerical  work,  congenial  society  in 
sufficient  quantity,  leisure  to  study  and  write,  and  above 
all,  the  knowledge  that  he  would  enjoy  the  confidence  and 
countenance  of  his  Bishop.  He  once  told  Mr.  P.  Dyke 
Acland  that  "he  had  worked  harder  at  Kenwyn  than  at 
any  other  time  in  his  life."  It  is  not  unlikely  that  this  was 
also  the  period  of  the  purest  happiness  he  enjoyed  in  all 
his  long  and  prosperous  career. 

The  institution  to  the  Vicarage  of  Kenwyn  with  the 
Chapelry  of  Kea  took  place  on  January  sth,  1850;  and 
on  the  same  day  Mr.  Browne  was  also  installed  in  a 
Prebend  in  Exeter  Cathedral  Church. 

Throughout  this  first  year  of  his  cure  of  souls  in 
Cornwall,  Mr.  Browne  found  his  hands  very  full  of  work. 
He  not  only  took  full  share  in  all  parochial  work,  visiting, 
teaching,  preaching,  and  supervising  local  charities,  but 
also  fulfilled  his  promise  to  his  pupils  at  Lampeter  by 
converting  his  College  lectures  on  the  Thirty-Nine  Articles 
into  a  volume  for  the  benefit  of  all  future  students  of 
theology. 

Kenwyn  and  Kea,  of  which  he  now  became  Vicar,  are 
two   distinct   parishes;    the    one,    Kenwyn,   forming    the 


112  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D,  [Ch. 

northern  suburb  of  Truro,  and  the  other,  Kea,  lying 
somewhat  to  the  south  of  that  place,  on  the  estuary. 
There  were  two  churches  to  be  served,  as  well  as  many 
outlying  knots  of  population  to  be  looked  after.  Though 
Kenwyn  was  a  large  parish,  the  "  Church  town,"  or  popu- 
lation around  the  church,  consisted  solely  of  one  farm- 
house, a  few  cottages,  and  a  schoolroom.  The  whole  parish 
was  seven  miles  long  and  by  no  means  easy  to  visit,  as  the 
hamlets  were  far  apart.  Among  these  scattered  places 
Tregavethan  was  probably  the  most  primitive  ;  there  the 
inhabitants  knew  so  little  of  education  that,  when  Mr. 
Browne  showed  them  some  pictures  of  animals  and  birds, 
they  were  completely  taken  by  surprise,  and  many  were 
their  exclamations  of  wonder  and  pleasure,  when  Mr. 
Browne  turned  out  a  picture  of  a  duck.  One  of  the  boys, 
delighted  at  being  able  to  recognise  a  friend,  called  out, 
"  Why,  that  be  old  Gammer's  Mallard  ! "  a  phrase  which 
would  have  won  the  heart  at  once  of  any  Fellow  of  All 
Souls.  Tregavethan,  however,  has  long  since  lost  its 
primitive  ignorance  ;  it  now  boasts  a  resident  landlord, 
and  has  a  chapel  of  its  own  with  regular  services.  At 
Tregavethan  lived  that  nonconformist  minister  whose 
confidence  Mr.  Browne  won  so  completely  that  one  day 
after  the  boys  of  the  hamlet  had  been  unusually  lively, 
and  had  broken  the  windows  of  his  little  chapel,  he  trudged 
afoot  all  the  way  to  Kenwyn,  in  order  to  consult  the 
Vicar  as  to  the  best  way  of  putting  an  end  to  these  petty 
outrages.  He  amazed  Mr.  Browne  not  a  little,  after 
describing  his  troubles,  by  saying,  "  And  now,  sir,  what 
do  you  think  I  should  do  with  the  young  rascals?  Do 
you  think,  sir,  I  could  shoot  'em  ?  "  Mr.  Browne,  with  a 
gravity  which  ill  responded  to  his  inner  state  of  amuse- 
ment, refrained  from  advice  supposed  to  be  suitable  for  a 
Celtic  disturbance,  and  thought  he  had  better  "hesitate 


IV.]  VICAR  OF  KENWYN  AND  KEA.  II3 

to  shoot."  The  good -will  which  this  simple  Methodist 
showed  towards  Mr.  Browne  existed  between  him  and 
all  the  nonconformists.  Though  he  made  no  secret  of 
his  opinions,  he  was  so  full  of  Christian  simplicity  and 
genuine  affectionateness,  that  they  were  carried  away  by 
it,  and  lived  with  him  on  terms  of  great  good-will  and 
kindliness  throughout  his  sojourn  in  Cornwall.  When 
one  remembers  the  vehemence  of  nonconformity  and  its 
strength  in  that  county,  and  the  fact  that  Mr.  Browne  was 
a  decided  High  Churchman,  we  may  well  regard  it  as  a  very 
high  testimony  to  the  lovable  qualities  of  his  character. 

Kea,  which  lay  on  the  other  side  of  Truro,  was  treated 
almost  as  a  sole  cure.  Perhaps  the  most  notable  thing 
about  it  was  the  very  ancient  and  curious  church  plate, 
which  dates  back  to  the  early  part  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
and  is  said  to  have  belonged  to  Rente  d'Amboise,  the 
elder  daughter  of  Jacques  d*Amboise,  who  was  killed  at 
the  battle  of  Marignano  in  1515.  How  it  drifted  into 
this  out-of-the-way  Cornish  village  is  not  known.  When 
Mr.  Browne  came  there,  Kea  was  in  the  charge  of 
the  Rev.  John  Hardie,  M.A.,  afterwards  Archdeacon 
of  Kaffraria,  who  continued  for  several  years  with  the 
new  vicar. 

The  Vicarage  at  Kenwyn,  which  has  since  been  enlarged 
as  the  home  of  the  Bishop  of  Truro,  was  at  this  time  a 
good -sized  comfortable  house,  stone-built.  It  stands  hard 
by  the  parish  church,  with  its  handsome  Perpendicular 
tower,  in  a  charming  garden,  just  above  Truro,  overlooking 
the  town  and  the  valley  with  the  gleaming  river  below. 
The  fault  of  it  was  that,  as  Cornishmen  say,  it  was  built 
"  agin  the  country,"  that  is,  with  the  ground  rising  directly 
at  the  back  of  it,  so  that  the  Vicar's  study,  which  looked 
that  way,  was  dangerously  damp.  Here,  however,  Mr. 
Browne  lived  in  great  contentment  for  about  seven  years, 

8 


1 14  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Cm. 

happy  in  the  manifold  opportunities  he  enjoyed  of  doing 
good,  and  in  ministering  to  his  fellows. 

Archdeacon  Hardie  has  with  much  kindness  provided 
me  with  several  interesting  facts  respecting  this  period. 
He  writes  : — 

"  At  the  time  of  Mr.  Browne's  appointment  as  Vicar  of 
Kenwyn-cum-Kea  I  was  curate  in  sole  charge  of  Kea, 
having  been  previously,  for  a  short  time,  assistant-curate 
of  the  joint  parishes.  I  liked  my  post,  and  wished  to 
retain  it,  but  not  knowing  the  new  Vicar  I  took  the  liberty 
of  writing  to  him  without  any  personal  introduction,  offer- 
ing to  remain.  The  returning  post  brought  me  a  very 
friendly  letter  begging  me  to  do  so. 

"  The  town  of  Truro  at  that  time  lay  in  the  two  parishes  of 
Kenwyn  and  St.  Mary's,  and  (as  not  seldom  happens)  there 
had  been  small  rivalries — not  to  say  jealousies — between 
these  parishes  as  to  which  should  take  the  lead. 

"  This  state  of  things,  though  it  did  not  altogether  prevent 
community  of  work,  certainly  did  not  help  it  forward. 
Now  there  was  nothing  little  about  Harold  Browne.  He 
simply  would  not  see  these  rivalries,  but  always  went 
straight  to  the  point  in  question,  giving  his  unbiassed  judg- 
ment with  that  quiet  weight  which  was  all  his  own.  And 
it  was  soon  felt  that  a  power  had  come  among  us,  which 
made  its  way  to  supremacy  all  the  more  easily  because  it 
was  united  with  so  much  gentleness  and  fairness.  The  tone 
thus  given  to  our  local  councils  was  the  more  valuable 
because  party  feeling  was  at  that  time  running  strong  on 
Church  and  educational  questions.  I  ought  not  to  omit  to 
mention  that  while  his  gentleness  of  tone  was  prevailing  in 
public,  there  was  the  influence  of  a  model  Home  at  work  in 
the  same  direction. 

"The  family  at  the  Vicarage  consisted  of  rather  un- 
common elements.  Besides  the  Vicar  and  his  wife  and 
children,  there  were  two  elderly  sisters  of  the  Vicar,  ladies 
of  a  good  deal  of  character  of  their  own,  yet  living  in  most 
perfect  harmony  with  the  younger  members,  and  sharing 
all  their  interests. 

"  A  unity  so  rare  could  not  fail  to  have  an  influence  for 
good  on  all  who  witnessed  it.  And  these  were  many,  for 
Mrs.  Browne  belonged  to  an  old  Cornish  family,  several 


IV.]  VICAR  OF  KENIVYN  AND  KEA,  115 

members  of  which  were  resident  in  Truro,  and  leaders  of 
the  society  of  the  neighbourhood,  especially  her  parents, 
whose  public  spirit  and  generous  hospitality  made  them 
universally  popular.  Mrs.  Browne,  in  coming  to  Kenwyn, 
brought  her  full  share  of  this  personal  favour  with  her  to 
•  the  Vicarage,  so  that  the  singular  happiness  of  her  new 
home  was  soon  known  to  all  the  neighbours.  I  need  not 
dwell  on  the  good  effects  of  such  an  exemplary  life  as  that 
of  the  inmates  of  the  Vicarage  on  the  many  who  had  the 
privilege  of  witnessing  it. 

"  Having  described,  however  imperfectly,  the  Vicar's 
home,  I  must  now  say  something  of  his  work  as  a  Parish 
Priest  As  I  had  sole  charge  of  Kea,  my  parish  work  lay 
parallel  to  his  rather  than  in  common  with  it  But  we 
touched  each  other  all  along  the  frontier,  and  I  had  frequent 
opportunities  of  hearing  of  his  diligent  visiting  and  his  large 
charity  to  those  in  want  or  sickness.  Then  again  his  purse 
was  always  open  to  any  one  in  need  on  my  side  of  the 
border,  and  although  he  was  most  delicate  in  his  treatment 
of  me  personally  (consulting  me  about  Kea  as  if  I  were  a 
brother  Vicar),  yet  he  always  gave  cheerfully  and  liberally 
towards  the  schools  and  charities  of  Kea,  although  that 
Parish  brought  very  little  income  to  him. 

"  Again,  a  marked  trait  in  his  character  was  his  sympathy 
with  sorrow.  I  should  be  ungrateful  indeed  if  I  did  not 
make  mention  of  an  instance  of  this  quality,  exemplified  as 
it  was  in  my  own  case.  A  very  near  and  dear  relation  had 
been  taken  from  me  by  death,  and  the  loss  had  completely 
unnerved  me.  The  Vicar  insisted  on  my  giving  up  work 
and  going  away,  he  undertaking  to  fulfil  the  duties  of  the 
parish  in  my  absence.  On  my  return,  I  found  that  an 
epidemic  disease  had  prevailed,  and  that  for  a  whole  fort- 
night he  had  been  personally  visiting  my  sick,  as  well  as  his 
own,  rather  than  recall  me  (as  most  men  would  certainly  have 
done)  to  my  duty.  This  is  the  way  to  win  hearts,  and 
mine  was  twice  his  from  that  day  forward.  Unhappily  the 
overwork  affected  him  seriously,  and  made  me  doubly  regret 
my  own  want  of  nerve.  As  soon  as  he  was  able  to  get 
about  again  he  was  at  work,  with  his  usual  diligence,  in  his 
parish. 

"  I  ought  to  say  something  of  his  preaching,  for  it  was 
regarded  by  those  who  heard  him  habitually  as  not  the 
least  of  his  many  strong  points.  But  only  on  rare  occasions 
had  I  this  privilege,  for  when  he  preached  at  Kea  I  was 


Il6  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DJ).  [Ch. 

ordinarily  obliged  to  fill  his  place,  however  feebly,  at  Kenwyn, 
or  more  frequently  at  a  little  chapel  in  Old  Kea,  where  we 
were  in  turn  responsible  for  a  Sunday  service.  The  few 
sermons  which  I  heard  of  his  were  quite  above  the  common, 
reflecting  the  *  sweet  reasonableness '  of  the  man's  whole 
mind  and  character,  distinct  in  their  teaching,  but  not  too 
abstract  for  the  heads  of  his  hearers.  I  was  much  struck 
by  the  ingenuity  with  which  day  by  day  he  linked  the  text 
he  had  chosen  to  some  large  field  of  Christian  duty,  and 
applied  it  to  the  consciences  of  all  his  hearers,  but  especially 
to  the  younger  ones,  without  ever  repeating  himself,  in  the 
course  of  the  week  or  ten  days  of  our  tour. 

"  From  the  Bishop's  teaching  I  am  naturally  led  to  say 
something  of  his  ordinary  conversation,  for  though  that 
was  as  unlike  preaching  as  possible,  there  was  always 
much  good  to  be  gotten  from  it,  in  his  invariably  sensible 
and  kindly  judgment  on  things  in  general.  Often  too  it 
was  seasoned  with  the  salt  of  quiet  humour.  I  wish  I 
could  recall  some  instances  of  this,  but  my  memory  has 
only  preserved  the  conclusion  of  a  conversation  in  which 
1  finally  resigned  my  charge  of  Kea  into  his  hands.  He 
said  there  was  an  old  proverb  that  *  no  man  could  expect 
to  have  more  than  one  thoroughly  good  horse  in  his  life,* 
adding,  with  one  of  his  sweet  smiles,  that  he  *  hoped  that 
what  was  true  of  horseflesh  might  not  prove  true  of 
curates  also.'  I  was  amused,  and  at  the  same  time 
gratified,  by  what  was  implied,  and,  as  I  remember,  bade 
him  not  despair,  for  it  was  a  well-known  fact  that  the 
performance  of  the  steed  depended  very  much  on  the  hand 
of  the  master." 

No  more  pleasing  picture  of  the  relation  between  vicar 
and  curate  can  be  imagined.  It  bears  witness  to  the 
affectionate  character,  the  innate  goodness,  the  readiness  to 
"  spend  and  be  spent,"  the  absolute  freedom  from  personal 
assertion,  which  marked  the  whole  of  the  Bishop's  career. 

This  was  an  important  period  in  Mr.  Browne's  life.  The 
years  at  Kenwyn  ripened  him  into  a  thorough  parish 
priest.  In  parochial  activity  and  organisation,  in  spiritual 
work  with  his  flock,  in  literary  undertakings,  and  in  a  rapid 
advance  in  public  estimation  as  one  of  the  most  rising  of 


IV.]  VICAR  OF  KENWYN  AND  KEA,  II7 

the  younger  Churchmen,  Mr.  Browne  made  admirable  use 
ofthe.se  years,  from  1850  to  1856  ;  and  this  though  at  the 
time  his  health  was  very  much  impaired,  and  he  was 
long  confined  to  his  house,  and  even  to  his  bed.  The 
period  and  the  place  both  combined  to  bring  Mr.  Browne 
into  prominence  ;  it  was  now  nine  years  since  the  cele- 
brated "  Tract  90  "  had  first  seen  the  light,  and  things  had 
moved  onward  somewhat  rapidly.  In  1845  the  ablest  con- 
tributor to  the  Tracts  had  been  received  into  the  Church 
of  Rome,  and  men  who  had  sympathised  with  him  in  his 
theological  views,  and  in  the  endeavour  to  infuse  more  of 
the  spirit  of  mediaeval  usage  and  dignity  into  the  somewhat 
chilly  frame  of  Anglicanism,  were  obliged  to  reconsider 
their  position.  A  few  passed  boldly  over  to  Rome;  the 
rest  strengthened  themselves  in  the  middle  position 
which  their  Church  seemed  naturally  fitted  to  maintain  ; 
the  body  politic  rocked  and  swayed  awhile,  and  then 
settled  down  into  a  steady  course,  which  it  has,  on  the 
whole,  pursued  without  serious  change  from  that  time  for- 
ward. Among  the  older  High  Churchmen  no  one  was 
more  definite  in  his  standpoint  than  the  Bishop  of  Exeter ; 
among  the  younger  clergy  hardly  anyone  understood  his 
ground  so  well,  or  explained  the  position  so  clearly,  as 
did  Mr.  Browne.  The  years  at  Lampeter  had  given  him 
time  to  secure  himself  in  his  firm  and  almost  enthusiastic 
belief  in  the  sufficiency  of  the  English  Church,  and  in  the 
soundness  of  her  credentials.  No  more  loyal  Churchman 
ever  existed. 

It  may  be  said  of  theologians,  as  S.  T.  Coleridge  says 
in  the  "  Aids  to  Reflection  "  of  mankind  in  general,  that 
they  are  all  by  nature  either  Aristotelians  or  Platonists. 
And  the  High  Church  movement  has  distinctly  passed 
through  both  these  phases  of  thought.  The  earlier 
Anglicans,  mostly  from  Oxford,  had  their  minds  full  of 


Il8  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DS>.  [Ch. 

Aristotle,  and  treated  the  "  Ethics  "  with  a  respect  almost 
equal  to  that  which  was  felt  for  the  Bible.  While  here 
and  there  one,  like  William  Sewell,  was  a  poetic  Platonist, 
who  saw  the  Christian  Church  adumbrated  in  the  "  De 
Republica,"  the  bulk  of  Oxford  thinkers  had  been  nursed 
on  Aristotle's  knees,  and  were  deeply  embued  with  the 
leading  doctrine  of  the  Aristotelian  morality,  the  "doc- 
trine of  the  mean  "  betwixt  extremes.  The  whole  tendency 
of  Oxford  teaching  gravitated,  as  if  by  a  law  of  nature, 
towards  the  middle  point,  the  point  of  balance  between 
excess  and  defect.  And  this  was  true  in  many  fields. 
Aristotle,  in  applying  it  specially  to  morals,  had  not  there- 
by limited  the  application  ;  in  politics,  in  social  life,  in 
theology,  the  hkppy  man  was  the  man  who  avoided 
extremes,  and  kept  the  middle  course.  The  bulk  of  the 
High  Church  clergy  of  that  day  fell  in  with  this  view,  and 
were  as  anxious  to  avoid  the  too  high  as  the  too  low 
position.  No  one  defended  this  middle  ground  more 
clearly,  or  with  more  learning  and  temper,  than  Mr. 
Browne.  No  one  ever  was,  on  the  other  hand,  a  more 
remarkable  example  of  the  modern  saying  that  "  but  for 
the  extremes,  the  mean  would  never  rise."  For  his  middle 
point  was  in  every  sense  a  higher  one  than  that  of  his 
predecessors,  and  the  rise  was  clearly  caused  by  the 
aspirations  of  those  who  held  the  more  extreme  views. 
The  Low  Church  side  helped  less  than  the  other  ;  yet 
their  insistence  on  individual  responsibility,  and  the  real 
importance  of  a  living  faith  and  a  spiritual  view  of 
religion,  kept  the  middle  party  from  risks  of  formalism 
and  of  a  too  systematised  view  of  Church  life  and  polity. 
On  the  other  side,  the  doctrines  relating  to  the  community 
of  the  Church,  by  which  the  individual  partly  loses  his 
prominence,  and  the  body  politic  answers  for  him,  formed 
an  essential  part  of  that  high  middle   course  which  the 


IV.]  VICAR  OF  KENIVYN  AND  KEA,  119 

best  Churchmen  had  learnt  to  tread.  To  Mr.  Browne  the 
theory  of  a  strongly  organised  national  Church,  whether 
established  or  not,  was  the  palladium  of  religion.  While 
he  always  contended  stoutly  against  Roman  innovations, 
and  the  claims  set  forth  by  the  chief  polemic  writers  of 
the  Roman  obedience,  he  endeavoured  with  all  his  force 
to  strengthen  the  position  of  Anglicanism,  as  a  thoroughly 
organised  and  independent  branch  of  the  Church  Catholic, 
The  keystone  of  his  system  was  Episcopacy.  An  Epis- 
copate transmitted  by  due  succession  from  the  earliest 
times,  a  clergy  called  of  God  and  admitted  by  their 
Bishops  in  due  form  into  the  ministry  of  the  Church  ;  a 
strong  coherent  system  of  Church  government  and  admin- 
istration, with  ramifications  first  over  all  England,  and  then 
by  Episcopal  transmission  across  the  vast  breadth  of  the 
English  dominions  and  wherever  the  English-speaking 
race  has  made  a  home, — this,  he  held,  was  the  right  way 
in  which  to  build  up  a  really  National  Church.  There 
is  something  congenial  to  the  English  temperament  in 
this  practical  application  of  the  Aristotelian  philosophy ; 
to  most  of  us  the  high-soaring  views  of  Plato  and  his 
school  seem  to  be  dreams,  wanting  in  solidity  and  out 
of  touch  with  the  everyday  average  needs  and  struggles 
of  mankind.  We  accept  the  political  philosophy  of 
the  "Politics,"  while  we  think  of  the  "Republic"  of  Plato 
as  Utopian.  And  the  earlier  High  Church  movement^ 
unaffected  by  chance  votaries  of  Plato,  made  an  Anglicanism 
of  moderate  pretensions  its  aim.  Since  then  the  movement 
has  developed  itself  on  other  lines  ;  and  the  most  prominent 
minds  have  in  fact  abandoned  Aristotle  for  Plato.  Later 
utterances  as  to  the  spiritual  life,  the  shrinking  from  hard 
dogmatism  and  preference  for  a  mystic  theology,  the  belief 
that  in  some  sense  Plato's  "Idea"  lies  at  the  root  of  the 
relations,  personal  or  sacramental,  between  God  as  declared 


I20  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,   D.D.  [Cb. 

to  US  in  the  Person  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  man  in  his  rege- 
nerate life, — these  things  mark  the  later  development  of 
High  Church  theology,  and  have  created  a  new  and  a  more 
liberal  school  of  Churchmanship.  With  this  later  state  of 
religious  opinion  Bishop  Harold  Browne  was  never  fully  in 
sympathy ;  it  seemed  to  him  to  bring  men  perilously  near 
to  the  theology  and  polity  of  the  Roman  Church,  and  to 
be  ill-defined,  leading  no  man  could  say  to  what  end.  Con- 
sequently, while  he  remained  firmly  fixed  in  his  strong 
position,  and  while  his  work  on  the  Thirty-Nine  Articles 
was  a  temperate  expression  of  the  Anglican  view  of  Chris- 
tian doctrine  and  organisation,  the  modem  High  Church 
party  has  shaken  itself  free  from  the  conservative  position 
there  taken  up,  and  has  chafed  at  the  moderation  then  dis- 
played, calling  it,  in  the  matter  of  the  Sacraments,  a  "  mere 
following  of  Hooker."  Strong  partisans  hate  to  be  checked 
by  ancient  formulas  ;  the  modern  High  school,  of  which  the 
note  is  spirituality,  has  perhaps  more  sympathy  with  the 
earnest  Nonconformist,  who  insists  on  the  need  for  conver- 
sion and  a  spiritual  life,  than  with  the  theology  which  rests 
on  ordinances,  and  shuns  irregular  outbursts,  and  stands 
aloof  from  the  reign  of  enthusiastic  emotion.  And  so  it 
came  about  that  in  the  end  the  steadfast  Bishop,  who  at 
first  had  been  accused  of  extreme  High  Church  leanings^ 
came  often  to  be  the  object  of  the  lofty  pity,  and  perhaps 
of  the  ignorant  scorn,  of  the  "  advanced  "  clergy,  who  felt 
his  learning,  his  moderation,  and  his  definite  position  a 
hindrance  to  the  success  of  their  eager  "  forward  movement" 

Three  things  specially  marked  the  years  of  Mr.  Browne's 
life  at  Kenwyn :  the  zeal  and  activity  of  his  parochial 
work ;  his  share  in  the  agitation  for  the  revival  of  Con- 
vocation ;  and,  by  no  means  least,  the  publication  of  hi§ 
work  on  the  Thirty-Nine  Articles. 


IV.]  yJCAR  OF  KENWYN  AND  KEA,  121 

The  population  of  Kenwyn  was  mainly  scattered  over 
a  large  area,  and  required  a  pastor  who  could  be  active  in 
moving  from  point  to  point,  and  fearless  in  facing  every 
kind  of  weather.  To  meet  the  difficulties — which  pressed 
hardly  on  a  man  of  his  delicate  constitution — Mr.  Browne 
bought  a  horse,  and  though,  by  reason  of  his  stature,  he 
was  not  a  good  figure  for  riding,  made  great  use  of  it  for 
visiting  all  parts  of  the  parish.  Against  bad  weather  he 
got  himself  a  panoply  which,  as  he  used  to  say,  left  only 
his  face  to  be  drowned  when  the  Cornish  sea-mists  came 
over  thick  and  wet,  and  he  was  obliged  to  ride  forth  to 
visit  the  sick.  An  ample  waterproof  cloak,  and  "  anti- 
gropelos  "  encasing  his  long  legs,  enabled  him  to  defy  the 
dirt  and  damp.  He  must  have  been  a  Quixotic  figure  on 
his  steed  plodding  through  the  miry  lanes,  intent  on  some 
charitable  or  spiritual  errand. 

His  parish  work  was  very  carefully  organised.  Each 
curate  had  his  division  as  a  kind  of  sole  charge,  and  there 
were  district  visitors  for  smaller  areas.  He  drew  up  for 
them  a  paper  of  enquiries,  so  that  the  visitors  might 
furnish  him  with  facts  as  to  the  condition  of  his  people. 
One  of  these  papers  has  been  preserved.  The  lady  who 
filled  it  up  had  to  visit  twenty-one  houses,  with  a  popu- 
lation of  about  a  hundred  souls.  The  form  asked  for  the 
names  of  inhabitants,  their  occupation,  number  in  each 
house,  ages,  the  religious  body  to  which  they  belonged  ;  it 
enquired  whether  the  people  could  read,  whether  they  had 
a  Bible,  whether  the  children  had  been  baptised,  whether 
they  were  at  school,  and  where,  and  lastly,  whether  the 
grown-up  members  of  the  household  were  communicants. 
Most  of  these  questions  were  answered  simply ;  there  is 
only  one  entry  of  an  unusual  kind  :  "  There  is  a  Brianite 
class  and  prayer-meeting  held  in  this  house ;  daughter 
most  painfully  ignorant." 


122  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

Mr.  Browne  was  bound  to  spend  nearly  two-thirds  of 
the  year  as  Professor  at  Cambridge,  and  the  effect  was  seen 
in  troubles  with  his  curates.  The  times  were  trying  for 
warm-hearted  enthusiastic  young  clergymen  ;  the  spiritual 
fervour  of  the  Aitkenite  movement,  the  necessity  of 
dealing  with  the  strong  Wesleyanism  of  the  Comishmen, 
and  other  difficulties,  combined  to  create  a  restlessness 
in  some  of  his  young  helpers,  which  ended  in  the 
secession  of  one  of  them  to  the  Roman  Church.  What 
Professor  Browne  could  do  he  did  with  the  utmost 
kindness  ;  but  he  was  much  away,  and  often  far  from 
strong  in  health,  so  that  much  of  his  valuable  influence 
evaporated  in  the  post-office.  His  letters  of  this  period 
show  us  how  faithfully  and  kindly  he  treated  his  fellow- 
workers,  and  how  completely  he  was  the  father  as  well 
as  the  master  of  these  young  men.  One  of  the  curates, 
the  Rev.  Walter  James,  a  man  of  no  small  gifts  and  an 
excellent  preacher,  has  left  us  a  very  pleasing  picture 
of  the  Professor's  character  and  surroundings  at  this  time. 
He  tells  us  that  "  Aitkenism,"  which  was  "  popularly 
supposed  to  be  a  wedding  of  a  scion  of  the  Wesleyan 
doctrine  of  sensible  conversion  upon  the  stock  of  Trac- 
tarian  theology,"  abounded  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Kenwyn ;  that  the  incumbent  of  Baldhu,  a  district  taken 
out  of  Kenwyn  and  Kea,  had  warmly  taken  up  the 
Aitkenite  views ;  and  that  one  of  the  curates  was  very 
deeply  impressed  by  them.  In  the  unsettlement  which 
followed,  Mr.  James  says  : — 

"I  found  unspeakable  help  in  the  teaching  and  en- 
couragement of  my  dear  Vicar.  I  felt  also — and  herein 
lies  much  to  justify  Aitken's  line — that  as  a  rule  too  many 
of  us  had  not  quite  grasped  the  nature  of  true  absolution 
and  release  from  the  stains  of  past  sin,  and  the  power  of 
evil  in  the  heart  of  the  regenerate."  "  During  these  years/' 
he  adds  in  another  place,  "the  Vicar  stood  out  over  the 


IV.]  VICAR  OF  KENWYN  AND  KEA.  1 25 

troubled  sea  as  a  beacon-light, — for  his  mind  was  many- 
sided." 

"  *  NuUius  addictus  jurare  in  verba  magistri '  seemed  to  be 
his  principle,  because  he  could  see  so  much  good  in  all 
presentments  of  revealed  truth.  It  was  a  difficult  matter 
often  to  extract  from  him  what  he  really  thought  Hence 
we  learnt  gradually  to  appraise  the  value  of  our  own 
crude  thoughts  before  submitting  them  to  his  judgment ; 
and  so  hereby  his  habitual  caution  taught  us  to  avoid  rash 
statements,  to  challenge  much  that  was  conventionally 
current  in  the  Church  as  correct  doctrine,  and  so  to  separate 
the  wheat  from  the  chaff,  and  learn  more  and  more  to 
•  hold  the  Head.' 

"  Our  Vicar  treated  us  like  sons, — gave  us  our  heads  pretty 
much,  encouraged  us  in  pastoral  visitation,  and  in  the 
Sunday  services  would  insist  on  taking  a  greater  share 
than  his  then  delicate  health  seemed  to  justify.  When  we 
used  to  say  to  him,  *  You  are  doing  all  the  work  and 
leaving  us  but  little,'  he  would  reply,  *  You  will  be  all  the 
more   able   to    work   when   you    have   a   parish  of  your 


In  connexion  with  this  letter,  we  may  quote  one  from 
Professor  Browne  to  Mr.  James,  written  in  June  1853,  at 
a  time  when  the  writer  had  been  obliged  by  overwork  and 
ill-health  to  give  up  all  work  for  a  time,  and,  instead  of 
hastening  down  from  Cambridge  to  Kenwyn,  was  taking 
a  much-needed  holiday  near  Falmouth  : — 

*'  Flushing, /««^  14/*,  1853. 

"My  dear  Mr.  James, — I  am  sorry  to  leave  you  so 
soon  all  alone.  If  you  knew  how  near  I  feel  to  the  grave 
or  to  utter  helplessness,  when  reduced  to  the  depressed 
state  in  which  I  have  been  lately,  you  would  appreciate 
the  absolute  necessity  for  change,  if  I  would  either  consult 
the  interests  of  my  own  family,  to  whom  my  life  is  of 
consequence,  or  my  own  prospects  of  usefulness  in  the 
post  where  the  Chief  Captain  has  placed  me." 

Then,  after  giving  his  friend  some  minute  instructions 
respecting  parish-work,  instructions  which  show  that,  in 
spite  of   his   manifold   and   engrossing  duties   elsewhere, 


124  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

Kenwyn  was  always  very  near  his  heart,  and  that  he  well 
knew  his  scattered  flock,  he  ends  the  letter  with  a  piece 
of  advice  and  warning,  couched  in  such  charming  language 
as  a  wise  elder  brother  might  use  towards  a  clever  and 
ambitious  younger  boy. 

"  Will  you  pardon  me,"  he  writes,  "  if  I  speak  my  mind 
plainly  to  you,  and  as  becomes  an  elder  working  in  the 
same  sacred  and  responsible  calling  ?  You  appear  to  me 
likely  to  make  a  remarkably  able  *  Minister  of  the  New 
Testament*  You  will  therefore  in  all  probability  have 
to  encounter  the  peculiar  and  most  dangerous  temptation 
of  popularity.  I  do  not  know  whether  or  not  you 
are  much  open  to  the  assaults  of  such  a  temptation  ; 
but  probably  there  is  no  one  altogether  proof  against 
it,  without  a  large  measure  of  strength  from  above. 
'  Forewarned,  forearmed.*  Our  connection,  and  its  very 
sacred  character,  gives  me  boldness  to  hint  this  to  you, 
and  I  much  mistake  your  disposition  if  you  do  not  accept 
it  as  it  is  intended.** 

Again,  in  1854,  after  Mr.  James  had  left  Kenwyn,  he 
reverts  to  the  same  topic  : — 

**  My  feeling  has  long  been  that  your  usefulness  would 
be  much  greater  in  the  pulpit  if  you  gave  a  little  more 
time  to  the  composition  of  your  sermons.  They  appear 
to  me  to  want  substance ;  which  you  make  up  for  by 
energy  in  delivery.  Your  remarkably  fine  voice  and  that 
very  energetic  delivery  will  surely  make  you  very  popular 
among  the  poor.  But  that  very  popularity  may  prevent 
you  from  seeing  defects.  I  am  inclined  to  think  that 
really  useful  preaching  is  about  the  most  uncommon 
qualification  in  a  clergyman — popular  preaching  being 
one  of  the  most  common. 

"  I  should  advise  you  to  trust  more  to  the  strength  of 
your  matter  than  to  the  force  of  your  manner. 

"  I  should  recommend  you  to  take  a  passage  of  Scripture 
and  expound  it,  and  then  deduce  from  it  lessons  of  faith 
and  practice.  This  is  generally  likely  to  give  more  thread 
to  your  discourse  and  more  instruction  to  your  hearers 
than  the  custom  of  taking  a  text  as  merely  the  heading 
of  an  address  to  your  people. 


IV]  VICAR  OF  KENWYN  AND  KEA.  125 

"  I  should  also  suggest  that  the  denunciations  of  the 
Law  are  very  needful,  but  that  they  should  not  supersede 
the  invitations  of  the  Gospel.  The  peculiar  office  of 
Christ's  ministers  is  to  preach  good  tidings.  We  have 
committed  to  us  the  ministry  of  reconciliation  ;  and  its 
message  is  that  *  God  was  in  Christ  reconciling  the  world 
unto  Himself,  and  not  imputing  their  trespasses  unto 
them.'  I  am  well  aware  that  the  poor  are  so  dull  and 
insensible  that  they  often  not  only  bear,  but  benefit  by, 
strong  denunciations  which,  to  the  educated,  are  not  only 
useless  but  disagreeable.  And  I  feel  more  fully  that  the 
educated  and  religious  are  not  judges  of  what  is  necessary 
to  awaken  the  uneducated  and  ungodly.  Yet  my  own 
impression,  in  listening  to  some  of  your  sermons,  has  been 
that  they  would  have  been  more  impressive,  even  to  the 
poor,  if  they  had  been  less  severe.  The  most  reckless  and 
abandoned  do  not  form  part  of  any  congregation.  The 
result  is  that  denunciations  of  great  vice  seldom  reach 
the  consciences  of  members  of  our  congregations.  Such 
denunciations  give  great  pleasure  to  the  poor,  for  two 
reasons ;  one,  because  they  like  anything  which  rouses 
them  up  and  excites  their  attention  ;  the  other,  because 
they  are  very  fond  of  hearing  their  neighbours'  sins  con- 
demned. Home-thrusts  tell  much  more  on  the  conscience 
than  denunciations, — such  at  least  is  my  impression. 

"  In  all  I  am  saying,  I  fear  that  I  may  be  liable  to  cramp 
your  style.  But  still  I  think  I  should  not  act  kindly 
to  you  if  I  did  not  give  you  the  best  advice  I  can 
before  it  is  too  late  for  you  to  change  your  tack.  If  you 
follow  my  views,  I  think  it  not  impossible  that  you  may 
not  be  quite  so  popular  with  the  poor — ^^though  I  am  not 
sure  even  of  that — but  I  think  you  will  attract  the  attention 
of  the  educated  more,  and  I  hope  you  will  find  that  your 
preaching  is  more  effectual  to  all. 

"  If  I  did  not  highly  value  you,  and  believe  that  you  have 
it  in  you  to  become  a  very  able  and  successful  servant  of 
our  great  Master,  I  should  care  much  less  to  point  out  to 
you  what  seem  to  me  your  principal  defects.  I  believe 
it  is  partly  because  we  have,  generally  speaking,  no  one 
to  give  us  any  hints  at  our  first  starting  in  life  that  most 
of  us  make  such  very  indifferent  preachers  and  parish 
priests.  Livius  has  often  taken  me  to  task  for  not  sufficiently 
expressing  my  opinions  on  such  subjects  to  him  ;  and  now, 
perhaps,  you  will  complain  that  I  have  erred  on  the  other 


126  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DD.  [Ch. 

side.  I  walked  one  day  from  church  with  you,  meaning 
to  open  the  question  in  conversation  ;  but  something  you 
said  about  not  having  time  then  for  sermons  made  me 
think  it  better  to  defer  it  till  the  ordination  was  over.  If 
I  have  now  expressed  myself  in  any  manner  that  seems 
to  you  uncalled  for,  pray  attribute  it  to  inadvertence,  not 
intention.  Very  imperfectly,  I  know,  I  have  expressed 
myself" 

Though  the  aim  of  this  kind  letter  apparently  was  to 
bring  down  his  curate's  ambitious  eloquence  to  a  more 
practical  level,  to  a  safe  and  useful  mediocrity  instead  of 
a  heroic  effort,  Mr.  James  showed  no  unwillingness  to 
accept  the  advice ;  and  indeed,  as  the  following  quotation 
will  show,  he  preferred  that  more  deliberate  and  even  flow 
of  reasoned  appeal  and  learned  instruction,  seasoned  with 
humility,  with  which  his  Vicar's  utterances  abounded.  He 
says : — 

"  It  was  a  treat  to  listen  to  his  sermons,  and  to  mark  the 
silence  and  close  attention  displayed  by  the  congregation, 
as  each  carefully-weighed  sentence  fell  from  his  lips.  His 
delivery  was  marked  by  deep  solemnity  of  intonation, 
so  much  so  that  the  vocal  chords  of  his  voice  seemed  to 
vibrate,  and  almost  to  tremble,  from  the  intensity  of  his 
convictions.  This,  I  think,  made  his  sermons,  whether 
simple  or  of  a  deeper  theological  cast,  take  such  hold  of 
the  feelings  as  well  as  the  reasoning  powers  of  those  who 
listened.  The  thoughtful  among  the  Wesleyans  were 
specially  attracted  by  his  preaching.  It  was  often  a  tre- 
mendous strain  on  him.  He  once  declared  to  me  that 
he  sometimes  felt  he  should  die  in  the  act  of  preaching." 

And  as  a  final  touch,  shewing  what  sweet  influences 
surrounded  the  young  earnest  curate  of  Kenwyn,  let  us  add 
the  charming  words  in  which  he  refers  to  the  effect  on  him 
of  the  domestic  life,  glimpses  of  which  he  saAV  from  time 
to  time  within  the  walls  of  Kenwyn  Vicarage  : — 

"  Of  her  who  was  the  sunshine  of  the  home — who  showed 
her  husband's  curates  all  the  kindness  and  indulgence  of 


IV.l  VICAR  OF  KENWYN  AND  KEA,  127 

a  mother — I  would  fain  say  more  than  I  dare.  They  were 
a  pair  such  as  one  seldom  met;  light-holders  in  their 
neighbourhood  in  all  circumstances,  and  in  much  heavy 
trial  giving  out  warmth  and  enlightenment  to  those  who 
were  privileged  to  call  them  friends.  It  is  forty  years  ago 
since  I  heard  the  fine  silvery  peal  of  eight  call  from  Kenwyn 
steeple  the  living  to  the  House  of  Prayer.  I  seem  to  hear 
them  now,  as  I  'consider  the  days  of  old  and  the  years 
that  are  past,'  and  the  loved  ones  gone  on  before  awaiting 
us.'' 

Another  record  of  this  same  period  has  still  to  be  given. 
Among  the  curates  of  this  Kenwyn  period  was  a  clever 
earnest-minded  young  man,  whose  disposition  made  him 
very  susceptible  to  the  influences  around  him,  and  who 
did  not  hesitate  to  push  his  convictions  to  their  fullest 
interpretation.  At  first  he  was  deeply  impressed  by  Mr. 
Aitken's  teaching  and  example.  Of  this  state  of  his  mind 
his  warm-hearted  colleague,  the  Rev.  Reginald  Barnes, 
gives  us  one  little  glimpse  in  a  letter  dated  October  i8th, 
1855,  in  which  he  says  that — 

"  X  came  in  and  brought  with  him  Mr.  Knott,  the  late 
Oxford  Proctor  and  incumbent  of  St.  Saviour's,  Leeds, 
who  had  been  staying  with  him  at  Aitken's.  They  talked 
for  two  hours ;  but  it  seemed  to  me  in  great  measure  with 
zeal  without  knowledge." 

Professor  Browne  appears,  hereupon,  to  have  written 
a  kind  and  cooling  letter  to  his  curate,  in  fear  lest  his 
enthusiasm  might  carry  him  he  knew  not  whither;  for 
a  few  days  after  the  above  had  been  sent  to  him,  he 
writes,  apparently  in  reply  to  Mr.  Barnes,  on  the  8th  of 
November : — 

"  I  have  received  a  letter  of  TWENTY  pages  from  X 
to-day,  which  is  not  so  pleasant  to  me  as  his  former  letters. 
He  seems  to  me  to  have  more  of  Haslam's  mode  of  writing 
than   he   had   before.     I    am   very   grieved   to   have   any 


128  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D,  [Ch. 

misunderstanding  with  him,  but  he  left  me  no  alternative 
but  either  to  endure  all  his  proceedings  or  else  to  refuse 
my  consent  to  them." 

And  this  want  of  sympathy  continued  for  more  than  a 
year,  during  which  period  the  curate,  feeling  that  the  High 
Church  Methodism  of  his  friends  Mr.  Knott  and  Mr. 
Aitken  did  not  meet  all  his  aspirations,  drew  slowly  and 
decidedly  away,  until  by  the  end  of  1856  he  had  left 
Kenwyn,  and  wrote  to  Professor  Browne  announcing  his 
intention  of  being  received  into  the  Church  of  Rome. 

Mr.  Browne's  reply  is  so  grave  and  kindly  that  it  must 
be  given  in  full : — 

"The  Close,  Exeter. 

**  January  24th,  1857. 

"My    dear    X,— I    have    just    received   from 


letter  which  has  caused  me  very  great  pain,  though  per- 
haps not  very  great  surprise.  I  was  already  aware  that 
the  almost  inevitable  tendency  of  the  school  into  which 
you  had  recently  been  thrown  was  towards  Rome,  and 
indeed  I  had  warned  you  of  it.  There  has  been,  alas ! 
a  great  estrangement  between  us  lately.  But  I  am  sure 
you  will  yet  allow  me  to  write  to  you.  Not  that  I  feel  I 
am  likely  to  move  you  by  arguments,  for  I  know  that  feeling, 
and  not  reason,  always  guides  people  to  the  step  which 
you  contemplate.  But  I  feel  that,  whilst  you  were  my 
curate,  something,  probably  my  own  deficiencies  in  zeal 
and  ability  as  God's  minister,  led  you  to  search  for  other 
counsel  and  guidance  than  mine.  And  though  I  cannot 
reproach  myself  for  either  harshness  in  differing  from  you, 
or  weakness  in  yielding  to  your  opinions,  I  can  yet  see 
abundant  reason  in  my  own  heart  why  I  should  not  have 
had  all  the  influence  with  you  which  from  our  relative 
positions  I  ought  to  have  had.  Hence  I  am  willing,  if 
possible,  to  make  one  more  effort  to  stop  your  course  to 
what  I  think  a  most  grievous  fall ;  ineffectual  as  all  my 
former  reasonings  have  ever  been. 

"  I  quite  know,  as  I  said  before,  and  as  you  say  in  your 

letter  to ,  that  argument  is  not  the  thing.     I  will  only 

beg  you  then  to  consider  one  or  two  points.     First  of  all 


IV.l  VICAR  OF  KENWYN  AND  KEA.  1 29 

in  the  four  or  five  years  that  I  have  known  you  you  have 
undergone  many  changes  of  opinion.  By  early  education 
you  were  what  is  called  Evangelical ;  by  Oxford  influences 
you  had  become  very  High  Church,  and,  as  I  should  say, 
very  ««-EvangelicaL  As  far  as  I  could  influence  you,  I 
wished  to  reawaken  some  of  your  former  Evangelical 
feelings,  and  yet  to  keep  you  attached  to  the  Church. 
Messrs.  Aitkin  and  Haslam  completely  overrode  any 
influence  I  might  have  tried  to  use  (as  imperceptibly  as 
I  could),  and  made  you  a  Methodist  From  this  Church 
Methodism  (or  whatever  we  may  call  it),  you  have  gradually 
come  round  to  Romanism.  Though  I  do  not  deny  that 
in  this  circle  you  may  all  along  have  been  revolving  round 
an  unseen  centre  of  attraction,  yet  you  must  allow  that 
the  revolution  involved  considerable  changes  of  sentiment. 
In  each  you  seemed  very  confident  of  your  ground ;  and 
though  you  allowed  me  to  reason  with  you,  you  never 
yielded  one  inch  to  my  reasonings.  Now,  you  have  not 
long  come  to  your  present  position.  Think,  whether  it  is 
not  possible  that  you  may  one  day  find  it  as  untenable 
as  those  you  have  held  before.  But  once  take  the  step, 
and  it  is  almost  irrevocable.  Vestigia  nulla  retrorsum. 
There  is  a  spell  in  Romanism  that  seems  to  hold  its 
converts  bound  by  it.  You  may  yet  find,  too  late,  that 
you  have  broken  all  the  dearest  ties  of  life  only  for  the 
sake  of  a  new  phase  of  belief — not  for  the  Truth  itself. 

"  You  are  dissatisfied  with  the  system  of  the  Church  of 
England,  and  so  are  some  of  the  earnest  friends  with  whom 
you  have  lately  taken  your  stand,  and  conversed  in  thought 
and  prayer.  Your  feeling  is,  that  such  is  the  natural 
course  of  earnest  and  devout  minds.  Now,  let  me  just 
tell  you  some  of  my  own  experiences  of  the  opposite 
workings. 

**  I  know  some  devout  Roman  Catholics,  the  children  of 
a  pious  mother,  of  intellects  far  superior  to  any  of  those 
'  with  whom,  as  far  as  I  know,  you  have  been  mostly  thrown. 
I  know  that  through  a  course  of  more  than  twenty  years, 
apart  from  Protestant  influence,  only  among  English  and 
Irish  Roman  Catholics,  in  much  prayer  and  anxiety  and 
study,  they  have  gradually,  calmly,  painfully,  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  they  must  either  abandon  their  reason 
entirely  to  the  government  of  others,  or  conclude  that  their 
Church  is  idolatrous.  They  find  the  Saviour  obscured  by 
the  Virgin  Mother,  and  the  recent  declaration,  in  favour  of 

9 


I30  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DJ>,  [Ch. 


the  Immaculate  Conception,  has  finally  determined  them 
to  leave  the  communion  of  Rome  and  embrace  that  of 
England.  They  have  done  so  quietly,  unostentatiously, 
sorrowfully,  but  decidedly.  And  they  look  with  amazement 
at  the  English  churchmen  who  have  left  the  English 
Church  for  that  of  Rome.  They  say  that,  whilst  most 
educated  and  serious  Roman  Catholics  in  this  country  are 
deploring  the  extravagance  to  which  the  hierarchy  are 
going,  Protestants  are  rushing  over  to  them  and  outdoing 
even  the  most  extravagant  of  the  Romish  divines. 

"  I.  Let  me  say  another  thing.  When  you  took  to  the 
Church  Methodist  system,  though  I  deplored  its  fanaticism 
and  your  adoption  of  it,  I  still  rejoiced  that  you  appeared 
to  have  anew  embraced  the  blessed  truths  of  the  Incarna- 
tion and  Atonement,  of  human  helplessness  to  attain 
salvation,  and  of  the  need  of  implicit  reliance  on  Christ 
only  for  salvation.  Now,  read  any  of  the  writings  of  any 
of  the  Reformers,  in  England,  Germany,  Switzerland,  where 
you  will — attach  as  little  credit  as  you  like  to  them,  but 
their  testimony  is  uniform,  that  the  teaching  of  the  Roman 
Church  in  their  day  was  all  but  Christless.  They  could 
not,  dared  not,  have  so  testified  if  that  teaching  had  really 
been  full  of  Christ,  Here  is  one  fruit  of  the  Tree  whose 
leaves,  you  have  learned  to  believe,  are  for  the  healing  of 
the  nations.  I  do  not  say  that  the  new  doctrines  of  the 
Reformation  did  not  so  far  interpenetrate  even  Rome  as 
to  revive  some  truth  on  this  ground-doctrine  of  the  faith. 
But  this  is  due  to  the  Reformation,  not  to  Rome. 

"  2.  I  will  mention  another  fruit.  My  firm  and  deep 
conviction  is  that,  ever  excepting  the  sin  of  Judas  Iscariot, 
the  deadliest  and  most  damning  sin  ever  committed  by 
man  was  committed  for  centuries  by  the  Church  of  Rome, 
was  part  of  its  system,  sprang  from  it,  was  generated  from 
its  very  life-blood.  I  mean  the  Inquisition,  I  know  the 
Reformation  was  not  wholly  without  persecution,  but  it 
owed  that  to  its  imperfect  emerging  from  Rome.  It  soon 
disowned  it. 

"  3.  Another  fruit  of  the  same  system  has  been  the 
doctrine  of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  obscuring,  perhaps 
overthrowing,  the  doctrine  of  the  Incarnation  itself — at  all 
events,  placing  Mary  between  us  and  Jesus,  who  is  the  one 
Mediator  between  God  and  man. 

"  4,  One  more  fruit.  Look  at  Spain  and  Italy,  the  two 
great  seats  of  Romanism,  where  it  has  flourished  most, 


IV.]  VICAR  OF  KENWYN  AND  KEA,  131 


and  had  its  fullest  sway.  Are  there  any  two  Christian 
nations  so  sunk  in  morals  and  intelligence  and  religion? 
I  believe  you  might  go  through  the  map  of  Europe  and 
write  Protestant  against  the  names  of  every  flourishing^ 
moral,  and  intellectual  people  ;  and  Romanist  against  all 
those  who  have  fallen  most,  either  religiously  or  intellectu- 
ally. There  may  be  one  or  two  exceptions,  not  more. 
*  Do  men  gather  grapes  of  thorns,  or  figs  of  thistles  ? ' 

"  Are  not  all  these  facts  (I  do  not  call  them  arguments) 
some  reason  for  pausing  before  embracing  the  views  and 
entering  the  communion  of  a  Church  from  which  all  this 
has  grown  out  ?  God  knows  I  have  no  wish  to  hurt  your 
feelings,  or  offend  you.  If  I  speak  in  strong  terms,  believe 
me,  it  is  neither  from  want  of  kind  feeling  for  yourself  nor 
from  fondness  of  speaking  harshly  of  Christians,  Churches^ 
or  Sects  from  which  I  differ.  I  am  rather  wont  to  err  in 
the  other  extreme.  Conscious  of  my  own  sins  and  infirmi- 
ties, and  of  the  imperfection  of  every  institution  not  wholly 
divine,  I  prefer  to  speak  gently  of  the  errors  of  others  and 
of  the  faults  of  other  communions.  Perhaps  I  have  erred 
in  this  way  in  my  former  intercourse  with  you.  Hoping  to 
influence  you  by  gentle  arguments,  or  without  arguments, 
I  have  sometimes  let  you  think  I  did  but  slightly  disapprove 
what  I  deeply  deplored.  Now  probably  it  is  too  late.  We 
are  no  longer  connected  as  we  once  were.  You  have  long 
ceased  to  regard  my  words  or  opinions.  I  can  only  pray 
for  you — most  imperfect,  sinful  prayer,  I  well  know,  but 
offered  through  the  ONE  Mediator ;  and  for  all  the  sins  of 
the  worshipper,  I  believe  that  they  can  reach  from  earth 
to  heaven  through  that  one  Mediator,  who  is  the  Ladder 
on  which  angels  ascend  and  descend  from  man  to  God,, 
and  from  God  to  men. 

"  Pray  forgive  me  if  I  have  said  anything  to  pain  you. 
Pray,  do  not  hastily  take  the  irrevocable  step.  What  is 
involved  in  it  I  do  not  know — for  this  world  and  for  the 
next. 

"  Be  assured  that  I  am  ever,  with  much  regard,  but  in 
deep  sorrow, 

"  Yours  most  truly, 

"Harold  Browne." 

This  grave  and  affectionate  effort  to  stay  his  young 
friend  from  taking  the  irrevocable  step  was  unsuccessful. 


132  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 


The  young  man  passed  over,  and  has  since  become  some- 
what well  known  as  a  controversialist,  and  upholder  of  those 
Ultramontane  doctrines  which  took  form  mainly  under  the 
Pontificate  of  Pius  IX.,  in  1854,  and  at  the  s6-styled 
CEcumenical  Council  of  1869. 

In  all  matters  of  parish  work  and  organisation  as  well 
as  in  this  fatherly  treatment  of  his  curates,  Professor 
Browne  was  an  admirable  chief.  In  those  days,  guilds, 
clubs,  associations  were  almost  unknown  ;  but  such 
machinery  as  there  was  he  used  prudently  and  con- 
scientiously. He  organised  district-visiting  and  education 
with  great  care,  while  his  pen  engrossed  his  spare  hours, 
and  made  serious  calls  on  his  scanty  leisure  hours.  As 
we  should  have  expected,  Mr.  Browne's  relations  with 
the  clergy  of  his  parish  were  always  admirable.  One 
of  those  who  were  under  him  at  Kenwyn,  the  Rev.  F.  C. 
Jackson,  Rector  of  Stanmore,  speaks  warmly  of  this 
characteristic  of  his  Vicar's  ministry. 

"We  worked  as  friends,  he  expressing  himself  always 
as  one  who  was  in  all  respects  my  equal.  I  had  had  but 
two  years'  experience  in  parish  work  when  Harold  Browne 
asked  me  to  come  and  join  him.  I  remember  quite  well 
his  laying  stress  on  this  helping  him,  in  contradiction  to 
being  his  curate. 

"  His  solicitude  for  the  welfare  of  his  parish  was  always 
marked  by  the  interest  he  took  in  all  that  I  had  to  tell 
him  of  outlying  districts,  and  he  it  was  who  under  these 
circumstances  laid  the  foundations  of  the  School  and 
Mission  Room  at  Tregavethan.  No  man  with  whom  I 
have  been  in  contact  has  the  influence  of  Harold  Browne 
over  young  men.  There  was  a  tacit  yet  unmistakable 
sympathy  which  appealed  at  once  to  a  young  man's  con- 
fidence; and  the  benefit  conferred  upon  many  a  man 
during  those  few  years  at  Kenwyn  lasts  even  now  with 
those  of  us  who  remain.  .  .  .  Many  of  those  who  in  their 
young  days  start  aside  from  religious  constraint,  not 
necessarily  into  infidelity,  were  restrained  by  this  influence. 
Few  men  among  the  clergy  of  those  days  were  better  received 


IV.]  yiCAR  OF  KENWYN  AND  KEA.  133 

and  venerated  among  Nonconformists  than  Mr.  Browne — 
he  never  committed  himself,  as  others  have  unfortunately 
done,  to  the  error  of  pitying  patronage." 

There  was  another  marked  element  of  his  activity, 
an  element  which  may  be  said  always  to  characterise  a 
well-worked  parochial  system,  and  to  denote  an  earnest 
and  spiritual-minded  clergyman.  This  was  the  develop- 
ment at  Kenwyn  of  an  interest  in  Foreign  Mission  work. 
In  a  Pastoral  Letter  issued  in  1880  from  Farnham  Castle 
the  Bishop  refers  to  this. 

"  I  have  long  believed,"  he  writes,  "  that  interest  in 
Missionary  work  cannot  be  kept  up  by  a  single  annual 
sermon  in  church,  and  by  a  few  meetings  in  our  towns, 
with  deputations  sent  by  parent  societies.  All  sermons 
are  not  impressive,  nor  their  influence  lasting  ;  all  deputa- 
tions are  not  eloquent  ;  very  few  in  the  towns  themselves, 
and  still  fewer  in  the  villages  round  about,  will  frequent 
the  meetings.  I  am  sure  that  by  far  the  best  way  of 
keeping  up  interest  and  increasing  funds  is  by  working 
effectually  parish  associations,  and  by  trying  to  bring  home 
to  every  family,  and  as  far  as  possible  to  every  member 
of  every  family,  a  knowledge  of  and  a  feeling  for  the  work 
which  the  Church  is  doing  abroad.  I  have  often  expressed 
my  opinion  that  every  parish  ought  to  have  its  own  Mis- 
sionary organisation,  regularly  and  systematically  worked. 
In  1842  I  became  Incumbent  of  a  large  town  parish  (St. 
Sidweirs,  Exeter).  My  predecess9r  had  had  an  annual 
sermon  and  an  annual  meeting  in  the  schoolroom  for 
S.P.G.  and  C.M.S.,  and  some  of  his  district  visitors  collected 
for  it ;  but  the  funds  gathered  were  very  small.  I  tried  to 
improve  upon  this.  We  had  a  meeting  in  the  schoolroom, 
where  I  announced  my  intention  to  divide  the  parish  into 
districts,  each  of  which  was  to  be  canvassed  for  Missions 
by  district  collectors,  who  would  leave  cards  in  every 
house,  circulate  Missionary  publications,  and  call  once  a 
week  or  once  a  month,  as  the  inhabitants  might  prefer, 
for  weekly  or  monthly  contributions,  the  sum  collected  to 
be  entered  on  the  respective  cards.  In  addition  to  this 
Missionary  boxes  were  deposited  in  any  hou.ses  or  shops, 
where  they  would  be  accepted  and  useful.     We  had  still 


134  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DD.  [Ch. 


our  annual  sermon,  and  once  a  quarter  instead  of  once  a 
year  we  had  a  meeting  in  the  schoolroom,  the  speakers 
being  the  clergy  of  tiie  parish  and  any  neighbouring 
clergyman  or  layman  who  would  come  in  and  help  us. 
We  gave  simple  addresses,  sometimes  lectures  illustrated 
by  pictures  and  maps.  The  result  of  the  whole  movement 
was  to  quadruple  the  funds  in  the  very  first  year. 

"  Ten  or  eleven  years  after,  I  tried  the  same  scheme  in 
a  large  country  parish  in  Cornwall  (Kenwyn),  with  still 
more  marked  success.  It  was  surprising  to  see  how  the 
people  flocked  from  the  country  round,  some  from  great 
distances,  to  the  quarterly  meetings.  The  result  was  not 
only  to  swell  the  funds  of  the  Societies,  but  to  interest  a 
great  number  of  the  farmers  and  of  the  poor  in  Church 
Missions,  and  so  in  Church  work  generally.  Whilst  there 
had  been  only  annual  sermons  in  the  church,  and  annual 
meetings  in  the  neighbouring  town,  the  people  (who  in 
Cornwall  are  mostly  Wesleyans)  did  not  even  know  that 
the  Church  had  any  missions  to  the  heathen.  I  can  con- 
fidently say  that  no  work  in  church,  school,  or  cottage 
had  so  favourable  an  influence  in  gathering  my  people 
round  me,  and  conciliating  dissenters  to  the  Church,  as 
this  exhibiting  to  them  continually  the  Church  as  a  great 
missionary  body,  and  this  interesting  of  them  personally 
in  mission  work.  They  learnt  for  the  first  time  to  believe 
that  the  Church  was  working  in  earnest  for  the  salvation 
of  souls." 

Thus,  in  every  way  Church  life  at  Kenwyn  was  raised, 
and  a  higher  tone  infused  into  it,  by  Mr.  Browne's  remark- 
able personality  and  simple  earnestness.  It  used  to  be 
thought  that  the  Churchman  who  used  his  pen  could  not 
also  be  a  good  parish  priest ;  the  learned  should  have 
leisure,  the  practical  parishes  :  he,  however,  combined  both 
with  great  success,  and  was  as  good  and  active  in  the  one 
as  with  the  other.  And  the  times  called  forth  his  energies 
in  every  way.  The  promised  treatise  on  the  Articles,  the 
agitation  of  these  years  on  the  subject  of  Baptism,  and 
the  presence  around  him  not  only  of  a  very  strong  noncon- 
formist  feeling,  but   of  a   school   of  thought   within   the 


IV.]  VICAR  OF  KENiVYN  AND  KEA.  135 


Church  coloured  by  Methodist  views  as  to  conversion, — 
all  these  things  greatly  stimulated  Mr.  Browne's  activity 
of  mind  as  preacher  and  author. 

A  short  time  before  he  moved  to  Kenwyn  in  1 849,  the 
Diocese  of  Exeter,  and  all  England  with  it,  had  been 
thrown  into  much  excitement  on  the  subject  of  Baptism, 
and  the  limits  within  which  varieties  of  opinion  on  the 
subject  were  to  be  allowed.  Mr.  Gorham,  Incumbent  of 
Sl  Just  in  Penwith,  had  been  presented  by  the  Lord 
Chancellor,  in  June  1847,  ^^  the  living  of  Brampford  Speke, 
also  in  the  diocese  of  Exeter,  and  the  Bishop,  hearing 
that  Mr.  Gorham  had  warmly  defended  "  Low  "  views  as 
to  the  spiritual  character  of  Infant  Baptism,  insisted  on 
examining  him  sharply  on  the  subject  of  Regeneration 
before  granting  him  institution  to  his  new  benefice.  He 
accordingly  summoned  Mr.  Gorham,  inquired  into  his 
opinions,  declared  them  unsound,  and  refused  to  institute 
him.  This  was  in  March,  1848.  As  it  was  a  Lord 
Chancellor's  living,  and  as  Mr.  Gorham  had  fighting 
qualities,  the  matter  was  not  allowed  to  rest  Mr.  Gorham 
had  resented  this  examination  by  his  Bishop,  in  whose 
diocese  he  had  been  working  for  years ;  and  now,  finding 
himself  debarred  from  preferment,  at  once  began  to  set 
the  Courts  in  motion.  He  first  applied  to  the  Court  of 
Arches  for  a  Monition  to  compel  the  Bishop  to  grant  him 
institution.  The  case  was  heard  in  that  Court  early  in 
1848,  and  Sir  Herbert  Jenner  Fust,  sitting  as  Judge,  gave 
judgment  in  the  matter  on  August  3rd,  1849,  upholding 
the  Bishop.  Thereupon,  in  the  following  December, 
Mr.  Gorham  appealed  to  Her  Majesty  in  Council ;  and 
the  Judicial  Committee  of  the  Privy  Council  sat  to  hear 
the  appeal.  In  this  court  no  Bishop,  even  though  he  were 
a  member  of  the  Privy  Council,  could  sit,  though  he  might 
be  summoned  to  advise.     The  Archbishops  of  Canterbury 


136  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 


and  York  and  the  Bishop  of  London  were  assessors  in 
this  case.  The  Judicial  Committee  in  the  March  follow- 
ing reversed  Sir  H.  Jenner  Fust's  judgment,  and  ordered 
the  Bishop  of  Exeter  to  grant  Mr.  Gorham  institution. 
The  Bishop  obeyed,  and  Mr.  Gorham  became  Vicar  of 
Brampford  Speke.  The  result  was  hailed  with  great  ex- 
citement and  very  discordant  cries  :  the  Bishop's  friends 
and  the  High  Church  clergy  generally  protested  against 
the  judgment  of  a  bishop  on  a  question  of  dogmatic 
theology  being  set  aside  by  a  lay  court,  and  did  all  in 
their  power  to  emphasise  the  importance  of  the  doctrine 
of  Baptismal  Regeneration.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Record 
and  other  Evangelical  organs  were  jubilant  at  the  triumph 
of  what  they  regarded  as  the  anti-sacerdotal  cause.  Mr. 
Browne,  in  the  earlier  stages  of  the  controversy,  was  at 
Lampeter,  and  does  not  seem  to  have  taken  an.  active  part 
in  it ;  later  on,  at  Kenwyn,  he  drew  up,  in  grave  and 
temperate  language,  the  "  Protest  of  the  Clergy  of  the 
Archdeaconry  of  Cornwall,"  addressed  to  the  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury.  The  conclusion  of  this  document  is  alto- 
gether in  Mr.  Browne's  manner  (the  rough  draft  of  it  is  in 
his  handwriting).  He  strongly  maintains  the  doctrine  of 
"  One  Baptism  for  the  remission  of  sins,"  declaring  that 
"the  Church  holds  and  has  ever  held  that  every  person, 
infant  as  well  as  adult,  rightly  receiving  the  Sacrament  of 
Baptism,  is,  by  virtue  of  that  Sacrament  and  the  grace  of 
God  received  therein,  grafted  into  the  Body  of  Christ's 
Church,  made  a  member  of  Christ,  a  child  of  God,  and  an 
inheritor  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven."  And  he  bases  the 
protest  on  the  recorded  utterances  and  usage  of  the  early 
centuries  of  the  Christian  Church. 

Professor  Rowland  Williams,  who  had  no  doctrinal 
liking  for  Mr.  Gorham  and  his  views,  records  his  impres- 
sions of  the  Bishop  of  St.  David's  Charge  on  the  subject. 


IV.]  VICAR  OF  KENWYN  AND  KEA.  1 37 


"On  the  Gorham  question,"  he  writes,  "the  Bishop 
[Thirlwall]  evidently  did  not  adopt  Mr.  G.'s  opinions,  but 
seemed  to  think  they  were  merely  Calvinistic  (which  have 
been  held  constantly),  and  that  the  holder  had  been  rather 
persecuted,  as  well  as  that  he  and  his  examiner  had  mis- 
understood each  other.  The  terms,  he  thinks,  ought  to 
have  been  defined  or  explained." 

The  three  parties  in  the  Church  dealt  with  the  question 
each  in  its  own  way  :  the  High  denounced  the  Gorham  views 
as  heretical ;  the  Low  Church  adopted  and  defended  them  ; 
the  Broad  held  that,  though  Mr.  Gorham's  views  were 
probably  incorrect,  still  they  were,  on  general  grounds  of 
charity  and  inclusiveness,  tenable  within  the  Church  of 
England,  and  that  Bishop  Philpott's  course  had  been 
somewhat  hard  and  overbearing.  The  controversy  has  left 
little  trace  behind  it,  the  tendency  of  thought  since  that 
time  not  being  favourable  to  dogmatic  discussions,  and  the 
intellectual  pleasure  in  such  questions  not  strong  enough  to 
tempt  men  to  plunge  into  such  thorny  thickets  of  theological 
strife.  On  the  whole,  the  views  expressed  by  the  Bishop 
of  St.  David's  may  be  said  to  have  prevailed.  Mr.  Browne 
had  the  whole  question  under  review,  when  he,  at  this  very 
time,  was  revising  his  Lecture  on  the  XXVIIth  Article. 
It  bears  little  trace  of  the  excitement  through  which  the 
Church  had  passed.  It  may  be  noticed  that  it  re-echoes 
Bishop  Thirlwall's  complaint  that  much  of  the  quarrel  was 
due  to  a  lack  of  proper  definition  of  the  terms  used  by 
both  sides.  And  the  Article  itself  upholds  the  doctrine 
of  Baptismal  Regeneration  in  terms  so  carefully  chosen, 
so  studiously  moderate,  that  it  was  felt  that  here  the 
controversy  might  well  be  closed.  Without  attempting  to 
reconcile  the  privileges  and  powers  of  the  Church  as  a  body 
f)olitic  with  the  rights  and  duties  of  the  individual  Christian, 
the  Article  recognises  both  sides,  and  endeavours  to  explain 
how  they  may  coexist  and  work  harmoniously  for  the  true 


138  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,   D.D.  [Ch. 

end,  which  is  the  implanting  of  spiritual  life  in  the  human 
soul,  to  fit  men  5  to  be  active  members  of  the  mystical  body 
of  Christ. 

The  subject  was  still  only  too  hot  when  Mr.  Browne 
settled  at  Kenwyn.  In  June  185 1  the  Bishop  of  Exeter 
held  a  synod,  in  order  to  rally  his  diocese  round  him  in 
support  of  the  doctrine  of  Regeneration  in  Baptism.  This 
body,  composed  of  the  Cathedral  Chapter,  the  chief 
officials  of  the  diocese,  and  two  representatives  from  each 
Rural  Deanery  (two  deaneries  only  having  declined  to 
elect  their  representatives),  met  on  June  25th,  1851,  and 
agreed  to  a  declaration  in  support  of  the  Bishop's  con- 
tention. And  from  that  moment  the  excitement  calmed 
down,  leaving  the  preferments  in  the  English  Church  open 
to  persons  of  very  different  views,  yet  giving  great  promi- 
nence to  the  Anglican  interpretation  of  the  article  "  One 
Baptism  for  the  Remission  of  Sins." 

This  "Synod"  is  also  historically  a  matter  of  great 
interest,  as  being  the  earliest  revival  of  synodical  action 
within  the  English  Church  in  modern  times.  The  stress  of 
the  controversy  had  given  the  diocese  a  voice;  attention 
had  been  called  to  the  very  important  subject  of  the  repre- 
sentation of  Church  opinion  in  Conferences,  Congresses, 
Synods,  and  Convocation ;  and  this  Exeter  "  Synod  "  of 
185 1  gave  the  tendency  a  definite  form  and  shape. 

Of  this  "  Synod  "  Mr.  Browne  was  a  member ;  and  it  is 
probable  that  his  attention  was  now  first  called  to  the 
advantage  of  such  meetings  of  authorised  representatives 
of  the  Church.  At  any  rate,  though  our  materials  are  not 
so  full  as  to  enable  us  to  speak  with  confidence,  it  is 
probable  that  his  active  intervention  in  these  matters  dates 
from  this  moment. 

This  interest  in  Church  matters  was  due  to  a  variety 
of  causes, — due  to  the  revival  of  religious  feeling  in  the 


I  V.J  VICAR  OF  KENWYN  AND  KEA.  1 39 


country'',  due  also  to  the  dislike  felt  to  the  solution  of 
theological,  even  of  doctrinal,  questions  by  lay  tribunals ; 
above  all,  due  to  the  strengthened  belief  in  the  organic  life 
of  the  Church  as  such,  which  coincided  with  the  revival 
of  Anglican  doctrine  and  opinion  in  the  middle  of  this 
present  century.  It  was  felt  very  widely  that  the  Church 
as  such  ought  to  have  a  voice  in  her  own  affairs,  and  that 
she  was  not  a  mere  paid  servant  of  the  State.  In  the 
following  year,  1852,  efforts  were  made  to  give  the  meetings 
of  Convocation  of  the  Southern  Province  a  more  real 
-character.  Though  Convocation  had  been  formally  sum- 
moned ever  since  the  reign  of  George  I.,  when  its  delibera- 
tions were  interrupted  and  forbidden,  the  meetings  had, 
for  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  years,  been  the  merest 
matter  of  form.  Now,  however,  the  set  of  opinion  was 
so  strong  that  it  proved  irresistible ;  and,  after  the  English 
fashion,  without  any  constitutional  change,  Convocation 
began  once  more  to  be  clothed  with  some  form  of  life. 
Mr.  Browne  took  an  active  part  in  influencing  opinion. 
He  printed  and  circulated  widely  a  letter  in  pamphlet 
form,  addressed  to  Mr.  Spencer  Walpole,  at  that  time 
Home  Secretary  in  Lord  Derby's  short  Administration  of 
the  summer  of  1852.  The  Home  Secretary  replied  on 
September  nth,  1852,  with  a  polite  douche  of  cold  water, 
though  he  plucks  up  courage  to  add  that  he  agrees  with 
the  author  in  deploring  **the  religious  discord  which 
prevails  in  the  Church  and  threatens  to  extinguish  true 
religion  among  us.  Everything  I  can  do  will  have  for 
its  object  the  restoration,  if  possible,  of  religious  peace." 
Mr.  Gladstone,  to  whom,  as  the  statesman  in  Opposition 
most  likely  to  be  friendly,  Mr.  Browne  had  also  trans- 
mitted a  copy,  sends  a  more  sympathetic  reply,  though 
he,  too,  carefully  avoids  committing  himself  to  any  direct 
<ieclaration  on  the  subject.     He  laments  the  evil   results 


I40  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

of  the  suspension  of  Convocation  ;  the  damage  to  the  souls 
of  men ;  the  great  difficulties  which  beset  any  attempt  to 
revive  such  an  ecclesiastical  assembly. 

The  Cornish  clergy  at  once  turned  to  Mr.  Browne  as 
the  right  man  to  represent  them  and  to  give  weight  to 
their  wishes.  Mr.  Coope,  as  representing  the  county^ 
wrote  to  him  asking  him  whether  he  would  be  willing  to 
be  put  in  nomination ;  and  if  so,  whether  he  would  write 
him  something  about  his  views  on  the  questions  of  the 
time. 

In  reply  the  Vicar  of  Kenwyn  wrote  two  letters,  which 
show  with  what  quiet  resolution  he  faced  the  difficulties  of 
the  day,  and  the  risks  which  surrounded  the  new  experi- 
ment of  Convocation  restored  to  life.  The  regretful 
reference  to  the  old  days  when  Churchmen  only  could  sit 
in  Parliament  may  provoke  a  smile  in  these  times. 

"  Exeter,  June  19/A,  1852 

"  Rev.  and  dear  Sir,— Your  letter  has  only  just 
reached  me  here.  1  fully  recognise  your  right  to  ask  me 
questions,  and  I  will  endeavour  to  answer  them  freely  and 
candidly.  If  my  brethren  choose  me  as  one  of  their 
representatives  in  Convocation  (an  honour  which  I  assure 
you  I  have  made  no  move  towards  obtaining,  and  which 
I  view  as  an  anxious  responsibility),  it  is  my  fullest 
intention,  by  God's  blessing,  to  attend  regularly  at  the 
meetings  of  that  body. 

"  I  cannot  deny  that  I  look  with  anxiety  to  a  revival  of 
synodal  action.  Yet  after  much  careful  thought  I  am  of 
opinion  (especially  now  the  legislature  is  no  longer  com- 
posed of  at  least  nominal  Churchmen,  with  the  Queen  and 
Bishops  at  their  head)  it  is  quite  necessary  that  the  Church 
should  be  permitted  to  speak  in  a  free  Synod.  What 
subjects  the  Synod  should  at  present  discuss,  I  hardly 
know.  I  wish  for  no  change  in  our  doctrines,  which  are 
in  my  belief  Catholic,  Apostolical,  Evangelical.  But  the 
intermission  of  synodal  action  for  a  hundred  and  fifty-six 
years  has  rendered  the  machinery  of  the  Church  wooden, 
and   it   needs   adapting  to  the  wants  of  the  day.     Such 


IV.]  VICAR  OF  KENWYN  AND  KEA.  I41 

adaptation  we  cannot  accept  from  Parliament  alone.  1  am 
therefore  prepared  to  advocate  and  support  *  measures 
calculated  to  restore  an  early  and  effective  action  to  the 
lawful  representation  of  the  Church  in  England.* 

"  At  the  same  time  my  opinion  is  that  all  advocacy  of 
such  measures  should  be  temperate  and  calm,  respectful 
towards  *  those  powers  which  be,  and  which  are  ordained 
of  God,'  and  not  calculated  needlessly  to  produce  collision 
between  Church  and  State,  or  disruption  of  that  union, 
which,  with  all  its  drawbacks,  I  believe  to  be  fraught  with 
great  blessings  to  the  people  of  this  land. 

"  I  have  the  honour  to  be,  Rev.  and  dear  Sir, 
"  Your  faithful  Brother, 

"  E.  H.  Browne. 

"Rev.  H.  J.  CooPE." 

And  this  was  followed,  a  few  days  later,  by  the  following 
reply  to  Mr.  Coope's  second  letter  : — 

"  KENWYN,/««tf  25/A,  1852. 

"  My  dear  Sir,— I  am  glad  to  learn  that  my  reply  to 
your  questions  has  been  satisfactory  to  you.  On  such 
general  points  it  was  obviously  right  that  the  clergy  should 
know  my  sentiments,  before  they  honour  me  with  their 
confidence  so  far  as  to  nominate  me  as  one  of  their 
proctors.  On  matters  of  detail,  no  doubt,  you  would  not 
desire  me  to  pledge  myself  It  is  almost  impossible  to 
foresee  what  questions  may  arise ;  and  should  you  think 
to  send  me  to  Convocation  as  your  representative,  you 
would  not  expect  me  to  become  merely  a  delegate  or 
mouthpiece.  At  the  same  time,  I  assure  you  that  I  am  so 
far  from  feeling  confidence  in  my  own  judgment  that  I 
should  always  thankfully  receive  guidance  and  counsel 
from   my  brethren. 

"  I  quite  agree  with  what  you  say  about  the  separation  of 
Church  and  State.  We  may  safely  trust  that  God  will 
not  let  the  Church  suffer,  when  she  is  more  than  ever 
deprived  of  all  aid  but  His — if  her  state  of  destitution  and 
condition  as  an  outcast  have  not  arisen  from  the  rashness 
and  self-confidence  of  her  own  children.  But  I  would 
not  cast  oflF  her  worldly  privileges  from  mere  wantonness 
or  impetuosity.  If  the  tyranny  of  the  powers  of  this 
world  causes  the  dissolution  of  our  fellowship,  we  have  no 


142  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

cause  to  fear.  We  may  then  *  break  their  bonds  asunder 
and  cast  away  their  cords  from  us/  But  I  still  hope 
that  such  a  crisis  may  not  arrive  ;  and  sound  Churchmen 
as  well  as  good  citizens  may,  I  think,  justly  labour  to 
avert  it. 

"  I  am,  dear  Sir, 

"  Very  faithfully  yours, 
"  E.  H.  Browne. 
"  Rev.  H.  J.  CooPE." 

Mr.  Browne  was  accordingly  elected  Proctor  for  Con- 
vocation, and  so  became  a  member  of  that  body  at  the 
moment  when  it  forced  the  hand  of  the  Upper  House, 
by  appointing  committees,  and  holding  a  real  session, 
instead  of  being  prorogued  immediately  after  voting  the 
formal  Address  to  the  Crown.  Four  years  before,  an 
amendment  to  the  Address  had  been  moved  and  passed 
in  the  Lower  House,  and  had  been  carried  through  the 
Upper,  praying  that  Her  Majesty  would  grant  her  license 
to  Convocation  to  actr  and  in  the  interval  between  1847 
and  1852  legal  advice  had  been  sought,  which  brought 
out  clearly  the  fact  that  there  was  no  constitutional  bar 
to  the  revival  of  Convocation,  the  law  recognising  the 
existence  of  the  body,  and  the  only  obstacles  to  renew^ed 
activity  being  the  need  of  royal  assent  and  license  before 
any  new  canon  could  be  promulged.  It  also  appeared  to 
some  of  the  lawyers  that  the  Archbishop  had  no  right 
to  prorogue  Convocation  without  consent  of  his  suffragans. 
Encouraged  by  these  legal  opinions,  when  Convocation 
met  in  November  1852,  those  desirous  to  see  the  revival, 
having  agreed  beforehand  on  a  course  of  action,  put 
forward  a  very  moderate  plea  for  time.  The  Bishop  of 
Oxford,  Wilberforce,  moved  an  amendment  to  the  Arch- 
bishop's draft  Address  to  the  Crown,  to  the  effect  that 
Convocation  was  about  to  appoint  Committees  to  consider 
plans  for  correction  of  clergy  if  they  were  found  to  offend 


IV.]  VICAR  OF  KENWYN  AND  KEA.  143 

against  the  laws  ecclesiastical.  The  Archbishop,  perhaps 
influenced  by  the  power  and  eloquence  of  the  Bishop  of 
Oxford,  instead  of  at  once  proroguing  Convocation  as 
usual,  fixed  a  day  four  days  later  for  the  resumption  of 
the  debate.  Committees  were  appointed  and  sat ;  and 
after  a  protest  against  prorogation  made  by  the  four 
Bishops  of  Oxford,  Salisbury,  Chichester,  and  St  David's 
Convocation  was  prorogued  on  November  17th,  till  the 
following  February. 

And  thus  began  the  new  life  of  this  ancient  and  con- 
stitutional body. 

Of  the  part  played  by  Professor  Browne  in  these  early 
days  of  Convocation,  we  catch  one  or  two  glimpses  in  his 
letters.  The  one  of  these  is  a  graphic  narration  of  a  historic 
scene,  the  other  tells  us  how  from  the  outset  he  took 
decided  part  with  the  more  prudent  and  cool-headed 
members  of  the  High  Church  party,  in  modifying  the 
eagerness  of  the  fighting  men,  more  especially  of  Arch- 
deacon Denison.  Nothing  could  be  more  charming  than 
to  read  the  account  of  that  ancient  defender  of  the  faith, 
using  the  strongest  language,  condemning  all  who  could 
not  see  with  him  to  terrific  penalties,  and  then,  directly 
the  battle  was  over,  meeting  his  antagonists  on  most 
friendly  and  brotherly  terms.  The  following  letter  to 
Mrs.  Harold  Browne,  dated  November  3rd,  1852,  bears 
testimony  to  the  spirit  in  which  Convocation  worked,  and 
to  the  position  taken  by  Professor  Browne  in  it : — 

"  I  have  been  all  day  at  work  again.  I  have  regular 
stand-up  fights  with  Archdeacon  Denison,  which  terminate 
in  expressions  of  mutual  esteem— so  that  we  do  not  suffer 
seriously  by  the  encounters.  But  I  think  I  have  succeeded 
in  very  materially  modifying  his  strong  expressions,  if  I 
have  not  been  able  quite  to  eradicate  all  that  I  could  wish. 
I  have  to  work  almost  alone.  But  my  courage  has  not 
failed  me  ;  and  I  trust  that  a  higher  Power  has  sustained 


144  EDIVARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D,D.  [Ch. 

me.  I  am  not  so  tired  to-day  as  yesterday,  and  feel  very 
well— though  I  could  not  bear  a  very  long  continuance  of 
such  discussions  as  we  have  had  yesterday  and  to-day.  I 
think  the  greatest  troubles  have  now  been  got  over." 

The  closing  words  of  this  letter  give  us  a  glimpse  into 
the  motions  of  a  good  man's  heart : — 

"  You  must  kiss  all  the  chicks,  and  tell  them  a  little 
about  their  pappy,  and  how  much  he  loves  them  all,  and 
that  he  prays  God  to  bless  them  all  and  to  make  them 
His  children.     I  ought  to  write  to  them." 

At  the  close  of  this  first  real  session  of  Convocation, 
the  Queen  received  the  Address  of  the  two  Houses  in 
state.  The  account  of  the  ceremony  is  not  without  a 
certain  interest.  It  is  contained  in  a  letter,  written  many 
years  after  to  Dr.  Sumner,  Bishop  of  Guildford,  Prolocutor 
of  the  Lower  House,  in  which  the  Bishop  says  : — 

"  I  am  the  only  living  Bishop,  almost  the  only  living 
man,  who  was  present  when  Convocation,  awakened  from 
the  death-sleep  of  a  century  and  a  quarter,  presented  its 
first  Address  to  the  Queen.  Your  uncle.  Archbishop 
Sumner,  read  it  as  President 

"  When  the  Address  was  sent  down  from  the  Bishops  to 
the  Lower  House,  I  ventured  to  make  my  first  move,  and 
was  somewhat  frightened  by  my  own  voice.  It  seemed  to 
me  wrong  that  in  a  document  emanating  from  the  repre- 
sentative assembly  of  a  great  Christian  Church  there 
should  be  no  word  which  shewed  that  we  belonged  to 
Christ;  and  I  moved  that  the  defect  should  be  remedied 
by  the  insertion  of  a  few  words  containing  the  name  of 
our  Saviour.  Deans  and  Archdeacons  whispered  en- 
quiringly who  the  young  proctor  was  that  ventured  to 
correct  the  orthodoxy  of  the  united  Episcopate ;  but  they 
adopted  my  amendment,  all  the  san\e. 

"  When  we  went  to  Buckingham  Palace  in  considerable 
numbers,  we  had  to  wait  a  weary  while  in  an  antechamber. 
Suddenly  the  doors  were  thrown  open,  and  I  think  we  had 
the  most  royal  scene  I  have  ever  witnessed.  At  the  farther 
end  of  the  presence  chamber  the  Queen  was  in  front  of 


IV.]  VICAR  OF  KENWYN  AND  KEA,  145 

her  throne,  under  a  grand  canopy.  The  Prince  Consort 
and  some  of  the  royal  children  were  just  behind  her.  All 
the  principal  Ministers  and  great  officers  of  state  were  on 
the  right  and  left.  The  Duchess  of  Sutherland,  as  Mistress 
of  the  Robes,  was  on  her  right,  holding  the  largest  bouquet 
I  ever  saw.  The  Gentlemen  of  the  Body  Guard  in  full 
military  dress  lined  the  room  and  formed  an  avenue  for  us  to 
walk  up  under  glittering  chandeliers,  etc.,  etc.  I  have  never 
been  so  much  struck  with  any  royal  pageant  since.  It  seems 
to  me,  looking  back  now  nearly  thirty-five  years  upon  it, 
to  have  been  much  more  striking  than  the  Queen's  opening 
of  Parliament  A  royal  wedding  at  St.  George's  Chapel 
is  the  only  pageant  of  the  kind  which  has  impressed  me 
nearly  so  much.  But  I  was  very  young  to  such  things 
then,  going  up  from  my  distant  home  in  Cornwall.  I  am 
now  old  and  blas^.  The  Archbishop  read  the  Address  and 
presented  it     The  Queen  replied  sitting. 

"  She  read  with  the  clearest  and  most  silvery  voice,  very 
graciously,  but  with  a  rather  emphatic  distinctness,  especially 
when  she  came  to  the  words  *  My  Supremacy/  which  she 
spoke  significantly  and  incisively.  We  made  our  bows  ; 
the  Archbishop  and  the  Prolocutor  (Dean  Peacock)  kissed 
hand,  and  we  backed  out  of  the  Royal  Presence  into 
primeval  obscurity.  Possibly,  Archdeacons  Harrison  and 
Denison  were  there  besides  me.  I  cannot  think  of  any 
other  living  member  of  Convocation.  So  I  relate  to  the 
present  Prolocutor  what  happened  under  his  archiepiscopal 
uncle,  when  the  Queen  first  spoke,  rejoicing  that  she  is 
now  speaking  again." 

The  letter  is  dated  by  the  reference  to  "  nearly  thirty-five 
years  ago";  it  would  be  in  1852  that  this  scene  took 
place. 

The  question  is  often  asked,  whether  Convocation  has 
justified  the  hopes  of  its  friends,  or  has  been  a  source  of 
danger  to  the  Church,  as  its  opponents  foreboded?  We 
are  perhaps  too  near  the  time  to  be  able  to  form  a  decided 
judgment  on  these  questions ;  and,  in  truth,  the  whole 
subject  is  still  somewhat  obscure.  One  thing  is  certain — 
it  has  not  justified  the  fears  with  which  good  and  timid 
Churchmen  regarded  it ;  it  may  safely  be  said  that  the 

10 


146  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 


influence  of  Convocation  has  throughout  been  conservative 
and  conciliatory.  Extreme  parties  have  failed  to  bend 
it  to  their  will ;  and  the  deliberations  and  acts  of  the  two 
bodies,  if  narrowed  in  scope  and  often  lacking  in  practical 
results,  have  as  a  rule  been  dignified  and  moderate.  That 
Convocation  has  mainly  taken  its  character  from  the  High 
Church  party  is  obvious  :  this,  however,  is  only  to  say 
that  the  years  of  the  revived  activity  of  the  two  Houses 
have  also  been  the  years  of  the  vigorous  advance  of  that 
party.  Considering  the  legal  restrictions  under  which 
Convocation  labours ;  considering  the  great  excess  of  ex 
officio  members  in  the  Lower  House  and  the  narrow 
limitation  of  the  electorate,  by  which  all  clergy  engaged, 
in  school  work,  all  curates  of  parishes,  all  chaplains  of 
institutions,  are  excluded,  it  is  wonderful  to  see  how  well 
on  the  whole  Convocation  has  justified  the  revival.  Many 
reforms  in  the  Church  have  been  carried  through  Parlia- 
ment in  consequence  of  the  representations  of  Convocation ; 
great  opportunities  have  been  provided  for  the  discussion 
of  matters  affecting  the  welfare  of  the  Church :  above  all, 
the  minds  of  men,  irritated  by  the  want  of  some  definite 
and  recognised  deliberative  body,  have  been  calmed  and 
to  some  degree  satisfied.  Diocesan  Conferences  and  the 
Church  Congresses  have  also  impressed  on  the  English 
people  the  fact  that  the  English  Church  is  full  of  life  and 
energy.  It  has  shewn,  too,  that  there  is  a  vast  breadth 
of  opinion  within  the  Church,  temperate  and  sober,  averse 
to  pushing  matters  to  extremes,  prepared  to  tolerate  a 
good  deal  of  eccentricity  or  even  folly,  if  it  is  shewn  that 
the  foolish  or  eccentric  persons  are  in  earnest  and  are 
really,  after  their  light,  devoting  themselves  to  the  practical 
service  of  Christ  and  His  people.  All  things  considered, 
it  is  clear  that  the  revival  of  Convocation,  though  the  body 
suffers  greatly  from  lack  of  power  to  enforce  its  convictions, 


IV.]  VICAR  OF  KENWYN  AND  KEA.  147 

has  worked  for  good  to  the  Church,  and  has  perhaps  done 
as  much  as  the  deliberative  action  of  a  Church  wedded 
to  the  State  can  ever  be  expected  to  do.  And  were,  one 
day,  the  relation  between  Church  and  State  to  be  broken, 
here  is  the  machinery  with  which  our  Church  cou  d 
fashion  a  more  independent  life.  In  these  days,  in  which 
the  State  is  more  and  more  compelled  to  listen  to  the 
popular  voice,  it  is  all-important  that  the  Church  also 
should  know  what  is  going  on  around  and  within,  and 
should  not  shut  herself  up  in  aristocratic  indifference. 
The  leading  party  in  the  Church  has  come  to  see  that 
the  most  important  religious  question  of  the  immediate 
future  IS  the  relation  between  the  Anglican  Church  and 
the  people.  By  degrees  we  may  even  come  to  take  the 
F>eople  into  our  confidence,  and  listen  to  them  with  as 
much  courtesy  and  deference  as  we  exact  from  them 
when  we  talk,  and  as  we  have  been  wont  to  pay  to  our 
superiors  when  they  talk  to  us. 

It  comes  then  to  this,  that  Convocation  has  already  done 
a  very  important  work  in  the  revived  Church  ;  and  that 
the  influence  of  this  chief  Parliament  of  religion  in  England 
is  likely  to  become  far  greater  in  the  future  ;  the  decisions 
arrived  at  will  have  increasing  force,  and  the  moderation 
of  tone  prevailing  there,  a  moderation  which  has  from 
time  to  time  been  tested  by  unwise  and  extreme  proposals, 
will  probably  enable  it  to  lessen  the  disruptive  tendencies 
certain  to  make  themselves  felt  in  any  crisis  of  the  history 
of  the  Church  of  England.  The  existence  also  of  the 
House  of  Laymen,  a  modem  innovation,  may  become  a 
guarantee  that  Convocation  will  take  not  a  mere  clerical 
view  of  Church  affairs,  but  will  feel  the  weight  and  im- 
portance of  the  laity,  who  after  all,  did  they  but  know  it, 
are  the  Church. 

These  overwhelming  activities  and  interests  were  enough 


T48  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 


to  occupy  the  energies  of  the  strongest ;  and  Mr.  Browne, 
undertaking  his  new  duties  with  a  weakened  frame  and  a 
courage  far  beyond  his  strength,  was  soon  made  to  feel 
that  there  were  limits  to  his  energies.  He  had  unfortu- 
nately made  himself  liable  to  attack  by  a  bad  fall  at 
Lampeter,  which  had  hurt  his  spine.  A  man  so  tall  had 
"  too  much  territory  to  defend,"  and  his  back  gave  way 
when  he  had  ventured  on  the  extravagance  of  over-work. 
He  had  not  been  long  at  Kenwyn  before,  in  1850,  a  severe 
attack  of  inflammation  of  the  spine  obliged  him  to  take 
to  his  bed.  There  he  remained  for  several  months.  He 
was  thrown  down,  but  not  defeated  ;  these  months  of 
enforced  quietude  were  hailed  by  hini  as  a  providential 
time  of  leisure  in  which  to  fulfil  his  promise  to  the 
Lampeter  lads.  It  is  to  this  Kenwyn  illness  that  we  owe 
the  completion  of  the  first  volume  of  the  work  on  the 
Thirty-Nine  Articles,  on  which  so  much  of  his  reputation 
rests.  It  came  about  thus.  At  Lampeter  he  was  bound 
to  instruct  his  pupils  in  the  articles  of  the  Christian  faith 
and  the  formularies  of  the  Church.  Now,  the  Thirty-Nine 
Articles  were  the  obvious  text-book  for  the  purpose. 
Their  moderation,  as  an  expression  of  the  mind  of  the 
reformed  Church  of  England,  and  the  way  in  which  they 
cover  the  whole  surface  of  dogma,  discipline,  and  Church 
order,  commended  the  Articles  from  every  side  to  Mr. 
Browne's  mind,  His  even-mindedness,  his  learning,  and 
his  love  of  Church  antiquity,  there  found  encouragement 
and  subjects  ready  to  hand.  An  inferior  teacher,  feeling 
the  backwardness  of  the  students,  and  alarmed  by  the 
breadth  and  depth  of  the  questions  treated  in  the  Articles, 
would  no  doubt  have  contented  himself  with  a  formal 
discussion  of  each ;  with  a  good  bit  of  "  learning  by- 
heart"  on  the  part  of  the  students,  and  some  slight 
historical  and  other  explanation  by  the  teacher,  the  young 


IV.]  VICAR  OF  KENIVYN  AND  KEA,  149 


men  would  have  seemed  sufficiently  equipped  for  their 
Ordination  examination.  But  Mr.  Browne  treated  the 
matter  far  more  thoroughly :  he  handled  the  Articles  as 
living  things ;  gave  the  young  men  much  to  think  about 
got  them  to  store  up  an  acquaintance  with  theological 
questions,  which  would  come  in  very  handily  in  their 
public  ministry  afterwards;  and  .made  his  lectures  a 
thorough  course  of  divinity.  The  students,  feeling  the  use- 
fulness of  this  teaching,  met  together  one  day  in  the  latter 
part  of  1847,  and  agreed  that  they  would  petition  the  Vice- 
Principal  to  publish  his  lectures  as  a  permanent  text-book 
of  Theology.  Mr.  Browne,  however,  found  no  means  of 
fulfilling  his  undertaking  till  after  he  had  left  Lampeter. 
The  earlier  part  of  the  work  was  forward  when  he  came 
to  Kenwyn,  though  by  no  means  ready  for  the  press. 

It  was  not  till  1850  that  the  students  received  their 
copies  of  the  first  edition  of  the  earlier  portion  of  the 
work,  and  read  what  they  had  heard  with  so  much  profit  in 
the  Lampeter  lecture-room.  Archdeacon  Hardy  gives  us  a 
touch  of  the  life  of  the  patient  worker  in  this  time  of  his 
physical  weakness  and  suffering. 

"  It  was  felt,"  he  writes,  "  as  a  real  privilege  by  his  clerical 
brethren  to  be  admitted  occasionally  to  his  bedside,  to  find 
him,  surrounded  by  his  books,  cheerfully  working  at  his 
Opus  Magnum,  I  recollect  one  occasion  on  which  I  was 
delighted  by  his  asking  me  to  copy  out  some  Greek 
quotations  for  his  forthcoming  work.  Happily,  while  this 
task  was  exercising  his  mental  powers,  his  bodily  strength 
was  quietly  returning,  and  at  last  was  fully  restored.  I 
think  he  attributed  the  loss  of  bodily  power  to  his  having 
over-exerted  himself  when  *  stroke  *  of  the  Emmanuel  boat 
at  Cambridge.  However  this  might  be,  our  Church  has 
reason  to  be  thankful  for  the  repose  thus  given  to  him  in 
mature  life,  to  her  permanent  gain.*' 

The  work  thus  brought  into  being  was  received  at  once 
with   much   applause  on   every  hand.     The   first  volume 


I50  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 


carried  the  exposition  as  far  as  the  fifteenth  Article ;  and 
after  the  lapse  of  three  busy  years  the  remainder  of  the 
work  made  its  appearance,  and  met  with  a  similar  reception 
from  students  of  Church  doctrine  and  institutions.  It  was 
felt  on  all  sides  that  never  before  had  the  character  and 
claims  of  the  English  Church  been  set  out  so  clearly,  and 
with  so  little  to  offend :  men  hailed  the  author  as  the 
upholder  of  a  moderate  and  conservative  High  Church 
position.  It  was  perfectly  true,  as  the  "Guide-Book  to 
Books  "  puts  it,  that  here  we  have,  "  not  a  classic,  but  the 
fullest  book  of  the  kind  available."  For  lectures,  commen- 
taries, expositions,  cannot  aim  at  being  "  c  assies  "  ;  their 
business  is  on  another  level.  The  question  really  is,  whether 
the  book  before  us,  being  intended  to  explain  the  body  of 
Divinity  of  the  English  Church,  does  it  in  such  a  way  as 
to  clear  off  difficulties,  elucidate  the  propositions  laid  down, 
steer  a  good  course  between  conflicting  opinions,  and  make 
the  doctrine  and  discipline  of  the  Church  easier  to  Church- 
men. The  qualities  required  for  such  a  work  are  soundness 
of  knowledge,  especially  in  the  whole  sphere  of  the  growth 
of  dogma  and  institutions,  honesty  and  truthfulness  of 
spirit  in  dealing  with  the  abstruse  questions  involved,  the 
rare  gift  of  exposition,  an  orderly  power  of  arrangement, 
a  charitable  construction  of  other  men's  opinions,  a  genuine 
belief  in  the  truth  of  the  main  principles  of  the  Christian 
religion  ;  also  a  true  sense  of  proportion,  to  balance  between 
things  more  or  less  essential  and  important ;  and  lastly 
a  pleasant  style,  bright  without  being  poetical,  simple  yet 
not  bald.  Now,  in  the  main,  Mr.  Browne's  Exposition  of 
the  Thirty-Nine  Articles  possessed  these  important  practical 
qualities.  We  feel  that  we  are  dealing  with  a  very  honest 
person ;  he  is  devoted  to  the  Church  of  which  he  under- 
takes to  explain  the  theology  and  structure ;  his  convic- 
tions, however  strong,  do  not  degenerate  into  partisanship ; 


IV.]  VICAR  OF  KENWYN  AND  KEA.  151 


the  middle  position  of  the  Anglican  Church  delights 
him ;  the  views  and  opinions  of  those  who  hold  a  more 
extreme  position  aflfect  him  little ;  he  makes  all  allow- 
ance he  can,  and  realises  that  even  a  Church  must  have 
room  to  swing.  Above  all,  while  he  does  not  enter 
sympathetically  into  the  views  of  those  opposed  to  him, 
he  treats  all  with  a  rare  courtesy,  and  shews  such  charity 
and  moderation  that  the  best  of  his  opponents  are  won 
to  him  even  while  they  protest  against  his  opinions. 

The  best  account  of  the  object  of  the  work  may  perhaps 
be  found  in  the  simple  and  straightforward  words  of  the 
introduction : — 

"In  the  following  pages  an  attempt  is  made  to  interpret 
and  explain  the  Articles  of  the  Church,  which  bind  the 
consciences  of  her  clergy,  according  to  their  natural  and 
genuine  meaning  ;  and  to  prove  that  meaning  to  be  both 
scriptural  and  catholic.  None  can  feel  so  satisfied,  nor 
act  so  straightforwardly,  as  those  who  subscribe  them  in 
such  a  sense.  But  if  we  consider  how  much  variety  of 
sentiment  may  prevail  amongst  persons,  who  are,  in  the 
main,  sound  in  the  faith,  we  can  never  wish  that  a  National 
Church,  which  ought  to  have  all  the  marks  of  catholicity, 
should  enforce  too  rigid  and  uniform  an  interpretation  of 
its  formularies  and  terms  of  union.  The  Church  should 
be  not  only  Holy  and  Apostolic,  but,  as  well,  One  and 
Catholic.  Unity  and  universality  are  scarcely  attainable 
where  a  greater  rigour  of  subscription  is  required  than 
such  as  shall  ensure  an  adherence  and  conformity  to  those 
great  catholic  truths,  which  the  primitive  Christians  lived 
by,  and  died  for." 

Bishop  Thirlwall,  to  whom  Mr.  Browne  had  dedicated 
the  work,  "in  affectionate  gratitude  for  unsought  and 
unexpected  kindness,  and  with  deep  respect  for  profound 
intellect  and  high  Christian  integrity,"  replied  at  once,  to 
the  receipt  of  the  first  volume  : — 

"  Abergwil',  Carmarthen,  30/A  September^  1850. 
"  Mv  DEAR  Sir, — On  my  return  last  Saturday  from  the 


152  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROIVNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 


consecration  of  a  church  near  Swansea,  I  found  the  first 
volume  of  your  Exposition  of  the  Articles.  I  shall  ever 
value  it  exceedingly  as  a  memorial  of  the  relation  which 
existed  between  us,  though  I  am  quite  ashamed  of  being 
spoken  of  as  your  kindness  has  dictated  in  the  Dedication. 
I  must  however  add  that  I  have  been  very  much  pleased 
with  the  plan  and  the  execution  of  the  work,  so  far  as  I 
could  judge  of  it  from  the  exposition  of  the  first  Article, 
which  is  all  I  have  yet  read ;  and  I  believe  that,  especially 
in  this  diocese,  it  may  very  advantageously  supersede  the 

best  books  hitherto  used  on  the  subject 

"  Yours  faithfully, 

"  C.  St.  David's. 

"  Rev.  E.  Harold  Browne." 

The  Dean  of  Exeter  fully  appreciates  the  via  nudia 
quality  of  the   work,  for   he   speaks   of  the   want   long 

"  felt  by  those  who  know  how  necessary  it  is  that  the  candi- 
date for  Ordination  in  our  Church  should  be  thoroughly 
grounded  in  the  principles  of  dogmatic  theology.  With- 
out this,  some  will  be  starting  aside  after  the  way  of 
Gorham,  others  will  take  shelter  in  Romish  infallibility, 
and  still  more,  perhaps,  will  be  captivated  with  Bunsen's 
Church  of  the  future,  or  the  Pantheism  of  Spinoza." 

And  after  the  receipt  of  the  second  volume  in  April 
1853,  Dean  Lowe  writes  again.  After  referring  to  a  slight 
grammatical  error,  he  proceeds  : — 

"  And  now,  having  pointed  out  the  only  microscopic 
blemish  I  can  discover  in  your  work,  let  me  assure  you 
that  I  admire  it  as  cordially  as  people  are  apt  to  admire 
whatever  entirely  agrees  with  their  own  sentiments  and 
opinions,  and  places  them  in  the  most  advantageous  light 
In  its  lucid  arrangement,  its  copiousness  of  illustration, 
its  clear  and  candid  statements  of  conflicting  opinion,  and 
the  sound  and  impartial  judgment  with  which  those 
opinions  are  weighed,  it  cannot  fail  to  be  of  the  highest 
value  to  the  theological  student,  and  I  most  heartily  wish 
that  all  who  peruse  it  may  imbibe  at  least  a  portion  of  the 
truly  Christian  spirit  in  which  it  is  written." 


TV.]  VICAR  OF  KENWYN  AND  KEA.  1 53 

I  am  tempted  to  add  a  testimony  of  a  very  different 
kind  The  Rev.  W.  A.  Hales,  of  St  John's,  Hey  wood  j 
near  Manchester,  who  in  his  day  had  attended  the  Norrisian 
Professor's  lectures  at  Cambridge,  says  : — 

"There  is  a  very  humble  tradesman  in  this  town,  in 
whose  sitting-room  I  was  surprised  and  delighted  to  find 
your  work  on  the  Thirty-Nine  Articles.  I  was  still  more 
surprised  to  find  that  it  had  been  most  carefully  read  and 
annotated.  Conversation  with  the  man  proved  that  the 
book  had  been,  through  God's  mercy,  a  guide  to  him  and 
a  friend.  It  helped  to  lead  him,  he  says,  to  the  truth,  and 
it  helps  to  keep  him  rooted  and  grounded  in  it." 

Two  little  touches,  shewing  the  influence  of  the  work 
in  later  days,  shall  close  the  subject 

"  I  was  being  shewn,"  says  a  friend  of  the  Bishop,  "  over 
Birmingham  Barracks,  and  was  taken  to  see  a  school  for 
soldiers*  children.  The  master  examined  before  me  in  the 
Catechism ;  and  on  *  secondly,  that  I  should  believe  all 
the  Articles  of  the  Christian  faith,'  asked  a  boy,  *  And  how 
many  Articles  of  the  Christian  faith  are  there?'  And 
when  the  lad  naturally  hesitated,  he  added,  *  Why,  thirty- 
nine  of  course,'  ...  no  doubt  an  answer  made  in  petto  by 
nine-tenths  of  the  candidates  for  Orders  after  reading  their 
Harold  Browne." 

The  other  story  has,  I  think,  never  seen  the  light ;  I  had 
it  direct  from  the  late  Bishop  McDougall.  One  day  many 
years  ago,  soon  after  his  return  to  England  from  Labuan, 
the  Bishop  dropped  in  on  his  old  friend  and  tutor  Jacobson, 
then  Bishop  of  Chester.  The  Bishop  was  just  setting  out 
for  Convocation ;  and  Bishop  McDougall  went  in  with 
him,  and  sat  down  for  a  few  minutes  to  watch  the  assem- 
bling of  the  prelates.  Presently,  in  came  the  Bishop  of 
Ely,  and  sitting  down  on  a  low  seat  stretched  out  his  long 
legs  far  across  the  chamber.  "  I  say,  Bishop,  whose  are 
those  tremendous   long  shanks?"     "Don't   you   know?" 


154  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D,D.  [Ch. 

Bishop  Jacobson  replied,  in  his  deep,  gruff  voice.  "  Why, 
those  are  Harold  Browne's  Articles."  And  that  was  the 
first  time  Bishop  McDougall  saw  the  man  who  afterwards 
became  his  firmest  and  most  affectionate  friend. 

In  addition  to  this  chief  work  on  the  Articles  of  religion, 
Mr.  Browne,  during  his  stay  at  Kenwyn,  published  several 
lesser  pieces,  which  all  bear  witness  to  his  energy,  and  to 
the  zeal  with  which  he  advocated  the  healthy  develop- 
ment of  the  Church.  Some  of  these  publications  were 
sermons:  thus,  in  May  1851  he  preached  an  excellent 
discourse  on  "  The  gifts  of  the  Ascended  Saviour,"  at  the 
triennial  visitation  of  the  Bishop  of  Exeter,  held  in  St 
Mary's  parish  church,  Truro ;  then,  a  few  months  later, 
appeared  three  sermons,  preached  in  Kenwyn  church,  in 
which  can  be  traced  very  clearly  the  effect  of  that  "  Papal 
Aggression  "  which  caused  so  great  a  turmoil  in  England 
in  1851.  All  Protestant  bodies  were  alarmed,  regarding 
it  as  a  sign  of  confidence  on  the  part  of  the  Roman  Church ; 
and  Churchmen  were  especially  disturbed,  because  it  carried 
the  war  into  their  midst,  by  the  appointment  of  Roman 
bishops  in  some  of  the  ancient  dioceses.  This,  of  course, 
was  on  one  side  the  aim  and  point  of  it,  being  the  Vatican's 
way  of  saying  that  it  refused  to  recognise  the  episcopate 
of  the  Church  of  England,  and  in  its  lordly  way  treated 
the  Anglican  dioceses  as  non-existent.  Mr.  Browne  felt, 
with  the  whole  body  of  High  Churchmen,  that  here  was 
a  distinct  challenge,  and  he  accused  the  Roman  Church 
of  schism ;  his  sermon  is  a  warm  appeal  to  all  English 
people  to  rally  to  the  Anglican  Church,  and  to  abandon 
extremes ;  if  all  England  had  been  united,  the  "  Papal 
Aggression  "  would  never  have  been  attempted ;  it  is  the 
rift  of  our  unhappy  divisions  which  enables  the  foreign 
power  to  make  a  lodgment  in  our  midst.  He  does  not 
pay   much   heed   to   the   down-trampling  of   the   British 


IV.]  VICAR  OF  KENWYN  AND  KEA.  1 55 


Church  by  the  emissaries  of  Rome  in  the  sixth  century, 
but  holds  that  we,  as  the  successors  of  the  Church  esta- 
blished by  St.  Augustine  of  Canterbury,  have  ever  held  to 
the  faith,  while  Rome,  whence  he  came,  has  drifted  far 
away  from  the  standpoint  of  those  times.  Very  bitter  to 
the  preacher  was  the  action  of  the  "Bishop  of  Rome," 
who  had 

"  denied  the  very  existence  of  our  Church ;  had  put 
bishops  of  his  own  making  into  the  dioceses  of  the  English 
bishops  ;  and  by  parcelling  out  the  land  into  new  divisions, 
and  creating  new  titles  in  it,  has  usurped  the  authority  of 
our  Queen,  as  well  as  treating  our  Church  and  our  fellow 
Christians  as  heathens,  and  our  bishops  and  clergy  as 
impostors." 

Churchmen  have  since  then  become  accustomed  to  the 
sight  of  Roman  prelates,  and  recognise  and  respect  them 
as  representative  heads  of  the  Roman  Obedience.  It  is 
bad,  no  doubt,  to  find  so  good  and  ancient  a  theory  as  that 
of  one  Bishop  in  one  diocese  unequal  to  the  necessities 
of  Christian  life  in  our  day  ;  yet  still  it  is  so :  and,  after  all, 
the  more  vivid  our  faith  in  Christ,  the  more  tolerant  we 
shall  grow  towards  those  who  do  not  see  things  as  we  do. 
Mr.  Browne,  at  the  close  of  this  sermon,  places  the  matter 
on  much  higher  ground  ;  for  Christ  hath  made  us  free,  and 
we  can  therefore  look  without  fear  on  the  efforts  made  to 
enthral  mankind  or  to  turn  it  from  the  open  Book. 

The  second  sermon  is  on  Antichrist,  a  subject  which 
had  great  fascination  for  the  Bishop  ;  he  chose  it  a  second 
time  in  his  old  age,  in  1883,  when  he  preached  at  the 
opening  of  the  Reading  Church  Congress.  The  third 
sermon,  "  On  the  Prospects  of  the  New  Year,''  is  also 
tinged  by  the  influence  of  the  so-called  "  Papal  Aggression." 
It  is  rather  a  sad  review  of  the  past  than  an  attempt  to 
look  bravely  into  the  future  ;  it  is  perhaps  most  notable  for 


156  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D,  .     [Ch. 

the  closing  sentence,  which,  coming  from  so  warm  and 
sincere  a  defender  of  the  Anglican  Established  Church, 
proves  that  Mr.  Brow.ne  would  never  have  associated  himself 
with  the  extravagant  language  now  popular  respecting 
the  temporalities  of  the  Church.  "  Once  let  the  Church  of 
England  fall, — I  do  not  mean  the  Church  Establishment, 
that  is  but  the  shell  of  which  the  Church  is  the  kernel  and 
the  truth, — once  let  the  Church,  founded  by  apostles  and 
reformed  by  martyrs,  cease  to  be  the  Church  of  the  people 
and  their  affections ;  and  be  sure  that  Romanism  or 
unbelief  will  soon  be  the  only  choice  that  you  will 
have." 

There  was  yet  another  sermon  published  in  this  year, 
one  preached  at  Kenwyn  on  November  23rd,  1851,  on 
"  Religious  Excitement,"  which  was  a  grave  protest  against 
the  *'  Aitkenite  "  movement,  shewing  how  an  earnest  and 
careful  parish  priest  in  those  parts  should  deal  with  the 
revivalist  excitements  of  the  Celtic  population* 

The  Rev.  F.  C.  Jackson  was  at  this  time  one  of  the 
Kenwyn  curates,  and  he  describes  in  a  characteristic  letter 
the  different  impressions  left  on  different  minds  by  Mr. 
Aitken's  preaching  at  this  time. 

"  I  remember,"  he  writes,  "  the  Aitkenite  movement  very 
well  indeed,  and  the  effect  it  had  upon  Haslem,  who  spoke 
to  me  about  the  impression  old  Aitken  had  upon  him, 
especially  in  a  sermon  he  preached  at  Baldhu  in  a  service 
at  which  I  helped  The  sermon  was  on  Gen.  xxviii.  18 
(Jacob's  lie  to  his  father) ;  but  the  more  it  attracted  Haslem 
the  more  it  repelled  me.  I  remember  how  I  felt  that 
Aitken  had  simply  been  converted  to  the  Brianite  faith ; 
and  the  noise  of  his  deep  discordant  voice  eminently  fitted 
him  for  the  line  he  had  taken  up.  The  singular  tempera- 
ment of  Haslem  yielded  to  the  bowlings  of  a  man  whose 
sacred  position  and  years  gave  weight  to  a  doctrine  which 
all  around  him  in  the  hands  of  the  Brianite  preachers  was 
pointless. 


IV.]  VICAR  OF  KENIVYN  AND  KEA.  I  57 

"  I  had  much  conversation  with  Haslem  after  this  ;  he 
wanted  me  to  join  him  in  his  convictions,  but  I  could  not. 
.  ,  .  It  all  grieved  Harold  Browne :  many  and  many  a 
serious  talk  we  had  together,  and  I  found  comfort  in  the 
decided  way  in  which  he  expressed  views  which  were  similar, 
though  less  defined,  in  me." 

The  "  Brianite  "  (or  "  Bryanite  ")  preachers  were  nearly 
identical  with  the  "  Bible  Christians  " ;  they  split  off  from 
the  Cornish  Methodists,  under  the  leadership  of  Mr. 
William  O'Bryan,  a  local  Wesleyan  preacher.  This  gentle- 
man in  181 5  severed  himself  from  the  Wesleyan  body 
without  any  real  difference  of  doctrine,  and  was  followed 
by  a  crowd  of  simple  people,  eager  to  live  according  to 
the  principles  of  the  most  primitive  Christianity,  as  they 
conceived  it  to  be  portrayed  for  them  in  the  pages  of  the 
Bible.  They  have  at  the  present  day  a  large  number  of 
chapels  in  Devon  and  Cornwall. 

The  second  volume  of  Mr,  Browne's  work  on  the  Articles 
was  at  the  time  engaging  much  of  his  time  and  thoughts. 
No  wonder  it  gave  him  some  anxiety  ;  no  wonder  wc  feel 
that  a  prayerful  spirit  was  on  him  all  the  time,  to  keep 
him  from  extremes  and  to  "  guide  "  him  (for  so  his  petition 
ever  ran)  "  into  all  truth."  This  second  volume,  which 
appeared  from  J.  W.  Parker's  press  in  1853,  contained 
all  the  Articles  on  the  Sacraments  ;  the  subject  which  had 
so  lately  filled  the  Western  world  with  excitement.  His 
treatment  of  this  side  of  the  Church's  system  of  Divinity, 
a  branch  difficult  and  thorny  in  theory,  and  infinitely 
simple  by  God's  blessing  in  practice,  is  a  judicious 
exposition  of  the  Anglican  middle  view  on  the  subject. 
The  late  controversy  on  Infant  Baptism  leaves  no  trace  on 
the  fair  and  dispassionate  surface  of  his  treatment  of  the 
Regeneration  question  ;  he  takes  the  Bishop  of  Exeter's 
side,  but  so  temperately  and  simply  that  his  views  were 


IS8  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

generally  accepted.  This  standard  work  on  the  English 
"  Confession "  of  the  sixteenth  century,  on  Anglican 
dogmatic  theology,  and  on  the  structure  of  Church  order, 
has  won  for  itself,  in  spite  of  the  disfavour  into  which  the 
study  of  doctrine  has  unfortunately  fallen,  a  position  which 
seems  likely  to  be  permanent.  It  marks  the  standing- 
ground  of  High  Church  theolog>'  in  England  from  the 
sixteenth  century  down  to  the  present  day.  We  do  not 
now  deal  with  the  intellectual  problems  of  dogma  with 
that  keenness  and  vigour  with  which  they  were  handled 
in  the  days  of  the  Reformation.  In  those  times  the  whole 
energies  of  theological  feeling  were  thrown  into  the  great 
contests  which  raged  round  doctrine  and  Church  order; 
and  the  resultant  bodies  of  divinity  which  emerged  on 
every  hand  bear  witness  to  the  struggles  and  the  enthu- 
siasms of  the  day.  The  Augsburg  Confession  of  the 
Lutherans  began  it ;  John  Calvin  was  not  far  behind  with 
the  "  Institutes  of  the  Christian  Religion " ;  the  Scots, 
with  their  hard-headed  intellectual  temper,  quickly  framed 
their  "  Confession  of  Faith "  and  "  Book  of  Discipline  "  ; 
the  English  Reformers  put  out  the  Thirty-Nine  Articles ; 
and  lastly,  the  Church  of  Rome  responded  to  the  general 
movement  towards  Dogmatic  Theology  by  the  issue 
of  the  Tridentine  Decrees.  Perhaps,  when  the  English 
Church  reaches  the  critical  moment  of  a  reaction  from  the 
sensuous  tendencies  of  the  day — themselves  a  reaction 
from  the  indifferent  dulness  of  official  religion  earlier  in 
the  century — the  masculine  study  of  dogmatic  theology 
may  revive  again,  and  once  more  be  regarded  as  a 
thing  worthy  of  the  study  of  the  best  intellects.  We 
may  then  wed  the  womanly  side,  as  one  may  say,  of 
religion,  the  exercise  of  cultivated  taste,  the  consciousness 
of  life  in  the  family  of  the  Church,  the  appeal  to  the 
feelings  and  aspirations  of  frail  humanity,  with  the  rhore 


IV.]  VICAR  OF  KENWYN  AND  KEA.  159 

robust  and  systematised  theology  which  by  historic  de- 
velopment has  slowly  been  framed  out  of  the  glimpses 
given  us  in  Holy  Scripture.  We  may  then  be  able  to 
enjoy  to  the  full  the  ripeness  of  religious  life  in  which 
the  spirit  of  the  Lord  will  give  light  to  all  the  dogmas 
and  ordinances  of  the  faith,  and  letter  and  spirit  will  no 
longer  stand  in  sharp  contrast  We  can  imagine  that  in 
such  a  time  Harold  Browne's  work  on  the  Thirty-Nine 
Articles  will  surely  have  a  fresh  time  of  favour ;  and 
people  will  see  in  the  learning,  the  charitable  spirit,  and 
moderation  of  it,  a  true  picture  of  the  position  occupied 
by  the  English  Church. 

The  structure  of  the  Methodist  bodies,  which  came  at 
this  time  much  under  Mr.  Browne's  notice,  and  the  pressure 
of  the  large  area  and  population  of  his  parishes,  set  his 
active  and  constructive  mind  in  motion  in  the  direction, 
which  he  ever  afterwards  followed,  of  seeing  how  far,  and 
under  what  limitations,  the  help  of  active  Christian  laymen 
could  be  secured  for  the  Church.  In  1854  he  read  before 
the  Ruridecanal  Chapter  of  Powder  a  paper  on  '*  Thoughts 
on  an  Extension  of  the  Diaconate  and  on  Lay  Agency," 
which  was  printed  by  request  of  the  members  of  that 
Deanery.  The  paper  opens  with  a  friendly  recognition 
of  the  good  work  done  by  the  Wesleyan  body,  though  he 
seems,  by  an  odd  inversion,  to  attribute  to  their  activity  the 
result  that  "nothing  like  the  same  proportion  of  our 
(Cornish)  population  attend  a  place  of  worship  now,  when 
compared  with  those  who  frequented  their  parish  church 
a  century  ago."  There  is  a  striking  and  tolerant  passage 
in  this  valuable  pamphlet,  which  ought  to  be  quoted  as 
shewing  with  how  broad  a  view  Mr.  Browne  regarded  the 
limits  of  opinion.  "  I  would  rather,"  he  says,  "  see  a  certain 
amount  of  error  (not  fatal  or  fundamental)  in  the  Church, 
than  see  every  one  who  cannot  correctly  pronounce  all  our 


l6o  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

shibboleths  cast  out."  And  the  paper  shews  also  that  his 
mind  was  already  much  set  on  the  revival  of  synodal 
action  in  the  English  Church  "  as  a  means  whereby  whole- 
some reforms  might  be  safely  brought  into  our  polity." 
The  pamphlet  is  a  very  strong  condemnation  of  the 
surtout  point  de  zele  attitude  often  too  common  in  the 
clerical  world. 

Mr.  Browne  had  only  been  at  Kenwyn  for  three  years 
when  disturbing  influences  began.  Some  time  in  1853  there 
seems  to  have  been  a  wish  that  he  should  become  a 
candidate  for  the  Hebrew  Professorship  at  Cambridge  ;  of 
this,  however,  nothing  came ;  in  the  same  August  he  was 
in  touch  with  two  men  who  afterwards  were  causes  of 
much  anxiety  to  him.  On  August  25th,  1853,  he  received 
a  letter  from  Bishop  Gray,  of  Cape  Town,  asking  him  to 
suggest  the  name  of  some  person  suitable  to  be  nominated 
for  the  new  Bishopric  of  Graham's  Town  ;  the  Bishop 
would  have  been  only  too  glad  had  Mr.  Browne  responded, 
"  Here  am  I  ;  take  me." 

Writing  about  it  many  years  later,  he  definitely  says 
that  it  was  so. 

"Graham's  Town  was  virtually  offered  to  me  before 
Armstrong  took  it.  I  was  obliged  to  decline  it.  I  myself 
was  very  ill  at  the  time,  and  I  had  a  dear  child  paralysed 
and  full  of  suffering,  whom  I  could  not  have  taken  and 
could  not  have  left." 

He  had  given  himself  to  work  in  England  and  could  not 
leave  his  invalid  daughter,  and  so  he  passed  the  matter 
by.  After  a  short  delay  the  Bishop  of  Cape  Town's  choice 
fell  on  Mr.  Armstrong,  who,  together  with  a  man  destined 
to  create  hereafter  a  great  excitement  in  the  Church, 
Mr.  Colenso,  was  consecrated  Bishop  in  this  year. 

Mr.  Colenso  had  been  an  active  Incumbent  in  the 
diocese  of  Norwich,  a  moderate  High  Churchman,  zealous 


\. 


IV.]  nCAR  OF  KENWYN  AND  KEA.  l6l 

in  the  cause  of  Missions ;  it  was  in  consequence  of  the 
advice  of  friends  on  the  Board  of  the  Society  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel,  and  other  stout  Churchmen, 
that  Bishop  Gray  nominated  him  to  the  Duke  of  Newcastle 
and  the  Primate,  and  he  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  Natal. 
Who  can  say  what  might  have  happened  had  Mr.  Browne 
been  his  colleague  and  neighbour  in  the  work  ?  One  thing 
is  certain,  they  would  both  have  been  the  zealous  friends 
and  champions  of  the  native  races,  and  the  unpleasant  strife 
of  later  years,  which  brought  no  credit  to  any  one,  might 
possibly  have  been  avoided. 


\ 


II 


BOOK     II. 

1853— 1863. 


163 


CHAPTER   I. 

NORRISIAN   PROFESSOR. 

IN  November  .1853  Mr.  Browne  became  a  candidate  for 
the  Norrisian  Professorship  at  Cambridge.  This  office, 
one  of  the  chief  theological  posts  in  that  University,  used 
to  be  filled  by  a  very  curious  method  of  selection,  the  like 
of  which  could  hardly  be  found  elsewhere.  Candidates 
had  to  send  in  their  names  to  the  "  Three  Stewards,"  the 
Master  of  Trinity,  the  Provost  of  King's,  and  the  Master 
of  Corpus,  who  selected  two,  whose  names  they  submitted 
to  the  Heads  of  Houses.  Mr.  Browne's  application, 
addressed  to  the  Master  of  Trinity,  runs  as  follows  : — 

*' November  24thi  1853. 

"  My  opinions  are,  I  believe,  in  simple  accordance  with 
the  doctrines  of  the  Church  of  England  ;  and  I  trust  they 
are  consistent  with  the  most  entire  charity  to  all  who 
dissent  from  her.  Whilst  I  do  not  acknowledge  anything 
like  latitudinarianism,  I  lay  claim  to  large  religious  sympa- 
thies, and  therefore  have  a  peculiar  dislike  to  exclusive 
sectarianism." 

He  then  goes  on  to  urge  that  the  fact  of  his  being  a  parish 
clergyman  should  be  in  his  favour,  and  ends  by  frankly 
admitting  and  deploring  the  idleness  which  had  hindered 
his  undergraduate  success.  On  January  24th,  1854,  Dr. 
Archdall,  Master  of  Emmanuel,  wrote  to  tell  him  that 
he  and  the  Rev.  C.  Hardwick,  Fellow  of  St.  Catherine's 

165 


l66  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DJ),  [Ch. 

Hall,  had  been  selected.  At  their  next  meeting  the 
Heads  proceeded  to  the  election,  and  out  of  twelve  present 
ten  voted  for  Mr.  Browne,  who  was  thereon  declared  to 
be  duly  elected  Norrisian  Professor  of  Divinity,  and  was 
admitted  to  the  office  on  May  6th  following. 

"  Everybody  speaks  of  it,"  he  writes  on  the  day  of  his 
admission,  "  as  a  most  important  and  influential  office ; 
but  all  speak  of  it  too  as  very  hard  work  ;  and  alas !  at 
first  we  shall  be  much  the  poorer  for  it .  . .  Professor  Blunt 
says  that  the  society  at  Cambridge  is  particularly  pleasant, 
remarkably  easy,  and  with  very  few  people  who  talk  to 
shine,  though  so  many  who  can  shine  if  they  aim  at  doing 
so.  May  God  in  His  goodness  bless  this  new  change 
in  our  prospects  and  duties  to  them  and  to  us,  here  and 
hereafter,  for  our  blessed  Saviour's  sake." 

He  appears  to  have  been  allowed  to  retain  his  old  rooms 
in  College ;  for  a  little  later  (April  27th,  1854)  we  find 
him  writing  to  his  wife :  "  I  have  been  obliged  to  leave  my 
rooms  in  College,  which  recalled  my  boyish  days,  and  if 
I  had  stayed  long  in  them  I  should  have  become  a  foolish 
boy  again  in  my  old  age.  There  was  some  danger  of  my 
appearing  in  a  straw  hat  and  a  round  jacket,  and  going 
down  to  the  river  to  take  the  stroke  oar  in  the  boat" 

His  lectures  began  in  the  October  Term  of  1854-  "I 
gave  my  first  lecture  to-day.  I  felt  very  nervous  at  first 
lecturing,  the  more  so  as  I  found  my  lecture  was  not 
half  long  enough  for  the  hour.  However,  I  concluded 
by  an  extempore  lecture,  and  so  got  through  the  hour 
pretty  well."  And  speaking  of  the  effort  of  beginning  this 
new  life  of  teaching  he  says,  a  few  days  later :  "  I  can  do 
twice  as  much  here  as  I  can  at  Kenwyn ;  for  I  am  sure 
I  should  be  half  dead  by  this  time  if  I  had  worked  there 
as  I  have  done  here  for  the  last  fortnight." 

The  interests  and  excitements  of  the  University  town 
had  acted  as  a  tonic  on  his  delicate  frame.    "  I  have  invita- 


I.],.  NORRISIAN  PROFESSOR.  1 67 

dons:  to  dinner  six  deep,"  he  writes,  "  which  is  dreadful. 
You  may  guess,  however,  that  I  am  not  seriously  hurt  by 
eating  or  writing  yet ;  for  I  walked  a  round  to-day  which 
I  am  told  is  six  miles  ;  I  suppose  in  Cornwall  I  could  not 
do  more  than  half,  though  I  trust  my  powers  of  locomotion 
are  returning  a  little."  And  other  work  came  swiftly  to 
him.  He  was  made  Examiner,  which  involved  very  much 
labour  ;  and  the  University  Press  consulted  him  as  to  the 
publication  of  books.  Thus  he  writes  (February  29th, 
1856) :  "  I  have  a  deal  of  work  on  hand  just  now,  having 
to  read  a  MS.  book  of  Mr.  Scrivener's,  a  collation  of  several 
Greek  MSS.,  to  see  whether  the  University  Press  should 
print  it.     Besides,  I  have  lots  to  do  on  my  own  account" 

After  a  very  short  time  the  Professor  was  joined  by 
his  wife  and  family,  and  occupied  a  comfortable  house, 
"  Newnham  Cottage,"  at  the  back  of  the  Colleges.  It  was 
divided  from  the  grounds  of  King's  and  Queens'  Colleges 
by  the  Cam.  A  little  wicket  opening  into  an  arched  way 
led  to  the  house  door.  A  garden  gave  room  for  the  boys 
to  play  boy-cricket,  and  enabled  them  to  blow  off  their 
redundant  spirits  while  their  father  worked  within.  In 
those  days  there  were  very  few  ladies  at  either  University, 
only  Heads  of  Houses  and  a  few  Professors  being  married  ; 
and  here  and  there,  a  wonder  to  see,  a  stripling  daughter 
growing  up  to  womanhood.  Dinners,  except  at  the  houses 
of  Heads,  were  very  rare  ;  and  to  these  only  a  select 
few  were  bidden.  The  rest  of  the  narrow  University 
public  were  entertained  in  large  evening  parties.  Professor 
Thomson  used  to  say  that  "the  Heads  were  asked  to 
dinner  and  the  Brains  to  tea."  Mrs.  Harold  Browne,  in  her 
Diary  for  1856,  in  which  she  jotted  down  some  of  the 
bright  impressions  of  those  days,  thus  describes  the  life  of 
Cambridge  : — 

''Our  first  dinner-party  was  at   Trinity   Lodge,  when 


i68  EDWARD  HAkOLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [C&. 

Whewell  was  Master — and  such  a  Master!  He  towered 
over  all  in  mind  and  body;  he  had  a  fine  large  leonine 
head,  with  grizzly  hair  and  shaggy  eyebrows ;  not  one 
good  feature,  but  eyes  which  seemed  to  look  into  every- 
thing and  everybody ;  and  when  he  spoke  he  sparkled  all 
over,  and  no  one  could  think  him  plain.  We  met  there 
Trench,  then  Dean  of  Westminster,  with  his  wife  and 
beautiful  daughter.  Whewell  sat  in  the  middle  of  his  table 
with  Trench  opposite,  and  they  talked  for  the  good  of  the 
public  on  poetry,  etc.  I  sat  next  to  the  Master  of  Downing, 
who  was  most  agreeable,  having  a  constant  flow  of  con- 
versation, but  I  could  hear  WhewelFs  hailstones  over  all 
the  patter.  .  .  .  Perhaps  the  most  delightful  companion 
of  all  was  dear  Professor  Sedgwick,  one  of  my  father's 
oldest  friends.  We  often  had  tea  with  him  in  his  rooms  at 
Trinity.  On  one  of  these  occasions  he  was  most  entertain- 
ing ;  he  knew  Sir  Walter  Scott  very  well,  and  said  that 
when  *  Old  Mortality '  came  out  he  was  so  much  delighted 
with  it  that  he  was  obliged  to  take  off  his  coat  and  jump 
over  the  chairs  to  get  off  a  little  of  his  animal  spirits  ;  and 
then  he  sat  down  and  read  again.  He  thought  Scott's 
best  novel  was  *  Guy  Mannering/  He  was  with  Basil  Hall 
when  he  (Hall)  bought  the  MS.  of  the  '  Antiquary '  for 
£yy,  much  under  its  value.  Sir  Walter  told  him  that  he 
thought  the  *  Antiquary '  his  best  novel ;  and  on  Basil  Hall 
asking  him,  he  wrote  this  opinion  and  his  reasons  for 
thinking  so  on  a  flyleaf  of  the  MS.,  so  making  it  doubly 
valuable.  Sedgwick  and  Sir  Roderick  Murchison  were 
travelling  abroad,  and  on  reaching  a  village  on  the  borders 
of  Hungary  fell  into  talk  with  the  village  schoolmaster, 
partly  in  Latin,  partly  in  Italian.  The  schoolmaster, 
finding  that  they  came  from  England,  asked  whether  they 
knew  Sir  Walter  Scott,  and  on  their  saying  that  he  was 
a  great  friend  of  theirs  the  little  man  threw  up  his  arms 
in  ecstasy,  crying  out,  *  Thank  God,  I  have  seen  two  men 
who  know  Sir  Walter  Scott ! '  " 

And  she  adds  : — 

"  There  is  a  learned  look  even  in  the  buildings ;  the 
streets  and  dwelling-houses  not  being  very  fine  rather 
adds  to  this  effect.  The  College  and  University  buildings 
look  like  Hebrew  and  Greek  characters  among  common 
printed  letters.  Then,  the  passers-by  in  the  streets  are  half 
of  them  robed  figures,  with  the  square  cap  on  their  heads. 


I.]  NORRISIAN  PROFESSOR.  I69 

looking  as  if  more  learning  was  hidden  by  those  folds  and 
that  becoming  head-dress  than  could  be  possible  under 
a  swallow-tailed  coat  and  a  high-crowned  hat  Then  you 
constantly  hear  sweet-toned  bells  calling  to  prayer  or  to 
lectures,  or  at  five  o'clock  to  what  makes  many  run  still 
faster — to  their  respective  College  dinners.  At  this  time 
you  see  great  numbers  of  undergraduates  in  their  gay 
costumes  coming  from  boating  or  cricket,  from  two  to  four 
being  the  usual  hour  for  exercise,  when  all  rush  into  the  air 
the  moment  their  morning's  work  is  over.  The  older  men 
take  their  constitutional  to  Trumpington  or  to  Granchester, 
or  to  the  Observatory.  Good  causeways  being  on  all  these 
roads,  they  only  have  to  walk  straight  along,  without  the 
trouble  of  thinking  where  they  are  going,  which  allows  them 
to  ruminate  on  the  walks  of  science,  or  to  talk  Theology^ 
or  discuss  University  Reform  with  some  kindred  spirit." 

Mr.  Browne  now  thought  it  right  to  proceed  to  his 
degrees  in  Divinity,  and  on  March  14th,  1855,  took  his 
B.D.  Very  shortly  after,  Professor  Blunt,  who  had  been 
a  warm  friend  to  his  young  colleague,  died,  and  the  im  - 
portant  Lady  Margaret  Professorship,  an  office  said  to  be 
the  richest  in  the  University,  being  worth  quite  ;£^iSoo  a 
year,  became  vacant.  The  death  of  Professor  Blunt,  "  one 
of  the  most  honoured  and  lamented  of  the  members  of  our 
Church  and  University,"  was  a  serious  loss  to  the  cause  of 
learned  and  moderate  Churchmanship ;  and  great  was  the 
anxiety  and  speculation  as  to  who  would  succeed  him  in 
this  high  office.  College  interests  and  theological  pre- 
dilections clashed  mightily  ;  and  the  struggle  for  the  post 
aroused  unwonted  interest. 

The  election,  which  followed  on  June  29th,  1855,  was  in 
some  respects  one  of  the  strangest  that  had  ever  taken 
place.  In  the  first  place,  the  candidature  of  Professor 
Browne  was  a  revolt  on  the  part  of  the  University  against 
the  theological  dominance  of  St.  John's  College.  In  former 
days,  and  perhaps  even  to  present  times,  the  rest  of  the 
University  groaned  not  a  little  under  the  great  weight  of 


IJfO  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

Trinity  ;  for  that  College,  thanks  to  overwhelming  numbers, 
was  able  to  exert  preponderant  influence  in  most  elections. 
On  the  other  hand,  for  those  theological  posts  for  which 
graduates  in  Divinity  alone  voted,  St.  John's,  which  had 
a  far  larger  list  of  B.D.  and  D.D.  members  than  any 
other  College,  perhaps  than  all  other  Colleges  combined, 
had  long  held  possession  of  the  Lady  Margaret  Chair; 
so  much  so  that  the  last  seven  Professors  had  all  been 
Johnians. 

There  were  originally  six  candidates  for  the  Professor- 
ship ;  of  these  three  withdrew,  leaving  in  the  field  William 
Selwyn  of  St.  John's,  Henry  John  Rose,  also  of  St  John's, 
and  Professor  Browne.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  weight  of 
St.  John's  was  somewhat  diminished  by  a  party  split ;  the 
effect  of  theological  differences  thus  telling,  though  not 
fatally,  on  the  voting-power  of  the  College. 

The  election  on  June  29th  was  preceded  by  a  notice 
from  the  Vice-Chancellor,  Mr.  Guest,  Master  of  Caius 
College,  to  the  effect  that  "no  elector  who  is  not  present 
at  the  commencement  of  the  proceedings,  to  hear  the 
requisite  documents  read;  and  to  take  the  prescribed  oath, 
will  be  entitled  to  vote."  Among  these  "requisite  docu- 
ments "  was  a  Deed  of  Foundation  of  1 502  w  hich  regulated 
the  process  of  voting,  laying  it  down  that  votes  should  be 
taken  man  by  man,  beginning  with  the  junior  B.D.,  and  so 
upward  by  seniority  to  the  oldest  D.D.  there  present 
After  the  oath  had  been  duly  administered  to  all  the  quali- 
fied voters,  a  hundred  and  four  in  number,  and  while  the 
Vice-Chancellor  was  consulting  with  his  assessors  (the 
Senior  B.D.  and  the  Senior  D.D.)  as  to  procedure,  the 
Registrary  of  the  University  began  to  call  the  names  of 
the  B.D.'s,  from  the  junior  onwards.  He  had  before  him 
the  books  requisite  for  determining  the  standing  of  the 
electors,   and  began    in    accordance    with    the    Deed    of 


I.]  NORRISIAN  PROFESSOR.  171 

Foundation.  As,  however,  there  was  considerable  delay, 
and  the  process  appeared  likely  to  be  slow,  a  large  number 
-of  the  electors  went  up  to  the  Registrary's  table  to  ask  that 
votes  might  be  taken  in  any  order ;  the  Vice-Chancellor 
on  being  appealed  to  refused  to  be  interfered  with ;  he 
says  in  a  letter  written  afterwards,  "  As  we  had  not  yet 
considered  the  clause  which  refers  to  the  order  of  voting, 
and  as  the  whole  proceeding  was  in  my  opinion  an  inde- 
corous one,  I  would  not  allow  our  consultation  to  be 
interrupted,  and  refused  at  that  time  to  listen  to  them." 
Hereon,  the  Master  of  Trinity  naturally  understanding 
from  this  that  the  voting  would  take  long,  went  out  of  the 
Senate  House  so  as  not  to  waste  time.  Almost  directly 
after  this,  the  electors  having  again  appealed  to  the  Vice- 
Chancellor,  he  yielded,  and  the  process  of  voting  was 
<:hanged.  The  voting  papers  were  all  speedily  handed  in, 
and  on  being  counted,  shewed  the  following  result : — 

Selwyn 43 

Browne 43 

Rose         17 

Whereupon,  without  delay,  the  Vice-Chancellor  gave  a 
•casting  vote  for  Mr.  Selwyn,  and  declared  him  duly  elected. 
No  sooner  was  this  done  than  Dr.  Whewell  returned  in 
hot  haste  to  the  Senate  House,  and  with  no  small  indig- 
nation filled  up  his  voting  paper  in  favour  of  Mr.  Browne 
and  tendered  it  to  the  Vice-Chancellor,  who  had  not  yet 
retired.  Mr.  Guest,  however,  refused  to  receive  or  record 
it,  on  the  ground  that  the  proceedings  were  closed.  So 
ended  this  singular  election,  "  under  which,"  as  the  angry 
Cornwall  Gazette  of  July  6th,  1855,  boldly  says,  "by  the 
conduct,  certainly  irregular,  and  probably  illegal,  of  the 
Vice-Chancellor,  the  vote  of  the  Master  of  Trinity  was 
Jost."     Had  the  case  gone  into  the  law  courts,  it  is  probable 


172  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D,  [Ch. 

that  the  Master  of  Trinity  would  have  been  upheld,  and 
either  the  result  reversed  or  a  new  election  ordered. 
That  the  presiding  officer  should  change  the  order  of 
proceedings  in  the  middle  of  an  election  was  a  very 
strong  measure ;  that  no  hour  was  fixed  for  the  close 
of  the  poll  was  a  singular  omission  ;  but  that  after  this 
the  Vice-Chancellor,  not  being  an  elector,  being  neither 
D.D.  nor  B.D.,  nor  even  in  holy  orders,  should  have  given 
a  casting  vote,  so  deciding  the  election,  seems  a  most 
dubious  course  of  action.  Scrupulous  care  ought  to  have 
been  taken  that  no  advantage  should  be  gained  from 
a  surprise ;  and  on  behalf  of  the  rights  of  an  elector 
who  had  fully  qualified  to  vote,  and  yet  was  excluded 
because  he  had  chanced  to  be  absent  at  the  undefined 
moment  at  which  the  votes  were  taken,  one  would  have 
thought  that  the  Vice-Chancellor  would  at  least  have 
given  a  long  breathing-time  before  declaring  the  election. 
The  view  always  taken  by  law-courts,  that  they  are  the 
protectors  of  threatened  or  neglected  rights,  would,  had 
the  case  been  taken  up  for  judicial  decision,  have  been 
much  in  favour  of  Dr.  .Whewell's  claim.  In  the  corre- 
spondence which  ensued,  the  Vice-Chancellor's  letters 
addressed  to  Professor  Browne  are  hard  and  cold,  as  of  a 
man  who  felt  himself  in  a  difficult  position,  and  yet  was 
determined  to  defend  himself  against  all  attacks.  They 
contrast  strongly  with  the  charming  spirit  which  runs 
through  all  the  letters  of  the  aggrieved  and  hardly- 
treated  candidate. 

Dr.  Whewell,  a  few  days  after  the  untoward  event  of  the 
election,  wrote  Mr.  Browne  the  following  letter  : — 

"  Lowestoft,  July  ^th,  1857. 

"My  dear  Sir, — I  will  not  deny  myself  the  pleasure 
of  telling  you  that  your  letter  gave  me  great  pleasure.  I 
had  thought  that  everybody,  and  you  in  particular,  must 


I.]  NORRISIAN  PROFESSOR.  173 

have  judged  me  unpardonably  stupid  and  impatient,  to 
miss  voting  as  I  did  It  ought  not  to  have  occurred,  for  I 
was  violating  a  rule  which  I  received  from  high  authority 
and  intended  to  observe.  When  the  Duke  of  Wellington 
came  to  the  Installation  of  the  Chancellor  (the  Duke  of 
Northumberland,  I  think),  he  arrived  at  my  Lodge,  and 
insisted  upon  going  immediately  to  where  the  Chancellor 
was  ;  saying,  *  I  must  be  upon  the  spot.  Nothing  like 
being  upon  the  spot  I  came  to  do  honour  to  the  Duke, 
and  must  be  on  the  spot'  I  came  from  Lowestoft  to  vote 
for  you,  and  ought  to  have  been  on  the  spot. 

"  I  do  not  cease  to  regret  that  you  missed  a  situation 
which  I  think  it  was  much  to  the  advantage  of  the  Univer- 
sity that  you  should  have  had. 

"  Believe  me,  my  dear  Sir, 

"  Yours  most  truly, 

"W.  Whewell." 

There  were  two  really  satisfactory  results  of  this  strange 
election  ;  the  one,  the  admirable  letter  addressed  by 
Professor  Browne  to  the  Cornish  Gazette^  in  reply  to  their 
account  of  the  proceedings  ;  and  the  other,  the  real  friend- 
ship and  mutual  respect  which  the  successful  and  unsuc- 
cessful candidates  ever  after  felt  for  each  other. 

The  letter  to  the  Cornish  newspaper  is  so  charming  an 
example  of  the  fairness  of  spirit  which  characterised  the 
late  Bishop,  that  it  is  here  given  in  full : — 

"  To  the  Editor  of  the  *  Royal  Cornish  Gazette' 

*^K^rivnri,July  <)th^  1855. 

"  My  dear  Sir, — I  should  not  think  of  troubling  you 
with  a  letter  concerning  my  own  affairs,  but  that,  in  the 
notice  you  took  in  your  last  paper  of  the  election  for  the 
Margaret  Professorship  at  Cambridge,  I  fear  you  may,  in 
your  kindness  to  me,  have  conveyed  to  others  an  unfavour- 
able impression  of  a  gentleman  for  whom  I  entertain  a 
sincere  respect.  This  impression,  I  shall  be  glad,  if  you 
will  allow  me,  to  rectify. 

"  It  is  perfectly  true  that  the  Vice-Chancellor  gave 
notice  that  the  voting  should  proceed  in  one  way,  and 
afterwards,  finding  that  way  tedious,  altered  it  to  another. 


174  EDIVARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D,D.  [Ch. 

It  is  also  true  that  I  thereby  lost  the  vote  of  Dr.  Whewell, 
the  Master  of  Trinity,  and  so  lost  the  election ;  for  Dr. 
Whewell  was  not  aware  that  the  plan  of  voting  had  been 
altered.  Moreover  it  is  true  that  this  proceeding  was 
irregular  and  probably  illegal. 

But  I  am  quite  sure  that  the  Vice-Chancellor  had  no 
notion  that,  by  making  the  alteration,  he  was  doing  anything 
which  would  be  unfavourable  to  either  candidate.  He  no 
doubt  supposed  that  no  voter  had  left  the  Senate  House,  in 
which  case  the  change  in  the  proceedings  would  have  been 
of  no  consequence.  I  think,  I  may  almost  say,  it  would 
have  been  a  relief  to  him  if  the  Master  of  Trinity  had  voted. 

"  Mr.  Guest's  change  of  plan  and  finally  his  casting  vote 
were  certainly  disastrous  to  me  ;  but  there  is  no  man  in 
the  University  whom  I  believe  to  be  more  conscientious  in 
the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  his  office,  or  less  likely  to  be 
capable  of  an  electioneering  trick.  Being  a  layman,  he 
would  have  had  no  vote  but  that  he  happened  to  be  Vice- 
Chancellor.  In  the  first  instance  he  did  not  vote  at  all, 
leaving  the  election  in  the  hands  of  the  D.D.'s  and  B.D.*s, 
to  whom  the  Lady  Margaret  had  generally  confided  it. 
Owing  to  Dr.  Whewell's  temporary  absence,  the  members 
of  the  Theological  faculty  divided  equally,  forty-three  for 
Canon  Selywn  and  forty-three  for  me.  Then  of  necessity, 
and  as  I  believe  reluctantly,  Mr.  Guest  exercised  his  casting 
vote  ;  and  I  can  have  no  reason  to  complain  that  he  gave 
it  in  favour  of  one  so  highly  distinguished,  and  so  generally 
respected  and  beloved,  as  the  present  Margaret  Professor 
of  Divinity.  It  was  certainly  a  disappointment  to  find 
that  a  majority  of  the  Theological  faculty  originally 
present  and  sworn  were  favourable  to  me,  and  that  a 
layman's  casting  vote  decided  against  me.  But  I  have 
never  once  imagined  that  any  person  concerned  in  this 
election  acted  otherwise  than  honourably,  and  to  the  best 
of  his  judgment. 

"  Thanking  you  for  the  undeserved  terms  of  praise  in 
which  you  speak  of  me, 

"  I  am,  dear  Sir, 

"  Very  faithfully  yours, 

"  E.  Harold  Browne." 

No  sooner  was  this  difficult  matter  of  the  election  settled 
than  Professor  Selwyn  approached  Professor  Browne  with 


I.l  NORRISIAN  PROFESSOR.  1 75 

the  most  honourable  proposals.  Sehvyn  was  well  off,  and 
had  no  incumbrances ;  while  Mr.  Browne  had  a  large  and 
growing  family  and  no  very  plentiful  private  means ;  his 
Norrisian  Professorship  was  but  poorly  endowed,  and 
having  heavy  outgoings  at  Kenwyn,  and  two  houses  to 
keep  up,  it  is  probable  that  he  was  even  the  poorer  for 
his  advancement.  Mr.  Selwyn's  suggestion,  at  first  made 
privately,  ran  thus :  "  You  should  give  me  half  your  income, 
and  I  should  give  you  half  mine,  and  I  hope  we  shall 
find  with  Hesiod  oa^  irXkov  fjiuav  iravro^  {Hesiod,  Op.  40)." 
He  then  goes  on  to  show  that  the  net  professorial  income  of 
the.  Chair  is  ^^1506.  Mr.  Browne  replied  that  so  serious 
a  matter  ought  to  be  carried  out  publicly  and  not  by 
private  arrangement.  Mr.  Selwyn  was  quite  willing  for 
this,  and  made  application  accordingly  to  the  Heads  of 
Houses,  and  they  after  some  deliberation  consented  to 
the  proposal 

About  a  year  later  appeared  a  Grace  of  the  Senate  to 
enable  Dr.  Selwyn,  as  Lady  Margaret's  Professor,  to  pay 
£700  a  year  to  the  Vice-Chancellor,  to  be  by  him  applied 
towards  the  augmentation  of  the  Norrisian  Professorship 
so  long  as  it  was  held  by  Mr.  Browne,  with  a  proviso  that 
if  he  vacated  the  post  the  augmentation  should  thereupon 
fall  back  into  the  hands  of  the  Senate,  to  be  by  them 
disposed  of,  as  they  might  deem  best,  "  for  the  encourage- 
ment of  theological  learning."  In  this  way  the  two  pro- 
fessorships were  brought  to  nearly  the  same  value,  and  the 
full  time  and  energies  of  two  Professors  of  Theology  were 
secured  to  the  University. 

Anyone  who  has  seen,  in  later  days,  the  affectionate  and 
even  brotherly  terms  on  which,  when  Mr.  Browne  became 
Bishop  of  Ely,  and  Professor  Selwyn  was  at  his  side  as. 
one  of  the  Canons  of  that  Cathedral,  these  two  dis- 
tinguished members  of  the  now  rising  Cambridge  School 


176  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

of  Divinity  lived  together,  must  have  felt  that  their  inter- 
course gave  full  proof  of  the  charitable  and  tolerant  spirit 
which  from  the  beginning  has  been  the  characteristic 
mark  of  that  admirable  school. 

By  the  terms  of  the  bequest  under  which  the  office  was 
created,  the  Norrisian  Professorship  was  much  hindered 
Mr.  Norris  was  an  ardent  admirer  of  "Pearson  on  the 
Creed,"  and  loaded  his  bequest  to  the  University  with  the 
injunction  that  his  Professor  should  at  every  lecture  read 
this  work  to  his  pupils  for  the  space  of  twenty  minutes, 
and  then  comment  on  it  for  forty  minutes.  This  mistaken 
enthusiasm  for  Pearson  made  the  Professor's  lectures 
almost  useless,  and  the  custom  was  brought  to  an  end  in 
i860,  while  Mr.  Browne  was  still  Professor,  by  a  Statute 
of  the  University. 

Some  Professors  considered  themselves  at  liberty  to  read 
their  share  of  Pearson  on  the  Creed  every  third  lecture,  so 
taking  the  three  periods  of  twenty  minutes  in  the  lump ; 
and  thus,  on  the  other  two  lecture  days  of  the  week,  they 
got  an  uninterrupted  run  of  an  hour  for  their  own  subjects. 
Professor  Browne,  however,  adhered  to  the  letter  of  his 
statute,  and  took  his  twenty  minutes  of  Pearson  every  time, 
much  to  his  own  annoyance  and  to  the  detriment  of  his 
work.  One  of  those  who  attended  his  lectures  at  this  time 
writes  thus : — 

"Although  the  reading  [of  Pearson]  was  clear  and 
intelligent,  and  the  excellence  of  the  matter  undoubted 
(Bentley  used  to  say  that  Pearson's  *  very  dross  was  gold '), 
it  was  a  trying  ordeal  for  a  class  of  graceless  undergraduates, 
who  were  wont  to  show  impatience  unless  occupied  with 
a  class-book  or  lighter  literature,  which  was  read  surrepti- 
tiously under  the  table,  and  would  sometimes  have  to  be 
noticed.  The  Professor  would  always  administer  his  reproof 
in  the  most  courteous  manner,  explaining  that  he  was 
compelled,  in  obedience  to  the  trust,  to  occupy  a  portion  of 
the  time  with  the  somewhat  dry  reading.     His  kind  manner 


I.]  NORRISIAN  PROFESSOR.  1 77 


always  had    the  desired  effect,   and   put    to    shame  the 
offenders." 

The  truth  is,  the  Professor  was  not  by  nature  a  strong 
disciplinarian ;  the  law  of  love  on  which  he  ruled  his  own 
life,  and  the  life  of  his  household,  with  success,  was  not 
always  safely  applicable  to  the  high  spirits  and  merry 
impudence  of  the  undergraduate  who  is  reading  for  Orders. 
The  present  Master  of  Trinity  has  given  me  a  happy 
illustration  of  this  weak  point  in  the  Professor's  armour,  an 
illustration  which  brings  out  his  gentleness  of  character, 
and  shews  that  he  never  could  resist  the  fascinations  of 
a  friendly  dog. 

"  One  term,"  said  Dr.  Butler,  "  when  I  was  staying  up 
in  Cambridge,  after  having  lately  taken  my  Master's 
Degree,  I  went  in  all  the  glories  of  my  new  silk  gown,  to 
attend  a  course  of  lectures  the  Professor  was  giving  on 
St.  Augustine.  One  day,  a  man  happened  to  come  in 
late,  and  in  with  him  came  a  terrier  dog,  whose  master 
had  given  him  the  slip  by  turning  into  one  of  the  lecture- 
rooms.  After  the  affable  manner  of  an  undergraduate's 
dog,  the  creature  at  once  began  to  make  the  round  of  the 
class,  offering  and  receiving  all  kinds  of  friendly  notice 
from  man  to  man.  The  whole  lecture  at  once  fell  into 
confusion  and  tittering  laughter,  and  the  dear  Professor, 
between  his  sympathy  with  the  intruder  and  his  gentle- 
ness, stood  quite  powerless,  unable  to  quell  the  tumult 
And  so  it  went  on ;  the  terrier,  feeling  much  pleased  by 
the  attentions  he  received  and  the  effect  of  his  polite 
manners,  went  on  calling  on  student  after  student,  until 
at  last  he  reached  me,  and  I,  thinking  the  game  had  gone 
on  long  enough,  and  that  I  as  a  Master  was  bound  to 
come  to  the  Professor's  help,  swept  my  ample  silk  gown 
round  the  lively  beast,  and  carried  him  out  of  the  room. 
Order  was  then  restored  and  the  lecture  went  on  again." 

Mr.  Browne's  lectures  were  of  no  common  quality,  and 
many  men  of  very  varied  characters  were  the  better  for 
them.       Thus    Mr.   Burnand,    the    humorous    author   of 

12 


178  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D,  [Ch. 


"Happy  Thoughts,"    has  sent  me   a  little  extract  from 
his  undergraduate  diary  : — 

"  I  have  been  attending  Harold  Browne's  lectures  on 
Dogmatic  Theology.    Splendid." 

Mr.  Burnand,  although  he  has  altogether  moved  away 
from  the  Professor's  side,  transferring  his  allegiance  in 
matters  spiritual  to  Rome,  still  looks  back  with  gratitude 
and  affection  on  Mr.  Browne's  kindness  to  him  in  those 
far-off  Cambridge  days,  when  in  1858  he  was  full  of 
perplexed  uncertainties,  and  sought  the  kind  sympathetic 
Professor's  advice,  and  never  in  vain. 

"  While  he  was  Norrisian  Professor  at  Cambridge  .  .  . 
I  attended  Harold  Browne's  lectures,  and  was  among  the 
very  few  who  used  to  go  and  assault  him  on  '  difficulties.' 
He  was  always  most  considerate  and  courteous.  I  have 
no  doubt  I  was  a  bore, — ^  a  little  Theology  is  a  dangerous 
thing.*  I  was  deeply  interested  in  my  subjects,  and,  quite 
unaided,  made  a  list  of  crucial  questions,  familiar  enough 
to  the  student  of  Divinity.  However,  the  kind  Professor 
gave  me  his  extra  time,  and  at  last  suggested  that  I  should 
put  aside  all  other  matters  and  go  either  to  Wells  (it  was 
very  like  telling  me  to  *go  to  Bath,'  wasn't  it?)  or  to 
Cuddesdon.  The  immediate  cause  of  this  advice  was  a 
question  I  put  to  him,  to  which  he  was  unable  to  give 
then  and  there  a  complete  and  satisfactory  answer.  .  .  . 

"  Once  again  I  wrote  to  consult  him  about  another 
difficulty.  .  .  .  That  is  all  I  know  of  Harold  Browne, 
one  of  the  kindest  and  gentlest  of  men,  for  whom  I  cherish 
a  reverent  affection." 

The  present  Archbishop  of  York,  Dr.  Maclagan,  in 
his  letter  of  thanks  to  the  aged  Bishop  of  Winchester  on 
his  congratulations  at  the  time  of  his  nomination  to  that 
Metropolitan  See  in  1891,  refers  to  a  time,  thirty-eight 
years  before,  when  he  had  got  no  small  benefit  by  at- 
tending  his   lectures   as   Norrisian    Professor.       Another 


I.]  NORRISIAN  PROFESSOR.  179 

distinguished  student  of  the  time,   Dr.  Merriman,   sends 
me  a  somewhat  different  impression  of  the  lectures : — 

"  I  attended  his  lectures.  They  were  very  careful  and 
interesting  in  matter,  a  little  dry  and  wanting  in  warmth 
of  manner." 

And  there  are  many  others  still  living  who  look  back 
with  pleasure  and  gratitude  to  the  influence  exerted  on 
them  by  one  who  always  won  the  confidence  and  esteem 
of  young  men,  listened  to  them,  drew  them  out,  and  gave 
them  kindly,  wise  advice. 

From  this  time  the  work  at  Kenwyn  (never,  we  may  be 
sure,  neglected)  necessarily  took  a  secondary  place.  No 
more  literary  work  issued  from  the  damp  study  against 
the  hillside,  for  Cambridge  engrossed  the  whole  attention 
of  the  new  Professor.  He  had  lectures  to  prepare  and 
give  ;  he  moved  admirably  along  the  lines  of  intellectual 
life  which  form  the  great  charm  of  the  Universities ;  he 
was  recognised  as  one  of  the  chief  factors  in  that  moderate 
theological  movement,  conservative  yet  faithful  and  truth- 
ful, which  was  now  beginning  to  make  itself  felt.  For 
Cambridge  scholarship,  exactitude  of  thought,  reluctance 
to  embark  on  new  ideas,  all  now  took  a  theological 
direction :  neither  the  poets  nor  the  prophets  of  the 
Oxford  movement  had  their  counterparts  at  Cambridge ; 
where,  instead  of  exploring  new  ground,  and  perhaps 
wandering  across  the  border  into  neighbouring  folds,  men 
as  a  rule  set  to  work  on  exegetics  of  the  Bible,  or  on 
the  Evidences,  or  on  the  patient  study  of  those  Eastern 
tongues  which  throw  light  on  the  early  history  of  Chris- 
tianity. Mr.  Browne  returned  to  Cambridge  at  the  critical 
point  of  time  ;  the  three  men,  whose  work,  with  his,  has 
given  stability  to  the  theological  movement  of  our  time, 
and  has  done  so  much  to  secure  the  Church  of  England 


l80  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 


on  the  lines  of  sound  scholarship,  fair  and  honest  criticism, 
and  a  genuine  historical  appeal  to  the  facts  of  the  history 
of  early  Christianity,  were  at  that  moment  just  coming 
into  prominence.  Dr.  Westcott,  now  Bishop  of  Durham, 
took  his  degree  in  1848,  Hort  in  1850,  Bishop  Lightfoot 
in  1851.  Dr.  Westcott,  replying  in  1890  to  the  Bishop 
of  Winchester's  congratulations  on  his  appointment 
to  Durham,  speaks  warmly  of  the  way  in  which,  on  his 
return  to  Cambridge  to  work  under  Dr.  Lightfoot,  he  was 
welcomed  and  encouraged  by  our  Bishop.  And  Professor 
Browne  never  spared  himself,  was  never  a  recluse,  never 
neglected  practical  chances  of  influencing  men.  Arch- 
deacon Emery  says  that : — 

"  He  threw  himself  actively  into  the  religious  work  at 
Cambridge ;  attended  gatherings  of  students  for  religious 
purposes,  especially  for  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of 
the  Gospel.  In  1858  or  1859  he  became  an  active  member 
of  the  'Church  Defence  Association  ;  he  was  thoughtful, 
moderate,  judicious  in  all  things." 

Contact  with  Cambridge,  and  the  quickened  life  of 
moderate  Churchmanship  which  marked  that  University, 
could  not  fail  to  arouse  all  Professor  Browne's  energies, 
and  to  send  them  flowing  along  the  channel  of  a  revived 
Church  life.  No  man  was  ever  more  distinctly  a  child  of 
Cambridge.  His  scholarship  and  his  study  of  early 
Christian  writers  formed  one  side  of  his  industry ;  his  re- 
markable power  of  acquiring  languages,  his  singular  gift 
of  orderly  thinking,  his  moderation  of  tone  and  character, 
all  these  qualities  came  out  during  these  years  of  quiet 
work.  His  kindness  attracted  rather  painful  attention  at 
times:  people  thought  they  might  appeal  to  him  for 
anything,  and  place  any  burden  on  his  shoulders.  There 
is  a  letter  belonging  to  this  period  from  Charles  Marriott 
of  Oriel,  begging  Professor  Browne  to  revise  a  translation 


I.]  NORRISIAN  PROFESSOR.  l8l 

of  the  Paschal  Epistles  of  St  Athanasius  from  the  Syriac, 
a  work  lately  undertaken  by  Mr.  Burgess.  The  Professor 
was  asked  to  take  in  hand  this  wearisome  and  thankless 
task  without  the  least  remuneration  for  much  expenditure 
of  time  and  energy. 

The  questions  mooted  by  the  so-called  "  Papal  Aggres- 
sion," with  the  newly  felt  need  of  proving  the  stability  of 
the  position  held  by  the  English  Church,  set  Professor 
Browne  thinking  much  about  the  principles  on  which 
he  must  take  his  stand.  He  saw  that  there  were  two 
lines  on  which  the  Reformation  could  be  defended — the 
right  of  men  to  free  judgment,  and  the  historic  con- 
tinuity of  the  Episcopate.  The  latter  appeared  to  him 
by  far  the  more  important,  and  essential  in  a  controversy 
with  Rome.  When  one  of  the  two  parties  absolutely 
denies  the  right  of  private  judgment,  the  claim  to  it  can 
only  be  asserted  by  using  it  ;  but  if  the  English  Church 
can  prove  the  continuity  of  its  Orders,  she  will  be  on 
ground  which  even  her  opponents  must  respect  The 
Romanists  had  shown  how  important  they  deemed  the 
point  by  labouring  to  discredit  the  English  Episcopate 
through  the  Nag's  Head  Tavern  fable,  and  other  such  semi- 
historical  arguments.  Mr.  Browne,  without  being  profess- 
edly a  historian,  was  quite  convinced  that  the  Roman 
claim  to  possess  alone  a  true  succession  from  apostolic 
days  was  historically  unsound.  His  mind  also  brought 
the  chief  doctrines  in  which  Rome  differs  from  antiquity, 
and  especially  the  new  dogmas  lately  promulgated,  to  the 
test  of  Scripture  and  the  consensus  of  the  early  centuries 
of  the  Church ;  and  as  a  result,  he  was  firmly  convinced 
in  his  own  judgment  that  Rome  was  an  innovator, 
and  that  his  own  conservative  position  was  the  only 
sound  one.  Still  he  felt,  as  every  sensitive  person  has 
felt,  the  weight  of  dimension  and  antiquity  urged  by  the 


1 82  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 


Other  side ;  such  lofty  claims,  backed  by  such  dignity  and 
vastness  of  possession,  the  world  has  never  seen.  And 
feeling  this,  he  was  led  to  ask  how  he  could  best  show  the 
real  strength  and  life  of  the  English  Church.  The  argu- 
ment from  historical  antiquity  must  be  sustained,  and  the 
orthodoxy  of  the  English  Church  defended  ;  but  more  was 
needed.  And  this  led  Churchmen,  and  Professor  Browne 
among  the  first,  to  turn  their  attention  to  the  organisation 
of  the  Church  at  home,  as  well  as  to  the  relations  in  which 
it  stood  towards  other  bodies  of  Christians  ;  that  is,  the 
missionary  and  other  episcopates  of  the  English-speaking 
world,  as  well  as  other  ancient  episcopal  bodies  which 
denied  the  supremacy  of  Rome.  The  first  of  these  matters 
led  men  to  aim  at  a  more  formal  organisation  of  the 
English  Church,  by  convocation,  by  conferences,  by  diverse 
echoes  of  synodal  or  parliamentary  action :  it  became 
necessary  to  shew  that  the  Church  of  England  was  a 
living  and  a  self-governing  entity,  not  a  mere  congre- 
gational aggregate  of  units,  nor,  on  the  other  hand,  a 
department  of  the  State,  as  its  position  as  an  Established 
Church  had  led  many  to  believe. 

Hence,  first,  arose  the  deep  interest  with  which  Bishop 
Harold  Browne  regarded  all  matters  relating  to  the  Con- 
vocation of  the  Church.  Next,  he  did  all  in  his  power  to 
draw  the  daughter  Churches  of  the  English-speaking  world 
into  closer  communion  with  the  mother  Church.  No  one 
ever  watched  or  attended  the  Lambeth  gatherings  with 
more  zeal  or  more  hope.  Thirdly,  he  held  out  a  friendly 
hand  to  foreign  episcopal  Churches,  whether  among  the 
Greeks,  or  the  old  Catholics  of  Germany,  or  at  Utrecht,  or 
elsewhere. 

The  practical  outcome  of  this  interest  in  the  foreign 
Churches  was  the  creation  of  the  Anglo-Continental 
Society,    which    aimed    at   trying  to  draw    together    all 


I.]  NORRISIAN  PROFESSOR^  1 83 


episcopal,  non-Roman  Churches.  This  Society,  though  it 
has  never  filled  a  large  space  in  the  interests  of  the 
English  Church  (for  men  here  hardly  realise  the  import- 
ance of  the  currents  of  religious  feeling  and  Church 
government  abroad),  has  worked  steadily  and  zealously, 
on  rather  old-fashioned  High  Church  lines. 

Mr.  Browne  at  once  began  to  take  active  measures  to 
persuade  the  English  Church  to  stretch  out  a  friendly 
hand  to  the  non-Roman  part  of  Christendom,  and  in  1856 
published  a  letter  on  the  Eastern  bishoprics.  His  friend 
and  colleague,  Christopher  Wordsworth,  afterwards  Bishop 
of  Lincoln,  had  also  joined  the  Anglo-Continental  move- 
ment, and  continued  to  be  its  champion  and  friend  to  the 
close  of  his  life.  He,  in  this  year  1856,  proposed  to  move 
in  the  Lower  House  of  Convocation  for  an  Address  of 
sympathy  to  the  Eastern  bishops.  It  was  also  suggested 
at  the  same  time  that  the  English  Church  should  place  an 
Anglican  bishop  at  Constantinople,  who  might  befriend 
and  instruct  the  bishops  of  the  Armenian  and  other 
Christian  Churches  lying  under  the  dominion  of  the  Turk. 
The  subject  had  been  introduced  to  the  notice  of  English 
Churchmen  by  a  letter  from  the  Rev.  L.  M.  Hogg,  whose 
attention  had  been  called  to  it  by  the  great  influx  of 
Englishmen  into  Constantinople  at  the  time  of  the  Crimean 
war.  He  saw  plainly  that  the  Turk  would  consent  to 
anything  the  English  might  at  that  moment  suggest ;  and 
writing  on  the  20th  February,  1856,  he  says  there  is  quite 
a  providential  opening  "for  encouraging  friendly  inter- 
course with  the  Greek  and  Armenian  prelates  and  clergy, 
and  [for]  the  endeavour  to  present  Christianity,  through 
our  own  Church  system,  favourably  to  the  Turkish  eye." 
The  letter  suggests  names  of  those  who  would  be  suitable 
for  such  a  post  as  that  of  an  episcopal  missionary, — 
Archdeacon  Grant,  Professor  Browne,  and   the  Bishop  of 


1 84  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

Glasgow,  Dr.  Trower.  Mr.  Hogg  draws  a  sketch  of  the 
political  bearings  of  the  moment,  and  urges  Professor 
Browne  to  obtain  an  Address  from  Convocation  to  the 
Greek  bishops,  with  special  assurances  as  to  the  non- 
aggressive  attitude  taken  by  the  English  Church.  This 
Address  he  hoped  bishops  present  at  the  consecration  of 
the  new  English  church  at  Constantinople  would  present 
to  the  Greek  bishops  at  that  time. 

This  scheme  for  an  out-post  Bishop  at  Constantinople 
came  to  nothing,  as  might  have  been  expected ;  we  could 
not  in  this  way  occupy  the  point  of  connection  between 
East  and  West,  even  in  matters  ecclesiastical,  without 
arousing  suspicions,  jealousies,  and  the  very  evils  we 
should  most  desire  to  avoid :  such  an  appointment  would 
have  had  against  it  the  open  or  covert  hostility  of  every 
state  in  Europe ;  and  where  the  "  Sacred  Places  "  contro- 
versy had  so  lately  raged,  an  Anglican  bishop  could  never 
have  been  regarded  as  other  than  an  interloper.  The 
Greeks  might  perhaps  have  tried  to  play  him  off  against 
the  Romans,  as  a  part  of  that  game  of  diplomacy  which 
has  gone  on  for  ages  ;  but  the  complications  and  risks 
would  have  far  exceeded  the  benefits  arising  from  the 
scheme.  So  it  was  dropped,  and  the  occasion  allowed  to 
pass  ;  yet  it  was  not  without  value,  in  creating  a  more 
friendly  feeling  between  the  Eastern  Churches  and  the 
English. 

Early  in  the  following  year  Mr.  Browne  was  called 
away  from  these  larger  questions  to  matters  nearer  home. 
He  had  to  work  his  way  through  a  most  complicated 
negotiation.  Everyone  in  the  diocese  of  Exeter,  from  the 
Bishop  downward,  was  anxious  that  he  should  be  brought 
up  to  the  cathedral  city,  instead  of  being  left  far  off  at 
Kenwyn.  And  the  Bishop  had  a  large  scheme  on  hand, 
by  which  the  valuable  living  of  Heavitree,  with  a  canonry 


I.]  NORRISIAN  PROFESSOR.  1 85 

residentiary  in  Exeter  Cathedral  and  perhaps  the  Arch- 
deaconry of  Exeter,  should  be  conferred  on  him,  on 
condition  that  he  left  Cambridge  and  became  Principal  of 
a  theological  college  to  be  founded  under  the  Bishop's 
wing  at  Exeter.  Mr.  Browne  naturally  would  not  abandon 
his  more  important  post  at  Cambridge  for  a  local  theo- 
logical college,  which  must,  at  first  at  least,  have  been  a 
venture.  The  archdeaconry  was  in  the  gift  of  the  Bishop 
of  Exeter  ;  the  canons  residentiary  are  co-opted  out  of  the 
body  of  prebendaries  (the  latter  having  all  been  appointed 
by  the  Bishop),  and  the  valuable  vicarage  of  Heavitrec 
was  also  in  the  gift  of  the  Chapter,  which  was  very  anxious 
to  elect  Mr.  Browne  into  their  body.  Everything  was  held 
in  suspense  by  the  Bishop's  scheme ;  and  the  following 
letter  from  Dean  Lowe  shews  how  the  Chapter  regarded 
the  matter: — 

"Deanery,  Exeter,  February  i6M,  1857. 

"  My  dear  Browne, — I  most  deeply  regret,  and  I  am 
sure  that  every  member  of  our  Chapter  will  regret  as 
deeply  as  I  do,  the  determination  of  the  Bishop  of  Exeter 
to  make,  as  far  as  in  him  lies,  your  more  intimate  connexion 
with  our  body  dependent  on  your  acceptance  of  the  head- 
ship of  his  projected  theological  college — a  condition 
which  I  am  sure  you  did  right  in  promptly  rejecting,  and 
which  I  hardly  imagine  he  could  seriously  think  you 
would  accept.  But  at  the  same  time,  I  cannot  but  express 
my  strong  conviction  that  however  great  the  present 
disappointment  may  be  to  us,  it  will  end  in  a  greater 
disappointment  to  his  Lordship,  and  will  tend  to  your 
ultimate  advantage.  By  the  death  of  poor  Atherley, 
Heavitree  is  now  vacant  ;  our  last  accounts  of  Archdeacon 
M.  Stevens  are  somewhat  better ;  and  under  these  cir- 
cumstances, I  feel  a  pardonable  curiosity  to  see  how  the 
Bishop  will  play  his  game,  and  what  will  be  his  first  move. 
Nothing,  I  presume,  that  has  yet  occurred  will  interfere 
with  your  discharge  of  the  office  of  Substitute  in  our 
Cathedral,  at  least  during  the  present  year  ;  but,  should 
anything  of  the  kind  turn  up,  we  shall  all  of  us  be  most 


1 86  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D,D.  [Ch 


anxious  to  consult  your  wishes,  and  to  make  any  practi- 
cable arrangement  to  suit  your  convenience.  For  the  kind 
expressions  of  your  friendship  and  regard  towards  me,  I 
am  most  unfeignedly  and  deeply  grateful  ;  and  believing, 
as  I  do,  that  you  are  eminently  qualified,  by  your  deep 
learning,  your  sound  judgment,  and  your  exemplary 
moderation  and  candour,  to  adorn  the  highest  offices  in 
the  Church,  whatever  conduces  to  your  happiness  and 
honour  will  be  to  me  a  cause  of  rejoicing. 

"  Believe  me  ever,  my  dear  Browne, 
"  Yours  most  truly, 

"  Thos.  Hill  Lowe." 

Letters  from  old  Mr.  Barnes,  the  much  respected  Chapter 
Clerk  of  Exeter,  shew  rather  more  clearly  what  the  scheme 
was.  It  was  proposed  to  endow  the  archdeaconry  of 
Exeter  with  the  living  of  Heavitree  and  a  canonry ;  and 
the  Bishop's  aim  was  to  get  Mr.  Browne  to  accept  the 
living  and  canonry  from  the  Dean  and  Chapter  ;  then,  on 
the  next  vacancy  to  the  Archdeaconry,  he  would  appoint 
him  to  that  also  ;  lastly,  by  means  of  Professor  Browne's 
popularity,  he  hoped  to  get  Heavitree  and  the  canonry 
permanently  attached  to  the  archdeaconry, — so  transferring 
this  valuable  patronage  to  himself.  The  scheme,  however, 
hung  fire,  because  of  the  Bishop's  wish  to  secure  Mr. 
Browne  as  Head  of  his  projected  College.  Finding,  how- 
ever, that  he  could  not  shake  the  Professor,  he  reluctantly 
gave  way ;  and  thus  all  was  made  smooth  for  the  Chapter. 
Chancellor  Martin,  in  a  letter  dated  February  22nd,  1857, 
says : — 

"  I  cannot  resist  my  desire  to  write  you  a  line  to  express 
my  great  pleasure  at  understanding  that  the  Bishop  has 
relented  on  the  subject  of  the  theological  college,  and  my 
most  earnest  hope  that  you  will  not  reject  us,  if  the  arch- 
deaconry, the  stall,  and  the  living  of  Heavitree  should  be 
offered  to  you  together.  For  the  Chapter,  for  the  City  of 
Exeter,  for  Heavitree  and  the  archdeaconry,  and  for  the 
diocese,  I  really  think  the  arrangement  would  be  a  most 


I.]  NORRISIAN  PROFESSOR.  1 87 

valuable  gain,  without  precluding  any  future  interests  of  your 
own.  .  .  .  Has  Mrs.  Harold  Browne  ever  seen  the  Vicarage 
at  Heavitree,  with  its  lawn  and  garden  and  most  con- 
venient connexion  with  the  church?  I  remember  how 
well  off  you  were  in  that  respect  at  Kenwyn.  But  Heavitree 
is  a  very  nice  and  most  convenient  clergyman's  residence ; 
and  on  a  most  healthy  gravel  soil  and  elevation." 

The  moment  it  appeared  clear  to  Professor  Browne  that 
the  move  to  Heavitree  would  not  oblige  him  to  leave 
Cambridge,  he  consented.  The  income  was  larger,  the 
position  much  more  central,  and,  so  far,  nearer  Cambridge  ; 
he  would  be  a  member  of  the  Cathedral  Chapter,  welcomed 
heartily  by  all,  and  within  touch  of  the  Bishop,  with  whose 
opinions  he  was  in  the  main  in  harmony.  At  Kenwyn  and 
Kea  he  had  been  obliged  to  have  three  curates  ;  and  more 
or  less  under  his  eye  had  been  no  less  than  five  distinct 
churches  and  six  clergymen,  with  nine  dayschools.  As  the 
Cornwall  Gazette  (of  April  17th,  1857)  says : — 

"  All  looked  up  to  him  with  reverence  and  affection  ;  for 
he  was  even  less  admired  for  his  great  talents  and  learning 
than  loved  for  his  childlike  simplicity,  his  gentle  spirit,  his 
admirable  discretion." 

So  that  everyone  turned  to  him  for  advice,  for  help,  for 
consolation  ;  and  his  parish  duties  were  almost  more  than 
he  could  bear  :  it  was  at  Kenwyn  that,  as  he  said,  he  had 
"  worked  harder  than  ever  he  had  in  his  life."  Heavitree, 
the  daughter-churches  having  been  long  severed  from  it, 
though  a  large  parish,  was  yet  fairly  compact,  and  in 
many  ways  more  desirable  than  Kenwyn.  Then  followed, 
as  soon  as  possible,  the  resignation  of  Kenwyn,  a  general 
letter  addressed  to  all  his  parishioners,  and  the  preaching 
of  two.  sermons  which  have  been  printed,  on  Easter  Day, 
1857.  They  can  scarcely  be  described  as  "farewell 
sermons  ; "  for  the  morning  sermon  deals  solely  with  the 


1 88  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 


topic  of  the  day,  and  the  afternoon  discourse  refers  only  in 
a  quiet  way  to  his  departure  ;  there  are  no  affecting  appeals, 
no  sorrowful  leave-takings.  He  thinks  it  enough  to  bid 
them  farewell  by  leaving  with  them  the  sense  of  the  Presence 
of  Christ. 

His  farewell  letter  is  much  more  expansive  than  the 
sermons,  and  full  of  wise  advice,  though  it  does  not  profess 
any  very  strong  regret : — 

"  To  THE  Parishioners  of  Kenwyn  and  Kea. 

"  My  dear  Friends, — No  doubt  many  of  you  will  have 
heard  that  I  am  not  likely  long  to  continue  Vicar  of 
Kenwyn  and  Kea.  I  have  felt  for  some  time  the  great 
difficulty  of  attending  to  the  duties  of  the  joint  parishes,  so 
extensive  and  populous,  and  at  so  great  a  distance  from 
Cambridge,  whilst  I  have  the  important  office  which  I  hold 
in  this  University.  I  have  long  thought  that  the  constant 
presence  of  the  Vicar  was  very  necessary  in  so  large  a 
sphere  of  labour.  Hence,  if  nothing  else  had  called  me 
away,  I  had  well  nigh  resolved  to  resign  the  living  this 
summer.  As  it  is,  I  have  received  a  pressing  invitation  to 
a  new  post  of  duty,  which,  for  a  time  at  least,  I  may  hold 
with  my  professorship  at  Cambridge ;  and  after  much 
thought  and  anxious  deliberation,  I  have  consented  to 
accept  it.  I  trust  that  I  have  been  guided  rightly  in  this 
decision.  My  chief  motive  in  leaving  you  has  been  a  desire 
for  your  welfare.  A  Vicar  who  can  devote  all  his  time  to 
you,  and  whose  strength  is  equal  to  the  task,  will,  I  hope, 
be  found  to  succeed  me.  May  God's  blessing  and  the 
grace  of  His  Holy  Spirit  rest  on  him  and  on  you.  I 
doubt  if  he  will  love  you  better  or  feel  a  deeper  interest  in 
your  welfare  than  I  have  done,  and  still  do.  But  he  may 
easily  labour  amongst  you  with  greater  efficiency  and 
success. 

"  I  have  many  amongst  you  endeared  to  me  by  ties  of 
family  as  well  as  of  pastoral  relationship,  and  am  not 
likely  wholly  to  lose  sight  of  you  even  in  this  world.  Yet, 
at  present,  I  shall  be  able  to  pass  but  very  few  days  among 
you,  and  am  glad  of  this  opportunity  to  say  but  a  few 
parting  words. 

"  Whatever    may  have  been   my   infirmity  and   short- 


I.]  NORRISIAN  PROFESSOR.  189 

comings  in  my  ministry  among  you,  I  have  striven,  to 
the  best  of  my  power  and  by  the  grace  of  God,  to  teach 
you  the  true  doctrine  of  Christ's  Gospel  and  of  the  Church, 
whose  minister  I  am.  My  great  hope  has  been  to  in- 
culcate, first  purity,  both  of  faith  and  practice,  and  next 
peace.  There  are  many  dangers  in  the  present  day  to 
faith  and  practice  and  to  peace.  We  have  all  seen  the 
danger  of  straying  to  the  right  hand  and  to  the  left,  and 
how  extremes  on  the  one  side  ever  lead  to  extremes  on  the 
other.  There  cannot  be  such  a  time  as  the  present,  when 
all  old  truths  seem  to  be  undergoing  a  new  shaking  and 
sifting,  without  much  and  serious  trial  of  every  Christian's 
heart.  Let  me  pray  you  to  hold  fast  to  the  form  of  sound 
words  which  has  been  taught  you,  to  shun  controversies,  to 
shun  extreme  parties,  to  seek  peace  and  ensue  it.  Let  the 
Church,  which  for  centuries  has  held  forth  to  your  fathers 
and  to  you,  be  your  home  here.  Let  Holy  Scripture  and 
the  blessed  words  of  Christ's  Gospel  be  your  light.  Let 
Christ  Himself  be  the  constant  hope,  the  daily  refuge  of 
your  souls.  Let  the  grace  of  God's  Holy  Spirit  be  that 
which  you  seek,  and  pray  for  and  trust  to  for  help  and 
guidance  through  life.  And  strive  to  keep  before  your 
eyes  and  hearts  continually,  in  the  midst  of  all  that  is 
changing  here,  the  unchanging  presence  of  the  Father  of 
our  spirits,  to  which  we  are  all  hastening.  He  has 
promised  eyes  to  the  blind,  wisdom  to  the  foolish,  strength 
to  the  weak,  guidance  to  the  wandering ;  and  if  we  rest 
upon  His  promise,  and  strive  to  follow  His  guiding,  we 
may  be  sure  that  at  last  we  shall  be  led  safely. to  His 
home. 

"  Brethren,  that  the  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the 
love  of  God,  and  the  fellowship  of  His  Spirit  may  be  with 
you  and  your  children  for  ever,  is  the  earnest  prayer  of 

"  Your  affectionate  and  faithful  servant  in  Christ, 

"  E.  Harold  Browne. 

"Cambridge,  April  ist,  1857." 

It  was  of  this  letter  that  the  Professor,  writing  soon  after 
this  time,  says  : — 

"  I  had  an  unexpected  compliment  paid  me  last  night. 
Mr.  Alex.  Paull  met  a  party  of  dissenters  yesterday  with 
Mr.  Gostich,  the  Wesleyan  minister,  at  the  head  of  them. 


igO  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DS>.  [Ch. 

They  talked  about  me.  Mr.  Gostich  said  he  had  a  copy 
of  my  parting  address,  which  he  would  not  part  with  for 
£$Oy  as  it  was  quite  apostolical  ;  and  after  a  further  con- 
versation among  *  our  dissenting  brethren '  about  me,  they 
concluded  by  drinking  my  health." 

Twice,  after  this  time,  we  have  pleasant  notices  which 
shew  how  the  Bishop  cherished  the  memory  of  his  Kenwyn 
friends.  In  October  1876  he  was  at  Truro,  and  preached 
in  Kenwyn  Church  to  a  full  congregation  a  perfectly 
simple  and  earnest  sermon  on  one  word,  "  Lost "  (from 
St  Luke  XV.  4).  After  graphically  describing  the  sad 
state  of  a  lost  sheep,  a  lost  dog,  a  lost  child,  a  lost  soul,  he 
ended  the  sermon  with  the  following  touching  reference  to 
the  old  days  : — 

"  It  is  nearly  twenty  years  since  I  lived  here  among  you 
as  the  pastor  of  this  parish,  where  by  God's  grace  I  tried 
to  seek  out  lost  souls.  Many  have  gone  to  their  rest 
since  that  time ;  many  have  grown  up  to  manhood  who 
then  were  infants  ;  many  middle  aged  persons  have  grown 
old.  I  ask  you  all  to  think  of  your  souls,  and  see  how  it 
has  fared  with  them  during  those  twenty  years  since  we 
met  here  and  parted.  Have  you  found  Jesus  Christ,  and 
has  He  found  you  ?  If  you  were  lost  on  the  mountains, 
has  He  come  and  taken  you  on  His  shoulders  and  carried 
you  to  His  flock  and  sheepfold?  have  you  stayed  with 
Him  ?  are  you  still  His  ?  Or  have  you  gone  wandering 
away  again?  If  so,  then  I  ask  you  to-day,  once  more 
coming  among  you,  no  longer  as  your  pastor,  but  as  one 
who  once  was,  and  who  sees  among  you  many  familiar 
faces, — I  ask  you  to  remember  that  you  are  free  to  repent 
and  return  to  Jesus  Christ  once  more.  Let  past  falls,  past 
wanderings,  past  losings  of  yourselves,  make  you  more 
watchful,  more  careful,  more  prayerful,  and  more  deter- 
mined never  to  give  up  prayer  and  communion  with  God, 
frequenting  His  Holy  House,  receiving  His  Holy  Sacrament, 
that  so  you  may  be  strengthened  and  fed  by  Christ,  and 
kept  in  the  arms  of  His  mercy,  and  at  last  brought  to  His 
home  in  Heaven,  where  there  will  be  joy  in  the  presence  of 
the  angels  of  God  over  one  who  was  lost  and  is  found." 


I.]  NORRISIAN  PROFESSOR.  191 

And  again,  on  a  greater  occasion,  when  as  Bishop  of 
Winchester  he  took  part  in  the  consecration  of  Truro 
Cathedral  in  October  1887,  we  learn  how  warmly  his  heart 
clung  to  his  old  Kenwyn  friends.  The  allusion  to  the 
ritual  used  is  very  natural  and  characteristic.  He  was 
large-minded  enough  to  acquiesce  in  things  indifferent, 
where  they  did  not  mean  some  doctrine  which  he  knew 
to  be  wrong  ;  in  which  case  they  ceased  to  be  indifferent 
to  him. 

"...  The  services  were  gorgeous  and  elaborate,  the 
music  very  good.  .  .  .  The  ritual  was  higher  than  I  am 
used  to  ;  but  I  feel  no  repugnance  to  it,  if  it  does  not  offend 
the  laity.  The  congregations  and  meetings  were  crowded, 
and  very  reverent.  ...  At  eight  the  Mayor  had  a  very 
large  reception,  where  we  met  hosts  of  late  parishioners 
and  friends.  .  .  .  My  old  friends  received  me  very  warmly, 
and  listened  most  kindly  to  what  I  had  to  say.  It- was 
touching  and  trying.  .  .  .  Yesterday  we  drove  over  to 
Enys',  and  found  Mrs.  Enys  somewhat  aged,  but  very  kind 
and  warm  in  memories  of  old  times.  Tom  Philpotts  and 
his  wife  and  a  daughter  of  Henry  Philpotts  dined  with  us 
yesterday.  T.  P.  and  I  were  at  Eton  together  sixty-four 
years  ago.  He  is  nearly  eighty-one.  I  shall  soon  be 
seventy-seven  if  I  live.  .  .  ." 

With  these  touching  utterances,  which  shew  us  the 
venerable  Bishop  clinging  to  old  friends  and  revisiting  with 
pleasure  scenes  of  former  activity,  we  may  well  bid  farewell  to 
the  seven  years  of  his  life  at  Kenwyn,  and  turn  our  eyes  to 
the  new  work  before  him.  The  change  to  Exeter  was  clearly 
intended,  by  Bishop,  Dean,  and  Chapter  alike,  to  wean  him 
from  Cambridge,  and  to  settle  him  down  in  a  life  of  per- 
manent usefulness  in  Devonshire.  The  forces  of  the  life  he 
had  led  and  of  the  work  he  had  done  were,  however,  far  too 
strong  to  allow  his  career  to  be  thus  diverted.  By  the  time 
a  man  has  reached  the  age  of  forty-six,  if  there  is  anything 
in  him  he  has  usually  made  his  groove  in  the  world,  and 


192  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

cannot  well  be  dislodged  from  it  It  was  eminently  so 
with  Professor  Browne.  The  world  recked  little  of  his 
valuable  labours  at  Kenwyn  and  Heavitree  ;  men  knew 
him  as  one  who  had  written  the  book  on  the  Articles  at 
Lampeter,  and  had  made  his  mark  as  a  theological  and 
linguistic  authority  at  Cambridge,  rather  than  as  the 
devoted  parish  priest.  As  some  Cardinals,  for  one  reason 
or  another,  become  *'  Papabili "  early  in  their  career,  so 
Mr.  Browne  had  been  long  marked  out,  both  among  his 
friends  and  generally,  for  a  bishopric ;  and  his  work  at 
Exeter,  important  as  it  was,  became  quite  secondary  to 
that  he  was  carrying  out  at  Cambridge. 

Professor  Browne  was  instituted  to  Heavitree  on  May  9th, 
1857,  and  'read  himself  in'  the  following  day;  he  was 
installed  as  Canon  on  December  28th  in  the  same  year. 
His  stay  at  Heavitree  was  very  short ;  he  preached  his 
farewell  sermon  there  on  January  3rd,  1858.  The  present 
Vicar  of  Heavitree,  the  Rev.  Sackville  H.  Berkeley,  says  : — 

"  He  first  attempted  any  organisation  of  the  parish  in 
the  shape  of  districts  for  regular  visitation,  etc. ;  and  had 
so  great  a  power  of  attracting  people  to  a  personal  attach- 
ment to  himself  that  his  departure  after  only  about  six 
months'  residence  in  the  parish  was  lamented  as  if  it  had 
been  as  many  years." 

It  must  have  been  with  real  pleasure  and  even  pride 
that  Mr.  Browne  remembered,  as  he  went  about  his  parish 
work  at  Heavitree,  that  here  one  of  his  chief  Church- 
heroes  and  models,  Richard  Hooker,  was  said  to  have 
been  born  into  the  world. 

It  was  during  the  life  at  Heavitree  that  the  writer  of 
this  Memoir  first  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  spending  a 
couple  of  days  under  his  roof,  and  of  seeing  something  of 
the  happy  domestic  life  and  halcyon  days  of  peace  which 
made   his    home   delightful,  wherever    it    might    be.      I 


I.]  NORRISIAN  PROFESSOR.  193 

remember  that  at  breakfast  the  question  as  to  the  MS. 
readings  of  the  well-known  passage  i  Tim.  iii.  16,  "  God 
was  manifest  in  the  flesh,"  came  up,  and  how  much  I  was 
struck  by  the  promptness  with  which,  after  we  had  talked 
a  bit  about  it,  he  withdrew  to  his  library,  and  came  back 
after  a  couple  of  minutes  with  a  note  of  the  MS.  evidence 
for  and  s^ainst  the  accepted  reading,  with  the  value  of  it 
given,  almost  as  if  it  had  been  a  mathematical  formula. 
It  was  this  clearness  and  distinctness  of  vision  which  gave 
to  all  he  said  so  much  weight.  Men  felt  that  he  was  a 
safe  guide,  because  he  could  look  at  both  sides  and  weigh 
arguments  and  probabilities  and  strike  a  fair  balance. 

Mr.  Browne  had  now  severed  his  connection  with 
Cornwall ;  this  gave  the  Cornish  clergy  the  opportunity, 
which  they  were  only  too  glad  to  accept,  of  paying  him 
a  high  compliment.  He  had,  from  the  revival  of  Con- 
vocation, represented  them  as  their  Proctor  in  the  Lower 
House,  and  he  had  been  re-elected  by  them  early  in  1857. 
He  now,  however,  felt  bound  to  place  himself  unreservedly 
in  their  hands,  offering  to  resign  at  once,  if  they  considered 
it  right.  The  clergy  however,  without  the  slightest  hesita- 
tion, begged  him  to  retain  his  post,  for  they  were  quite 
clear  that  they  could  not  be  better  represented  ;  and  he 
accordingly  continued  to  be  their  Proctor  for  some  time 
after  he  had  become  a  member  of  the  Exeter  Chapter. 

And  now  followed  a  quiet  time ;  it  has  been  said  of 
Bishop  Harold  Browne  that  his  life  at  this  time  ran  in 
septennial  periods, — nearly  seven  at  Lampeter,  seven  at 
Kenwyn,  and  seven  as  Canon  of  Exeter ;  and  of  these 
three  successive  epochs  the  last  seems  to  have  been  the 
most  tranquil.  It  was  a  time  in  which  all  looked  up  to 
him  as  an  adviser,  if  not  as  a  leader ;  the  Chapter  of 
Exeter  regarded  him  as  their  strong  man  ;  his  old  friends 
appealed   to   him   for   help    in   various   ways ;   frightened 

13 


194  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D,D,  [Ch. 

clergy  and  others,  thrQwn  off  their  balance  by  "Essays 
and  Reviews  "  and  by  die  terrible  Bish<^  of  Natal,  looked 
anxiously  to  see  what  answer  he  would  make  to  these 
developments  of  the  modern  spirit  of  criticism  ;  and  lastly, 
the  Bishop  of  Exeter  seems  to  have  never  given  up  the 
hope  that  Mr.  Browne  would  help  his  project  for  some 
better,  or  at  least  some  more  direct,  system  of  teaching 
for  candidates  for  Orders,  and,  immediately  after  his 
installation  as  Canon,  addressed  him  a  letter  on  the  subject 
of  theological  learning  and  study  in  the  English  Church. 
Mr.  Browne,  while  he  felt  as  much  as  the  Bishop  did 
the  need  for  far  more  careful  training  of  young  men 
destined  for  the  sacred  profession,  could  not  forget  that 
at  Cambridge  he  had  their  education  already  much  in  his 
hands ;  and  he  certainly  had  no  wish  at  all  to  give  them 
that  narrowing  type  of  seminary  teaching  which  is  almost 
inevitable  in  a  theological  college. 

Writing  on  December  29th,  1857,  the  Bishop  says  : — 

"  I  consider  Chapters  as  a  very  important  part  of  our 
ecclesiastical  system ;  but  in  order  that  they  should  perform 
their  functions  usefully,  they  ought  to  be  composed  of 
highly  qualified  members.  Theological  attainments,  where 
they  can  be  found,  as  in  you  they  are  found,  in  a  high 
degree  and  of  a  most  sound  and  truly  catholic  character, 
are  such  a  qualification  as  ought  to  command  a  place  in 
the  Chapter  with  which  their  possessor  is  connected.  Our 
Church  particularly  needs  a  higher  theological  tone  in  her 
clergy,  and  is  unhappily  very  deficient  in  proper  seminaries. 
She  depends  at  present  altogether  on  the  exertions  of  a 
few  individuals  like  yourself.  This  ought  not  to  be.  My 
anxiety  is  to  supply,  as  far  as  my  opportunities  shall 
enable  me,  this  great  deficiency  in  the  diocese  of  Exeter. 
Before  you  return  to  Cambridge  I  hope  you  will  gratify 
me  with  a  visit  I  am  very  desirous  of  talking  with  you 
on  this,  and  on  other  matters.'* 

And,  three  years  later,  a  letter  from  Bishop  Philpott 
shows  that  he  was  still  anxious  on  this  subject,  and  had 


I.]  NORRISIAN  PROFESSOR.  1 95 

caught  something  of  the  despondent  tone  affected  by  the 
Episcopate  when  the  Universities  ceased  to  be  closed 
against  all  except  members  of  the  Church  of  England. 
This  act  of  common  sense  and  justice  had  thrown  the 
clergy  into  a  kind  of  paroxysm  of  alarm.  A  generation 
has  passed  since  that  day,  and  all  who  have  really  known 
the  Universities  then  and  now  will  confess  that  the 
Christian  faith  and  practice  are  really  stronger  in  them 
now  than  in  the  old  protected  days. 

It  is  interesting  to  notice  that  Mr.  Browne  was  appealed 
to  by  others  also  to  help  in  the  matter  of  theological 
colleges.  In  November  1858  he  received  a  letter  from 
Bishop  Wilberforce  of  Oxford,  asking  him  whether  he 
could  recommend  a  fit  person  to  be  head  of  the  new  insti- 
tution at  Cuddesdon.  The  Bishop  of  Oxford  does  not 
invite  him  to  take  the  post,  though  he  probably  had  him 
in  his  mind's  eye  when  he  described  the  sort  of  man  he 
wanted : — 

"  I  want,"  he  writes,  "  a  gentleman,  a  theologian,  a  man 
who  will  influence  the  young  men,  and  one  who  is  a 
thoroughly  sound  English  Churchman,  and  who  will  dis- 
courage all  party  symbols  and  excesses  and  puerilities  in 
religion." 

Many  lesser  matters  also  occupied  Mr.  Browne's  attention 
at  this  time.  His  old  and  well-loved  friend,  Matthew  B. 
Hale,  was  induced  to  accept  the  semi-missionary  bishopric 
of  Perth  in  Western  Australia.  It  is  on  record  of  him 
that  he  struggled  hard  to  escape  from  the  necessity  of 
having  to  adopt  the  style  and  title  of  "  My  Lord,"  holding 
that  as  a  colonial  bishop  he  would  be  better  without  it. 
The  legal  authorities,  however,  held  that  he  must  accept 
the  courtesy-title,  and  he  had  to  yield.  The  moment  he 
had  made  up  his  mind  to  accept  the  bishopric  he  wrote  to 
Mr.  Browne,  to  beg  of.  him  two  favours ;  first,  to  preach 


196  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

the  sermon  at  his  consecration  on  St.  James's  Day,  1857  ; 
and  secondly  to  consent  to  act  as  his  commissary  in 
England — an  office  which  he  cheerfully  undertook,  al- 
though it  involved  a  large  amount  of  dull  business-work. 
He  did  it  till  he  was  promoted  to  Ely,  and  rendered 
**  services,"  says  the  Bishop,  "  of  infinite  value  to  me,  and  I 
am  quite  aware  that  they  were  extremely  troublesome  to 
him/' 

These  years  were  not  altogether  devoid  of  literary 
results.  They  saw  the  publication  of  a  sermon  entitled 
"  Holy  Ground,"  preached  in  Waltham  Abbey  Church  on 
the  eight  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  foundation  of  that 
Abbey ;  and  of  another  discourse  preached  at  Aylesbury 
on  behalf  of  the  Societies  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel 
and  for  Promoting  Christian  Knowledge,  both  of  them  in 
i860.  Also  a  brief  defence  of  the  war  in  New  Zealand  in 
the  days  when  his  brother,  Sir  Thomas  Gore  Browne, 
was  Governor  ;  this  appeared  at  the  end  of  the  year  i860 
or  early  in  1861.  The  chief  work  of  this  time  was  a 
volume  of  seven  sermons,  all  preached  before  the  Univer- 
sity of  Cambridge,  two  of  them  in  1855  and  the  rest  in 
1859.  These  are  admirable  discourses,  very  varied  in 
subject  and  treatment.  His  tone  of  mind,  though  he 
hardly  appreciated  the  liberal  theologians,  was  always 
kindly  and  fair  ;  if  he  was  a  controversialist  at  any 
time,  his  weapons  were  neither  barbed  nor  poisoned. 
He  was  now  approaching  a  very  critical  period  in  the 
history  of  English  religious  thought ;  if  he  was  not  swept 
along  with  the  current  of  daring  speculation  and  enquiry, 
at  any  rate  he  was  not  swept  off  his  legs  by  the  panic 
which  possessed  the  souls  of  less  learned  Churchmen. 

But  before  we  enter  on  the  stirring  times  in  which  bitter 
controversy  raged  around  "Essays  and  Reviews"  and 
Bishop  Colenso,  we  must  devote  a  little  time  to  an  episode 


I.]  NORRISIAN  PROFESSOR.  197 

of  these  peaceful  years,  and  describe  the  efforts  made  in 
vain  to  secure  for  Canon  Browne  the  Deanery  of  Exeter, 
now  vacant  by  the  death  of  Dr.  Lowe.  Mr.  Browne 
published  a  friendly  and  sympathetic  memoir  of  the  late 
Dean  in  the  Guardian ;  he  does  not  seem  to  have  been 
aware  of  the  efforts  then  being  made  by  his  friends  to  get 
him  the  Deanery.  Lord  Palmerston  was  at  that  time 
Prime  Minister;  and  the  Exeter  people,  from  the  Bishop 
downward,  were  horribly  afraid  lest  some  Low  Churchman, 
as  seemed  only  too  probable,  or,  more  alarming  still,  some 
Liberal  Churchman,  should  be  appointed.  Their  wishes 
and  fears  alike  led  them  to  do  their  utmost  to  get  it  for  the 
Norrisian  Professor.  The  scheme  in  the  mind  of  the  Bishop 
of  Exeter  seems  to  have  been  to  have  Canon  Browne  in 
the  Deanery  as  a  first  step  towards  the  fulfilment  of  his 
wish  for  a  Cornish  Assistant  Bishop.  Had  Mr.  Browne's 
friends  been  successful,  instead  of  being  Bishop  of  Ely 
and  Winchester  he  probably  would  have  ended  his  life 
among  his  Cornish  friends  and  kinsfolk.  Archdeacon 
Downall  did  his  very  best.  He  was  Chiiplain  to  the  Duke 
of  Bedford,  deemed  omnipotent  among  the  Whigs  of  that 
day,  and  writes  as  follows  to  his  patron  in  February  1861  : — 

"  I  do  not  think  that,  search  the  country  through,  there 
could  be  found  a  safer,  more  moderate,  more  valuable 
person,  as  a  gentleman,  a  scholar,  a  divine,  than  Canon 
Browne ;  nor  [one]  more  free  from  all  Church  party  extra- 
vagances, or  a  more  truly  devoted  Christian  man." 

But  he  piped  in  vain  ;  the  Deanery  was  never  offered  to 
Mr.  Browne. 

At  this  time  he  also  printed  a  thin  volume  of  Sermons 
entitled  "  Messiah  as  Foretold  and  Expected  ;  A  Course 
of  Sermons  on  the  Prophecies  of  the  Messiah,  as  in- 
terpreted by  the  Jews  before  the  coming  of  Christ." 
The   publication   was  welcomed   cordially  by  persons  of 


198  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D,D,  [Ch. 

many  different  shades  of  opinion,  and  pointed  to  some 
reaction  against  the  utterances  of  the  more  extreme  High 
Church  writers.  The  Professor  shews  how  the  sacrificial 
theory  of  the  Christian  revelation,  much  insisted  on  from 
opposite  sides,  first  by  the  "  Evangelical "  school,  and 
then,  in  connexion  with  the  Holy  Communion,  by  the 
later  Anglicans,  came  from  the  Jews ;  how  Jewish  terms 
were  commonly  used  by  Christians,  till  metaphorical 
expressions  came  to  be  treated  as  statements  of  fact ;  and 
how  the  Jewish  doctrines  of  sacrifice  and  atonement  had 
thrown  a  deep  shadow  over  the  progress  of  Christianity. 
It  may  be  said  with  some  truth  that  these  Sermons  were 
the  beginning  of  what  inevitably  follows  when  a  healthy 
movement  passes  into  the  hands  of  enthusiastic  partisans 
who  push  principles  beyond  their  fair  development,  and 
try  to  keep  their  party  moving  by  unwise  advances.  Pro- 
fessor Browne's  Sermons  are  learned  and  sober-minded, 
nowhere  reactionary  or  extreme  in  either  language  or 
thought  It  was  a  pity  that  the  "  Essayists  and 
Reviewers  "  and  Bishop  Colenso,  who  in  their  earlier  days 
had  mostly  been  warm  High  Churchmen,  failed  to  emulate 
his  moderation  of  thought  and  word  An  eloquent  writer 
dealing  with  these  Sermons  of  his,  ends  by  begging  the 
author  to  complete  the  cycle  of  his  theological  plan  by 
publishing  a  second  course  of  sermons,  on  "  The  Royalty 
and  Coming  Kingdom  of  Christ ; " — that  is,  on  the  opus 
consummatum  of  the  Incarnation, — ^so  as  to  bring  before 
men's  eyes  "not  the  cross  only,  but  the  throne,"  not  the 
"  suffering  of  Christ "  only,  but,  much  more,  "  the  glory  that 
should  follow."  It  is  certain  that  this  advice  was  in  full 
accord  with  his  mind,  and  would  have  rounded  off  his 
scheme  of  theology.  Years  after,  when  the  completion  of 
the  Great  Screen  of  Winchester  Cathedral  was  under  dis- 
cussion, and  his  formal  opinion  was  asked  by  the  Dean  as 


I.]  NORRISIAN  PROFESSOR,  199 

to  placing  a  majestic  figure  of  the  Lord  in  Glory  on  the 
central  cross,  amidst  a  great  company  of  adoring  and 
rejoicing  saints,  the  SLged  Bishop  expressed  himself  as 
decidedly  favourable  to  the  proposal,  because  he  not  only 
thought  it  artistically  superior  to  any  other  treatment,  but 
still  more  because  he  deemed  it  a  more  true  representation 
of  the  complete  work  of  redemption  and  of  the  final  triumph 
of  the  Cross. 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE  TROUBLES  IN  THE  CHURCH  :  "  ESSAYS  AND 
REVIEWS  ;  "  BISHOP  COLENSO. 

WE  approach  a  dark  moment  in  the  history  of  the 
English  Church.  Men  lost  their  balance  ;  once 
more  were  heard  the  voices  of  those  who  "  woke  from  sleep 
and  shouted  *  -namus.^ "  Few  seemed  even  to  pretend  to 
preserve  a  judicial  mind.  Those  who,  like  Professor 
Browne,  endeavoured  to  treat  the  matters  in  dispute 
calmly,  to  be  courteous  to  the  disputants,  and  to  uphold 
the  truth  by  frank  enquiry  in  the  spirit  of  charity,  were 
regarded  with  distrust,  and  often  were  abused  more  bitterly 
than  the  men  who  had  caused  the  turmoil. 

We  are  come  to  the  days  of  "  Essays  and  Reviews,"  and 
to  the  "  Commentary  on  the  Romans  *'  and  the  "  Penta- 
teuch and  the  Book  of  Joshua  critically  examined,"  with 
which  the  Bishop  of  Natal  startled  the  tranquil  ChurcL 
Here  was  a  man  who,  instead  of  confining  himself  to  what 
are  accounted  proper  missionary  labours,  not  only  brought 
historical  criticism  to  bear,  with  more  zeal  than  discretion, 
on  the  ancient  fabric  of  the  Pentateuch,  but  also  was 
led,  by  the  references  in  the  Gospels  to  Moses  and  the 
children  of  Israel,  to  speculate  on  questions  about  the 
relation  of  the  divine  and  human  natures  in  the  Person  of 
our  Lord,  and  of  the  possible  limitation  of  His  knowledge. 

Thanks  to  the  clear  sketch  of  this  period  in  the  pages 


Ch.II.]  the  troubles  in  the  church.  20I 

of  Archbishop  Tait's  Life,  our  task  is  vastly  lightened.  It 
would  be  wearisome  to  retrace  the  whole  story  of  these 
half-forgotten  matters,  which  in  their  day  blazed  and 
exploded  with  volcanic  energy.  We  have  only  to  en- 
deavour to  make  clear  the  position  taken  up  by  Harold 
Browne.  Though  he  was  perhaps  one  of  the  most  orthodox 
and  dogmatic  of  English  Churchmen,  to  whom  the  strife 
was  most  painful, — for  the  innovators  seemed  to  him 
hasty,  violent,  and  theologically  unsound, — he  never  was 
betrayed  into  violent  language.  He  tried  always  to  dis- 
tinguish between  the  statements  he  so  much  disliked  and 
the  side-issues  on  which  the  orthodox  party  wished  to 
fight ;  he  deprecated  the  vehemence  of  certain  zealous 
spirits  who,  in  their  eagerness  to  condemn  error,  were 
prepared  to  limit  the  English  Church  to  a  narrow  platform, 
unworthy  of  the  catholic  breadth  of  her  true  position* 
Thus,  he  never  hesitated,  in  the  case  of  Bishop  Temple, 
to  stand  by  one  with  whom,  theologically,  he  was  not  in 
sympathy,  when  the  newly-made  Bishop  was  attacked 
with  ignorant  outcry.  Still  more  was  this  judicial  temper 
visible  when  Bishop  Colenso,  against  whose  writings, 
as  we  shall  see,  he  testified  with  vigour,  was  being  dealt 
with  so  as  to  introduce  new  and  dangerous  precedents 
into  the  constitution  of  the  English  Church.  The  great 
weight  of  his  known  orthodoxy  and  character  stood 
between  the  erring  Bishop  and  his  opponents,  and  he 
helped  effectually  to  arrest  proceedings  which  were  being 
pushed  forward  with  feverish  zeal.  It  was  clear  to  him 
that  here  were  men  who,  to  secure  their  adversary's  con- 
demnation, were  for  loosening,  even  for  breaking,  the 
ties  which  connect  the  Church  in  the  Colonies  with  the 
See  of  Canterbury. 

It  had  become  plain  to  thinking  minds  that  the  action 
and  reaction  of  parties  within  the  Church  of  England  had 


202  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D,D.  [Ch. 

reached  a  point  at  which  there  was  no  standing  still.  The 
High  Church  movement,  strong  in  the  enthusiastic  support 
of  the  younger  clergy,  had  far  outstripped  the  slow, 
cautious,  and  simple  Churchmanship  of  the  bulk  of  lay 
people  in  England.  The  average  Churchman,  suspicious 
of  high  ideals,  and  penetrated  with  a  hereditary  fear  of 
Romanism,  looked  with  the  gravest  anxiety  on  the  new 
ideals  placed  ^before  him.  To  him,  the  gospel  in  its 
primitive  simplicity  was  enough ;  the  Bible  was  sacred  in 
the  English  version  ;  his  leaning  towards  Puritanism  was 
daily  shocked  by  men  who  introduced  elaborate  ritual, 
and  seemed  to  preach  a  gospel  which  mingled  the  world 
as  it  is  with  the  Church  of  Christ,  pleasing  alike  the 
light  votaries  of  London  society  and  the  hard-pressed 
dwellers  in  the  dark  places  of  our  cities.  The  Evangelical 
school  had  its  strength  in  the  middle  classes  of  England, 
and  could  not  appreciate  a  movement  which  seemed  to 
attract  alike  the  frivolous  and  the  downtrodden.  The 
older  school  had  not  set  much  store  by  learning;  the 
votaries  of  the  newer  opinions  prided  themselves  on  their 
University  culture,  on  their  sympathy  with  the  progress 
of  Art,  on  their  serious  study  of  patristic  literature.  It  is 
clear  that  the  one  company  was  essentially  conservative, 
suspicious  of  change  and  innovation ;  while  in  the  other 
were  plenty  of  eager  spirits,  greedy  of  novelties  and  ready 
to  move  in  any  direction  towards  which  freedom  from 
prejudice,  a  bold  disdain  of  old  convention,  the  noble 
curiosity  which  prompts  to  venturesome  advance,  might 
lead  their  willing  feet.  After  a  while,  some  of  the  most 
distinguished  of  the  party  fled  to  the  shelter  of  Rome, 
guided  partly  by  devotion  to  a  high  ideal  of  the  Church, 
partly  by  a  feeling  akin  to  despair  in  the  presence  of 
modern  criticism.  For  side  by  side  with  these  two  well- 
defined  parties  had  grown  up  a  third  company,  touched 


II.]  THE  TROUBLES  IN  THE  CHURCH  203 

with  the  spirit  of  the  time,  conscious  that  modern  study 
had  thrown  new  light  on  many  of  the  old  bases  of  faith, 
eager  to  "prove  all  things,"  and  to  assert  the  paramount 
sanctity  of  Truth.     Enquiry  was  in  the  air. 

Among  the  more  active-minded  of  the  High  Churchmen 
was  a  knot  of  men  who  were  not  afraid  to  court  enquiry, 
to  face  difficulties  fairly,  to  speak  frankly  on  matters  which 
filled  others  only  with  alarm.  The  strength  of  the  Broad 
Church  movement,  which  has  never  wished  to  be  a  party, 
is  largely  drawn  from  men  who  first  were  High  Churchmen. 
Between  those  who  pressed  on  Romewards,  and  those  of 
the  coming  school,  who  longed  to  treat  religious  problems 
in  a  liberal  spirit,  stood,  and  still  stand,  the  great  bulk 
of  the  High  Church  party,  as  immovable  as  their  Low 
Church  brethren,  and  sometimes  joining  hands  with 
them  in  the  sad  business  of  repression.  Many  prominent 
members  of  the  liberal  school  had  carried  their  earlier 
speculations  on  authority,  whether  of  the  Bible  or  of  the 
Church,  on  the  spiritual  life  of  the  Church,  and  on  the 
presence  of  Christ,  to  a  point  which  seemed  to  their  old 
friends  alarming  and  dangerous.  More  and  more  was 
the  new  school  convinced  that  the  task  of  searching  into 
the  truth  is  laid  on  us  all.  Naturally,  they  had  to  swim 
against  a  swirling  tide  of  alarm  and  dislike ;  the  denun- 
ciations of  scared  ignorance,  the  remonstrances  of  official 
Churchmanship,  roused  in  them,  only  too  readily,  the  natural 
passions  of  anger  and  contempt.  For  it  is  so  much  easier 
to  disapprove  than  to  disprove ;  for  the  latter  one  must 
know,  for  the  former  one  need  only  feel.  The  unhappy 
result  of  this  irritation  appears  in  the  bitter  and  scornful 
tone  in  which  the  liberal  theologians  wrote.  By  faults  of 
manner,  and  a  too  obvious  willingness  to  startle  their 
opponents,  they  threw  away  their  case.  In  their  unguarded, 
sometimes  unwarranted,  assaults  on  established  ideas  they 


204  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D,D.  [Ch. 

only  remembered  that  they  would  fain  be  the  champions 
of  liberty  of  discussion. 

The  two  men  of  this  school  who  were  the  most  prominent 
at  this  time  were  eager  for  truth,  and  willing  to  sacrifice 
themselves  for  it:  it  is  hard  not  to  sympathise  with 
them,  though  we  feel  that  their  enthusiasm,  and  the 
opposition  they  encountered,  threw  them  off  their  balance 
and  marred  their  work.  Emancipators  must  give  and 
take  wild  blows.  It  seemed  to  them  that  truth  was  being 
lost  behind  screens  and  barriers,  and,  in  the  assault  on 
these,  it  looked  as  if  they  were  attacking  the  truth  which 
lies  behind.  One  has  to  be  careful  to  give  them  credit 
for  their  high  aims,  and  at  the  same  time  to  make 
allowance  for  the  terror  they  aroused.  No  party  comes 
out  of  the  strife  with  honours  unblemished;  the  general 
verdict,  after  thirty  years,  is  that  both  sides  made  blunders 
in  the  conflict.  We  have  re-learnt  the  priceless  lesson  that 
our  Church  has  room  within  her  walls  for  men  of  very 
different  types  ;  for  a  large  liberty  of  opinion  ;  for  a  wise 
freedom  in  usages.  We  have  learnt,  too,  how  to  deal 
charitably  with  our  neighbour's  views,  and  to  aim  at 
adapting  the  Church  to  the  necessities  of  successive  s^es. 
Bishop  Harold  Browne  was  among  the  most  important 
of  the  contributors  to  this  happy  result.  His  share  in  the 
controversies  of  the  period  was  always  marked  by  genuine, 
true  Christian  feeling,  and  by  a  desire  for  fairness  of  treat- 
ment as  beautiful  as  rare  in  those  angry  days. 

I  have  ventured  to  select  his  successor  at  Lampeter, 
Mr.  Rowland  Williams,  as  the  representative  of  the  temper 
of  mind  and  thought  which  found  expression  in  "  Essays 
and  Reviews  " ;  and  the  other  name  can  be  no  other  than 
that  of  Dr.  Colenso,  Bishop  of  Natal,  around  whom  raged 
a  wild  strife  of  almost  unequalled  bitterness.  The  assailants 
of  established  views  seemed  at  times  quite  as  much  pre- 


II.]  THE  TROUBLES  IN  THE  CHURCH,  205 

judiced  on  the  side  of  novelty  as  their  antagonists  were 
for  the  old  ways.  If  some  of  the  combatants  were  con- 
vinced that  orthodoxy,  without  either  knowledge  or  charity, 
was  a  sufficient  panoply,  others  were  ready  to  believe  that 
to  be  orthodox  was  simply  to  be  wrong,  and  were  at  no 
pains  to  hide  their  scorn  for  antagonists  who  did  not 
understand  the  subjects  on  which  they  dogmatised.  A 
bold  face  often  bears  down  a  modest  spirit. 

"Essays  and  Reviews,"  which  in  its  day  created  so 
great  an  excitement  in  the  religious  world,  appeared  early 
in  1 860.  The  seven  contributors  joined  in  an  Advertisement, 
in  which  they  laid  it  down  that,  while  all  the  contributors 
had  a  common  aim,  "to  encourage  the  free  handling  of 
religious  topics  in  a  becoming  spirit  of  truth,"  each  was  to 
be  held  responsible  for  his  own  Essay  only.  The  "  common 
aim  "  was  to  arouse  a  spirit  of  enquiry,  and  to  deem  no 
matter  too  sacred  for  criticism.  It  was  rather  hard  for  them 
to  avoid  being  regarded  as  responsible  for  one  another's 
statements ;  for  they  were  at  one  in  wishing  to  arouse 
men's  minds — some  more,  some  less  ;  all  agreed  to  eschew 
conventional  views  on  even  the  most  essential  points.  No 
wonder  that  an  attempt  was  presently  made  to  fasten  the 
odium  of  certain  crude  speculations  found  in  one  or  two 
of  the  Essays  on  the  backs  of  all  the  members  of  the 
company.  The  mass  of  the  clergy,  frightened  and  uncon- 
vinced, soon  began  to  clamour  for  the  condemnation  of 
the  "Septem  contra  Christum,"  as  a  scornful  opponent 
called  them,  parodying  -^schylus ;  and  the  conduct  of  the 
attack  was  not  a  whit  less  violent,  in  its  way,  than  had 
been  the  conduct  of  the  vulgar  mob  at  St.  George's-in-the- 
East,  or  at  St.  Barnabas',  Pimlico.  They  used  language 
naively  echoed  by  Canon  Perry,  when  he  writes  that  the 
volume  was  "not  so  much  a  danger  to  the  faith,  as  a 
grievous  offence  on  the  part  of  the  authors  ; "  they  called 


206  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D,  [Ch. 

on  the  seven  to  resign  their  positions  in  the  Church,  and 
to  brand  themselves  as  traitors  ;  they  called  on  Convocation 
to  condemn  them  and  the  book.  A  swarm  of  more  or 
less  ephemeral  replies  issued  from  the  Press ;  some  even 
of  the  most  thoughtful  and  liberal  of  the  bishops  were 
very  severe  on  the  Essayists.  The  learned  Bishop  of 
St  David's  condemned  them  in  no  measured  terms ;  the 
Bishop  of  Oxford,  S.  Wilberforce,  led  the  assault  in  the 
Upper  House  of  Convocation  ;  Bishop  Hampden,  to  the 
astonishment  of  those  who  had  fought  against  his  election 
as  Bishop  of  Hereford,  clamoured  for  the  prosecution  of 
the  writers :  the  general  feeling  was,  as  Canon  Perry 
phrases  it,  that  they  were  "  traitors  to  be  punished  rather 
than  fair  disputants  to  be  answered."  True,  the  manner 
of  the  writers  was  as  unfortunate  as  their  matter  was 
alarming ;  yet  nothing  can  justify  the  blind  fury  with 
which  they  were  attacked,  and  the  studied  insults  heaped 
on  them. 

The  Houses  of  Convocation  showed  far  more  moderation 
of  tone  and  more  sense  of  the  proprieties  of  religious 
controversy  than  was  pleasing  to  the  crowd.  The  Upper 
House  replied  with  gravity  and  good  sense  to  an  Address 
signed  by  ten  thousand  clergymen,  reserving  judgment, 
while  it  regretted  the  publication  of  the  volume.  In  the 
Lower  House,  moved  by  Archdeacon  Denison,  a  "  grava- 
men "  was  drawn  up  and  presented  to  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  praying  for  a  committee  to  formulate  a  case 
against  the  volume.  This  was  agreed  to  by  the  Upper 
House ;  a  committee  of  the  Lower  House  was  accordingly 
appointed,  and  Archdeacon  Denison  became  chairman 
of  it. 

In  spite  of  the  activity  of  the  Archdeacon,  who  drew 
up  an  analysis  of  the  volume,  in  order  to  show  the  evil 
that  was  in  it,  and  especially  to  make,  if  he  could,  the 


IL]  THE  TROUBLES  IN  THE  CHURCH  207 

several  authors  responsible  for  the  statements  of  each,  the 
committee  did  nothing.  Suits  had  been  instituted  against 
two  of  the  writers  in  the  Arches  Court,  and  till  these  were 
settled  Convocation  thought  it  wiser  not  to  intervene.  It 
was  not  till  June  1861  that  the  two  Houses  were  free  to 
condemn  the  volume,  and  did  so.  The  case  before  the 
Court  lingered  on,  with  an  appeal  to  the  Judicial  Com- 
mittee of  the  Privy  Council;  it  was  not  till  February 
8th,  1864,  that  that  body,  while  refusing  to  pronounce 
any  opinion  on  the  design  and  general  tendency  of  the 
"  Essays,"  declared  that  no  technical  contradiction  of  the 
Thirty-Nine  Articles  or  of  the  formularies  of  the  Church  of 
England  had  been  proved,  and  so,  reversing  the  judgment 
of  the  Court  below,  reinstated  the  two  writers  in  their 
benefices. 

Professor  Browne's  share  in  this  acute  controversy  was 
straightforward  and  simple.  He  met  the  negative  tenden- 
cies of  the  book  with  a  well-reasoned  and  temperate 
statement*  of  the  orthodox  views ;  and  here  his  stores  of 
learning  and  fairness  of  mind  gave  him  a  great  advantage. 
He  spoke  of  the  subject  in  a  genial  and  even  friendly 
spirit.  At  the  time  of  the  highest  excitement,  in  Decem- 
ber 1 86 1,  his  eldest  son,  Harold,  who  was  then  at  school 
at  Rugby  under  Dr.  Temple,  won  a  Divinity  prize;  and 
Professor  Browne,  writing  to  a  friend,  says  : — 

"  Harold  got  the  second  Divinity  prize.  Divinity  at 
Rugby  does  not  of  necessity  =  heresy,  for  whoever  ex- 
amined him,  I  coached  him.  By  the  way,  did  you  ever 
hear  the  question  put  by  an  Oxford  to  a  Cambridge  man, 
*  I  say,  is  not  one  of  your  ^^  pokers  "  a  great  coach  ?  '  Can  you 
translate  it?" 

Soon  after  this  incident  he  addressed  a  charming  letter 
on  the  controversy  to  Canon  Cook  of  Exeter,  with  whom 
he  was    on   intimate    terms   of   friendship,    literary  and 


2o8  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D,  [Ch. 

personal.  The  Canon  had  been  attacked,  and  chained 
with  too  great  liberalism  in  dealing  with  the  volume  ;  and 
Professor  Browne  writes  : — 

"  Such  censure  cannot  be  of  the  slightest  consequence  to 
yourself,  but  it  is  a  sign  of  most  evil  omen  to  the  Church, 
when  those  who  profess  to  be  her  champions  imagine  that 
the  cause  of  truth  is  promoted  by  bitterness  of  tone  and 
arbitrary  dogmatism." 

And  yet  he  felt  acutely  the  faults  of  the  Essayists,  and 
bitterly  deplored  their  tone  and  conclusions.  He  was 
prepared  to  do  all  in  his  power  to  counteract  the  tendency 
of  the  volume,  and  to  express,  with  convincing  argument 
and  learning,  his  disagreement  with  the  authors.  His 
first  contribution  to  the  controversy  took  the  somewhat 
cumbrous  form  of  a  course  of  sermons  preached  in  the 
University  Pulpit,  and  afterwards  published  in  a  thin 
volume.  In  a  letter  to  a  friend  (dated  May  i6th,  1862)  he 
describes  his  object. 

"  I  am  glad  you  approve  of  my  sermons  on  the  Messianic 
prophecies.  They  receive  the  approbation  of  your  Bishop 
and  of  many  scholars  and  divines  ;  but  I  doubt  if  they  will 
circulate  greatly,  simply  because  they  are  sermons,  I  am 
surprised  to  hear  that  you  think  the  subject  not  one  of 
general  interest.  I  should  have  thought  it  at  all  times  a 
subject  of  universal  and  deep  interest :  and  at  this  moment 
the  fierce  assaults  of  the  Essayists  on  the  Prophecies,  their 
denial  of  the  existence  of  prediction  at  all  in  the  Old 
Testament,  and  especially  of  predictions  of  Messiah,  ought 
to  make  it  a  subject  of  special  importance.  In  short,  if 
Bunsen  and  Rowland  Williams  be  right,  that  there  is  no 
such  thing  as  predictive  prophecy,  I  do  not  see  on  what 
principle  Christianity  can  be  defended.  It  was  from  this 
feeling  that  I  wrote  and  preached,  viz.,  that  this  was  now 
the  point  in  dispute  between  believers  and  unbelievers." 

At  the  time  that  Professor  Browne  penned  these  some- 
what despondent  words,  he  was  overwhelmed  with  sorrow ; 


II.]  THE  TROUBLES  IN  THE  CHURCH  209 

for  he  had  just  lost  a  little  babe,  taken  from  them  in  May 
1862,  and  was  full  of  anxiety  for  the  safety  of  his  beloved 
wife. 

A  few  months  after  the  publication  of  "  Essays  and 
Reviews "  we  find  an  invitation  addressed  to  Professor 
Browne  from  Dr.  Thomson  (then  Provost  of  Queen's 
College,  Oxford,  afterwards  Archbishop  of  York),  asking 
him  to  write  the  essay  on  Inspiration  in  a  volume  to  be 
entitled  "  Aids  to  Faith."  Professor  Browne,  although  his 
hands  were  very  full  of  University  work,  did  not  decline 
the  proffered  task  and  honour.  He  was  pleased  with  the 
scheme,  and  with  the  views  of  Dr.  Thomson  ;  he  also 
wished  to  present  the  current  theory  as  to  Inspiration  in 
a  calm  and  moderate  manner  ;  he  therefore  accepted  the 
call,  and  set  himself  to  the  difficult  task  of  writing  a  clear 
statement  on  the  subject. 

In  "Essays  and  Reviews,"  the  two  papers  which  had 
appeared  to  cut  most  deeply  into  the  body  of  orthodox 
theology  were  that  on  Miracles,  by  Mr.  Baden  Powell,  and 
that  by  Mr.  Jowett  on  the  difficulties  and  discrepancies  of 
Scripture.  Against  Mr.  Baden  Powell,  Mr.  Mansel  wrote 
an  ingenious  if  unconvincing  Essay  on  Miracles ;  and,  in 
defence  of  Scripture,  Mr.  Harold  Browne  was  pitted  against 
the  other  Essayist  He  defines  the  objects  of  "  Aids  to 
Faith  "to  be— 

"  to  aid  weak  faith,  to  help  doubting  and  distressed  minds. 
Anything  like  strong  dogmatic  statements  would  only 
repel  such.  We  were  not  fighting  against  the  heresies 
and  infidelity  of  *  Essays  and  Reviews,'  but  trying  to  help 
those  who  were  puzzled,  and  the  like  of  them." 

He  adds : — 

"  I  was  asked  in  the  middle  of  July  to  write  it  by  the 
1st  of  September  (1862).  I  did  so  in  the  midst  of  much 
other  labour,  and  felt   much  dissatisfied  with   it,   not  as 

14 


210  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

regards  its  principles,  but  its  mode  of  working  out  its 
purpose.  But  that  purpose  was  to  prove  to  doubting  minds 
that,  whatever  difficulties  might  occur  to  them  as  to  degrees 
and  modes  of  Inspiration,  and  many  other  incidental  ques- 
tions, still  there  was  abundant  proof  of  a  special  miraculous 
and  infallible  Inspiration  of  Holy  Scripture.  This  is 
enough  to  prove  that  Holy  Scripture  is  an  infallible 
depository  of  religious  truth.  Everything  else  is  but 
secondary.  I  had  no  call  to  define  dogmatically;  but 
if  it  had  been  otherwise,  I  am  much  disposed  to  think  that 
in  the  present  state  of  things,  when  the  Church  has  never 
defined  the  nature  of  Inspiration  and  the  Scripture  speaks 
but  generally  on  it,  he  must  be  a  very  rash  man  who  would 
venture  to  lay  down  definite  rules,  and  to  excommunicate 
those  who  will  not  abide  by  them." 

Modest  and  unambitious  words  these,  which  while  they 
mark  the  moderate  tendencies  of  his  mind,  explain  also 
why  the  essay  fails  to  solve  the  very  intricate  problems 
with  which  it  deals.  For  he  aimed  not  so  much  at  a  new 
or  scientific  theory  of  inspiration,  as  at  such  arguments 
as  might  reassure  anxious  souls,  disquieted  by  the  rough 
treatment  of  what  they  had  hitherto  been  content  to  take 
on  trust.  It  is  very  interesting  to  see  in  this  same  letter, 
written  from  Cambridge,  a  note  of  the  theological  charac- 
teristics of  his  surroundings. 

"My  belief  is  that  this  University  has  been  preserved 
from  danger  of  Romanism,  and  I  trust  also  from  danger 
of  Rationalism,  by  the  general  prevalence  amongst  us  of 
a  liberal  and  forbearing  spirit.  We  have  not  been  wholly 
free  from  oscillation,  but,  on  the  whole,  for  the  last  thirty 
years  we  have  been  free  from  violent  party  spirits,  and,  in 
the  main,  sound  in  the  faith  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  the 
Church  of  our  Fathers." 

Here  we  have  a  just  statement  of  Professor  Browne's 
own  position  in  these  stormy  days.  Oxford,  with  her 
acuteness  of  criticism,  her  active  spirit  of  enquiry,  was  ever 
throwing  out   new  theories   of  life   and   faith,  setting   in 


II.]  THE  TROUBLES  IN  THE  CHURCH.  2X1 

motion  one  theological  party  after  another,  generating  heat 
and  motion,  and  taking  the  lead  with  all  the  ideas  which 
have  influenced  thoughtful  men  in  England  during  this 
present  century ;  her  ablest  sons  have  often  heartened  up 
the  Church  of  England  with  fresh  ideals  and  hopes  of  a 
noble  future.  On  the  other  hand,  the  tendency  of  C  ambridge 
teaching  and  thinking  has  been  to  draw  men  into  a  more 
placid  middle  course ;  and  while  her  great  school  of 
theolc^y  has  far  surpassed  all  Oxford  efforts  in  everything 
that  concerns  solid  learning  and  scholarship,  it  has  fallen 
behind  its  rivals  in  stimulating  power.  Professor  Harold 
Browne  combined  the  learning  and  general  power,  the 
moderation  and  courteous  charity,  which  one  seems  to 
feel  and  breathe  as  one  passes  through  the  streets  of 
Cambridge,  or  sits  a  guest  within  the  walls  of  her  magni- 
ficent Colleges. 

Mr.  Browne's  Essay  on  Inspiration,  then,  is  addressed 
not  to  the  free-thinker,  or  to  the  exponent  of  new  theories, 
but  to  anxious  and  religious  minds  puzzled  or  frightened 
by  these  new  views.  He  does  not  touch  any  prior  question 
as  to  the  existence  of  Inspiration.  He  first  assumes 
that  God,  the  Divine  Spirit,  has  spoken  to  mortal  man, 
and  asks  only.  In  what  way?  with  what  limitations?  Is 
there  an  actual  inbreathing  of  knowledge,  a  direct  afflatus  ? 
or  has  the  Holy  Spirit,  by  raising  man,  given  him  more 
sight  and  more  insight?  Next,  the  Essay  sketches  the 
history  of  the  subject,  as  shown  in  Jewish  and  Christian 
thought ;  it  recognises  no  Divine  message  save  in  the 
Bible.  It  then  deals  briefly  with  certain  views  on  the 
subject :  first,  with  that  propounded  by  S.  T.  Coleridge,  and 
developed  by  Mr.  Maurice ;  here  Mr.  Browne  shows  some 
suspicion  as  to  the  view  that  poets  and  artists  are  in  a 
degree  inspired,  and  seems  inclined  to  limit  the  function  of 
inspiration  to  what  is  contained  in  that  phrase  of  a  Collect 


212  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DJ>,  [Ch. 

which  prays  that  "by  God's  Holy  Spirit  we  may  think 
those  things  that  be  good  " ;  a  kind  of  moral  guidance  into 
all  truths  bearing  on  the  conduct  of  life.  Mr.  Morell's 
"  Philosophy  of  Religion "  is  next  passed  under  review. 
Then,  as  becomes  a  Cambridge  thinker,  he  treats  of  Paley's 
bold  argument,  assuming  nothing,  and  building  up  the 
faith  on  foundations  which  would  be  accepted  by  unbelievers, 
with  a  characteristic  warning  that  "definite  theories  of 
Inspiration  are  doubtful  and  dangerous" ;  there  is  a  human 
element  and  a  Divine  element, — who  shall  define  their  exact 
relations?  In  fine,  he  is  content  to  sum  it  up  in  this: 
"  Granted  a  God,  then  Miracle  is  not  merely  possible, 
but  probable  ;  and  Inspiration  may  be  classed  among  God's 
miracles  of  mercy  towards  mankind." 

Such  an  essay  might,  from  its  devoutness  and  clearness, 
appease  many  a  doubt  in  pious  souls  ;  it  did  not  aim  at 
advancing  the  theory  of  the  subject,  or  at  converting  the 
unbeliever.  We  miss  the  living  interest  in  the  subject 
displayed,  some  years  before,  by  Dr.  Pusey,  when  he  speaks 
of  the  way  in  which  St.  Paul's  Epistle  to  the  Romans  was 
written.  "  St.  Paul,"  he  says, "  before  he  wrote  must  have 
frequently  taught  and  written  on  the  great  point  of  doctrine, 
not  as  a  mere  machine,  but  as  one  whose  understanding 
was  enlightened ;  and  then,  with  this  illumination  of  the 
soul  upon  him,  summed  up  his  inspired  thoughts  in  the  letter 
to  his  converts."  Yet  Mr.  Browne  was  not  so  narrow  as  his 
great  contemporary,  who,  when  suspected  of  German  theo- 
logical leanings,  in  1828,  wrote  that  he  did  "not  essentially 
differ  from  those  who  regard  it  (Inspiration)  as  dictation." 

The  whole  controversy  is  now  a  thing  of  the  past.  The 
two  volumes,  "  Essays  and  Reviews  "  and  "  Aids  to  Faith," 
slumber  peacefully  side  by  side  on  many  a  theologian's 
shelves,  and  men  have  learnt  to  treat  their  Bibles  with 
more  discerning  reverence,  and  to  recognise,  as  Mr.  Browne 


II.]  THE  TROUBLES  IN  THE  CHURCH.  213 

desired  that  they  should,  the  Divine  wisdom  contained  in 
earthen  vessels ;  nor  do  faithful  Christians  any  longer 
shut  their  eyes  to  the  evidences  of  human  weakness,  which 
are  as  little  able  to  shake  our  faith  in  the  Divine  message 
as  a  soiled  dress  can  hide  the  life  within  its  folds  ;  the  one 
is  as  little  essential  as  the  other.  For  God  ever  speaks  to 
man  through  man's  imperfect  nature. 

Professor  Browne's  article  in  "  Aids  to  Faith "  was  so 
temperate  that  to  some  keen-nosed  Churchmen  there 
seemed  to  be  in  it  a  whiff  of  dangerous  tolerance.  Bishop 
Thirlwall  alludes  to  certain  growls  of  dissatisfaction. 

"  I  am  grieved  to  learn  that  the  moderation  and  candour 
which  you  showed  in  your  contribution  to  the  *  Aids  to 
Faith '  have  exposed  you  to  attack  as  ultra-liberal.  ...  It 
is  a  sign  of  most  evil  omen  to  the  Church  when  those 
who  profess  to  be  her  champions  imagine  that  the  cause 
of  truth  is  promoted  by  bitterness  of  tone  and  arbitrary 
dogmatism." 

The  angry  feeling  aroused  by  "  Essays  and  Reviews " 
was  still  warm  when  a  new  alarm  arose.  When  the  history 
of  the  influence  of  the  American  and  Colonial  Churches 
on  the  Mother  Church  is  written,  it  will  be  seen  that  the 
outburst  of  literary  and  theological  zeal  in  Natal  did  more 
to  ascertain  and  settle  the  relations  of  Colonial  Dioceses 
to  one  another,  to  their  metropolitans,  and,  above  all,  to 
the  Patriarchal  See  of  Canterbury,  than  to  influence  the 
general  current  of  thought,  or  to  secure  any  advance 
in  theological  study.  That  these  shocks  to  established 
beliefs  are  wholesome  in  the  end  anyone  will  allow  who 
understands  the  way  in  which  the  spirit  of  Christian  faith 
tends  to  evaporate  while  the  organism  of  a  Church  seems 
still  to  live.  No  faith  is  worth  much  which  cannot  stand 
attack.     The  Church  may  indeed  be  semper  eadem ;  but 


214  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D,  [Ch. 

she  is,  and  must  be  always,  the  same  with  a  difference. 
She  must  adapt  her  framework,  methods  of  action,  points 
of  view,  insistence  on  doctrine,  now  to  one  phase  of  the 
world's  growth,  now  to  another.  At  the  time  of  Bishop 
Colenso's  appearance  on  the  scene,  the  receptive  capacity 
of  Churchmen  had  been  very  seriously  taxed ;  and  he 
unfortunately  mixed  much  that  was  crude  with  much  that 
was  shrewd.  Like  the  Essayists,  he  showed  more  anger 
against  conventional  theology  than  enthusiasm  for  the 
Gospel.  He  also  used  great  boldness  of  enquiry  without 
a  corresponding  training  in  the  principles  of  theological 
controversy,  or  the  laws  of  evidence,  or  the  details  of 
linguistic  knowledge. 

The  position  taken  up  by  Professor  Browne  was  twofold 
and  interesting.  The  Colenso  excitement  began  while  he 
was  still  Norrisian  Professor;  and  he  grappled  at  once 
with  what  appeared  to  him  to  be  the  Bishop's  erroneous 
opinions  as  to  the  credibility  of  the  early  books  of  the  Old 
Testament;  and,  incidentally,  as  to  the  doctrine  of  Our 
Lord's  Divine  Person  and  knowledge.  But  before  the 
controversy  had  advanced  very  far,  Mr.  Browne  was  made 
Bishop  of  Ely,  and  this  synchronised  with  the  constitutional 
development  of  the  strife  in  South  Africa.  The  startled 
world  of  religious  people  now  saw  that  the  champion  who 
had  contended  so  well  with  the  pen  against  the  Bishop 
of  Natal's  opinions  now  seemed  anxious  to  protect  him 
in  the  Upper  House  of  Convocation.  In  the  desire  to 
vindicate  orthodoxy  Convocation  overlooked  the  other 
side  of  the  struggle;  only  a  few  cooler  heads  hesitated 
to  make  the  English  Church  ratify  all  the  acts  of  the 
Bishop  of  Cape  Town.  The  whole  controversy  tended  to 
help  forward  the  deliverance  of  Colonial  Churches  from 
State  establishment  and  interference ;  it  also  seemed  not 
unlikely  to  weaken  the  direct  relation  between  the  Colonial 


II.]  THE  TROUBLES  IN  THE  CHURCH.  21 5 

Bishops  and  the  mother  See  of  Canterbury.  A  man  so 
jealous  for  the  Anglican  Church  and  the  authority  of  the 
home  Episcopate  as  Harold  Browne  was  could  not  but 
look  with  disfavour  on  the  bold  steps  taken  at  Cape 
Town. 

When  in  1853  Bishop  Gray  had  selected  Mr.  Colenso 
for  the  bishopric  of  Natal,  he  rejoiced  greatly  in  his 
chcMce,  seeing  the  daily  growth  of  the  Christian  faith  in 
Natal.  Colenso,  for  several  years,  did  earnest  and  en- 
lightened work  in  his  diocese.  No  man  has  ever  seen 
more  clearly  the  importance  of  the  Church's  influence 
among  the  natives.  He  was  the  disinterested  friend  and 
champion  of  the  black  race.  He  founded  stations,  in 
which  the  natives  were  encouraged  to  settle  under  the 
protection  of  the  missionaries  ;  he  worked  hard  at 
the  Zulu  language,  and  laid  the  foundations  of  a  South 
African  literature  by  creating  a  Zulu  dictionary,  being 
eager  to  reach  the  hearts  of  his  black  flock  through  their 
own  language  ;  he  endeavoured  to  adapt  the  services 
of  the  English  Church  to  the  rudimentary  state  of  belief 
and  knowledge  in  which  even  the  most  advanced  of  his 
native  converts  must  long  remain.  But  ere  long  Bishop 
Gray  began  to  take  alarm.  Some  of  the  Bishop  of 
NataFs  English  helpers  proved  ill-fitted  for  the  work ; 
some  of  his  changes  in  the  Liturgy  were  bold,  and  might 
be  dangerous;  at  any  rate,  they  were  introduced  on  his 
sole  authority ;  in  some  respects  he  seemed  too  ready  to 
comply  (as  in  the  case  of  polygamist  converts)  with  nadve 
prejudices.  In  a  letter  which  Bishop  Gray  wrote  in  1856, 
expressing  his  anxiety  on  the  points  mentioned  above, 
he  ends  by  saying  that  "  if  he  will  only  learn  caution  and 
deliberation  this  will  do  no  harm.  His  fine,  generous,  and 
noble  character  will  triumph  over  all  difficulties." 

This  very   frankness  and  earnestness,  coupled  with  a 


2l6  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

fearless  love  of  truth,  and  a  desire  to  present  Christianity 
in  the  simplest  and  most  intelligible  manner  to  the  native 
converts,  carried  Bishop  Colenso  forward  with  dangerous 
rapidity.  Early  in  1861,  Bishop  Gray  gives  voice  to  his 
anxieties,  which  were  not  without  foundation. 

"  The  Bishop  of  Natal,"  he  says,  "  is  a  very  wilful,  head- 
strong man,  and  loose,  I  fear,  in  his  opinions  on  vital 
points.  We  shall  have,"  he  adds,  "  to  fight,  for  revelation, 
inspiration,  the  atonement,  and  every  great  truth  of  Chris- 
tianity before  long  " 

Before  many  months  had  passed  the  Bishop  of  Natal 
justified  some  of  these  forebodings  by  publishing  a  new 
translation,  with  commentary,  of  St.  Paul's  Epistle  to 
the  Romans;  and  the  summer  of  1862  saw  the  begin- 
nings of  the  work  which  created  so  great  a  stir  in  the 
Church  at  home  and  in  South  Africa— the  first  part  of 
"  The  Pentateuch  and  the  Book  of  Joshua  critically  exam- 
ined." This  was  followed  in  January  1863  by  the  second 
part  of  the  work,  in  which  the  Bishop  unsparingly  criticises 
the  sacred  narrative.  The  outburst  of  feeling  in  England 
was  very  strong ;  nor  did  Bishop  Colenso's  reply  to  the 
remonstrance  of  the  English  bishops  tend  to  allay  the 
excitement. 

We  have  seen  how  Mr.  Browne  had  dealt  with  the  earlier 
period  of  the  strife.  The  work  on  the  Pentateuch  now 
brought  him  again  into  the  field.  He  felt  bound  to 
dedicate  all  his  strength  and  knowledge  to  a  sound  and 
temperate  consideration  of  the  important  questions  in- 
volved ;  and  in  the  spring  of  1863  delivered  and  published 
five  lectures  on  "the  Pentateuch  and  the  Elohistic  Psalms" 
in  direct  reply  to  the  Bishop  of  Natal. 

We  learn  how  strong  was  his  feeling  on  the  subject 
from  a  brief  utterance  of  distress  and  almost  of  despair  in 


X 


II.]  THE  TROUBLES  IN  THE  CHURCH  217 

one  of  his  letters  at  this  time.     Writing  from  Cambridge, 
January  19th,  1863,  ^'^  says  : — 

"  What  a  sad  business  is  Bishop  Colenso's  apostasy ! 
It  is  difficult  to  call  it  by  a  milder  name.  There  is  every 
appearance  of  a  great  crisis,  a  great  conflict  between  faith 
and  infidelity.  Yet  I  feel  hopeful  of  the  issue ;  but  God 
only  knows  whether  Antichrist  with  his  lying  wonders 
may  not  be  permitted  for  a  time  to  prevail." 

Men  seemed  to  think  that  the  episcopal  standing  of  the 
offender  was  a  great  aggravation  ;  as  if  it  were  the  special 
duty  of  a  bishop  to  ask  no  questions  and  to  avoid  all  the 
burning  topics  which  might  be  warming  the  world  around 
him.  It  was  all  the  more  trying  and  inexplicable  to  them 
when,  a  short  time  after,  the  man  who  had  expressed 
himself  so  strongly  against  the  Bishop  of  Natal  was 
found  ranging  himself  by  the  side  of  those  three  or  four 
cautious  prelates  who  aimed  at  seeing  justice  done.  They 
failed  to  see  how  dangerous  was  the  proposal  to  stifle  all 
freedom  of  discussion,  and  knew  too  little  about  Church 
order  and  authority  to  appreciate  the  arguments  with 
which,  a  little  later,  this  little  group  of  Bishops  resisted 
the  attempt  to  make  the  English  Church  approve  all  the 
violent  acts  of  the  Bishop  of  Cape  Town. 

Professor  Browne's  lectures,  which  appeared  in  May 
1863,  were  a  masterly  defence  of  the  older  view  of  the 
relations  between  the  early  books  of  the  Old  Testament 
and  the  declarations  of  the  Gospel,  and  formed  by  far  the 
ablest  reply  to  Bishop  Colenso.  Without  softening  down 
the  controversy,  or  seeking  for  a  middle  course  in  it,  or 
showing  a  moment's  hesitation  in  pointing  out  where  in 
his  opinion  the  Bishop  was  wrong,  Professor  Browne 
throughout  deals  with  his  subject  in  a  way  which  made 
him  a  model  controversialist.  There  may  be  sadness  in 
his  tone — there  is  no  bitterness ;  he  does  not  try  to  blacken 


2l8  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DJ>.  [Ch. 

his  adversary's  character,  to  impute  to  him  evil  motives, 
to  heap  on  him  detestable  epithets.  The  little  volume  is 
carried  through  in  the  spirit  of  the  brief  introduction 
prefixed  to  it: — 

"  I  trust,"  he  writes,  "  I  have  nowhere  expressed  m5rself 
with  the  bitterness  or  insolence  of  controversy.  Deeply 
as  I  regret  the  course  which  the  Bishop  of  Natal  has  taken, 
widely  and  painfully  as  I  differ  from  him,  I  know  him  to 
be  a  man  in  whom  there  is  very  much  to  esteem,  and  I 
feel  that  he  deserves  all  credit  for  his  former  self-denying 
labours  in  the  cause  of  the  Gospel." 

Well  may  we  say  with  A.  P.  Stanley,  that  happy  would 
be  the  day  when  controversy  was  carried  on  in  the  spirit 
of  this  volume. 

"Christ  Church,  Oxford,  Jifay  2yd,  1863. 

"My  dear  Sir, — I  have  to  thank  you  for  your  Five 
Lectures  and  for  the  courtesy  with  which  you  have  quoted 
from  my  book. 

"Would  that  even  a  quarter  of  the  replies  to  Bishop 
Colenso  had  been  written  in  the  spirit  of  kindness  and 
forbearance  which  breathes  through  your  pages,  and  what 
a  different  spectacle  would  our  Church  have  presented — 
and  what  a  different  effect,  probably,  produced  on  him ! 

"Yours  faithfully, 

"A.  P.  Stanley." 

The  Lectures  open  with  the  most  important  of  the 
questions  raised  by  the  Bishop  of  Natal,  by  discussing  the 
nature  of  our  Saviour's  testimony  to  Moses,  and  ask 
whether  we  can  believe  that  when  our  Lord  declared  that 
"  Moses  wrote  of  Him  *'  he  did  so  in  ignorance  of  the 
discovery  which  modern  criticism  has  just  made,  that 
"  Moses  perhaps  never  lived,  certainly  never  wrote."  The 
Professor  here  does  little  more  than  entrench  himself  behind 
the  Church's  belief  in  the  Divinity,  and,  consequently,  the 
omniscience,  of  our   Lord.     He  is  silent  on  the  difficult 


11.]  THE  TROUBLES  IN  THE  CHURCH.  219 

questions  as  to  the  effect  of  the  Incarnation  on  the  rela- 
tions between  God  and  man,  or  as  to  what  Scripture  says 
of  the  limitations  imposed  on  His  human  nature.  The 
second  Lecture  deals  with  the  striking  "numerical  diffi- 
culties in  the  history  of  the  Exodus,"  making  a  strong 
case  for  the  credibility  of  the  narrative,  if  the  supernatural 
in  it  be  granted.  The  third  and  fourth  Lectures  are  a 
masterly  treatment,  by  a  patient  and  real  scholar,  of 
the  supposed  "  Jehovistic  and  Elohistic  phenomena  in  the 
Pentateuch."  This  is  perhaps  the  ablest  portion  of  the 
reply ;  here  the  Professor's  academic  studies  and  gifts 
tell  most  decidedly.  He  takes  up,  discusses,  and  over- 
throws the  Bishop's  arguments  one  by  one,  and  turns  his 
weapons  on  himself  The  last  lecture  is  on  a  topic  entirely 
suited  to  the  Professor's  temperament  Bishop  Colenso 
had  charged  the  Law  of  Moses  with  inhumanity.  Now, 
no  man  ever  had  a  finer  sense  than  Professor  Browne 
had  of  what  is  due  on  grounds  of  brotherhood  and 
humanity  to  our  fellow-creatures,  whether  men  or  animals. 
His  treatment,  therefore,  of  this  matter  was  sure  to  be 
just  and  sympathetic.  The  lecture,  accordingly,  after 
showing  that  the  main  facts  stated  in  the  history  of  the 
Exodus  can  be  proved  to  be  true,  ends  by  elaborately 
comparing  the  Mosaic  code  of  law  with  that  of  civilised 
nations  in  ancient  and  modern  times.  He  easily  proves, 
as  any  one  conversant  with  the  history  of  justice  in  our 
own  country  is  aware,  that  the  Mosaic  code  was  far  less 
severe  than  those  of  many  a  boasted  Christian  civilisation, 
«even  in  modern  days. 

This  little  volume  was  received,  as  it  deserved,  with 
much  applause  and  goodwill ;  even  those  who  were 
opposed  to  the  conclusions  in  it  were  able  to  thank  the 
author  cordially  for  his  fair  and  gentle  spirit  Some  of 
the  letters  he  received  are  curious  and  interesting. 


220  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D,D.  [Ch. 

The  Bishop  of  Lincoln  throws  a  lurid  light  on  the 
methods  of  controversy,  and  shows  that  not  only  the 
orthodox  thought  it  safer  not  to  read  their  opponents'" 
books.  The  "  enlightened  "  are  often  quite  as  illiberal  as 
those  they  oppose. 

"  One  of  the  worst  features,"  says  he,  "  of  the  prevalent 
scepticism  is  its  unwillingness  to  hear  and  weigh  both 
sides.  A  really  scientific  man  of  my  acquaintance  refused 
to  read  McCaul's  book  which  I  had  sent  him.  He  was 
*  satisfied  with  Colenso,  who  was  unanswerable.*  How 
would  such  a  reply  be  designated  in  a  question  of  physical 
science  ?  " 

And,  one  may  add,  how  would  the  man  of  science,  whose 
special  boast  is  the  openness  of  his  mind  to  argument, 
have  denounced  any  one  who  refused  to  read  his  books 
or  to  weigh  his  arguments,  when  they  ran  counter  to  the 
opinion  of  the  day  ? 

One  direct  result  of  the  publication  of  the  five  lectures 
was  an  invitation  to  Professor  Browne  to  take  part  in  the 
projected  *^  Speaker's  Commentary."  The  ability  and 
linguistic  skill  of  the  Professor's  writings  marked  him  out 
as  the  man  best  fitted  to  undertake  the  Pentateuch. 

"  Pray  do  not  refuse,"  says  Canon  Cook ;  "  I  cannot 
imagine  a  more  important  work,  if  it  be  well  done,  and 
there  is  no  name  which  would  give  more  confidence  than 
yours  in  the  most  delicate  and  difficult  part  of  the  whole 
undertaking." 

Harold  Browne  was  at  once  attracted  by  this  proposal^ 
regarding  it  as  a  distinct  call  of  duty ;  he  liked  the 
thought  of  a  group  of  careful  and  moderate  Churchmen 
uniting  to  elucidate  the  Scriptures  ;  he  regarded  the  re- 
newed interest  in  the  Bible  as  a  hopeful  sign,  and  wished 
that  the  revealed  bases  of  our  religion  should  be  handled 
in  such  a  way  as  both  to  win  back  those  who  had  been 


II.]  THE  TROUBLES  IN  THE  CHURCH  221 

alienated  and  to  strengthen  those  who  still  held  to  them  : 
the  Commentary  should  aim  at  being  clear,  simple,  explana- 
tory, without  entering  into  abstruse  questions  or  even 
directly  answering  attacks.  As  he  used  to  say  that  the 
best  Church  Defence  was  the  strength  which  comes  of  doing 
one's  duty,  so  here  he  held  that  the  best  defence  of  the  Bible 
lay  in  an  intelligent  and  reasonable  use  of  it  as  the  guide 
of  life.  He  therefore  agreed  to  take  part  in  the  work ;  and 
in  a  letter  to  Lord  Arthur  Hervey,  afterwards  Bishop  of 
Bath  and  Wells,  he  shows  with  how  keen  an  interest  he 
■entered  into  even  the  details  of  the  scheme. 

"  The  Close,  Exeter,  July  4/A,  1863. 

"My  dear  Lord, — I  do  not  know  whether  you  may 
have  heard  that  Murray  is  proposing  to  publish  a  Com- 
mentary on  the  S.S.  in  six  volumes.  The  scheme  was 
started,  I  believe,  by  the  Archbishop  of  York,  the  Speaker, 
and  some  other  eminent  clergymen  and  laymen.  Mr. 
Cook,  Preacher  at  Lincoln's  Inn,  is  to  be  the  general 
Editor.  Each  section  (such  as  the  Pentateuch,  the  his- 
torical books,  the  poetical  books,  the  major  prophets,  the 
minor  prophets,  the  gospels,  the  Pauline  epistles,  etc.)  is 
to  have  a  separate  editor.  The  New  Testament  will  be  in 
the  hands  of  Professors  Jeremie,  Jacobson,  Mansel,  Bishop 
Ellicott,  and  Dean  Trench,  I  believe.  I  have  been  pressed 
into  the  service  as  editor  of  the  Pentateuch  and  writer  of 
the  commentary  on  Genesis, — certainly  the  post  of  danger, 
though  perhaps  the  post  of  honour  too.  It  was  so  urged 
on  me  that  I  could  hardly  refuse  it  I  trust  a  strength 
greater  than  my  own  may  support  me  ;  for  I  feel  very 
•doubtful  of  my  own  qualifications  in  any  way.  But  enough 
of  this. 

"  Your  Lordship's  name  has  been  mentioned  to  me  by 
Mr.  Cook  in  connection  with  the  Book  of  Deuteronomy. 
I  can  say  most  truly  that  I  shall  be  heartily  thankful  if 
you  will  undertake  it.  It  is  rendered  doubly  important 
now  by  Colenso's  attack  on  it  in  his  third  part.  Your 
learning,  soundness  and  yet  liberality,  qualify  you  for  it 
very  signally. 

The  plan  is  to  print  in  octavo.     About  equal  parts  of 


222  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D,  [Ch. 

text  and  commentary,  or  text  :  commentary  : :  2  :  3. 
The  Commentary  to  be  critical  in  its  basis,  but  popular  in 
its  form,  giving  such  explanations  as  any  sensible  fairly- 
educated  layman  may  require  and  be  satisfied  with ;  any- 
thing like  philology,  eta,  being  put  in  an  appendix. 

''  Murray  is  very  liberally  disposed,  so  that  there  is  no 
difficulty  in  getting  help  or  buying  books.  He  proposes 
to  pay  ;£^20  for  sixteen  pages  of  notes,  or  perhaps,  say, 
about  £1  2l  page,  as  Mr.  Cook  thinks  it  may  be  safer  to 
leave  a  margin,  and  not  to  count  on  the  full  ;6^20.  The 
work  is  to  be  done  and  ready,  f>.,  written  and  read  by  the 
respective  editors,  by  October  ist,  1864. 

"  If  you  have  Doyley  and  Mant,  you  will  find  a  page 
beginning  Genesis  xxii.  19  and  ending  xxiii.  10.  That 
page,  text  and  notes,  nearly  represents  a  specimen  page 
which  I  saw  set  up  at  Murray's.  I  think  Murray's  octavo 
page  contained  a  little  less  than  Doyley  and  Mant's  quarto 
p3^e  ;  and  it  was  only  printed  as  a  trial.  The  recent 
attack  on  Scripture  and  the  consequent  alarm  produced 
in  many  minds  have  suggested  this  work. 

"The  whole  work  is  to  be  printed  in  six  volumes  of 
about  six  hundred  pages  each,  at  149.  a  volume,  it  is 
hoped.  I  suppose  we  shall  be  allowed  one  volume  for  the 
Pentateuch,  but  I  am  not  certain  about  that  I  sincerely 
hope  that  you  will  think  favourably  of  the  request  I  now 
forward  to  you.  I  do  not  know  whether  Mr.  Cook  means 
to  write  also,  but  he  empowered  me  to  open  negotiations 
with  you.  The  other  contributors  at  present  proposed  for 
the  Pentateuch  are  Mr.  Thrupp  and  Mr.  J.  J.  Stewart 
Perowne.  The  other  editors  for  the  Old  Testament  are 
Jeremie,  Professor  Selwyn,  Mr.  Cook,  Dr.  McCaul,  and 
Professor  Lightfoot. 

"Yours  faithfully, 

"E.  Harold  Browne." 

Before  this  work  could  even  be  begun,  Professor  Harold 
Browne  had  been  named  Bishop  of  Ely.  And  yet  he  was 
one  of  the  first  to  be  ready  with  his  portion  of  the  Com- 
mentary. No  man  ever  worked  harder  or  more  rapidly 
than  he  did  ;  so  that,  though  1864  was  a  year  crammed 
full  of  new  work,  he  still  succeeded  in  grappling  with  the 
Book  of  Genesis,  until  early  in  autumn  1864  he  sent  to 


II.]  THE  TROUBLES  IN  THE  CHURCH  223 

the  general  Editor,  Canon  Cook,  a  substantial  portion  of 
his  share.' 

*' Exeter,  September  izth^  1864. 

"My  dear  Bishop, — I  am  delighted  to  have  your 
Commentary  :  it  is  not  a  bit  too  long,  and  cramfuU  of  the 
best  things  said  in  the  best  way.  If  you  do  not  object 
I  will  have  it  set  up  at  once  and  sent  to  all  our  fellow- 
labourers.  I  am  quite  in  good  heart  now.  If  you  can  get 
your  part  done  (and  you  have  fairly  broken  the  neck  of  it) 
no  one  has  an  excuse  for  delay.  Thrupp  will  get  on  fast 
enough.  I  will  get  Pascoe  to  send  a  specimen  to  you 
soon.  Rawlinson  will  be  ready  within  a  reasonable  time. 
I  shall  have  Job  ready  by  the  early  spring,  and  be  far 
advanced  with  my  portion  of  the  Psalms.  Plumptre  is  sure 
to  finish  Proverbs,  and  has  already  sent  me  a  considerable 
instalment  well  executed.  Birks  is  getting  on  fast  with 
Isaiah,  and  has  sent  the  notes  on  twelve  chapters.  I  have 
no  doubt  that  the  Old  Testament  will  be  in  print  within 
two  years,  and  that  we  shall  have  enough  to  satisfy  all 
reasonable  people  before  the  end  of  '65. 

I  expect  much  delay  about  the  New  Testament,  but 
when  the  writers  see  the  other  part  advancing,  they  will  be 
stirred  to  emulation,  and  I  shall  take  care  to  have  a  good 
specimen  from  a  first-rate  hand  as  soon  as  possible. 


"Yours  sincerely, 

"  F.  C.  Cook." 


CHAPTER     III. 

LIFE  AND  WORK  IN   CAMBRIDGE,    1853 — 1864. 

THE  fruitful  years  during  which  Mr.  Browne  was 
Norrisian  Professor  at  Cambridge  and  Vicar  of 
Kenwyn  were  days  of  incessant  work  and  much  anxiety. 
With  a  large  and  growing  family  ;  with  a  very  liberal  heart, 
as  of  a  man  who  cared  little  for  money  and  was  eager  to 
do  kind  acts  to  all  around  him ;  with  two  homes  to  keep 
up,  and  frequent  journeys  to  make ;  it  is  not  strange  that 
he  found  himself  much  straitened,  and  was  tempted  to 
undertake  more  work  than  his  strength  justified.  In  those 
clashing  days  the  Norrisian  Professor  was  inevitably 
sucked  into  the  fray.  He  now  also  felt  the  deepest 
anxiety  for  his  poor  invalid  daughter,  who  was  becoming 
ever  more  and  more  helpless.  There  is  no  telling  how 
much  ripening  and  strengthening  of  Christlike  love  and 
patience  came  to  him  and  his  from  this  permanent  source 
of  anxiety.  "  Pm  sure,"  cries  sympathetic  Reginald  Barnes, 
at  that  time  one  of  the  Kenwyn  curates,  "  that  her  life  has 
been  made  a  blessing  to  them,  in  calling  out  their  patience 
and  constant  care." 

Other  matters  also  occupied  his  thoughts.  His  anxieties 
over  the  education  of  his  boys  are  shewn  in  a  letter  he 
wrote  to  Mr.  James,  who  had  undertaken  to  guide  the 
early  studies  of  the  eldest  son,  Harold,  then  about  eleven 
years  old.     When  Mr.  James  found  it  no  longer  possible 

224 


Ch.IIL]     UFE  and  work  in  CAMBRIDGE,   1853—1864.       225 

to  be  both  curate  and  tutor,  the  question  of  a  school 
became  pressing.  We  are  so  content  with  our  public  school 
system — and,  with  all  its  drawbacks,  there  is  so  much  to  be 
said  for  it — that  Professor  Browne's  strong  dislike  of  it 
strikes  us  with  surprise,  as  something  quite  unexpected 
in  an  Eton  man.  The  immense  improvement  in  school 
life  was  perhaps  not  recognised  everywhere,  and  perhaps 
the  memory  of  his  own  easy-going  days  at  Eton  made 
him  unwilling  to  submit  his  sons  to  influences  which  had 
interfered,  he  thought,  so  seriously  with  his  own  progress 
in  after-life.  That  education  at  home  has  its  own  distinct 
advantages  is  quite  true ;  these  advantages,  however, 
obviously  have  to  be  set  against  distinct  disadvantages. 
The  intermediate  course  is  that  of  day-school  education, 
in  which  boys  are  educated  in  community,  while  they 
retain  the  benefits  of  home.  This  system  has  had  to  face 
all  the  resistance  of  old  school  and  family  tradition,  and 
it  is  only  now,  thanks  to  the  rapid  improvement  and  spread 
of  day-schools  and  to  the  aggregation  of  the  English 
people  in  towns  with  their  children  to  be  taught,  that  this 
type  of  education  is  forcing  itself  into  its  true  position. 
Professor  Browne's  own  sympathies  were  with  the  older 
or  '  Public '  schools,  yet  he  shrank  from  submitting  his  sons 
to  their  influences.  Consequently,  Harold,  the  eldest  boy, 
was  kept  at  home  as  long  as  possible,  although  his  father 
was  not  able  himself  to  supervise  his  education.  By  1855, 
however,  the  problem  had  begun  to  take  more  urgent 
form.  Harold  was  now  old  enough  to  mix  with  his  fellows 
and  to  get  advantJ^e  from  the  larger  life  of  school.  And 
yet  the  following  letter  shews  how  much  Mr.  Browne 
shrank  from  exposing  a  shy  retiring  boy  to  risks,  and  how 
anxious  he  was  as  to  the  right  course.  The  question  of 
the  narrow  purse  was  also  a  very  important  matter,  as  the 
following  extract  shows  : — 

IS 


226  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch, 

"  I  need  not  be  ashamed  to  add  that  I  cannot  afford  to 
send  my  boy  to  a  good  school.  If  possible,  I  should 
reduce  my  present  expenses  very  considerably;  but  my 
poor  little  girl  renders  that  almost  impossible.  Two  nurses 
and  a  horse  and  carriage  are  scarcely  enough  to  attend 
on  her,  and  her  troubles  give  occupation  to  the  whole 
household.  I  am  therefore  obliged  to  keep  an  establish- 
ment far  larger  and  more  expensive  than  I  can  afford." 

This,  however,  was  not  what  pressed  most  on  his  atten- 
tion. In  a  letter  to  Mr.  James,  written  from  Cambridge, 
February  24th,  1853,  he  discloses  freely  and  frankly  his 
view  as  to  the  risks  of  school  life. 

"  The  conviction,"  he  says,  "  of  a  quarter  of  a  centur>% 
has  never  with  me  given  way  for  a  moment,  namely,  that 
schools  are  nurseries  of  evil,  especially  for  young  boys. 
If  I  could  afford  to  send  Harold  to  a  public  school,  which 
is  utterly  impossible  at  present,  I  should  not  do  so,  on  the 
ground  I  have  stated;  and  private  schools  are  generally 
admitted,  even  by  the  advocates  of  school  education,  to 
be,  for  the  most  part,  if  not  universally,  very  bad  places. 
I  am  perfectly  aware  that  I  am  by  my  own  system 
.[/>.  by  educating  his  son  at  home,  with  help  from  one  of 
his  curates]  not  advancing  my  boy's  prospects  of  success  in 
the  world,  as  no  doubt  school  is  the  best  place  to  learn. 
But  as  I  believe  it  is  also  the  most  certain  place  in  this 
wicked  world  to  learn  wickedness,  I  therefore  believe  that 
I  am  consulting  his  eternal  good,  if  not  his  temporal.  In 
the  many  conversations  I  have  had  with  advocates  for 
school  education,  I  have  never  yet  met  with  one  who 
would  deny  the  imminent,  and  almost  inevitable,  danger 
to  young  boys  of  receiving  moral  injury  from  going  to 
school.  I  am  not  prepared  to  deny  that  at  fourteen  or 
fifteen  a  school  well  conducted  may  be  a  desirable  place. 
But  the  strongest  argument  I  have  heard  in  favour  of 
public  schools  at  all,  is  that  if  a  boy  gets  well  through  a 
public  school,  he  is  proof  against  every  other  danger,  as 
that  is  the  greatest  to  which  he  can  be  expos«i.  I 
heard  the  argument  used  by  a  clever  person  a  few  days 
ago.  And  is  it  really  right  to  expose  young  children  to 
the  greatest  spiritual  danger  which  human  nature  can 
encounter  ? 


III.]  LIFE  AND   WORK  IN  CAMBRIDGE,   1853—1864.  227 

"My  own  experience  of  home  education  has  been 
favourable  ;  for  I  know,  or  have  known,  a  great  many 
men,  brought  up  strictly  at  home,  who  have  turned  out 
the  very  best  specimens  of  Christian  gentlemen. 

"  I  could  very  much  wish  that  my  boys  could  never 
associate  with  any  boys  who  have  been  at  school  at  all. 
Indeed,  I  do  not  let  them  mix  much  with  any  schoolboys — 
and  when  they  do  mix  with  them,  I  hope  it  is  mostly  in 
active  games  and  amusements  ;  and  I  seldom  fear  evil 
when  boys  work  hard  or  play  hard.  But  I  should  be 
very  rejoiced,  if  it  were  possible,  that  they  should  only 
associate  with  boys  who  had  never  been  at  school  at  all." 

The  close  of  this  severe  indictment  against  Public 
Schools  will  come  as  a  surprise  to  many  who  knew  the 
Bishop  as  a  genuine  public-school  man ;  one  of  those 
who,  in  thoughts,  bearing,  and  in  all  that  makes  up  social 
position,  belonged  to  that  somewhat  exclusive  fragment 
of  English  society  which  regards  the  Public  School  as 
an  established  institution  not  so  much  for  education,  as 
for  the  equipment  of  young  men  in  all  the  necessary 
furnishings  of  the  English  gentleman.  The  truth  is  that, 
as  years  went  on,  and  his  bright  sons  grew  up  around  him, 
Mr.  Browne  became  more  and  more  .sensitive  as  to  the 
all-important  questions  of  morality,  and  grew  unwilling 
to  expose  his  boys  to  influences  through  which  he  himself 
had  indeed  safely  passed,  but  which  might  easily  prove 
fatal  to  a  young  lad's  character.  Yet  after  all,  in  spite 
of  his  most  natural  anxieties,  Mr.  Browne  in  the  end  sent 
his  boys  to  school ;  and  they  came  back  to  him,  first  from 
Twyford,  and  then  from  Rugby,  strengthened  in  mind 
and  character,  and  fitted  for  their  work  in  life. 

In  addition  to  his  work  at  Cambridge  and  Kenwyn, 
Professor  Browne  was  always  a  most  zealous  and  interested 
supporter  of  everything  which  would  tend  to  the  expansion 
and  development  of  the  Church  of  England.  During  these 
years  we  have  evidence  of  his  strong  interest  in  Missions, 


228  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D,  [Ch. 

and  in  the  work  of  tlie  Anglo-Continental  Society.  We 
shall  see  how  throughout  his  life  these  objects  occupied 
his  thoughts  and  tinged  his  prayers  and  elicited  his 
heartiest  efforts.  A  letter  dated  Cambridge,  November 
27th,  1854,  indicates  this  tendency  of  his  mind,  while  it 
also  shows  us  the  innate  modesty  which  forbade  him  to 
think  that  he  might  himself  become  the  influential  leader 
of  religious  opinion  in  Cambridge  ;  his  many  engage- 
ments and  duties  hindered  him  from  taking  that  leading 
place  which  he  might  have  held  with  great  benefit  to 
the  younger  generations  of  University  men.  The  Univer- 
sities are  not  easily  moved  and  won.  The  undergraduates, 
who  are  a  world  to  themselves,  make  their  own  heroes 
after  their  own  fashion  ;  the  men  who  influence  them — 
and  they  are  few  and  far  between — are  either  bold  and 
original-minded  champions  of  some  new  phase  of  religious 
or  philosophical  faith,  or,  on  the  other  hand,  quiet,  earnest, 
sympathetic  persons,  who  attract  to  their  side  successive 
generations  of  religious  lads.  And  the  men  who  affect 
the  currents  of  thought  and  opinion  among  the  seniors,  are 
usually  those  who  have  continued  long  in  the  University, 
with  a  tone  of  mind  superior  to  the  somewhat  carping 
criticism  of  Common-room  society.  Though  in  many 
respects  Professor  Browne  was  eminently  well  fitted  to 
occupy  this  position,  he  lacked  time  and  leisure,  and, 
perhaps  still  more,  the  ambition  which  loves  to  call  the 
listening  crowd  around  a  man's  chair. 

"  The  Bishop  of  New  Zealand  has  been  here,"  he  writes, 
^*  preaching  and  speaking  with  marvellous  power.  I  fear 
he  leaves  us  to-morrow.  Cambridge  appears  to  me  to 
want  a  helmsman  very  much  just  now.  Professor  Blunt 
had  immense  influence  for  good  a  short  time  since  ;  I  fear 
it  is  a  little  loosened  now.  Partly  perhaps  that  he  is 
older,  and  a  race  has  risen  up  that  knows  not  Joseph 
as  he  was  in  his  vigour  ;  but  more,  it  may  be,  because 


Ill,]  LIFE  AND  IVORK  IN  CAMBRIDGE,   1853— 1864.         229 

he  is  not  quite  up  to  the  age.  The  theology  of  the  day- 
is  not  the  theology  of  fifteen  years  ago.  High  Churchmen 
are  still  High  Churchmen,  taken  out  with  a  difference. 
I  fear,  if  a  clever  Germaniser  came  among  us,  he  would 
take  many  captive  at  his  will.  As  it  is  we  have  no  such, 
happily,  to  take  a  lead." 

It  was  during  the  stirring  years  of  this  decade,  in 
which  England's  horizon  of  interests,  political,  commercial, 
religious,  seemed  to  be  daily  growing  wider,  that  Professor 
Browne  became  the  leading  spirit  in  the  Anglo-Continental 
Society.  The  sympathies  of  the  average  Englishman  are 
not  easily  excited  on  behalf  of  foreign  Churches  or  distant 
efforts  for  a  reform  in  religious  faith  and  usage :  we  know 
little  about  the  ways  of  thought,  the  aims,  the  difficulties, 
of  earnest  people  in  other  lands,  and  find  it  very  hard  to 
overcome  the  barrier  of  our  insularity  ;  it  is  also  true  that 
the  very  moderation  of  the  position  taken  up  by  Professor 
Browne  and  his  friends  repelled  the  more  ardent  spirits. 
The  Anglo-Continental  Society  has  never  been  largely 
supported,  although  for  about  thirty  years  it  has  been 
engaged  on  a  very  interesting  effort;  the  Church  gene- 
rally has  shewn  it  little  favour  ;  few  have  cared  to 
proclaim  to  the  world  that  the  Anglican  Liturgy,  the 
Anglican  Episcopacy,  and  Anglican  Divinity  steer  the 
level  middle  course.  On  both  sides,  within  the  Church, 
men  looked  shyly  on  the  Society  ;  some  because  they  cared 
little  about  Christian  uniformity  and  were  content  with 
more  general  views  as  to  Christian  unity ;  others,  because 
they  were  suspicious  of  claims  which  seemed  to  them  to 
deny  the  Protestantism  of  the  English  Reformed  Church, 
and  because  they  were  afraid  of  Rome ;  others  again, 
because  they  did  not  think  the  Society  friendly  enough 
towards  the  unreformed  Churches.  From  one  cause  or 
another,  this  Society  has  had  a  hard  course  to  steer,  espe- 


230  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D,D.  [Ch. 

cially  when  appealed  to  on  behalf  of  men  struggling  to 
release  themselves  from  the  rule  of  the  Roman  Church.  It 
has  had  to  diffuse  knowledge  about  the  English  Church 
without  proselytising ;  it  has  had  to  reconcile  two  hostile 
principles,  the  one  involving  opposition  to  the  dominant 
theology  of  Rome,  the  other  endeavouring  to  shew  to  the 
Roman  Obedience  that  the  English  Church  is  orthodox, 
duly  constituted,  and  in  all  respects  a  Church,  and  that 
this  Church  above  all  things  desires  to  recognise  and  be 
recognised  by  other  Churches,  even  if  they  do  not  agree 
with  her  on  every  point.  The  Society  was  also  anxious 
to  befriend  all  those  who  struggled  to  reform  the  Roman 
Church,  and  those  whom  the  Vatican  Decrees  had  driven 
out  of  her  pale. 

The  Society  sprang  out  of  a  visit  paid  by  two  clergy- 
men, brothers,  to  Spain  in  the  year  1853  :  James  Meyrick, 
Fellow  of  Queens*,  and  Frederick  Meyrick,  Fellow  of 
Trinity,  Oxford,  now  Rector  of  Blickling  in  Norfolk  ;  both 
moderate  High  Churchmen,  They  were  much  struck  with 
the  ignorance  of  Spaniards  as  to  the  very  existence 
of  the  English  Church.  We  English  people  always  are 
astonished  if  inhabitants  of  other  countries  do  not  know  all 
about  us  and  our  institutions,  and  comfort  ourselves  with 
the  belief  that  if  they  had  our  Constitution  and  our  Church 
all  would  be  well.  These  two  clever  and  earnest  men 
became  more  and  more  convinced,  as  they  mixed  with  the 
Spaniards,  that  if  they  knew  more  about  the  English 
Church  it  would  shew  them  how  to  compass  a  conservative 
reform  in  their  own  Church,  to  clear  away  corrupt  usages 
and  extreme  doctrines  and  superstitions,  and  to  make 
them,  without  organic  convulsion,  a  Reformed  branch  of 
the  Church  Catholic. 

On  returning  home,  the  Meyricks  founded  a  little  Society 
for  the  purpose  of  opening  friendly  communications  with 


III.]  LIFE  AND  JVORK  IN  CAMBRIDGE,   1853— 1864.         23 1 

the  Churchmen  of  Spain  and  of  other  countries,  as  occasion 
might  serve  ;  and  appealed  to  English  Churchmen  for  help 
in  making  better  known  abroad  the  principles,  the  doctrines, 
the  discipline,  organisation,  and  position  of  the  Church  of 
England. 

This  Society  must  be  carefully  distinguished  from  the 
"  Association  for  the  Promotion  of  the  Unity  of  Christen- 
dom," which  came  into  being  about  the  same  time.  The 
two  were  from  the  outset  antagonistic.  The  Anglo-Con- 
tinental Society  was  based  entirely  on  Anglican  principles, 
and  aimed  at  persuading  Churchmen  in  all  parts  of  the 
world  to  return  from  mediaevalism  to  primitive  doctrine  ; 
it  set  its  face  against  proselytism,  and  hoped  for  internal 
reformation.  The  other  Society  seemed  more  inclined  to 
seek  for  peace  as  a  suppliant  to  Rome,  and  to  abandon  the 
independent  claims  and  position  of  the  English  Church. 
Consequently,  the  one  was  inclined  more  to  work  among 
the  Greeks,  the  other  rather  to  submit  itself  to  the  Latins. 

From  the  very  first  Mr.  Browne  was  greatly  interested 
in  a  movement  which  seemed  to  provide  an  opportunity 
for  testing,  in  a  larger  arena,  the  soundness  and  force  of 
Anglican  principles.  The  Anglican  Church,  he  hoped, 
would  become  the  model  of  many  a  reformed  Episcopal 
National  Church :  the  Governments  of  Europe  would  look 
with  favour  on  a  movement  which,  by  detaching  the  clergy 
from  the  obedience  of  Rome,  would  render  them  more 
national :  it  was  thought  that,  as  Hume  had  said,  govern- 
ments would  feel  it  their  true  interest  to  support  National 
Churches,  as  bulwarks  to  thrones  and  institutions  often 
threatened,  sometimes  sadly  shaken. 

In  1863  another  change  came  to  Professor  Browne.  He 
had  long  felt  that  the  charge  and  care  of  Kenwyn  was  too 
much  for  him,  and  that  his  Cambridge  duties  made  it 
almost  impossible  for  him  to  go  on  with  both.     Yet  he 


232  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

clung  to  Kenwyn,  from  love  of  his  flock,  and  also  because^ 
in  spite  of  the  improvement  of  his  stipend  as  Professor, 
his  growing  family  made  it  hard  for  him  to  live  within  his 
income.  Now,  however,  the  repeated  insistence  of  the 
Bishop  of  Exeter  broke  down  his  reluctance,  and  he  agreed 
to  make  the  changes  necessary  before  he  could  become 
Principal  of  a  new  Exeter  Theological  College. 

He  had  no  great  love  for  such  Institutions  as  the  Bishop 
desired  to  see  at  Exeter.  He  thought  them  narrowing  in 
tendency,  and  that  their  students  took  the  stamp  of  some 
one  leader,  and  stood  apart  from  that  wholesome  English 
life  with  which  the  more  manly  and  less  trained  clergy 
were  in  sympathy.  He  believed,  in  fact,  that  they  were 
but  poor  substitutes  for  the  general  cultivation  of  the 
Universities,  and  regarded  the  system  as  one  likely  to 
hinder  rather  than  to  forward  the  usefulness  of  a  parish 
clergyman.  There  had  already  been  a  tendency  towards 
this  specialised  education  for  Orders,  due  partly  to  strong 
growths  of  party  feeling  in  the  Church,  and  partly  to 
the  throwing  open  of  the  Universities.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  the  Bishop  of  Exeter's  aim  was  to  secure  greater 
dogmatic  unity  among  his  clergy,  and  to  provide  them 
with  weapons  fit  to  combat  the  more  liberal  theology  of 
the  day.  He  hoped,  by  securing  the  orthodox  Professor 
from  Cambridge,  to  raise  up  a  clergy  theologically  High 
Church,  while  he  also  got  the  credit  of  having  placed  a 
moderate  and  peace-loving  divine  at  the  head  of  his  new 
College.  The  Royal  Cornwall  Gazette  of  June  26th,  1863, 
says  that  "  the  success  of  the  new  Theological  College  at 
Exeter  is  now  generally  considered  to  be  secured  by  the 
appointment  of  Canon  Browne  to  the  office  of  Warden." 
This  new  post,  an  office  without  emolument,  had  been  first 
filled  (on  Mr.  Browne's  refusal  of  it)  by  Dean  ElHcott, 
who  had  vacated  it  on  his  promotion  to  the  bishopric  of 


111.]  UFE  AND  WORK  IN  CAMBRIDGE,    1853-1864.  233 

Gloucester  and  Bristol ;  then  at  the  beginning  of  1863 
the  Bishop  of  Exeter  again  urged  Mr.  Browne  to  under- 
take it ;  and  he  did  so,  unwillingly,  yet  seeing  no  way  of 
escape.  His  nomination  shortly  after  to  the  bishopric  of 
Ely  released  him,  and  was  a  fatal  blow  to  the  Theological 
College  as  such.  The  Bishop  of  Exeter  afterwards  founded 
in  its  stead  a  Theological  Students'  Fund,  to  help  young 
men  in  preparing  for  Orders  at  one  of  the  Universities ; 
and  this  is  still  in  full  action. 

All  through  these  years  there  seems  to  have  been  a  desire 
to  detach  Mr.  Browne  from  Cambridge,  and  to  attract  him 
to  a  permanent  position  in  the  Exeter  diocese  ;  and  in  this 
the  Bishop,  the  Dean,  and  the  Chapter  all  joined. 

Early  in  1857  the  Chapter  of  Exeter  oflfered  him  the 
vacant  Vicarage  of  Heavitree.  It  was  understood  that  this 
piece  of  preferment  was  to  be  the  beginning  of  such  a 
series  of  promotions  at  Exeter  as  might  enable  him  to 
resign  his  Professorship  and  to  devote  himself  entirely 
to  diocesan  work.  It  was  to  be  followed  by  a  Canonry 
Residentiary  in  the  Cathedral,  and,  on  the  next  vacancy, 
by  the  Archdeaconry  of  Exeter.  This,  however,  did  not 
fall  in  during  these  years,  and  the  offer  of  the  bishopric  of 
Ely  directed  his  steps  elsewhere.  A  letter  to  Mr.  James 
shews  how  much  harassed  in  mind  he  was,  and  how  little 
confidence  he  had  in  his  own  health  at  this  time  : — 

''Tk\jko,  April  Zth,  1857. 

"  I  have,  from  hour  to  hour  almost,  thought  I  might  be 
able  to  add  to  my  letter  a  statement  of  my  own  plans  for 
the  future.  Since  Christmas  the  Chapter  and  myself  have 
been  in  brisk  correspondence  about  Heavitree.  I  have 
over  and  over  again  refused  it.  But  it  has  been  most 
kindly  pressed  on  me,  and  at  length  I  have  accepted  it, 
on  certain  conditions  which  I  will  explain  to  you,  though 
probably  it  must  be  in  confidence.  Meanwhile,  and  at  the 
moment  that  Mrs.  Browne  had  gone  a  hurried  journey  to 


234  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D,  [Ch. 

see  Heavitree  and  learn  about  it,  it  pleased  God  somewhat 
suddenly  to  call  my  dear  suffering  child  to  Himself.  She 
was,  for  her,  very  well  when  her  mother  left  home.  She 
caught  a  cold,  which  seemed  severe  but  not  dangerous  ; 
but  suddenly  it  assumed  a  kind  of  quinsy  or  croup  form, 
and  terminated  fatally  in  a  few  hours.  The  grief  of 
parting  was  much  aggravated  by  her  mother's  absence. 
But  we  can  only,  for  our  dear  child's  sake,  be  thankful  that 
she  has  been  called  to  rest,  and  is,  we  trust,  in  Paradise.  . .  . 
I  said  I  would  tell  you  on  what  conditions  I  am  to  hold 
it  [Heavitree].  The  Bishop  and  Chapter  have  agreed  that 
the  Archdeaconry  of  Exeter,  with  its  Canonry,  shall  be 
annexed  to  Heavitree,  permanently  if  possible.  I  believe 
the  Archdeacon  would,  if  asked,  resign  in  my  favour.  He 
has  often  told  me  he  would  before  this  arrangement  was 
made.  But  I  wish  to  make  trial  of  it  first  I  do  not 
know  that  my  strength  may  not  fail  in  the  work  of  the 
parish  and  the  climate  of  the  West.  It  is  therefore  agreed 
between  the  Chapter  and  myself  (with  the  Bishop's  full 
approval)  that  I  shall  continue  to  hold  my  Professorship  at 
present,  and  when  the  Archdeaconry  falls,  shall  take  it, 
unless  I  find  health  likely  to  fail,  when  I  may  resign  both 
Heavitree  and  the  Archdeaconry,  with  its  stall.  One  of 
my  doubts  has  been  the  propriety  of  giving  up  my  Pro- 
fessorship, which  is  now  well  endowed  and  is  a  most 
influential  post.     However,  so  it  stands  at  present 

....  I  left  my  party  pretty  well  at  Newnham.  My 
wife,  my  sister  Maria,  and  poor  Lane  were  sadly  worn,  but 
improving.  It  is  a  cause  of  great  thankfulness  that  none 
of  us  died  or  quite  broke  down,  before  my  poor  little 
sufferer  was  called  home." 

The  death  of  his  poor  suffering  daughter,  who  had  never 
from  her  infancy  known  a  day's  good  health,  and  was 
a  very  serious  tie  to  them,  was  a  deep  sorrow.  No 
one,  unless  he  has  known  it  himself,  can  realise  how  soon 
the  very  afflictions  of  a  suffering  child  endear  her  to  her 
parents ;  the  more  helpless  she  is,  the  more  care  and 
thought  are  lavished  on  her,  the  more  powerfully  she  en- 
twines herself  round  their  heartstrings,  the  more  acutely 
they  feel  it  when  God  mercifully  removes  the  poor  sufferer. 


III.]  UFE  AND  WORK  IN  CAMBRIDGE,   1853—1864.         235 

No  sooner  had  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Browne  bidden  a  last 
farewell  to  their  dear  daughter  than  they  had  to  get  ready 
for  their  removal  from  Kenwyn.  It  was  a  very  sad  and 
painful  time  for  them  ;  and  the  kind  Professor  felt  the 
strain  to  be  almost  too  great  His  letters  of  this  period 
refer  continually  to  the  feebleness  of  his  health  ;  he  hardly 
seemed  equal  to  the  task  of  taking  leave  of  one  parish  and 
entering  on  another.  We  find  him,  barely  a  fortnight 
after  the  death  of  his  daughter,  occupied  with  the  arrange- 
ments for  his  new  cure.  We  have  a  letter  couched  in  the 
kindest  terms,  written  from  Cambridge  (on  April  20th, 
1857)  to  Mr.  James,  in  which  he  doubts  whether  he  ought 
to  accept  his  offer  to  transfer  himself  with  the  Professor  to 
Heavitree.  Mr.  Browne  saw  clearly  that  the  suburban 
parish  demanded  robust  men  to  work  it,  and  as  he  felt 
himself  far  below  what  he  could  have  wished  in  point  of 
strength,  he  naturally  felt  that  it  would  never  do  for  all 
the  staff  to  be  weaklings. 

"  Barnes,"  he  says,  "  is  still  delicate,  though  better,  and 
very  zealous.  I  fear,"  he  adds,  "  you  are  not  a  very  strong 
man.     I  know  I  am  not  a  very  strong  man,  and  am  on  the 

road  to  fifty I  am  pretty  well  worn  out  with  taking 

leave  at   Kenwyn,  where   I   met  abundance  of  kindness 
and  regret.     Reginald  Barnes  and  I  are  feeble  folk." 

Again,  two  months  later,  we  find  him  describing  himself 
as  very  much  overborne  by  work  : — 

"  I  rather  want  help  soon — I  have  a  good  deal  of  duty 
at  the  Cathedral  this  summer.  R.  Barnes  goes  abroad 
the  end  of  July.  We  have  confirmations  coming  on.  I 
have  much  work  for  Cambridge,  and  am  much  worn  with 
work  at  Cambridge  and  Kenwyn,  and  here,  succeeding  to 
the  sorrow  of  my  dear  child's  last  sickness  and  death. 
Now,  too,  the  weather  in  which  I  have  had  to  work  hard 
here  is  bverpoweringly  hot.  The  parish  is  very  pleasant, 
but  it  is  rather  too  populous ;  and  I  ought  to  have  no 
second  hard  duty,  as  I  have  at  Cambridge, 


236  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DJ>.  [Ch. 

"  I  have  unfortunately  to  work  for  two  duties,  either  of 
them  more  than  enough  for  my  strength.  I  have  many 
lectures  to  work  [at]  for  Cambridge,  and  to  work  in  my 
parish  too ;  and  I  have  not  had  one  week  without  parochial 
work  or  University  work  for  near  four  years.  I  am  there- 
fore hoping  to  find  a  week  or  two  to  take  a  holiday  myself 
before  the  summer  is  quite  gone — I  hope  before  my  strength 
is  quite  gone." 

Heavitree,  with  Mr.  Browne's  other  serious  calls  and 
duties,  was  really  too  heavy  a  burden ;  and  in  truth 
he  could  give  so  little  time  to  it,  that  the  parish,  less 
humble-minded  than  Kenwyn,  began  to  grumble  at  a  Vicar 
who  was  obliged  to  go  off  to  preach  elsewhere  and  to 
leave  his  pulpit  to  be  filled  by  curates.  However  good 
a  preacher  the  curate  may  be,  the  parish  deems  itself 
neglected  if  the  rector  is  often  absent ;  and  Mr.  Browne, 
during  his  short  tenure  of  this  living,  preached  but  rarely. 

"  He  is  to  return,"  says  one  of  the  curates,  "  to-morrow, 
in  time  for  a  parish  dinner  at  the  Horse  and  Groom.  No 
very  pleasant  form  of  martyrdom  for  any  Vicar,  but  for 
him  especially  unpleasant,  as  he  hates  public  speaking,  and 
as  the  captious  part  of  the  parish  are  angry  at  his  being  so 
much  away  from  the  church.  He  has  not  preached  above 
seven  or  eight  times  there,  as  the  Cathedral  employed  him 
during  the  last  month,  and  it  will  take  him  away  again  for 
three  weeks  in  September.  I  heartily  wish  he  had  less  to 
do,  but  I  am  afraid  he  means  to  take  the  Cathedral  work 
again  next  year." 

"  The  captious  part  of  the  parish  "  naturally  took  excep- 
tion at  a  Vicar  whom  they  met  on  Sunday  mornings, 
as  they  were  going  to  church,  on  his  way  to  preach 
in  cathedral.  In  fact,  Mr.  Browne's  stay  at  Heavitree 
really  lasted  only  one  Long  Vacation,  and  during  that 
time  was  much  interrupted  by  other  calls.  Yet  in  this  brief 
time  he  won  the  hearts  of  his  parishioners,  and  was  un- 
wearied in  house-to-house  visitation.     It  is  clear,  however. 


in.]  UFE  AND  WORK  IN  CAMBRIDGE,   1853— 1864.         237 

that  his  Cambridge  work  had  become  more  important 
than  ever  in  his  eyes ;  and  where  a  man's  heart  is,  there 
will  the  best  of  his  work  be  done. 

So  things  went  on  for  the  rest  of  the  year  1857,  till  in 
December  Dr.  John  Bull,  a  stout  pluralist  of  the  old  school, 
resigned  his  stall  in  Exeter  Cathedral.  Dean  Lowe  at 
once  wrote  to  Professor  Browne,  to  say  that  he  and  the 
Chapter  had  decided  to  offer  him  the  vacant  Canonry, 
and  concludes  his  letter  (of  December  12th,  1857)  in  these 
friendly  and  flattering  terms  : — 

"  I  can  most  truly  add  that  it  affords  me  the  highest 
gratification  to  have  this  opportunity  of  marking  the  very 
high  sense  I  entertain  of  your  personal  character  and 
theological  attainments,  and  of  the  credit  which  will  accrue 
to  the  Capitular  body  from  having  your  name  enrolled  in 
the  list  of  its  members." 

Just  after  Christmas,  the  Chapter  Clerk,  Mr.  Ralph 
Barnes,  cited  Mr.  Browne  to  appear  in  Chapter  on  Monday, 
December  28th,  1857,  to  pray,  in  the  accustomed  form, 
"  to  be  admitted  to  the  place  of  Residentiary  now  vacant" 
Very  grateful  he  was  at  this  release  from  the  embarrass- 
ments of  his  position. 

"  The  difficulty  of  holding  my  office  here  [at  Cambridge] 
with  Heavitree  pressed  on  me  so  heavily,  and  the  prospect 
once  held  out  to  me  seemed  so  distant,  that  I  felt  it  would 
be  almost  impossible  to  hold  on  ;  and  God's  good  providence 
seems  to  have  opened  a  path  for  me,  when  all  seemed 
closed." 

Though  the  resignation  of  Heavitree  was  a  great  relief 
at  the  time,  the  actual  leisure  gained  appears  to  have  been 
very  small.  The  very  next  year  he  speaks  of  himself  as 
being  "  worked  off"  hii.  legs,"  and  a  little  later,  the  death  of 
his  sister  Louisa  in  his  house  at  Newnham,  near  Cambridge 
(January  4th,    1859),   added  to  the  sense  of  gloom  and 


238  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D,D.  [Ch 

almost  of  despondency  visible  in  his  letters ;  he  was  over- 
worked and  did  too  much  for  his  delicate  health.  Few 
men  have  ever  had  a  sounder  constitution,  or  one  more 
free  from  organic  weaknesses ;  and  yet  from  childhood  to 
old  age  he  was  ever  reminded  of  the  frail  tabernacle  of  the 
body ;  the  high  sense  of  duty  and  resolute  spirit  with 
which  he  faced  the  masses  of  work  which  accumulated 
around  him,  kept  him  always  on  the  verge  of  a  break-down 
in  health.  This  is  his  record  of  himself  at  this  time,  in 
Lent  1859:— 

"  I  always  seem  to  have  more  [to  do]  than  I  have  time 
to  do.  At  present  the  great  number  of  sermons  and  public 
meetings  I  have  to  get  through  add  to  my  labours ;  Lent 
Sermons  are  innumerable  now,  and  we  have  all  sorts  of 
National  Society,  S.P.G.,  etc.,  etc.,  meetings  going  on  ; 
besides  that,  I  have  five  sermons  to  preach  as  Select 
Preacher,  beginning  on  Good  Friday,  which  require  some 
trouble  to  write." 

And  in  the  same  year,  on  Advent  Sunday,  he  looks 
back  on  the  past  with  a  distinct  touch  of  sadness  : — 

"  It  is  twenty-three  years  this  day  since  Advent  Sunday 
November  27th,  1836,  on  which  day  I  was  admitted  to  the 
Holy  Order  of  Deacons.  Much  has  passed  since  then,  and 
many  serious  thoughts  rise  from  the  retrospect.  In  the 
great  Advent  hereafter  I  can  only  pray,  *  Per  crucem  et 
passionem  tuam  Miserere  mei  Domine.*" 

The  truth  was  that  he  never  could  protect  himself  from 
his  friends.  Any  one  who  besieged  him  with  sufficient 
assurance  could  get  what  he  wanted  He  would  far  rather 
knock  himself  up  with  over-work  than  give  himself  and 
an  acquaintance  the  pain  of  a  refusal.  Consequently, 
every  one  who  wanted  a  special  sermon,  or  a  speech  at  a 
meeting,  or  a  little  help  in  money,  at  once  turned  to 
Professor  Browne  and  added  a  mite  to  the  weight  of  his 
burdens.     It  was  this  very  willingness  and  kindness  which 


III.]  LIFE  AND  WORK  IN  CAMBRIDGE,   1853— 1864.  239 

made  people  grumble  at  him.  More  selfishness,  and  the 
art  (which  comes  naturally  to  most  of  us)  of  thinking  first 
about  oneself,  would  have  saved  him  from  many  serious 
annoyances  at  this  time,  as  well  as  from  grave  risks  to 
health. 

A  new  set  of  critics  now  rose  up  against  him,  this 
time  assaulting  him  through  the  public  Press.  While  still 
at  Kenwyn  he  had  been  elected  Proctor  in  Convocation  ; 
and  after  migrating  to  Heavitree  continued  to  represent 
the  diocese.  Now,  however,  that  he  had  entirely  ceased, 
on  resigning  the  Vicarage,  to  be  a  parochial  clergyman, 
there  arose  a  feeling  that  the  country  clergy  ought  not 
to  be  represented  by  one  of  the  Cathedral  body.  Men 
pointed  out  the  obvious  fact  that  the  Chapter  was  already 
plentifully  represented  in  Convocation,  and  that  therefore 
the  rectors  and  vicars  of  the  diocese  ought  not  to  send 
another  canon  as  their  spokesman.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  for  all  practical  purposes  the  beneficed  clergy 
could  not  have  had  a  more  admirable  representative  than 
Professor  Browne.  His  learning,  moderation,  soundness  in 
Church  views,  and  deep  interest  in  the  consultations  of 
the  newly  revived  Convocations,  fitted  him  perfectly  for 
the  post,  and  the  country  clergy  would  not  have  found  it 
easy  to  choose  a  better  man.  Still,  men  of  more  pro- 
nounced views,  one  side  or  other,  thought  themselves 
aggrieved ;  and  a  complaint  by  a  clergyman  who  signed 
himself  "  Presbyter  Devoniensis  "  brought  the  matter  to  a 
point,  and  called  for  a  reply ;  for  the  "  Presbyter's  "  letter 
made  some  rather  serious  allegations  against  Mr.  Browne, 
as  his  answer  (dated  June  6th,  1859),  sufficiently  shows. 

"  *  Presbyter  Devoniensis  '  does  me  great  wrong  in  saying 
that  I  am  anxious  to  be  Proctor  for  the  diocese.  It  was 
pressed  upon  me.  I  confess  that  when  I  was  once  brought 
forward,  I  should  have  been  sorry  to  be  rejected,  and  that 


240  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

I  felt  it  a  great  mark  of  kindness  and  confidence  from 
the  Cornish  clergy;  but  I  never  wished  it.  He  wrongs 
me  too  in  saying  or  hinting  that  as  a  Cathedral  dignitary 
I  do  not  sympathise  with  the  working  clergy,  and  that 
I  neglected  or  partly  neglected  my  parishes  when  I  had 
them.  I  worked  in  every  way  at  Stroud,  at  Exeter,  and 
at  Kenwyn,  till  such  work  ruined  my  health.  My  broken 
health,  more  than  any  other  cause,  made  me  desire  a 
change  of  work,  and  you  know  that  when  I  was  a  Professor 
I  had  three  curates  where  my  predecessors  and  successors 
never  have  had  more  than  one,  that  my  parishes  might  not 
suffer  by  my  absence.  He  is  too  civil  about  my  acquire- 
ments and  abilities,  but  in  all  this  he  does  me  great  wrong, 
and  his  letter  is  only  calculated  to  increase  that  jealousy 
which  the  Exeter  clergy  feel  so  much  towards  the  CathedrsJ 
<:lergy.  Otherwise,  I  cannot  complain  of  what  he  says ; 
for  I  can  quite  understand  the  wish  to  have  a  Proctor 
always  living  in  the  diocese,  and  had  no  idea  of  continuing 
to  represent  it." 

It  was  a  fair  and  a  frank  reply :  if  the  diocese  wished 
to  send  him  thither,  he  was  glad  to  go,  leaving  to  them  to 
•consider  whether  they  were  right  in  choosing  a  Cathedral 
dignitary  instead  of  a  parochial  representative. 

During  these  years  Professor  Browne  was  busy  with 
professorial*  lectures  and  many  sermons,  which  were  the 
popular  expression  of  his  lecture-work.  Beside  his  few 
pages  on  the  New  Zealand  war,  we  have,  in  this  year 
i860,  several  separate  discourses  :  he  preached  in  Waltham 
Abbey  Church  on  the  eight  hundredth  anniversary  of 
the  foundation  of  that  great  House,  the  reputed  burial- 
place  of  King  Harold.  Canon  William  Selwyn  had  been 
asked  to  preach,  and  replied,  that  at  Harold's  grave  it 
would  be  sacrilege  for  a  William  to  preach ;  why  not 
ask  Harold  Browne?  He  also  preached  a  sermon  for 
the  Missionary  Societies  at  Aylesbury,  entitled  "  Life  in 
the  Knowledge  of  God,"  and  seven  University  sermons 
on  the  Atonement  and  other  important  subjects.  In  all 
these  publications  Professor  Browne  steadily  increased  his 


III.]  LIFE  AND  WORK  IN  CAMBRIDGE,    1853—1864,  24I 

reputation  as  a  sober-minded  and  moderate  Divine. 
People  saw  that  while  other  thinkers  and  writers  of  the 
High  Church  side  were  pushing  eagerly  forwards,  and 
that  perhaps  without  clearly  defining  their  goal,  Mr. 
Browne  held  firmly  to  the  somewhat  inflexible  system  of 
polity  and  doctrine  contained  in  the  formularies  of  the 
Anglican  Church,  which  he  justified  by  an  appeal  to  the 
belief  and  practice  of  the  early  Christian  Church.  The 
general  result  was  that,  during  these  Cambridge  years, 
though  he  himself  was  often  depressed,  often  in  bad  health, 
and  suffering  from  the  narrowness  of  his  means,  still,  his 
reputation  in  the  Church  and  University  grew  steadily ; 
and  it  was  everywhere  felt  that  it  could  not  be  long  before 
he  would  be  called  to  occupy  some  still  more  important 
office.  He  knew  his  own  mind;  he  was  orthodox,  with 
a  certain  natural  liberality  of  tone ;  a  good  scholar,  a 
practised  theologian,  a  refined  and  cultivated  gentleman, 
with  all  the  qualities  which  attract,  and  none  of  those 
more  difficult  and  original  characteristics  which  repel, 
the  lords  of  promotion.  His  University  expressed  this 
feeling  about  him  both  by  naming  him  as  one  of  her 
Select  Preachers  at  this  period  and  by  persuading  him 
to  write  a  full  account  of  their  programme  of  theological 
studies  for  the  University  Student's  Guide.  He  accordingly 
contributed  an  excellent  paper  on  the  subject,  treating  it 
very  practically  and  simply,  and  giving  the  young  student 
sound  and  sensible  advice.     In  it  he  says  that — 

"  It  is  evidently  an  axiom  with  the  University  of 
Cambridge  that  a  sound  divine  should  be  first  a  sound 
scholar  and  an  accurate  thinker.  Hence,  she  encourages 
her  younger  members  to  devote  themselves  rather  to  exact 
science  and  accurate  scholarship  than  to  moral  or  theological 
enquiries.  The  principle  is  one  of  undoubted  excellence  ; 
we  must  only  be  careful  not  to  carry  it  too  far.  More- 
over, we  must  bring  another  principle  to  bear.     It  is  this. 

16 


242  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROIVNE,  DJ>,  [Ch. 

No  Study  will   ever  be  successfully  pursued  which  is  not 
taken  up  by  the  heart  as  well  as  by  the  head." 

And  he  goes  on  to  warn  men  against  cramming  and 
all  unworthy  ways  of  finding  out  the  minimum  of  work, 
thought,  and*  knowledge  which  will  squeeze  a  candidate 
through  the  gate  of  examination ;  he  protests,  in  fact, 
against  work  for  a  temporary  object,  with  no  nobler  aim 
as  to  knowledge  or  self-improvement. 

During  these  last  years  of  his  Cambridge  life  Professor 
Browne  did  much  theological  work.  He  contributed  his 
article  on  Inspiration  to  the  "Aids  to  Faith"  in  1862; 
and  published  a  course  of  Sermons,  preached  before  his 
University,  on  "The  Messiah  as  foretold  and  expected" 
In  the  next  year  (1863)  he  printed  his  five  valuable 
Lectures  on  the  "Pentateuch  and  the  Elohistic  Psalms," 
a  volume  which  had  a  sale  of  extraordinary  rapidity  for 
a  controversial  work,  and  passed  into  a  second  edition  in 
the  following  year.  He  also  contributed  an  Article  to 
the  Quarterly  Review  on  *'  The  Conversions  to  the  Church  of 
England  "  (October  1863),  ^^d  worked  out  the  introductory 
and  other  matter  connected  with  the  early  portion  of  the 
Speaker's  Commentary.  These  literary  labours  were  all 
largely  tinged  with  the  controversial  tone  of  the  times ; 
one  reads  Colenso  or  Baden  Powell  on  every  page;  and 
it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  of  all  the  champions  who 
descended  into  the  lists  on  behalf  of  the  older  theology, 
no  one  did  so  much  to  steady  waverers  as  the  Norrisian 
Professor.  With  these  works  the  earlier  period  of  Professor 
Browne's  literary  activity  comes  to  an  end ;  for  after  the 
end  of  1863  his  attention  was  withdrawn  from  these 
matters  to  the  practical  care  and  charge  of  a  large  and 
difficult  diocese.  They  were,  in  fact,  his  final  efforts  in 
the  field  of  active  controversy. 

In   all   this  period   we  are  deeply  impressed   with  the 


IIL]  UFE  AND  WORK  IN  CAMBRIDGE,   1853— 1864.         243 

honesty  and  directness  of  purpose  which  mark  his  writing, 
and  with  the  unfailing  courtesy  of  his  manner  and  language 
towards  men  to  whom  he  was  painfully  opposed.  From 
this  time  forward  all  his  writings  are  sermons,  addresses, 
pamphlets,  numerous  but  fugitive.  The  main  period  of 
his  literary  work  is  over ;  the  pen  ever  drops  into  the 
second  place  when  the  crosier  comes  into  use. 


BOOK      IIL 

1864— 1874. 

ELY, 


345 


CHAPTER  I. 

APPOINTMENT  AND  ADMINISTRATION. 

FOR  some  years  past  people  had  been  saying  that 
Professor  Browne  must  be  made  a  Bishop.  There 
had  not  been  wanting  indications.  When  the  See  of 
Ripon  was  vacated  by  Dr.  Longley  in  1856,  it  was  thought 
that  he  was  to  go  there.  And  Bishop  Philpotts  of  Exeter 
had  promised  him  that,  when  it  could  be  arranged,  he 
would  make  him  his  Suffragan  Bishop.  It  was  also 
thought  that  he  would  have  the  Deanery  of  Ely  when  it 
fell  vacant  In  a  letter  to  Mr.  James  dated  December  4th, 
1858,  he  refers  to  the  rumours  on  the  subject  :— 

"  Thanks  for  all  you  said  about  the  Deanery  of  Ely. 
Though  the  papers  had  my  name  up  for  it,  I  never  thought 
I  should  be  offered  it.  I  too  strictly  eschew  politics  to  be 
a  favourite  with  any  Ministry,  so  that  I  especially  wonder 
how  I  had  so  narrow  an  escape  of  Ripon.  But  I  had 
quite  determined  not  to  accept  the  Deanery,  if  it  had  been 
offered  me.  I  like  my  work  here  and  my  charge  at  Exeter 
far  better  than  I  should  have  liked  to  live  eight  months  in 
the  year  at  Ely.  I  should  have  been  poorer,  probably 
less  healthy,  in  a  position  of  less  influence  and  power  of 
usefulness,  and  so  probably  less  useful  and  less  happy." 

The  moment  the  bishopric  of  Ely  fell  vacant  on  the 
death  of  Bishop  Turton,  every  one  seemed  to  feel  that 
Professor  Browne  was  the  right  man  for  the  "  Cambridge 
bishopric."     And  he  too,  deeply  as  he  felt  the  responsi- 

247 


248  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D,  [Ch. 

bilities  of  the  episcopal  office,  desired  the  promotion. 
There  were  matters  on  which  he  felt  strongly,  and  as  to 
which  he  could  not  have  a  free  hand  except  as  a  bishop  ; 
he  had  a  natural  wish  for  a  change  of  work,  for  he  had 
never  been  quite  happy  as  a  teacher  and  lecturer.  He 
was  also  conscious  of  a  real  gift  for  organisation,  for  which 
his  life  at  Cambridge  and  Exeter  provided  no  sufficient 
opportunities.  Though  his  opinions  in  Church  matters 
were  not  those  of  Lord  Palmerston's  advisers,  he  had  many 
warm  friends,  and  public  opinion  ran  strongly  in  his  favour. 
He  was  not  left  very  long  in  suspense.  On  January  20th, 
1864,  came  the  Prime  Minister's  letter  with  the  offer.  It 
was  accepted  at  once,  without  presumption  and  without 
hesitation. 

The  choice  of  the  Crown  proved  very  acceptable. 
Numberless  letters  of  congratulation  poured  in  the 
moment  the  appointment  was  made  public  The  news- 
papers re-echoed  the  general  satisfaction  ;  few  nominations 
have  ever  met  with  so  little  adverse  criticism.  The 
Guardian  says  that  it  is  a  choice  "which  no  party  can 
claim  as  a  triumph  ; "  he  is  "  a  sound  and  learned  divine, 
a  popular  professor,  an  effective  preacher,  an  influential 
member  of  his  University,  and  a  hard-working,  expe- 
rienced, and  dearly-loved  parish  priest.  He  is  connected 
with  no  particular  school  or  section  of  the  clergy,  and  \s 
quite  free  from,  and  superior  to,  all  party  associations  and 
party  influence."  And  it  sums  up  with  a  phrase  which  comes 
very  near  the  truth,  that  he  is  "  not  a  party  man,  with  High 
Church  proclivities."  On  the  other  hand,  the  Record  is  not 
offended,  though  it  might  have  preferred  a  man  of  a  different 
type,  and  actually  reprints  the  letter  which,  in  his  own 
defence,  some  seven  years  before,  he  had  addressed  to  that 
journal.  The  Standard  says,  somewhat  oddly,  for  it  is  not 
very  true,  that  "  his  creed  is  not  so  much  a  conclusion  of 


I.J  APPOINTMENT  AND  ADMINISTRATION  249 

the  head  as  a  conviction  of  the  heart" — the  phrase  is 
intended  to  be  very  complimentary  ;  the  article  goes  on 
very  justly  to  say  that  "  the  secret  of  his  power  and  the 
sum  of  his  preaching  is  Christ  Jesus  the  Lord."  The 
Morning  Advertiser  strikes  in  with  a  jarring  note.  The 
appointment,  no  doubt,  [is  excellent, — we  are  willing  to 
concede  so  much ;  but  will  the  new  bishop  duly  smash  the 
infidels  ?  Is  he  really  what  the  "  Interest "  calls  sound  ? 
He  is  not  a  teetotaller,  so  far  so  good  ;  but  is  he  safe  on 
the  other  half  of  the  platform  ?  And  he  is  solemnly 
warned  against  ''  the  Ewalds  and  Strausses  and  Renans, 
the  Colensos  and  Jowetts  of  the  present  day,  who  .  .  . 
praise  and  patronise  the  Bible,  while  they  criticise  its 
statements." 

But  the  queerest  of  all  ways  of  looking  at  the  appointment 
is  that  of  the  John  Bull^  which  in  announcing  the  nomi- 
nation  takes  occasion  to  say  that  there  has  been  a  great 
change  in  the  character  of  the  promotions  lately  made  by 
the  Crown,  and  unfolds  the  deep  reason  for  this  change. 
Mr.  Gladstone,  as  usual,  is  at  the  bottom  of  it  all : — 

"Lord  Palmerstpn  may  perhaps  in  his  more  recent 
distribution  of  Church  patronage  have  desired  to  save  if 
possible  his  clever  colleague  who  represents  the  University 
of  Oxford  from  the  mortification  of  being  at  last  dis- 
missed by  his  longsuffering  constituency." 

So  that  it  is  clear  to  this  sapient  party-print  that  the 
Prime  Minister,  in  order  to  ingratiate  himself  with  the 
Oxford  Tories,  selected  a  Cambridge  man,  who  had  never 
taken  the  slightest  interest  in  party  politics,  as  Bishop 
of  Ely. 

The  only  thing  approaching  a  criticism  on  the  selection 
is  the  statement,  repeated  in  most  of  the  papers,  that  the 
new  Bishop  is  a  man  of  delicate  health  and  constitution, 
who  may  not  have  strength  enough  to  pull  together  the 


250  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE^  D,D.  [Ch. 

diocese  after  the  feeble  administration  of  his  aged  pre- 
decessor, Bishop  Turton. 

Among  the  almost  innumerable  letters  of  congratulation 
which  poured  in  on  Professor  Browne  at  this  moment, 
there  are  one  or  two  of  a  certain  interest,  which  show  how 
many  men  of  very  diverse  views  and  temperaments  united 
in  a  chorus  of  satisfaction  at  the  appointment.  He  says  in 
a  reply  to  Mr.  James  that  he  sometimes  has  to  answer 
seventy  letters  a  day. 

One  of  the  first  of  these  many  letters  is  from  the  greatest 
of  modern  theological  scholars,  Dr.  Lightfoot,  afterwards 
Bishop  of  Durham. 

"Trinity  Co\jleg^,  January  2$ik,  1864. 
"My  dear  Browne,— I  hope  I  may  so  far  trust 
rumour  as  to  offer  you  my  very  hearty  congratulations 
on  your  appointment  to  Ely.  It  has  delighted  everybody 
here.  For  we  shall  not  look  upon  you  as  taken  away  from 
Cambridge,  but  as  secured  for  us  for  a  longer  time  than  we 
otherwise  could  have  hoped  to  retain  you." 

Dr.  S.  M.  Schiller-Szinessy  sends  a  card  "  with  profound 
respects  and  sincere  congratulations,"  and  a  characteristic 
Hebrew  text  (i  Sam.  x.  i),  ^'i^k  in^W-^y  njn;  ^Q?^-^  KiSa 

The  Dean  of  Ely  writes  with  delight  at  having  "to 
certify  to  H.M.  the  election  of  the  very  man  whom  I 
should  have  decided  to  elect,  had  there  been  no  terrors 
of  praemunire  to  help  my  decision  " ;  and  Bishop  Trower 
says:  "I  do  believe  that  if  Lord  Palmerston  had  asked 
the  votes  of  all  (whether  clergy  or  laity)  who  are  most 
known  for  seeking  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  Jerusalem, 
the  result  would  have  been  the  same." 

Among  the  many  glad  voices  came  one  from  the  United 
States,  from  Bishop  Williams  of  Connecticut,  who  writes 
on  February  9th,  1864: — 

"  I  cannot  refrain  from  sending  another  note  after  my 


I.]  APPOINTMENT  AND  ADMINISTRA TION.  2  S I 

former  one,  to  say  how  truly  thankful  I  am  to  God  for 
having  committed  this  important  trust  to  your  hands. 
I  assure  you  the  news  occasioned  almost  as  lively  satis- 
faction on  this  side  the  Atlantic  as  it  could  have  done  in 
England.  Had  you  seen  the  joy  of  my  young  men  you 
would  have  realised  that  many  whom  you  perhaps  may 
never  see  with  the  eye  of  the  body,  honour  and  love  you. 
If  ever  it  could  be  a  subject  of  congratulation  to  receive  in 
trust  the  Episcopate,  it  cannot  be  in  our  day.  But  one 
may  thank  God  for  the  Church,  if  not  for  the  person 
selected.  And  I  hope  you  will  allow  me  to  assure  you  that 
in  these  coming  Easter  days  there  will  be  prayers  for  you 
in  these  far-off  regions,  as  well  as  among  those  where  your 
life  and  its  ties  are  found." 

A  Welsh  vicar  from  the  mountains  writes  very  charac- 
teristically, rejoicing,  thanking,  begging  : — 

"  I  have  never  seen  your  published  volume  on  the 
*  Atonement,*  and  I  do  not  know  where  to  get  it  I  happen 
to  be  now  in  correspondence  with  a  Unitarian  minister  of 
some  note  who  is  wavering  in  his  faith.  I  have  no  standard 
book  on  the  subject.  You  must  please  forgive  me  once  for 
all  for  asking  you  to  send  me  a  copy  of  your  Lordship's 
sermon.  In  case  you  refuse,  the  Socinian  may  conquer 
me,  as  my  arguments  are  nearly  exhausted." 

Mr.  George  Williams  writes  one  of  his  amusing  letters 

from  King's : — 

**  January  rjth,  1864. 

"  My  dear  Browne, — It  is  a  goodly  practice  of  Chris- 
tian kings  on  coming  to  the  throne  to  proclaim  a  general 
pardon  and  amnesty  for  all  political  offences  committed 
under  their  predecessors.  May  I  hope,  now  that  you  have 
succeeded  to  the  triple  crown  of  Ely  [an  allusion  to  the 
arms  of  the  See,  three  crowns  or]  that  you  will  follow  this 
example,  and  condone  the  ecclesiastical  offences  committed 
during  the  time  that  the  See  had  no  Bishop  and  no 
prospect  of  one,  ue,,  before  the  demise  of  your  predecessor  ? 
You  know  that  certain  busy-bodies,  myself  among  them, 
took  upon  themselves,  during  this  long  voidance  of  the 
See,  to  organise  a  series  of  Lent  sermons  in  the  restored 


252  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

University  church,  in  which  we  wished  you  to  take  part. 
Please  don't  put  us  into  the  ecclesiastical  court,  but 
proclaim  a  pardon  in  the  University  pulpit  itself,  by  taking 
part  in  the  course.  It  is  more  important  than  ever  that 
you  should  do  so,  now  that  you  are  to  be  Bishop." 

There  were  also  letters  from  many  bishops,  welcoming 
him  into  their  circle  with  a  respect  and  affection  which 
continued  to  the  very  end  of  his  long  Episcopate. 

There  is  a  touching  letter  from  a  poor  old  couple  at 
Lampeter,  which  comes  eloquent  with  feeling  : — 

"  Lampeter,  February  Wt,  1864. 
"Sir, — 1  hope  you  will  excuse  my  great  liberty  in 
writing  to  you,  but  I  could  not  help  it,  as  indeed,  Sir,  Jane 
and  myself  cryed  with  joy  when  we  hird  the  glorious  news 
that  you  was  made  a  Bishop.  May  the  Lord  be  with  you 
and  Mrs.  Browne,  and  we  hope  that  you  and  your  family 
are  well. 

"  From  your  obident  servants, 

"Enoch  and  Jane  Jones." 

The  Bishop  of  Exeter  was  so  much  engaged  on  his  plans 
and  schemes,  that  he  clearly  regarded  the  appointment 
mainly  as  it  affected  himself.  He  hates  Crown  appoint- 
ments, and  refuses  to  recognise  the  right  of  the  Minister 
to  nominate  to  the  canonry  left  vacant  by  this  promotion 
to  a  bishopric ;  he  speaks  of  not  interfering  as  an  act  of 
forbearance — he  could  have  stepped  in  between  the  Minister 
and  the  Canonry,  but  did  not. 

Archdeacon  Thorp  of  Kemerton  adds  a  pretty  touch  of 
the  new  Bishop's  childhood  : — 

"  The  union  of  sound  learning,  pastoral  experience  and 
moderation,  free  from  all  party  prejudice  and  connections 
in  the  man  placed  in  such  a  relation  at  once  to  the 
University  and  the  Church,  cannot  fail  to  call  to  my  mind 
the  little  boy,  my  fellow-traveller  on  the  top  of  the  coach 
to   Aylesbury,   whose   legs,   now   long    enough,  did    not 


1.]  APPOINTMENT  AND  ADMINISTRATION,  253 

then  reach  down  to  the  footboard,  when  I,  a  young 
Fellow  and  Assistant  Tutor  of  Trinity,  made  his  first 
acquaintance." 

The  Archdeacon  seems  rather  to  pity  Professor  Browne 
for  his  promotion,  holding  that  Ely  is  not  considered  a 
favourite  diocese  among  existing  or  expectant  bishops. 

It  may  be  well  here  to  add  a  reply  which  the  Bishop 
Designate  addressed  to  his  old  friend  and  fellow-worker, 
Mr.  James : — 

••  Close,  Exeter,  January  ^oth^  1864. 

"My  dear  Walter  James,— My  heartiest  thanks  for 
your  very  kind  letter.  I  am  indeed  blessed  with  kind 
friends,  and  am  most  thankful  for  the  universal  welcome 
which  has  greeted  me.  Few  greetings  can  be  more  accept- 
able than  those  which  come  from  an  old  friend  and  colleague 
like  yourself  I  greatly  need  your  prayers,  for  the  work  is 
great  and  the  times  are  troublous.  My  strength  is  small 
and  much  needs  the  support  of  God's  grace.  I  do  not  know 
when  my  consecration  is  likely  to  be  :  not  till  after  Easter, 
no  doubt 

**  I  have  only  discovered  to-day,  to  my  dismay,  that  the 
Ecclesiastical  Commission  Acts  added  two  counties  to  my 
diocese,  and  at  the  same  time  took  away  half  or  two-thirds 
of  my  patronage,  leaving  me  with  a  great  University  and 
a  great  fen  district,  and  less  patronage  than  almost  any 
other  Bishop.  This  cannot  but  damp  my  work. 
"  Yours  sincerely, 

"E.  Harold  Browne," 

One  of  the  old  friends  at  Kenwyn  sent  a  very  touching 
little  note : — 

"  I  hope  that  one  day  we  shall  meet  together  in  Heaven, 
where  parting  shall  be  no  more.  I  have  to  bless  God  that 
I  am  still  in  the  same  ladder  that  you  represented  at 
Kenwyn,  that  leadeth  from  earth  to  heaven," 

There  are  a  few  indications  of  the  spirit  in  which  Pro- 
fessor Browne  himself  regarded  the  change  that  was  coming 


254  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D,  [Ch, 

to  him.  One  of  these  is  the  note  in  which  he  asked 
Professor  Jeremie  to  preach  his  Consecration  Sermon 
(undated)  : — 

"  My  dear  Friend, — I  rejoice  to  hear  that  you  are 
better,  and  thank  you  for  your  admirable  sermon.  I  am 
so  much  obliged  to  you  for  holding  out  the  hope  that  you 
will  preach  at  my  Consecration.  The  Archbishop  appoints 
April  loth,  a  day  which  will  do  well  for  your  subject,  I 
should  think,  as  the  Gospel  is  on  the  Good  Shepherd  who 
giveth  His  life  for  the  sheep.  I  do  not  know  yet  whether 
Canterbury  or  Westminster  Abbey  will  be  chosen. 

"Ever  yours  gratefully, 

"E.  Harold  Browne." 

Westminster  Abbey  was  eventually  chosen  as  the  place  ; 
the  day,  however,  was  changed.  In  the  interval  between 
his  nomination  and  consecration  Mr.  Browne  remained 
very  quiet ;  almost  the  only  public  appearance  made  by 
him  being  at  the  meeting  of  the  Exeter  "  Home  for  Fallen 
Women,"  held  towards  the  end  of  January.  Here  his 
address  was  simplicity  itself,  a  few  straightforward  words, 
based  on  the  infinite  love  and  self-sacrifice  of  Jesus  Christ, 
a  sacrifice  extended  to  the  most  soiled  of  sinners.  One 
can  well  believe  that  his  every  thought  and  utterance 
during  this  time  was  touched  with  a  deep  humility,  and 
that  he  truly  desired  to  follow  in  the  steps  of  the  Good 
Shepherd,  and  to  offer  himself  for  the  flock  to  be  entrusted 
to  his  care. 

He  was  consecrated  alone  in  Westminster  Abbey  on 
Easter  Tuesday,  March  29th,  1864,  by  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  his  old  friend  the  Bishop  of  St.  David's,  and 
the  Bishop  of  Worcester.  Dr.  Jeremie,  the  Regius  Pro- 
fessor, preached  the  sermon,  of  which  "  in  the  Choir  not 
a  syllable  could  be  heard."  The  enthronisation  at  Ely 
followed  a  month  later.  Edward  Harold  Browne  became 
full  Bishop  of  Ely  on  April  26th,  1864. 


L]  APPOINTMENT  AND  ADMINISTRATION.  255 

The  diocese  of  Ely  had  been  inevitably  left  much 
to  itself  during  Bishop  Turton's  time ;  no  new  agencies 
had  been  introduced ;  the  regular  official  work  of  the 
bishopric  was  feebly  carried  on  by  an  aged  and  infirm 
prelate ;  the  relations  between  the  University  of  Cambridge 
and  the  See  had  been  left  to  take  care  of  themselves.  The 
renewed  life  of  the  English  Church  had  already  touched 
the  Episcopal  Bench  when  Harold  Browne  was  made 
Bishop  of  Ely ;  and  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  in 
certain  aspects  of  that  revival  of  devotion  and  energy, 
and  in  the  determination  to  render  the  organisation  and 
machinery  of  the  Church  equal  to  the  new  calls  daily 
made  on  her,  he  stood  pre-emineht  If  he  lacked  the 
inspiring  eloquence  of  Bishop  Wilberforce  of  Oxford,  and 
the  strong-willed  vehemence  of  his  friend  Henry  of  Exeter^ 
he  had,  as  a  full  compensation,  the  power  of  attracting 
and  swaying  men,  the  advantage  of  knowing  his  own  mind 
and  of  not  being  afraid  of  acting  on  it ;  he  had  also  a 
marvellous  energy  and  love  of  work,  which  enabled  him  to 
revive  Church  feeling  in  the  diocese,  as  by  some  electric 
force.  More  than  in  any  other  thing,  the  secret  of  his 
success  as  a  bishop  lay  in  his  personal  character.  A  man 
of  peace  and  a  man  of  high  principle,  he  steadied  the 
Church  at  a  time  when  it  was  rocking  violently ;  he  did 
more  than  any  other  prelate  to  restore  confidence  to  the 
bulk  of  Englishmen  attached  to  their  Church,  desirous  of 
its  welfare,  and  content  with  a  moderate  High  Church 
texture  in  its  services  and  organisation. 

The  charm  of  his  personal  character  was  much  enhanced 
by  his  modesty.  Holding  so  highly  as  he  did  the  doctrine 
of  the  apostolical  origin  of  Episcopacy,  he  never  allowed 
his  office  to  be  treated  disrespectfully  ;  yet  no  one  found 
access  to  his  private  heart  by  paying  court  to  him  as  to 
a  great  man.     In  a  letter  to  his  old  friend  Mr.  James,  he 


256  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D,D.  [Ch. 

takes  him  seriously  to  task  for  calling  him  "  My  Lord " 
and  "  Your  Lordship." 

"  It  would  really  oblige  me,"  he  writes,  "  if  you  did  not 
write  *Your  Lordship'  quite  so  much  when  you  are 
corresponding  with  an  old  friend.  I  am  quite  willing  to 
receive  the  respect  due  to  my  office,  however  unworthy 
I  am  to  fill  it;  but  I  do  not  like  to  feel  that  there  is 
any  distance  between  you  and  your  affectionate  friend, 

"E.  H.  Ely." 

His  humility  attributed  all  the  dignity  to  his  office,  and 
nothing  to  himself:  it  was  very  touching  to  observe  with 
what  deference  he  would  listen  to  men  far  beneath  him. 
He  was  always  ready  to  assume  that  there  was  a  value 
attaching  to  the  opinions  of  others,  even  of  the  young. 
One  friend  tells  me  how  he  himself,  then  a  young  Fellow 
just  fresh  come  from  College,  walked  one  day  in  the  Palace 
garden  at  Ely  with  the  Bishop  and  a  noted  and  learned 
Hebraist  of  the  time,  listening  to  an  animated  discussion 
between  them  on  some  disputed  passage  in  the  Book  of 
Genesis.  He  was  not  a  little  startled  when  the  Bishop 
turned  to  him,  and  with  evident  sincerity  and  gravity  first 
restated  his  own  view  and  that  of  his  friend,  and  then 
asked  his  young  companion  for  his  opinion,  as  though  he 
had  been  set  there  as  umpire  between  them.  The  kindness 
and  modesty,  which  seemed  to  put  the  youthful  scholar 
on  a  level  with  the  learned  bishop,  gave  him  a  pleasure 
never  to  be  forgotten.  And  it  was  characteristic  of  all  his 
more  controversial  work  :  he  treated  every  opinion  with 
courtesy,  listened  to  arguments,  gave  grounds  for  his  own 
opinion,  and  brought  things  to  a  peaceful  issue.  As  a 
consequence,  very  few  implacable  disputes,  very  few 
virulent  controversies,  no  law  suits,  no  trials  of  criminous 
clerks,  or  other  miseries  of  the  kind,  troubled  the  repose 
either  of  Ely  or  of  Winchester. 


I.]  APPOINTMENT  AND  ADMINISTRATION,  257 

His  favourite  apophthegm  on  episcopal  authority  was 
the  ancient  formula,  "Let  nothing  be  done  without  the 
Bishop ; "  it  seemed  to  be  the  germ  of  his  commission, 
as  deriving  it  from  primitive  episcopacy. 

At  the  same  time,  though  he  was  a  distinct  High 
Churchman,  he  could  see  the  good  in  strains  of  thought 
different  from  his  own.  He  was  no  party  man  in  politics, 
though  all  his  character  and  his  sympathies  and  opinions 
were  conservative  ;  and  the  same  condition  of  things  also 
prevailed  in  his  diocesan  work ;  he  carefully  avoided  giving 
a  party  complexion  to  his  dealings  with  the  questions 
which  from  time  to  time  arose.  He  was  no  longer  the 
champion  of  the  advanced  movement,  as  he  had  been  at 
Exeter ;  his  position  is  exactly  stated  in  a  letter  of  this 
period,  in  which  a  friend,  thanking  him  for  his  primary 
Charge,  says  : — 

"  It  is,  I  think,  exactly  what  was  wanted,  and  will,  I  am 
sure,  give  great  satisfaction  as  well  as  instruction  to  that 
moderate  party  in  the  Church  who  wish  to  keep  in  that 
middle  course  in  which  our  Liturgy  directs  us  to  go." 

The  Bishop  carefully  defines  his  position  in  a  reply  to 
Mr,  Green,  formerly  M.P.  for  Bury  St.  Edmunds  : — 

"  The  National  Church  ought  to  be  comprehensive  and 
tolerant,  giving  fair  scope  to  that  diversity  of  feeling  and 
opinion  which  has,  and  in  this  world  probably  always  will 
prevail  among  those  who  worship  the  same  God  and  trust 
in  the  same  Saviour ;  and  I  never  will  be  a  party  to 
narrowing  the  bounds  of  the  Church  so  far  as  to  reduce 
it  to  the  proportions  of  a  sect.  Still,  I  am  very  desirous 
that  the  law  should  be  so  clearly  pronounced  as  that 
we  may  know  definitely  what  is  permitted  and  what  is 
forbidden." 

In  this  side  of  his  character  as  Bishop,  that  is,  in  the 
tolerant  High  Church  aspect  of  it,  he  desired  to  follow  in 
the  footsteps  of  that  predecessor  of  his  both  at  Ely  and 

17 


2S8  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D,D.  [Ch. 

Winchester,  the  saintly  Lancelot  Andrewes,  as  to  whom 
he  himself  said  that  there  was  no  one  whose  memory  he 
venerated  so  much,  or  whose  example  he  would  so  gladly 
follow ;  "  the  very  best  type  of  the  English  High  Church 
divine,"  he  called  him.  At  the  end  of  his  career,  when 
one  of  the  speakers  on  occasion  of  his  retirement  ventured 
to  liken  him  to  his  saintly  predecessor,  the  Bishop  was 
completely  overcome  with  emotion  at  being  compared 
with  the  man  whom  he  had  ever  regarded  as  his  model 
and  example. 

Such  was  the  new  Bishop  of  Ely.  And  in  other  respects 
it  was  a  very  happy  appointment.  The  diocese  needed 
a  firm  and  gentle  hand ;  and  the  University  was  not 
always  easy  to  deal  with.  True,  Cambridge  is  not  so 
difficult  as  Oxford ;  the  relations  between  Cambridge  and 
Ely  have  been  more  cordial  than  those  between  Oxford 
and  Cuddesdon ;  yet,  for  all  this,  a  Bishop  of  Ely  should 
walk  warily  in  dealing  with  the  University.  Bishop  Harold 
Browne  was  the  very  man  for  it.  He  had  won  the  respect 
of  the  University  by  his  writings  and  character  ;  his  con- 
nection with  his  College,  Emmanuel,  was  always  most 
cordial.  The  Cambridge  part  of  his  episcopal  work  was 
altogether  successful. 

So  too  was  his  organisation.  His  proposals  were 
reasonable,  his  way  of  commending  tliem  equally  modest 
and  learned :  he  could  set  out  his  views  with  a  singular 
clearness  and  persuasiveness.  The  result  was  that  through- 
out his  ten  years  at  Ely  the  diocese  moved  responsively 
to  his  call.  There  is  no  state  of  things  so  happy  for  a 
man  as  this :  he  has  his  convictions ;  he  can  expound 
them  well ;  he  has  the  motive-power  in  him  which  makes 
them  operative  ;  he  sees  his  plans  taken  up,  pushed  forward, 
getting  happily  into  work.  And  the  Bishop's  new  impulses 
infused  fresh  life  into  the  large  and  straggling  diocese. 


I.]  APPOINTMENT  AND  ADMINISTRATION  259 

Under  his  fostering  care  Diocesan  Conferences  came 
into  being.  They  were  new  then,  and  aroused  the 
interest  of  clei^  and  laity  in  all  parts.  People  came 
together  who  had  scarcely  met  before  ;  grievances  might 
be  ventilated ;  fruitful  suggestions  put  out ;  new  organisa- 
tions for  diocesan  work  begun  ;  men  felt  that  their  work 
was  being  noticed  and  directed.  More  was  done  for 
schools,  for  ruridecanal  work,  for  foreign  missions ;  also 
for  missions  in  the  more  modem  sense  of  the  word,  for  the 
efforts,  that  is,  to  arouse  a  deeper  spiritual  life  in  England 
by  special  services,  addresses,  and  other  awakening  agencies. 

The  interest  of  the  laity  in  Church  matters  was  stimu- 
lated ;  work  was  found  for  people  of  every  kind  ;  the 
experiment  of  deaconesses  was  made  at  Bedford  and 
elsewhere.  It  is  a  sign  of  his  great  desire  to  attract  lay 
help,  that  he  did  not  hesitate  to  say  that  on  lay  Church- 
men no  greater  burden  should  be  laid  than  arose  from  the 
calls  of  a  consistent  Christian  life,  and  from  a  belief  in  the 
Apostles*  Creed. 

The  Confirmations  in  the  diocese  were  much  more 
carefully  attended  to  ;  and  the  Bishop  introduced  a  new 
and  more  effective  form  of  address  to  the  candidates. 
The  Rev.  John  Hardie  of  Tyntesfield,  near  Bristol,  one  of 
his  earliest  chaplains,  who  accompanied  him  on  his  first 
confirmation  tour,  writes  with  a  vivid  recollection  of  this 
happy  change  in  the  character  of  these  important  services. 

"  I  recall,"  he  writes, "  with  great  pleasure  his  addresses 
to  the  candidates.  They  were  quite  unlike  those  ordinary 
echoes  of  the  teaching  already  given  by  the  parish  priests  ; 
for  the  Bishop  uniformly  took  some  passage  from  the 
Lesson  appointed  for  the  day,  and  on  that  founded  extem- 
pore teaching  which  was  good  to  be  heard  by  all  present, 
old  as  well  as  young,  and  calculated  to  make  a  deep  im- 
pression on  all  for  its  earnest  simplicity." 

No  sooner  was  Bishop  Harold  Browne  enthroned  than 


260  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

he  had  to  answer  addresses  from  different  parts  of  his 
diocese.  These  replies  show  us  the  temper  of  mind  with 
which  he  began  his  work.  Speaking  to  the  Rural  Deanery 
of  Cambridge,  he  at  once  strikes  a  note  of  moderation. 
Our  Church,  he  says,  is  neither  superstitious  nor  rationalist. 
Clergy  mix  with  the  laity.  He  adds  that  "the  study  of 
objections,  though  it  may  perhaps  oblige  us  to  take  a 
wider  view  of  some  points  than  we  had  at  first  expected, 
has  not  led  to  more  doubt,  but  to  the  deeper  and  more 
abiding  certainty"; — a  wise  word  to  the  alarmists,  who 
are  ever  running  to  hide  their  heads  in  the  sand.  "  Church 
Defence "  associations  also  drew  from  him  a  simple 
declaration  against  panic.  He  told  them  that  "Church 
Defence  consisted  as  much  or  more  in  developing  the  internal 
efficiency  of  the  Church  as  in  warding  off  attacks  from 
without  ; "  and  he  struck  the  note,  on  which  he  had  only 
touched  in  speaking  to  the  Rural  Deanery  of  Cambridge, 
by  hoping  that  his  clergy  "  would  take  counsel  with  their 
brethren  of  the  laity."  He  added  that  he  had  hesitated 
about  accepting  the  presidency  of  their  body,  because  the 
clergy  ought  to  be  doing  direct  spiritual  work,  while  the 
laity  warded  off  attacks  and  managed  the  temporal  affairs 
of  the  Church.  Throughout  his  episcopate  Bishop  Browne 
did  all  in  his  power  to  enlist  the  active  help  of  the  laity  ;  he, 
at  any  rate,  oiever  fell  into  the  mistake  of  confusing  Church 
and  Clergy.  He  had,  too,  a  natural  and  healthy  shrinking 
from  the  fighting  organisations  ;  they  seemed  to  him  to  be 
adverse  to  spiritual  life,  and  to  make  men  think  they  are 
doing  God  service,  when  they  are  only  indulging  in  excite- 
ment. In  his  address  to  his  Rural  Deans  in  1872,  while  he 
states  clearly  enough  his  anxieties  as  to  the  attacks  made 
on  the  English  Church,  he  adds  significantly  and  wisely  : — 

"In  general  my  own   feelings  are  strongly  opposed  to 
anything  like  agitation  in  defence  of  the  Church.     Even 


L]  APPOINTMENT  AND  ADMINISTRATION.  26 1 

now  I  fall  back  on  the  principle  which  I  have  always 
advocated,  viz.,  that  we  should  begin  by  eradicating  the 
abuses  and  increasing  the  efficiency  of  the  Church.  .  .  . 
It  is  apostolical  in  descent,  in  organisation,  in  doctrine  and 
in  its  work.  The  more  IFully  it  can  be  exhibited  as  all 
this,  the  more  surely  will  it  maintain  the  character  of  its 
foundation,  and  the  more  will  it  endear  itself  to  the  hearts 
of  its  children.  .  .  .  The  more  efficient  we  can  make  the 
Church,  the  more  surely  we  shall  contribute  to  its  per- 
manence and  prosperity." 

When  the  Additional  Curates  Society,  this  same  year, 
asked  him  to  take  the  chair  at  one  of  their  meetings,  he 
took  the  opportunity  of  wisely  laying  it  down,  that 
the  true  way  for  Church  advance  was  first  to  get  the 
living  agencies  to  work  before  meddling  with  "  bricks  and 
mortar."  If  the  men  have  the  right  spirit  in  them,  and 
are  faithful  and  active,  the  necessary  appliances  will  follow 
almost  of  themselves ;  schoolrooms,  lay  helpers,  new 
churches  will  spring  into  being.  And  similarly,  referring 
to  Bishop  Philpott's  gift  of  ;f  1,000  to  one  of  the  churches 
in  Exeter,  he  says : — 

"  I  am  generally  a  little  doubtful  about  building  new 
churches.  An  increase  of  clergy  seems  so  much  more 
needed  than  an  increase  of  churches,  and  licensed  rooms 
make  good  chapels-of-ease  among  a  poor  people." 

These  words  go  to  the  root  of  the  matter ;  one  may 
easily  retard  the  work  of  religion  by  church-building  un- 
dertaken unadvisedly ;  while  the  influence  of  a  good  and 
devoted  man  is  as  great  in  a  cottage  as  in  a  cathedral. 

His  first  ordination  on  Trinity  Sunday,  1864,  gave  him 
the  opportunity  of  speaking  his  mind  practically  and 
plainly  to  the  candidates.  He  commended  to  them  the 
course  of  action  he  had  himself  always  followed  ;  the 
minister  must  make  himself  personally  acceptable  to 
his   people,  and  imust  "  acquaint  himself  with  their  own 


262  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

objects  of  thought," — a  piece  of  advice  which  needs  to  be 
repeated  again  and  again.  He  urged  the  candidates 
always  to  be  "  men  of  business,"  to  avoid  self-conceit, 
which,  while  it  is  "  always  odious,  is  more  signally  so  when 
it  shows  itself  in  the  professed  follower  of  Him  who  was 
meek  and  lowly  of  heart."  He  then  touches  on  a  subject 
always  in  his  mind,  the  relation  of  the  Church  to  the 
working  man,  or,  as  it  was  then  the  loftier  use  to  call  him, 
"  the  Poor."  The  phraseology  is  rather  old-fashioned  :  "  If 
you  wish  the  poor  to  respect  you,  you  must  respect  them." 
"  When  you  enter  a  peasant's  hut,  do  not  keep  on  your 
hat,  do  not  use  any  of  the  airs  of  a  superior." 

In  the  following  November  the  Bishop  held  his  primary 
visitation  at  Sudbury  in  Suffolk  ;  and  took  occasion  to  state 
with  admirable  clearness,  a  clearness  not  always  pardoned, 
his  views  as  to  the  English  Church's  doctrine  of  the  Holy 
Communion.  He  proclaims  that  it  is  that  of  the  primitive 
Church,  which  regarded  it,  as  we  do,  "as  an  eucharistic 
offering  of  Prayer  and  Praise."     And  he  continues  : — 

"  So  long  as  the  Communion  is  called  a  Sacrifice,  the 
Presbyter  a  Priest,  and  the  Holy  Table  an  Altar,  only  in 
the  sense  in  which  they  were  called  by  the  primitive  Chris- 
tians, the  names  may  be  innocent  and  possibly  edifying. 
So  long  as  it  is  desired  only  to  pay  due  reverence  to  the 
highest  ordinance  of  Christ  in  His  Church,  and  to  honour 
Christ  by  honouring  His  Sacraments,  there  can  be  no  ground 
of  censure.  But  if  by  all  this  ceremony  it  be  meant  to 
indicate  that  there  is  not  only  a  spiritual  presence  of  the 
Saviour,  when  His  feast  is  ministered,  but  a  distinct  local 
presence  in  the  bread  upon  the  table,  then  there  is  not  only 
a  sacrifice  of  praise  and  a  solemn  commemoration  of  the 
sacrifice  of  Christ,  but  also  a  renewal  of  Christ's  sacrifice, 
and  a  propitiatory  offering  Him  up  anew  for  sin — then 
there  surely  is  reason  enough  why  we  should  dread  the 
recurrence  to  these  ceremonies  which  certainly  meant  this, 
and  which  have  fallen  into  desuetude  simply  because  they 
did  mean  this.     It  is  thought,  perhaps,  that  the  sacrifice  of 


I. J  APPOINTMENT  AND  ADMINISTRATION.  263 

the  Mass  is  not  one  of  the  greatest  evils  of  Romanism, 
resulting  only  from  excess  of  reverence  and  devotion.  But 
in  truth  the  most  observable  fact  in  the  history  of  Roman 
doctrine  is  that,  while  it  has  highly  exalted  the  great 
cardinal  truths  of  Christianity,  it  has,  by  the  very  honour 
so  bestowed  on  them,  overshadowed  and  obscured  them. 
It  has  preserved  and  embalmed  them,  so  that  their  true 
lineaments  and  early  history  cannot  be  hidden,  and  yet  by 
the  process  itself  it  has  deprived  them  of  life  and  strength. 
The  respect  paid  to  Mary  arose  at  first  from  the  still  higher 
respect  felt  for  her  Son  and  Saviour.  Its  highest  develop- 
ment— tjie  Immaculate  Conception— originated  in  devout 
reverence  for  the  sacred  manhood  of  Jesus ;  but  it  is  now 
a  fearful  heresy  against  the  Incarnation  itself,  placing  a 
mediator  between  us  and  our  Saviour,  separating  from  close 
and  immediate  contact  with  sin-stricken  humanity  Him 
whose  presence  can  alone  heal  and  restore  it.  In  like 
manner  the  sacrifice  of  the  Mass  unmistakably  witnessed 
to  the  primitive  faith  in  the  great  truth  of  the  atonement 
through  the  sacrifice  on  the  Cross.  But  its  practical  effect 
has  been  not  to  teach  a  trusting  in  the  Saviour's  love  and 
eucharistic  commemoration,  or  a  faithful  receiving  of  Christ, 
but  rather  a  looking  day  by  day  for  a  fresh  sacrifice  atoning 
for  fresh  sins.  So  neither  is  that  peace  of  the  conscience 
really  attained  which  springs  from  a  sense  of  pardon 
secured  by  the  one  offering  made  once  for  all  ;  nor  perhaps 
is  that  salutary  dread  of  sin  cultivated,  which  the  Apostle 
impresses  by  reminding  us  that,  *  If  we  sin  wilfully  after 
that  we  have  received  the  knowledge  of  the  truth,  there 
remaineth  no  more  sacrifice  for  sin  '  (Heb.  x.  26).  It  may 
be  that  some  who  would  revive  that  high  ceremonial  of 
which  I  have  been  speaking  do  not  wish  to  revive  the 
doctrine  or  the  practice  emphatically  condemned  by  our 
Articles,  but  merely  to  lead  us  back  to  an  aesthetic  mediaeval 
sumptuousness  of  worship.  Surely,  if  this  be  all,  it  is  not 
for  this  worth  the  while  to  risk,  and  more  than  risk,  the 
peace,  the  unity,  perhaps  the  very  being  of  our  National 
Church." 

It  will  be  seen  from  these  words  how  far  he  was  from 
sympathising  with  the  later  High  Church  developments. 
He  became  seriously  alarmed,  indeed,  at  them,  and  thought 
the  acts  and  utterances  of  men,  with  whom  in  the  main  he 


264  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

still  agreed,  were  both  hard  to  reconcile  with  the  plain 
sense  of  the  formularies  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  also 
calculated  to  irritate  quiet  people.  There  are,  no  doubt, 
many  who  can  remember,  as  the  writer  of  this  Memoir 
remembers,  how  anxiously  he  used  to  scan  the  manifestoes 
of  the  party ;  and  with  what  regret  and  even  distress  of 
mind  he  came  to  the  conclusion  that  their  language  could 
not  be  brought  into  line  with  that  of  the  Prayer-Book  and 
the  Articles. 

The  ten  years  of  Bishop  Harold  Browne's  e{)iscopate 
at  Ely  are  specially  marked  by  his  attempt  to  recast  and 
strengthen  the  organisation  of  the  diocese.  He  used  to 
say  that  the  Church  of  England  was  the  least  organised 
of  all  Churches,  and  that  if  at  any  time  she  were  dis- 
severed from  the  State,  she  would  have  no  machinery 
for  carrying  on  her  work.  The  fear  of  disestablishment 
was  ever  on  the  Bishop,  and  led  him  to  try  at  once  to 
strengthen  the  institutions  of  the  Church,  and  to  call  out 
her  true  life  by  uniting  her  members,  clergy  and  laity 
working  happily  together  in  earnest  faith  in  Christ.  He 
never  lost  sight  of  the  great  importance  of  enlisting  the 
help  and  goodwill  of  lay  people  in  Church  work. 

His  scheme  of  diocesan  life  may  be  sketched  thus : 
At  the  head  stood  the  Bishop,  the  father  of  his  diocese, 
the  centre  of  its  spiritual  life  and  corporate  activity.  Close 
to  his  side  he  wished  to  place:  (i)  the  Cathedral  staff, 
the  Dean  and  Chapter,  to  be  his  counsellors  and  most 
trusted  agents.  This  for  the  whole  diocese.  Then,  (2)  by 
means  of  his  Archdeacons,  each  in  his  archdeaconry,  he 
hoped  to  reach  every  comer  and  to  learn  something  of 
every  parish.  (3)  Under  the  Archdeacons  he  ranged 
the  Rural  Deans ;  by  whose  means  he  hoped  to  learn 
much  as  to  the  opinions  of  his  people.  (4)  Once  a 
year  there  should  be  a  Diocesan  Conference  held  in  each 


I.:  APPOINTMENT  AND  ADMINISTRATION,  265 

archdeaconry;  (5)  and  the  Rural  Deans  were  asked  to 
hold  ruridecanal  Chapters.  (6)  Lastly,  he  looked  with 
much  favour  on  some  scheme  for  Parish  Church  Councils, 
in  which,  under  the  care  and  presidency  of  the  incumbent, 
Church  people  might  meet,  discuss,  and  arrange  all  matters 
relating  to  Church  work  within  their  parishes.  He  hoped 
to  see  growing  out  of  all  this  organisation  fresh  efforts  to 
spread  the  gospel ;  lay-agencies  fostered  ;  a  permanent 
diaconate  begun,  and  deaconesses  appointed;  fresh  life 
infused  into  Church  education,  new  strength  breathed 
into  the  societies,  missionary,  social,  or  other ;  and,  by 
these  means,  fresh  vigour  given  to  every  portion  of  the 
Church's  life.  He  also  desired  to  make  his  views  known, 
and  his  influence  on  religious  thought  felt,  by  his  Charges, 
on  which  he  expended  great  pains. 

I.  From  Bishop  Harold  Browne's  earnest  desire  to  bring 
all,  including  the  Cathedral  body,  into  the  diocesan 
organisation,  came  the  distrust  with  which  he  regarded 
those  difficult  dignitaries,  the  Deans  of  his  Cathedrals. 
They  were  so  hard  to  bring  into  line ;  their  appointment 
by  the  Crown  gave  them  a  kind  of  independence ;  the 
ill-defined  relation  of  Bishop  and  Dean  to  the  Cathedral 
Church,  and  the  peculiar  position  of  the  Deans,  tried  him 
much.  Thus,  he  had  not  been  long  at  Ely  before  a  conflict 
broke  out.  He  sent  to  the  Cathedral  to  say  that  on  a 
certain  day  he  proposed  to  hold  a  Confirmation  there  ;  and 
the  Dean,  in  posting  up  the  notice,  did  so,  after  the  way 
of  Deans,  with  "By  order  of  the  Dean"  at  the  foot  of 
the  paper.  This  seemed  to  the  Bishop  an  attack  on  his 
episcopal  authority,  and  he  resented  it ;  even  going  so  far  as 
to  have  a  case  drawn  and  submitted  to  counsel.  Writing 
to  Lord  Arthur  Hervey,  his  Archdeacon,  he  says : — 

"There  is  no  doubt  that  when  the  Bishop  orders  a 
service  for  his  Confirmations  or  visitations,  the  service  is 


266  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DD.  [Ch 

wholly  his  own,  and  that  he  is  entitled  to  order  it  exactly 
as  he  chooses.  I  was  doubtful  whether  this  extended  to 
the  Bishop's  own  Cathedral,  as  Deans  have  always  tried 
to  make  tiiemselves  extra-diocesan.  I  have,  however,  Sir 
R.  Phillimore's  and  Dr.  Tristram's  carefully  drawn  opinion 
that  a  Bishop  is  undoubtedly  head  of  his  own  Cathedral 
in  the  fullest  sense ;  that  he  can  order  services  and  officiate 
so  long  as  he  does  not  contravene  the  Cathedral  Statutes.'* 

The  opinion  runs  thus  : — 

"  I.  We  are  of  opinion  that  the  Bishop  is  by  law  the 
head  of  his  Cathedral  Church  (of  the  New  Foundation), 
and  that  he  is  entitled  to  officiate  in  the  services  of  the 
Church,  subject  to  such  legitimate  limitations  as  may  be 
directly  or  indirectly  imposed  by  the  Cathedral  Statutes. 
2.  We  are  of  opinion  that  the  Bishop,  independently  of  the 
Cathedral  Statutes,  is  Ordinary  as  regards  his  Cathedral." 

And,  eight  years  later,  when  in  1872  the  establishment 
of  the  Cathedral  Commission  had  led  to  farther  discussion 
on  the  subject,  he  wrote  a  strong  letter  about  it  to  his 
Dean,  and  ends  by  saying  : — 

"  I  so  far  agree  with  you  as  to  feel  that  the  uncertainty 
as  to  the  relation  of  a  Bishop  to  his  Chapter  cannot  be 
allowed  to  continue.  It  might  do  very  well  in  the  end 
of  last  century  and  the  early  part  of  this  century,  when 
Cathedrals  were  looked  on  as  pleasant  places  of  repose ; 
but  not  in  the  (I  trust)  increasing  life  of  the  present  time. 
I  have  deprecated  legislation  as  a  mode  of  settling  such 
questions,  because  the  most  likely  to  be  detrimental  to 
Cathedral  establishments.  If  legislation  should  prove  to 
be  the  only  possible  plan,  it  must  be  risked,  though  I 
believe  that  it  will  in  the  end  *  make  a  solitude  and  call 
it  peace.' " 

And  in  the  Bishop's  published  "  Letter  to  the  Dean  of 
Norwich,"  written  in  the  same  year,  there  is  a  distinct 
touch  of  irritation.  "  Does  it  seem  unreasonable,"  he  asks, 
"  that  the  Bishops  should  believe  that  they  have  some 
status  in  their  own  Cathedrals,  and  are  not  merely  there 


1.1  APPOINTMENT  AND  ADMINISTRATION.  267 

on   sufferance,   and  while  there,   under   the  authority  of 
their  own  Deans  ?  " 

The  Bishop  may  have  been  over-sensitive  on  the  point, 
and  inclined  to  give  it  more  weight  than  it  deserved ;  yet 
there  was  reason  in  his  remonstrances,  and  ground  for 
them.     In  his  "Letter  to  the  Dean  of  Norwich"  he  says  : — 

"  For  many  years  the  late  Bishop  (Turton)  had  been 
very  much  on  the  shelf  from  ill-health,  so  that  he  and  the 
Dean  had  never  been  in  the  Cathedral  together,  and  the 
Bishop  had  probably  not  officiated  in  the  Cathedral  during 
the  whole  of  the  then  Dean's  incumbency.  The  Dean, 
my  good  and  valued  friend  [Dr.  Harvey  Goodwin],  had 
evidently  the  impression  that  he  was  the  Ordinary,  that  I 
could  do  nothing  in  the  Cathedral  but  with  his  consent 
He  objected  to  my  taking  any  part  in  the  services,  except 
the  Absolution  in  the  Communion  Service,  and  the  Blessing  ; 
though  this  he  afterwards  gave  up.  If  I  held  a  Confirm- 
ation or  an  Ordination,  or  preached  a  sermon  for  a  charity, 
there  was  always  a  printed  notice  issued,  ending  with  *  By 
order  of  the  Dean.'  " 

In  accordance  with  ancient  Church  usage,  the  Cathedral 
is  the  Bishop's  parish  church,  his  parish  being  the  diocese. 
This  was  very  clear  in  early  days,  before  parochial 
divisions  existed  ;  and  it  is  most  wholesome  for  all  that 
the  Cathedral  Church  should  be  so  regarded.  It  should 
be  the  central  place  of  worship  for  the  diocese  :  and  the 
clergy  of  it,  under  their  Bishop,  should  be  an  important 
element  in  diocesan  organisation.  The  older  conception 
of  the  Dean  and  Chapter  was  that  of  "  Custodes  ecclesiae  "  ; 
the  modern  notion  is  that  their  work  is  far  wider,  and 
that  the  more  a  Cathedral  body  lives  for  the  diocese 
around  the  better  it  will  justify  its  existence.  The  old 
traditional  hostility  between  Bishop  and  Dean  is  fast 
dying  out,  as  the  renewed  life  of  the  Church  finds  plentiful 
work  for  all  to  do.  Even  if  "  learned  leisure  "  were  lost, 
—it    is    already   far    rarer    in    reality   than  .in    name, — 


268  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

Cathedrals  will  gain  fresh  energy  and  a  new  lease  of  life 
by  coming  into  contact  with  the  mother-earth  of  real  work. 
The  old  notion  of  "  learned  leisure  "  ranks  with  that  of  the 
"endowment  of  research."  It  is  beautiful  in  theory,  it 
breaks  down'  in  practice.  What  has  the  leisure  of  all  the 
Cathedral  precincts  produced  in  all  these  years  ?  Where  are 
our  monumental  books,  our  contributions  to  the  advance 
of  knowledge,  our  learning  leavening  the  fabric  of  the 
Church  ?  There  are  no  such  things.  In  the  future,  let  us 
hope,  the  Cathedrals  will  be  the  mothers  of  life  and  enthu- 
siasm for  the  dioceses :  the  men  most  capable  of  orga- 
nising Christian  work  will  be  there;  theology,  moral  science, 
practical  goodness,  will  all  look  to  the  Cathedral  clergy 
for  help  and  guidance.  Then  the  Cathedral  Church  will 
become  the  true  centre  of  the  diocese,  the  home  of  its 
common  devotion  ;  not  merely  the  great  ornament  of  the 
city  in  which  it  stands,  but  itself  a  city  set  on  a  hill,  that 
all  may  see  it  and  rejoice,  and  run  thither  for  light,  for 
shelter,  for  counsel,  as  they  strengthen  themselves  and 
gird  up  their  loins  for  the  pilgrimage  of  work  for  Christ 

This  difference  over  the  relations  between  the  two 
offices  happily  had  no  effect  whatever  on  the  personal 
friendship  between  Bishop  and  Dean.  The  writer  of  these 
pages  well  remembers  a  visit  to  Ely  at  Christmas  1865. 
On  reaching  the  Bishop's  house  we  found  Professor  Selwyn 
there  in  great  excitement  over  some  private  theatricals 
shortly  to  be  given  at  the  Deanery :  great  was  the 
rejoicing  when  it  was  found  that  we  knew  all  about  the 
right  dress  for  a  Danish  priest,  in  which  part  the  kindly 
Professor  was  himself  to  appear.  The  little  piece  was  a 
play  adapted  by  Dean  Harvey  Goodwin  from  a  Danish 
drama,  entitled  "Fetter  Karl,"  and  the  Dean  acted  as 
prompter,  while  his  clever  daughters  and  Professor  Selwyn 
acted  the  play.     Nothing  could  have  been  more  pleasant 


I.]  APPOINTMENT  AND  ADMINISTRATION.  269 

than  the  relations  between  them  and  the  Bishop,  who  took 
the  warmest  interest  in  the  performance,  and  watched  the 
turns  of  the  little  comedy  with  great  amusement.  In 
truth,  two  men  of  the  high  qualities  of  Bishop  Harold 
Browne  and  Bishop  Harvey  Goodwin,  who  then  was 
Dean,  could  never  have  allowed  estrangement  to  follow 
after  any  disagreement.  After  the  Bishop  of  Carlisle's 
death,  we  find  our  Bishop  writing  thus  : — 

"  His  death  is  indeed  a  great  sorrow  to  us.  We  and 
our  children  were  almost  like  one  family  at  Ely,  and  we 
have  been  as  brothers  ever  since." 

2.  In  respect  of  his  work  with  the  Archdeacons,  who 
represented  the  four  divisions  of  his  large  diocese,  Ely  (for 
Cambridgeshire),  Bedford,  Huntingdon,  and  Sudbury  (for 
part  of  Suffolk),  it  is  enough  to  say  that  no  bishop  ever 
worked  more  readily,  more  unweariedly,  or  in  a  more 
brotherly  temper  with  his  officers.  His  warm  friendships 
with  that  kindred  spirit.  Archdeacon  Emery,  with  Bishop 
McDougall,  who  followed  him  to  Winchester,  and  with 
the  late  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells,  are  memories  of  the 
most  sacred  kind.  His  Archdeacons  nobly  seconded  him 
in  all  his  efforts,  and  helped  to  arouse  fresh  life  through- 
out the  diocese. 

3.  But  if  all  went  well  with  the  Archdeacons,  it  was 
not  quite  so  simple  with  the  Rural  Deans.  They  were  a 
revival  of  a  very  ancient  office  in  the  Church,  and  it  was 
not  clear  at  first  whether  a  place  was  not  being  made 
for  them  at  the  expense  of  the  Archdeacons,  and  also 
whether  the  clergy  in  their  districts  would  acknowledge 
their  authority.  Jealousies  and  difficulties  seemed  inevitable. 
How  were  Rural  Deans  to  be  appointed  ?  To  whom  were 
they  responsible  ?  to  Archdeacon  or  Bishop  ?  How  should 
a   Rural   Dean  enforce  his  authority?     What   were  his 


270  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D,  [Ch. 

proper  functions  ?  All  seemed  vague,  and  there  were  no 
safe  usages  or  precedents  to  guide.  The  Bishop  attacked 
the  problem  at  once.  Writing  to  Lord  Arthur  Hervey  in 
September  1864,  he  says  : — 

"  I  could  almost  wish  the  Rural  Deans  in  the  diocese  of 
Ely,  like  those  in  Exeter,  were  elected  by  the  clergy, 
subject  to  the  consent  of  the  Bishop.  They  would  then 
represent  the  clergy,  and  a  meeting  of  Rural  Deans  would 
be  a  representative  body." 

We  see  by  another  letter,  dated  August  12th,  1865,  the 
difficulties  which  beset  the  matter. 

"  Returns  of  Rural  Deans, — I  am  sorry  to  say  this  is 
a  vexed  question.  I  hear  many  murmurs  of  discontent 
Some  of  the  clergy  decline  to  send  answers  to  such  ques- 
tions except  to  me  directly.  They  do  not  recognise  the 
right  of  a  Rural  Dean  to  demand  them,  or  of  the  Arch- 
deacon to  be  the  medium  of  communicating  to  the  Bishop. 

"  A.,  who,  poor  fellow,  is  not  very  sound  in  brain,  having 
taken  a  fancy  that  the  questions  emanated  from  Archdeacon 
Emery,  has  taken  every  opportunity  of  protesting  against 
the  questions  themselves.  I  have  no  doubt  that  I  cannot 
by  a  general  commission  to  my  Deans  Rural  authorise 
them  to  make  enquiries  not  submitted  to  by  the  clergy. 
Finding  these  in  use,  and  well  received  in  the  diocese  of 
Norwich,  I  feared  no  evil." 

The  Bishop,  in  his  thorough  consideration  of  the  organi- 
sation of  his  diocese,  thought  much  of  the  importance  of 
the  Rural  Deans.  He  appealed  through  them  to  his  clergy, 
and  encouraged  them  to  hold  Ruridecanal  Chapters,  "in 
which  the  subjects  discussed  should  be  chiefly  practical, 
and  directly  connected  with  pastoral  and  missionary  labours, 
or  with  Church  extension  and  efficacy."  He  also  consulted 
these  local  Chapters  on  practical  matters,  and  tried  to 
make  the  subjects  submitted  to  them  bases  for  deliberation 
in  his  Conferences. 

4.  The  Church  Congresses,  which  began  to  be  held  in 


I.]  APPOINTMENT  AND  ADMINISTRATION.  27 1 

1 86 1,  led  to  a  wish  for  something  more  practical  and  nearer 
home,  that  is,  for  Diocesan  Meetings,  in  which  not  only  the 
larger  questions  of  the  day,  but  local  matters  also,  might 
be  discussed,  and  the  conditions  of  the  Christian  life 
quickened  by  consultation  and  brotherly  discussion.  In 
1863  the  Archdeacon  of  Ely  issued  a  paper  on  the  subject ; 
it  was  also  brought  before  Convocation,  and,  on  the  whole, 
opinion  seemed  favourable,  though  it  was  not  at  first  clear 
what  should  be  aimed  at.  Some  thought  that  it  should  be 
a  Diocesan  Synod ;  others  desired  a  representative  body 
of  clergy  and  laity.  The  Diocesan  Synod  had  been  dis- 
continued in  England  since  the  days  of  Henry  VIII.;  it 
was  an  assembly  of  all  beneficed  and  licensed  clergy  in  a 
diocese,  summoned  by  their  bishop.  It  is  described  (in 
Bum's  "  Ecclesiastical  Law,"  ii.,  p.  366)  as  "  the  assembly 
of  the  bishop  and  his  presbyters,  to  enforce  and  put  in 
-execution  canons  made  by  general  councils  or  national 
and  provincial  synods,  and  to  consult  and  agree  upon  rules 
of  discipline  for  themselves.  .  .  .  These  were  not  wholly 
laid  aside,  till  by  the  Act  of  Submission  (25  Henry  VIII., 
c  19)  it  was  made  unlawful  for  any  Synod  to  meet  but  by 
royal  authority." 

To  these  Synods  the  bishops  apparently  also  summoned 
the  deacons  and  a  certain  number  of  laity,  who  were  to 
appear  and  make  presentments  as  to  the  state  of  their 
several  parishes.  In  the  Synod  the  bishop  made  enquiries, 
heard  synodical  causes  and  gravamina,  and  reported  to  the 
diocesan  Synod  what  had  been  decreed  in  the  provincial 
Synod  ;  lastly,  he  published,  on  his  own  authority, 
diocesan  constitutions,  which,  after  being  accepted  by  the 
Synod,  became  of  force  in  the  diocese,  with  appeal  to 
higher  authority. 

The  advantage  of  giving  every  clergyman  in  a  diocese 
a  chance  of  taking  part  in  such  meetings  is  obvious  ;  still, 


272  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D,  [Ch, 

there  were  great  difficulties.  Synods  of  the  kind  were 
illegal,  their  decisions  would  have  no  binding  force ;  the 
numbers  would  be  too  large  for  conference ;  and  the 
same  tendency  which  in  the  lay  world  had  commuted 
personal  attendance  into  representation  would  be  sure  to 
act  on  Church  assemblies  also.  Lastly,  though  the  laity 
were  recognised,  they  were  not  an  integral  part  of  a 
Synod;  and  it  was  felt  that  no  system  could  succeed 
without  the  co-operation  of  the  laity.  Consequently,  while 
Diocesan  Synods,  properly  so  called,  have  only  been  held 
here  and  there,  yearly  Conferences  of  clergy  and  laity  have 
become  the  custom  in  many  dioceses. 

Bishop  Harold  Browne,  while  other  bishops  were  hesi- 
tating or  averse,  pressed  boldly  forward.  He  was  both 
prompt  and  cautious.  He  held  an  informal  Conference 
in  the  first  year  of  his  episcopate,  1864;  he  then  sent 
letters  to  the  rural  deaneries  of  the  diocese,  to  elicit  the 
opinion  of  his  clergy ;  and  when  these  replies  had  come 
in,  summoned  a  Conference  of  the  Dean  and  Chapter, 
the  Archdeacons  and  Rural  Deans,  on  December  13th 
and  14th,  1865.  This  Conference  determined  that  there 
should  henceforth  be :  (i)  Ruridecanal  Chapters,  composed 
of  all  incumbents  and  licensed  curates  in  the  several 
rural  deaneries;  and  (2)  Ruridecanal  Meetings  of  clergy 
and  laity,  summoned  by  each  Rural  Dean,  and  consisting 
of  the  clergy  of  the  rural  deanery  as  above,  the  church- 
wardens of  each  parish,  and  other  laymen  (to  be  selected 
by  the  clergy  and  churchwardens)  up  to  one-third  of  the 
number  of  parishes  in  the  rural  deanery. 

These  two  Conferences,  in  1864  and  1865,  were  informal 
and  tentative  ;  the  latter  set  going  a  system  of  Diocesan 
Conferences  which  had  to  be  modified  afterwards.  There 
were  to  be  two  Conferences  on  two  successive  days  ;  on  the 
first  day  the  Dean  and  Chapter,  the  Archdeacons  and  the 


L]  APPOINTMENT  AND  ADMINISTRATION.  273 

Rural  Deans,  met  under  the  Bishop's  presidency;  on 
the  second  day  there  would  be  more  general  conference 
of  clergy  and  laity,  one  layman  from  each  rural  deanery 
being  invited  to  join  the  clerical  company.  It  is  clear 
that  this  scheme  was  far  too  narrow  to  stand  long.  The 
clergy  generally  are  not  always  in  the  humour  to  be  set 
aside ;  and  a  Conference  of  purely  official  persons,  most 
of  them  nominees  of  the  Bishop  of  the  diocese,  could 
never  be  regarded  as  representative  of  the  mind  of 
Churchmen  generally.  No  doubt,  the  diocese  of  Ely 
was  feeling  the  way  as  a  pioneer  for  other  dioceses; 
people  were  cautious  at  the  outset,  and  thirty  years  ago 
they  were  in  a  far  more  irritable  temper  over  Church 
matters  than  now.  The  Bishop's  complex  scheme  was, 
however,  soon  set  aside,  and  by  1868,  the  double  system 
being  abolished,  the  whole  Conference  was  thrown  open  to 
clergy  and  laity. 

Beside  organisation,  the  Conference  of  1865  did  some 
good  practical  work.  It  arranged  for  a  Diocesan  Fund, 
administered  by  a  Diocesan  Society,  which  should  collect 
in  one  the  scattered  efforts  already  being  made  to  advance 
the  main  branches  of  Church  work  in  the  diocese.  The 
Fund  was  dedicated:  (i)  to  spiritual  aid,  by  providing 
curates,  readers,  deaconesses  or  mission  women,  in  popu- 
lous or  widely  scattered  parishes  j  (2)  to  the  augmentation 
of  poor  benefices  and  the  endowment  of  new  parishes  ; 
and  (3)  to  the  giving  of  grants  in  aid  of  poor  clergy  in 
difficulties.  The  Conference  also  considered  Church  educa- 
tion and  inspection  of  schools,  missionary  studentships, 
and  parochial  organisation  for  home  and  foreign  missions. 
Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  Bishop  carried  out  into 
practice  the  opinion  he  had  expressed  at  the  opening  of 
the  Conference,  namely,  that  "  the  subjects  discussed  should 
be  chiefly  practical  and  directly  connected  with  pastoral 

18 


2)^4  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

and  missionary  labours,  or  with  Church  extension  and  effi- 
ciency." And  to  keep  somewhat  nearer  to  his  ideal,  he  hit 
on  the  plan  of  holding  his  Conferences  at  different  centres, 
so  that,  in  fact,  they  became  what  one  might  call  Archi- 
diaconal  Synods,  coupled  with  a  system  of  lay  repre- 
sentation. At  these  four  different  centres,  one  in  each 
archdeaconry,  and  usually  at  Bedford,  Bury  St.  Edmunds, 
Cambridge,  and  Huntingdon,  he  introduced  as  much  variety 
as  he  could  ;  he  found  the  fourfold  Conference  a  very 
severe  tax  on  his  strength,  though  he  persevered  with  it 
throughout  his  Ely  episcopatie.  When  he  passed  over  to 
Winchester,  and  found  a  general  yearly  Conference  in 
existence,  he  made  no  attempt  to  alter  the  arrangement, 
though  he  more  than  once  publicly  referred  with  favour 
to  the  Ely  plan.  Nothing  allured  him  so  much  in  the 
larger  scheme  as  the  benefit  to  isolated  clergy  of  meeting 
and  exchanging  views  and  opinions  with  their  neighbours. 
That  isolation  or  "  Congregationalism  "  of  parishes  always 
weighed  heavily  on  his  mind  : — 

"  Clergy  and  laity,"  he  said,  "  have  lived  isolated,  divided, 
and  disjointed,  misunderstanding,  suspecting,  distrusting 
one  another.  .  .  .  Above  all,  I  have  it  at  heart  to  break 
down  that  isolation,  that  wall  of  separation,  which  divides 
one  clergyman  from  the  other,  and  the  clergy  in  general 
from  the  laity." 

For  he  had  not  only  the  larger  views  of  a  man  who  has 
seen  something  of  the  world  around  him,  but  also  a  strong 
belief  in  the  corporate  and  united  character  of  a  Church, 
as  a  body  in  which  all  are  brethren  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  are 
bound  to  avoid  isolation  and  the  risks  of  solitude. 

In  the  subjects  discussed  in  these  earlier  Conferences 
the  Bishop  avoided  abstract  topics,  or  anything  which 
might  lead  to  heat  and  irritation.  Early,  however,  in  1867 
the   Church  Defence   Association  of  Cambridge   perhaps 


L]  APPOINTMENT  AND  ADMINISTRATION  275 

dissatisfied  at  a  system  which  sounded  so  peaceful  a  note 
and  seemed  to  avoid  fighting  questions,  their  favourite 
business,  addressed  a  memorial  to  the  Bishop  on  the 
question  of  the  revival  of  Diocesan  Synods.  The  Bishop 
replied  that  Diocesan  Synods  are  a  part  of  the  constitution 
of  a  National  Church,  and  that  they  were  clearly  contem- 
plated by  the  English  Reformers.  He  urged  that  in  such 
Sytiods  the  laity  must  also  have  a  voice,  partly  because 
it  was  in  accordance  with  ancient  Church  usage  that 
all  the  members  of  the  body  politic  should  have  the  right 
to  appear,  and  partly  because  it  was  wise  to  welcome 
them,  as  they  would  inspire  confidence,  and  procure 
acceptance  for  the  decrees  to  be  promulged.  He  points 
out  that  synodical  action  exists  and  succeeds  in  America  ; 
and  that  in  his  belief  the  effects  of  it  on  the  Church  at 
home  would  be  happy.  Church  Congresses,  he  adds, 
have  already  proved  that  men  of  very  different  views  can 
meet  and  discuss  points  of  difference  in  a  charitable 
spirit  He  thinks  it  would  not  be  hard  to  provide 
accommodation  at  Cambridge  for  about  seven  hundred 
clergy  and  about  thirteen  hundred  churchwardens,  in  all 
a  body  of  about  two  thousand.  He  thinks  that  the  subjects 
for  discussion  ought  to  be  selected  by  a  committee,  under 
the  Bishop's  eye ;  and  concludes  by  suggesting  that  at 
first  matters  of  detail  might  well  be  left  to  him.  And 
finally  he  says  that  as  he  took  an  active  part  in  the  first 
Church  Congress  which  was  held  there,  so  he  hoped  that 
now  it  would  be  followed  by  nearly  if  not  quite  the  first 
Diocesan  Synod  ever  held  in  modern  times. 

This  reply  was  followed  by  a  circular,  dated  January 
25th,  1867,  addressed  to  the  Rural  Deans,  by  whom,  as  on 
a  pivot,  he  hoped  to  set  the  system  moving.  In  it  he  is 
"  anxious  to  know  the  sentiments  of  the  clergy  and  faithful 
Isdty  of  his  diocese  on  the  questions  raised."     The  circular 


276  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D,D.  [Ch. 

shows  how  much  he  had  at  heart  the  revival  of  constitu- 
tional life  in  the  English  Church  in  the  face  of  the  perils 
threatening  the  whole  fabric ;  for  the  Bishop  was  no 
optimist,  and  was  always  inclined  to  take  an  alarmist  view 
of  the  relations  of  the  Church  to  the  people  of  England. 

"  There  is  an  increasing  danger,"  he  writes,  "  from 
enemies  both  within  and  without ;  clergy  and  laity  will 
have  to  draw  closer  together  and  consult  more  freely  and 
fully  for  the  maintenance  of  true  doctrine  and  of  sound 
discipline." 

And  he  goes  on  to  give  a  very  simple  account  of  the 
genesis  of  the  modern  Diocesan  Conference  : — 

"  It  was  with  this  and  with  the  well-known  example  of 
St  Cyprian  full  in  my  memory  (Ep.  xiv.,  p.  32  :  Oxf.  1682) 
that  in  the  first  year  of  my  episcopate  I  commended  the 
meeting  of  Ruridecanal  Chapters  throughout  my  diocese, 
encouraged  the  calling  in  of  laymen  as  assessors  to  the 
clergy,  and  endeavoured  by  a  simple  machinery  to  gather  up 
the  results  of  such  meetings  in  a  central  assembly  at  Ely." 

He  then  pointed  out  the  practical  difficulty  of  convoking  a 
Synod  of  some  two  thousand  members  to  sit  for  a  couple  of 
days  in  the  Cathedral  Church.  "A  Diocesan  Congress'* 
would  be  very  different  from  a  Diocesan  "  Synod,"  and  "  I 
should  much  deplore  the  assembling  of  such  a  large  body 
merely  to  hear  speeches  from  a  few  popular  orators,  or 
to  excite  one  another  to  strong  feelings  on  great  party- 
questions."  He  points  out  that  the  new  Diocesan  Synod 
could  neither  be  the  consistory  court  of  the  Bishop  nor  the 
right  place  for  gravamina.  For  the  consistory  court  is  now 
otherwise  constituted,  and  the  clergy  can  reach  their  Bishop 
more  easily  (and  apparently  do  not  hesitate  to  do  so) 
through  the  penny  post. 

"  There  remains,"  he  adds,  "  but  one  other  use  for  which 
the  ancient  Diocesan  Synod  appears  to  have  met,  viz.,  to 


I.]  APPOINTMENT  AND  ADMINISTRATION,  277 

discuss  the  practical  wants  of  the  diocese,  to  give  account 
of  its  practical  working  to  the  Bishop,  to  give  counsel  to 
him,  and  to  hear  advice  from  him  on  these  wants  and 
their  working." 

He  then  asks  the  opinion  of  the  Deaneries  as  to  whether 
this  last  work  can  be  better  done  by  a  Synod  composed 
of  the  whole  clergy  and  of  selected  laymen.  He  also 
says  that  he  would  like  to  see  all  schools  of  thought  fairly 
represented ;  for  he  has  confidence  in  that  large  body  of 
conservative-minded  men  who  rank  themselves  on  no  side 
and  belong  to  no  school.  The  party-folk,  he  says,  with  a 
slight  touch  of  scorn,  "  make  plenty  of  noise,  but  are  really 
a  very  small  minority." 

The  upshot  of  the  whole  enquiry,  which  elicited  much 
interest,  was  the  establishment  of  the  Diocesan  Conference, 
composed  of  a  manageable  number  of  clergy  and  repre- 
sentative laymen.  Churchmen, — not,  as  at  first  suggested, 
necessarily  churchwardens.  In  the  first  Conference  all  the 
clergy  and  all  the  churchwardens  had  a  seat 

This  important  body  met  at  last  in  October,  1868.  It 
was  much  larger  than  was  desirable ;  the  number  of 
persons  summoned  averaged  about  seven  hundred  or  eight 
hundred  in  each  division,  and  those  actually  present  were 
about  four  hundred. 

The  subjects  of  the  1868  Conference  were:  (i)  The 
maintenance  of  the  National  Church  ;  (2)  Lay  work ;  (3) 
Unity  within  the  Church,  and  hopes  for  the  comprehension 
of  Nonconformists;  and  (4)  The  practical  question  of 
Church  rates.  The  Bishop  in  his  addresses  touched  on 
some  important  matters :  he  brings  <fut  the  old  figure  of 
the  "  educated  Christian  gentleman  "  in  each  parish  ;  yet 
he  feels  that  this  personage  is  much  too  independent.  He 
also  notices  the  shift  of  political  power  to  the  people,  and 
urges  the  Church  to  adapt  herself  to  the  new  conditions, — 


2/8  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

advice  which  she  has  shewn  herself  very  reluctant  to  follow 
during  the  past  quarter  of  a  century.  He  also  points  out 
that  the  old  parochial  system  is  not  flexible  enough  to  cope 
with  the  difficulties  which  meet  the  Church  in  large  cities, 
and  declares  bravely  that  it  must  be  supplemented  by  new 
machinery  and  more  distinct  co-operation  ;  and  he  might 
have  added,  with  that  nobler  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  of  which 
we  h^ve  since  seen  splendid  examples.  As  to  the  question 
of  Cjhurch  and  State,  he  speaks  temperately  and  sensibly  : 
it  need  not  so  much  scare  us  if  we  are  ready  ;  should  it 
take  the  Church  unawares  and  unorganised,  the  effect  of 
separation  would  be  very  serious.  He  recognises  that  the 
laity  are,  not  unnaturally,  rather  jealous  of  much  organ- 
isation, and  fear  a  kind  of  sacerdotal  conspiracy.  And  to 
this  fear  he  replies  by  declaring  it  to  be  his  wish  that  the 
new  organisations  should  be  not  sacerdotal  but  mixed  and 
general,  lay  and  clerical,  accepted  by  all. 

"  There  is  a  feeling,"  he  says,  "  that  the  High  Church  are 
more  in  favour  of  organisation,  and  that  the  Evangelical 
party  (for  which  I  cannot  in  many  points  but  feel  great 
sympathy)  prefer  individual  spiritual  work ;  but  I  am  cer- 
tain that  a  sectional  organisation  will  take  place,  unless  all 
parties,  high,  low,  and  broad,  work  together,  and  those 
who  hold  back  will  be  left  behind.  We  want  religious 
organisation  in  a  friendly  spirit  in  spiritual  work." 

He  holds  that,  with  a  view  to  union,  there  should 
be  no  resolutions  nor  any  voting ;  only  committees 
nominated  for  special  work,  and  conference  and  exchange 
of  opinions.  He  is  also  very  earnest  in  deprecating  ex- 
clusion ;  for  the  Cl^urch  of  England  is  the  true  Catholic 
Church  in  England,  "  containing  in  it  every  one  baptised 
into  Christ,  embracing  all  who  acknowledge  the  Apostles' 
Creed."  And  in  it  all  should  meet  in  a  friendly  spirit 
under  their  Bishop, "  who,  I  hold,  is  bound  to  be  no  party- 


I.]  APPOINTMENT  AND  ADMINISTRATION  279 

man  ; "  he  feels  sure  that,  if  they  met  together,  parties 
would  quarrel  less  than  was  generally  expected. 

These  yearly  conferences  were  not  truly  representative  ; 
and,  consequently,  towards  the  end  of  Bishop  Browne's 
Ely  episcopate  some  murmurs  and  complaints  arose.  The 
clergy  resented  the  preponderance  of  ex  officio  members, 
the  Bishop's  nominees;  he,  somewhat  jealous  of  his 
authority,  defended  the  system,  urging  that  it  worked  well. 
The  Conference  of  1873  had  a  committee  on  the  subject, 
which  reported  that  there  was  not  a  single  elected  or 
representative  clerical  member,  and  advised  that  elections 
should  be  held  for  one  clerical  and  one  lay  representative 
in  each  rural  deanery.  Before  any  action  could  be  taken 
the  Bishop  had  left  the  diocese. 

He  always  took  deep  interest  in  the  proceedings  of 
the  Church  Congresses.  They  have  afforded  so  good  an 
opportunity  of  testing  the  new  life  and  vigour  which  has 
by  God's  blessing  been  breathed  into  the  Church,  that  he 
regarded  them  as  the  germ  of  self-government  and  of  a 
new  and  wholesome  revival  of  discipline.  The  meetings  of 
Congress  soon  shewed  that  Churchmen  could  meet  without 
flying  at  one  another's  throats,  and  that  there  was  a  broad 
middle  group  of  men  willing  to  tolerate  differences  of 
opinion. 

5.  In  the  matter  of  Parish  Councils  we  find  Bishop 
Browne  well  in  advance  of  his  clergy.  The  subject  has 
since  his  day  grown  into  very  great  importance ;  and  the 
State  has  occupied  the  ground  which  was  then  open  to  the 
Church.  The  Councils  recommended  by  the  Bishop  were 
cautiously  guarded ;  for  he  had  no  democratic  leanings. 
It  should  not  be  the  old  mediaeval  Vestry,  with  its  meeting 
of  all  ratepayers,  nor  a  body  elected  by  what  the  opponents 
of  the  popular  will  style  "  mechanical  voting  "  or  "  mechanical 
majority," — by  which  seems  to  be  meant  the  expression  of 


28o  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

each  person's  free  judgment,  if  it  takes  a  direction  opposed 
to  the  opinion  of  his  "betters."  The  Bishop's  Council 
should  be  carefully  selected  from  the  tried  supporters  of 
Church  and  clergyman.  Even  so,  his  views  were  so  far 
in  advance  of  those  of  the  clergy  that  they  fell  dead  both 
at  Ely  and  at  Winchester.  Hardly  a  dozen  of  his  Councils 
were  attempted  in  either  diocese.  The  clergy,  as  a  rule,  are 
suspicious  as  to  interference,  and  fear  outspoken  criticism ; 
accustomed  to  act  for  themselves,  they  deem  themselves 
independent  of  their  flocks,  and  have  no  wish  for  a  Council 
at  their  elbow.  Parish  Councils  of  a  very  different  type 
are  coming  now,  and  the  clergy  have  unfortunately  once 
more  lost  the  initiative.     Post  est  occasio  calva. 

Bishop  Harold  Browne's  desire  to  take  his  diocese  into 
counsel  with  him  is  further  illustrated  by  the  tone  and 
tenor  of  his  Charges.  His  primary  Charge,  given  after  he 
had  been  at  Ely  for  nearly  two  years,  was  received  with 
great  favour,  though  the  earnest  warnings  against  extremes 
in  the  matter  of  ritual  were  distasteful  to  a  certain  minority. 
The  Spectator,  in  a  very  friendly  article,  says  that  it  is 

**  a  charge  which  should  rank  him  by  the  side  of  the  Bishop 
of  St.  David's  and  the  Bishop  of  London,  as  one  of  the 
great  champions  of  comprehension  rather  than  of  narrow 
definition  with  relation  to  the  doctrinal  character  of  our 
National  Church,  And,  what  is  better  still,  because  less 
susceptible  of  doubtful  interpretation,  it  shows  him  to  be 
one  of  the  great  advocates  for  the  charity  of  our  Burial 
Service,  and  that  on  the  highest  ground — the  ground  not 
of  conjectural  patronising  diarity  on  our  part,  but  of  the 
universal  scope  and  intention  of  God's  love  in  Christ" 

The  reviewer  also  warmly  applauds  the  Charge,  as  taking 
a  broad  and  liberal  view  of  the  "intellectual  boundaries 
of  Christ's  truth,  and  of  the  spiritual  boundaries  of  Christ's 
mercy."     And  he  ends  by  saying  : — 

"  If  the  Bishop's  ecclesiastical  influence  in  the  Church  is 


I.]  APPOINTMENT  AND  ADMINISTRATION,  28 1 

to  be  judged  by  this  Charge,  we  may  look  forward  to  having 
in  future  in  the  Upper  House  of  Convocation  a  great 
accession  to  the  strength  of  that  small  but  noble  party 
which,  resting  chiefly  on  Dr.  Thirlwall  and  Dr.  Tait,  has 
recently  done  so  much  to  redeem  the  Church  from  the 
charge  of  petty  bigotry  and  ecclesiastical  craft" 

While  the  Bishop's  utterances — sensible,  charitable,  and 
full  of  a  high  Christian  spirit — seemed  to  mark  him  out  as 
a  tolerant  and  liberal-minded  prelate,  his  intense  devotion 
to  the  Church  also  appears  in  a  paragraph  in  which  he 
defines  and  defends  the  middle  position  it  loves  to  hold. 

"  It  is  common,"  he  says,  "  with  those  organs  of  thought 
whose  very  boast  is  that  they  are  the  voices  of  the  spirit 
of  this  world,  to  represent  the  Church  of  this  land  as  a  mere 
negation,  a  compromise,  by  which  all  definite  truth  has 
been  silenced,  all  earnestness  neutralised  and  forbidden  ; 
neither  Catholic  nor  Evangelical,  a  mere  tabula  rasa,  with 
no  clear  characters  anywhere  impressed  on  it.  But  in  very 
deed  the  Church  is  full,  not  empty — gathering  from  the 
right  hand  and  from  the  left — full  of  all  deep  Catholic 
doctrine,  all  holy  Evangelical  truth — primitive,  Apostolic, 
Catholic,  Scriptural,  Reformed,  Evangelical.  It  has  elimi- 
nated nothing  but  error.  Having  'proved  all  things'  it 
'holds  fast  that  which  is  good.'  It  is  not  a  compromise 
between  truth  and  falsehood,  but  a  comprehension  of  all 
that  is  Christian  and  holy  and  true." 

And  in  a  letter,  written  soon  after  receiving  a  copy  of 
this  primary  Charge,  Professor  Lightfoot,  whose  words 
must  always  command  the  respectful  attention  and  ready 
acceptance  of  English  Churchmen,  speaks  warmly  and 
wisely.  While  he  thanks  him  for  his  protest  against 
innovations  in  ritual,  he  regrets  the  need  for  such  protest, 
and  urges  the  Bishop  to  do  all  in  his  power  to  retain  good 
and  earnest  men,  "  in  spite  of  their  follies,"  within  the  walls 
of  the  English  Church.  He  ends  by  saying  that  he  fears 
'*  nothing  more  than  an  anti-ritualistic  panic." 

The   Charge  deals  also  with  the  state  of  the  diocese. 


282  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D,  [Ca. 


He  describes  it  as  a  district  of  large  acreage  and  small 
population  ;  it  has  no  large  towns,  no  great  manufactures  ; 
it  is  well  supplied  (and,  indeed,  by  comparison  with  most 
northern  dioceses  over-supplied)  with  clergy,  having  in  all 
seven  hundred  and  thirteen,  or  one  for  every  six  hundred 
and  eighty  of  the  population.  Communications,  in  some 
parts,  are  not  easy ;  the  small  parishes  are  more  awkward 
to  work  than  the  large  ones  ;  there  is  tqo  much  non- 
residence  among  the  land-owners  and  clergy.  The  working- 
folk  have  little  love  for  the  Church  or  for  her  ministers. 
There  is  also  the  peculiar  fen-life,  unhealthy  and  isolated  ; 
the  diocese  also,  on  the  moral  side,  suffers  from  the  system 
of  working  in  gangs.  On  the  other  border  of  the  diocese 
were  the  difficulties,  educational  and  moral,  of  the  straw- 
plaiting  industry ;  he  makes  excellent  suggestions  as  to  the 
best  way  of  overcoming  the  evils.  He  traces  the  growth 
of  the  parochial  system,  and  sees  its  weak  points ;  he 
commends  the  employment  of  mission  women  or  deacon- 
esses ;  nor  does  he  forget  the  importance  of  enlisting  lay- 
help,  wherever  possible,  for  the  work  of  a  parish.  And 
with  much  that  is  wise  as  to  the  folly  of  stifling  enquiry^ 
and  with  remarks  on  the  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Eucharist, 
he  closes  a  Charge  which,  for  interest,  importance  of  topics 
discussed,  piety  and  charity,  and  for  practical  advice  and 
suggestions,  may  be  ranked  very  high  among  episcopal 
utterances. 

It  was  in  October  that  the  thought  of  a  yearly  meeting 
of  the  East  Anglian  Bishops,  to  help  one  another  in 
spiritual  life  and  work,  and  to  consult  tc^ether  on  practical 
questions  bearing  on  the  efficiency  and  right  guidance  of 
the  Church,  took  definite  form.  These  Conferences  sprang 
out  of  a  visit  paid  by  the  Bishop  of  Ely  to  the  Bishop  of 
Norwich,  when  the  value  of  sympathy  and  fellowship  in  all 
good  objects  was  much  in  the  minds  of  the  two  prelates. 


I.]  APPOINTMENT  AND  ADMINISTRATION.  283 

The  Bishop  of  Lincoln  (Wordsworth)  entered  warmly  into 
the  scheme,  and  urged  that,  as  he  was  the  senior  of  the 
Eastern  Counties  Bishops,  the  experiment  should  first  be 
tried  at  Riseholme,  where  accordingly  the  first  meeting 
took  place  in  November  1865.  The  Bishops  invited  were 
Lincoln,  Ely,  Norwich,  Peterborough,  and  Rochester ;  on 
the  establishment  of  the  See  of  St.  Albans,  which  took 
away  the  Essex  part  of  the  older  See,  Rochester  ceased 
to  be  East  Anglian,  and  St  Albans  was  invited  to  take 
the  place. 

These  meetings  have  been  kept  up  ever  since  that  time, 
with  real  success,  spiritual  and  social.  That  all  was  not 
solemnity  is  clear  from  the  incident  of  the  photograph  of 
the  five  Bishops,  which  was  taken  in  1872.  Mr.  Titterton, 
the  photographer  at  Ely,  was  astonished  one  morning  by 
the  invasion  of  five  Bishops,  headed  by  the  Bishop  of  the 
diocese,  who  came  in  laughing,  and  called  out,  "  Mr. 
Titterton,  here  are  five  Bishops  out  on  a  spree ; "  "  and," 
said  that  good  man,  "  these  distinguished  gentlemen  were 
all  as  merry  as  boys."  Bishop  Magee  naturally  led  the 
way ;  and  when  the  photographer  remarked  that  "  he 
wanted  to  get  them  all  on  an  equal  plane,"  cried  out, 
"  What  ?  all  equally  plain,  did  you  say  ?  That  would  be 
very  hard  on  the  others ! "  and  it  was  some  time  before 
sufficient  gravity  could  be  restored. 

Matters  of  ritual  and  ornament  also  in  these  days  occu- 
pied much  of  the  Bishop's  thoughts.  A  letter  written  by 
him  from  Ely  at  the  end  of  1865  to  his  friend  and  colleague, 
Lord  Arthur  Hervey,  shews  us  what  way  his  mind  was 
moving  at  that  time : — 

"  My  dear  Lord  Arthur,—  ...  I  should  have 
tried  to  consult  you  more  privately  about  one  or  two  points. 
One  is,  whether  there  is  any  hope  that  any  mutual  con- 
cessions should  reconcile  the  extreme  ritualists  and  their 


284  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

extreme  opponents.  I  imagine  that  in  Parliament  and 
Convocation  we  .may  have  a  struggle.  I  should  be  very 
sorry  that  it  should  lead  to  schism.  If  the  ritualists  would 
accept  licence  to  go  a  certain  way  but  no  further  (the 
limit  of  course  being  to  be  discussed)  we  might  obtain  an 
approximation  to  uniformity  of  ceremonial.  Neither  you 
nor  I  wish  it  to  be  too  bare  ;  but  we  do  not  like  others  to 
be  offended  by  its  being  too  gorgeous." 

And  again,  a  fortnight  later,  he  reverts  to  the  subject  :— 

•*  Palace,  Yin,  January  ist,  1866. 

"  My  dear  Lord  Arthur, —  .  .  .  There  is  an  able 
argument  on  '  Ritualism  and  the  Ecclesiastical  Law '  in 
the  first  Number  (January  1866)  of  the  Contemporary 
Review.  It  is  evidently  by  a  lawyer.  From  that  and 
from  other  sources  I  gather  that  the  law  will  probably 
prove  to  be,  that  a  cope  and  alb  worn  at  Communion  are 
admissible ;  but  that  lights  on  the  altar,  processions,  incense, 
turning  the  back  to  the  people  during  the  consecration, 
are  illegal ;  and  also  that  altars  as  distinguished  from 
communion-tables  are  illegal.  I  do  not  think  much  harm 
would  come  if  both  parties  would  agree  to  this.  A  cope 
worn  at  the  Holy  Communion  (if  processions,  incense, 
adoration  of  the  elements,  etc.,  were  forbidden)  would  do 
little  harm.  But  even  this  compromise  I  fear  will  not  be 
accepted  by  either  party. 

"  Ever,  my  dear  Lord, 

"  Yours  most  sincerely, 

"  E.  H.  Ely." 

And  again,  in  the  following  May  : — 

"  You  will  be  interested  to  hear  that  a  carefully  elaborated 
case  has  been  laid  before  Sir  R.  Phillimore,  Sir  Hugh 
Cairns,  and  Mr.  Melhuish,  and  they  have  pronounced  a 
decided  opinion  against  the  legality  of  altar-lights,  incense, 
mixing  water  with  the  wine,  and  vestments.  I  have  not 
yet  seen  the  opinion." 

Later  judgments  have  modified  this  view  of  the  subject 
Simply  as  shewing  how  little  the  Bishop  was  inclined 
to  deal   hardly  with  these  innovations,  when  they  came 


I.]  APPOINTMENT  AND  ADMINISTRATION.  285 

before  him  in  a  practical  form,  we  may  quote  another  letter 
to  the  same  Archdeacon,  in  which  he  says  : — 

"  Touching  the  stone  slab  in  Mr.  Luke's  altar-table,  Mr. 
Lee  thinks  it  could  not  legally  have  been  put  up  without 
a  faculty ;  but,  if  it  excites  no  strong  feeling,  it  might  be 
as  well  quieta  nan  movere  1  I  should  feel  it  difficult  to  order 
the  removal  of  a  like  slab  in  Wisbech  church,  where  the 
Vicar  is  rather  Low  than  High,  and  where  I  suppose  the 
history  of  the  slab  to  be  much  the  same." 

When  a  Memorial  on  these  subjects  was  presented  to 
him,  his  reply  breathed  a  spirit  of  caution  and  tolerance, 
with  an  instinctive  shrinking  from  extremes : — 

"  I  view,"  he  says,  "  with  the  deepest  sorrow  the  present 
divisions  in  the  Church,  and  the  rashness  with  which  some 
of  the  clergy  are  reviving  forms  and  customs  unknown 
among  us  for  many  centuries,  some  of  which  are  intended 
to  symbolise  doctrines  deliberately  rejected  by  our  branch 
of  the  Church  Catholic  of  Christ"  [He  instances  Hymns 
to  the  Virgin  Mary.]  "The  Church  ought  to  be  com- 
prehensive and  tolerant,  giving  fair  scope  to  that  diversity 
of  feeling  and  opinion  which  always  has,  and  in  this  world 
probably  always  will  prevail  among  those  who  worship 
the  same  God  and  trust  in  the  same  Saviour ;  and  I  will 
never  be  a  party  to  narrowing  the  bounds  of  the  Church 
so  as  to  reduce  it  to  the  proportions  of  a  sect."  "  I  can 
sympathise,"  he  adds,  "  with  a  man  who  says,  *  I  and  those 
who  think  with  me  hold  that  the  great  doctrine  of  the 
Cross  of  Christ  and  faith  in  His  atoning  blood  is  the  vital 
essence  of  Christianity,  and  unless  I  *can  see  other  people 
sound  upon  that,  I  can  have  no  hope  that  the  true  faith  of 
the  Church  of  Christ  will  prevail.'  I  can  understand,  on 
the  other  hand,  that  another  person  may  say  :  *  Those  who 
think  with  me  give  great  and  deep  value  to  the  incarnation 
of  Christ  and  to  the  union  of  every  Christian  soul  with  the 
incarnate  Saviour,  and  the  dwelling  of  the  Spirit  of  God 
in  every  Christian's  breast ;  and  on  that  principle  I  exalt 
and  value  the  Sacraments ;  and  I  cannot  think  that  those 
who  differ  from  me  in  this  are  doing  all  that  the  Church 
teaches.'  I,  for  one,  thank  God  that  I  most  heartily  agree 
with  both.     I  can  quite  understand  how  people  who  take 


286  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DJ>.  [Ch 

either  view  may  be  disposed  to  bring  every  one  into  con-  - 
formity  with  themselves,  and  reject  all  who  do  not  join 
them.  But  surely,  if  we  take  an  example,  we  shall  see  how 
all  may  be  comprehended  in  one.  I  will  not  name  living 
men,  as  they  are  mixed  up  in  questions  on  which  there 
may  be  differences  of  opinion.  I  will  go  some  way  back  ; 
and,  as  examples  of  the  High  Church  school,  take  Arch- 
bishop Laud,  or  my  great  predecessor  in  this  diocese. 
Bishop  Andrewes ;  I  will  take  such  men  as  Archbishop 
Leighton  and  John  Wesley  as  representing  the  Low  Church 
party ;  and  Bishop  Whately  and  Dr.  Arnold  as  represent- 
ing the  Broad  Church  ;  and  I  would  ask.  Is  there  any 
single  person  who  would  like  to  see  the  limits  of  the 
Church  drawn  so  closely  as  to  exclude  any  of  these  ?  I  am 
sure  that  a  Church  which  would  exclude  any  of  them  would 
not  be  a  Church  but  a  sect  Let  us  try  and  remember 
that  mutual  forbearance  is  one  of  the  great  principles  of 
unity;  and  that  we  may  preserve  all  essentials  and  still 
have  unity.  The  unity,  in  fact,  to  which  the  questions  I 
have  proposed  for  consideration  point  is,  not  compelling 
anyone  to  come  into  our  own  narrow  school,  but  the 
principle  of  uniting  in  great  and  God-like  aims  in  common 
action,  to  the  neglect  of  minor  differences." 

It  will  be  seen  how  free  the  Bishop  was  from  taint  of 
party  spirit ;  the  result  was  that  both  sides  were  inclined 
to  taunt  him  with  blowing  an  uncertain  trumpet,  when  he 
was  not  leading  on  a  party  to  the  fight,  but  trying,  in  a 
true  Christian  spirit,  to  find  out  how  to  reconcile  the  com- 
batants, or  at  least  to*draw  them  to  a  truce.  He  himself 
liked  a  dignified  and  rather  elaborate  ritual ;  yet  now,  as 
Bishop,  he  refused  to  countenance  the  further  advance. 
His  stem-principle  was  peace  in  Christ,  a  gospel  large 
enough  for  all ;  he  deprecated  all  warfare  between  Church- 
men, whether  in  the  courts  or  in  pulpits,  in  conference  or 
in  newspaper.  His  efforts  were  blessed  with  no  little 
success ;  though  the  controversies  of  this  period  were  hot, 
and  wrapped  him  again  and  again  in  a  steaming  atmo- 
sphere of  quarrel,  he  never  lost  his  coolness  and  clearness 


I.]  APPOINTMENT  AND  ADMINISTRATION  287 

of  vision,  or  forfeited  th6  universal  respect  and  affection 
of  his  flock. 

The  same  spirit  appears  also  in  his  remarks  on  those 
outside  the  Church.  He  had  been  personally  friendly  with 
the  Wesleyans  at  Kenwyn ;  and  now  he  wrote  : — 

"  The  Church  of  England  is  the  only  denomination  that 
neglected  to  use  the  energies  of  the  middle  and  lower 
classes.  The  Wesleyans  have  a  vast  number  of  persons 
who  exert  themselves  for  the  glory  of  God,  and  if  we 
do  not  employ  such  persons  in  the  Church  of  England, 
they  will  go  elsewhere." 

The  solution  seemed  to  him  to  lie  in  the  direction  of  a 
permanent  diaconate.  If  Disestablishment  were  to  come, 
he  adds,  "  it  would  be  a  deplorable  evil ;  but  it  would 
not  touch  or  alter  the  catholicity  of  the  English  Church," 
— a  wholesome  saying,  and  at  the  same  time  a  grave 
rebuke  to  those  who  by  speaking  of  the  temporalities  of 
the  Church  as  if  they  were  her  essence,  give  plentiful  hold 
to  our  antagonists.  The  Roman  Church  smiles  when  it 
hears  Bishops  talk  as  if  all  the  loose  charges  about  the 
State-created  Church  of  the  sixteenth  century  were  per- 
fectly true ;  as  if,  were  the  connection  between  Church  and 
State  snapped,  the  English  Church  would  cease  at  once 
to  exist 

Two  years  later  at  the  Conference  of  1870  the  Bishop's 
note  was  not  so  high  or  hopeful ;  it  was  no  longer  the 
brave  and  fearless  call  of  a  resolute  leader,  but  a  slightly 
plaintive  appeal  to  his  followers  to  bestir  themselves  and 
**  save  the  Church."  The  Irish  Church  had  just  been  dis- 
established, though  not  by  any  means  disendowed,  by 
Parliament,  and  at  Rome  the  Vatican  Council  had  pushed 
antagonism  a  stage  farther  on  its  irreconcilable  course. 
In  that  year,  referring  to  the  deaths  which  had  taken 
place,  he  says,  "  There  are  dark  shades  in  the  losses  we 


288  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DX>.  [Ch. 

have  sustained;  there  are  brighter  shadows"  (a  strange 
but  not  unnatural  phrase,  one  which  a  painter  would  have 
approved)  "  in  those  we  have  secured :  we  have  recruited 
our  strength  as  well  as  we  could  possibly  have  hoped," 
He  is  referring  to  the  help  he  had  just  obtained  from 
Bishop  McDougall. 

The  Conferences  of  1868  attracted  their  full  share  of 
attention  in  the  Church  and  Press.  The  Record  news- 
paper, never  completely  reconciled  with  the  Bishop,  though 
in  its  terror  lest  liberal  bishops  should  be  appointed  it  had 
accepted,  four  years  before,  the  nomination  with  certain 
satisfaction,  now  made  a  fierce  attack  on  him  for  his 
utterances,  declaring  that  their  tendency  was  all  in  the 
direction  of  sacerdotalism,  and  that  such  Diocesan  Con- 
ferences only  gave  high  churchmen  a  stage  whereon  to 
advertise  themselves.  The  attack  seems  to  have  touched 
the  Bishop  in  a  sensitive  part.  There  is  a  letter  to  him 
from  Dean  Stanley,  characteristic  of  the  way  in  which  he 
regarded  such  newspaper  attacks  : — 

"Deanery,  Westminster,  December  11 /A,  1868. 

"  My  dear  Lord, — I  am  much  obliged  for  your  letter. 
I  had  perceived  that  the  Record  had  been  attacking  you, 
but  had  been  too  much  accustomed  to  its  fictions  in  my 
own  case  to  pay  any  attention  to  them  in  the  case  of  any 
one  else.  However,  it  is,  I  believe,  always  worth  while  to 
give  a  direct  contradiction  to  falsifications  oifact,  I  once 
did  when,  after  having  delivered  a  eulogy  on  Calvin  in  a 
public  lecture,  I  was  accused  by  the  Record  of  having  said 
that  *  he  was  an  incarnation  of  the  devil.* 

"  Yours  sincerely, 

"  A.  P.  Stanley." 

And  the  late  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  also  wrote  to 
comfort  him  : — 

"  I  have  read  your  printed  letter.  It  is  atrocious  that 
you  should  be  exposed  to  the  misrepresentations   which 


1]  APPOINTMENT  AND  ADMINISTRATION.  289 

have  been  circulated.  Every  one  who  knows  you  takes 
them  at  their  true  value,  but  of  course  there  are  people 
who  believe  whatever  they  read  in  a  newspaper,  especially 
if  it  has  the  effect  of  compromising  a  Bishop. 

"  Ever  yours, 

«  A.  C.  London." 

The  truth  is  that  the  Bishop's  sensitive  nature  made 
him  feel  far  too  acutely  the  sting  even  of  such  criticisms 
as  might  from  time  to  time  appear  in  the  "  religious " 
journals.  It  was  this  delicacy  of  feeling,  in  a  man  whose 
whole  nature  yearned  for  sympathy,  and  who  in  all  his 
dealings  was  scrupulously  and  sometimes  magnanimously 
just  and  charitable,  which  made  Bishop  Browne's  position 
in  the  theological  troubles  of  the  time  one  of  singular 
interest.  He  did  what  he  saw  to  be  right,  though  he  knew 
that  he  must  thereby  come  under  the  censure  and  criti- 
<:ism  of  those  with  whom  he  mostly  thought  and  acted. 
In  and  through  all  we  feel  that  we  are  dealing  with  a  man 
strengthened  even  to  heroism  by  the  power  of  the  gospel 
of  Jesus  Christ. 


19 


CHAPTER   II. 

BISHOP    COLENSO,  AND  THE  CONSECRATION   OF 
BISHOP  TEMPLE. 

WHILE  Harold  Browne  was  still  Norrisian  Professor 
he  had  taken  an  active  part  in  the  controversy  over 
Bishop  Colenso's  writings.  In  knowledge,  moderation  of 
tone,  and  acceptance  with  Church  people,  he  had  by  far 
the  best  of  it ;  even  those  who  were  inclined  to  sympathise 
with  Bishop  Colenso's  views  still  regretted  his  manner  of 
setting  them  forth,  and  the  haste  with  which  he  drew  his 
conclusions. 

This  was  the  first  period  of  the  debate,  which  then 
circulated  round  the  Divinity  of  Christ  and  of  the  Inspira- 
tion of  Holy  Scripture.  It  was,  at  the  outset,  a  theological 
controversy ;  as,  however,  the  innovating  party  was  headed 
by  a  Bishop,  it  was  clear  that  ere  long  other  matters  would 
come  under  discussion,  and  the  relation  of  the  Bishop  of 
Natal  to  his  own  diocese,  to  the  Bishop  of  Cape  Town, 
to  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel,  to  the 
Houses  of  Convocation,  and  lastly  to  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  as  head  of  the  Anglican  community,  would 
have  to  be  carefully  considered.  The  Church  of  England, 
little  accustomed  to  real  self-government,  was  at  a  loss  to 
see  how  the  difficulty  should  be  met.  The  expansion  of 
the  Empire,  and  the  vigorous  efforts  made  by  the  Church 
to  occupy  the  ground,  had  created  some  difficult  problems, 

290 


ch.il]  bishop  colenso.  291 

which  called  for  solution  ;  and  lastly,  the  ill-defined  relations 
between  colonial  Bishops  and  the  mother-Church,  and  the 
uncertainty  as  to  the  relations  between  the  chief  Bishop 
in  a  colony  and  other  Bishops  around  him,  provided  ample 
scope  for  discord,  were  any  critical  case  to  arise.  And 
then,  where  did  appeals  lie  ?  Convocation  was  but  lately 
restored  to  life,  and  could  show  no  precedents  ;  the  authority 
of  the  Primate  had  never  been  tested  by  a  difficult  case ; 
the  Judicial  Committee  of  the  Privy  Council  could  deal 
with  questions  solely  from  the  legal  side  ;  and,  finally,  every 
Bishop  had  claims  of  jurisdiction  and  of  independence 
within  his  own  diocese.  Can  we  wonder  that  the  affair 
of  the  Bishop  of  Natal  sooa  took  a  complex  and  difficult 
character?  Orthodox  persons  of  repute  hesitated  long 
before  they  committed  themselves  to  any  line  of  action ; 
some  in  the  end  even  felt  bound  to  resist  the  efforts 
being  made  to  exclude  Bishop  Colenso  from  his  See.  The 
high  view  taken  of  the  episcopal  office  by  Bishop  Harold 
Browne  made  him  very  cautious  when  it  was  a  question 
of  the  deposition  or  excommunication  of  a  Bishop.  And 
there  was  real  need  for  care ;  Bishop  Browne  knew  how 
easily  earnest  men,  ignorant  of,  or  indifferent  about,, 
the  constitutional  aspect  of  theological  questions,  might 
commit  serious  injustice  ;  nothing  so  certainly  called  for  his 
protest  as  the  sight  of  men  moving  on  unconstitutional 
lines  even  towards  the  goal  he  himself  was  aiming  at.  In 
the  early  part  of  1863  Professor  Browne  had  seen  just 
such  a  case  of  zeal  outrunning  discretion.  The  Archdeacon 
of  Taunton  had  moved  in  Convocation  for  a  Committee  to 
consider  the  Bishop  of  Natal's  writings,  and  in  the  course 
of  his  speech  had  expressed  himself  in  strong  language, 
proclaiming  that  he  desired  this  Committee,  not  to 
enquire  into  the  case,  but  simply  to  condemn  the  writen 
Hereupon  Professor  Browne,  feeling  it  most  important  that 


292  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D,  [Ch. 

the  man  and  the  book  should  be  treated  fairly,  and  not 
be  "condemned  first  and  tried  afterwards,"  wrote  to  the 
Archdeacon  to  suggest  that  as  he  had .  expressed  himself 
so  strongly  he  would  do  well  not  to  be  chairman  of  his 
Committee,  but  should  allow  some  more  neutral  person  to 
take  the  chair,  and  so  avoid  all  suspicion  of  unfairness. 
The  Archdeacon  was  not  likely  to  take  this  view  of  the 
case.  He  replied  that  there  were  three  parties  in  Convoca- 
tion ;  the  first,  to  which  he  himself  belonged,  was  the 
majority,  who  held  it  to  be  the  duty  of  Convocation  to 
take  formal  notice  of  heretical  books ;  the  second,  the 
party  which,  without  questioning  the  right  of  Convocation 
to  do  this,  made  difficulties  about  exercising  it;  and 
thirdly,  the  party  which  thought  that  under  no  circum- 
stances ought  Convocation  to  revive  the  old  usage  of 
dealing  with  heretical  books.  The  committee  of  nineteen, 
he  said,  had  ten  members  of  the  second  and  third  class, 
and  only  nine  of  the  first ;  and  therefore  it  was  necessary 
for  him  to  be  chairman  ;  otherwise  the  accused  person 
would  escape.  In  other  words,  condemnation,  not  trial, 
was  his  aim.  How  a  dispassionate  observer  regarded  the 
results  of  this  committee's  sittings  may  be  learnt  from  a 
letter,  dated  May  2Sth,  1863,  from  the  late  Bishop  of 
Carlisle,  then  Dean  of  Ely,  to  his  Bishop  on  the  subject. 
He  writes: — 


"  On  thinking  of  our  Convocation  Report  I  am  con- 
vinced that  we  made  a  mistake  in  initio — we  ought  not  to 
have  allowed  Denison,  or  anyone,  to  present  a  report  cut 
and  dried,  prepared  before  any  communication  with  the 
committee.  I  think  we  should  have  met  as  in  a  Cambridge 
Syndicate,  and  talked  the  matter  over,  and  then  com- 
missioned one  of  our  body  to  draw  up  a  rough  sketch  of 
a  Report  in  conformity  with  the  views  agreed  upon.  As 
it  was,  we  were  hampered  throughout  by  the  necessity  of 
purging  the  report  from  Denison's  extravagances,  and  were 


n.]  BISHOP  COLENSO.  293 

prevented  from  giving  our  attention  to  the  construction  of 
a  really  good  report.  It  is  curious  on  looking  over  the 
document  to  observe  how  little  of  Denison*s  original  work 
remains,  and  that  part  about  the  worst  of  the  report. 

"  Yours  sincerely, 

"  H.  Goodwin." 

When  Bishop  Gray  first  went  out  to  the  Cape  in  1847 
he  took  with  him  letters  patent  granting  him  coercive 
jurisdiction  in  his  diocese ;  he  also  claimed  and  used  the 
somewhat  uncertain  title  of  "  Metropolitan  of  South 
Africa,"  so  asserting  a  spiritual  and  general  jurisdiction, 
which  he  had  no  legal  power  of  enforcing.  The  letters 
patent  came  before  the  Judicial  Committee  of  the  Privy 
Council  in  1863  (in  the  case  of  Long  z;.  Bishop  of  Cape 
Town),  and  the  Committee  gave  the  following  decision  : — 

"That  the  Bishop's  letters  patent  being  issued  after 
constitutional  government  had  been  established  in  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope,  were  ineffectual  to  create  any 
jurisdiction,  ecclesiastical  or  civil,  within  the  Colony,  even  if 
it  were  the  intention  of  the  letters  patent  to  create  such  a 
jurisdiction,  which  they  think  doubtful." 

And  this  decision  was  afterwards  confirmed  by  the  same 
body,  when  the  case  of  the  Bishop  of  Natal  was  brought 
before  it  in  1864  and  1865. 

"After  establishment  of  an  independent  legislature  in 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  and  Natal,"  they  say,  "  there  was 
no  power  in  the  Crown  by  virtue  of  its  prerogative  to 
establish  a  Metropolitan  see  or  province,  or  to  create  an 
ecclesiastical  corporation,  whose  status,  rights,  and  authority 
the  colony  would  be  required  to  recognise." 

When  the  question  as  to  the  right  of  Bishop  Colenso  to 
his  stipend  from  the  Colonial  Bishoprics'  Council  came 
before  Lord  Romilly,  Master  of  the  Rolls,  he  decided  that 
the  Bishop  was  entitled  to  it ;  though  he  proceeded  to 
explain  the  judgment  of  the  Judicial  Committee  in  terms 


294  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DD,  [Ch. 

which  practically  reversed  it.  Thereupon  the  Colonial 
Office  consulted  the  law  officers  of  the  Crown,  and  acting 
on  their  advice,  ignored  Lord  Romilly's  dictum ;  holding 
that  the  decision  of  the  Judicial  Committee  was  the  last 
word  in  the  controversy,  and  that  no  Judge  could  invalidate 
it  by  a  later  dictum. 

•  The  outcome  of  the  discussion  before  the  Judicial  Com- 
mittee was  this  :  that  no  Bishop  (unless  he  be  a  Patriarch 
or  an  Archbishop)  has  a  right  to  summon  another  Bishop 
to  his  court  or  to  hold  a  court  on  him  ;  that  each  Bishop 
in  a  province  is  the  equal  of  every  other  Bishop  in  it ;  and 
that  the  chief  Bishop  in  the  province  (whether  chief  through 
his  own  standing  or  through  position  of  his  See)  is  only 
"primus  inter  pares,'*  and  can  be  no  more.  Whence  it 
follows  that,  in  the  opinion  of  the  English  law,  a  colonial 
Bishop,  in  a  colony  enjoying  a  constitution  of  its  own, 
holds  a  very  independent  position  in  relation  to  all  other 
Bishops  in  that  colony,  and  cannot  be  removed  by  any 
one  of  them,  or  by  all  of  them  in  Synod  assembled,  from 
the  legal  possession  of  his  See. 

.  This,  it  will  be  understood,  was  a  very  grave  and  difficult 
position.  What  was  to  happen  were  a  Bishop  convicted 
of  some  serious  moral  offence,  or  if  he  neglected  his 
duties,  or  if  he  preached  or  published  heresies  ?  The  truth 
is  that  in  these  newly-established  Churches  these  matters 
had  never  been  brought  to  test ;  it  had  been  thought 
enough  to  bring  the  missionary  work  at  the  Cape  under 
some  episcopal  supervision,  without  attempting  to  define 
these  questions  or  to  decide  wherein  lay  the  ultimate 
authority  over  the  Bishops.  The  matter  was  much  com- 
plicated also  by  the  semi-established  position  of  the  Church 
of  England  in  the  dependencies  and  colonies  of  the  Crown. 
The  abolition  of  Established  Churches  in  the  colonies  was 
very   much  advanced  by  the  Colenso   troubles.      Bishop 


II.]  BISHOP  COLENSO.  29S 


Colenso  was  accused  of  having  published  erroneous  views 
on  the  sufficiency  and  inspiration  of  Holy  Scripture, 
and  on  our  Lord's  divinity.  Here  was  ground  enough  for 
alarm.  No  wonder  that  the  question  was  asked,  "Who 
can  bring  this  to  trial?  to  whom  is  a  colonial  Bishop 
responsible  ?  Is  it  possible  that  a  man  can  impugn  vital 
doctrines  and  endanger  the  English  Church  in  his  diocese, . 
and  yet  that  there  should  be  no  tribunal  before  which 
he  can  be  brought  ?  " 

The  posture  of  affairs  seemed  alarming  and  evan  absurd. 
The  colonial  Churches  had  hardly  created  any  ecclesiastical 
constitutions  for  themselves  ;  and  even  if  they  did,  for  the 
emergency,  meet  in  Synod,  it  would  be  very  hard  to  say 
what  were  their  powers,  and  whether  they  had  any 
authority  over  one  of  the  Bishops  of  the  province.  On  the 
other  hand,  an  appeal  to  the  Crown,  which  had  appointed 
the  accused  Bishop,  was  not  regarded  with  favour.  The 
Judicial  Committee  of  the  Privy  Council  has  a  dreadful 
habit  of  regarding  matters  from  the  point  of  view  of  strict 
legality,  and  it  also,  being  the  final  court  of  appeal,  is  very 
careful  as  to  the  accused,  giving  him  the  benefit  of  every 
doubt,  and  in  spiritual  questions  interpreting  all  documents, 
rubrics,  statements  of  dogma,  rules  of  Church  government, 
as  widely  as  possible.  It  is  therefore  naturally  unpopular 
among  those  who  hold  that  theological  questions  ought  to 
be  decided  by  theological  persons,  and  especially  distasteful 
to  those  who  think  that  heretics  should  first  be  con- 
demned by  the  spirituality,  and  after  that  handed  over 
to  the  secular  arm  for  punishment  The  accused  therefore 
like  the  Crown,  and  fly  for  refuge  to  it ;  the  attacking  party 
think  that  the  Crown,  in  its  legal  aspect,  can  have  no 
knowledge  of  or  right  to  judge  respecting  matters  of  faith, 
and  refuse  to  submit  their  causes  to  it.  In  the  case  of 
Bishop  Colenso  this  was  made  remarkably  clear.     He  had 


296  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  'Ch. 

been  appointed  by  the  Crown,  and  the  Crown  in  this  year 
1863  had  denied  to  the  Bishop  of  Cape  Town  any  rights 
as  Metropolitan ;  he  therefore  appealed  to  the  authority 
which  had  granted  him  his  letters  patent  Bishop  Gray, 
however,  refused  absolutely  to  submit  the  case  to  the 
lawyers  at  home,  and  sought  to  create  his  own  tribunal 
as  Metropolitan,  and  by  it  to  force  Bishop  Colenso  into 
subjection. 

Besides  the  Crown  and  the  colonial  Church  there  were 
two  other  authorities,  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  as 
head  of  the  English  Church,  and  the  Houses  of  Convo- 
cation ;  both  of  which  were  appealed  to  in  the  course  of 
this  long  controversy. 

Bishop  Gray  had  one  distinct  advantage  throughout 
He  knew  his  own  mind.  No  one  could  doubt  his  complete 
sincerity ;  he  was  strong,  determined,  resolute,  and  some- 
what narrow ;  such  a  man  will  boldly  venture  on  vigorous 
action,  and  defend  it  fearlessly.  The  same  qualities  which 
go  to  make  a  successful  general  are,  however,  not  the  best 
for  bringing  a  Church  out  of  a  difficult  and  complicated 
situation.  "  Athanasius  contra  mundum  "  (in  which  "mun- 
dum  "  is  the  State)  has  an  awkward  part  to  play,  and  finds 
himself  caught  in  the  strong  meshes  of  legal  obligation, 
which  he  abhors,  yet  cannot  escape  from,  in  spite  of  all  his 
resolution  and  vigour. 

Bishop  Gray  began  by  taking  steps  which  at  once  made 
a  collision  inevitable.  He  shut  his  eyes  to  the  legal 
decision  of  the  Privy  Council,  which  had  cancelled  his 
letters  patent,  and,  standing  on  his  supposed  Metropolitan 
powers,  summoned  Bishop  Colenso  to  appear  before  him 
and  submit  to  trial.  The  Bishop  of  Natal  naturally  de- 
murred to  this  step,  refused  to  appear,  protested  against 
the  validity  of  the  whole  proceeding,  and  appealed  to  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury.     The  decision   of  the   Privy 


11.]  BISHOP  COLENSO,  29/ 

Council  on  the  case  Long  z/.  Bishop  of  Cape  Town  was 
by  this  time  known  in  Africa,  so  that  Bishop  Gray  could 
claim  only  a  general  metropolitical  authority  which  he  hoped 
to  enforce  over  the  Bishop  of  Natal ;  accordingly,  when  that 
prelate  refused  to  appear,  the  Bishop  of  Cape  Town  pro- 
nounced against  him  a  formal  sentence  of  deprivation  on 
December  i6th,  1863  >  giving  him  till  April  i6th,  1864,  in 
which  to  retract  his  appeal  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury. To  this  Bishop  Colenso  replied  by  addressing  a 
letter  direct  to  the  Crown,  praying  Her  Majesty  to  grant 
him  protection  against  this  invasion  of  his  rights  "  till  the 
letters  patent  granted  to  him  should  be  cancelled  by  due 
process  of  law  for  some  sufficient  cause  of  forfeiture,  and 
praying  for  a  declaration  of  the  nullity  of  the  Bishop  of 
Cape  Town's  powers  and  proceedings."  The  two  Bishops 
came  over  to  England  in  the  course  of  1864,  and  brought 
the  strife  to  a  more  definite  issue.  Her  Majesty  in  Council, 
through  the  Judicial  Committee,  took  the  matter  into 
consideration  on  June  27th,  1864 ;  it  came  on  again  in  the 
following  December.  Bishop  Gray  and  Bishop  Colenso 
were  both  represented  by  counsel ;  the  former  under  pro- 
test, denying  that  Her  Majesty  in  Council  had  any  juris- 
diction in  the  matter,  or  that  any  appeal  lay  from  his  act 
of  deposition  either  to  the  Queen  or  to  the  Privy  Council. 

Judgment  was  given  by  Lord  Westbury  on  March  20th, 
1865  ;  and,  though  exception  may  be  taken  to  the  way  in 
which  he  handled  the  matter,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
the  decision  was  legally  correct.  It  again  declared  the 
Bishop  of  Cape  Town's  letters  patent  to  be  null  and  void, 
and  laid  it  down  that  the  law  of  England  recognised  no 
such  authority  as  he  claimed;  that  his  metropolitical 
rights  could  not  be  acknowledged  by  the  law;  and  that 
the  deposition  of  one  Bishop  by  another  was  legally  null 
and  void   also.     It   became  clear  that  in  all   matters  of 


298  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

discipline  Churches  in  self-ruling  colonies  would  have  to 
create  their  own  laws  and  regulations.  It  was  also  clear 
that  the  relations  between  Church  and  State  were  beginning 
to  enter  on  an  entirely  new  phase,  now  that  the  Queen  in 
Council  declared  that  she  did  not  recognise  these  spiritual 
persons,  or  regard  them  as  being  under  those  limitations 
and  restrictions  which  have  been  placed  by  the  State  round 
the  action  of  the  Church  at  home. 

The  Natal  clergy  now  on  the  whole  declared  warmly 
against  Bishop  Colenso,  and  expressed  their  sympathy 
with  Bishop  Gray.  In  England  also  the  Houses  of 
Convocation  were  much  moved.  They  thanked  Bishop 
Gray,  and  dissevered  themselves  from  the  Bishop  of 
Natal's  writings.  While  however  they  rejoiced  in  the 
stand  made  against  false  doctrine,  they  carefully  avoided 
affirming  the  legality  of  the  proceedings  taken  by  the 
Bishop  of  Cape  Town.  The  Upper  House  was  naturally 
very  sensitive  as  to  the  rights  and  position  of  a  Bishop 
within  his  See,  and  would  not  say  that  the  somewhat 
shadowy  "  Metropolitical  "  authority  of  the  Bishop  of  Cape 
Town  enabled  him  to  depose  a  neighbouring  Bishop. 
While  Convocation  strongly  condemned  Bishop  Colenso's 
books,  it  hesitated  to  advise  that  proceedings  should  be 
taken  at  law  against  the  author.  All  the  Bishop  of  Cape 
Town's  urgency  could  not  elicit  from  Convocation  more 
than  a  general  statement  of  disapproval  of  Bishop  Colenso's 
opinions,  and  of  warm  sympathy  with  his  opponent:  it 
never  committed  itself,  then  or  later,  to  an  actual  approval 
of  the  steps  Bishop  Gray  had  so  boldly  taken. 

Matters  could  not  rest  here  :  towards  the  end  of  1865, 
the  Bishop  of  Natal  returned  to  his  diocese,  determined 
to  defy  his  neighbour,  and  to  officiate,  as  usual,  in  his 
Cathedral  Church.  Hereon  Bishop  Gray  threatened  him 
with  excommunication  ;  and,  as  he  refused  to  give  way, 


11]  BISHOP  COLENSO.  299 

on  January  Sth,  1866,  the  Dean  of  Maritzburg  read, 
from  the  Cathedral  altar,  the  sentence  of  the  greater 
excommunication  against  John  William  Colenso. 

As  Bishop  Colenso  refused  to  submit  to  either  depriva- 
tion or  excommunication,  a  schism  in  the  Church  of  South 
Africa  appeared  imminent,  for  a  certain  minority  clung  to 
him,  and  the  natives  ever  remembered  the  manly  way 
in  which  he  had  been  their  friend  and  champion.  The 
Bishop  of  Cape  Town  now,  in  combination  with  the 
Dean  of  Maritzburg,  submitted  to  the  Convocation  of 
the  Province  of  Canterbury  three  questions : — 

I.  "Whether  the  Church  of  England  holds  communion 
with  Dr.  Colenso  and  the  heretical  Church  he  is  seeking 
to  establish  in  Natal,  or  whether  it  is  in  communion  with 
the  orthodox  Bishops  who  in  synod  declared  him  to  be 
ipso  facto  excommunicated  ?  "  2.  "  Whether  the  acceptance 
of  a  new  Bishop  on  the  part  of  the  Church  in  Natal,  w|;iilst 
Dr.  Colenso  still  retains  the  letters  patent  of  the  Crown, 
would  in  any  way  sever  us  from  the  mother  Church  of 
England?"  And  3.  "Supposing  that  the  reply  to' the 
last  question  was  that  they  would  not  so  be  severed,  what 
are  the  proper  steps  which  the  diocese  should  take  to 
obtain  a  new  Bishop  ?  " 

It  is  at  this  point  that  the  influence  of  the  Bishop  of 
Ely  begins  to  be  felt.  He  certainly  was  not  prejudiced 
in  favour  of  the  Bishop  of  Natal.  Now,  however,  when 
it  appeared  to  him  and  the  more  cool-headed  of  the 
Engh'sh  prelates,  that  Bishop  Gray's  course  of  action  was 
fraught  with  danger  to  the  independence  of  the  epis- 
copate, he  intervened,  and  urged  moderate  counsels  on 
the  somewhat  heated  Upper  House.  Bishop  Wilberforce 
brought  forward  a  motion,  warmly  urging  the  Bishops 
to  support  Bishop  Gray.  The  majority  in  both  Houses 
of  Convocation  were  eager  to  follow  his  lead.  Four 
Bishops,  however,  intervened  and  checked  the  movement. 


300  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D,D.  _Ch. 

These  were  the  Bishop  of  London,  Dr.  Tait;  ThirlwalU 
Bishop  of  St.  Davids  ;  Jackson,  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  and 
the  Bishop  of  Ely.  They  all  emphatically  condemned 
Colenso's  utterances;  in  principle  they  sympathised  with 
the  Bishop  of  Cape  Town,  but  they  urged  with  great 
force  that  he  was  wrong  in  his  method  of  action.  Bishop 
Tait,  speaking  with  that  weight  and  statesmanlike  spirit 
which  distinguished  him,  said  that  there  was  this  fault 
in  Bishop  Gray's  character,  that  he  was  not  content  with 
merely  holding  his  opinions,  but  that  he  must  try  to  make 
every  other  person  hold  them  too.  "  And  therefore  I  d<J 
not  wish  to  endow  him  with  absolute  authority  over  the 
Church  in  the  colony  over  which  he  presides."  He  then 
goes  on  to  enquire  what  the  Bishop  ought  to  have  done ; 
and  replies  that — 

"his  proceedings  being  declared  null  and  void  in  law, 
it  would  be  the  right  course  for  him  to  reconsider  the 
matter  and  to  endeavour  to  institute  such  proceedings  as 
may  be  sustained  by  law ;  and  I  do  not  believe  that  any 
difficulty  stands  in  the  way  of  his  pursuing  such  a  course." 

Bishop  Harold  Browne  also  strongly  urged  Convocation 
not  to  accept  the  Bishop  of  Oxford's  motion.  As  the 
speech  he  made  on  this  occasion  is  a  somewhat  memorable 
expression  of  his  constitutional  way  of  looking  at  Church 
questions,  it  is  here  partly  reproduced  from  the  Chronicle 
of  Convocation  for  1866,  p.  512. 

After  some  introductory  remarks  he  points  out  that 
the  House  must  consider  the  eflfect  of  its  decision  on  the 
constitution  of  the  Colonial  Church  and  its  future. 

We  are  asked  to  endorse  Bishop  Gray's  judgment  in 
Synod  on  Bishop  Colenso.  This  involves  the  question 
whether  the  Bishop  of  Cape  Town  is  legally  or  eccle- 
siastically Metropolitan  of  South  Africa,  and,  if  so,  how 
tar  his  powers  go.     It  does  appear  to  me  to  be  of  great 


IL]  BISHOP  COLENSO,  3OI 

consequence  for  the  future  prosperity  of  the  Church  in  the 
colonies,  that  all  questions  connected  with  the  establish- 
ment of  provinces  and  Metropolitans  in  the  colonies  should 
be  carefully  weighed  before  anything  is  done  which  should 
fix  them  for  the  future." 

He  then  digresses  into  the  earlier  history  of  Metropolitans, 
and  shews  how  large  were  the  powers  of  the  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury  as  such.  He  next  points  out  that  the 
patent  to  the  Bishop  of  Natal  gave  the  Bishop  of  Cape 
Town,  as  Metropolitan,  the  same  powers  as  the  Archbishop 
has.  Under  the  belief  that  he  had  these  powers,  Bishop 
Gray  had  acted.  But  then  these  powers  had  been  legally 
declared  null  and  void ;  so  that  the  Bishop  of  Cape  Town 
really  had  not  the  legal  authority  of  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury.  Bishop  Gray  argues  that  virtually,  though 
not  l^ally,  he  still  had  these  powers.  But  then,  he  has 
performed  acts  which  are  shown  to  be  neither  legally  valid 
nor  constitutional. 

Bishop  Gray  also  claims  that  there  is  no  appeal  from 
him,  either  to  the  Archbishop  or  to  the  Crown  ;  and,  in 
fact,  he  claims  more  for  Cape  Town  than  is  actually  claimed 
and  exercised  by  Canterbury.  The  Bishop  of  Ely  then 
declares  that  the  Bishops  who  advised  the  Crown  to 
make  Bishop  Gray  Metropolitan  could  never  have  meant 
to  give  him  powers  so  far-reaching  and  autocratic,  and  that 
therefore  he  has  no  legal  or  moral  right  to  claim  them. 
"Then  comes  the  whole  question,  If  he  is  not  Metropolitan, 
he  could  not  by  right  as  Metropolitan  summon  the  Synod, 
and  the  judgment  he  gives  would  not  be  legally  or 
ecclesiastically  a  valid  judgment."  And,  though  the  Bishop 
holds  that  Bishop  Colenso  was  heretical,  he  still  cannot 
go  so  far  as  Bishop  Gray  wishes  in  his  motions.  If  the 
Synod  of  Canterbury  is  to  endorse  all  the  acts  of  the 
Synod  of  Cape  Town,  that  Bishop  will  have  greater  powers 


302  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,   D.D.  [Ch. 

than  Canterbury  enjoys,  and  that  without  appeal.  This 
would  be  most  injurious  to  the  Colonies.  The  Colonial 
Churches  in  their  independent  state  ought  to  go  back  to 
the  precedents  of  the  Church  before  Constantine.  These 
precedents  would  not  carry  out  the  claims  of  the  Bishop 
of  Cape  Town.  It  would  be  most  dangerous  to  endorse 
those  claims  to  great  powers,  to  be  exercised  without 
appeal.  The  Bishop  also  shows  that  it  would  be  doubtful 
to  say  that  the  Church  refuses  to  "  hold  communion  with 
Dr.  Colenso "  and  the  heretical  church ;  it  is  also  wrong 
to  call  him  Dk  Colenso :  he  is  still  Bishop  Colenso, 
whether  he  is  Bishop  of  Natal  or  not.  And  he  concludes 
by  saying  : — 

(i)  "That  I  do  not  like  to  speak  of  one  who  is  still  a 
Bishop  as  though  he  were  deprived  not  only  of  his  diocese 
but  of  his  episcopate  ;  (2)  That  I  do  not  like  to  denounce 
as  excommunicate  all  who,  it  may  be  knowingly  or  it 
may  be  ignorantly,  have  communicated  with  him  ;  but 
(3)  Chiefly,  I  do  not  like  by  this  resolution  to  anticipate 
the  future  of  the  Colonial  Church,  and  so  possibly  involve 
it  in  greater  difficulties." 

Bishop  Gray  and  his  friends  could  not  let  the  matter 
rest  here.  Convocation,  instead  of  applauding  his  vigorous 
measures,  had  passed  them  by  without  committing  itself  to 
either  approval  or  censure  ;  the  tension  increased.  Bishop 
Colenso  invited  his  accuser  to  submit  the  whole  matter  to 
a  proper  ecclesiastical  tribunal  in  England  ;  and  to  this 
the  Bishop  of  Cape  Town  replied  by  refusing  to  recognise 
the  validity  of  the  English  Courts  or  their  jurisdiction 
over  him  in  spiritualibus.  His  view  was,  apparently,  that 
he  and  his  Synod  at  Cape  Town  had  rightly  passed 
judgment  on  the  heresies  of  a  Bishop  under  him  as 
Metropolitan ;  that  this  judgment  also  excluded  the 
condemned  Bishop  from  his  temporalities ;  and  that  the 


II.]  BISHOP  COLENSO,  3O3 

letters  patent  of  the  Crown  might  be  set  altogether  aside. 
This  hopelessly  wrong  position  he  held  throughout,  though 
the  law  protected  Bishop  Colenso  from  some  of  the  effects 
of  it  In  order  to  secure  for  the  Church  people  of  Natal 
an  orthodox  bishop,  Bishop  Gray  prepared  for  two  things  ; 
first,  for  an  appeal  from  Convocation  to  the  Lambeth 
Conference  (about  to  be  held  for  the  first  time  in  1867), 
so  as  to  obtain,  if  he  could,  the  formal  approval  of  the 
whole  Anglican  Episcopate;  and  secondly,  for  the 
appointment  of  an  independent  Bishop  for  Natal,  by 
which  act  he  hoped  to  assert  to  the  world  that  his 
deprivation  of  Bishop  Colenso  had  actually  vacated  the 
See. 

The  Bishop  of  London,  Tait,  whose  statesmanlike 
temper  was  very  galling  to  the  hotter  spirits  in  the  violent 
controversies  of  the  time,  stood  out  bravely  against  this 
narrowing  of  liberty  of  opinion  within  the  Church.  He 
seems  too  to  have  understood,  as  few  did,  the  critical 
nature  of  the  time,  in  which  these  young  Churches  in  the 
colonies  were  feeling  their  way  towards  an  independent 
life.  There  was  great  risk  lest,  under  the  influence  of 
some  strong  leader  of  a  provincial  Church,  the  just  limits 
within  which  opinion  might  oscillate  safely  should  be  un- 
wisely narrowed,  and  orthodoxy  guaranteed  at  the  cost 
of  thought  It  was  unfortunate  that  Bishop  Colenso's 
language  had  endangered  these  essential  liberties.  It  was 
felt  that  he  had  strained  the  endurance  of  the  Church, 
and  yet  that  the  measures  taken  against  him  were  full 
of  danger.  And  so  Bishop  Tait  did  a  wise  thing,  which 
nevertheless  brought  on  him  violent  remonstrance  and 
even  abuse  from  those  who  refused  to  allow  that  there 
were  two  sides  to  the  Colenso  question.  He  endeavoured 
to  arrive  at  an  impression  as  to  the  state  of  opinion 
respecting  the  Colenso  difficulty   in  the  colonies.     After 


304  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D,  [Ch. 

Stating  that  he  considered  the  moment  one  of  great  risk 
to  the  whole  colonial  Church,  and  pointing  out  that  in 
Natal  there  was  one  Bishop  who  was  a  heretic,  and  another 
about  to  be  consecrated  who,  in 'the  eye  of  the  law,  would 
be  schismatic,  he  threw  out  the  view  that  the  clergy  of 
that  uneasy  diocese  ought  to  be  the  nominees  of  the 
Church  Missionary  Society,  placed  immediately  under  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury  ;  a  view  which  in  the  actual 
state  of  colonial  liberties,  civil  and  ecclesiastical,  was  not 
likely  to  meet  with  much  acceptance.  He  then  issued  a 
circular  of  enquiry,  which  elicited  a  mass  of  evidence  as 
to  colonial  opinion  ;  shewing  that,  with  the  exception  of 
the  Bishop  of  Cape  Town's  own  diocese,  there  was  much 
dissatisfaction  at  the  action  of  that  resolute  prelate. 
Bishop  Tait  was  thus  confirmed  in  his  view  that  the  bulk 
of  colonial  opinion  was  unfavourable  to  Bishop  Gray's 
pretensions  and  acts.  Men  were  not  anxious  to  see  the 
colonial  Churches  shake  themselves  free  from  their  con- 
nection with  the  august  traditions  and  vigorous  life  of 
the  Primacy  of  Canterbury. 

Soon  after  this,  in  September  1867,  the  first  "Pan- 
Anglican'*  Conference  took  place  at  Lambeth.  Some  of 
the  English  Bishops,  eager  above  all  things  for  peace, 
desired  that  the  Colenso  affair  might  be  excluded  from 
discussion.  Archbishop  Sumner  gave  them  an  assurance 
that  it  should  be  so,  and  it  was  omitted  from  the  pro- 
gramme. But  when  men  are  much  in  earnest  it  is  im- 
possible to  keep  down  matters  on  which  their  thoughts 
are  fixed.  And,  consequently,  it  was  not  long  before  > a 
determined  effort  was  made  to  obtain  an  expression  of 
opinion  on  the  subject.  The  Bishop  of  St.  David's  resisted 
the  introduction  of  this  debatable  matter,  and  urged  that, 
after  the  Archbishop  had  consented  to  its  exclusion,  it 
was  a  breach  of  faith.     The  Bishop  of  New  Zealand,  Dr. 


II.]  BISHOP  COLENSO.  3OS 

Selwyn,  thereupon  attacked  Bishop  Thirlwall,  because  in 
a  recently  published  Charge  he  had  reflected  somewhat 
severely  on  Bishop  Gray's  proceedings;  the  Bishop  of 
London  came  to  the  defence  of  the  Bishop  of  St.  David's  ; 
and  Bishop  Harold  Browne  followed  on  the  same  side 
with  a  warm  eulogy  of  Bishop  Thirlwall,  in  which  he 
declared  him  to  be  "  not  only  the  most  learned  prelate  in 
Europe,  but  probably  the  most  learned  Prelate  who  has 
ever  presided  over  any  See." 

The  effort  to  keep  out  the  Colenso  question  failed,  and 
a  discussion  followed.  The  three  or  four  Bishops  who  set 
themselves  to  stem  the  tide  were  as  temperate  as  brave. 
The  Bishop  of  Oxford  circulated  for  signature  a  paper 
against  Colenso.  This  neither  Bishop  Tait  nor  the  Bishop 
of  Ely  would  sign,  "on  the  ground  that  a  Metropolitan 
had  no  power  to  depose  a  Bishop,  as  Gray  had  done,  even 
under  pure  ecclesiastical  law." 

To  the  Bishop  of  Tennessee  Bishop  Harold  Browne 
addressed  a  letter  in  which  he  lays  down  the  principles 
on  which  he,  and  the  other  Bishops  in  opposition,  regarded 
the  whole  matter.  The  letter  was  not  written  for  some 
time  after  the  Congress. 

"  Ely  House,  April  28/A,  1868. 

"My  dear  Friend  and  Brother,— You  asked  me 
once  to  put  on  paper  what  I  said  to  you  about  the  Natal 
question.     I  believe  it  was  nearly  as  follows  : 

"  Supposing  the  Church  of  South  Africa  to  be  now  no 
more  a  part  or  dependency  of  the  Church  of  England  than 
the  Episcopal  Church  of  Scotland  or  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  of  America;  then,  if  the  Bishop  of 
Cape  Town,  as  Metropolitan  or  presiding  Bishop,  informs 
me  that  one  of  the  South  African  Bishops  has  been  ex- 
communicated and  deposed,  and  that  another  Bishop  has 
been  elected  and  consecrated  in  his  room,  I  should  have 
no  more  hesitation  in  accepting  and  acting  on  such  in- 
formation than  I  should  have  if  the  like  information  were 

20 


3o6  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D,  [Ch. 

given  me  by  the  presiding  Bishop  of  the  Church  in  the 
IJnited  States.  I  should  consider  the  deposed  Bishop  as 
not  to  be  admitted  into  my  diocese,  and  I  should  acknow- 
ledge the  Bishop  consecrated  in  his  room. 

"  The  present  difficulty,  however,  is  of  a  different  kind 
The  Bishop  of  Cape  Town  has  appealed  to  the  English 
Bishops  and  the  English  Convocations  to  pronounce 
upon  the  spiritual  validity  of  the  deposition  of  Bishop 
Colenso. 

"  Now,  there  lies  no  appeal  from  the  Bishops  of  South 
Africa  and  the  Synod  of  South  Africa  to  the  Bishops  or 
Synods  of  the  Primacies  of  Canterbury  and  York.  At  the 
same  time,  I  do  not  deny  that,  when  there  is  a  grievous 
heresy  in  an  infant  Church,  the  Bishops  of  that  Church 
may  reasonably  ask  for  sympathy  and  countenance  from 
Churches  in  communion  with  them.  I  am  therefore  willing 
to  express  all  possible  sympathy  with  the  suffering  Church 
of  South  Africa,  and  to  state  my  own  opinion  that  Bishop 
Colenso  is  bound  in  all  good  faith  to  withdraw  from  a 
position  which  he  cannot  hold  consistently  with  his  ordi- 
nation vows. 

"  But  then,  the  Bishops  of  South  Africa  ask  that  the 
English  Bishops  and  the  English  Convocations  should 
pronounce  authoritatively  on  the  validity  of  the  deposition. 
This,  I  believe,  involves  questions  of  the  gravest  difficulty. 
I  am  quite  willing  to  accept  the  deposition  as  stated  to 
me  by  the  authorities  by  whom  it  was  pronounced.  But 
if  I  am  asked  to  declare,  in  my  own  person  and  in  my 
place  as  a  Bishop,  that  the  deposition  was  legal  and  valid, 
I  feel  that  all  the  knotty  questions  concerning  Metro- 
political  power,  and  the  right  of  a  Metropolitan  to  depose 
his  comprovincial  Bishops,  and  the  exact  nature  of  the 
proceedings  at  Cape  Town,  must  be  entered  into.  The 
distinction  between  *  legal'  and  'spiritual'  deposition  is 
surely  a  distinction  without  a  difference.  If  a  Bishop  be 
deposed  according  to  the  laws  and  canons  of  the  Church, 
legally  binding  on  that  Church,  he  is  truly,  legally,  canoni- 
cally,  spiritually  deposed.  If  he  be  not  legally  and 
canonically  deposed,  then  he  cannot  be  spiritually  deposed. 
That  which  is  bound  on  earth,  by  the  lawful  authority  of 
those  empowered  to  bind,  is  also  bound  in  Heaven.  Hence, 
I  am  unable  to  see  that  it  is  a  simple  and  easy  thing  to 
say  whether  a  person  has  been  spiritually  deposed,  leaving 
further  questions  of  legal  deposition  to  ecclesiastical  courts. 


II.]  BISHOP  COLENSO.  307 

If  a  person  be  deposed  by  a  tribunal  having  authority  to 
depose,  there  being  no  appeal,  or  no  appeal  being  instituted, 
then  he  is  spiritually  deposed,  and  not  otherwise.  This 
is  universally  true  in  Churches  not  established,  as  much 
as  in  those  which  have  more  or  less  union  with  a  State. 
I  believe  it  is  agreed  by  all  canonists  that  the  deposition 
of  a  Bishop  is  very  far  from  being  a  simple  thing.  Jure 
dtvinOy  a  Bishop  has  no  spiritual  superior  on  earth ;  Jure 
ecclesiasticoy  he  may  have  an  ecclesiastical  superior ;  but 
that  ecclesiastical  superior  certainly  had  no  deposing  power 
till  there  arose  that  very  tangled  relation  between  the  civil 
and  ecclesiastical  authorities  which  was  inaugurated  by  the 
accession  of  the  Roman  Emperor  to  the  Christian  faith, 
and  which  the  Church  materially  modified  by  encouraging 
appeals  to  the  Roman  See.  There  is  good  reason  to  think 
that  in  the  mediaeval  Church  no  deposition  of  a  Bishop 
was  valid  without  the  authority  of  the  Pope.  In  the 
Reformed  Church  of  England  there  exists  the  very  compli- 
cated case  of  the  deposition  of  Watson,  Bishop  of  St. 
David's.  There  are  many  reasons  why  this  cannot  be  a 
perfect  precedent  in  the  present  instance.  It  seems  neces- 
sary, if  possible,  to  determine  what  would  have  been  the 
process  where  neither  imperial  nor  papal  authority  could 
have  come  in  to  supplement  metropolitical  power,  i,e.y  before 
the  Council  of  Sardica,  and  perhaps  even  before  the  Council 
of  Nice. 

"  I  may  of  course  be  wrong  in  seeing  all  these  difficulties. 
You  know  me  well  enough  not  to  doubt  that  I  hold  all 
heresy  in  dread.  Yet  I  would  rather  leave  it  to  the  Judge 
of  all  men  to  vindicate  His  own  truth,  than  attempt  to 
decide  on  a  question  laden  with  such  important  conse- 
quences, and  to  pronounce  a  decision  with  imperfect  means 
of  forming  a  judgment 

"  I  have  never  doubted  the  high  Christian  motives  of  the 
Bishop  of  Cape  Town  and  of  his  comprovincial  Bishops. 
I  could  earnestly  have  wished  that  some  of  those  who 
have  thrown  themselves  into  the  controversy  had  not 
been  actuated  by  a  desire  to  destroy  that  which  I  believe 
has  been  to  England  her  greatest  blessing,  and  which  can 
only  be  lost  to  her  with  the  loss  of  all  that  has  made  her 
religious  and  great  and  free.  If  Anglicanism  fails  as 
Gallicanism  has  failed,  the  choice  left  to  us  here  and  in 
Europe  will  be  between  Romanism  and  Rationalism. 
There  are  not  a  few  who  desire  this  ;  and  they  have  made 


308  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

free  use  of  this  Colenso  scandal  to  advance  their  designs. 
May  the  God  of  truth  and  peace  pardon,  preserve,  and 
purify  us. 

"  Believe  me  ever,  my  dear  Bishop, 

"  Your  affectionate  Brother, 
"  E.  H.  Ely. 
'♦  The  Right  Rev.  The  Bishop  of  Tennessee." 

At  this  point,  as  we  have  now  reached  the  closing  scenes 
of  this  tangled  controversy,  we  may  insert  (though  it  was 
written  a  year  and  a  half  before  the  above  letter)  a  letter 
from  Bishop  Browne  to  the  Bishop  of  Cape  Town,  because 
it  contains,  in  full  detail,  the  principles  on  which  he  guided 
his  action  throughout  this  troubled  time.  It  is  a  luminous 
account  of  his  own  position,  and  shows  how  tenaciously  he 
clung  to  the  established  rules  of  Church  order. 

"Ely,  September  1866. 

"  My  dear  Lord,— I  am  very  sorry  I  could  not  answer 
your  letter  by  the  last  post.  I  quite  see  how  those  amongst 
us  who  expressed  ourselves  as  wishing  for  time  to  con- 
sider the  questions  you  submitted  to  us,  may  appear  to  you 
lukewarm  and  unfaithful.  As  regards  the  charge  of  igno- 
rance which  our  brother  of  Oxford  somewhat  hastily  made 
against  us,  I  am  satisfied  to  be  in  the  same  boat  with  the 
Bishop  of  St  David's,  whom  I  believe  to  be  without  any 
comparison  the  most  learned  prelate  in  Christendom,  both 
in  sacred  and  profane  learning.  As  to  other  matters,  I 
can  most  solemnly  protest,  that  I  am  neither  indifferent 
to  the  troubles  and  trials  of  the  Church  in  South  Africa^ 
nor  heedless  of  the  terrible  advances  of  heresy  and  infidelity 
which  threaten  us  both  at  home  and  abroad.  But  I  believe 
that  never  were  graver  or  more  difficult  questions  submitted 
to  the  Synod  of  Canterbury  than  those  which  you  submitted 
to  us,  and  I  was  very  unwilling  that  they  should  be 
answered  hastily. 

**  We  are  entering  on  an  entirely  new  era,  at  least  as 
regards  the  colonial  Church  and  its  whole  future ;  perhaps 
the  whole  future  of  Christendom  may  be  affected  by  what 
is  doing  now.  The  colonial  Church  is,  as  I  think,  placed 
in  a  position  in  which  no  Church  has  been  since  Constantine 


II.T  BISHOP  COLENSO,  309 

made  Christianity  the  religion  of  the  Empire.  This  very 
materially  influences  the  question,  which  concerns  the 
power  of  Metropolitans  and  of  Provincial  Synods. 

"  The  history  of  Metropolitans  I  take  to  be  this.  There 
is  very  little  evidence  of  the  existence  of  Metropolitans  for 
the  first  three  centuries.  Without  doubt  we  find  certain 
Bishops,  those  of  Rome  especially,  of  Antioch,  Alexandria, 
Carthage,  etc,  taking  a  lead  or  primacy  among  their 
brother  Bishops.  The  thirty-fourth  Canon  of  the  Canons  of 
the  Apostles  (Canons  of  doubtful  authority  and  of  uncertain 
date,  though  reverenced  from  their  traditional  name) 
speaks  of  one  Bishop  as  a  Primus  in  his  nature,  and  bids 
other  Bishops  esteem  him  as  their  head,  do  nothing  of  great 
Tuomexiiy  prcBter  illius  sententiam^  but  only  do  those  things 
which  concern  their  own  dioceses  and  their  subject  Pagi, 
enjoining  at  the  same  time  the  Primus  to  do  nothing  absque 
omnium  sententia.  This  is  the  first  synodical  (if  it  be 
synodical)  confirmation  of  anything  like  metropolitical 
authority.  In  the  Council  of  Nice,  A.D.  325,  provinces, 
the  constitution  of  Bishops  of  the  provinces,  and  confirm- 
ation by  the  Metropolitan,  are  recognised  by  Canon  IV. 
Excommunication  to  be  by  all  the  Bishops  of  a  province  is 
enjoined  by  Canon  IV.  The  four  great  Metropolitans  of 
Alexandria,  Rome,  Antioch,  and  iElia  are  recognised  in 
Canons  VI.,  VII.  In  the  Council  of  Chalcedon,  A.D.  451, 
Constantinople  is  given  the  same  honour  as  Rome  (Canon 
XXVIII.),  whilst  Canon  IX.  has  this  remarkable  provision  : 
*  If  a  cleric  has  a  controversy  with  a  Bishop,  he  shall  be 
judged  by  the  Provincial  Synod.  If  a  Bishop  or  cleric 
has  a  controversy  with  a  Metropolitan^  he  shall  appeal  to  the 
Patriarch  or  to  the  throne  of  the  Imperial  City  (i,e.,  either 
Rome  or  Constantinople).'  These  were  the  decrees  of 
general  councils  concerning  Metropolitans.  The  Council 
of  Antioch  (a  great  council,  not  CEcumenical,  not  generally 
acknowledged,  held  A.D.  341,  seventeen  years  after  Nice) 
says  (Canon  IX.):  *Oportet  Episcopos  nihil  momenti 
aggredi  absque  sententia  Metropolitani,  nee  ipse  sine  sen- 
tentia religiosorum  Episcoporum,  vide  Can,  XXXIV.  * ; 
which  is  supposed  to  be  a  reference  to  the  Canon  of  the 
Apostles. 

"  These  Canons  appear  to  me  to  constitute  the  charter 
of  Metropolitans  in  tiie  first  five  centuries ;  all  of  them, 
however,  except  Canon  XXXIV.  of  the  Apostles,  are  sub- 
sequent to  the  adoption  of  Christianity  by  the  Empire. 


3IO  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

You  will  observe,  too,  that  all  of  them  enjoin  Metropolitans 
to  do  nothing  without  their  brother  Bishops,  as  much  as 
they  enjoin  Bishops  to  do  nothing  without  their  Metro- 
politans; and  the  Fourth  General  Council  of  Chalcedon 
expressly  provides  for  an  appeal  to  the  Patriarch. 

"  After  ages  gave,  no  doubt,  far  greater  power  to  Metro- 
politans. There  arose  a  more  regular  system  of  successive 
steps  in  the  ministry, — minor  orders,  then  deacons,  priests, 
bishops,  metropolitans,  patriarchs,  pope.  The  latter  in 
Europe  absorbed  all  ultimate  power.  The  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  however,  was  of  patriarchal  authority,  called 
by  the  Pope  alterius  orbis  Papa,  and  said  by  great  lawyers 
to  have  had  a  jurisdiction  equal  to  that  of  the  patriarch  of 
Constantinople  (Chief  Justice  Holt  in  Lacy  v.  Bishop  of 
St.  David's).  Accordingly,  in  the  case  of  the  Bishop 
of  St  David's,  Watson,  it  was  held  that  he  had  power  to 
depose  after  trial  his  suffragans,  though  not  without  appeal 
All  this  access  of  power  to  Patriarchs  and  Metropolitans 
grew  up  after,  and  generally  owing  to,  the  connection  with 
the  Empire  and  the  State. 

Now  the  Crown,  advised  by  the  Bishops,  attempted  to 
confer  on  the  Bishop  of  Cape  Town  metropolitical  power 
equal  to  that  of  Canterbury  (neither  Crown  nor  Bishop 
knew  what  was  meant  by  this).  They  triedy  but  according 
to  the  judgment  of  the  Privy  Council  they  failed  ;  for  it  was 
ultra  vires,  ^he  Crown  could  not  give  coercive  jurisdic- 
tion in  South  Africa,  either  to  a  Bishop  or  to  a  Metropolitan. 
The  patent,  therefore,  so  far  as  coercive  jurisdiction  goes, 
is  null  and  void.  It  is  argued  that,  though  the  Canon  did 
not  give  it,  the  Church,  as  represented  by  the  English 
Bishops,  meant  to  give  it.  But  intention  is  not  act  It 
was  never  legally  or  ecclesiastically  conferred  by  Crown  or 
Bishop. 

"  It  is  said,  again,  that  Canon  XXXIV.  of  the  Apostles 
and  Canon  IX.  of  Antioch  establish  the  principle  that  there 
shall  be  a  Metropolitan  in  every  nation,  who  shall  do  nothing 
without  the  other  Bishops,  and  without  whom  the  other 
Bishops  shall  do  nothing  of  moment.  On  this  ground  it  is 
said  the  Bishop  of  Cape  Town  without  any  appointment 
became  Metropolitan.  I  have  no  wish  to  dispute  this, 
though  it  may  be  open  to  dispute.  But  what  I  wish  to 
point  out  is,  that  this  necessarily  throws  us  back  to 
primitive  times.  Papal  power,  the  power  of  the  Regale,  and 
all   such  powers,  are  repudiated  as  r^ards  our  colonial 


II.]  BISHOP  COLENSO.  3II 

Churches.  That  great  fabric  of  bishops,  metropolitans, 
patriarchs,  with  a  doubtful  and  disputed  authority  of  sove- 
reigns and  popes  or  oecumenical  patriarchs  above  them  all, 
has  crumbled  away.  It  can  never  be  right  to  pick  up 
fragments  of  it  and  call  them  a  whole  temple.  Where  can 
we  go  but  to  the  example  of  the  Church  before  Con- 
stantine,  at  all  events  before  Papal  usurpation  ?  I  should 
say  before  either,  when  neither  the  Crown  nor  the  Pope 
claimed  to  be  the  ultimate  resort  in  all  cases  ecclesiastical. 
In  the  English  Church  at  home  there  may  be  no  danger 
from  the  immense  authority  of  the  Archbishop  as  shown  in 
the  above  cited  case  (of  Lacy  v.  Bishop  of  St.  David's), 
because  there  is  an  appeal  from  the  regularly  constituted 
court  of  the  Archbishop  to  a  Final  Court  of  Appeal,  if  not, 
in  the  case  of  a  Bishop,  to  the  House  of  Lords  also.  But 
at  present  South  Africa  has  no  appeal  from  its  Metropolitan 
to  the  Patriarch,  to  a  great  Council,  or  to  a  Final  Court. 
If  the  Metropolitan  has  an  authority  equal  to  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  it  is  an  absolute  authority  without 
appeal.  And  this  is  some  excuse  for  Bishop  Colenso  in 
refusing  to  submit  to  the  Bishop  of  Cape  Town,  after  he  had 
admitted  him  to  be  Metropolitan.  He  took  the  oath  on 
a  false  representation.  He  swore  obedience  to  the  Bishop 
of  Cape  Town,  believing  that  an  appeal  lay  from  him  to 
Canterbury,  and  thence  to  the  Final  Court.  All  which  has 
been  quashed  by  the  late  decision.  I  conclude,  therefore, 
that  primitive  examples  and  primitive  principles  may  be 
resorted  to,  if  the  colonial  Church  is  not  to  go  altogether 
wrong.  Now  primitive  principles  are  partly  exhibited  in 
the  Canons  I  have  quoted  above,  but  there  is  another  Canon 
which  greatly  illustrates  them,  and  which  specially  bears 
on  the  African  Church.  In  the  great  Council  of  Carthage, 
held  A.D.  348,  attended  by  Bishops  from  every  province  of 
Africa^  it  was  decreed  by  universal  consent  (Canon  XL)  that 
a  Bishop  should  not  be  judged  by  fewer  than  twelve  Bishops, 
"  Now,  my  dear  Lord,  all  this  has  led  me  to  think,  not 
that  your  sentence  was  unjust,  but  that  it  is  very  doubtful 
whether,  on  principles  of  law  civil  or  ecclesiastical,  a 
Metropolitan,  in  a  Church  neither  Papal  nor  established 
by  law,  with  only  one  Bishop  of  his  own  province  and  one 
Bishop  out  of  the  province  as  assessors,  has  power  to  depose 
or  excommunicate  an  heretical  Bishop.  It  may  be  said 
and  is  said,  that  great  emergencies  require  prompt  measures. 
But  they  must  be  constitutional  and  legal  measures  or  you 


312  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE    DJ).  [Ch, 

defend  the  faith  in  a  single  instance  and  condemn  a  single 
heretic  at  the  risk  of  introducing  a  system  of  misrule  and 
subverting  all  great  principles  of  right  We  read  history 
to  no  purpose  if  we  do  not  see  that  great  and  good  men 
in  their  zeal  to  extirpate  heresy  in  the  fourth,  fifth,  and 
sixth  centuries  raised  up  a  power  intended  to  crush  error, 
but  which  for  many  centuries  after  stifled  truth.  There 
is  as  thick  a  shadow  now  passing  over  the  Church  as  ever 
arose  before  the  darkness  of  the  Papacy  settled  on  it.  I  hold 
that  it  is  not  cowardice,  but  farseeing  caution,  that  would 
try  to  disperse  it  by  falling  back  on  the  light  of  primitive 
truth.  It  is  very  painful  to  me  to  differ  in  any  way  from 
you  when  I  so  highly  esteem  your  zeal  for  the  faith  of 
Christ ;  but  I  dare  not  act  against  my  own  strong 
convictions  of  right 

"  I  am,  my  dearest  Lord, 

"  Yours  very  truly, 

"  E.  H.  Ely. 
*<To  THE  Lord  Bishop  of  Cape  Town." 


To  this  long  and  weighty  statement  of  his  views  the 
Bishop  of  Cape  Town  replied  by  reasserting  his  position  in 
strong  terms,  though  he  does  not  endeavour  to  traverse 
Bishop  Browne's  arguments.  It  will  be  seen  at  once  how 
wide  a  gulf  yawned  between  the  two  prelates  ;  Harold 
Browne,  champion  of  order,  appealing  to  law  and  precedent 
and  the  structure  of  the  Church  ;  Bishop  Gray  claiming  to 
go  behind  all  such  matters,  as  savouring  of  the  "  Erastian  " 
character  of  Anglicanism,  and  endeavouring  to  build 
himself  upon  Canon  Law.  It  was  the  natural  difference 
between  an  "  established  Bishop  "  at  home  and  a  colonial 
Bishop  eager  to  be  entirely  emancipated  from  State  con- 
trol. No  wonder  that  Dean  Stanley,  seeing  these  things 
and  whither  they  led,  was  one  of  the  most  determined 
supporters  of  a  Church  "  as  by  law  established."  It  seemed 
to  him  that  a  disestablished  Church  of  England  might  be 
the  death  of  all  intellectual  life  and  freedom  of  treatment 
of  theological  questions  by  religious  persons. 


<e:^:7. 


'bi^'- 


II.]  BISHOP  COLENSO.  313 

In  his  reply  the  Bishop  of  Cape  Town  claims  to  rule 
over  his  Church  (not  only  over  his  diocese,  but,  as 
Metropolitan,  over  the  whole  South  African  Church)  by 
the  rules  of  Canon  Law,  as  it  was  "  received  in  England 
in  the  seventh  and  eighth  centuries  by  the  ecclesiastical 
and  temporal  powers."  By  that  law,  he  says,  the 
Metropolitan  sitting  in  his  Provincial  Synod  had  power 
to  deprive  a  Suflfragan ;  and  "  after  Canon  Law,"  Bishop 
Colenso,  as  he  did  not  appeal,  was  actually  deprived.  It 
must  be  remembered  that  this  was  the  true  point  at  issue  ; 
for  Colenso  altogether  challenged  the  jurisdiction,  first 
declaring  that  he  refused  to  be  ruled  by  Canon  Law,  and, 
secondly,  denying  that  he  was  a  Suffragan  of  the  Cape 
Town  Metropolitan.  Throughout  Bishop  Gray's  reply  his 
scorn  for  the  legal  aspects  of  the  case  appears.  "  I  have 
no  faith  in  lawyers,"  he  cries.  "A  few  days  among  the 
Canonists  will  do  more  for  us  than  all  their  legal  knowledge." 
The  constitutional  aspects  of  the  case  were  in  his  eyes  of 
no  importance:  he  felt  that  he  was  constructing  a  new 
edifice ;  that  the  old  rules  and  methods  applied  no  longer  ; 
that  such  opinions  as  Dr.  Colenso's  would  be  fatal ;  that 
the  new  Church  in  the  Colonies  must  shake  itself  free  from 
the  patronage  and  trammels  of  the  State,  from  the  taint 
of  "the  lawyers."  His  language  is  strong,  his  mind  made 
up,  his  aim  a  noble  if  a  narrow  one ;  but  argument  there 
is  none,  and  his  denunciations  of  Bishop  Colenso  as  a  man 
whose  teaching  is  anti-Christian,  and  as  one  who  does 
not  believe  in  the  Godhead  of  our  Lord,  shew  the  spirit 
in  which  he  was  prepared  to  break  through  all  bonds — 
cobwebs  he  would  have  called  them — by  which  the  legal 
and  constitutional  mind  in  England  was  endeavouring  to 
control  his  movements,  and  to  see  that  justice  should 
be  done. 

Bishop   Harold   Browne's  constitutional  and  somewhat 


314  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

technical  way  of  defending  the  rights  of  Bishops  was  sure 
to  give  much  offence  to  partisans.  A  gentleman  of  some 
learning  and  great  zeal  for  orthodoxy,  Dr.  Littledale,  wrote 
to  him  to  assure  him  that  his  opinions  were  unsound  on 
the  subject  of  the  Eucharist,  and  ends  with  the  following 
piece  of  intolerance : — 

"  I  conclude  by  saying  that  under  ordinary  circumstances 
I  should  think  myself  bound  to  publish  this  correspondence; 
but  I  fear  in  the  present  crisis  that  such  a  persistent 
determination  to  close  an  open  question  and  to  refuse  to 
repair  an  injustice  as  your  Lordship  has  displayed,  would 
unsettle  some  weak  minds,  already  disturbed  by  that 
gross  misprision  of  heresy  displayed  by  several  members 
of  the  Episcopate  in  the  Colenso  scandal.  I  therefore 
take  a  middle  course,  and  will  put  these  letters  into  the 
hands  of  a  member  of  the  Upper  House  of  Convocation, 
to  deal  with  as  he  shall  think  best 

*' February  2<)th,  1868." 

With  which  awful  and  indefinite  sentence  of  judgment 
we  may  leave  Dr.  Littledale  in  possession  of  the  field 
The  Bishop,  so  far  as  we  know,  made  no  reply. 

It  is  interesting,  in  considering  the  progress  of  opinion 
in  England,  to  find  that  we  have  also  a  very  different  view 
of  the  case  taken  by  Dean  Stanley,  whose  letters  to  our 
Bishop,  as  those  of  a  friend  of  Bishop  Colenso,  may 
well  appear  in  this  place.  He  writes  from  the  Deanery, 
Westminster,  February  i8th,  1868: — 

"  My  dear  Lord, — I  venture  to  address  you,  as  being 
the  only  Bishop  with  whom  I  have  held  any  direct  com- 
munication on  the  subject  in  question,  under  an  apprehen- 
sion which,  if  it  be  mistaken,  you  will  pardon. 

"  I  gather  from  the  correspondence  lately  published  by 
the  Bishop  of  Cape  Town  that  it  is  not  impossible  that 
there  may  be  a  private  discussion  amongst  the  Bishops 
on  the  question  whether  any  proceedings  should  be  set 
on  foot  by  them  with  a  view  to  removing  the  Bishop  of 


IL]  BISHOP  COLENSO.  315 

Natal  from  his  post  on  the  ground  of  theological  opinions, 
for  which  he  was  condemned  by  the  Bishop  of  Cape 
Town. 

"  It  would  be  presumption  in  me  to  make  any  remarks 
on  the  propriety  of  such  a  course  in  itself.  But  I  think 
it  only  due  to  myself,  and  to  the  interests  involved,  to 
point  out  to  your  Lordship,  and  to  ask  your  Lordship  to 
point  out  to  the  other  prelates  who  may  be  concerned, 
that  in  the  speech  on  the  South  African  Controversy 
delivered  by  me  in  Convocation  on  June  29th,  1866  (a 
copy  of  which  was  transmitted  to  all  the  Bishops  assembled 
at  Lambeth  in  September  last),  I  have  stated  that  I,  in 
common  with  many  other  clergymen  of  the  Church  of 
England,  hold,  in  principle,  the  opinions  for  which  the 
Bishop  of  Natal  was  condemned  in  South  Africa  by  the 
Bishop  of  Cape  Town,  arid  which  the  Bishop  of  Cape 
Town  has  again  recapitulated  in  his  recent  letters  as  the 
grounds  of  Aat  condemnation. 

"I  refer  particularly  to  pp.  41-59  of  my  speech,  and 
pp.  65-67  of  my  postscript 

"  Your  Lordship  will  understand  that  I  do  not  call  your 
attention  to  this  fact  as  furnishing  any  reason  why  pro- 
ceedings against  the  Bishop  of  Natal,  if  so  be,  should  not 
take  effect;  but  only  to  show  that,  in  common  fairness, 
they  must,  if  instituted  at  all,  take  a  much  wider  sweep ; 
and  that,  if  the  object  be  to  ascertain  the  legal  position 
of  those  who  hold  such  views,  common  sense  and  Christian 
justice  require  that  this  should  be  ascertained  in  the  case 
not  of  one  who  is  the  subject  of  much  odium  and  obloquy, 
but  of  those  on  whom  the  same  question  can  be  tried 
without  the  influence  of  extrinsic  and  distracting  forces, 
such  as  those  to  which  I  have  adverted.  The  kindness 
with  which  your  Lordship  received  the  former  communica- 
tions which  I  had  with  you  on  this  subject  encourages  me 
to  believe  that  you  will  understand  the  spirit  in  which  I 
now  address  you,  and  will  at  any  rate  be  my  apology  for 
taking  this  mode  of  discharging  what  I  feel  to  be  a  duty 
to  the  Church.     I  remain,  my  dear  Lord, 

"  Yours  faithfully  and  respectfully, 

"A.  P.  Stanley." 

To  this  the  Bishop  replied  in  a  very  courteous  and 
friendly  spirit ;  and  Dean  Stanley  resumes  the  subject  in 


3l6  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  Xh. 

a  second  letter  from  the  Deanery,  dated  February  13th, 
1868:— 

"My  dear  Lord, — ^Your  letter  was  even  kinder  than 
I  expected ;  but  it  confirms  me  still  more  strongly  in  the 
desire  that  you  should  consider  my  letter  to  your  Lordship 
as  matter  to  be  brought  forward  in  any  discussion  that 
takes  place  amongst  the  Bishops  on  the  theological  merits 
of  the  Natal  question. 

"  You  are  good  enough  to  suggest  that  I  do  myself  and 
the  Bishop  of  Natal  injustice  by  representing  myself  as 
entirely  coinciding  with  his  views.  I  should  agree  with 
you  on  this  point  But  I  have  taken  particular  pains  in 
my  speech  and  postscript  to  guard  against  this  (in  pp. 
35-40,  50,  54,  64,  70),  and  in  so  doing  have  used  terms 
of  disparagement  towards  the  Bishop,  of  which  I  for  one 
hesitate  as  to  their  propriety,  considering  that  they  are 
used  of  a  Bishop  by  a  presbyter.  What  I  insist  on  is  quite 
a  different  proposition,— viz.,  that  however  much  I  may 
differ  from  the  Bishop  of  Natal  on  other  points,  I  have 
both  in  previous  writings,  and  especially  in  my  speech 
(pp.  41-60,  65-67),  expressed  my  concurrence  (in  which  I 
have  no  doubt  that  hundreds  would  concur  also)  with  the 
Bishop  exactly  on  those  points  on  which  he  has  been  con- 
demned and  deposed  by  the  Bishop  of  Cape  Town,  and 
which  the  Bishop  of  Cape  Town  has  recapitulated  clearly 
enough  in  his  recent  Letters  (pp.  31,  32),  though  with  his 
own  hard  constructions.  I  need  not  do  more  than  refer 
your  Lordship  to  the  passages,  and  I  cannot  but  think 
that  you  will  see  the  justice  of  my  plea.  I  have  little 
doubt  that  the  Bishop  of  Cape  Town  himself  (except,  it 
may  be,  from  mere  motives  of  policy)  would  fully  admit 
that  this  was  the  case;  or  would,  if  possible,  depose  me 
(indeed,  for  all  that  I  know  he  may  have  'spiritually' 
deposed  me  already)  on  the  same  grounds  as  those  on 
which  he  has  deposed  the  Bishop  of  Natal  I  therefore 
think  that  my  very  difference  from  the  Bishop  of  Natal 
on  other  points  makes  it  the  more  incumbent  for  any 
discussions  on  this  question  to  take  into  consideration  the 
fact  that  I,  with  many  other  persons,  some  of  whom  I  have 
cited  by  name,  coincide  with  the  Bishop  of  Natal  on  the 
very  points  on  which  he  has  been  deposed,  and  whatever 
consequences  flow  from  such  a  fact. 


II.]  BISHOP  COLENSO.  317 

"I  have  one  other  point  to  which  I  would  call  your 
Lordship's  attention.  I  cannot  but  think  that,  if  you  look 
at  Bishop  Colenso's  work  on  the  Pentateuch,  Part  III., 
pp.  25-28,  your  Lordship  will  see  that  his  position  with 
regard  to  the  questions  in  the  Ordination  Service  is 
entirely  different  from  that  which  you  suppose,  and  that 
he  takes  up  what  I  confess  appears  to  me  the  only  tenable 
position  which  can  be  maintained  by  any  one  who  believes 
that  the  Bible  contains  any  poetical  or  parabolical  books, 
even  without  raising  any  questions  as  to  interpolation  or 
accuracy  in  the  prose  books. 

"You  will,  therefore,  I  hope,  see  that,  whilst  I  quite 
claim  the  character  of  an  independent  witness  who  differs 
from  the  Bishop  of  Natal  on  many  important  points,  I 
feel  bound  to  indicate  that,  on  almost  all  the  points  (I 
believe  all  except  that  of  the  endless  duration  of  future 
punishment)  [for  which]  the  Bishop  of  Natal  has  been 
deposed  by  the  Bishop  of  Cape  Town,  I  have  expressed 
concurrence  with  him,  on  principle. 

"  With  many  thanks,  believe  me  to  be, 
"  Yours  sincerely, 

"A.  P.  Stanley." 

After  the  Canterbury  Convocation  had  recognised  the 
validity  of  the  deposition  of  the  Bishop  of  Natal,  it  only 
remained  for  Bishop  Gray  to  make  arrangements  for  the 
election  and  consecration  of  a  Bishop  for  the  See.  It  was 
clear  that,  as  the  Bishop  of  Natal  refused  to  resign,  the 
upshot  of  it  must  be  a  painful  schism,  at  least  for  a  time, 
in  the  diocese.  This  had  to  be  faced  ;  and  Bishop  Gray 
felt  no  hesitation  about  it  The  Natal  clergy  and  laity 
who  adhered  to  him  and  the  Dean  of  Maritzburg  elected 
the  Rev.  W.  J.  Butler,  then  Vicar  of  Wantage,  afterwards 
Dean  of  Lincoln  :  he,  however,  declined  the  nomination. 
They  then  chose  the  Rev.  W.  R.  Macrorie,  Vicar  of 
Accrington,  who  accepted.  The  position  taken  up  by  the 
four  protesting  Bishops  so  far  influenced  their  brethren 
on  the  Bench,  that  the  Archbishops  declined  to  consecrate 
the  prelate-elect ;  and  the  Scottish  Bishops,  when  appealed 


3l8  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D,D.  [Ch. 

to,  after  some  uncertainty  also  determined  not  to  commit 
themselves.  Consequently  (and  probably  with  considerable 
satisfaction  at  the  result)  Bishop  Gray  sailed  for  the  Cape 
in  the  autumn  of  1868,  carrying  with  him  his  Bishop- 
designate.  On  January  25th,  1869,  in  the  Cathedral 
Church  of  Cape  Town,  Dr.  Macrorie  was  consecrated 
*'  Bishop  of  the  Church  in  Natal  and  Zululand,  in  com- 
munion with  the  Bishops  of  the  province  of  South  Africa, 
and  with  the  Church  of  England."  The  new  Bishop  took 
his  title,  rightly,  from  Maritzburg,  the  town  in  which  his 
Cathedral  Church  stood,  and  not  from  the  name  of  the 
colony.  The  rift  in  the  Church  continued  long,  though 
after  the  Bishop  of  Natal's  death  the  main  cause  of  it 
was  removed.  It  was  not  till  the  year  1893,  when  a  new 
Bishop  for  Natal,  the  Rev.  Hamilton  Baynes,  was  con- 
secrated, that  the  wound  seemed  likely  to  heal  up.  It 
is  pleasing  to  be  able  to  add,  as  a  kind  of  epitaph  on 
the  subject,  that  when  in  1883  tidings  came  of  Bishop 
Colenso's  death,  our  Bishop  took  notice  of  it  thus  in  a 
letter  to  Bishop  McDougall :—"  I  am  afraid  poor  Colenso's 
death  will  be  a  great  sorrow  to  Mrs.  McDougall  and  to 
you  all.  It  caused  me  some  pangs  of  sorrow,  for  I  had 
always  a  regard  for  him,  though  I  deplored  the  course  he 
took." 

The  active  controversy  lasted  about  seven  years  :  it  had 
marked  effects  on  the  relation  between  colonial  Churches 
and  the  mother-Church  of  England.  What  Dr.  Gray 
thought  of  this  appears  very  clearly  from  the  explosion 
of  feeling  with  which  he  greeted  the  proposal  that  Bishop 
Tozer  should  take  the  oath  of  canonical  obedience  to  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury  and  not  to  the  Metropolitan  of 
South  Africa.  He  resisted  the  same  claim  in  the  case 
of  Bishop  Mackenzie,  declaring  that  he  could  not  be 
received  as  a  Bishop  of  the  province  of  South  Africa  if 


II.]  BISHOP  COLENSO.  319 

he  took  that  oath  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury. 
Bishop  Wilkinson  in  1870  did,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  take 
the  oath  to  the  Archbishop  of  York,  and  the  Archbishop 
explained  that  it  was  to  be  transferred  to  the  Metropolitan 
of  South  Africa  by  a  new  oath  of  obedience  to  be  taken 
to  him.  Though  Bishop  Gray  objected  to  this  rather 
singular  arrangement  of  oath-transfer,  the  thing  was  done 
so,  and  nothing  happened. 

It  had  long  been  seen  that  the  attempt  to  organise  the 
missionary  and  colonial  Sees  straight  from  Canterbury, 
and  as  established  Churches,  could  not  last.  The  clergy- 
reserves  in  Canada  had  been  left  a  wilderness,  while  all 
around  them  was  taken  up  and  cultivated ;  it  was  not 
till  the  State's  hand  was  removed  that  the  vigour  of  the 
colonial  Churches  began  to  bear  fruit.  State  endowments 
grew  unpopular  and  precarious  early  in  the  reign  of  our 
Queen.  The  Church  in  India,  hampered  and  well-nigh 
strangled  by  the  fears  and  restrictions  of  the  Company, 
slowly  and  surely  won  independence ;  the  lessons  of  the 
Lambeth  Conferences,  at  which  there  were  far  more 
Bishops  of  unestablished  Anglican  Churches  than  those  of 
the  Established  Church,  taught  the  slow-thinking  English 
mind  that,  however  excellent  at  home,  an  Established 
Church  had  no  charms  for  either  the  United  States  or  for 
the  self-ruling  colonies  of  the  Crown. 

And  it  was  abundantly  clear  that  each  provincial  Church 
must  be  allowed,  sooner  or  later,  to  fashion  its  own  life. 
Statesmen  naturally  desired  to  see  the  colonial  Churches 
as  closely  attached  as  possible  to  England,  and  regretted 
the  vehemence  with  which  at  times  the  young  communities 
seemed  likely  to  snap  the  bonds  that  bound  them  to  the 
little  Island  in  the  Western  Sea.  Still  it  was  seen  that 
the  conditions  of  ecclesiastical  life  in  England  could  not 
be  reproduced   in  the   more  independent  colonies ;   and, 


320  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D,D,  [Ch. 

however  much  we  may  regret  the  violence  with  which  the 
Bishop  of  Cape  Town  fought  his  battle,  we  must  allow 
that  the  effects  of  the  struggle  were  wholesome,  and  that 
colonial  liberties,  conceded  so  willingly  in  things  temporal, 
could  not  be  denied  to  Churchmen.  The  Anglican  Church, 
if  only  it  be  wise  and  temperate,  will  play  no  mean  part 
in  the  federation  of  the  English-speaking  world.  But 
ecclesiastically  as  well  as  constitutionally,  that  federation 
must  always  be  held  together  more  by  convictions, 
interests,  and  affection,  than  by  exact  and  formal 
bonds.  The  federated  States  will  control  their  own  de- 
velopment; the  united  Churches  will  show  variations 
suited  to  the  very  varied  conditions  of  their  work.  Yet 
in  both  Churches  and  States,  essentials  will  be  in  unity, 
and  the  harmony  the  more  genuine  by  reason  of  the 
differences  in  growth  and  development.  In  the  Churches 
there  will  be  one  spirit,  though  the  forms  be  modified ; 
one  main  principle  of  loyalty  to  the  gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ ;  a  general  unity  of  form  of  Church  Government ; 
and  a  communion  in  worship  and  faith,  which  will,  let  us 
hope  and  pray,  bind  us  all  together  in  bonds  unbreakable 
of  Christian  charity,  effort,  and  holiness. 

No  sooner  was  this  painful  controversy  at  an  end  than 
the  Bishop  of  Ely  found  himself  involved  in  another 
difficulty.  Dr.  Temple,  Headmaster  of  Rugby  School, 
author  of  the  first  paper  in  "Essays  and  Reviews," 
in  1869  accepted  the  bishopric  of  Exeter.  The  bishopric 
of  Bath  and  Wells  being  vacant  at  the  same  time,  the 
Crown  had  appointed  Lord  Arthur  Hervey  to  it ;  and 
the  two  new  Bishops  were  to  be  consecrated  together. 
Lord  Arthur  begged  that  Harold  Browne  might  be 
one  of  the  consecrating  prelates,  and  he  consented.  No 
sooner  was  this  made  known  than  protests  came  in.  Some 
begged  Bishop  Browne  to  take  no  part  in  "consecrating 


II.]  THE  CONSECRATION  OF  BISHOP  TEMPLE,  32 1 

a  Mitre  in  Essays  and  Reviews ; "  others  cried  to  him  to 
beware  of  the  "  Septem  contra  Christum,"  that  mah'gnant 
and  unjust  parody  ;  not  a  few  of  the  clergy  of  his  diocese 
remonstrated — one  Rural  Dean  sent  him  the  terrible  threat 
that  he  would  resign  his  ruridecanal  office,  and  refuse  to 
serve  any  longer  under  him.  There  was  every  symptom 
of  a  revival  of  the  white  heat  of  passion,  and  of  the  white 
pallor  of  fear,  which  works  even  more  evil  than  anger. 
Though  he  met  these  outcries  with  reasonable  and  charit- 
able replies,  the  clamour  went  on  to  the  end.  It  is  not 
reassuring  to  look  back  at  the  rage  and  terror  with  which 
the  appointment  of  a  single  broad-shouldered  Churchman 
as  Bishop  was  greeted. 

Bishop  Harold  Browne,  deeply  as  the  turmoil  distressed 
him — he  says  in  one  letter  that  the  position  in  which  he 
found  himself  would  destroy  the  effect  of  all  his  work  at 
Cambridge  and  Ely,  if  it  did  not  also  shorten  his  life — 
never  for  a  moment  flinched  from  what  he  felt  to  be  his 
duty.  He  endeavoured,  naturally  enough,  to  lessen  the 
force  of  the  opposition  to  Dr.  Temple's  appointment,  by 
urging  him  to  sever  himself  definitely  from  the  other 
writers  in  "  Essays  and  Reviews."  His  letter  on  this  point 
makes  a  good  prelude  to  the  correspondence: — 

"Ely,  October  18M,  1869. 

"My  dear  Dr.  Temple, — Will  you  let  me  say  this 
much  to  you  ?  You  have  pardoned  me  already  for  saying 
that  we  have  probably  differences  of  opinion.  I  left  my 
boys  under  your  care,  and  my  late  revered  friend  Bishop 
Philpotts  told  me  that  he  consented  that  his  grandson 
should  become  a  master  under  you,  because  your  character 
stood  so  high  in  all  that  was  honourable  and  disinterested, 
and  you  had  infused  such  a  very  high  moral  tone  into  your 
school. 

"  I,  in  common  with  many  who  so  respected  you,  regretted 
deeply  that  you  wrote  in  a  well-known  volume,  though 

21 


322  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DJ),  [Ch- 

each  writer  in  that  volume  claimed  limited  liability.  Still, 
I  always  hoped  you  would  have  told  the  world  what  your 
own  views  were  on  some  of  the  most  burning  questions  in 
that  book.  Your  own  Essay  appeared  to  me  not  to  con- 
tain anything  very  pronounced,  though  some  say  it  had 
the  germ  of  all  the  rest. 

"  There  is  now  a  great  agitation  about  your  nomination 
by  the  Crown  to  the  See  of  Exeter.  I  have  no  business 
with  the  question.  But  I  am  deeply  interested  in  Exeter. 
I  have  valued  friends  in  the  Chapter.  I  have  a  great 
personal  regard  for  yourself.  Is  there  anything  unreason- 
able in  a  Bishop  Designate  being  asked  to  profess  his  faith 
for  the  satisfaction  of  those  who  are  to  elect  him,  and  who 
will  be  sworn  to  elect  according  to  their  conscience? 
Bishops  in  old  times  entering  on  their  dioceses  often  made 
some  profession  of  faith. 

"  You  will  not  like  to  do  so  in  answer  to  clamour.  That 
I  quite  appreciate.  But  I  am  no  clamourer,  and  I  am  a 
common  friend  of  yourself  and  the  Chapter.  Would  there 
be  anything  out  of  place  in  your  telling  me,  so  that  I 
might  tell  others,  that  you  not  only  hold  all  the  Articles  of 
the  Catholic  Creeds,  but  that  you  believe  and  trust  in  the 
Atoning  Sacrifice  offered  on  the  Cross,  and  that  you  do 
not  doubt  the  special  and  supernatural  inspiration  of  the 
Prophets  and  Apostles,  not  placing  that  inspiration  on  the 
level  of  genius,  and  so  considering  St.  Paul  as  only  so 
inspired  as  was  Cicero  or  Shakespeare  ?  I  do  not  wish  to 
put  words  into  your  mouth.  I  may  be  very  presumptuous. 
But  this  presumption  arises  from  an  anxious  desire  to 
save  the  Church  from  another  disastrous  struggle,  and 
to  preserve,  if  it  be  possible,  both  its  purity  and  its 
peace. 

"  This  letter,  if  you  do  not  yield  to  its  suggestion,  shall 
be  private  between  us.  I  am  not  laying  a  trap  for  you, 
that  you  may  be  obliged  to  say  one  thing  or  the  other,  and 
so  commit  yourself  I  am  sure  you  will  not  think  so. 
But,  if  my  suggestion  might  help  to  calm  this  still  increas- 
ing tempest,  I  should  be  thankful. 

"  Praying  you  to  pardon  me  if  I  have  overstepped  the 
bounds  which  you  will  permit  to  our  comparatively  slight 
intimacy,  I  am,  my  dear  Dr.  Temple, 

"  Yours  very  sincerely, 

"E.  H.  Ely." 


II.]  THE  CONSECRATION  OF  BISHOP  TEMPLE,  323 

Dr.  Temple's  reply  was  a  very  manly  and  straightfor- 
ward refusal  to  take  any  such  step  : — 

"Rugby,  October  21st,  1869. 

"  My  dear  Lord, — I  know  no  one  whose  advice  I 
would  more  gladly  follow  than  yours,  and  I  have  thought 
about  your  letter  a  good  deal.  But  I  cannot  satisfy  my 
conscience  that  it  would  be  right  to  make,  either  directly 
or  indirectly,  any  such  statement  as  you  suggest.  To  do 
so  would  surely  be  a  most  dangerous  precedent,  sure  to 
be  followed,  and  sure  to  have  mischievous  consequences. 
It  would  be  by  no  means  desirable  that  every  Bishop 
Designate  should  be  called  upon  to  issue  a  public  manifesto 
before  taking  office.  It  would  be  by  no  means  desirable 
that  Church  parties  should  be  encouraged  to  clamour  by 
the  hope  of  extorting  some  such  declaration. 

"Further,  what  is  gained  by  a  public  statement  now 
which  will  not  be  gained  by  personal  intercourse  two 
months  hence  ?  I  shall  as  well  be  able,  I  shall  better  be 
able,  to  allay  all  this  anxiety  then  than  now.  And  to  do 
it  then  by  quiet  personal  intercourse  will  admit  of  no 
misconstruction.  To  do  it  now  will  wear  the  appearance 
of  doing  it  not  fnv  the  sake  of  the  Church,  but  to  smooth 
my  own  course. 

"  Nor  can  I  keep  myself  from  a  very  strong  feeling  that 
there  would  be  something  irreverent  in  proclaiming  my 
belief  in  such  fundamental  doctrines  as  you  quote,  in  order 
to  quiet  a  disturbance. 

"  Finally,  there  is  a  very  real  danger  in  formal  statements 
of  this  kind,  the  danger  of  unintentionally  deceiving. 
People  understand  the  same  words  in  very  different  senses. 
And  the  occasion  is  too  grave  to  allow  us  to  run  such  a 
risk. 

"  I  have  no  doubt  at  all  that  I  shall,  if  God  spare  me, 
find  means  to  satisfy  the  great  body  of  the  clergy  in  the 
West  that  I  am  earnestly  desiring  to  serve  our  Lord,  and 
care  for  His  .service  beyond  everything  else  on  earth.  And 
then  all  this  anxiety  will  pass  away.  Meanwhile  I  must 
hold  my  tongue. 

"  Yours  very  gratefully, 

"  F.  Temple.' 

The  Bishop  Designate  in  fact  was  not  going  to  shelter 


324  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DJ>,  [Ch. 

himself  from  the  storm  by  deserting  his  colleagues.  Nor 
did  he  feel  himself  bound  to  criticise  and  condemn  their 
contributions.  So  the  matter  had  to  go  on  without  being 
lightened  by  a  disclaimer.  Bishop  Harold  Browne  pre- 
sently thought  it  well  to  explain  his  position  in  the  affair 
by  means  of  a  letter  addressed  to  his  Archdeacons,  to 
which  he  appended  his  reasons  for  holding  to  his  promise 
to  be  one  of  the  consecrating  prelates. 

"Palace,  Ely,  December  16/A,  1869. 

"  My  dear  Mr.  Archdeacon, — Having  with  my 
brethren  in  general  the  greatest  possible  aversion  to  the 
book  called  *  Essays  and  Reviews/  and  feeling  also  that 
Dr.  Temple  is  greatly  mistaken,  and  I  must  add  much 
to  be  blamed,  for  throwing  so  heavy  a  responsibility  on 
others,  and  not  relieving  it  by  a  few  words  spoken  in 
public,  I  yet  learn  both  from  public  and  private  sources 
that  he  is  personally  free  from  the  errors  in  some  portions 
of  that  book ;  and  I  have  great  hopes  that  when  he  is 
once  Bishop  of  Exeter  he  will  no  longer  shrink  from 
clearing  himself  from  complicity  with  it 

"  I  have  been  named  among  the  Consecrators  in  the 
Archbishop's  Commission,  no  doubt,  from  my  connection 
with  Lord  Arthur  Hervey,  one  of  the  three  Bishops  to 
be  consecrated  on  the  21st.  It  has  thus  become  necessary 
for  me  to  decide  whether  I  will  join  in  that  consecration, 
or  will  decline  to  do  so  in  consequence  of  Dr.  Temple's 
connection  with  *  Essays  and  Reviews.'  I  think  my 
diocese  has  a  right  to  know  the  reasons  which  guided 
me  in  this  case,  and  1  desire  to  make  those  reasons  known, 
through  you.  Earnestly  praying  that  the  God  of  truth 
and  peace  may  guide  us  all  at  this  and  other  times  of 
trial  into  all  truth  in  all  peace  and  love, 

"  I  am,  etc 
"  E.  Harold  Ely." 

"  Reason^. 

"  L  Dr.  Temple's  Essay  itself  does  not  contain  heresy. 

"  2.  Each  writer  actually  guards  his  own  limited  re- 
sponsibility in  it,  and  Dr.  Temple  was  wholly  ignorant 
of  the  drift  and  character  of  the  other  Essays. 


II.]  THE  CONSECRATION  OF  BISHOP  TEMPLE.  325 

"3.  Though  Dr.  Temple  ought  to  have  taken  from  it 
the  influence  of  his  name,  which,  in  connection  with  the 
comparatively  harmless  character  of  his  Essay,  gave  special 
weight  to  the  volume,  yet  those  who  know  him  best 
attribute  his  silence  to  a  chivalrous  spirit- 

"  4.  Though  I  hold  that  the  Church  should  have  fullest 
assurance  of  the  soundness  of  every  one  admitted  to  the 
ministry,  .  .  .  yet  I  cannot  understand,  and  do  not  share 
the  scruples  of,  those  who  think  that  no  declarations  ough !: 
to  be  made  except  such  as  are  required  by  the  express 
law  of  the  Church.  Dr.  Temple  is  a  man  of  so  high  a 
moral  tone,  and  of  such  a  manly  and  truthful  character, 
that  I  cannot  believe  he  would  sign  formularies,  etc.,  with- 
out heartily  assenting  to  them  in  their  natural  and  literal 
meaning. 

"  5.  In  Dr.  Temple's  sermons  published  we  find  the 
doctrines  which  he  is  thought  unaccountably  to  have 
omitted  in  his  Essay. 

"6.  The  Convocation  of  Canterbury  has  distinguished 
between  censure  of  a  book  and  condemnation  of  a  man 
or  men. 

"  7.  I  believe  him  to  be  a  man  of  singular  probity,  a 
sincere  Christian  and  believer  in  all  the  Articles  of  the 
Christian  faith. 

"  8.  I  accept  the  status  quo  of  the  manner  of  appoint- 
ment of  Bishops. 

"9.  PrcBtnunire  was  intended  against  the  Pope,  not 
against  Chapters,  etc, 

"  10.  Chapters  would  do  right,  were  Government  to 
nominate  a  person  of  vicious  life  or  of  heretical  or  un- 
believing opinion,  ruat  ccelum, 

"II.  The  Exeter  Chapter  Election  is  a  reality. 

"  Therefore  I  accept  the  nomination,  and  propose  to  take 
part  in  the  Consecration  of  Bishop  Temple." 

A  couple  of  days  after  this  paper  was  sent  to  the 
Archdeacons,  Bishop  Browne  once  more  addressed  himself 
to  the  Bishop  Designate,  still  hoping  to  persuade  him  to 
shake  himself  clear  from  "  Essays  and  Reviews." 

"  Ely,  December  iStA,  1869. 

"  My  dear  Lord, — I  answered  your  last  letter,  but  did 
not  send  the  answer  from  fear  to  trouble  you  with  longer 


326  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

correspondence.  The  extreme  anxiety  of  my  position 
induces  me  to  write  to  you  once  more. 

"  I  enclose  the  copy  of  a  letter  which  is  but  one  specimen 
of  letters  which  reach  me  daily.  You  have  said  that 
you  would  not  scruple  to  answer  any  questions  to  me 
privately.  I  really  think  that,  if  you  knew  how  I  shall 
sacrifice  private  friendship,  public  reputation,  and  perhaps 
all  the  influence  which  I  now  have  in  my  diocese  and 
elsewhere  by  joining  in  your  Consecration,  you  would  feel 
that  I  have  some  claim  on  you  for  such  confidence. 

"  I  have  read  your  Essay  frequently,  and  I  have  read 
your  sermons,  and  though  I  find  ambiguous  language  in 
them,  I  do  not  see  anything  which  looks  like  heresy. 

"The  real  mischief  is  this.  Your  name  is  a  justly 
honoured  name.  Its  appearance  in  the  van  of  the  *  Essays 
and  Reviews '  has  commended  the  other  Essays  to  the 
acceptance  of  many.  I  am  assured  by  my  own  clergy  and 
others  that  they  have  witnessed  death-beds  of  hopeless 
infidelity  entirely  brought  on  by  that  volume.  I  have 
never  heard  of  any  doubter  being  conciliated  to  Christianity 
or  strengthened  in  his  belief  by  these  Essays.  Now  I 
foresee  that  that  weight  which  your  name  has  given  to 
this  book  will  be  greatly  increased  by  your  consecration 
to  the  bishopric  of  Exeter,  if  your  name,  already  honoured, 
has  the  honourable  addition  to  it  of  a  Bishop  in  Christ's 
Church,  and  if  it  still  stands  at  the  head  of  these  Essays 
in  all  future  editions  without  any  sign  of  dissent  from 
you. 

"The  question  with  me  is.  Can  I  rightly  contribute  to 
giving  that  additional  authority  to  your  name,  if  I  know 
that  it  will  be  so  used? 

"  You  know  that  I  gladly  welcomed  your  nomination  to 
the  bishopric  :  you  know  my  very  high  esteem  for  you, 
and  how  I  shall  rejoice  to  work  with  you,  if  all  goes  well. 
The  recent  correspondence  between  yourself  and  the 
Bishop  of  Lincoln  [Wordsworth]  and  your  private  letters 
to  me  have  greatly  increased  my  anxiety.  1  am  quite 
ready  to  bear  what  I  shall  bear  far  more  than  anyone  else^ 
— the  blame  which  will  rest  on  your  consecrators,  though 
1  expect  that  it  will  undo  all  the  work  of  six  years  in  my 
diocese,  and  perhaps  destroy  life  as  well  [as]  influence : 
but  I  shrink  from  participating  in  what  I  now  see  to  be 
so  full  of  danger,  the  giving,  not  to  you,  but  to  *  Essays 
and  Reviews,'  additional  weight  and  authority.     Can  you 


H.]  THE  CONSECRATION  OF  BISHOP  TEMPLE,  327 

not  give  me  privately  some  assurance  that  the  fearful 
destruction  which  that  book  has  wrought  shall  not  be 
aided  in  future  by  your  name? 

"  Believe  me  ever, 

"  Yours  most  truly, 

"  E.  H.  Ely." 

Dr.  Temple  certainly  regretted  that  one  whom  he  so 
much  respected  should  be  buffeted  about  by  the  excited 
partisans  of  frightened  orthodoxy  :  still,  he  preferred  to 
let  the  matter  take  its  course.  And  time  shewed  that  he 
was  right :  the  career  of  the  characteristic  Bishop  of 
Exeter  and  London  is  the  best  reply  to  those  who  may 
have  been  impressed  by  the  shrill  loudness  of  the  outcry. 

On  the  same  day  on  which  Bishop  Harold  Browne 
wrote  this  letter  to  his  friend,  one  of  his  Archdeacons, 
H.  J.  Rose,  addressed  him  an  anxious  remonstrance,  hoping 
to  get  from  him  an  assurance  that  he  was  going  to  be  one 
of  the  consecrators  only  because  of  his  friendship  for  Lord 
Arthur  Hervey.  He  writes  with  the  old  note  about  the 
"pain"  which  High  Church  people  say  anything  they 
dislike  causes  them.  Pain  is  a  wholesome  discipline  ;  and 
the  party  has  grown  and  flourished  none  the  less  for  being 
sometimes  subjected  to  it. 

"Houghton  Conquest,  Ampthill, 

*' December  iStA  1869. 

"  My  dear  Lord, — I  am  sure  your  Lordship  will  pardon 
the  freedom  with  which  I  write  on  a  subject  which  now 
gives  great  pain  to  Churchmen — I  mean  the  consecration 
of  Dr.  Temple. 

"  It  was  only  last  night  that  I  learned  from  the  news- 
papers that  the  Bishop  of  Ely  was  named  on  the  Com- 
mission. I  had  been  assured,  on  what  1  believed  to  be 
good  authority,  that  his  honoured  name  was  not  in  the 
Commission.  It  is,  of  course,  a  matter  of  individual 
conscience,  with  which  no  one  can  presume  to  interfere,  to 
decide  on  the  propriety  of  taking  part  in  the  service.  But 
1  regret  to  think  of  the  pain  which  our  best  Churchmen 


3^8  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DS>.  [Cn; 

in  this  archdeaconry  will  feel  on  learning  that  their  loved 
Diocesan  is  to  be  one  of  the  consecrating  prelates.  They 
would  be  thankful  to  know  that  it  is  as  the  friend  of  Lord 
Arthur  Hervey  that  your  Lordship  attends  at  the  Con- 
secration, if,  as  some  suppose,  such  is  the  case. 
"  Believe  me,  my  dear  Lord, 

"  Your  faithful,  affectionate  friend, 

"H.  J.  Rose." 

The  Bishop  has  happily  preserved  the  draft  of  his 
reply,  so  that  we  obtain  a  full  view  of  the  way  in  which 
he  regarded  the  matter.  It  is  wonderful  to  see  with  what 
gentleness  he  treats  the  excited  and  unreasonable  crowd 
of  objectors,  and  with  what  firmness,  having  made  up  hi.s 
mind  as  to  his  right  course,  he  holds  to  it  through  good 
report  and  evil  report.  His  reply  was  dated  the  day 
before  the  Consecration. 

"  Ely,  December  Toth  1869. 

"My  dear  Archdeacon,— I  could  not  answer  your 
very  kind  letter  yesterday  in  the  midst  of  a  large  Ordi- 
nation. Be  assured  I  am  only  too  thankful  for  plain 
outspoken  Christian  remonstrance.  I  will  tell  you  all  I 
have  to  tell.  First,  let  me  say  that  the  placing  of  my 
name  among  the  Bishops  to  consecrate  Lord  Arthur  Hervey 
and  Dr.  Temple  was  simply  the  act  of  the  Primate  without 
my  knowledge.  1  supposed  at  the  time  that  I  was  named 
because  Lord  Arthur  had  been  my  Archdeacon  as  well  as 
my  very  valued  friend.  However  that  may  have  been,  the 
first  that  I  heard  of  it  was  a  letter  from  the  Archbishop's 
Secretary  at  one  of  the  earliest  stages  of  the  Archbishop's 
most  alarming  illness,  in  which  I  was  told  that  a  com- 
mission had  been  signed  by  his  Grace  to  me  and  to  three 
other  bishops,  and  that  he  earnestly  hoped  that  I  should 
be  willing  to  act  under  it 

"  Now  for  my  own  part. 

"When  first  I  heard  of  Dr.  Temple's  nomination  by 
the  Prime  Minister  and  acceptance  by  the  Crown,  my 
thoughts  were  of  this  kind  : — There  has  long  been  an 
acknowledged  place  in  the  English  Church  for  what  we 
now  call  a  Broad  School.    The  *  latitude  divines,'  Witchcote, 


II.]  THE  CONSECRATION  OF  BISHOP  TEMPLE.  329 

Henry  More,  etc.,  were  its  antetypes,  and  you  know  better 
than  I  can  tell  you  that  some  of  them  did  good  service. 
In  our  own  times  we  have  had  men  like  Dr.  Arnold, 
Archbishop  Whately,  Bishop  Hinds,  and  others  whom  I 
need  not  recount  I  remember,  when  Dr.  Hinds  was  made 
Bishop  of  Norwich,  a  very  orthodox  friend  of  mine  saying 
that  we  probably  need  not  be  dissatisfied,  as  he  was  the 
best  of  a  bad  school.  I  do  not  think  the  Church  Catholic 
(nor  the  English  Church  as  being  a  sound  portion  of  that 
Church)  could  eject  such  men,  and  I  should  be  sorry  to 
see  her  eject  an  Edward  Irving  or  a  Macleod  Campbell, 
as  the  Scotch  Kirk  has  done. 

"This  being  so,  it  is  pretty  certain  that  men  of  that 
School  will  not  be  wholly  overlooked  in  preferment  to  high 
places  in  the  Church.  Indeed,  if  they  were  by  belonging 
to  that  School  excluded  from  any  one  office  in  the  ministry, 
I  see  not  how  they  should  not  be  excluded  from  any  one, 
even  the  lowest.  When  therefore  I  heard  it  said  that  Mr. 
Gladstone  was  determined  to  recommend  for  bishoprics 
members  of  all  the  different  Church  parties,  it  certainly 
seemed  to  me  a  very  happy  thing  that  he  should  have  chosen 
one  of  such  high  character,  real  piety,  and  great  energy  as 
Dr.  Temple.  I  could  not  help  welcoming  the  appointment 
as  the  best  that  could  be  made  from  the  School  in  question. 
I  had  a  very  high  esteem  for  Dr.  Temple  personally,  and 
I  never  believed  that  any  of  his  writings  were  heretical. 
I  have  always  maintained  that  if  his  Essay  had  stood 
alone,  no  one  would  have  called  its  writer  a  heretic.  I 
said  so  repeatedly  in  Committee  of  Convocation,  and 
Convocation  made  it  clear  that  that  which  is  condemned 
was  not  any  particular  writer  or  any  body  of  writers,  but 
a  book  which  was,  taken  as  a  whole,  mischievous  and 
destructive. 

"When  I  found  myself  placed  in  the  Commission  to 
consecrate,  I  certainly  felt  a  fresh  responsibility  and  new 
anxieties.  The  frantic  protests  of  some  persons  affected 
me  very  little.  Their  tendency  is  always  to  prejudice  me 
against  them,  because  I  see  that  passion  rules  and  not 
wisdom.  But  I  had  to  ask  myself  seriously :  After 
Election  and  Confirmation,  ought  the  Bishops  of  the 
Province  of  Canterbury  to  consecrate  Dr.  Temple  or  ought 
they  not  ?  This  seems  to  me  the  true  measure  of  my  own 
responsibility.  If  Dr.  Temple  ought,  under  the  circum- 
stances  of  the   case,   to   be  consecrated,   then    I,   having 


330  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D,D.  [Ch. 

received  the  Archbishop's  Commission,  have  no  right  to 
shrink  from  consecrating  him  through  any  regard  to  my 
own  ease  or  comfort  or  good  fame.  I  have  no  right  to 
cast  on  others  the  responsibility  which  providentially  has 
fallen  on  me,  how  much  soever  I  may  shrink  from  the 
obloquy  and  misrepresentation  which  I  know  must  be 
my  lot. 

"  If  I  in  my  conscience  believe  that,  at  the  present  stage 
of  the  proceedings,  the  next  step  ought  to  be  the  consecra- 
tion, then  I  am  a  coward  if  I  allow  others  to  consecrate 
him  when  I  have  been  called  on  to  do  so.  Of  course,  I 
may  add  the  less  weighty  consideration  that,  if  I  absent 
myself  from  Westminster  Abbey  to-morrow,  I  shall  be 
unable  to  present  and  consecrate  my  own  friend  and 
Archdeacon,  Lord  Arthur  Hervey. 

"  Looking  then  at  Dr.  Temple  only  by  himself,  I  should 
say  at  once,  under  all  the  circumstances  he  ought  to  be 
consecrated.  He,  and  those  who  think  with  him,  have  a 
recognised  standing-ground  in  the  Church.  It  is  hardly 
possible  that  no  one  of  his  School  should  rise  to  the 
Episcopate.  It  would  be  hard  to  find  any  better  repre- 
sentative of  his  School.  He  will  probably  be  an  active, 
efficient,  impartial  Bishop,  as  he  has  been  one  of  the  best 
Headmasters  of  a  public  school  that  ever  lived. 

"  But  on  the  other  hand  there  is  what  seems  to  me  the 
terrible  fact  that  his  Essay,  standing  at  the  head  of  *  Essays 
and  Reviews,'  being  far  more  innocuous  in  itself  than  any 
of  the  others,  and  bearing  his  honoured  name  upon  it,  has 
shed  a  lustre  on  the  whole  book,  has  induced  many  to 
read  the  book  and  to  trust  it,  who  would  otherwise  either 
not  have  read  it  at  all,  or  would  have  read  it  with  caution 
and  suspicion,  and  so  have  been  safer  from  its  poison. 
That  he  should  have  suffered  the  Essay  to  stand  where  it 
does  through  successive  editions  is,  I  confess,  a  difficulty 
which  I  am  unable  to  solve.  To  my  own  mind  this  is  the 
one  difficulty,  and  it  has  puzzled  my  will. 

"  I  am  not  at  liberty  to  say  anything  that  has  passed  in 
private  correspondence  between  Dr.  Temple  and  myself. 
I  will  only  say  for  myself,  that  I  have  tried  long  and 
anxiously,  and  almost  at  times  despairingly,  to  see  my 
way  out  of  the  maze  of  doubt.  I  need  not  tell  you  that 
it  has  been  the  subject  of  hourly  prayer.  Consequences 
seem  likely  to  be  serious  in  any  case.  If  the  Bishops  were 
to  refuse  to  consecrate  there  would  be   instant   collision 


II.]  THE  CONSECRATION  OF  BISHOP   TEMPLE.  33 1 

between  the  temporality  and  the  spirituality,  and  that 
disestablishment  which  you  fear  would  come  in  the  worst 
possible  form,  viz.,  not  as  a  disunion  of  Church  and  State, 
but  as  a  separation  of  the  great  bulk  of  the  clergy  from 
the  great  bulk  of  the  laity.  The  laity  are  at  least  nineteen 
to  one  in  favour  of  Dr.  Temple.  And  what  a  loss  of 
blessing  would  that  be,  if  the  Church  was  found  to  be  a 
body  of  shepherds  with  no  sheep  to  feed  !  On  the  other 
side  I  see  all  the  dangers  of  tender  consciences  wounded, 
zealous  Churchmen  alienated,  distrust  as  to  the  soundness 
of  a  body  where  there  is  thought  to  be  no  resistance  to 
error,  and  an  agitation  by  some  unchastened  spirits  for 
change  of  a  destructive  character.  The  balance  of  con- 
sequences is  like  the  balance  of  duties  ;  but  I  am  quite 
sure  you  will  feel  with  me,  that  consequences  may  safely 
be  disregarded  if  duties  can  be  clearly  ascertained. 

"  On  the  whole,  I  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  I  am 
convinced  in  my  own  mind  that  Dr.  Temple  is  not  a 
heretic  nor  an  immoral  liver;  that  there  is  no  canonical 
impediment  to  his  consecration ;  that  all  legal  steps  have 
been  gone  through  ;  that,  if  a  formal  trial  had  at  any  point 
of  the  proceedings  been  obtained,  it  would  in  any  actual 
or  conceivable  court,  civil  or  ecclesiastical,  have  issued 
in  his  acquittal  on  every  charge  of  heresy,  without  the 
smallest  doubt  or  shadow  of  a  doubt ;  that,  therefore,  there 
is  really  no  ground  which  can  be  legitimately  taken  for 
the  Bishops  of  the  province  of  Canterbury,  in  the  present 
state  of  the  proceedings,  to  refuse  consecration  ;  and,  if 
there  be  not,  then  I,  whatever  it  may  cost  me,  am  bound 
to  consecrate.  That  is  to  say,  holding  that  consecration 
ought  not  to  be  withheld,  I  am  bound  not  to  shrink  from 
my  own  responsibility,  and  to  throw  it  upon  others.  I 
will  only  add  that,  though  I  know  well  how  I  shall  be 
judged  here,  I  appeal  to  a  higher  judgment,  and  as  in  the 
presence  of  that,  I  can  say  that  I  know  no  motive  in  my 
own  heart  but  the  desire  in  this  to  do  as  I  would  do  if 
to-morrow  were  to  be  my  last  day  in  this  world. 
"  Ever,  my  dear  Archdeacon, 
"  Your  affectionate  friend, 

«E.  H.Ely." 

One  letter  of  remonstrance  more,  in  the  shrill  oriental 
fashion  of  the  remarkable  man  who  wrote  it,  shall  find  a 


332  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D,D.  [Ch. 

place  here.  The  Bishop  knew  Dean  Burgon  well,  and 
fully  appreciated — who  did  not? — his  quaintness  bordering 
on  originality,  his  kindness  of  heart,  his  love  for  children, 
and  childlike  way  of  looking  at  the  problems  of  life.  Mr. 
Burgon  does  not  date  his  letter ;  it  must  have  been 
written  not  long  before  the  day  of  Temple's  consecration 
(December  21st,  1869). 

"  Orieu 

"  My  dear  Lord, — It  would  be  unbecoming  in  me  to 
say  more.  Your  transparent  sincerity  I  never  for  an 
instant,  of  course,  doubted. 

"  I  am  persuaded,  however,  that  you  still  do  not  see  the 
danger  of  the  thing  I  deprecate,  because  you  raise  a 
mistaken  issue.  I  have  explained  this  at  length  in  the 
enclosed  paper. 

"At  least  I  have  the  comfort  of  knowing  that  I  gave 
you  all  the  warning  I  could.  And  still  if  the  perusal  of 
this  protest  makes  you  alter  your  mind,  I  am  as  sure  as 
I  am  of  my  life  that  you  will  not  hesitate  a  moment  to 
draw  back — even  at  this  late  hour. 

"  I  do  not  measure  myself  with  you,  nor  dare  to  think 
how  we  shall  compare  at  the  last  day,  in  God's  sight, 
without  being  overwhelmed  with  confusion. 

"  Respectfully  and  affectionately  yours, 

"J.  W.  B. 

"  May  the  good  Lord  guide  you ! 

"  P.S. — Of  course  Dr.  T.  was  not  condemned  by 
the  House  of  Bishops.  No  one  was.  They  have  no 
power  to  condemn  anybody.  Books — not  men — are  con- 
demned. 

"  But  you  cannot  consecrate  a  book.  And  if  you 
condemn  a  book,  you  mean  that  you  will  not  consecrate 
the  man, 

"  Had  you  wished  to  excuse  Temple,  you  (of  the  Upper 
House)  should  have  said  so.  But  not  a  word  was 
dropped  ! 

"  Excuse  this  P.S.  It  is  the  result  of  re-perusing  your 
letter  before  I  burn  it." 


II.]  THE  CONSECRATION  OF  BISHOP  TEMPLE.  333 

The  Bishop's  reply  to  his  eager  friend  is  so  full  of 
sweetness  and  goodness  that  it  cannot  be  omitted  : — 

"Ely,  December ird,  1869. 

"  My  dear  Mr.  Burgon, — I  must  answer  your  letter, 
if  it  were  only  to  thank  you  for  its  affectionate  kindness. 
I  need  hardly  tell  you  that  the  subject  of  it  has  long 
occupied  my  thoughts  and  prayers. 

"  As  it  happens,  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  has,  I 
am  told,  placed  my  name  in  the  Commission  for  con- 
secrating the  Bishops  of  Exeter,  Bath  and  Wells,  and  the 
Falkland  Islands.  Moreover,  the  Bishop-elect  of  Bath  and 
Wells,  being  my  own  highly  valued  Archdeacon,  has  asked 
me  to  present  him  at  the  consecration,  and  it  would  be 
hard  for  me  to  stay  away.  Then  comes  the  question^ 
Having  to  be  present  can  I  refuse  to  join  in  the  con- 
secration of  the  Bishop  of  Exeter  ? 

"  I  joined  in  condemning  the  book  in  which  his  Essay 
appears,  and  I  still  think  it  is  one  of  the  most  destructive 
books  which  the  present  century  has  produced ;  but  I  have 
read  again  the  Preface  and  Dr.  Temple's  Essay.  The 
Preface  claims  entire  independence  for  each  author  and 
irresponsibility  for  what  others  have  written.  Dr.  Temple's 
Essay  has  many  things  with  which  I  do  not  agree,  but  I 
find  in  it  distinctly  the  creation  of  the  world  by  God,  its 
government,  natural  and  spiritual,  by  His  providence,  the 
spiritual  nature  and  accountability  of  man,  the  final 
judgment,  the  Divinity  of  Christ,  the  Divine  revelation  of 
religious  truth  to  the  Jews  and  Christians  in  contradis- 
tinction to  the  light  of  nature  among  the  heathens,  the 
infallible  inspiration  of  Scripture  in  matters  of  faith,  and 
other  religious  truths.  These  things  come  out  incidentally, 
but  there  they  are.  There  are,  no  doubt,  other  truths 
which  I  do  not  find  there  ;  but  I  cannot  expect  every 
Christian  truth  to  come  out  in  every  essay  on  a  religious 
question.  There  is  certainly  the  supposition  that  the 
writers  of  Holy  Scripture  may  not  have  been  infallible 
in  matters  of  science  or  of  history.  This  even  is  not 
asserted,  but  only  supposed  possible ;  and  whatever  1 
myself  may  hold  on  this  point,  I  can  find  no  Creed  or 
Article  or  decree  of  Council  which  defines  the  exact  nature 
and  extent  of  inspired  infallibility. 

"  I  entirely  agree  with  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  in 


334  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

regretting  that  Dr.  Temple  has  not  disclaimed  all  sympathy 
with  some  of  the  sayings  in  the  other  Essays.  I  under- 
stand the  feelings  of  honour  which  have  weighed  with 
him  ;  but  I  think  the  Church  and  the  interest  of  souls 
have  as  much  hold  on  us  as  feelings  of  delicacy  tow^ard 
friends  and  colleagues.  Still,  as  he  falls  back  on  re- 
sponsibility for  his  own  Essay  alone,  as  I  have  never  heard 
that  he  has  given  utterance  to  heresy  in  any  other  way, 
as  he  professes  himself  ready  to  make  all  required 
declarations  and  subscriptions,  as  I  believe  him  to  be  a 
man  of  singularly  high  moral  tone  and  incapable  of  signing 
in  a  non-natural  sense,  as  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
my  own  Metropolitan,  vouches  for  his  orthodoxy,  the 
following  seems  plain  to  me.  Dr.  Temple  has  been  chosen 
by  the  Crown,  elected  by  the  Chapter  (according  to  the 
present  form  of  the  Concordia  sacerdotii  et  imperii)  ;  if  he 
is  further  confirmed  by  the  Metropolitan  (according  to 
Canon  IV.  and  VI.  of  the  Council  of  Nice),  and  if  he  is 
presented  by  two  Bishops  as  a  godly  and  well-learned  man, 
there  is  no  reason  for  me  to  withhold  my  hand  when 
others  are  laid  on  him. 

**  I  am  fully  prepared  for  a  storm  of  indignation, 
'  sacerdotuni  ardor  prava  jubentium ' !  I  fear  incomparably 
more  the  giving  pain  to  many  dear  friends,  with  whom  I 
have  almost  every  feeling  in  common,  but  who  see  this 
question  in  a  different  light  from  myself.  Nay!  I  fear 
that  I  shall  entirely  lose  the  friendship  and  confidence  of 
some.  But,  if  I  allowed  these  motives  to  weigh  with  me, 
I  should  feel  that  I  was  not  acting  a  manly  and  Christian 
part,  and  so  I  should  fear  to  lose  the  favour  of  God ;  and 
I  look  forward  to  a  time  when  the  misunderstandings  of 
the  disciples  of  Jesus  Christ  will  be  cleared  up  in  the  light 
of  His  eternal  presence. 

"  Believe  me,  my  dear  Mr.  Burgon, 
"  Yours  affectionately  and  gratefully, 

"E.  H.  Ely." 

Mr.  Burgon  returned  to  the  attack  with  one  of  those 
"frenzied"  efforts  of  which  the  Bishop  makes  mention. 
One  would  have  thought  that  the  end  of  the  Christian 
faith  was  come,  so  violent  and  despairing  was  the  tone 
of  it,  so  hopeless  the  figure  of  the  kind  good  Fellow  of 


II.]  THE  CONSECRATION  OF  BISHOP  TEMPLE,  335 

Oriel,  as  he  looked  out  of  that  window  near  the  College 
gate  from  which  he  was  wont  to  observe  the  doings  of  a 
degenerate  world. 

Some  of  the  Bishop's  correspondents  wrote  in  a  very 
different  strain.  Thus,  the  Bishop  of  Carlisle  recognised 
the  difficulty  of  his  position,  and  the  manly  way  in  which 
he  had  faced  it ;  the  laity  generally  were  favourable  to 
the  course  he  had  followed.  The  clergyman,  Mr.  Morton 
Shaw,  to  whom  he  offered  the  office  of  Rural  Dean,  thrown 
back  to  him  by  one  outraged  Rector,  spoke  out  vigorously 
in  his  letter  accepting  the  post : — 

"RouGHAM  Rectory,  Bury  St.  Edmunds. 
"  February  2ist,  1^70, 

"My  dear  Lord  Bishop, — Since  I   wrote   last   night 

I  have  learnt  the  reason  of  Mr.  's  resignation,  which 

I  presume  he  stated  to  your  Lordship  at  the  time  ;  so 
that  I  hope  I  am  not  trespassing  upon  improper  ground 
in  alluding  to  it.  But  it  has  decided  me  at  once  to  accept 
the  appointment.  I  do  so,  indeed,  for  the  very  reaspn 
that  led  him  to  resign  it.  I  should  have  asked  permission 
to  wait  until  I  see  how  I  come  out  of  my  illness  before 
deciding,  under  other  circumstances.  But  I  wish  every 
one  of  my  neighbours  to  know  what  I  feel  on  that  subject ; 
and  if  I  should  come  very  badly  out  of  my  illness  and 
find  myself  unequal  to  the  duties  of  the  office,  I  must  ask 
you  kindly  to  relieve  me  of  it. 

"  From  the  very  first  I  have  expressed  the  opinion  that 
if  I  had  been  in  your  Lordship's  place  I  should  have  done 
as  you  did ;  for  that  you  had  clearly  two  responsibilities 
placed  before  you, — one  that  of  consecrating,  and  the 
other  that  of  refusing  to  do  so;  and  that  I  didn't  see 
how,  having  both  clearly  before  your  conscience,  you  could 
do  otherwise  than  accept  what,  after  all,  painful  as  it 
might  be,  seemed  to  me  the  less  serious  responsibility — 
that  of  consecrating. 

**  I  have  often  longed  to  write  and  tell  you  how  much 
I  sympathised  with  you  in  all  that  I  knew  you  must  be 
suffering  in  regard  to  this  matter.  But  I  felt  that  it  would 
be  a  liberty  to  go  out  of  the  way  to  do  so,  and  also  that 


336  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,   D.D.  [Ch.II. 


there  was  almost  a  kind  of  indignity  in  seeming  to  imply 
that  you  needed  any  vindication  from  any  of  your  clergy 
for  doing  what  you  conscientiously,  and  as  I  think  truly, 
felt  it  your  duty  to  do. 

"  Believe  me,  my  dear  Lord  Bishop, 
"  Your  Lordship's  most  obliged  and  obedient  servant, 

"Morton  Shaw. 

"The  Lord  Bishop  of  Ely." 

The  violence  and  excitement  soon  wore  themselves  out, 
and  calmer  judgments  prevailed.  People  found  out  that  the 
formidable  schoolmaster  became  a  Bishop  who  could  not 
be  played  with  safely ;  his  earnestness  and  real  piety,  his 
vigorous  utterances  and  plain  common  sense,  his  freedom 
from  extravagances,  his  championship  of  religious  educa- 
tion, soon  allayed  alarm.  "  Essays  and  Reviews  "  were  put 
on  the  shelf  and  forgotten  ;  and  the  Bishop  of  Ely  found 
that,  after  all,  his  work  went  on  much  as  before,  and  that 
he  had  by  no  means  forfeited  the  esteem  and  affection 
of  his  diocese. 


CHAPTER   III. 

ORGANISATION   OF  THE  DIOCESE. 

A  MAN  who  was  bold  enough  to  say,  as  Bishop  Harold 
Browne  did  in  1871,  that  "  the  best  method  of  Church 
defence  is  Church  work,"  would  certainly  take  care  that  in 
his  own  sphere  "  Church  work  "  should  be  a  reality.  The 
thirty  years  that  have  passed  since  he  was  first  called  to 
the  Episcopate  have  seen  a  vast  change,  of  which  the 
Bishop  was  one  of  the  pioneers.  The  road  is  now,  thanks 
largely  to  his  energy  and  practical  gifts,  open  in  the 
direction  of  still  farther  advances. 

All  the  Bishop's  innovations  were  in  one  direction. 
They  aimed  at  more  organisation,  which  should  employ 
and  interest  Churchmen  in  Church  matters ;  they  tried  to 
teach  men  to  differ  charitably  or  to  agree  heartily.  Apart 
from  the  spiritual  aspect  of  the  question,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  the  shifting  of  the  political  balance,  and  the 
uprising  of  new  social  powers,  have  given  a  fresh  insistence 
to  the  vital  question,  Is  the  Church  of  England  the  Church 
of  the  people?  So  long  ago  as  his  Ely  days.  Bishop 
Harold  Browne  saw  that  this  question  could  not  be  set 
aside,  and  longed  to  quicken  the  zeal  of  his  clergy  in 
dealing  with  the  people.  If  the  Church  is  to  retain  her 
position  in  the  future,  it  can  only  be  by  realising  this 
necessity,  as  many  single-hearted  men  who  work  in  our 
large   towns   are  aware.     The  stability  of  "Church  and 

337  22 


338  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 


State  "  may  be  as  much  strengthened  by  this  new  reading 
of  the  Church's  duty  in  the  towns  as  it  is  weakened  by 
the  continuance  of  the  older  system  in  country  villages. 
There  the  Church  strives  to  perpetuate  or  restore  the  old 
idyllic  life,  at  the  moment  when  the  villagers  are  attaining 
to  a  sense  of  new  rights  and  privileges,  and  a  wholesome, 
if  as  yet  uneasy,  independence ;  in  the  more  complex  life 
of  towns  she  is  learning,  thanks  chiefly  to  the  more  modem 
school  of  High  Churchmanship,  to  adapt  herself  to  the 
conditions  of  life  around  her  and  to  prove  herself  the  guide 
and  friend  of  the  wage-earner. 

The  Bishop's  handling  of  this  vital  subject  was  rather 
in  the  older  spirit: — 

"A  Church,"  he  says  in  the  Charge  of  1869,  "which  has 
lost  its  poor,  and  lost  them  to  indifference  and  sin,  has 
indeed  lost  its  truest  riches.  .  .  .  The  evil  grows,  and  all 
the  Church  must  work  against  it.  .  .  .  The  Church  is 
called  on  to  throw  itself  with  all  its  soul  into  the  con- 
flict ...  No  lazy  perfunctory  work  will  reach  them. 
There  is  need  of  throwing  ourselves  into  their  wants  and 
homes,  living  familiarly  among  them,  giving  ourselves 
wholly  to  them.  .  ,  .  We  all  of  us  want,  but  the  poor  want 
most  especially,  strong,  earnest,  fervent  heart-utterances 
in  their  prayers." 

We  must  be  grateful  for  such  wise  words,  yet  we  feel 
that  there  is  always  a  certain  condescension;  the  Bishop 
will  treat  them  with  the  warmest  sympathy  and  win  them 
by  kindness,  yet  they  are  in  a  diff'erent  sphere ;  the  notion 
of  the  brotherhood  and  ultimate  equality  of  all  in  Christ  is 
hardly  realised.  The  subject  came  up  not  infrequently  in 
the  Diocesan  Conferences  ;  and  the  Bishop  always  treated 
it  so  as  to  shew  that  he  saw  the  importance  of  the  problem. 
In  one  address  he  admits  that  the  clergyman  is  usually  a 
member  of  the  employer  class,  yet  he  is  "the  natural 
defender  of  the  poor,"  a  noble  office  which  he  must  try 


III.]  ORGANISATION  OF  THE  DIOCESE.  339 


to  fulfil  with  ever-growing  zeal  and   power.     In  another 
address  he  points  out  the  terrible  fact  that — 

"  Only  two  per  cent,  of  the  working-classes  in  large  towns 
attend  public  worship  ;  infidelity  is  making  way  among  the 
masses ;  five  millions  are  living  in  neglect  of  all  means  of 
grace;  there  is,  I  fear,  but  little  active  preaching  of  the 
gospel,  of  the  simple  proclaiming  of  the  glad  tidings  of 
salvation." 

The  Bishop  tells  them  that  he  yearns  to  lead  a  crusade, 
a  true  crusade,  against  the  modern  spirit  of  indifference. 
He  takes  heart  in  thinking  that  ''  one  great  sign  of  hope 
to  the  Church  at  present  is  that  amidst  the  crowd  of 
operatives  in  our  great  manufacturing  towns  the  religion 
of  the  Church  is  the  most  popular  ;  the  Church  has  gained 
most  ground  in  populous  centres." 

In  another  Conference  address  (1871),  he  calls  attention 
to  the  evils  of  intemperance  ;  and  his  words  may  carry  the 
more  weight  with  some  from  the  fact  that  the  Bishop, 
though  most  temperate  and  even  abstemious,  was  not  a 
total  abstainer.  He  speaks  of  drunkenness  as  "  a  vice  of 
civilisation,  not  of  barbarism.  One  in  every  thirty-four 
houses  in  England  is  a  licensed  house.  ...  In  some 
villages  one  in  twenty,  even  one  in  ten !  .  .  .  A  por- 
tentous thing." 

In  this  same  address,  in  the  just  indignation  of  his  heart 
he  went  on  to  enlarge  on  the  bad  surroundings  of  the 
working-man's  life,  speaking  of  his  wretched  and  crowded 
dwellings,  his  unwholesome  sanitary  state  and  general 
discomfort,  and  he  added  that  we  must  endeavour  to 
improve  the  dwellings  of  the  poor.  Presently,  however, 
he  became  aware  that  some  magnate  on  the  platform  was 
pulling  a  long  face ;  and  he  weakened  the  effect  of  his 
weighty  words  by  explaining  that  "  this  is  in  towns,  not  in 
*  sweet  country  villages.* "     But  people  with  opened  eyes — 


340  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D,D,  [Ch. 

most  of  us  are  as  blind  as  puppies — know  well  enough  that 
neither  vice  nor  misery  can  be  said  to  belong  to  either 
town  or  country  to  the  exclusion  of  the  other  ;  and  though 
the  model  village  may  smile  outside  the  park  gates,  there 
is  many  a  wretched  hovel  within  reach  which  deserves  to 
the  full  the  Bishop's  vigorous  words  of  condemnation. 

Nor  does  his  practical  mind  forget  to  suggest  some  sen- 
sible ways  of  lessening  the  evil.  He  discusses  in  one  of  his 
Visitation  Charges  the  best  way  of  alluring  the  working- 
men  to  church.  He  recommends  a  most  admirable  code  of 
village  church  usage.  Let  us  have,  he  says,  churches  open 
on  a  week  day,  and  on  every  week  day  evening  a  short 
service,  as  a  kind  of  Family  Prayers  :  "  the  prayers  taking 
fifteen  minutes ;  then  a  hymn,  then  a  short  practical 
address  for  ten  minutes  more.**  "  Let  us  have  brighter 
singing  in  service :  choral  service  where  it  can  be  managed." 
He  also  advises  a  Litany  on  Sunday  afternoons,  with 
homely  and  interesting  catechising  on  the  life  of  our 
Lord,  or  short  colloquial  sermons  addressed  specially  '  ad 
populum.*  That  catechising  in  church  should  have  so 
much  dropped  out  of  use  in  country  places  is  a  most 
astonishing  and  lamentable  fact  Then  he  suggests  that 
all  class  distinctions  should  disappear  within  the  walls  of 
God's  house  ;  and  lastly — and  here  is  the  key  of  the  whole 
position — he  cries  aloud  for  a  zealous  and  faithful  clergy 
capable  of  rightly  dividing  the  word  of  truth.  There  is 
a  pretty  touch,  in  the  same  visitation,  which  gives  us  a 
glimpse  of  the  Bishop's  own  parochial  life.  Archdeacon 
Emery,  his  trusted  friend  and  colleague,  in  enforcing  his 
chiefs  advice  about  the  best  way  of  gaining  admittance 
to  the  hearts  of  the  people,  said  that — 

"  The  clergyman,  however  much  '  the  gentleman,'  would 
be  heartily  received  by  the  poor,  if  like  their  Bishop  in 
his  former  parishes  he  visited  his  poor  folk,  and  did  not 


III.]  ORGANISATION  OF  THE  DIOCESE,  341 

disdain  to  sit  down  with  them  and  take  a  meal  or  a  cup 
of  tea  ;  or  even  to  help  them  to  boil  the  kettle." 

Just  before  the  close  of  his  Ely  episcopate  the  Bishop 
had  approved  of  a  very  practical  discussion  in  the  Diocesan 
Conference  on  "  The  duty  of  the  Church,  clergy  and  laity, 
in  relation  to  the  disputes  between  Labour  and  Capital, 
with  special  reference  to  the  danger  of  alienating  the 
working  classes  from  religion  and  religious  ordinances." 
And  on  this  large  and  most  vital  topic  he  spoke  with 
much  gravity  and  a  real  insight  into  many  of  the  difficulties 
of  the  problem.  He  treated  the  subject  from  a  somewhat 
wide  point  of  view,  calling  his  address  a  discourse  on 
**  Vital  Christianity  and  Modern  Civilisation,"  and  dealing 
with  the  relations  of  the  Church  to  the  world  in  general 
rather  than  to  the  working  folk  specially.  Still,  all  he 
said  bears  directly  on  the  essential  question — Why  it  is 
that  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  has  been  so  far  from 
realising  the  most  important  of  all  its  duties :  "  To  the 
poor  the  gospel  is  preached." 

"  I  believe,"  he  says,  and  so  saying  strikes  the  note  of 
a  liberal  policy  for  the  Church,  "that  Communism  and 
Socialism  are  really  the  earnest  strugglings  of  the  human 
heart  for  a  state  of  society  which  Ae  Christian  Church 
ought  to  supply.  They  are  a  kind  of  travesty  on  the 
condition  of  the  Church  as  her  Founder  intended  it  to  be. 
It  was  intended  to  be  one  great  society,  one  great  body, 
knit  together  in  unity  of  heart  and  soul,  in  which  if  one 
member  suffer  all  the  members  suff'er  with  it,  and  one 
member  rejoice,  all  the  members  rejoice  with  it ;  in  which 
every  effort  is  made  to  raise  the  poor ;  to  keep  the  rich 
from  being  proud  and  overbearing  ;  to  promote  perfect 
sympathy  between  all  classes  ;  to  make  every  one  feel 
that  whether  a  man  is  higher  than  himself  or  lower  he 
is  his  brother  in  Christ,  with  the  same  hopes  and  ends 
and  aims.  Therefore  Communism  and  Socialism  are  the 
uneasy  throes  of  the  human  mind,  and  if  the  Church  knew 
how  to  deal  with  them,  all  these  desires  would  be  satisfied." 


342  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

A  little  later,  he  addresses  himself  again  to  the  problem 
of  the  poor. 

"In  former  times,"  he  says,  "  it  was  a  glory  of  the 
Church  that  it  could  be  called  emphatically  the  Church 
of  the  poor  .  .  .  but  it  may  be  feared  that  religion  of  all 
kinds  is  losing  its  hold  on  the  labouring  man.  There  are 
many  causes  for  this.  The  rapid  growth  of  population, 
far  outstripping  the  growth  of  the  means  of  grace,  is  one 
chief  cause.  But  we  must  look  farther  and  deeper  still. 
It  may  be  said  without  fear  of  contradiction  that  the 
only  Church  in  Christendom,  at  all  events  in  Western 
Christendom,  which  commands  the  confidence  of  the 
wealthy  and  the  well-educated  is  the  English  Church. 
This  is  true,  not  only  where  establishment  is  supposed  to 
give  a  high  social  position  to  its  clergy,  but  in  the  colonics, 
in  some  of  which  it  is  at  singular  disadvantage.  On  the 
Continent  the  Roman  Church  revolts  the  intelligence, 
while  the  Reformed  Churches  do  not  satisfy  the  wants,  of 
the  educated  classes.  We  have  then  great  privileges.  It 
is  a  great  point  gained  when  faith  is  conciliated,  yet  reason 
not  offended.  But  the  gain  of  the  rich  is  ill  purchased  if 
it  be  by  the  loss  of  the  poor  ;  and  I  am  afraid  it  must  be 
said  that  in  all  Protestant  countries  not  the  Church  only 
but  religion  altogether  is  losing  its  hold  upon  the  poor. 
But  it  ought  not  so  to  be.  Th^re  is  no  sufficient  reason 
why  the  English  Church  at  all  events  should  lose  the  poor. 
Of  the  two  it  had  far  better  lose  the  rich.  '  Hath  not  God 
chosen  the  poor  of  this  world,  rich  in  faith  and  heirs  of 
the  promises?'  and  evil  will  betide  the  Church  which 
disregards  those  whom  God  has  chosen. 

"In  the  present  struggle  it  is  not  altogether  unnatural 
that  the  labouring  man  should  look  on  the  clergyman 
as  likely  to  be  his  enemy.  The  clei^yman  belongs  to  the 
employer — not  to  the  labourer — class.  He  is  often  himself 
possessed  of  land,  and  so  likely  to  sympathise  with  owners 
and  holders  of  land  or  property.  Besides,  he  is  by  duty 
as  well  as  by  interest  a  defender  of  the  law.  On  these 
accounts  the  labourer  or  operative  is  likely  to  esteem  him 
a  prejudiced  person,  prejudiced  against  his  cause  and  his 
rights.  The  greatest  discretion  is  therefore  needed  by  the 
clergy,  on  the  one  hand  not  to  encourage  the  labouring 
man  in  any  undue  assertion  of  his  rights,  but  on  the  other 


m.]  ORGANISATION  OF  THE  DIOCESE.  345 

hand  not  to  be  led  away  by  any  personal  or  class  interest 
to  take  a  part  or  to  say  an  unwise  word  against  him.  The 
minister  of  God  is  the  natural  defender  of  the  poor,  and 
he  had  better  err  by  defending  him  too  much  than  by 
deserting  him  when  he  needs  defence. 

"  It  is  pretty  generally  admitted  that  the  agricultural 
labourer  in  many  parts  of  England  has  had  wrongs  ;  and 
I  think  it  will  not  be  denied  that  no  one  has  so  tried  to 
do  him  right  as  the  parochial  clergy.  They  have  tried 
to  raise  his  social  condition,  have  defended  him  against 
oppression,  have  ministered  to  him  in  poverty,  sickness^ 
and  sorrow,  have  provided  almost  the  only  education 
hitherto  provided  for  him  at  all.  They  have  especially 
defended  him  against  himself  In  all  these  ways  we  are 
called  on  to  defend  him  still.  I  am  sure  that  the  best 
friend  of  the  working  man  is  he  who  educates  him  best^ 
not  as  an  animal,  but  as  a  being  who  is  heir  oif  both 
worlds,  and  who  has  wants  for  both." 

Nor  did  the  Bishop  fail,  when  occasion  offered,  to  talk 
in  a  very  friendly  and  sympathetic  strain  to  labouring 
people.  His  advice  was  wholesome  and  sensible,  and 
answered  fairly  enough  to  the  conditions  of  the  labour 
problem  as  it  then  presented  itself 

"I  wish  you,"  he  said,  "to  plead  for  your  own  rights; 
I  wish  you  to  have  your  rights.  I  earnestly  wish  that 
every  poor  man  and  woman  may  have  his  or  her  rights 
as  regards  labour,  wages,  everything  else ;  but  I  want 
you  to  try  and  obtain  them  in  a  reasonable  spirit,  in  such 
a  spirit  as  is  likely  to  be  prospered  by  God  and  accepted 
by  man.  One  thing  I  certainly  wish — I  wish  you  all  could 
have  better  houses :  it  would  be  a  great  blessing  ;  and  I 
wish  you  could  all  have  a  little  portion  of  land.  But  there 
is  one  thing  I  specially  wish  you  to  do,  and  that  is,  when 
you  prosper,  when  wages  rise,  and  your  houses  are  more 
comfortable,  and  homes  more  comfortable,  that  you  should 
know  how  to  take  care  of  your  houses,  your  homes,  your 
property,  and,  most  of  all,  of  yourselves.  What  does  most 
harm  to  the  working  man  in  this  country  is  what  he  does 
of  himself  If  he  gets  good  wages,  he  often  does  not  bring 
them  home  to  wife  and  children,  but  takes  the  money 
elsewhere.      In  some  manufacturing  districts  many  men 


344  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D,  [Ca 


spend  three  days  of  the  week  working  and  four  drinking ; 
and  then  are  poorer  than  they  were  when  wages  were  less^ 
and  are  less  comfortable,  and  their  wives  and  children 
worse  off.  Nothing  will  give  you  such  command  of  the 
market  view  of  life  as  command  of  yourselves.  I  would 
say  to  both  parties,  masters  and  men,  that  the  best  way  to 
get  grievances  righted  is  to  do  no  wrong  ;  to  do  what  you 
Slink  well  to  do,  kindly,  as  firmly  as  you  like,  still  kindly, 
gently,  sensibly.  Argue  fairly,  act  properly,  in  a  straight- 
forward way,  not  by  way  of  agitation.  I  do  not  wonder  at 
agitations  sometimes,  for  working  men  have  had  causes 
for  complaint ;  there  are  reasons  why  working  men  should 
combine  to  save  their  rights.  Do  all  you  do  prudently  ; 
you  have  sympathy  on  your  side.  But  if  it  comes  to  a 
conflict,  take  care  :  there  is  such  power  in  wealth  that  the 
labourer  is  likely  to  be  worsted.  So  be  prudent  in  calling 
for  a  rise  of  wages,  and  careful  not  to  defeat  yourselves." 

It  would  be  easy  to  criticise  some  of  these  utterances ; 
still  the  fact  remains  that  he  was  aware  of  the  growing 
labour-problem  ;  that  he  faced  it  sympathetically  and  in 
a  good  spirit,  and  sincerely  desired  to  stand,  as  friend  to 
both  sides,  between  the  two;  and  w^ished  his  clergy  to 
occupy  the  same  position.  That  greatest  question  of  the 
future,  the  destiny  of  the  worker,  and  the  use  he  will 
make  of  his  power  when  he  comes  to  understand  it,  rose 
into  the  Bishop's  sight  in  days  in  which  it  was  entirely 
below  the  horizon  for  the  most  of  us.  He  hoped  that  the 
Church  would  have  wisdom  and  grace  to  help  towards 
the  wholesome  solution  of  this  grave  question.  It  is 
worthy  of  notice  that  one  of  those  who  were  brought  up 
at  our  Bishop's  feet  in  the  old  Cambridge  days,  the  present 
Bishop  of  Durham,  has  been  called  on  to  face  the  problem 
in  all  its  difficulty,  and  did  excellent  work  in  the  great 
Durham  strike  in  1892. 

The  ten  years  of  the  Bishop's  work  at  Ely  were  full  of 
well-aimed  endeavours  to  secure  the  harmonious  activity 
of  the  Church.     No  man  had  ever  before  him  a   higher 


III.]  ORGANISATION  OF  THE  DIOCESE,  345 

ideal  of  the  episcopal  calling.  His  aim  was  to  be  guide 
and  father  to  his  diocese ;  and  in  this  he  never  spared 
himself.  It  was  the  moment  at  which  Bishops,  finding  that 
their  work  multiplied  till  they  were  unable  to  keep  pace 
with  it,  looked  out  for  help.  Those  who  could  obtain 
Suffragan  Bishops  began  to  make  arrangements  for  this 
relief.  It  was  obvious  that  a  Bishop  and  a  helping  Bishop, 
working  heartily  together,  would  catch  up  arrears  of  organi- 
sation, and  infinitely  enlarge  the  usefulness  of  episcopal 
supervision.  And  our  Bishop,  having  within  his  reach  one 
of  the  most  characteristic  and  vigorous  of  men,  made  haste 
to  catch  and  secure  him. 

Francis  McDougall,  who  had  resigned  the  bishopric  of 
Labuan  in  consequence  of  the  failure  of  his  strength,  the 
ill-health  of  his  wife,  and  the  death  of  more  than  one  of  his 
children,  had  returned  to  England,  and  having  taken  the 
living  of  Godmanchester,  in  the  suburbs  of  Huntingdon, 
was  already  in  the  diocese.  From  the  very  first  a  warm 
friendship  sprang  up  between  the  two  Bishops.  The 
originality  of  Bishop  McDougall's  character,  appearance, 
and  mind,  the  story  of  his  heroic  and  venturesome  life, 
the  society  of  his  refined  and  delightful  wife,  his  charming 
and  fascinating  children,  attracted  our  Bishop  powerfully. 
No  two  men  could  have  been  more  unlike,  whether  in 
appearance  or  in  qualities ;  yet  they  were  quite  devoted  to 
each  other,  and  the  letters  which  passed  between  them 
during  the  long  period — over  twenty  years — in  which  they 
worked  together,  would  fill  many  volumes.  Their  points 
in  common  were  first  a  deep  sense  of  religion  and  a  true 
loyalty  to  the  Church  of  England  ;  then,  a  wholesome  and 
refreshing  sense  of  humour  and  appreciation  of  character ; 
then,  an  almost  passionate  love  of  animals,  and  interest  in 
the  world  around  us.  Each  of  them  recognised  in  the 
other  a  perfectly  honest  man. 


/ 


346  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D,D.  [Ch. 

"  The  extreme  intimacy  and  brotherly  affection  between 
the  Bishop  and  McDougall,"  says  an  old  friend,  "was 
very  remarkable,  as  well  as  very  creditable  to  both.  Of 
course  the  two  Bishops  had  some  things  in  common.  Both 
were  full  of  geniality,  and  both  had  a  keen  sense  of 
humour.  But  in  many  aspects  what  very  different  men 
they  were.  One  was  the  very  perfection  of  refinement, 
the  other  had  an  almost  Falstaffian  jollity  in  manner  as  in 
appearance." 

They  both  had  an  equal  dislike  of  extravagances :  Bishop 
McDougall  by  reason  of  his  knowledge  of  the  world,  his 
early  training,  and  his  honest  temper  of  mind,  which 
shrank  from  anything  which  might  savour  of  mere  appear- 
ance and  hypocrisy ;  and  the  Bishop  of  Ely,  because  his 
sensitive,  well-trained  nature  instinctively  fought  against 
what  was  theatrical  in  religion.  They  were  both  High 
Churchmen  of  the  older  type,  of  the  earlier  Anglican 
school;  both  suspicious  of  a  tendency  towards  Rome 
visible  in  the  manners  and  acts  of  some  of  the  clergy. 
Nothing  ever  distressed  Bishop  Harold  Browne  or  him  so 
much  as  to  see  young  men,  in  their  youthful  enthusiasm, 
attracted  by  and  endeavouring  to  copy  the  ways  of  Rome. 
The  one,  thanks  to  his  great  learning,  the  other  through 
his  practical  knowledge  of  the  working  of  the  system,  were 
far  more  fully  aware  of  the  real  character  of  the  Roman 
advance  than  were  those  who,  in  the  enthusiasm  of  a 
generous  youth,  fell  under  the  fascinations  of  a  magnificent 
system  and  a  splendid  symbolic  ritual. 

And  so  it  came  about  that  these  two  men,  so  very 
different  in  look,  ways,  habits,  education,  yet  so  closely 
agreed  in  the  weightier  matters  of  the  gospel  of  salva- 
tion, were  affectionate  friends  and  colleagues  both  at  Ely 
and  at  Winchester.  In  1870  the  Bishop  made  Bishop 
McDougall  Archdeacon  of  Huntingdon  ;  throughout  he 
employed  his  help,  consulted  him  on  every  occasion,  and 


in.]  ORGANISATION  OF  THE  DIOCESE,  347 

helped  him  with  his  purse  with  a  never-failing  liberality 
and  affectionate  eagerness.  And  there  are  many  letters 
which  show  that  the  two  prelates  gladly  offered  and  took 
this  practical  help.  It  was  always  done  in  so  beautiful 
a  spirit  as  to  leave  the  impression  that  the  favour  was 
being  conferred  not  on  the  recipient  but  on  the  giver. 

It  was  in  connexion  with  .this  helping  hand  that  the 
Bishop  of  Ely  next  year,  1871,  communicated  with 
Mr.  Gladstone,  then  Prime  Minister,  on  the  subject 
of  Suffragan  Bishops.  It  is  curious  to  notice  how 
the  parts  seem  to  have  been  exchanged.  The  Bishop 
was  at  the  time  much  occupied  with  the  Revision  of  the 
Authorised  Version  of  the  Old  Testament,  which  often 
took  hiqi  away  to  London,  and  this,  as  he  naturally 
felt,  left  the  diocese  too  much  to  itself.  He  was  the 
chairman  of  the  Old  Testament  company,  and  by  his 
erudition,  his  mastery  of  the  Hebrew  tongue,  his  fair- 
ness and  courtesy,  had  rendered  himself  essential  to  the 
work,  and  could  never,  save  for  absolute  necessity,  absent 
himself  from  the  meetings  of  the  body.  He  therefore 
desired,  if  possible,  to  give  to  Bishop  McDougall  the 
more  definite  and  recognised  position  of  Suffragan  Bishop, 
Huntingdon  being  one  of  the  places  named  in  the  Act 
of  Henry  VIII.  (26  Henry  VIII.,  c.  14).  Mr.  Gladstone's 
reply  was  caution  itself — as  became  one  of  the  most 
conservative  of  statesmen.  He  is  not  prepared  to 
recommend  the  Crown  to  appoint  Suffragans  whenever 
asked  to  do  so;  he  thinks  there  is  an  intermediate 
course ;  the  Bishop  of  the  diocese  might  appoint  an 
Assistant-Bishop.  He  adds  that  the  Lord  Chancellor, 
whom  he  had  consulted,  also  thought  it  undesirable  to 
create  Suffragans.  The  Bishop  had  mentioned  the  names 
of  two  of  his  Archdeacons,  Bishop  McDougall  and  Lord 
Arthur  Hervey,  as  those  whom  he  would  wish  to  submit  to 


348  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DM.  [Ch. 

the  Crown.  The  Prime  Minister  replies  that  the  appoint- 
ment of  either  of  them  "  would  strain  the  working  and  credit 
of  the  Act."  And  so  the  proposal  fell  to  the  ground.  When 
the  Bishop  was  translated  to  Winchester,  and  (in  January 
1874)  applied  to  the  Prime  Minister  for  a  Suffragan,  he 
found  Mr.  Gladstone  perfectly  willing  to  carry  out  his  wishes, 
and  to  allow  the  appointment  of  a  Bishop  of  Guildford. 

Another  little  matter,  bearing  on  the  dignity  of  his 
episcopal  office,  came  before  the  Bishop  of  Ely  at  this 
time.  In  July  1870  many  of  his  friends  in  the  diocese 
were  anxious  to  present  their  Bishop  with  a  handsome 
Pastoral  Staff,  as  an  emblem  of  his  authority.  It  will  be 
seen  that  the  Bishop  was  pleased  at  the  kindness  which 
had  suggested  the  presentation,  while  he  was  most  anxious 
not  to  hurt  the  feelings  of  any  of  his  people,  or  to  lend 
himself  to  what  might  be  regarded  as  a  party  demonstra- 
tion. He  thus  writes  from  Ely,  on  July  27th,  1870,  to 
Bishop  McDougall : — 

"My  dear  Brother,— With  reference  to  what  you 
kindly  said  to  me  yesterday,  I  would  just  say  this. 

"  I  have  thought  a  good  deal  of  what  you  told  me  about 
Archdeacons  Emery  and  Chapman,  thinking  that  the  last 
might  be  offended  by  the  presentation  of  a  Pastoral  Staff 
to  me.  Personally,  I  like  the  emblem  or  symbolism 
involved  in  the  said  Staff,  and  of  course  cannot  but  be 
deeply  gratified  at  the  kind  thoughts  which  have  dictated 
the  proposal  to  give  me  one.  As,  however,  the  thoughts 
seem  to  have  arisen  in  connection  with  our  Conferences, 
it  certainly  would  be  very  sad  if  a  torch  of  discord  were 
thrown  into  these  Conferences,  or  if  distrust  were  excited 
by  the  said  Staff. 

"Does  it  not  seem  that  it  would  be  well  if  my  kind 
friends  among  the  clergy  were  to  sound  the  leading  law 
members  of  the  Conference  before  quite  deciding  ? 

"  I  throw  this  out  as  you  so  kindly  spoke  to  me  about  it 
"  Ever  yours  affectionately, 

"E.  H.Ely." 


TII.l  ORGANISATION  OF  THE  DIOCESE,  349 

Bishop  McDougairs  reply  is  lost ;  it  was  followed  soon 
after  by  a  second  letter,  which  is  given  here : — 

"Rose  Castle,  Carlisle. 

'' August  6ih,  1870. 

"My  dear  Bishop, — I  am  much  obliged  to  you  for 
your  kind  letter.  I  enclose  part  of  one  on  the  same 
subject  from  my  chaplain,  G.  Phear,  Tutor  of  Emmanuel 
College,  who  was  the  other  person  that  told  me  of  the 
design  of  the  *  Staff.'  I  have  also  talked  privately  to 
the  Bishop  of  Carlisle.  He  is  fearful  that  the  use  of  a 
Pastoral  Staff  just  now  would  be  thought  a  badge  of 
party.  The  Bishops  to  whom  staves  have  been  given  are 
Winchester,  Rochester,  and  the  late  Bishops  of  Salisbury 
and  Chichester,  who  would  probably  be  thought  the  four 
most  decidedly  High  Churchmen  Bishops.  You  mentioned 
Peterborough  :  I  did  not  know  he  was  one. 

"  It  very  little  matters  whether  people  abuse  one  as  a 
Ritualist  or  anything  else  ;  but  if  any  section  of  the  clergy 
of  the  diocese,  or  still  more  if  the  laity  in  general,  become 
thereby  suspicious,  there  might  be  a  breach  of  that  harmony 
which  I  am  so  thankful  to  think  exists  in  the  diocese  of 
Ely  ;  and  that  without  compromise  of  principle. 

"  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  I  think  a  Pastoral  Staff 
a  very  proper  piece  of  symbolism,  and  I  should  much  like 
to  use  one  ;  but  not  if  thereby  a  weak  brother  be  offended. 

"  This  is  a  lovely  place,  and  the  Goodwins  seem  very 
happy  here. 

"  Ever  yours  affectionately, 

"E.H.Ely." 

In  the  end  the  Bishop  received  the  Staff  from  Mr.  C. 
Longuet  Higgins,  a  well-known  layman  of  the  diocese, 
and  one  of  his  dearest  friends  ;  and  made  a  charming 
reply  as  to  the  plain  meaning  and  symbolic  quality  of  the 
Staff.  Now  that  such  emblems  have  lost  a  party-character, 
if  ever  they  had  it,  we  are  inclined  to  wonder  at  the 
Bishop's  anxiety  to  avoid  the  risk  of  wounding  the  weak 
brethren.  It  is  clear  that  this  Staff  was  an  evidence  of 
much  and  very  widespread  affection  in  the  diocese;  the 


350  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D,D.  [Ch, 

subscribers  to  it  were  of  all  classes  of  society,  and  repre- 
sented many  very  different  shades  of  opinion.  In  one 
small  village,  where  the  Bishop  had  lately  been  visiting,  and 
"  where  he  had  often  spent  a  day  in  ministering  among  the 
people,"  the  schoolchildren  asked  leave  to  contribute  to 
the  fund,  and  in  pence,  halfpence,  and  farthings  collected 
together  quite  a  good  sum  towards  it ;  it  is  to  be  hoped 
that  at  some  later  confirmation  or  other  grave  occasion 
they  had  the  felicity  of  again  seeing  their  Bishop  with  his 
Pastoral  Staff,  towards  which  out  of  their  "  deep  poverty  " 
they  had  so  affectionately  contributed 

Bishop  Harold  Browne  now  advanced  a  step  farther. 
The  centre-point  of  the  diocese  is  the  Cathedral :  what 
part  should  the  officials  of  the  Mother  Church  be  called 
on  to  take  in  the  practical  work  around  them  ?  It  seemed 
to  him  far  from  enough  that  there  should  be  a  semi- 
independent  leisurely  body  of  men,  set,  with  ample  means 
at  their  disposal,  to  keep  up  a  splendid  fabric,  to  encourage 
good  choral  services,  to  dispense  elegant  hospitalities, 
to  form  a  close  College  with  little  or  no  influence  on 
the  diocese  around.  The  Cathedral  dignitary,  in  theory 
an  elderly  man  enjoying  leisure,  was  in  practice  some- 
thing entirely  different :  he  was  usually  the  Rector  of  a 
living  at  a  distance,  sometimes  not  in  the  diocese,  who 
spent  three  months  a  year  in  the  Cathedral  city  as  a  kind 
of  holiday,  and  found  little  or  no  spiritual  work  to  do. 
The  literary  records  of  the  English  Church  do  not  confirm 
the  notion  that  the  Cathedral  Close  is  the  home  of  research 
or  the  mother  of  many  books.  Above  all,  the  position 
of  the  Dean  was  a  real  difficulty.  Deans  are  a  puzzling 
race.  A  Dean  ought  to  be  so  useful,  and  is  sometimes 
not  even  ornamental:  he  represents  neither  the  Bishop 
nor  the  clergy  of  the  diocese ;  is  appointed  by  the  Prime 
Minister  of  the  day,  without  regard  for  the  needs  of  the 


Ill,]  ORGANISATION  OF  THE  DIOCESE.  35 1 

place  to  which  he  is  to  go  ;  his  authority  over  the  Cathedral 
Church,  instead  of  helping  to  make  him  the  ready  lieutenant 
of  the  Bishop,  gives  him  an  almost  independent  position 
of  rivalry;  he  comes  into  the  diocese,  a  stranger  with 
no  ties  to  the  place  of  his  sojourn.  His  necessary 
duties  are  small  enough :  he  must  reside  his  eight 
months,  preach  his  four  statutable  sermons,  be  hospitable 
and  courteous,  and  on  good  terms  with  the  Mayor, 
and,  if  possible,  be  a  man  of  business,  able  to  preside 
at  Chapter  meetings  and  the  like.  He  has  supervision 
over  the  staff  of  persons  employed  in  his  Cathedral 
Church  and  precinct ;  in  theory  he  is  supreme  over  the 
Services  and  the  music,  though  he  finds  in  practice  that 
these  matters  are  regarded  as  too  high  for  him.  If  a 
Cathedral  is  in  some  populous  place,  the  Dean  may,  if 
he  has  the  gifts  for  it,  become  as  it  were  the  incumbent 
of  the  chief  city  Church,  and  fill  a  really  important  position 
as  such.  Even  so,  his  attitude  is  not  always  sympathetic 
towards  his  Bishop,  who  has  no  real  control  over  him, 
and  cannot  work  him  into  his  diocesan  system. 

In  spite  of  these  unpromising  elements.  Bishop  Harold 
Browne,  though  he  said  little  about  the  work  to  be  got 
out  of  his  Deans,  was  not  afraid  of  attacking  the  important 
problem  of  Cathedral  usefulness.  Here  was  a  reserve  of 
power,  which  might  be  made  valuable  in  many  ways,  if 
only  the  Canons  with  their  Head  would  become  leaders 
in  diocesan  work.  It  is  obvious  that  a  Dean  who  has  no 
sympathy  with  what  is  going  on  in  the  diocese  around  him 
is  far  from  making  the  most  of  his  position.  It  is  equally 
clear  that  a  body  of  Canons  who  hold  themselves  aloof 
from  the  parochial  clergy,  till,  instead  of  unity  of  aim, 
jealousies  and  illwill  spring  up,  are  very  far  from  doing 
justice  to  their  opportunities.  And  so  the  Bishop,  in  his 
usual  conservative  spirit,  began  to  consider  how  he  might, 


352  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

with  the  least  disturbance  of  existing  arrangements,  mould 
his  Chapter  into  the  form  best  suited  for  his  purpose. 
We  have,  in  his  letter  to  Dean  Goulburn  on  "Bishops 
and  Cathedrals,"  published  in  1872,  an  account  of  the  way 
in  which  the  Canonries  should  be  filled  up,  a  plan  which 
he  always  followed  in  making  his  own  nominations.  He 
expresses  a  decided  preference  for  the  system  in  use  in 
certain  Cathedrals,  as  at  Exeter,  under  which  he  himself 
had  become  a  Canon. 

"In  the  Old  Foundation  Cathedrals,  according  to  their 
ancient  rights  and  customs,  the  Bishop  appointed  and 
collated  to  the  non-residentiary  prebends,  the  value  of 
which  was  very  small,  and  not  such  as  to  tempt  to  much 
nepotism ;  the  residentiary  Canons  were  then  elected  by 
the  Dean  and  Chapter  out  of  the  body  of  the  non- 
residentiary  Prebendaries.  There  was  thus  a  double 
election.  It  was  the  interest  of  the  Bishop  to  appoint 
able  men  to  the  prebends.  It  was  the  interest  of  the 
Chapter  to  elect  the  ablest  Prebendaries  into  the  resi- 
dentiary stalls." 

This,  however,  was  not  the  system  which  he,  as  Bishop 
of  two  Cathedrals  of  the  New  Foundation,  had  to  deal 
with.  He  found  himself  charged  with  the  duty  of  selecting 
both  the  Honorary  Canons  and  the  Canons  Residentiary, 
a  system  which,  with  an  able  and  good  Bishop,  is  perhaps 
superior  to  that  of  the  Old  Foundation  Chapters.  Both 
at  Ely  and  at  Winchester  he  exercised  his  patronage  with 
the  most  scrupulous  and  delicate  care.  He  elicited  the 
opinions  and  wishes  of  the  members  of  the  Cathedral 
body,  shewing,  the  greatest  anxiety,  lest  he  should  appoint 
any  one  distasteful  to  the  body  politic,  or  even  to  single 
members  of  it ;  and  he  thus  describes  the  process  : — 

"  I  have  always  exercised  my  Cathedral  patronage  on 
the  following  principle  :  I  have  consulted  the  Archdeacons 
as  to  the  best  and  ablest  men   in  their  respective  arch- 


III.]  ORGANISATION  OF  THE  DIOCESE.  353 

deaconries.  When  an  honorary  stall  was  to  be  filled  up, 
I  have  set  down  a  number  of  names  commended  to  me 
by  my  Archdeacons  and  by  my  own  knowledge  of  the 
diocese.  I  have  then  laid  them  before  the  Dean  and 
Chapter,  with  the  request  that  they  would  choose  one  or 
two  (according  to  the  number  of  the  vacancies) ;  and  I 
have  always  appointed  those  chosen  by  them.  Two 
residentiary  stalls  have  fallen  to  my  patronage.  Every 
interest  has  been  made  with  me  for  persons  of  high  birth 
or  personal  relation  to  myself.  I  hope  I  need  not  tell  you 
that  I  disregarded  this.  I  gave  the  first  to  an  Archdeacon 
who  had  no  preferment  but  his  archdeaconry  [Archdeacon 
Emery],  but  who  was  the  most  indefatigable  of  workers 
in  all  diocesan  work.  I  gave  it  on  the  understanding  that 
such  diocesan  work  should  still  be  carried  on  by  him  ; 
and  every  one  will  confess  that  it  is  carried  on  with  the 
most  untiring  energy.  The  other  stall  I  gave  to  a  man 
[Bishop  McDougall]  who  for  twenty  years  had  lived  as  a 
missionary  and  a  missionary  Bishop,  sacrificing  his  health 
and  his  wife's  health,  and  the  health  and  life  of  his 
children,  to  his  Master's  service." 

Nothing  could  exceed  the  kindness  and  consideration 
with  which  the  Bishop  thus  exercised  his  Cathedral 
patronage,  seeking  only  to  appoint  the  best  and  most 
acceptable  men,  men  who  would  not  disturb  the  peace 
and  brotherliness  which  ought  always  to  reign  within  a 
Cathedral's  precincts.  It  may  be  that  he  sometimes 
missed  by  this  process  the  strongest  men.  They  are  not 
always  easy  to  drive. 

The  aim  he  had  set  before  him  is  made  quite  clear  in  his 
Address  of  1871.     In  it  he  says  that : — 

"  The  Bishop  with  his  Chapter  around  him  was  especially 
the  missionary  agency  of  the  Church.  I  hope  the  time 
may  be  coming  when  from  the  Cathedral,  as  from  the 
centre  of  the  diocese,  may  emanate  some  great  spiritual 
machinery  for  penetrating  the  darkness  around.  The  desire 
for  reform  has  extended  even  to  our  Cathedrals." 

He  goes  on  to  say  that  he  thought  the  Chapters  of  old 

23 


354  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

did  this  (an  opinion  which  has  no  very  strong  historical 
position,  it  is  to  be  feared). 

"Why  should  they  not  now?  Cathedrals  are  very 
valuable  in  many  ways,  and  the  influence  one  of  the  learned 
clergy  carries  with  him  into  the  diocese  is  of  the  utmost 
value ;  still,  we  want  something  more  aggressive,  and,  if 
possible,  something  starting  from  the  Chapter.  I  should 
like  to  see  connected  with  the  Cathedral  two  or  three 
clergymen  as  special  diocesan  missionaries." 

Again,  about  the  same  time,  he  writes  : — 

"  February  22nd,  1872. 
**  I  certainly  do  not  desire  to  see  Deans  and  Chapters 
cut  down.  What  I  should  like  would  be  to  see  them 
diocesan  and  not  monastic,  working  with  the  Bishop  ;  not 
interposing  the  Dean  between  him  and  themselves,  so  that 
the  Dean  should  claim  to  be  an  independent  and  often  anta- 
gonistic potentate.  I  have  no  doubt  that  in  the  palmy  days 
of  Episcopacy  it  was  very  necessary  to  remind  the  Bishop 
that  he  was  mortal.  Now,  there  is  no  curate  in  the  diocese 
that  does  not  consider  opposition  to  his  Bishop  an  import- 
ant part  of  the  whole  duty  of  man,  and  a  continual  seton 
in  the  shape  of  a  Dean  is  no  longer  necessary.  I  do  not 
say  this  with  reference  to  Dean  M[erivale],  for  he  is  most 
good-natured  and  pleasant  I  am  sure  Chapters  will  be 
more  influential  and  more  happy  if  they  work  with  the 
Bishop  and  look  on  him  as  their  own  and  not  something 
quite  strange  to  them. 

"  Ever  very  affectionately  yours, 

"E.  H.Ely." 

In  the  letter  on  "Bishops  and  Cathedrals"  quoted 
above,  he  lays  down  very  clearly  what  was  his  real  desire 
in  the  matter  of  Cathedral  Reform.  Dean  Goulbum  had 
resented  the  notion  that  the  Bishops  wished  "to  merge 
the  Cathedral  clergy  in  their  dioceses  " ;  and  the  Bishop 
replies  that  "  much  will  depend  on  the  sense  attached  by 
you  to  the  word  *  merge.* " 

"  If  it  means  to  sink  them  into  parish  priests,  and  turn 


III.]  ORGANISATION  OF  THE  DIOCESE.  355 

the  Cathedrals  into  mere  parish  churches,  I  do  not  think 
any  Bishop  has  ever  dreamed  so  wild  a  dream.  Many  of 
us  do  wish,  and  many  who  are  not  Bishops  wish  most 
earnestly,  even  more  for  the  sake  of  the  Cathedrals  than 
for  the  sake  of  the  dioceses,  that  the  capitular  bodies 
should  be  restored  to  their  ancient  diocesan  position  and 
their  ancient  diocesan  functions,  as  the  Bishop's  Council, 
as  the  leaders,  with  the  Bishop,  of  all  good  works,  not  only 
in  the  Cathedral  town,  but  in  every  portion  of  the  diocese  ; 
and  that  in  place  of  the  jealousy,  which  has  hitherto  been 
chronic  and  incurable,  between  Bishops  and  Deans  on  one 
hand,  and  between  Cathedral  and  parochial  clergy  on  the 
other,  there  could  be  established  a  good  understanding  and 
a  harmonious  co-operation  between  Bishop,  Chapter,  and 
parochial  clergy,  everywhere  and  in  every  way." 

And  at  the  end  of  the  same  letter  he  adds  : — 

"  I  am  sure  that  the  Dean  and  Chapter  may  have  every 
reasonable  independence,  with  yet  all  due  respect  to  the 
constitutional  position  of  the  Bishop,  not  as  head  of  the 
Chapter,  but  as  Ordinary  and  chief  pastor  of  the  Cathedral. 
I  believe,  moreover,  that  the  only  hope  of  saving  the 
Cathedral  bodies  is  to  make  them  once  more  part,  and 
the  highest  and  chief  part,  of  the  great  machinery  of 
the  Church  in  each  diocese." 

And  he  sums  all  up  by  speaking  of  the  "  true  diocesan 
system,  as  a  spiritual  commonwealth  under  a  paternal 
government";  a  phrase  which  happily  expresses  the 
anxious  care  with  which,  while  he  aimed  at  the  constitu- 
tional development  of  all  diocesan  life,  he  also  jealously 
guarded  his  own  position  as  the  ecclesiastical  head.  He 
should  be  the  "  benevolent  despot "  and  the  diocese  should 
be  guided  into  the  paths  of  active  and  harmonious  work. 
He  was  not  unaware  that  such  a  theory  of  the  episcopal 
power  and  authority  clashed  here  and  there  with  the  legal 
status  of  those  under  his  rule.  It  is  one  of  the  anomalies 
of  the  Church  as  by  law  established  that  men  were  often 
almost  independent  under  him.     We  have  seen  it  in  his 


356  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

brushes  with  the  Deans  of  his  Cathedrals ;  it  appears  also 
in  the  impatience  with  which  he  regarded  the  tendency  of 
parochial  clergy  to  retreat  behind  their  freeholds,  and  to 
turn  the  ancient  parish  system  of  England  into  a  kind  of 
Congregationalism. 

In  his  efforts  to  carry  out  this  reform  and  to  secure  the 
real  help  of  his  Chapters  he  followed  two  different  lines 
in  his  two  dioceses.  In  1872  he  expressed  himself  as 
distinctly  opposed  to  that  very  principle  of  concentration 
on  the  Cathedral  city  which  he  afterwards  carried  out  at 
Winchester.  He  then  thought  it  would  be  best  that  the 
four  Canons  should  have  their  own  spheres  of  light  and 
influence,  one  in  each  of  the  four  divisions  of  his  diocese, 
and  only  be  at  Ely  for  their  Residences  ;  in  other  words,  he 
wished  to  keep  them  in  direct  touch  with  parish  work  and 
the  practical  organisation  of  the  diocese.  On  the  other 
hand,  at  Winchester  he  had  the  appointment  of  all  the 
five  canonries  in  his  hands,  and  (except  in  the  case  of  the 
Archdeacon  of  Surrey,  whose  position  is  somewhat  different 
from  that  of  the  others)  stipulated  at  each  successive 
vacancy  that  the  new  Canon  should  give  up  his  parish  and 
dedicate  himself  entirely  to  diocesan  work.  He  appointed 
his  three  Archdeacons  to  three  of  the  stalls,  and  then, 
in  the  two  remaining  stalls,  gave  to  one  Canon  charge 
of  the  religious  education  of  the  diocese,  and  to  the  other 
supervision  of  Mission  work.  Four  of  the  five  Winchester 
Canons  thus  had  given  up  all  other  duties,  and  were  settled 
in  permanent  homes  in  the  Cathedral  Close. 

This  was  his  reply  to  the  question  so  often  asked 
in  these  practical  days.  What  is  the  use  of  a  Cathedral 
establishment  ?  He  did  not  care  to  shelter  it  behind  the 
time-honoured  plea  of  dignity,  or  treat  it  as  a  place  of 
honourable  retirement  for  worn-out  clerics,  or  defend  it  as 
the  home  of  cultured  literary  ease ;  nor  did  he  say  much 


III.]  ORGANISATION  OF  THE  DIOCESE.  357 

about  a  Cathedral  as  a  pattern  of  daily  worship  for  a  diocese, 
or  build  on  the  magnificence  of  the  fabric.  His  one 
desire  was  to  make  the  Cathedral  the  true  centre  of  his 
diocesan  system  ;  to  -place  there  the  best  men  he  could 
select  to  lead  in  the  different  branches  of  the  work,  and  to 
use  them  as  his  council  and  advisers  in  all  diocesan 
matters. 

It  is  not  always  easy  or  simple  to  carry  out  such  a 
scheme ;  Deans  may  be  restive,  Canons  unwilling  ;  but  some 
such  application  of  the  Cathedral  body  to  practical  work 
is  necessary  if  the  institution  is  to  survive.  The  Chapters 
will  not  last,  unless  they  prove  themselves  useful  to  the 
Church.  In  cities  whichi  have  great  populations  the 
Cathedral  staff  may  find  plentiful  opportunities  at  home  ; 
where  the  Cathedral  stands  in  a  little  country  town  or 
village,  the  staff  will  have  in  the  end  to  be  employed 
throughout  the  diocese  as  the  Bishop's  lieutenants,  the 
leaders  of  every  good  work,  the  skilled  teachers  and 
preachers  of  the  Gospel. 

In  speaking  of  the  Conferences  established  by  the  Bishop 
we  noticed  his  strong  desire  to  enlist  in  all  kinds  of  Church 
work  the  help  of  the  laity  as  well  as  the  more  formal  and 
official  services  of  the  clergy.  He  greatly  desired  to  see 
a  system  of  authorised  lay  readers  or  lay  evangelists,  which 
might  secure  to  the  Church  the  enthusiasm  and  energy  of 
many  who  are  often  drawn  away  from  us  by  finding  work 
ready  to  their  hand  elsewhere.  He  hoped  to  see  mission- 
work  in  various  forms  much  developed  and  expanded ; 
**  the  Wesleyans,"  he  says,  "  have  created  the  very  mission 
agencies  we  lack  and  must  get.  Oh  that  they  would  but 
come  in  to  us  ! "  The  difldculties  in  the  way  of  organising 
lay-work  among  men  proved  too  great  for  him,  so  that, 
though  he  admitted  a  few  lay-readers,  beginning  in  1869, 
but  little  result  followed  from  it.     On  the  other  hand,  he 


358  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE^  D.D.  [Ch. 


was  one  of  the  first  to  see  the  importance  of  obtaining  the 
great  benefit  of  women's  work  in  the  Church,  and  guided 
with  much  skill  and  moderation  the  system  of  deaconesses, 
which  he  carried  over  with  such  success  to  Winchester 
that  his  successor  did  not  hesitate  to  speak  of  it  as  "  one 
of  the  best  bits  of  work  that  my  venerated  predecessor 
ever  took  in  hand."  The  Bishop's  aim  was  to  steer  clear 
of  the  more  formal  dedications  and  vows  imposed  on 
women  in  sisterhoods,  and  to  make  his  deaconess-system 
take  up  a  position  half-way  between  women  bound  by 
solemn  vows  and  the  simpler  machinery  of  parish  and 
district  visitors. 

One  would  think  that  no  doubt  could  possibly  be  thrown 
on  the  wisdom  of  a  plan  by  which  the  energies  of  devoted 
women  might  be  secured  for  social  and  religious  work. 
There  are  great  reserves  of  strength  and  work  in  the 
women  of  England  for  all  good  ^nd  noble  objects ;  and 
the  system  of  deaconesses,  on  which  many  have  looked 
coldly  and  with  a  most  undeserved  suspiciousness,  was 
so  framed  as  to  elicit  the  power  of  work,  while  it  also 
discouraged  mere  excitable  feeling.  It  was  also  a  most 
praiseworthy  attempt  to  revive  in  the  English  Church  the 
ancient  and  distinct  Order  of  women  dedicated  to  the 
humaner  side  of  religious  work,  the  friends  of  the  sufferer 
and  the  heart-broken,  the  advisers  of  struggling  workers 
in  their  homes.  In  no  more  effectual  way  does  our 
Church  hold  out  a  friendly  hand  to  the  wage-earner. 
These  pious  and  earnest  women  can  find  open  hearts 
where  the  clergyman  would  meet  only  with  respect,  if 
even  with  that ;  they  can  pass  safely,  as  messengers  of 
gentle  sympathy  and  compassion,  ministers  of  the  love 
of  Christ,  through  the  darkest  byways  of  the  world. 

Attention  had  been  called  to  the  office  of  Deaconess 
early  in  the  present  century,  when  Robert  Southey  advo- 


III.]  ORGANISATION  OF  THE  DIOCESE,  359 

cated  the  revival  of  it  about  1820 :  it  was  actively  taken 
up  in  Germany  at  Kaiserwerth,  where  a  Deaconess'  Home 
was  opened  in  1833.  In  England  the  thought  long  found 
no  acceptance  ;  the  first  note  of  interest  in  the  subject  is  to 
be  found  in  a  paper  on  Church  Deaconesses  written  by 
the  Rev.  R.  J.  Hayne,  Vicar  of  Buckland  Monachorum, 
and  published  in  1859.  Soon  after  this,  in  1862,  Dean 
Howson,  then  Head  of  the  Liverpool  College,  read  a 
paper  on  the  subject  at  the  Church  Congress  in  Oxford. 

Bishop  Harold  Browne  had  begun  to  deal  with  the  sub- 
ject in  a  very  simple  way.  On  February  5th,  1869,  in  the 
Palace  at  Ely,  he  admitted  Miss  Fanny  Elizabeth  Eagles 
as  a  deaconess  for  St.  Peter's,  Bedford,  and  thus  set  in 
motion  a  matter  he  had  much  at  heart.  There  had  been 
a  committee  of  the  last  Diocesan  Conference,  which  re- 
ported this  year  on  the  subject,  and  said  that  "it  had 
discussed  the  two  systems  under  which  women  are  now 
working,  the  one  with,  the  other  without  vows,  and  had 
decided  unanimously  in  favour  of  the  latter." 

In  his  Address  at  the  admission  and  dedication  of  this 
lady  the  Bishop  distinctly  avoids  any  words  which  might 
seem  to  point  to  a  lifelong  vow  expressed  or  understood  ; 
he  speaks  to  the  Deaconess  admitted  as  being  called  to 
work  in  this  manner  "  as  long  as  God  shall  call  you  to 
this  office";  and  only  stipulates  that  she  shall  continue 
steadfast  in  it  for  "two  years  at  least,  unless  by  com- 
petent authority  you  shall  be  released  from  the  same." 
He  also  points  out  to  her  definitely  the  limits  and  extent 
of  her  work.  She  should  "seek  out  the  sick,  poor,  and 
impotent  folk,"  and  "  intimate  their  names  to  the  curate ; 
should  instruct  the  young,  in  school  or  otherwise,  minister 
to  those  in  hospitals,  prisons,  or  asylums  ;  and,  setting  aside 
all  unwomanly  usurpation  of  authority  in  the  Church,  should 
seek  to  edify  the  souls  of  Christ's  people  in  the  faith." 


360  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D,  [Ch. 

These  instructions  and  exhortations  are  re-echoed  in  a 
sermon  on  "  Phoebe  the  Deaconess  of  the  Church  which  is 
at  Cenchrea,"  preached  by  the  Bishop  in  St  Michael's, 
Paddington,  on  May  7th,  187 1,  on  behalf  of  the  Deaconess* 
Institution. 

The  Bishop  summoned  a  meeting,  in  December  1870, 
at  Ely,  at  which  the  Dean  of  Chester  and  other  friends 
were  present,  in  order  to  settle  the  bases  of  the  movement 
The  results  were  embodied  in  a  series  of  regulations,  after- 
wards worked  into  actual  rules,  which  defined  the  position 
and  indicated  the  duties  of  the  office. 

The  meeting  also  arranged  the  manner  in  which  the 
subject  should  be  brought  directly  before  the  Church.  It 
was  agreed  that  first  the  Bishops  of  London  and  Chester,  and 
then  the  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  should  be  asked  to  accept  the 
rules ;  and  that  when  a  few  signatures  had  been  obtained 
the  statement  should  be  printed  and  sent  round  to  all  the 
Bishops.  This  paper  was  in  the  end  signed  before  circula- 
tion by  the  Bishops  of  London,  Ely,  Chester,  Salisbury, 
Peterborough,  and  Bath  and  Wells.  The  appeal  received 
considerable  attention  ;  and,  two  years  later.  Bishop  Harold 
Browne  thought  the  time  come  for  a  still  more  definite 
attempt  to  organise  the  Institution.  He  accordingly  drew 
up  a  statement  on  the  subject,  and  called  a  meeting  at  Ely 
House  on  May  14th,  1872,  at  which  he  presided.  There 
were  present  also  the  Bishops  of  Chichester,  Peterborough, 
Salisbury,  Oxford,  and  Llandaff,  Bishop  McDougall,  and 
many  others.  Seventeen  of  the  English  Bishops  had  signed 
the  paper  of  Principles  and  Rules  for  Deaconesses ;  and 
several  ladies  already  at  work  in  different  dioceses  were 
present  at  the  meeting. 

The  Bishop  of  Ely  described  the  movement  as  being 
both  parochial  and  diocesan ;  he  was  specially  anxious  to 
make  it  clear  that  there  was  no  intention  of  organising 


III.]  ORGANISATION  OF  THE  DIOCESE.  36I 


the  Deaconess*  Institution  in  antagonism  to  existing  or 
future  Sisterhoods  in  the  Church;  that  there  was  room 
enough  and  work  enough  for  both,  though  the  Hfe  of  a 
Sister  might  be  more  fascinating,  and  might  carry  with  it 
attractions  to  the  gentler  sex  peculiar  to  itself,  while  the 
deaconess  plan  had  no  such  glamour  about  it.  Yet  he 
preferred  it  to  the  Sisterhoods,  because  it  was  an  organisa- 
tion based  on  Scripture,  and  sanctioned  by  apostolic  and 
primitive  practice,  and  because  it  was  to  be  an  integral 
part  of  the  English  parochial  system,  worked  with  con- 
currence of  the  parish  clergyman  and  under  definite  and 
direct  episcopal  sanction. 

The  Bishop  also  drew  up  a  long  paper  on  the 
subject,  in  which  he  sums  up  his  views  in  the  following 
passages : — 

"  It  seems,  then,  that  in  the  Primitive  Church  there  were 
three  orders  of  the  ministry  of  men,  viz..  Bishops,  Presbyters, 
and  Deacons  (not,  as  the  Roman  Church  would  have  it, 
'Priests,  Deacons,  and  Sub-deacons'),  and  one  order  of 
women,  viz..  Deaconesses.  All  these  were  admitted  by  the 
imposition  of  episcopal  hands.  To  me  it  appears  that 
Bishop  Lightfoot  was  right  when  he  said  that  the  ministry 
of  the  Church  lacks  full  apostolical  character  whilst  it  lacks 
the  order  of  Deaconesses.  I  cannot  admit  that  any  local 
councils  had  the  power  to  abolish  an  ordinance  of  the 
Apostles  and  a  practice  of  the  Primitive  Church.  Could 
even  a  true  General  Council  do  so?  I  cannot  find  that 
there  were  any  substantial  charges  brought  against  dea- 
conesses. The  growing  practice  of  separating  the  sexes, 
and  confining  them  to  separate  buildings  and  occupa- 
tions, though  the  exigency  of  the  times  may  have  excused 
this,  cannot  excuse  the  abolition  of  a  primitive  Order.  I 
cannot  admit  that  deaconesses  were  only  used  for  the  sake 
of  decency  in  adult  baptisms  and  the  like.  They  evidently 
visited  the  sick  and  poor,  and  did  other  women's  work 
which  we  now  need  so  much.  I  deny  emphatically  that 
there  is  any  special  danger  of  arrogance.  The  danger,  as 
far  as  I  have  seen  in  twenty-eight  years'  experience,  is  that 
deaconesses  are  humbled  and  depressed  by  finding  them- 


362  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DJ>.  [Ch.IIL 

selves  looked  down  upon,  as  in  a  lower  spiritual  condition 
than  professed  *  Sisters/ 

"  The  Anglican  Church  stands  or  falls  as  she  is  true  or 
untrue  to  primitive  principles.  If  a  great  primitive  principle 
or  practice  has  been  given  up,  she  is  bound,  if  possible,  to 
revive  it.  I  greatly  acknowledge  the  blessed  work  which 
convents  of  men  and  women  did  in  rude  ages,  when  violence 
stalked  abroad  and  when  faith  and  purity  could  only  be 
guarded  within  well-defended  walls.  But,  I  submit,  that 
these  are  much  more  of  an  anachronism  than  deaconesses, 
who  are  specially  suited  to  the  wants  of  the  present  age. 
I  hope  the  conflict  between  regulars  and  seculars,  which 
rent  the  mediaeval  Church  asunder,  will  not  now  drive  out 
of  our  own  communion  the  persons  who  of  all  others  seem 
most  suited  to  organise  that  wonian's  work  so  needed  for 
reaching  those  whom  men  can,  at  the  best,  reach  very 
imperfectly." 

This  new  organisation,  thus  ably  started,  has  on  the 
whole  had  but  a  feeble  existence.  No  part  of  the  Church's 
work  brings  us  nearer  to  the  practical  needs  and  the  daily 
life  of  the  people ;  and  where  the  system  has  been  fairly 
worked  the  results  have  been  excellent.  It  is  very  much 
to  be  hoped  that  the  impulse  given  to  it  by  the  Bishop, 
and,  almost  as  much,  by  Mrs.  Harold  Browne,  at  Ely  and 
Winchester,  may  still  lead  to  a  large  and  wholesome 
development  of  deaconess-work  in  every  part  of  the  country, 
and  especially  among  large  manufacturing  populations. 
The  Bishop  watched  over  the  Institution,  when  he  came 
to  Farnham,  with  singular  good  will ;  it  has  found  a  per- 
manent home  at  Portsmouth,  where  it  has  been  under  the 
guidance  and  management  of  its  devoted  Head,  Sister 
Emma,  with  a  sympathetic  and  hearty  adviser  and  friend 
in  Canon  Durst,  who  was  appointed  by  the  Bishop  to  be 
Warden  of  that  modest  and  valuable  little  community, 
which  makes  its  Christian  influence  so  well  felt  in  Ports- 
mouth and  Eastleigh  and  Aldershot 


CHAPTER   IV. 

LATER  YEARS  IN  THE  DIOCESE  OF  ELY. 

BISHOP  HAROLD  BROWNE  not  only  organised  his 
diocese ;  he  illustrated  the  working  of  that  organisa- 
tion by  his  example.  He  was  at  every  man's  call,  sparing 
not  himself,  in  spite  of  his  weak  health,  spending  himself 
and  being  spent  for  Christ  His  friends  often  regretted 
his  kind  inability  to  disappoint  those  who  appealed  to 
him.  His  purse,  his  strength,  his  voice,  were  plundered 
by  all  who  were  in  need.  He  undertook  many  sermons 
which  must  have  been  a  serious  strain  on  him.  Thus  he 
preached  (July  4th,  1868)  in  St  Paul's  at  the  Charity 
Children's  Festival ;  an  occasion  which  interested  and 
gladdened  his  child-loving  fatherly  heart.  On  another 
occasion  (in  September  1869)  he  preached  at  the  opening 
of  the  newly-restored  Parish  Church  of  Aylesbury.  There 
he  had  been  christened  many  years  before.  After  the 
service  there  came  the  inevitable  luncheon,  and  after 
luncheon  the  terrible  speeches.  One  of  these,  however,  is 
interesting  to  us,  as  it  elicited  a  little  touch  of  reminiscence. 
The  Bishop's  health  was  proposed  by  Mr.  Acton  Tindal 
a  very  old  friend  and  playfellow  of  his,  and  he  told  the 
company  that  in  their  childhood  the  Bishop  and  he  used 
to  sit  "  in  a  place  which  was  nicknamed  the  *  Birdcage,* 
into  which  the  voice  of  the  preacher  could  hardly  enter 
and  whence  the  sounds  of  the  sleeper  could  scarcely 
emerge."     One  can  imagine  the  look  of  amusement  with 

363 


364  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D,D.  [Ch. 


which  the  Bishop  gravely  assured  the  party,  when  he  rose 
to  reply,  that  whatever  Mr.  Tindal  might  have  done,  he 
himself  never  went  to  sleep  there,  even  under  those 
most  favourable  circumstances. 

In  this  same  year,  in  the  month  of  May  alone,  he 
consecrated  no  less  than  five  new  churches,  and  in  speaking 
on  the  subject  ventured  to  doubt  whether  at  any  time 
since  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era  any  Bishop  had 
ever  consecrated  so  many  churches  in  a  single  month. 
He  also  sometimes  took  the  lead,  as  once  at  Bedford,  in 
those  exhausting  forms  of  evangelistic  effort,  parochial 
missions  ;  and  by  this  encouragement,  and  by  the  earnest- 
ness he  threw  into  the  work,  greatly  forwarded  a  movement 
which  has  done  much  to  deepen  and  strengthen  the 
spiritual  life  of  the  Church,  and  may  yet  become  her  most 
potent  engine,  when  she  sets  herself  seriously  to  face  the 
tremendous  problem  of  the  working  man's  life  and  religion. 

The  Bishop's  Charge  of  1869  brings  to  the  front  the 
vast  question  of  the  relations  of  Christian  Churches  to 
one  another,  and  the  complex  difficulties  which  beset 
every  attempt  to  forward  the  cause  of  Christian  unity. 
For  this  was  the  time  at  which  the  Papacy  summoned 
what  it  styled  "  an  CEcumenical  Council,"  in  which  those 
who  guided  the  counsels  of  the  Roman  Church  desired 
to  advance  into  matters  of  faith  certain  doctrines  and 
views  respecting  the  nature  and  worship  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin  Mary,  and  respecting  the  position  of  the  Bishop 
of  Rome  as  the  infallible  oracle  of  the  Church.  The 
Bishop  was  much  moved.  It  seemed  to  him  that  the 
pretensions  of  Rome  took  a  specially  offensive  form  at 
the  outset,  in  the  manner  in  which  the  invitations  to 
the  Council  were  graduated.     He  writes  thus  : — 

"All  Roman  Catholic  Bishops  have  received  a  direct 
invitation.     The  Eastern  Churches  have  been  invited  also, 


IV.]  LATER  YEARS  IN  THE  DIOCESE  OF  ELY.  365 

but  the  invitation  implies  that  they  are  in  a  state  of  schism. 
The  Bishops  of  the  Anglican  Communion  and  those  of 
.the  Scandinavian  Churches  are  either  summoned  under 
the  general  head  of  all  Bishops,  or  under  the  general  head 
of  Protestants  and  other  non-Catholics;  or,  lastly,  they 
are  not  summoned  at  all."  He  adds  the  significant  warning 
that,  if  invited  at  all,  "the  invitation  is  not  only  to  be 
present  but  to  submit" 

The  Eastern  Patriarchs,  he  goes  on  to  say,  had  definitely 
refused  to  appear,  alleging  as  their  reasons — not  specially 
strong  ones — that,  first,  the  Patriarch  of  Rome  had  not 
consulted  them  before  calling  the  Council ;  and,  secondly, 
because  the  day  selected  for  the  opening  was  a  day 
not  recognised  in  the  Eastern  Churches,  that  of  the 
Immaculate  Conception  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary.  Our 
Bishop  then  gives  his  own  reasons  for  refusing  to  appear 
at  the  Vatican.  These  are,  first,  the  grounds  formulated 
by  the  Eastern  Patriarchs ;  and,  secondly,  the  doubt  as 
to  whether  the  Anglican  Bishops  are  really  invited  at  all. 
It  is  clear  that  the  Roman  Bishops  in  England  are 
definitely  summoned  :  "  If  we  are  English  Bishops,  they 
are  not ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  if  they  are  the  Catholic 
Bishops  of  England,  we  are  not  Bishops  at  all."  One  can 
imagine  the  smile  with  which  the  Vatican  people  would 
rejoin,  "  Why,  precisely  so."  He  adds  also  that  from  the 
beginning  Britain  was  never  truly  within  the  Patriarchate 
of  Rome. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  startling  claims  made 
at  this  time  by  Rome  turned  our  Bishop's  mind  in  a 
direction  in  which  it  was  prepared  to  travel.  His  yearning 
for  Christian  Unity  was  shocked  by  seeing  that  Rome 
applied  to  the  problem  the  simplest  of  all  formulas— a 
formula  which  we  are  all  only  too  much  inclined  to  use, 
"  Submit  yourselves  to  me,  and  Unity  is  won."  This  bold 
claim,   with  the  surrender    of   all.  private  judgment    or 


366  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D,D,  [Ch. 

ecclesiastical  liberties,  was  too  much  for  him,  as  it  was  for 
all  free-minded  men.  The  Bishop's  efforts  for  the  Unit}' 
of  Christendom  will  be  referred  to  later  on. 

These  years  were  a  difficult  and  troubled  time  for  the 
Church.  As  he  had  written  in  i860,  so  was  it  when  he 
went  to  Ely. 

"I  look  forward,"  he  writes,  May  23rd,  i860,  "to  a 
very  anxious  time  soon.  The  present  condition  is  too 
marked  to  last  long.  The  strong  tendency  to  Rome  and 
Rationalism  must  lead  to  some  outbreak  soon " ;  and 
again,  addressing  Mr.  Walter  James,  he  reverts  to  his 
alarms  in  even  stronger  language.  "  I  think  much  as 
you  do  about  politics.  We  are  in  a  fearful  crisis  in  Church 
and  State.  I  do  not  trust  any  of  our  rulers  to  carry  us 
well  through  it,  excepting  Him  who  ruleth  in  the  heavens. 
The  Church  as  an  establishment  is  very  likely  to  go ;  but 
then,  if  we  can  make  peace  within,  she  may  be  strong  in 
her  spiritual  strength.  The  danger  is  that  when  the  State 
scaffolding  is  taken  down,  all  the  stones  and  timbers  will 
be  found  loosened  and  disjointed.  If  it  be  so,  Rome  and 
heathenism  will  divide  the  spoil ;  but  I  trust  it  will  not 
be  so." 

There  was  irritation  within  and  without  the  Church. 
The  aggressive  High  Church  party,  as  it  grew  stronger, 
aroused  the  vehement  antagonism  of  those  who  fought  under 
the  revered  name  of  Lord  Shaftesbury,  not  because  of  his 
benevolence  and  good  works,  but  for  his  theological  narrow- 
ness ;  with  his  aid  they  tried  to  crush  their  opponents,  and, 
if  that  could  not  be  done,  then  to  drive  them  out  of  the 
English  Church.  Between  the  combatants  stood  a  group  of 
moderate  Anglicans,  sympathising  with  neither  party,  liking 
neither  the  innovations  of  the  one  side  nor  the  narrow  con- 
servatism of  the  other.  The  Bishop  of  Lincoln  received 
from  the  Bishop  of  Rochester,  and  forwarded  on  to  Bishop 
Harold  Browne  in  1865,  a  letter  on  "subjects  for  con- 
sideration," which  shews  how  anxious  the  moderates  were 
to  discourage  extremes.     The  subjects  were  : — 


IV.]  LATER   YEARS  IN  THE  DIOCESE  OF  ELY,  7,67 

"  I.  The  Address  of  the  Bishops  in  185 1  to  check  ritual 
and  rubrical  excesses. 

"2.  How  to  act  where  the  law  as  now  interpreted  is 
insufficient  to  restrain  ill-advised  clergymen. 

"  3.  How  to  rebuke  the  public  exhibition  of  vestments  and 
unauthorised  services  lately  paraded  before  the  Church  at 
Norwich. 

"  4.  The  choral  system  and  its  tendencies  evidently  alien 
to  the  promotion  of  simple  congregational  psalmody. 

"  5.  Queen  Emma's  cause. 

*'  6.  On  the  General  Thanksgiving  :  on  repeating  it  aloud 
by  the  whole  congregation  like  the  General  Confession." 

Soon  after  these  days  the  Ritual  Commission  came  into 
being,  to  inquire  into  the  rubrics,  etc.,  for  public  worship, 
the  ornaments  used  in  churches,  the  vestments  to  be  worn 
by  the  clergy  in  their  ministrations,  and  to  suggest  altera- 
tions, improvements,  or  amendments  in  such  matters  ;  also 
to  revise  the  Proper  Lessons  for  Sundays  and  Holy  Days, 
and  the  general  Table  of  Lessons.  The  Commission  sat  in 
the  Jerusalem  Chamber,  and  began  its  work  in  June  1867. 

A  little  before  this  time,  in  1866,  having  been  appealed 
to  by  a  friend  to  give  his  opinion  on  the  much  agitated 
questions  of  the  character  of  the  Holy  Communion  in  the 
English  Church,  Bishop  Harold  Browne  wrote  a  pamphlet 
in  letter  form,  under  the  title  of  "  Sacrifice — Altar — Priest : 
in  six  letters  to  a  Friend." 

This  weighty  series  of  papers  was  elicited  by  the  declara- 
tion of  his  "  Friend,"  that  the  Bishop's  words  had  "  seemed 
to  deny  the  existence  of  a  true  altar  and  of  a  literal 
sacrifice  in  the  Church."  Thus  challenged,  he  was  not  at 
all  unwilling  to  state,  with  wonted  learning  and  moderation, 
what  seemed  to  him  to  be  the  position  of  the  English 
Church  on  these  important  and  rather  intricate  matters. 

He  begins  by  begging  to  be  allowed  to  lay  down  defi- 
nitions ;  for  most  differences  and  disagreements  are  due 
to  the  want  of  them.     So  he   appeals  at  once   to  the 


368  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DD,  [Ch. 

Hebrew  for  "  sacrifice "  and  "  altar " ;  it  being  obvious 
that  all  the  sacrificial  language  of  the  New  Testament  is 
directly  borrowed  from  the  Old,  and  also  that  the  Greek 
language  had  to  coin  certain  phrases  or  words  to  meet 
this  transference  from  the  Hebrew.  And  he  ends  his 
first  letter  by  saying  that,  in  theological  language,  though 
in  secondary  and  improper  senses  we  may  call  other 
things  "  sacrifices "  or  "  altars,"  yet  in  strict  use  "  sacri- 
fice "  is  always  the  slaying  of  a  victim,  and  "  altar  "  the 
place  whereon  the  victim  dies. 

To  this  letter  the  "  Friend  "  replied  that  the  Bishop  had 
invented  a  meaning  for  "  altar  "  and  "  sacrifice,"  and  had 
inferred  thence  that  in  those  senses  the  terms  might  be 
used  of  the  Holy  Table  and  the  Holy  Eucharist 

This  carries  the  Bishop,  in  his  second  letter,  a  stage 
farther  on  his  path.  It  must  be  granted  that  "  sacrifice," 
"altar,"  and  the  related  terms  come  to  us  from  the  Old 
Testament.  The  early  Christians  knew  the  Jewish  dis- 
tinction between  the  sacrifice  with  the  blood-shedding  and 
the  sacrifice  without  it;  and  he  shews  that  the  "pure 
offering,"  the  phrase  used  by  Malachi  (i.  ii),  is  frequently 
applied  by  the  writers  of  the  Primitive  Church  to  the  Holy 
Eucharist,  and  is  the  sacrifice  without  shedding  of  blood 

The  same  thing  is  true  of  the  use  of  "  altar,"  whereon 
was  a  distinctly  "  commemorative  sacrifice," — />.,  an  action 
performed  which  was  not  strictly  sacrificial,  but  only 
commemorative  of  the  One  Sacrifice  on  the  Cross.  And 
he  draws  the  conclusion  that  the  Churches  should  have 
communion  tables,  which,  being  the  place  of  this  solemn 
"  commemorative  sacrifice,"  may  also  without  impropriety 
be  styled  "  altars."  This  is  very  different  from  the  usage 
of  the  Roman  Church,  which  makes  the  Communion  sacri- 
fice a  "  verum  et  proprium  sacrificium." 

When   the    primitive   Church  was  reproached  by   the 


IV.]  LATER   YEARS  IN  THE  DIOCESE  OF  ELY.  369 

heathen  that  it  had  no  sacrificial  altars,  the  reply  was, 
"Non  cUtaria  fabricamus,  non  arasl^  and  down  to  the 
third  and  fourth  centuries  they  carefully  used  the  beautiful 
word  eirxapurrla,  or  thank-offering,  to  express  the  "  sacrifice  " 
of  the  Holy  Communion.  The  Bishop  ends  by  saying 
that  there  is  "  but  one  sacrifice,  that  of  Christ  on  the  Cross, 
of  which  the  Passover  was  the  type  and  the  Eucharist  the 
memorial."  In  the  fourth  letter  the  Bishop  returns  to 
the  analogy  between  the  Passover  and  the  Eucharist.  In 
the  former  there  was  (i)  the  slaying  of  the  victim,  and  (2)  the 
feasting  on  the  slain.  So  in  the  Eucharist  the  actual  sacri- 
fice of  Christ  on  the  Cross  is  commemorated  in  the 
breaking  of  bread  and  pouring  forth  of  wine,  while  the 
second  part  of  the  Passover,  the  feasting,  is  represented  in 
the  actual  partaking  of  the  holy  elements. 

And  in  this  way,  says  good  Bishop  Andrewes,  "  Good 
Friday  is  His,  Easter  Day  ours  ;  the  Passover  doth  not  con- 
clude in  the  sacrifice  the  taking  away  of  sin  only,  that  is^ 
in  a  pardon  and  there  an  end  ;  but  in  a  feast,  which  is 
a  sign  not  of  forgiveness  only  but  of  perfect  amity,  full 
propitiation." 

And  he  ends  the  letter  >y  pointing  out  that  Andrewes 
was  "  very  high  on  the  Eucharist ; "  that  is,  was  thoroughly 
and  strictly  Anglican,  but  not  in  the  least  Roman. 

From  Andrewes  the  Bishop  (in  his  fifth  letter)  passes  on 
to  Cosin,  shewing  that  he  too  is  distinctly  opposed  to  the 
Roman  doctrine  of  the  "  real,  proper,  propitiatory  sacrifice" 
in  the  Eucharist,  and  to  the  actual  transubstantiation  of 
the  elements  ;  but  that  he  held  that  there  was  an  actual 
-  Eucharistic  sacrifice,  and  a  sacramental  spiritual  presence 
in  the  souls  (not  in  the  bodies)  of  those  who  faithfully 
receive  that  holy  sacrampnt.  He  sums  up  the  subject 
by  pointing  out  that  in  the  Funeral  Discourse  on  Bishop 
Andrewes  it  is  said  that  "  Crux  est  altare  Christi,"  and 

24 


370  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D,D,  [Ch. 

that  Christ  cannot  truly  be  offered  or  sacrificed  again,  and 
that  the  representation  of  an  action  cannot  be  the  action 
itself. 

The  remaining  letter  treats  of  the  word  "  priest  *'  in  the 
same  manner.  The  word  itself  is  "  Presbyter  writ  small " ; 
yet  it  is  a  transference  from  the  Hebrew  "  Cohen."  But  the 
sacrifices  which  this  Christian  Priest  offers  up  are  sacrifices 
of  praise  and  thanksgiving,  the  true  Eucharistic  sacrifices. 

This  it  was  that  led  the  Bishop  to  the  very  end  of  his 
life  to  dislike  the  "  Eastward  Position,"  because  he  thought 
it  was  distinctly  associated  with  a  tendency  to  confuse  the 
literal  with  the  figurative  sacrifice  of  the  Christian  altar ; 
and  for  the  same  reason  he  was  shy  of  using,  without 
limitation,  the  word  Altar  when  speaking  of  the  Holy 
Communion. 

Before  long  the  subject  came  before  the  lawyers.  The 
Bishop's  utterances  on  the  judlgment  in  the  Court  of  Arches 
on  the  "  Purchas  case  "  were  exceedingly  prudent  In  one 
of  his  addresses  (in  1 871)  he  gives  a  very  reasonable  and 
moderate  statement  as  to  the  authority  and  value  of  the 
Judicial  Committee  of  the  Privy  Council,  saying  that 
"according  to  the  present  constitution  in  Church  and 
State  there  is  no  means  whatever  of  arriving  at  a  final 
conclusion  on  the  significance  of  some  confessedly  obscure 
rubrics,  except  by  an  appeal  to  this  Judicial  Committee  ** ; 
and  he  charges  distinctly  in  favour  of  obedience  to  the 
Law  when  stated  by  that  body. 

"  There  have  always,"  he  adds,  "  been  two  great  schools 
of  thought  in  the  Church,  and  it  would  be  an  evil  day  for 
us  all  if  one  of  these  schools  should  have  the  will  and  the 
power  to  crush  out  the  other." 

And  then  counselling  wise  obedience  he  adds  that — 

"  He  confessed  he  was  unable  to  understand  how,  for 
instance,  the  meaning,  the  solemnity,  or  the  eflSciency  of  a 


IV.]  LATER  YEARS  IN  THE  DIOCESE  OF  ELY,  37 1 

Sacrament  ordained  by  Christ  Himself  for  our  soul's  health, 
and  therefore  sure  to  bless  those  who  receive  it  aright, 
could  be  materially  affected  by  the  posture  or  position  of 
him  who  ministered  it,  or  the  cut  or  colour  of  the  vestments 
in  which  he  ministered.  .  .  .  The  straining  after  uni- 
formity in  minor  matters  has  too  often  broken  the  unity 
in  faith  and  charity  and  brotherly  love  "  ;  and  he  ends  by 
hoping  that  the  Church  will  arrive  at  a  temperate  middle 
course,  in  which  all  may  join  in  fighting  against  "the 
leaguered  hosts  of  unbelief." 

For  his  alarm  was  great  lest  infidelity  should  get  the 
upper  hand  in  Europe.  "  There  is  creeping  up,"  he  says, 
**  silently,  and  scarcely  silently,  an  infidelity  of  an  extent 
never  before  known  in  Europe  "  ;  and  he  does  not  shrink 
from  using  the  old  and  unjust  argument,  that  the  unbe- 
lievers stir  up  one  another  to  infidelity  (which  [is  true 
enough), "  and  consequently  to  immorality  of  life,"  which 
is  certainly  not  true  in  our  day  of  many  of  the  leaders  of 
opinion  opposed  to  the  Christian  faith.  They  are  only 
too  ready  to  retaliate  by  charging  us  with  neglecting,  for 
the  sake  of  our  creeds,  the  rudiments  of  morality  and  the 
just  principles  of  social  life. 

Not  long  after  the  Purchas  Judgment  the  very  different 
Bennett  Judgment  was  given  in  1872,  in  the  Court  of 
Arches.  In  this  Sir  R.  Phillimore  decided  that  a  minister 
of  the  Church  of  England  might  say  that  there  is  an  actual 
and  real  presence  in  the  Holy  Communion,  external  to  the 
worshipper,  and  in  the  consecrated  elements ;  but  that  it 
would  be  unlawful  to  teach  (i)  that  there  is  a  visible 
presence  of  Our  Lord  on  the  altar  at  the  celebration  of 
Holy  Communion,  and  (2)  that  adoration  is  due  to  the 
elements.  The  Judicial  Committee  declared  on  appeal  that 
the  Court  of  Arches  was  not  a  Synod,  and  had  no  authority 
to  enunciate  any  doctrine  of  the  Church  of  England,  but 
only  to  decide  whether  a  man's  utterances  were  or  were  not 


3/2  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DJ).  [Ck. 

a  contravention  of  the  formularies  of  the  Church,  and 
therefore,  if  so,  liable  to  punishment  They  decided  first, 
that  Mr.  Bennett's  utterances  on  the  Real  Presence  did 
not  contradict  the  Church's  formularies.  Next,  as  to  the 
declaration  by  Mr.  Bennett  that  the  Holy  Table  is  an 
altar  of  sacrifice,  they  reply  that  they  do  not  think  it  clear 
that  he  uses  the  word  "  sacrifice  "  in  such  a  way  as  to  con- 
tradict the  language  of  the  formularies.  And,  lastly,  as  to 
the  adoration ;  they  came  to  the  conclusion  (not  without 
doubts  and  division  of  opinions)  that  this  third  charge  was 
not  so  clearly  made  out  as  to  justify  penal  proceedings ; 
and  that  respondent  was  entitled  to  the  benefit  of  the  doubt 
And  so  in  the  end  they  only  admonish  Mr.  Bennett  that 
his  language  is  rash  and  ill-judged,  and  perilously  near 
a  violation  of  the  law.  And  so,  here  again,  the  decision  of 
the  Judicial  Committee  was  favourable  to  liberty. 

This  judgment  was  deeply  interesting  to  our  Bishop ; 
his  words  on  it,  as  usual,  are  judicious  and  sensible  : — 

"  The  Court,"  he  says,  "  has  indeed  ruled  that  a  clei^yman 
cannot  be  punished  for  maintaining  *  a  real,  actual,  objective 
Presence  in  the  Eucharist,  so  long  as  he  does  not  teach 
that  it  is  the  corporal  presence  of  the  natural  body  of 
Christ  in  the  elements.  And  as  the  Apostle  tells  us  that 
the  body  of  Christ  is  no  longer  natural  but  spiritual,  it  is 
not  likely  that  any  well-educated  clergyman  will  assert  a 
natural  presence  now. 

"  On  the  other  hand,  the  Court  has  stated,  in  a  dictum 
perhaps  extra-judicial,  that  the  Church  has  not  by  her 
Articles  and  formularies  affirmed  any  presence  in  the 
Eucharist  which  is  not  a  presence  to  the  soul  of  the  faithful 
receiver.  ...  I  am  not  about  to  speak  as  a  Theologian  on  this 
deep  subject.  I  could  much  have  desired  that  it  had  been 
left  in  the  depth  of  its  profound  and  blessed  mystery.  The 
modern  terms  of  *  objective '  and  *  Receptionist  *  seem  well 
nigh  as  much  to  be  deprecated  as  the  more  ancient  dis- 
tinction between  *  substance '  and  *  accident,'  a  distinction 
which  modern  philosophy  refuses  to  accept,  and  yet  without 
which  the  theories  known  as  Transubstantiation  and  Con* 


IV.]  LATER  YEARS  IN  THE  DIOCESE  OF  ELY,  373 

substantiation  become  simply  impossible.  Leaving  these 
questions  for  the  present,  I  gladly  express  my  satisfaction 
that  neither  in  the  one  direction  nor  in  the  other  has 
the  judgment  of  the  Court  narrowed  the  terms  of  our 
Communion.  I  hold  as  an  axiom  too  plain  to  be  questioned 
that  the  Church  is  not  a  Church  but  a  sect,  unless  it  can 
embrace  every  faithful  Christian" — and  the  Bishop  goes 
on  to  define  the  "  good  Christian  "  as  one  who  acknowledges 
"  the  Trinity,  the  Incarnation,  the  Atonement,  the  Sacrifice, 
the  Judgment" 
• 

These  struggles  between  the  revived  belief  in  the  vital 
powers  of  the  Church,  as  distinct  from  the  elementary  need 
of  personal  religion  in  the  individual,  fill  up  a  large  part 
of  the  Bishop's  years  at  Ely.  At  one  time  it  is  a  contest 
as  to  vestments,  at  another  about  postures,  at  another 
about  the  nature  of  the  Presence  of  our  Lord,  things  best 
when  felt,  worst  when  defined;  again,  the  Bishop  has  to 
make  reply  to  the  sixty  thousand  of  the  laity  who  remon- 
strated against  ritual ;  or  to  the  four  hundred  and  eighty 
of  the  clergy  who,  on  the  contrary,  called  for  an  advance 
in  the  opposite  direction.  In  replying  to  these,  he  tries  to 
allay  fever,  by  pointing  out  a  more  serious  danger,  the 
danger  from  independent  thought,  that  true,  if  disowned, 
child  of  Protestantism.  He  had  found,  he  told  them, 
among  the  young  men  he  had  examined  "  little  or  no  bias 
towards  Romanism ;  oftener,  I  regret  to  say,  some  little 
tendency  towards  Rationalism  or  extreme  Liberalism."  It 
was  rather  a  dangerous  hint :  more  than  once  in  the  history 
of  religious  parties  we  have  seen  an  alarming  attempt  to 
bring  about  a  coalition  between  High  Church  and  Low, 
not  for  the  purpose  of  seeing  how  far  they  could  agree 
together,  or  even  whether  they  might  agree  to  differ,  but  in 
order  that  they  might  fall  with  the  greater  weight  on  the 
iberal  party  in  the  Church,  and  either  crush  or  expel  it. 
Happily  this  narrowing  of  our  Church  has  never  succeeded. 


374  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DJ>.  [Ch. 

"Church  Education"  seems  always  to  be  on  the  edge 
of  a  crisis  ;  and  certainly  in  1870  there  were  some  grounds 
for  saying  so.  We  do  not  find  that  the  Bishop  of  Ely  was 
seized  with  the  customary  panic;  he  saw  clearly  enough 
that  the  right  course  for  the  Church  was  to  preserve 
her  schools,  where  she  could  reasonably  do  it ;  and  where 
not,  instead  of  lavishing  abuse  on  the  State  for  her  honour- 
able attempt  to  secure  the  education  of  every  citizen,  to 
take  steps  to  secure  religious  teaching  as  a  reality.  He 
was  alarmed,  as  he  shews  when  speaking  on  the  subject  at 
Ely  (October  i8th,  1870):— 

"  I  think  meetings  are  desirable,  as  the  clergy  and  laity 
seem  very  apathetic,  not,  as  I  believe,  at  all  sdive  to  the 
extreme  difficulty  of  making  a  rate-paid  school  anything 
but  purely  secular ;  and  the  probability  that  under  a  suc- 
cessful secular  system  there  will  be  no  other  education, 
Sunday  schools,  night  schools,  etc,  all  pretty  certainly 
failing  before  it  I  am  anxious  that  the  clergy  should  not 
shut  their  eyes  to  the  danger  of  rate-paid  schools.  A  Uttle 
exertion  and  self-denial  now  may  save  us  from  what  I  am 
sure  must  result  from  the  School  Board  system,  viz.,  the 
entire  exclusion  of  the  clergy  from  all  share  in  the  teaching 
of  the  children  of  the  poor." 

It  is  not  quite  easy  to  realise  the  tone  of  mind  of  a  man 
who  saw  with  his  own  eyes  all  manner  of  religious  agencies 
springing  up  into  life  and  vigour,  and  who  yet  despaired, 
as  he  often  seemed  to  do,  of  the  future  of  religion  in  this 
country.  There  is  a  tone  of  despondency  about  his  utter- 
ances ;  he  is  not  like  Bishop  Wilberforce,  sang^uine,  hopeful, 
on  the  crest  of  a  swelling  tide;  it  seems  to  him  that 
politically  and  religiously  England  was  plunging  into  the 
darkness.  We  can  see  a  little  later,  in  1872,  how  he  pro- 
posed to  face  the  problems  arising  from  the  Elementary 
Education  Act  of  1870.  He  desired,  as  we  all  do,  to 
"  strengthen  and  encourage  religious  education  in  Church 


IV.]  LATER  YEARS  IN  THE  DIOCESE  OF  ELY,  375 

schools,  and  especially  in  those  which  should  hereafter  be 
carried  on  as  public  elementary  schools  under  the  new 
Act"  So  that  he  does  not  speak  in  1872  of  Board  Schools 
as  naturally  and  inevitably  hostile  to  Christianity,  or  as 
things  to  be  passed  by  in  horror.  The  practical  upshot 
was  the  organisation  of  a  Diocesan  Board  of  Education, 
first,  to  supply  inspection  in  religious  teaching  for  Church 
schools ;  secondly,  to  draw  up  a  scheme  of  religious 
teaching ;  and,  thirdly,  to  provide  for  the  examination  of 
pupil  teachers. 

One  important  matter  remains,  the  agitation  over  the 
disestablishment  and  partial  disendowment  of  the  English 
Church  in  Ireland,  which  went  on  from  1868  to  1872. 
That  our  Bishop  regarded  the  subject  with  great  anxiety 
\s  clear  from  his  visitations  in  1869. 

"  This  year,"  he  says,  "  for  the  first  time  since  the  gospel 
came  into  the  world,  has  a  Christian  nation  solemnly  and 
deliberately — I  say  not  now  whether  wisely  or  not — cast  off 
its  connection  with  the  Christian  Church  in  one  integral 
portion  of  its  empire,  has  diverted  to  secular  purposes  all 
that  which  had  been  set  aside  for  more  than  a  thousand 
years  by  the  piety  of  forefathers  for  the  maintenance  of 
the  worship  and  the  faith  of  Christ." 

The  passage  is  scarcely  one  of  historical  exactness ;  it 
is  given  here  to  shew  with  what  emotion  the  Bishop,  himself 
an  Anglo-Irishman,  regarded  the  stroke  which  had  fallen 
on  the  Anglican  Church  in  Ireland  He  first  threw  in  the 
weight  of  his  influence  on  the  side  of  what  is  styled  "  Con- 
current Endowment,"  as  we  learn  from  a  letter  of  his 
addressed  to  Bishop  McDougall : — 

"  Ely  House,  July  yd,  1869. 

"  I  voted  for  concurrent  endowment  last  night  to  the 
extent  of  providing  houses  and  glebes  for  clergy  of  the 
Anglican  and  Roman  Catholic  Churches,  and  for  the  Pres- 


376  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DM.  [Ch. 

byterians.  I  think  it  would  be  far  better  than  confiscating 
gifts  to  God  for  lunatics  and  monthly  nurses,  and  that  it 
would  have  been  really  the  most  healing  measure  ;  but  the 
Liberation  Society  overawed  the  Whigs,  and  the  Ultra- 
Protestants  frightened  the  Tories,  and  so  neither  party  voted 
as  a  lai^e  proportion  of  them  thought  would  be  best" 

The  thought  underlying  this  plan  is  that  the  State 
regards  all  religious  opinions  as  on  the  same  level,  and, 
considering  religion  as  a  help  to  Government,  is  willing  to 
join  in  keeping  it  alive  in  the  world.  It  was  Hume's  view, 
but  certainly  not  the  view  of  the  Bishop  of  Ely. 

There  are  several  lines  of  argument  against  the  dis- 
establishment and  disendowment  of  a  national  Church. 
The  most  untenable  is  perhaps  the  most  common :  how 
often  have  we  heard  the  impassioned  orator,  the  fiery 
pamphleteer,  denounce  it  as  if  it  were  a  proposal  to  destroy 
the  Church  itself  Listening  to  much  of  the  eloquence 
lavished  on  this  topic,  one  has  to  ask  whether  it  is  true, 
as  some  of  our  Roman  critics  love  to  tell  us,  that  we  are 
nothing  but  a  state-born  creation,  a  "special  department"; 
that  our  creeds  are  of  no  importance,  our  orders  a  delusion, 
our  religious  faith  and  principles  a  shadow !  Those  who 
use  this  argument  are  but  poor  friends  to  Christianity. 
No  human  being  ventures  to  say  that  an  Established 
Church  of  any  kind  existed  before  Constantine  ;  it  is  to 
be  hoped  that  no  one  thinks  that  the  Christian  religion 
was  first  invented  by  that  great  Emperor.  Anyhow,  the 
Bishop  of  Ely,  though  in  some  more  rhetorical  passages 
he  comes  rather  near  it,  is  careful  to  avoid  such  a  fatal 
line  of  argument.  To  him,  as,  let  us  hope,  to  us  also, 
the  Church  is  the  reality,  the  Establishment  is  but  the 
accident.  He  says,  and  it  sounds  rather  strange  and 
unlike  what  one  would  expect  (July  i8th,  1868):— "I 
do  not  care  for  disestablishment,  if  it  did  not  carry  dis- 


IV.]  LATER  YEARS  IN  THE  DIOCESE  OF  ELY,  377 

endowment,  though  I  do  not  think  a  nation  ought  to 
be  without  a  national  Church  through  which  it  may  utter 
its  voice  to  God."  And  in  another  place  he  says,  very 
sensibly,  that  "  if  the  clergy  prefer  their  own  ease  to  the 
souls  of  their  people,  the  Church  as  an  Establishment,  ue,  as 
a  Church  acknowledged  by  the  nation,  must  go,  and  ought 
to  go."  And  again,  he  does  not  lose  sight  of  what  is  behind. 
"We  met  at  Lambeth  yesterday  (February  9th,  1869) 
about  the  Irish  Church  and  other  matters ;  but  I  do  not 
think  we  did  much.  Between  ourselves,  the  two  Primates 
think  too  much  of  the  Establishment  and  too  little  of  the 
Church,  I  would  fight  for  the  Establishment  while  there 
was  hope ;  but,  if  we  are  beaten  upon  that,  I  am  for 
making  the  best  terms  for  the  Church  that  can  be  got." 

It  will  be  seen  from  this  that  the  Bishop  was  very  far 
from  being  a  fanatical  defender  of  Established  Churches,  as 
such  ;  and,  in  truth,  his  utterances  seemed  to  many  eager 
partisans  to  be  far  too  moderate.  He  was  above  all  things 
fair-minded  ;  and  no  warmth  of  feeling—  and  he  did  feel 
warmly  on  the  point — blinded  his  ey^s  to  the  truth.  He 
therefore  both  said  things  and  made  admissions  which 
shocked  out-and-out  "Church  and  State"  people. 

There  are  several  lines  of  argument  on  which,  at  different 
epochs.  Church  Establishments  have  been,  and  often  still 
are,  defended.  There  is  the  argument  from  Historical 
Antiquity,  and  the  respect  due  to  ancient  institutions ; 
there  is  the  now  unused  argument  that  the  Established 
Church  exclusively  represents  the  truth,  while  no  other 
religious  body  does  so  ;  or,  put  another  way,  that  in  some 
unexplained  manner  the  State  chose  out  the  true  form 
of  religion  and  adopted  it  as  its  own ;  so  that  to  all  ages 
that  chosen  form  alone  would  be  worthy  of  State  support 
and  would  enjoy  the  privilege  of  being  the  mouthpiece 
of  'the  State  or  the  Sovereign  in  all  solemn  ceremonies 


378  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DJ>,  [Ch. 

and  acts.  There  is  the  argument  that  a  State  ought  to 
recognise  God,  as  the  people  of  that  State  do ;  and  that 
such  recognition  must  have  a  convenient  expression  in  a 
State  Church.  There  is  the  Hume  argument,  that  the 
State  has  in  the  Church  a  good  police  machinery,  and 
therefore  subsidises  it,  just  as  it  does  the  army  or  navy,, 
in  order  that  it  may  help  in  keeping  order.  There  is  the 
special  argument,  largely  used  in  this  controversy,  that  the 
"Church  of  Ireland  as  by  law  established  "  was  an  element 
of  the  Act  of  Union,  and  could  not  be  disestablished 
without  great  risk  to  that  settlement ;  there  was  also  the 
facile  argument  that  the  Roman  Church  is  the  "  residuary 
legatee  "  of  all  Established  Churches,  and  that  in  Ireland, 
where  that  Church  is  predominant,  it  must  reap  the  chief 
advantage  from  any  change.  There  is  also  the  social 
ai^ument,  that  of  the  "  educated  gentleman  in  every  parish 
of  the  land," — which  influences  the  opinion  of  the  working 
classes  as  much  against  as  for  an  Established  Church. 
There  is  the  old  view  that  the  upper  classes  are  bound  to 
provide  the  lower  classes  with  such  a  religion  as  their  own 
sagacity  and  use  teaches  them  may  be  good  for  their 
dependents  and  labourers ;  and,  again,  there  is  the  view 
that  a  national  Church  is  established  and  endowed  by  the 
will  of  the  nation,  expressed  in  such  a  way  as  the  nation 
can  express  itself,  and  that  the  pre-eminence  and  the 
profit,  the  two  elements  of  the  position,  can  be  taken  away 
by  those  who  gave  it.  This  last  way  of  regarding  the 
matter  brings  us  up  into  the  important  question  of  the 
rights  of  property,  and  to  the  argument  that  tithes  and 
other  Church  property,  being  given  by  God,  can  be 
resumed  only  by  Him. 

The  unsatisfactory  state  of  the  Anglican  Church  in 
Ireland  had  long  been  felt  As  far  back  as  1833,  the  Irish 
Temporalities  Act  had  endeavoured  to  diminish  the  evil 


IV.]  LATER   YEARS  IN  THE  DIOCESE  OF  ELY,  379 

and  get  rid  of  some  of  the  unpopularity  of  that  Church. 
Nothing  could  hide  from  Irish  eyes  the  fact  that  it  was  an 
alien  body  imposed  on  it  from  England  ;  nothing  could 
alter  the  great  disproportion  between  the  numbers  of  those 
who  belonged  to  that  Church,  and  those  Irish  who  were 
either  Roman  Catholics  or  Presbyterians.  And  so  in  1868 
the  whole  subject  came  up  again,  after  the  General  Election 
had  placed  Mr.  Gladstone  at  the  head  of  affairs  with  an 
overwhelming  majority.  His  Bill  was  carried  through  the 
Commons  in  1869,  by  a  majority  of  114.  The  resistance 
to  it  in  the  Upper  House  was  not  very  strong  ;  many  were 
half-hearted.  The  Bishop  of  Oxford  (Wilberforce)  abstained 
altogether.  "  I  did  not  vote  against  the  second  reading," 
he  says,  "  and  if  I  had  not  missed  an  opportunity  of  ex- 
pressing my  views,  1  should  have  supported  it."  And  even 
Lord  Selborne,  writing  years  after,  could  only  say  that  he 
did  not  in  1869  think  that  the  confiscations  and  confusions 
of  the  civil  wars,  which  had  given  the  Anglican  Church  in 
Ireland  her  property,  were  "  a  good  reason  for  taking  it  all 
away." 

Bishop  Harold  Browne  had  meant  to  speak  on  the 
second  reading  in  the  Lords  ;  but,  finding  a  strong  feeling 
that  too  many  episcopal  speeches  would  be  a  mistake, 
he  refrained  and  published  his  thoughts  in  the  form  of  a 
Letter  entitled  "  A  Speech  not  Spoken,"  addressed  to  the 
Lord  Chancellor  of  England,  Lord  Hatherley. 

This  letter  was  temperate  and  courteous ;  it  treats  matters 
so  frankly,  and  makes  admissions  so  honestly,  that  the 
more  eager  defenders  were  aghast  He  begins  by  con- 
ceding that  the  Irish  Church  is  the  Church  of  one-ninth  of 
the  population  only,  and  calls  this  an  anomaly ;  he  also 
gives  Mr.  Gladstone  full  honour  and  credit  for  excellent 
motives.  He  allows  that  the  Bill  was  brought  in  to  remedy 
a  real  grievance,  to  conciliate  a  nation,  to  do  even-handed 


38o  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,   D,D.  JOeu 

justice  to  all ;  he  admits  that  Ireland  had  for  centuries 
suffered  grievous  wrong  at  the  hands  of  her  English 
masters ;  and  takes  the  ground  from  under  his  own  feet 
by  conceding  that  the  "  Irish  Church  is  a  badge  of  con- 
quest/' and  by  pointing  out  that  in  this  respect  it  was  but 
on  a  level  with  the  Castle  Government  and  the  rest  of  it 
Matters  were  not  mended  when  he  points  out  that  the 
conquest  was  not  one  of  Irish  by  English,  or  of  Catholics 
by  Protestants,  but  of  the  less  Papal  Irish  Church  by  the 
Norman  Papal  Catholics.  The  same  power  in  Church  and 
State  which  had  conquered  England  undertook  also  the 
conquest  of  Ireland.  The  evils  which  vexed  Ireland 
had  existed  also  in  England  ;  England  had  modified  and 
softened  them  ;  in  Ireland  they  had  been  hardened  and 
made  more  and  more  repulsive  by  successive  acts  of  conquest 

He  speaks  boldly  of  the  faults  of  the  ruling  nation.  He 
points  out  that  the  English  at  the  Reformation  made  the 
fatal  blunder  of  forbidding  the  Irish  language,  and  of 
treating  the  reformed  Episcopal  Church  of  Ireland  as 
English  in  all  respects.  Naturally,  the  Roman  Church 
stepped  in  as  the  champion  of  the  people.  Her  clergy 
encouraged  the  Irish  language,  fostered  the  Irish  nation- 
ality, and  swept  off  with  it  the  bulk  of  the  impulsive 
Irish  people.  The  English  lords  of  the  land  learnt  nothing 
by  this.  They  steadily  treated  the  Established  Church  as 
a  plunder-ground,  regarding  it  as  they  long  regarded  India, 
simply  as  a  place  in  which  money  could  be  made.  Bishop 
Harold  Browne  says  honestly  that  the  richest  preferments 
were  filled  with  "ecclesiastics  who  would  not  have  been 
tolerated  in  like  positions  in  England." 

Having  granted  these  points,  he  then  proceeds,  very 
ingeniously  and  moderately,  to  base  his  opposition  to  this 
disestablishment  and  disendowment,  first,  on  the  Anglican 
view,  which  he  always  supported  warmly,  that  the  Aposto- 


IV.]  LATER  YEARS  IN  THE  DIOCESE  OF  ELY.  381 

lical  Succession  was  never  broken  in  Ireland  or  in 
England,  and  that  therefore  the  "  Protestant "  Episcopal 
Church  was  the  true  Church  of  Ireland ;  and,  next,  he 
urges  the  somewhat  ineffective  argument  that  as  the 
nations  of  England  and  Ireland  have  become  one,  so  the 
Churches  of  the  two  countries  have  also  become  one 
Church,  and  therefore  that  the  large  majority  in  England 
may  still,  by  a  kind  of  continued  conquest,  be  allowed  to 
supplement  the  small  minority  in  Ireland.  "  It  was  obvious 
that  the  minority  must  yield  to  the  majority,  though 
unfortunately  the  great  body  of  the  dissentients  were 
separated  from  the  great  body  of  the  conformists  by 
seventy  miles  of  sea." 

The  best  part  of  the  "  Speech  not  Spoken  "  is  the  close, 
in  which,  having  thus  coupled  the  two  Churches  together, 
he  declares  that  the  Church  of  England,  like  that  of 
Ireland,  though  it  may  cease  to  be  national,  will  still 
survive  and  will  still  be  strong.  And  then  he  passes  on 
to  sketch  with  the  force  of  conviction  the  future  of  the 
Anglican  Communion  across  the  world  : — 

"By  good  and  steady  organisation  it  may  perhaps  be 
kept  as  one  great  patriarchate,  united  and  independent. 
It  cannot  be  done  if  every  private  opinion  and  every 
sectarian  prejudice  be  pressed  against  the  common  good 
and  to  the  disunion  of  the  whole.  But  if  clergy  and  laity 
will  join  together  with  mutual  confidence,  if  men  will  fight 
and  pray  against  extreme  practices,  against  personal 
whims,  against  isolated  and  insubordinate  courses,  if  they 
will  renounce  bitter  recriminations,  and,  above  all,  discredit 
and  discountenance  violent  religious  periodicals  (on  the 
one  side  or  the  other),  there  may  be  a  hope  that  United 
Anglicanism — at  home,  in  America,  and  in  the  Colonies — 
may  hold  fast  to  catholic,  primitive,  and  evangelical  truths 
though  its  nationalism  may  have  been  scattered  to  the 
winds  of  heaven." 

This    letter  was  first  sent  to  Lord   Hatherley  before 


3*2  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DJ>,  [Ch. 

publication)  and  received  from  that  zealous   Churchman 
the  following  kindly  acknowledgment : — 

"Jun€4lk,  1869. 

"  My  dear  Lord,— I  cannot  regard  your  honouring  me 
by  the  Address  of  your  'unspoken  Speech'  otherwise 
than  as  a  mark  of  your  kindness  and  your  belief  that  I 
am  capable  of  appreciating  all  arguments — a  habit  indeed 
that  must  necessarily  be  formed  by  judicial  experience. 
I  can  assure  you  I  feel  that  it  is  a  blessing  to  any  Staig 
to  be  enfolded  within  the  Church,  though  it  is  not  so  easy 
for  the  Church  to  profit  by  the  State's  aid  without  loss  of 
its  own  purity  ;  but  a  "  National "  Church  forced  on  a 
nation  is  to  me  something  aroirov,  I  can't  literally  find 
a  place  for  it  in  my  conception  ;  and  to  have  the  English 
branch  of  the  Church  supposed  to  be  bound  to  maintain 
that  view  would  all  but  make  me  despair  of  our  future, 
i  confess  I  can  and  do  (dream  of,  perhaps)  conceive  the 
great  Western  branch  of  the  Church  Catholic  as  literally 
spreading  over  the  earth  as  the  waters  cover  the  sea — ^not 
the  corrupt  but  reformed  Western  Church,  including  not 
impossibly  the  Churches  of  Italy  and  Spain,  but  at  least 
those  of  America  (North)  and  Australia. 

"  Believe  me,  with  great  respect, 

"  Yours  very  ifaithfully, 

"  Hatherley." 

In  reply  to  this  note,  the  Bishop  made  the  following 
explanation,  which  seems  to  indicate  that  he  did  not  feel 
his  position  very  strong.  It  also  perhaps  gives  a  reason 
for  his  having  just  before  advocated  a  policy  of  concurrent 
endowment. 

•*  Ely  House,  June  5M,  1869. 

"  My  dear  Lord, — I  am  much  obliged  to  you  for  taking 
so  kindly  my  somewhat  bold  address  to  you  and  use  of 
your  name.  I  entirely  agree  with  you  in  thinking  it 
intolerable  that  a  Church  should  be  forced  on  an  unwilling 
nation — assuming,  of  course,  that  Ireland  is  a  distinct 
nation.    But  may  I  just  say  these  few  words  of  explanation  ? 

"  The  point  of  my  argument  is,  that  the  Church  was 
(not  forced  upon  but)  willingly  and  joyfully  accepted  by 


IV.]  LATER  YEARS  IN  THE  DIOCESE  OF  ELY.  383 

the  Irish  people.  If  anything  was  forced  on  it,  it  was  not 
the  Church,  but  the  Reformation  of  the  Church.  Much 
then  and  deeply  as  I  value  the  Reformation,  I  can  under- 
stand that  a  reasonable  claim  may  be  urged  for  the  repeal 
of  the  Reformation ;  but  I  can  see  no  case  for  the  tremendous 
step  of  rejecting  nationally  the  Church  altogether. 

"  Pardon  these  few  words  of  explanation,  which  need  no 
reply,  and  believe  me, 

"  With  the  truest  esteem  and  respect, 

"  Your  Lordship's  very  faithfully, 

"E.  H.  Ely. 
"The  Lord  Chancellor." 

It  was  right  and  natural  that  the  Bishop  should  send 
another  early  copy  to  the  statesman  in  charge  of  the  Bill ; 
from  whom  there  came  a  brief  and  vigorous  reply,  in  very 
friendly  language : — 

"  n,  Carlton  House  Terrace; 

June  Zth,  1869. 

"  My  dear  Lord  Bishop  of  Ely,— I  thank  you  very 
sincerely  for  your  Letter  to  the  Chancellor,  which  I  have 
read  with  a  cordial  admiration  of  its  ability,  charity,  and 
high-mindedness. 

"  I  need  hardly  say  that  it  contains  much  which  com- 
mands my  assent :  much  more  which  compels  me  to  differ. 

"  Our  point  of  parting  company  is  the  view  which  your 
Lordship  takes  of  corporate  property.  The  State  which 
refuses  to  allow  a  perpetuity  even  in  the  line  of  natural 
descent  can  never  in  my  opinion  escape  from  the  respon- 
sibility of  a  high  and  paramount  stewardship  over  all 
corporate  property  whatever,  ecclesiastical  or  lay.  That 
passage  from    Bishop  Butler*    which  has    been  quoted 

*  In  a  letter  written  December  22nd,  1747  (when  he  was  Bishop 
of  Bristol),  that  most  thoughtful  of  prelates,  discussing  the  position  of 
Church  property,  fearlessly  attacks  the  notion  that  Church  goods  are 
God's  special  and  indefeasible  gift  to  any  Church. 

"  Property  in  general,"  he  writes,  *•  is  and  must  be  regulated  by  the 
laws  of  the  community.  .  .  .  We  may  with  good  conscience  retain  any 
possession,  Church  lands  or  tithes,  which  the  laws  of  the  state  we  live 
under  give  us  a  property  in.  .  .  . 

''  Under  the  Mosaic  dispensation,  indeedi  God  Himself  assigned  to 


384  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

repeatedly  during  this  arduous  controversy,  expressed  my 
creed  upon  the  subject 
"  I  remain,  with  much  respect,  my  dear  Lord  Bishop, 

"  Faithfully  yours, 

"W.  E.  Gladstone." 

The  Bill  in  due  course  of  time  became  law  ;  and  the 
Bishop  referred  to  it  more  than  once  in  his  visitation 
addresses  in  the  autumn  of  1869.  At  Cambridge  he  went 
so  far  (in  his  kindly  anxiety  for  the  Irish  clergy)  as  to 
suggest  that  "  the  clergy  of  the  English  Church  should 
give  one  per  cent,  of  their  official  incomes  for  so  many 
years  in  aid  of  the  Church  and  clergy  of  Ireland."  This 
proposal  came  to  nothing  through  the  spirited  reply  of 
an  Irish  clergyman  present,  who  assured  the  assembled 
Churchmen  that  it  would  be  simply  ruin  to  the  Irish  Church 
if  it  were  taught  to  lean  on  any  but  itself  for  support 

In  another  place  he  ventures,  in  speaking  on  the  subject, 
on  an  interesting  forecast  when  he  says  that — 

"  Very  probably  we  may  be  passing  as  much  into 
another  atmosphere  and  another  world  as  those  who  lived 
in  the  time  of  Constantine  or  of  Charlemagne,  or  of 
Gregory  VII.  or  of  the  Reformation." 

the  priests  and  Levites  tithes  and  other  possessions;  and  in  those 
possessions  they  had  a  Divine  right ;  a  property  quite  superior  to  all 
human  laws,  ecclesiastical  as  well  as  civil.  But  every  donation  to  the 
Christian  Church  is  a  human  donation  and  no  more;  and  therefore 
cannot  give  a  Divine  right,  but  such  a  right  only  as  must  be  subject  in 
common  with  all  other  property  to  the  regulation  of  human  laws. . . . 
No  one  can  have  a  right  to  perpetuity  in  any  land,  except  it  be  given 
him  by  God,  as  the  land  of  Canaan  was  to  Abraham. .  .  . 

"  The  persons  then  who  gave  these  lands  to  the  Church  had  them- 
selves no  right  of  perpetuity  in  them,  consequenUy  could  convey  no 
such  right  to  the  Church.  ...  I  have  considered  tithes  and  Church 
lands  as  the  same,  because  I  see  no  sort  of  proof  that  tithes  under  the 
gospel  are  of  Divine  right ;  and  if  they  are  not,  they  must  come  under 
the  same  consideration  with  lands." — From  FUxgeraUTs  Edition  of 
Butler's  Analogy ^  Preface,  p.  xciii. 


IV.]  LATER   YEARS  IN  THE  DIOCESE  OF  ELY,  385 

The  future  story  of  the  widespread  revival  of  religious 
feeling  and  energy  in  this  country  alone  can  shew  how 
far  this  hopeful  outlook  will  be  justified.  He  was  not 
always  so  sanguine. 

"  From  Constantine  to  the  American  Revolution  Chris- 
tian nations  have  ever  been  in  union  with  the  Church ; 
now  in  the  nineteenth  century  we  are  trying  the  ex- 
periment of  dissolving  this  union.  ...  It  is  true  that  the 
real  principle,  idea,  history,  and  name  of  a  national  Church 
have  degenerated  into  the  notion  of  an  Established 
Church,  and  so  people  have  thought  and  spoken  as  if  the 
nation,  finding  some  twenty  or  thirty  different  forms  of 
faith,  woke  up  one  morning,  and  examining  each  form, 
selected  one  for  itself  and  established  it.  But  this  will  not 
stand  the  test  of  history. 

"...  To  pass  from  principle  to  practice,  can  any  one 
doubt  that  the  position  of  a  Church  acknowledged  and 
defended  as  the  National  Church  is  far  more  favourable 
for  action  than  that  of  a  Church  left  to  the  precarious 
charity  of  each  separate  congregation  ?  Perhaps  the  town 
clergy  of  a  disestablished  Church  would  be  richer  than  at 
present — but  how  about  the  country  parishes  ? 

"...  The  evil  of  the  opposite  system  is  that  it  can 
only  give  the  supply  where  there  is  the  demand,  and  the 
demand  is  always  least  where  the  need  is  greatest 

"...  If  the  Church  ceases  to  be  acknowledged  univer- 
sally as  the  English  Church,  we  may  strengthen  our 
position,  but  must  narrow  it  We  do  not  now  teach 
youth  Church  principles,  but  religious  principles  ;  if  dis- 
established, we  should  have  to  teach  them  how  to  justify 
our  position.  People  press  on  us,  and  we  follow  their 
wishes,  a  liberal  way  of  dealing  with  our  people  generally ; 
this  will  become  impossible  if  we  cease  to  be  the 
acknowledged  Church  of  the  nation." 

Other  forecasts  which  he  made  have  not  yet  been 
fulfilled. 

"The  confiscation  of  tithes,"  he  said,  "will  infallibly 
entail  bloodshed  and  anarchy  of  the  most  fearful  character, 
the  universal  absenteeism  of  landlords,  and  the  probable 

25 


386  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DJ>.  [Ca. 

extermination  of  all  Protestants";  and,  again,  "The 
English  established  endowed  Church  will  not  last  five 
years  after  the  destruction  of  the  Irish  "  ;  and,  again,  "The 
Scotch  establishment  will  probably  go  still  sooner."  All 
these  things  would  be  part  of  "the  terrible  triumph  of 
unbelief  and  of  the  world,  rationalism,  radicalism,  with 
probably  an  intensified  and  more  utterly  corrupted 
Romanism,  bearing  sway,  and  trampling  down  all  truth 
and  holiness." 

These  gloomy  forebodings  have  not  yet  found  their 
fulfilment,  but  have  gone  the  way  of  most  prophecies 
uttered  in  times  of  panic  and  excitement. 

While  Bishop  Harold  Browne  was  at  Ely,  he  published 
many  smaller  pieces,  some  of  them  involving  much 
thought  and  care.  Some  of  these  charges,  letters,  sermons, 
we  have  noticed  in  passing  ;  other  publications  demand  a 
word.  Perhaps  the  most  interesting  of  his  publications  in 
this  period  is  a  volume  of  three  sermons  preached  at 
Cambridge,  which  give  his  views  on  the  limits  of  Church 
comprehension,  and  contain  an  appendix  stating  the 
Bishop's  views  as  to  the  Apostolical  Succession,  handled 
carefully  and  temperately :  it  served  as  his  manifesto  cwi 
the  one  hand  against  the  Roman  theory  of  the  unity  of  the 
Church,  and  on  the  other  against  the  Congregationalists 
with  their  independent  Churches  grouped  together  by  a 
central  organisation.  The  Bishop's  yearning  for  unity 
within  the  English  Church  shews  itself  throughout  these 
sermons  ;  for  the  sake  of  it  he  would  allow  great  latitude, 
especially  on  the  Holy  Eucharist,  as  to  which  opinions 
ranged  from  Zwinglianism  to  a  physical  theory  very  like 
Transubstantiation. 

"  Why  can  it  not  be  that  those  who  hold  Christ  present 
in  the  handy  and  those  who  acknowledge  Him  only  in  the 
heart,  should  yet  meet  and  worship,  and  kneel  and  feed 
together,  feed  on  Him,  who  is  the  only  food  of  the  soul  ?  .  .  . 


IV.]  LATER  YEARS  IN  THE  DIOCESE  OF  ELY.  387 

Can  any  difference  as  to  the  how,  the  when,  the  where, 
in  this  presence  and  this  sacrifice,  and  this  feeding  on  the 
sacrifice,  be  comparable  to  the  deep  unity  of  those 
who  believe  in  the  Presence  and  the  Sacrifice  and  the 
Food?'' 


He  is  willing  to  widen  the  Church's  limits  ti)  this 
direction,  though  he  is  silent  as  to  the  amount  of  toleration 
to  be  conceded  to  independence  of  opinion  and  judgment 
on  such  matters  as  the  authority  of  Holy  Writ,  the 
relations  between  the  human  and  the  Divine  in  the  person 
of  Jesus  Christ,  the  manner  of  the  operation  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  and  other  points  of  theological  nicety. 

On  the  sudden  death  of  Bishop  Wilberforce  in  the  autumn 
of  1873,  the  See  of  Winchester  was  offered  to  and  accepted 
by  the  Bishop  of  Ely.  At  this  moment  he  was  intent 
on  the  celebration  of  the  twelve-hundredth  anniversary  of 
St.  Etheldreda,  patron  saint  of  Ely  Cathedral ;  and  this 
commemoration  became  the  scene  on  which  the  well-loved 
Bishop  bade  farewell  to  his  flock.  His  sermon  on  the 
occasion  aroused  the  bitter  hostility  of  the  Romanists  in 
England.  He  enlarged,  as  might  have  been  foreseen  from 
his  well-known  views,  on  the  unity  from  earliest  days  of  the 
Church  of  England. 

It  now  only  remained  for  him  to  bid  farewell  to  his 
friends  and  the  diocese  over  which  he  had  ruled  so  well. 
The  clergy  of  the  archdeaconry  of  Bedford  expressed  the 
general  feeling  respecting  him  when  they  thanked  him  for 
the  good  judgment,  moderation,  and  impartiality  with  which 
he  had  presided  over  them  ;  they  refer  gladly  to  his  efforts 
to  interest  the  laity  in  Church  matters,  and  recall  his 
*' uniform  courtesy  and  kindness  to  all,"  and  "the  large- 
hearted  and  noble  hospitality  extended  to  clergy  and 
laity." 

The    Bishop's   utterances  were  very  simple  and   very 


388  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DJ>,  [Ch. 

genuine.     To  the  working  folk  who  were  feasted  on  the 
occasion  of  St  Etheldreda's  festival,  he  said : — 

"  I  wish  you  could  all  have  better  houses,  and  each  a 
little  bit  of  land.  Learn,  too,  to  take  care  of  horses,  homes, 
land,  yourselves.  Do  not  go  after  *  three  days'  work  and 
four  days'  drink.*  Nothing  can  give  you  such  a  command 
of  the  market  as  a  command  of  yourselves  " ;  and  to  the 
wives  he  said,  "  Be  wise ;  don't  drive  the  man  to  the  public 
house." 

To  his  clergy  he  took  a  wider  range.  "The  Church 
of  England  has  had  a  great  past  and  has  before  it  a  great 
future;  this  depends  largely  on  the  faithfulness  of  the 
clergy."  He  lays  down  the  principles  on  which  they  should 
work.  These  must  be,  faith  in  God,  love  to  Jesus  Christ, 
denial  of  self,  a  spirit  of  union  within  the  Church,  zeal  for 
the  education  of  our  young  ones ;  the  isolation  of  the 
parochial  clergy  must  be  broken  down  ;  women's  work 
must  be  more  encouraged.  He  tells  them  emphatically  how 
he  has  tried  to  bring  clergy  and  laity  together.  "  I  have 
tried  to  open  the  way ;  I  entreat  you,  brethren,  both  of 
clergy  and  laity,  with  almost  my  last  words  to  you  as  your 
Bishop  I  charge  you,  in  God's  name,  that  you  never  let  it 
be  closed."  He  takes  comfort  from  the  thought  that  his 
saintly  predecessor,  Bishop  Lancelot  Andrewes,  who,  when 
Bishop  of  Ely,  was  one  of  King  James'  company  of 
translators  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  even  as  he  himself  had 
been  head  of  the  Old  Testament  company  of  revisers, 
was  also  translated  to  Winchester.  Touching  is  his  sad 
phrase,  "  I  am  going  from  a  land  of  peace  to  a  land  of 
turmoil  and  difficulty."  At  a  meeting  in  St.  James's  Hall, 
at  which  he  was  present,  he  referred  in  earnest,  almost 
despondent,  language  to  his  impressions  of  Portsmouth, 
whence  he  had  just  returned.  He  spoke  of  the  consterna- 
tion he  had  felt  at  sight  of  that  great  town,  and  declared 


IV.]  LATER   YEARS  IN  THE  DIOCESE  OF  ELY,  389 

that  "  he  would  never  have  left  quiet  Ely  had  he  realised 
the  huge  mass  of  work  and  difficulties  which  confronted 
him  there." 

The  affection  and  gratitude  of  the  diocese  could  not  be 
hid.  All  hastened  to  take  part,  in  one  way  or  another,  in 
the  various  gifts  which  testified  to  their  regret.  His  por- 
trait was  painted  by  Watts,  and  presented  to  Mrs.  Harold 
Browne  ;  two  rings,  the  one  an  episcopal  sapphire,  with 
St.  Etheldreda  and  St.  Swithun  engraved  on  it,  the  other 
a  green  jasper  (or  bloodstone),  with  the  arms  of  the  See 
of  Winchester  impaled  with  those  of  the  Bishop ;  a  fine 
epergne,  with  much  other  plate,  was  also  given  to  him  ; 
and  lastly,  above  ;^i  100  were  subscribed  for  the  establish- 
ment of  "  Harold  Browne  Prizes  for  Pupil  Teachers.*' 

The  Vice-Chancellor  of  Cambridge,  Dr.  Cookson,  speaking 
of  the  loss  the  University  and  diocese  had  sustained  by  the 
removal  of  the  Bishop,  says : — 

"  Perhaps,  when  the  history  of  the  English  Church  in 
this  period  comes  to  be  written,  of  all  the  prelates  who 
"have  contributed  to  the  infusion  of  new  life  and  animation 
into  its  work,  and  who  have  done  service  by  their  writings, 
example,  and  episcopal  labours,  no  worthier  name  will 
appear  than  that  of  Bishop  Edward  Harold  Browne." 

No  truer  utterance  as  to  the  effect  of  the  Bishop's  years 
of  hard  work  in  the  diocese  of  Ely  could  have  been  made 
than  that  in  which  his  close  friend  and  helper  Archdeacon 
Emery,  comparing  the  state  of  the  diocese  in  1873  ^^^^  ^^s 
state  a  few  years  earlier,  summed  up  the  matter : — 

"  The  energy  and  zeal  displayed  by  the  Bishop,  and  the 
result  of  these  various  organisations  set  on  foot  by  him, 
had  made  the  diocese  of  Ely.  a  positive  picture  of  the 
progress  of  the  Church  of  England  during  the  last  ten 
years." 


390  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D,D,  [Ch.  IV. 


It  had  been  a  time  of  peaceful  advance,  undisturbed  by 
crying  questions,  free  from  scandals,  full  of  devoted  labours 
for  the  faith  of  Christ ;  and  when  the  Bishop  at  last  bade 
a  most  reluctant  farewell  to  his  sorrowing  flock,  it  would 
be  hard  to  say  which  felt  the  parting  most.  He  carried 
with  him  from  Ely  to  Winchester  the  warm  God-speed  of 
all  his  friends,  and  the  whole  diocese  was  his  friend. 


BOOK     IV. 

1874— 1891. 

WINCHESTER, 


391 


CHAPTER    I. 

APPOINTMENT. 

IT  was  with  no  little  anxiety  that  the  Bishop  of  Ely 
decided  to  move  to  Winchester.  His  heart  was  at 
Ely  ;  he  was  among  his  friends,  and  near  his  loved  Univer- 
sity; he  was  not  there  compared  with  a  prelate  of  the 
brilliancy  and  working  power  of  Wilberforce.  At  first,  he 
appears  to  have  meant  to  refuse  it ;  but  after  a  while,  over- 
borne, as  he  sometimes  was,  by  the  urgency  of  friends,  he 
accepted  the  offer.  His  letter  to  Bishop  McDougall,  his 
most  intimate  friend  and  colleague,  shews  how  great  the 
perturbation  of  his  spirit  had  been  : — 

••Rose  Castle,  August  ^h,  1873. 

"  My  dear  Bishop, — This  is  to  me  a  sad  letter.  After 
what  I  said  at  Ely  you  will  hardly  believe  that  I  have 
accepted  Winchester.  Yet  so  it  is.  It  has  altogether  been 
so  set  before  me  that  I  could  hardly  refuse.  Gladstone 
of  his  own  motion  suggested  a  Suffragan,  and  said  that, 
though  he  refused  it  for  Ely,  he  would  gladly  and  cheerfully 
sanction  it  for  Winchester.  I  found  I  was  the  only  Bishop 
to  whom  he  meant  to  offer  Winton.  It  would,  if  I  had 
refused,  have  been  given  at  once  to  a  presbyter.  I  can  hardly 
tell  you  all  that  has  weighed  with  me  to  accept  this.  I 
fully  resolved  to  refuse  it,  unless  some  very  objectionable 
arrangement  was  impending  ;  but  the  very  strong  advice 
given  me  and  pressure  put  on  me  have  made  me  yield, 
greatly  against  my  inclination.  I  shall  be  a  loser  in  almost 
every  way.     Personally,  I  shall  be  a  gainer  in  nothing  ;  for 

393 


394  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D,  \Ca. 

what  some  would  think  a  gain,  more  of  courtly  society  and 
parliamentary  position,  is  to  me  an  insufferable  nuisance. 
I  have  prayed  earnestly  to  be  guided  rightly,  and,  with 
innumerable  reasons  against  it,  I  have  thought  the  reasons 
why  I  should  accept  are  the  stronger. 

"  I  cannot  tell  you  how  much  I  shall  regret  my  friends 
at  Ely  and  in  the  diocese,  many  of  whom  I  love  most 
affectionately.  You  and  yours  are  among  those  I  value 
most,  and  shall  miss  most.  I  wish  I  could  take  my  four 
Archdeacons  with  me.  There  is  no  diocese  so  officered, 
I  am  convinced.  It  is,  however,  some  satisfaction  that  I 
have  been  able  to  leave  two  of  my  Archdeacons'  families 
fairly  provided  for." 

Bishop  McDougall  appears  to  have  replied,  suggesting 
that,  if  possible  he  would  like  to  follow  his  friend  into 
the  new  field  of  work.  For,  in  a  letter  in  answer  dated 
August  19th,  Bishop  Harold  Browne  says: — 

"  It  would  be  most  agreeable  to  me  to  carry  you  and 
Mrs.  McDougall  with  us  to  my  future  diocese  ;  and  certainly 
the  thought  had  crossed  my  mind.  I  never  thought^ 
however,  that  it  would  cross  yours.  And  indeed  the 
difficulties  seem  very  great.  I  imagine  you  would  excel- 
lently supply  my  deficiencies  in  some  points ;  especially, 
you  would  make  a  good  Sea  King,  whereas  I  abhor  the 
sea.  I  may  be  Bishop  of  the  See,  you  might  be  Bishop 
of  the  Seas.  But  the  difficulties  are  considerable.  It  is 
doubtful  whether  I  could  ever  find  a  berth  for  you  so 
profitable  as  you  have  now.  There  might  be  some 
jealousies  about  my  bringing  a  man  into  high  position 
from  my  old  diocese.  It  would  be  almost  easier  to  bring 
a  man  from  elsewhere.  Then  comes  the  question  of  health. 
The  population  of  Winton  is  three  times  that  of  Ely,  the 
confirmations  ought  to  be  double  at  least  My  time  would 
be  so  occupied  that  I  must  give  more  confirmations  to 
my  coadjutor  than  I  could  take  myself,  and  I  could  not 
bear  to  see  you  killing  yourself  by  confirming.  Then  you 
have  those  bronchitic  attacks  to  which  you  are  so  subject, 
especially  at  the  confirmation  season.  These  and  other 
thoughts  have  seemed  to  me  to  make  a  transference,  ^^ch 
would  be  most  pleasant   to  me,  full  of  difficulties.    But 


I.]  APPOINTMENT,  395 

believe  me,  whatever  happens  I  shall  always  cherish  the 
most  affectionate  regard  for  you  and  yours,  and  shall  be 
"  Your  ever  attached  brother, 

"  E.  H.  Ely." 

The  Bishop  also  tried  to  get  for  Bishop  McDougall  the 
Canonry  at  Winchester  then  vacant,  which  had  fallen  to 
the  Crown,  and  wrote  to  him  to  that  effect. 

To  this  Bishop  McDougall  replied,  setting  out  his  doubts 
and  fears  about  the  move  (September  12th,  1873).  He 
would  lose  in  income  ;  he  thinks  he  would  not  be  efficient ; 
he  is  no  Londoner  (as  people  might  well  have  said  when 
they  saw  him  in  full  episcopal  dress  strolling  down  Regent 
Street  with  a  short  pipe  in  his  mouth  I)  ;  he  is  no  good  at 
dinners,  public  meetings,  and  the  like ;  he  is  bronchitic  and 
unfit  for  night  duty  of  any  kind,  though  his  health  is 
better ;  yet,  after  all,  he  would  like  it,  if  he  could  but  see 
his  way  ;  he  would  love  nothing  better  than  to  continue  to 
be  the  Bishop's  helper ;  and  he  would  rub  up  his  French 
again,  and  qualify  for  the  Channel  Islanders.  He  adds  that 
in  the  new  diocese  the  travelling  expenses  would  be  heavy, 
and  he  would  have  to  put  down  horses  and  carriage. 
Directly  on  receipt  of  this,  the  Bishop  set  himself  to  smooth 
the  way.  It  would  be  a  warmer  climate ;  the  confirma- 
tions, etc.,  might  be  so  arranged  that  he  himself,  being 
usually  stronger  in  cold  weather,  might  take  those  in 
spring,  and  Bishop  McDougall  the  summer  ones ;  he 
would  relieve  him  of  almost  all  Lx>ndon  work.  Then,  as 
to  money  matters,  the  expenses  of  travelling  should  cost 
him  nothing ;  "  though,"  he  adds,  "  I  fear  I  could  provide 
no  actual  income,  as  I  shall  be  nearly  ;f  800  a  year  poorer 
than  at  Ely.  There  is  a  mortgage  on  the  house,  and  other 
outgoings,  of  which  I  did  not  know." 

The  serious  loss  of  income  mentioned  above  was  only 
temporary,  for  within   eighteen   months   Bishop   Sumner 


396  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

died.  The  way  was  also  made  easy  by  the  consideration 
of  the  Prime  Minister,  who  offered  Bishop  McDougall  the 
vacant  Canonry  at  Winchester ;  and  so  the  two  friends, 
after  all,  were  not  severed. 

It  is  in  connection  with  this  negotiation  that  we  hear 
the  Bishop's  views  as  to  the  subdivision  of  work  in  his 
huge  diocese.  It  is  clear  that  he  was  very  jealous  of  any 
attempt  to  minish  aught  from  the  dignity  and  importance 
of  the  See  of  Winchester.  Certain  influential  Surrey  men 
had  been  at  him  at  once. 

"They  have  lately  impressed  me,  or  tried  to  impress 
me,  that  a  bishopric  of  South  London  cannot  be,  as  it 
would  take  that  poor  and  needy  population  away  from 
the  rich  population  of  the  country  parts  of  Surrey.  They 
maintain  that  a  bishopric  of  Surrey  might  be  formed,  but 
at 'great  expense,  and  prefer  on  the  whole,  at  least  for  a 
time,  the  notion  of  two  coadjutor  Bishops,  one  to  throw 
himself  greatly  into  South  London,  the  other  for  the 
Islands,  and  south  of  Hampshire." 

During  these  days  the  Bishop  received  innumerable 
letters  of  regret  from  Ely,  of  hope  and  encouragement 
from  Hampshire.  One  from  Charles  Kingsley,  then  Rector 
of  Eversley,  contains  a  phrase  which  shews  that  he  appre- 
ciated the  kind  of  Bishop  who  was  coming. 

"  I  welcome  you,"  he  writes,  "  with  the  hope  that  you 
will  be  able — willing  J-you  will  be — to  keep  the  balance 
even  between  extreme  parties,  and  win  the  respect  and 
affection  of  the  good  men  (and  there  are  many  amongst 
us)  of  both." 

There  is  also  an  affectionate  note  from  Archbishop  Tait, 
warning  him  earnestly  against  trying  to  carry  on  both 
dioceses  together,  lest  he  should  break  down  in  the  attempt ; 
he  ought  to  clear  entirely  out  of  Ely  before  settling  down 
to  rule  over  Winchester. 


I.J  APPOINTMENT.  397 

And  his  loving  friends  at  Cambridge,  though  they  were 
very  sorry  to  lose  him,  could  still  pluck  up  heart  to  make 
an  epigram  or  two,  turning  on  his  uneasy  position  between 
the  two  Sees. 

"Dear  Mrs.  Browne,— On  my  return  to  Cambridge 
I  put  the  matter  into  the  hands  of  *  Our  Poet,'  and  you  see 
the  result!  Poor  fellow!  You  will  not  be  surprised  to 
hear  that  he  *  now  doth  crazy  go.'  It  was  the  last  effort 
of  his  waning  reason. 

"  Yours  very  sincerely, 

"J.   B.   LiGHTFOOT. 

"Trinity  College,  August  nth,  1873." 

"  ON  A  RECENT  PERPLEXITY. 

"  Tossed  to  and  fro,  all  vainly  I  endeavour 
Forward  to  steer  my  bark,  or  to  retreat. 
No  marvel  this ;  for  madly  rages  ever 
The  fierce,  tempestuous  surge,  where  two  Sees  meet." 


"TO    MY    LORD   BISHOP   OF    ECHESTER   AND   WINLEY,    ON    HIS    PRESENT 
EQUIVOCAL    POSITION. 

"  Fy,  fy,  my  Lord  I  can  this  be  so  ? 
Your  footing,  quick,  recover ; 
For  'tis  a  shocking  thing  to  see 
A  Bishop  halfsees-over." 

Bishop  Harold  Browne  was  confirmed  in  Bow  Church 
on  October  23rd,  1873,  and  enthroned  at  Winchester  on 
December  i  ith,  going  through  the  long  imposing  ceremony, 
and  paying  the  accustomed  visit  to  St.  Lawrence'  Church 
to  toll  the  bell.  An  opportunity  soon  came  for  him  to 
declare  the  principles  on  which  he  hoped  to  rule  over  his 
diocese.  After  the  consecration  of  the  enlargement  of 
Stoke  Church  by  Guildford,  he  addressed  those  who  had 
come  to  meet  him,  and  assured  them  of  his  deep  sympathy 
with  all  earnest  work. 


398  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

"  I  have  always  called  myself  an  Evangelical,  but  I  am 
equally  ready  to  call  myself  a  High  Churchman  ; .  .  .  most 
distinctly  an  Evangelical,  and  most  distinctly  a  High 
Churchman.  I  believe  very  thoroughly  in  both."  And, 
as  he  remarked  long  after,  in  1889,  "  I  can  find  no  party- 
name  by  which  to  call  myself" 

He  also  defined  his  position  as  between  the  Roman 
Church  on  the  one  hand  and  Nonconformity  on  the  other, 
speaking  in  a  kind  and  gentle  tone  of  both,  and  declaring 
his  firm  faith  in  the  "  principles  of  the  Primitive  Church 
and  the  Reformed  Church  of  England  "  ;  and  he  ended  by 
appealing  to  them  to  find  out  the  ninety-nine  points  of 
agreement  rather  than  the  one  of  variance  ;  and  to  accept 
him  on  these  terms  as  "  Bishop  of  the  Church,  not  a  Bishop 
of  a  party." 

He  aimed  from  the  outset  at  a  subdivision  of  work 
rather  than  at  a  reconstruction  of  his  diocese,  and  dis- 
couraged, without  definite  opposition,  the  schemes  put 
forth  from  time  to  time,  whether  for  a  bishopric  of  South 
London  or  for  the  separation  of  the  Channel  Islands  from 
the  See.  And,  meanwhile,  he  took  such  steps  as  seemed 
to  him  wise  for  the  better  distribution  of  the  duties.  For 
the  northern  portion  of  the  diocese  he  obtained  the  ready 
and  efficient  help  of  Archdeacon  Utterton,  who  was  con- 
secrated Suffragan  Bishop  of  Guildford  on  March  15th, 
1874.  At  the  same  time  he  placed  Bishop  McDougall  as  an 
assistant  Bishop  in  the  southern  part  of  the  diocese,  specially 
to  look  after  the  Isle  of  Wight  and  the  Channel  Islands. 

The  great  growth  of  episcopal  work,  the  higher  sense  of 
duty,  and  the  feeling  that  a  Bishop  ought  to  make  himself 
felt  throughout  his  diocese,  and  to  be  ready  to  take  part  in 
every  kind  of  Church  work,  have  taxed  the  strength  of 
the  episcopate  of  modern  times.  As  the  vigour  of  the 
Church  increases,   it  is  seen  that   nothing  is  so  valuable 


I.]  APPOINTMENT.  399 

as  an  active  Bishop.  There  is  a  vast  future  before  the 
episcopate,  if  it  will  read  the  sign  of  the  times,  and  truly 
guide  and  befriend  the  people, — the  main  duty  of  the 
Church.  If  the  Church  can  win  the  confidence  of  the  wage- 
earners  of  England,  direct  their  advance,  and  inspire  them 
-with  new  and  higher  aims,  establishment  or  disestablish- 
ment will  become  a  minor  affair,  a  matter  of  conveniencie 
or  inconvenience,  devoid  of  any  essential  character. 

A  little  incident  in  the  summer  of  1874  illustrates  clearly 
Bishop  Harold  Browne's  profound  belief  in  the  authority 
and  dignity  of  the  episcopal  office.  In  the  Public  Worship 
Bill  of  that  year  there  was  a  clause  allowing  an  appeal  to 
the  Archbishop,  in  case  a  Bishop  decided  to  place  his  veto 
on  proceedings  under  the  Act  The  Bishop  of  Winchester 
saw  in  it  an  infringement  of  the  episcopal  authority ;  and 
led  the  opposition  to  the  clause  in  a  spirited  speech,  which 
-carried  the  House  of  Lords  with  him.  The  clause  was 
thrown  out.  A  letter  from  him  to  Bishop  Magee  of 
Peterborough  shews  how  he  regarded  it,  with  exaggeration 
no  doubt,  yet  in  the  main  correctly.  It  would  have  been 
fatal  to  the  authority  and  influence  of  a  Bishop  if,  after 
he  had  forbidden  proceedings  against  one  of  his  clergy, 
the  Archbishop  of  his  province  could  interfere  and  compel 
him  to  allow  an  action  to  proceed. 

"  I  hope  you  will  do  all  you  can  against  the  clause.  .  .  . 
The  whole  Bill  does  much  to  diminish  the  condition  of 
Bishops.  This  clause  strikes  at  the  root  of  Episcopacy. 
It  brings  the  Archbishop  into  the  Bishop's  diocese.  The* 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury  cares  for  nothing  but  to  pass 
the  Bill,  quocumque  modo — *  Si  possis,  recte ;  si  non, 
quocumque  modo,  rem.'  The  effect  of  this  clause  is  in 
the  direction  of  absorbing  the  episcopate  (a  divine  institu- 
tion) in  the  archiepiscopate  (which  is  a  human  institution). 
I  am  sure  that  disestablishment  will  follow,  and  I  think 
on  good  ground  that  Gladstone  is  quite  ready  to  go  in  for 
it  in  the  event  of  this  clause  becoming  law." 


400  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DX>.  [Ch. 

And  later  on  (August  loth,  1874)  he  writes  again  to 
Bishop  Magee  : — 

"I  confess  that  this  triple  alliance  between  the  Arch- 
bishop, the  Prime  Minister,  and  Vernon  Harcourt  seems  to 
me  the  most  ominous  conjuncture  against  the  Church.  .  .  . 
I  for  one  would  much  sooner  pass  the  Red  Sea  of  dis- 
establishment, and  wander  for  forty  years  in  the  wilderness 
with  the  Cloud  of  Glory  guiding  us." 

This  the  Bishop  writes  from  Guernsey  after  a  bad 
passage  ;  his  equilibrium  must  have  been  not  a  little  upset 
before  he  could  have  attributed  such  fearful  consequences 
to  a  comparatively  unimportant  clause  in  the  Bill.  **  We 
had  a  rough  voyage,"  he  adds,  "and  have  to  leave  for 
Jersey  at  the  end  of  the  week.  The  islands  are  very 
beautiful,  but  stormy  as  *  vex't  Bermoothes.' "  The  Bishop 
always  shrank  from  the  sea,  and  disliked  even  to  stay  at 
seaside  places,  within  sight  and  hearing  of  the  waves. 

During  this  visit  to  the  Islands  Bishop  Sumner  died, 
and  the  important  question  as  to  the  future  home  of  the 
Bishop  of  Winchester  came  up.  On  the  one  side  was  the 
splendour  of  a  palatial  house,  one  of  the  finest  in  South 
England,  and  the  ancient  historic  connection  between 
Farnham  and  the  See  of  Winchester.  On  the  other  side 
was  the  enormous  and  altogether  disproportionate  cost  of 
living  in  so  large  a  place.  Bishop  Harold  Browne  once 
told  me  that  it  cost  him  all  his  official  income  to  keep  up 
the  Castle  ;  so  that  for  the  heavy  outgoings  of  the  diocese 
he  had  to  depend  on  his  private  resources,  and  was  con- 
sequently always  tempted  to  impoverish  himself  Added 
to  this  was  the  evil  of  lifting  up  the  Bishop  almost  to  the 
position  of  a  temporal  prince,  which  could  only  confirm  the 
widespread  notion  that  the  State  Church  was  an  upper- 
class   affair,   hung   as   an   ornamental   appendage  on  the 


10  APPOINTMENT.  4OI 


show  side  of  society.  This  view  of  it  seems  never  to 
have  affected  the  Bishop.  With  all  his  personal  simplicity 
and  humility,  he  still  believed  that  a  Bishop's  magnificence 
was  important,  and  that  if  his  official  dignity  were  lowered 
the  stability  of  the  Established  Church  would  somehow 
be  endangered.  He  also  felt  that  the  greater  income  of 
his  See  was  given  him  specially  to  keep  up  this  grandeur, 
which  from  time  to  time  brought  him  into  contact  with 
the  highest  in  the  realm.  He  went  at  once,  on  Bishop 
Sumner's  death,  to  see  the  Castle. 

"  I  have  just  been  to  Farnham,"  he  writes  on  September 
19th,  1874.  "The  house  is  much  worse  than  Ely  in  every- 
thing but  the  hall.  It  would  be  no  more  trouble  or  expense 
than  Ely,  except  for  its  long  passages,  staircases,  and 
boundless  roof  The  garden  is  rather  troublesome,  though 
very  pretty,  and  the  park  beautiful.  It  ought  to  keep 
itself." 

The  sanguine  tone  of  this  note  shews  that  from  the 
outset  the  Bishop  looked  on  Farnham  with  favour.  The 
house,  as  a  fact,  was  far  more  costly  than  the  Ely  palace  ; 
and  as  for  the  park  keeping  itself,  this  was  a  mere  delusion. 
Anyhow,  he  decided  at  once  in  favour  of  living  at  Farnham, 
especially  as  he  thought  his  way  was  clear,  both  to  a  larger 
income,  and  also  to  the  sale  of  Winchester  House  in 
London,  which  would  relieve  him  of  some  outlay.  The 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury  wrote  at  once  to  express  his 
pleasure  at  the  decision : — 

"  I  am  glad  to  hear  that  you  have  decided  to  keep 
F^arnham.  I  am  sure  it  is  an  evil  to  break  the  old  ties  of 
association,  which  are  a  help  to  all  of  us  in  our  work." 

The  Bishop  had  consulted  him  about  Winchester  House, 
and  his  reply  was  : — 

"  No  objection  can  be  raised  against  your  plan  of  aiding 
the  foundation  of  a  new  diocese  by  the  sale  of  Winchester 

26 


402  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D,  [Ch, 


House.  To  get  rid  of  so  large  a  town-house  would 
probably  be  a  benefit  to  your  successors,  and  I  should 
rejoice  to  see  the  diocese  made  more  manageable  without 
any  diminution  of  the  ancient  prescriptive  importance  of 
the  See." 

The  Bishop's  mind  turned  sometimes  towards  his  Win- 
chester Palace  of  Wolvesey,  a  far  more  central  position  for 
residence.  In  1877  Dr.  Ridding,  thinking  that  the  place 
would  be  valuable  for  school  purposes,  wished  to  get  posses- 
sion of  Bishop  Morley's  house  and  the  ruins  and  grounds 
around  it.     The  Bishop  consulted  Bishop  McDougall : — 

"...  It  is  a  reason  why  I  should  soon  learn  what  is 
necessary  to  be  done  to  it.  If  £\fiCO  of  solid  repair  and 
;;f  SCO  of  paint  and  paper  would  make  it  right  and  habitable, 
I  should  be  inclined  to  venture  it.  I  hardly  like  to  sell  it 
A  future  Bishop  might  live  there.  Whether  a  disestablished 
Bishop  could  afford  to  do  so  I  doubt ;  and  folks  now  seem 
to  count  the  years  of  the  Establishment" 

What  the  Bishop  thought  of  Farnham  can  be  seen  from 
a  letter  written  to  a  kinsman  in  the  autumn  of  1875,  just 
after  he  had  come  into  possession  of  it : — 

•*  HiGHFIELD,   NEAR  SOUTHAMPTON,    October  9M,    1 875. 

"  My  dear  Philip, — Very  many  thanks  for  your  kind 
letter  and  greetings  to  me  in  my  new  home.  We  are  in  it ; 
but  masons,  carpenters,  painters,  and  paperers  hold  by  far 
the  greater  part  of  it  against  us,  and  will  do  so  for  months. 
It  is  a  beautiful  old  house,  with  beautiful  gjarden  and  park  ; 
but  the  house  is  very  unequal,  patched  in  many  ways. 
I  hope  I  shall  have  improved  it.  Among  other  things,  I 
have  opened  four  fine  Early  English  windows,  which  had 
been  blocked  up  by  a  dead  wall.  Unfortunately  they  are 
in  the  kitchen.  The  oldest  part  of  all  is  the  servants'  hall. 
That  and  the  keep,  which  is  a  grand  fortress,  are  of  the  age 
of  Stephen,  built  by  Bishop  Henry  de  Blois,  brother  to  the 
king.  Perhaps  the  oldest  thing  of  all  is  a  Norman  oak 
pillar,  which  is  in  a  small  cupboard  or  closet,  hard  to  see  ; 


I.]  APPOINTMENT.  403 

but  I  am  told  that  an  oak  pillar  with  a  Norman  capital  is 
very  rare  indeed.  I  trust  the  place  is  very  healthy  as  well 
as  pretty;  but  I  am  little  there.  Like  my  sister-in-law, 
Harriet,  I  only  go  home  now  and  then  for  change  of  air.  ^ 
Of  late,  since  my  return  from  the  North,  my  work  has  been 
even  harder  than  ever." 

As  he  grew  older  the  Bishop  felt  the  burden  of  Farnham 
pressing  very  heavily  on  his  shoulders;  and  when  the 
present  Dean  wrote  to  him,  suggesting  (under  the  circum- 
stances of  the  shrunken  income  of  the  Capitular  body) 
that  the  Deanery  should  be  handed  over  to  the  Bishop  for 
bis  episcopal  residence,  and  the  Dean  find  himself  a  smaller 
and  more  manageable  house,  his  reply  shewed  that,  though 
unwilling  to  face  further  changes,  he  saw  what  would  be 
best  for  the  See. 

'*  Farnham  Castle,  January  ist,  1884. 

"  Your  scheme  about  changing  houses  is  a  bold  one.  I 
dare  not  answer  your  question  yet  I  should  not  like  to 
see  you  removed  from  your  palatial  house.  I  hardly  know 
how  to  make  a  change  in  my  old  age,  unless  it  were  to 
retirement ;  but  I  quite  think  that  a  future  Bishop  would 
be  richer  and  more  efficient  at  Winchester  ;  perhaps  future 
Deans  might  like  a  smaller  house  than  the  Deanery." 

No  sooner  had  the  Bishop  settled  these  preliminary 
matters,  than  he  found  himself  called  on  to  undertake  the 
task  of  helping  towards  an  interesting  expansion  of  the 
Episcopate.  The  increase  of  England's  responsibilities 
in  India  by  the  annexation  of  two  huge  territories  to  the 
imperial  crown  led  Churchmen  to  think  they  must  bestir 
themselves.  A  plan  was  floated  for  two  new  bishoprics, 
one,  for  the  North  West  provinces,  at  Lahore,  and  the 
other,  for  the  Burmese  country,  at  Rangoon.  Of  these 
it  was  proposed  that  the  Winchester  diocese  should  raise 
the  funds  for  Rangoon  ;  and  the  Bishop  at  once  fell   in 


404  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D,D.  [Ch. 

With  the  plan.  The  moving  spirit,  to  whom  the  success 
of  the  proposal  was  mainly  due,  was  Sir  Walter  Farquhar. 
There  were  many  different  suggestions.  Some  wanted 
**  Chota-Bishops,"  or  little  Bishops,  natives  of  the  districts, 
to  head  native  Churches,  and  to.  make  it  clear  that 
Christianity  was  not  merely  another  form  of  English 
influence.  This  scheme,  highly  to  their  honour,  was 
warmly  supported  by  the  Committee  of  the  S.P.G.,  and 
had  much  to  be  said  in  its  favour.  But  the  counsels  of 
old  Indians  and  others,  anxious  for  a  larger  scheme,  pre- 
vailed. It  was  decided  to  raise  funds  for  the  endowment 
of  two  new  bishoprics,  to  be  held  by  Englishmen.  The 
Winchester  diocese,  moved  by  the  ui^ent  appeals  and 
advice  of  Mr.  Jacob,  son  of  the  good  old  Archdeacon 
of  Winchester,  a  man  of  great  Indian  experience  and 
unusual  vigour  and  power,  undertook  to  raise  ;f  10,000 
in  two  years,  a  sum  which,  with  help  from  other  sources, 
would  provide  a  sufficient  fund  for  the  endowment  of  a 
bishopric  for  Burmah.  The  diocese  of  Oxford  offered  to 
do  the  same  for  the  other  See  at  Lahore. 

The  Bishop  began  by  issuing  a  memorandum  on  the 
subject,  in  which  he  appealed  to  the  consciences  of  English- 
men, responsible  for  the  welfare  of  India.  We  had  shaken 
the  faith  of  the  inhabitants  of  that  great  peninsula  in  their 
older  religions,  and  were  bound  to  shew  them  a  better 
way.  Even  on  political  grounds  it  would  be  wise,  if  we 
could,  to  make  them  Christians  ;  still  more  are  we  bound,  on 
religious  grounds,  to  do  what  we  can  to  give  the  Gospel 
of  Christ  to  a  dependency  numbering  quite  one-fourth  of 
the  human  race.  Christian  missions  are  not  failures :  "  If 
it  took  many  centuries  to  convert  Europe,  we  must  not 
expect  to  convert  India  in  a  single  century."  He  says 
that  the  true  step  forward  would  be  that  of  erecting 
missionary   bishoprics,   which   would   not   be   too    costly. 


I.]  APPOINTMENT,  405^ 


India  needs  men  of  high  intelligence  to  evangelise  her ; 
good  missionary  Bishops  have  ever  gathered  good  men 
round  them,  as  did  Selwyn,  Mackenzie,  Pattison,  and 
others.  This  appeal  was  followed  by  public  meetings, 
at  which  the  Bishop  did  his  utmost  for  the  scheme, 
sketching  also  a  picture  of  a  development  of  native 
Bishops,  under  the  English  ones,  with  perhaps  as  many 
as  ten  or  twelve  of  them  at  work  in  India  alone. 

In  a  year  the  diocese  had  raised  ;f  7,000 ;  the  great 
Societies  promised  ;f7,SOO,  and  ere  long  the  diocesan 
contribution  reached  the  ;f  10,000  desired.  The  plan  of 
native  Bishops  was  put  aside ;  a  proposal  for  two  Bishops, 
an  Englishman  for  the  English,  a  native  of  India  for  the 
Indians,  was  also  suggested,  but  was  rejected  as  likely  to 
emphasise  the  odious  distinction  between  conqueror  and 
conquered.  The  Church  Missionary  Society  in  Tinnevelly 
shewed  a  wise  desire  to  train  the  Churches  into  supporting 
themselves ;  they  urged  that  instead  of  providing  endow- 
ments from  England  for  the  whole  cost  of  a  bishopric, 
native  efforts  should  be  encouraged,  and  life  and  self- 
devotion  elicited  among  the  converts.  They  suggested  that 
j^  1 0,000  should  be  handed  over  to  each  of  the  Societies, 
to  be  invested  as  permanent  funds,  the  interest  of  which 
should  provide  stipends  for  the  two  missionary  Bishops. 
The  other  Society  was  also  shy  of  helping,  and  seemed, 
in  an  unfriendly  sort  of  way,  to  think  it  impossible  for 
one  Bishop  to  care  for  both  the  English  and  the  native 
inhabitants  of  Burmah.  On  the  other  hand.  Lord 
Salisbury,  who  was  then  at  the  India  Office,  was  very 
friendly  and  helpful,  and  undertook  to  attach  the  stipend 
of  a  Government  Chaplaincy  to  the  Bishop's  salary.  Mr. 
Jacob  also  appealed  to  Archbishop  Tait,  who  listened  to  his 
earnest  and  hopeful  statements  as  well  as  to  Mr.  Bullock's 
frigid  criticisms,  and  was  not  afraid  to  range  himself  on 


406  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D  D.  [Ch.  I. 


the  side  of  venture  and  advance.  To  Mr.  Jacob's  sensible 
and  weighty  arguments  the  ultimate  success  of  the  effort 
was  largely  due.  In  the  end,  the  original  plan  was  carried 
out,  and  the  two  English  dioceses  had  the  privilege  of 
creating,  out  at  the  far  distant  edges  of  the  old  diocese 
of  Calcutta,  the  two  permanent  and  independent  bishoprics 
of  Rangoon  and  Lahore. 


CHAPTER   II. 

THE  ANGLO-CONTINENTAL  SOCIETY,  AND  THE  RE-UNION 
OF    CHRISTENDOM. 

THROUGHOUT  all  this  period  Bishop  Harold  Browne 
took  the  greatest  interest 'in  the  character,  constitution, 
and  development  of  Episcopal  Churches.  They  were  to 
him  the  true  allies  of  the  English  Church  ;  he  was  always 
eager  to  join  hands  with  the  Episcopalians  in  America  or 
in  Scotland,  in  the  Eastern  Churches  or  in  Scandinavia, 
and  especially  with  the  old  Catholics  of  Switzerland  and 
Germany.  He  also,  in  his  pastoral  of  1875,  on  "The 
position  and  parties  of  the  English  Church,"  while  looking 
askance  on  any  general  alliance  or  federation  of  Christian 
bodies,  warmly  urged  a  closer  union  among  the  reformed 
Episcopal  bodies, 

It  was  therefore  natural  that  he  should  take  a  leading  part 
in  the  affairs  of  the  Anglo-Continental  Society,  of  which 
we  have  already  mentioned  the  origin.  He  was,  in  fact, 
"  the  life  and  soul  of  the  Society."  He  had  clearly  stated 
his  point  of  view  in  "  Visions  of  Peace,"  a  letter  addressed 
in  1870  to  his  old  and  zealous  friend,  Mr.  Higgins.  We 
must  aim  at  a  Church  and  a  faith  orthodox  alike  and 
comprehensive,  "broad  without  laxity,  indifference,  unbe- 
lief, or  scepticism ;  evangelical  without  sectarianism  or 
intolerance;  hierarchical  without  priestcraft  or  supersti- 
tion " ;  in  a  word,  Anglican  and  Episcopal.     He  appeals 

407 


408  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

to  Nonconformists  to  lay  down  their  arms  and  come  in ; 
he  tells  the  Romanists,  in  reply  to  their  claims,  that  they 
are  but  a  sect,  and  that  not  a  very  orthodox  one ;  he 
invites  the  Eastern  Churches  to  accept  a  hearty  union. 
In  1870  he  held  a  conference  with  Archbishop  Lycurgus 
of  Syra,  who  visited  him  at  Ely,  on  the  subject  of  the 
"  Filioque "  Controversy,  and  shewed  the  keenest  interest 
in  all  questions  relating  to  both  the  Easterns  and  the  old 
Catholics.  Whether  in  Convocation  or  at  Lambeth  Con- 
ferences, or  in  the  Old  Catholic  assemblies  at  Cologne  or 
Bonn,  the  Bishop  was  unwearied  in  trying  to  smooth  away 
difficulties,  to  remove  barriers,  to  display  the  English 
Church  as  a  model,  to  hold  out  a  friendly  hand.  These 
overtures  were  well  received,  though  little  came  of  them. 

His  hopes  as  to  the  Old  Catholic  movement  are  summed 
up  in  a  letter  written  just  after  his  visit  to  Cologne  : — 

"The  meeting  was  deeply  interesting.  The  speakers 
were  thoughtful,  earnest,  eloquent,  calm,  but  determined  ; . .  . 
all  were  apparently  deeply  interested,  applauding  the 
speakers  enttiusiastically.  The  movement  evidently  excites 
deep  interest.  God  only  knows  what  the  future  will  be, 
and  to  what  it  will  lead.  It  is  the  greatest  effort  at  reform 
made  within  the  Roman  Church  since  the  disruption  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  and  it  may  well  have  our  prayers 
and  sympathy." 

Head  and  shoulders  above  all  the  others  who  took  part 
in  this  movement  was  Dr.  von  Dollinger,  the  most  learned 
of  German  theologians,  at  that  time  Professor  in  the 
University  of  Munich.  An  eye-witness  of  the  turmoil  created 
by  the  Ultramontane  dogmas  of  the  Vatican  Council  says,  in 
1872,  that  "  Dollinger  is  doing  his  utmost  to  restrain  those 
who  would  make  it  a  mere  party  and  semi-political  movement, 
and  he  will  accept  no  party-position  which  he  is  not  forced 
by  his  opponents  to  assume." 


II.]  THE  ANGLO-CONTINENTAL  SOCIETY.  409 

With  Dr.  von  DoUinger  our  Bishop  was  very  friendly, 
for  he  recognised  in  the  great  Church  historian  a  kindred 
spirit  During  this  period  he  took  his  holidays  in  Germany 
or  Switzerland,  because  he  hoped  there  to  help  on  the 
movement  In  1872  he  had  been  to  Grindelwald,  to  Bern, 
and  eventually  to  the  Conference  of  Old  Catholics  at 
Cologne  :  the  Old  Catholics  seemed  likely  to  enter  into 
relationship  with  both  the  Anglo-Continental  Society  and 
another  Reform  Society  which  represented  the  movement 
in  favour  of  independent  unity  in  England  and  among  the 
Greek  Churches. 

They  also,  it  is  interesting  to  note,  suggested  that  "it 
may  be  important,"  as  Dr.  Lewis  Hogg  writes,  "  to  include 
in  such  a  committee  (of  united  Churches)  some  eminent 
Irish  Churchmen,  e,g,^  Professor  Salmon  and  others,  and 
also  some  Scotch  Churchmen,  to  show  to  German  Old 
Catholics  and  others  that  Anglican  ideas  of  unity  are 
quite  unaffected  by  *  establishment '  or  *  disestablishment.' " 
At  this  same  time  the  Bishop  had  lately  received  a  visit 
from  Pfcre  Hyacinthe,  who  was  very  anxious  for  the 
appointment  of  an  organising  clergyman  of  the  English 
Church  to  help  his  struggling  young  community  in  Paris. 

The  Bishop  spent  his  first  holiday,  after  coming  to 
Winchester,  paying  a  visit  to  the  Bonn  Conference,  in 
which  he  was  most  deeply  interested.  After  one  session  of 
it  he  writes  from  Cologne  (September  14th,  1874): — 

*'  I  have  just  returned  from  Bonn,  where  we  have  had 
a  very  successful  day.  Dollinger  was  very  wise  and  con- 
ciliatory. The  English  and  Americans  were  good  enough 
to  say  that  my  help  was  of  great  importance,  and  that  I 
had  succeeded  in  getting  through  difficulties  which  would 
have  been  insuperable  without  me ;  so  that  I  feel  thankful 
to  have  been  there." 

A  letter  from  our  Bishop  to  the  Bishop  of  Melbourne 


410  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DJ>.  [Ch. 

well  expresses  his  feelings  as  to  the  Conference  after  his 
return : — 

'' October  <)tk,  1874. 

"Dollinger  and  the  great  body  of  Old  Catholics  have 
no  greater  difference  of  theological  opinions  from  an  old- 
fashioned  and  moderate  English  Churchman  than  such  an 
English  Churchman  would  discover  between  himself  and 
the  adherents  of  the  three  extreme  parties  at  present  exist- 
ing in  England.  I  call  myself  an  old-fashioned  English 
Churchman,  and  I  find  more  to  repel  me  in  any  one  of  the 
extreme  schools  in  England  than  I  do  in  anything  I  have 
seen  or  heard  in  the  Old  Catholics.  Now,  I  do  not  wish  to 
expel  from  my  own  communion  any  of  the  adherents  of  the 
three  schools  within  it.  The  Church  ought  to  hold  them 
all,  or  it  will  become  a  sect.  A  fortiori,  I  would  gladly 
welcome  to  Christian  brotherhood  men  so  much  to  be  loved 
and  honoured  as  Dollinger,  and  those  who  have  escaped 
from  errors  for  which,  I  fear,  some  within  our  own  body 
have  too  much  sympathy." 

During  this  visit  to  Germany  the  Bishop  heard  of  the 
alarming  illness  of  his  brother,  Captain  Harrington  Browne, 
at  Winchester  House,  in  town.  This  hastened  his  return, 
much  to  his  regret,  before  the  Congfress  was  over;  he 
hurried  home,  full  of  affectionate  anxiety,  and  had  the 
comfort  of  ministering  to  his  brother  in  his  last  hours. 

Though  he  was  unable  to  be  at  Bonn  the  next  year,  he 
was  heartily  with  the  German  Conservative  reformers  in 
spirit.  As  he  could  not  be  present,  he  addressed  a  long 
letter  to  Dr.  Dollinger  on  the  subjects  to  be  discussed  in 
1875.     In  1874  the  Old  Catholics  had  declared— 

"  That  the  way  in  which  the  *  Filioque '  was  inserted  into 
the  Nicene  Creed  was  illegal ;  and  that,  with  a  view  to 
unity,  it  was  much  to  be  desired  that  the  whole  Church 
should  consider  seriously  whether  the  Creed  could  not  be 
safely  restored  to  its  primitive  form,  without  the  sacrifice 
of  any  true  doctrine  conveyed  under  the  present  Western 
form  of  words." 


II.]  THE  ANGLO-CONTINENTAL  SOCIETY.  4 II 


Their  desire  was  to  find  a  possible  middle  formula, 
between  the  incomplete  Greek,  "proceeding  from  the 
Father,"  and  the  doubtful  Latin,  "proceeding  from  the 
Father  and  the  Son."  The  Latin  form  demands  some 
limitation,  lest  it  should  tend  towards  "  bitheism  "  or  even 
"  tritheism " ;  on  the  other  hand,  Scripture  is  quite  clear 
that  the  Divine  Son  did  send  the  Holy  Spirit ;  and,  in 
fact,  the  "Double  Procession"  is  scriptural. 

In  his  letter  Bishop  Harold  Browne  treats  the  subject 
with  his  accustomed  clearness.  Writing  from  Winchester 
House  on  August  3rd,  1875,  he  says  : — 

"  I  believe  that  the  Old  Catholics  and  the  Anglican 
Church  fully  concede  to  the  Eastern  orthodox  Church  that 
the  *  Filioque '  ought  not  to  have  been  added  without  the 
consent  of  a  General  Council.  We  admit,  also,  that  the 
doctrine  as  expressed  in  the  creed  of  Constantinople,  in 
the  words  'E«  tov  IIaT/309  eKiropevofievov^  *  a  Patre  procedens,' 
is  in  itself  orthodox  and  true.  Moreover,  we  maintain  the 
doctrine  of  the  Mopapxia  ;  holding  as  firmly  as  the  Greeks 
that  there  is  but  one  Ahia,  'ApxVy  or  Hfjy^y  one  *  Fons 
Deitatis,'  viz.,  the  Eternal  Father.  We  Anglicans  are 
willing  to  make  any  declaration  to  this  effect  which  may 
be  satisfactory  to  the  Easterns ;  yet  we  say  that  there  is 
a  true  sense  in  which  the  Greeks  as  well  as  the  Latins 
spoke  of  the  Spirit  as  e/c  tov  IlaTpb^  xal  tov  Tiov  {Epiph, 
Hcer.  72.  4),  or  irap  afKporipKov  {Hcer.  74.  8),  or  ef  afKpoiv 
(jCyril  de  Ador,^  Lib.  i.,  opp.  i.  9).  We  therefore  do  not 
see  how  it  can  be  wrong  so  to  speak,  though  we  admit 
that  the  'Filioque'  was  an  unjustifiable  addition  to  a 
Catholic  symbol  without  Catholic  consent. 

"  The  difference  between  us  is  one  of  words,  not  of 
truth  ;  for  we  believe  the  Son  and  the  Spirit  to  have  derived 
Being  from  all  eternity  from  the  One  God  the  Father,  and 
to  be  One  God  with  Him  ;  but  we  say  the  Father  is  first, 
the  Son  second,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  third,  and  so  that  the 
Spirit  is  from  the  Father,  but  also  of  the  Son.  The  subject 
is  abstruse  and  mysterious.  Both  the  Greeks  and  the 
Latins  held  important  truth  concerning  it,  apparently 
diverse  but  really  reconcilable." 


412  .   EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 


The  Bishop  then  considers  the  subject  of  Anglican 
orders,  and  the  question  as  to  the  sacramental  character 
of  ordination,  well  explaining  the  position,  and  ending 
thus  : — 

"  We  do  not  think  that  either  the  Old  Catholics  or  the 
Greeks  will  consider  our  orders  to  be  invalid  because  we 
have  been  excommunicated  by  the  Roman  Patriarch,  and 
so  are  not  in  union  with  the  centre  of  faith  and  fountain  of 
order.  We  deny  that  our  branch  of  Christ's  Church  was 
originally  a  part  of  the  Roman  Patriarchate,  maintaining 
that  it  was  originally  autocephalous,  and  if  not  a  Patri- 
archate under  the  Patriarch  of  Canterbury,  of  which  there 
is  some  evidence,  yet  at  least  an  Exarchate,  and  that  we 
had  a  right  to  return  to  our  independence  and  to  throw  off 
the  usurped  supremacy  of  Rome.  But,  moreover,  when 
Parker  was  consecrated  the  Pope  had  not  yet  excommuni- 
cated us.  It  is  true  the  Pope  did  not  give  his  consent  to 
Parker's  consecration,  nor  send  him  the  pallium  ;  but  we 
deny  that  this  was  necessary  to  make  that  consecration 
valid." 

He  lastly  touches  on  the  Invocation  of  Saints,  giving 
the  reasons  why  the  English  Church  does  not  hold  the 
doctrine  or  encourage  the  practice.  There  is  no  authority 
for  it  in  Scripture,  or  in  the  earliest  ages,  or  in  the  pages 
of  the  early  Fathers.  When  it  first  crept  in  by  corruption 
it  was  strongly  condemned  by  St.  Augustine  and  others. 
There  is  no  authority  for  it  in  the  first  six  General  Coimcils  : 
the  seventh  (a  council  of  less  weight)  gives  it  some  sanction  ; 
but  it  was  not  generally  acknowledged,  and  its  decrees  on 
this  point  are  repudiated  by  the  great  Council  of  Frankfort 
under  Charles  the  Great.  "  We  think  then  that,  if  we  err 
in  this,  we  err  with  Holy  Scripture,  with  the  earliest 
Greek  and  Latin  Fathers,  and  with  the  primitive  Councils 
of  the  Church.     Errare  possumus,  hceretid  esse  nolumusP 

As  a  result  of  these  discussions,  the  Old  Catholics 
accepted  the  dogmatic  statements  of  St  John  Damascene 


11.]  THE  ANGLO-CONTINENTAL  SOCIETY.  413 


on  the  "  Procession,"  and  offered  them  as  a  safe  ground  of 
union  to  both  the  Greek  and  English  Churches.     At  the 
close  of  the  debate  Dr.  von  DolHnger  said  that  the  Con- 
ference had  attained  to  a  union  far  beyond   his  utmost 
hopes,  and  that  on  the  "  Procession  "  they  were  all  really 
at    one.     The    Greeks    present,    headed    by    Archbishop 
Lycurgus,  were  satisfied,  and  convinced  that  the   Greek 
Synods  would  receive  the  result  gladly,  and  that  thus  "  the 
rent  robe  of  Christ  be  made  one  again  in  the  One  Catholic 
Church."     Archbishop  Lycurgus  seemed  to  be  the  means 
appointed  by  Providence  for  this  reunion,  thanks  to  his 
breadth  of  vision,  his  Western  education,  his  Eastern  dignity, 
his  force  of  character.     But  all  in  vain.     Soon  after  this 
he  died,  and  things  in  the  East  dropped  back  into  their 
wonted  apathy.     Nor  did  much  result  from  it  in  England. 
Though  Committees  of  the  Southern  Convocation  sat  on 
the  clause,  the  fear  of  disturbing  the  Creed  was  in  itself 
enough  to  arrest  all  action;  the  formula  commended  by 
our  Bishop  was  never  adopted  by  Convocation  ;  the  whole 
question  as  to  intercommunion  with  the  Greek  and  Russian 
Churches  remained  where  it  was.     The  next  spring,  under 
the  Bishop's  eye,  the  Anglo-Continental  Society  drew  up 
and  sent  to  Dr.  Dollinger  an  address  of  sympathy  with  the 
Old  Catholics,  and  of  thankfulness  for  the  results  of  the 
Conference  of  1875  :  it  was  signed  by  twenty-seven  Anglican 
Bishops,  and  by  many  clergy  and  laity  of  note.     In  the 
same  month  in  which  this  address  was  presented,  September 
1876,    Bishop    Reinkens,    the    Old    Catholic    Bishop    of 
Germany,  consecrated  Dr.  Edouard   Herzog  first   Bishop 
of  the  "  Swiss  Christian  Catholic  Church,"  and  the  Bishop 
of  Winchester  was  glad,  and  sent  friendly  greetings.     Two 
years  later  these  two  Bishops  paid  Famham  Castle  a  visit, 
and  an   informal  Conference  was  held,  at  which   several 
American  Bishops,  several  English,  the  Scottish  Primus, 


414  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DD,  [Oc 


and  M.  Loyson,  the  celebrated  Father  Hyacinthe,  were 
present,  and  expressed  their  warm  goodwill  towards  the 
movement  in  Germany  and  Switzerland,  "rather  by  way 
of  brotherly  sympathy  than  of  ecclesiastical  interference," 
The  Conference  agreed  to  support  two  theological  students 
at  Bern,  and  to  raise  a  special  fund  to  help  Father 
Hyacinthe  in  his  efforts  for  a  reformed  Catholic  Church  in 
France.  Discussion  also  took  place  on  the  movement  in 
America  and  Mexico,  and  the  Conference  broke  up  with 
a  feeling  of  hope  and  solid  advance.  "  Even  yet,"  said  the 
Bishop,  "the  Church  of  England,  putting  one  hand  on 
Roman  Catholics  and  the  other  on  Protestants,  might  say, 
*  Sirs,  ye  are  brethren :  cannot  you  in  some  way  unite 
together?*"  His  affectionate  appeals  as  yet  have  met 
with  but  scant  response. 

On  the  occasion  of  another  visit  of  the  two  Old  Catholic 
Bishops,  the  Bishop  of  Winchester  met  them  at  Cambridge, 
and  carried  them  back  with  him  to  Famham.  Dr.  Dollinger, 
then  eighty-two,  was  too  infirm  to  come.  At  Cambridge 
the  Bishop  spoke  at  some  length  on  the  "  slow  and  cautious 
reformation  "  going  on  la  Germany  and  Switzerland,  and 
also  preached  on  "  The  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints," 
on  the  organisation  of  the  Christian  Church,  and  the 
Roman  claims.  At  Cambridge  and  Famham  the  Old 
Catholic  Bishops  received  the  Holy  Communion  in  the 
English  form,  and  shewed  their  practical  belief  in  the 
unity  of  the  Churches. 

Dr.  von  Dollinger*s  death  was  a  very  serious  blow  to  all 
friends  of  Anglo-Continental  reunion.  He  had  guided 
the  Old  Catholics  with  so  much  sagacity  and  prudence  that 
the  present  Bishop  of  Salisbury  could  say  that  "  they  have 
not  made  a  single  false  step."  The  worst  of  it  is  that  such 
wisdom  and  guidance  are  not  the  only  qualities  needed 
for  an  aggressive  movement.     The  Old  Catholic  reform  is 


II. J  THE  ANGLO-CONTINENTAL  SOCIETY.  415 


slow-moving,  cautious,  conservative  ;  it  neither  dies  out, 
nor  does  it  win  the  enthusiastic  support  necessary  to  secure 
a  vigorous  advance.  Let  us  hope,  with  Father  Hyacinthe, 
that— 

"  This  reformation,  as  far  removed  from  religious 
anarchy,  too  often  the  outcome  of  Protestantism,  as  from 
ecclesiastical  despotism,  the  mark  of  Rome,  a  movement 
more  modest,  yet  more  sure,  than  that  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  is  preparing  for  the  twentieth  century  a  platform 
on  which  shall  yet  be  seen  the  reconciliation  of  liberty 
with  authority,  of  tradition  with  progress,  of  reason  with 
faith." 

Again  in  1888  the  Anglo-Continental  Society  was 
received  at  Farnham  ;  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  the 
Bishop  of  Western  New  York,  the  Bishops  of  Guiana  and 
Pretoria,  Bishop  Herzog,  Mar  Gregorius  the  Syrian, 
Count  Enrico  di  Campello,  the  Italian  reformer,  Seflor 
Cabrera  from  Spain,  a  pastor  from  the  Church  of  Utrecht,  and 
another  from  Austria,  with  many  English  clergy  and  laity, 
were  present  Just  before  this  meeting,  the  Bishop  had 
spoken  despondingly  about  English  Church  feeling  on  the 
subject  of  the  reunion  of  .self-reforming  Churches. 

"  Nothing,"  he  writes,  "  of  late  has  made  me  so  sad  and 
so  little  hopeful  as  to  the  spirit  and  progress  of  English 
Churchmen  in  the  latter  part  of  this  eventful  century  as 
the  narrow  tone  and  temper  displayed  for  some  weeks 
past  When  you  and  I  [he  is  writing  to  Prebendary 
Meyrick],  Bishop  Christopher  Wordsworth,  Bishop  Whit- 
ingham.  Canon  Liddon,  etc.,  went  to  the  Old  Catholic 
Congress  at  Cologne  and  Bonn,  the  majority  of  High 
Churchmen  writers  hailed  these  gatherings  as  full  of  hope 
for  the  re-union  of  Christendom  and  of  Catholic  reform  in 
Continental  Churches.  Now  all  similar,  or  rather  identical, 
moves  are  clamoured  against  as  schismatical  interference 
with  such  Churches,  and  that  by  men  who  ought  to  know 
better.  It  is  not  a  little  trying  that  the  name  of  Bishop 
Wordsworth  should  be  brought  up  against  us  ;  whereas 


4l6  :    EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DJ>.  [Ch. 


he  and  I  were  on  these  questions  always  at  one,  only  that, 
if  anything,  he  always  took  the  more  advanced  position, 
more  fierce  against  Ultramontanism,  urging  on  the  Old 
Catholics  more  strongly  to  break  with  the  Church  of 
Rome." 

It  is  curious  to  notice  how  his  centrally  balanced  mind 
was  affected  by  this  strong  lurch  of  the  High  Church  sen- 
timent and  practice  towards  Rome. 

"I  very  much  share  your  feeling,"  he  writes  in  1891, 
"  about  the  general  action  of  High  Churchmen.  A  reaction 
to  Evangelicalism  is  not  unlikely,  and  if  it  tends  to  redress 
the  balance,  without  leading  to  sectarianism,  I  shall  not 
regret  it,  />.,  if  I  live  to  see  it." 

At  this  time  the  Bishop  had  been  very  active  in  the 
Lambeth  Conference  on  behalf  of  reunion. 

**  I  advocated  warmly,"  he  says,  "  the  reception  of  the 
Swedish  Church  to  communion  with  us,  though  it  wants 
entirely  one  of  the  three  orders  of  the  ministry,  and  has 
the  other  two  very  imperfectly  ;  and  I  virtually  carried  my 
point,  hoping  that  the  Swedish  Church  would  rise  to  greater 
Catholicity,  as  I  should  hope  the  Italians  and  Spaniards 
will  become  more  Protestant." 

He  also  moved  for  and  obtained  a  committee  of  this 
Conference  to  study  and  report  on  the  complicated  and 
interesting  subject  of  Moravian  orders,  with  a  view  to 
definite  and  visible  intercommunion  with  them.  With  his 
jealous  regard  for  the  apostolical  character  of  the  succession, 
the  Bishop  would  naturally  hold  back  from  committing 
himself.  All  his  sympathies  and  wishes  would  be  strong 
for  such  intercommunion,  but  his  habitual  caution  was 
such,  and  the  difficulty  of  proving  historically  the  Moravian 
succession  so  great,  that  he  could  only  stand  aloof,  the 
better  instincts  neutralised  by  the  theological  theories. 
His  ideal  was  that   of  "an  intercommunion  of  national 


II.]  THE  ANGLO-CONTINENTAL  SOCIETY.  417 


Churches,  all  independent  and  self-governed,  all  free  to 
retain  their  distinctive  forms  and  usages"  under  certain 
marked  conditions — those  of  accepting  Holy  Scripture, 
the  Apostles*  and  Nicene  Creeds,  the  doctrines  of  the  two 
Sacraments,  and  the  historic  Episcopate.  His  action  was 
limited,  as  we  see  too  in  Cardinal  Newman's  case,  by 
trammels  imposed  on  himself;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  it 
was  modified  by  the  impulses  of  a  loving  and  liberal 
nature.  Rome  lays  down,  as  a  preliminary  for  acceptance, 
her  own  infallibility  and  authority,  and  there  is  an  end  of 
it  with  her.  The  Eastern  Churches  hold  stiffly  to  their  for- 
mularies, and  if  (as  in  the  case  of  the  "Double  Procession")  we 
do  not  accept  every  item,  again  there  is  an  end  of  it  There 
is  no  "give  and  take"  with  these  venerable  Churches.  The 
Anglicans  assert  their  scriptural  convictions,  as  to  the  Creeds 
and  the  Apostolical  Succession,  and  hold  out  a  friendly 
hand,  to  all  Episcopalian  bodies.  As  yet,  outside  the  limits 
of  the  English-speaking  world,  little  result  has  followed. 
The  Anglican  position  is  not  an  easy  one.  The  old 
historic  Churches  look  on  coldly  :  "If  you  will  surrender, 
we  shall  be  delighted  to  invite  you,"  is  their  posture  ;  the 
lesser  Episcopal  Churches  would  be  glad  of  friendship 
and  brotherly  recognition  ;  but  the  Anglican  mind  sees 
difficulties ;  their  orders  are  of  doubtful  origin,  or  (as  with 
the  Christians  of  St.  Thomas  in  India)  their  views  are 
suspected  of  heresy,  or  there  is  some  other  block ;  con- 
sequently, little  advance  is  made  with  them.  The  whole 
theory  of  the  non-episcopal  bodies  is  different  from  ours  ; 
they  feel  that  we  look  down  on  them,  socially  and  reli- 
giously ;  they  cling  all  the  closer  to  their  Bibles  and  their 
independence.  And  so  the  rifts  are  not  closed  up ;  and 
the  Reunion  of  Christendom  being  apparently  as  far  off 
as  ever,  one  can  see  signs  of  a  longing  in  some  minds  for 
surrender  to  the  high  pretensions  of  the  Roman  Church, 

27 


41 8  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DJ>.  [Ch. 


and  in  others  a  desire  to  have  done  with  the  whole  matter, 
and  to  turn  all  the  energies  of  modem  Christian  faith  and 
life  into  purely  social  channels.  Yet,  as  the  Archbishop 
of  York  said,  when  presiding  over  the  meeting  of  the 
Anglo-Continental  Society  in  1893  "in  the  place  of  the 
most  learned  and  popular  and  most  beloved  of  men,  Bishop 
Harold  Browne  *'  :— 

"We  must  not  look  for  striking  results  or  triumphant 
statistics.  We  must  influence  religious  life  abroad,  and 
try  to  bring  Churches  nearer  to  each  other,  and  to  get 
them  on  one  platform  of  evangelic  zeal  and  truth  and  of 
a  common  apostolic  order." 

All  earnest  men,  who  combine  charity  with  faith  and 
hope,  dream  of  some  golden  future,  in  which  whole  bodies 
of  men  will  distinguish  between  things  important  and 
things  trivial,  and  will  realise,  far  more  than  now  we  do, 
the  vast  importance  of  the  points  on  which  we  agree.  At 
present  there  is  but  little  daylight  showing  above  the 
dark  horizon  of  the  Churches. 

Who  shall  venture  to  say  that  Christians  will  ever  here 
be  able  to  attain  to  unity  ?     Not  through  the  Imperialist 
claims  of  Rome,  who  deems  herself  the  inheritor  of  the 
Caesars  ;  not  through  the  rigid  orthodoxy  of  the  Greek 
Churches,  an  imperialism  of  another  type  ;  nor  through 
a  federation  of  aristocratic  Churches  to  which  the  Christian 
democracy  will  not  bow  ;  nor  through  the  indistinct  claims 
of  a  spiritual  and  inner  unity,  which  deems  the  personal 
illumination,  the  personal  faith  in  Christ,  the  only  bond 
of  union  ;  for  the  organised  Churches  refuse  to  be  content 
with    so    subjective    and    unprovable   a  test.      It   is  the 
insoluble   problem  of  Christianity.     The   Master   foresaw 
this  when  He  warned  His  disciples  that  He  was  to  bring 
*'  not  peace  but  a  sword  "  ;  He  also  laid  down  the  simplest 
possible  basis  of  union  when  He  proclaimed  that  "  wherever 


II.]  THE  ANGLO-CONTINENTAL  SOCIETY,  419 


two  or  three  are  gathered  together  in  My  name,  there  am 
I  in  the  midst  of  them."  This  is  the  unit  from  which 
the  whole  Church  life  of  Christianity  must  advance.  There 
must  be  a  new  spiritual  outpouring,  such  as  has  never 
been,  ere  we  can  hope  for  the  blessing  of  a  Reunion  of 
Christendom. 

If  ever  a  federation  of  Churches  across  the  world  does 
take  place,  it  will  largely  be  due  to  the  seed  so  prayerfully 
sown  by  Bishop  Harold  Browne.  Such  a  result  seems 
very  far  away;  and  yet,  in  spite  of  many  disruptive 
influences,  there  is  the  same  Christ,  and  the  same  love 
for  the  souls  of  men,  and  the  same  desire  to  see  in  truth 
the  Kingdom  of  God  established  among  men.  And  when 
it  comes  to  this,  then  will  the  end  be  nigh. 


CHAPTER   III. 

THEOLOGICAL  DIFFICULTIES  AT  WINCHESTER. 

BISHOP  HAROLD   BROWNE  had  come  to  Win- 
chester with  anxiety  and  forebodings.     Writing  from 
Andover  in  May  1874  he  says  : — 

"I  think  I  have  worked  this  year  almost  as  hard  as 
Bishop  Wilberforce  would  have  done  ;  only  I  am  not 
good  at  society  at  the  same  time.  Certainly  I  have 
given  notice  of  twice  as  many  Confirmations  as  he  did  in 
his  first  year  in  this  diocese ;  and  I  have  worked  often 
when  I  ought  to  have  been  in  bed  ;  and  yet  I  hear  that 
clergymen  grumble  at  my  not  doing  all  they  want  They 
make  no  allowance  for  the  difficulties  of  a  man  unknown 
to  and  unknowing  a  diocese.  But  I  suppose  I  ought  not 
to  care  for  their  unreasonableness." 

Churchmen  seemed  to  him  far  harder  to  control  and 
lead  here  than  at  Ely.  The  problems  of  town-life  were 
far  more  urgent;  and  with  less  learning  there  was  more 
difference  of  character.  "There  is  more  diversity  of 
opinion  and  variance  here  than  at  Ely,"  he  cries,  soon  after 
he  entered  on  his  new  duties  ;  the  evident  presence  of 
irritable  elements  in  the  diocese  filled  him  with  alarm. 
He  never  shrank  from  speaking  out  and  letting  people 
know  what  he  thought ;  but  his  charitable  spirit,  which, 
as  he  said,  "  loved  a  moderate  harmless  diet,"  was  vexed 
within  him  when  men  pushed  on  too  fast,  and  over- 
stepped the  bounds  of  good  taste  and  moderation. 

420 


III.]       THEOLOGICAL  DIFFICULTIES  AT  WINCHESTER.      42 1 


"Some  think,"  he  said  at  the  1880  Congress,  "that  a 
parish  in  Evangelical  hands  should  continue  so,  in  High 
Church  hands  also ;  but  I  think  it  might  often  be  desirable 
to  have  a  change,  though  not  an  abrupt  one.  If  there 
had  been  an  extreme  man,  I  would  try  to  let  the  parish 
down  gently  ;  not  appointing  another  extreme  man,  on 
the  other  side;  because  my  taste  is  rather  in  favour  of 
milk,  or  milk  and  water,  which  is  better  as  a  rule  than 
brandy.     Brandy  may  be  a  medicine  ;  milk  is  a  food." 

On  the  other  hand,  the  unsettled  state  of  opinion  in 
different  parts  of  his  diocese  caused  him  great  uneasiness. 
While  in  South  London  there  were  men  crowding  all 
sail  in  the  direction  of  Ritual  advance,  and  shewing  not 
obscurely  that  the  elaborate  ornaments  and  new  manner 
of  conducting  services  were  intended  to  express  extreme 
views  as  to  the  Church  and  Sacraments ;  at  the  other  end 
of  the  diocese,  in  the  far-off  Channel  Islands,  there  was  an 
opposite  tendency.  There  the  old  Presbyterian  feeling  was 
still  strong.  The  Islanders  felt  that  they  were  very  close 
to  the  borders  of  Rome,  and,  like  the  Irish  Protestants, 
leant  heavily  in  the  opposite  direction.  Throughout  the 
diocese  there  seemed  to  be  a  feeling  of  unrest,  and  perhaps 
of  unreason,  which  troubled  him  exceedingly. 

At  the  outset  he  had  an  example  of  the  difficulty  of 
guiding  this  diocese  in  the  differences  which  sprang  up 
over  the  memorial  to  his  predecessor,  Bishop  Wilberforce. 
The  large  sum  of  money  collected  was  broken  up,  and 
three  or  four  different  memorials  undertaken;  the  result 
being  much  dissatisfaction.  The  Bishop  himself  was  not 
altogether  content  with  the  chief  memorial,  the  Mission 
House  to  be  established  in  South  London,  though  he 
loyally  supported  it  He  had  desired  the  erection  of  a 
separate  See  for  that  district.  In  June  1874  he  remarked 
that— 

"  He  did  not  say  that  the  proposed  memorial  was  the 


422  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 


best  that  could  possibly  have  been  devised — there  were 
others  he  would  quite  as  soon  have  seen  ;  but  it  was  a 
kind  of  work  which  all  agreed  the  late  Bishop  had  much 
at  heart." 

The  contributions  to  it  at  that  time  had  not  quite 
reached  ;^i  i,ooo ;  and  this  was  but  a  small  sum  with  which 
to  establish  and  endow  an  important  institution.  The 
Mission  House  was  nevertheless  created,  and  one  of  Bishop 
Wilberforce's  sons  (now  Bishop  of  Newcastle)  took  charge 
of  it  When,  somewhat  later,  South  London,  as  one  of 
the  changes  due  to  the  establishment  of  the  See  of  St 
Albans,  was  transferred  to  the  Bishop  of  Rochester,  this 
Memorial  Mission  passed  away  from  the  Diocese,  and 
occupied  the  Bishop's  thoughts  no  longer. 

As  at  Ely,  the  Bishop  divided  his  attention,  in  hope 
of  steadying  opinion,  between  doctrine  and  organisation. 
For  the  former,  beside  advice  and  information  given  with- 
out stint  to  those  who  applied  to  him,  he  issued  a  very 
weighty  Pastoral  in  1875;  for  the  latter  he  meditated  a 
structural  change  of  importance,  in  the  direction  of  more 
direct  synodical  action  in  the  diocese. 

To  Dr.  Millard,  then  Rector  of  Basingstoke,  he  wrote 
interesting  letters  on  the  baptism  of  adults,  a  matter 
which  touched  the  episcopal  authority.  A  notice  has  to 
be  given  "by  the  parents  or  some  other  discreet  persons  " 
to  the  Bishop  before  a  parish  priest  can  baptise  an  adult ; 
this  gave  him  an  opportunity  of  stating  his  views  to  a 
sympathetic  friend.  For  Dr.  Millard  was  one  of  the  most 
straightforward  and  right-minded  of  High  Churchmen, 
loyal  to  his  Bishop,  and  little  inclined  to  new  fashions. 

A  little  later,  he  writes  to  Dr.  Millard  on  another 
question  of  Church  order.  A  Quaker  gentleman  had  been 
duly  baptised,  and  was  anxious  to  be  admitted  to  Holy 
Communion  without  being  confirmed.     The  Friends,  Dr, 


III.]      THEOLOGICAL  DIFFICULTIES  AT  WINCHESTER,      423 


Millard  says,  "  tolerate  Baptism  and  Holy  Communion,  but 
eject  from  their  body,  and  from  all  social  advantages  of 
belonging  to  it,  any  one  who  is  confirmed."  He  therefore 
appealed  to  the  Bishop  for  permission  to  shut  his  eye  to 
the  rubric  which  regards  Confirmation  as  a  necessary  step 
before  Communion ;  and  the  Bishop,  while  he  states  that 
he  has  no  power  to  absolve  him  from  obedience  to  the 
rubric,  says : — 

"If  I  had  the  power  I  should  not  hesitate  to  do  so 
[absolve  him].  But  I  think  you  will  be  right  to  admit  him 
to  Holy  Communion,  taking  the  widest  and  most  liberal 
interpretation  of  the  words  of  the  Church,  which  were 
evidently  not  intended  to  apply  in  cases  of  this  kind. 
Summumjus^  summa  injuria.  We  are  in  a  peculiar  con- 
dition of  things,  owing  to  the  wide  spread  of  Nonconformity 
and  the  readiness  of  some  Nonconformists  to  return  to  the 
Church's  communion,  if  the  door  is  not  made  too  strait  for 
them." 

On  the  other  side,  it  will  be  seen  from  the  following 
letter  how  the  Bishop  dealt  with  those  who  were  minded  to 
listen  too  readily  to  the  Roman  claims  to  the  obedience 
of  mankind,  on  the  ground  of  the  primacy  of  St.  Peter. 
The  name  of  his  correspondent  is  lost ;  the  letter  is 
characteristic  of  his  way  of  handling  such  questions. 

"  You  must  not  suppose,"  he  writes,  "  that  I  admit  your 
premises  or  inferences.  To  my  reason  it  appears  clear  as 
the  day  that  the  kind  of  honour  bestowed  by  our  blessed 
Lord  on  St.  Peter  was  as  unlike  supremacy  as  can  possibly 
be.  It  is  quite  true  that  He  singled  him  out  for  special 
service,  that  He  entrusted  to  him  more  specially  than  to 
the  others  the  keys  of  the  kingdom,  and  the  founding  of 
the  Church,  and  the  feeding  of  His  flock,  as  a  shepherd 
feeds  a  flock.  And  without  doubt  St.  Peter  was  the  first, 
after  the  Ascension,  to  bring  in  converts  to  the  faith,  so 
opening  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  and  founding  [the]  Church. 
In  this,  and  this  is  the  true,  sense,  the  power  could  not  be 


424  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

handed  down  to  his  successors.  No  one  after  him  could 
be  the  first  unlocker  of  the  Kingdom,  the  first  founder  of 
the  Church.  It  was  this  great  privil^e  which  our  Lord 
gave  to  Peter,  viz.,  to  be  the  first  to  bring  in  both  Jews 
and  Gentiles  to  the  flock  of  Christ,  first  at  Pentecost,  next 
at  the  conversion  of  Cornelius  ;  and  this  could  not  descend. 

"  I  do  not  say  that  Peter  was  not  the  Rock.  I  feel  with 
St.  Augustine  that  much  may  be  said  on  both  sides ;  but 
I  deny  that  those  Fathers  to  whom  I  referred  all  spoke 
ambiguously.  The  earliest,  Justin  Martyr,  is  quite  clear. 
St  Augustine  declares  that  he  used  to  think  it  meant 
St.  Peter,  but  that  he  had  cause  to  believe  it  meant  Peter's 
Confession,  but  that  he  left  the  question  open.  As  for  his 
ignorance  of  Syriac,  I  am  afraid  that  has  descended  to 
Roman  controversialists,  for  the  distinction  of  the  masculine 
and  feminine  Uer/w)?  and  irerpd  is  preserved  in  the  most 
authoritative  Syriac  document  which  has  come  down  to  us, 
which  some  think  to  be  the  so-called  Hebrew  original  of 
St.  Matthew,  but  which  must  be  the  best  existing  repre- 
sentative of  it,  viz.,  the  Peschito  Syriac,  where  though  the 
Kephah  cannot,  as  in  Greek,  change  its  termination,  the 
second  Kephah  has  the  feminine  article,  which  is  as  signifi- 
cant as  the  Greek  change  of  termination. 

"  Be  this  as  it  may,  the  Fathers  were  much  divided  in 
their  interpretation.     Strange,  if  the  question  be  so  vital 

"  The  truth  is  clear,  as  the  Greek  liturgies  express  it  so 
often,  viz.,  that  St.  Peter  was  the  Kopv^^OAm,  so  ignorantly 
or  dishonestly  (I  leave  you  the  choice)  translated  SUPREME, 
and  put  in  capital  letters.  *  Coryphaeus '  means  leader  of  a 
chorus  or  quire,  and  speaking  for  the  rest  This  St  Peter 
doubtless  was,  primus  inter  pares r 

The  Bishop's  general  attitude  can  be  seen  from  a  weighty 
Pastoral  Letter  entitled  "  The  Position  and  Parties  of  the 
English  Church,"  which  he  published  in  1875.  ^"  ^"^^ 
document,  after  stating  how  he  had  been  disappointed  of 
his  hope  that  South  London  might  become  an  independent 
bishopric,  with  St  Mary  Overy  (St  Saviour's)  for  the 
Cathedral,  he  turned  to  the  religious  difficulties  of  the  day. 
"  On  the  threshold  of  a  future  history  full  of  change  in 
Church  and  State,  in  politics  and  religion  ...  a  wave  of 


III.]      THEOLOGICAL  DIFFICULTIES  AT  WINCHESTER.      425 


new  thought  and  excited  action  is  passing  over  the  world." 
And  he  appeals  to  his  clergy  to  show  wisdom,  self-control, 
disinterestedness,  as  befits  the  pilots  and  directors  of 
religious  thought  in  a  troubled  sea  of  change  and  doubt. 
They  should  not  ride  the  storm,  but  pour  oil  on  the 
troubled  waters.  He  then  points  out  that  the  English 
Reformation, — 

*'  NuUius  addicta  est  jurare  in  verba  magistri ;  ** 

for  it  had  "  no  one  great  master-mind,  like  Luther  or 
Calvin."  And  so  the  Reformed  Church  was  the  old  Church 
with  a  difference.  He  then  traces  the  growth  of  two 
parties,  one  more  strictly  episcopal,  the  other  "at  least 
sympathising  with  Presbyterian  government ;  the  one  more 
earnest  for  the  Sacraments  of  the  Church,  the  other  for 
the  preaching  of  the  Word ;  the  one,  consequently,  more 
eager  to  adorn  the  sanctuary,  the  other  to  find  space  for 
convenience  of  the  auditory  ;  the  one  more  careful  to 
train  the  baptised  young,  the  other  to  convert  the  grown- 
up sinner  ;  the  one  more  eager  for  pastoral  work  at  home, 
the  other  for  missionary  enterprise  ;  the  one  father  of 
nearly  all  our  modem  theological  literature,  the  other  given 
up  chiefly  to  devotional  and  practical  writing  ;  the  one 
earnest  for  the  corporate  life,  the  other  for  personal 
religion  ;  the  one  looking  back  to  Christian  antiquity,  and 
tracing  thence  the  one  stream  of  Church  life,  the  other 
looking  into  its  Bible,  and  finding  there  the  Christianity 
it  is  seeking  for  ;  the  one  dwelling  much  on  repentance 
and  striving  after  holiness,  the  other  cheering  the  sin- 
laden  soul  with  the  hopes  of  pardon  purchased  by  the 
blood  of  Christ." 

And  having  thus  traced  the  divergences,  he  sets  him- 
self to  show  that  the  unity  within  the  Church  is  infinitely 
greater  than  the  differences,  and  appeals  for  forbearance  and 


426  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

mutual  toleration.  He  relegates  the  third  or  liberal  school 
to  a  footnote,  as  though  he  thought  their  influence  on 
English  theology  and  opinion  need  hardly  be  considered. 
This  done,  he  speaks  of  the  controverted  topics  :  of  the 
Eucharistic  Sacrifice  and  the  dress  suitable  for  it ;  of 
"  Catholic  "  principles  ;  of  the  eastward  position  :  he  speaks 
temperately  as  to  the  Courts  and  judgments  on  these 
subjects,  and  once  more  appeals  to  the  heated  comba- 
tants to  reconsider  the  position  and  to  moderate  their 
passions.     Nor  is  he  without  good  hopes: — 

"  From  the  experience  derived  from  acquaintance  with 
two  very  different  dioceses  I  can  say  with  confidence  that 
the  great  body  of  the  clergy  are  more  sober  and  moderate 
in  their  views,  and  have  really  more  sympathy  with  one 
another,  than  in  almost  any  period  of  our  past  history — 
certainly  than  in  any  period  of  active  life  and  zeal." 

And  he  closes  the  long  description  by  an  interesting 
statement  of  his  views  as  to  the  possible  disestablishment 
of  the  Church ;  a  far  larger  and  braver  utterance  than  is 
commonly  heard  from  episcopal  lips  : — 

"  No  one  would  really  gain  by  disestablishment  so  much 
as  a  Bishop.  If  my  feelings  were  only  for  the  aggrandise- 
ment of  my  order,  I  should  work  for  disestablishment 
to-morrow.  .  .  .  But  as  I  am  a  loyal  subject  to  my 
sovereign,  and  as  I  believe  in  the  liberty  of  an  English 
citizen,  I  do  not  wish  to  see  the  English  Church  cease  to 
be  a  part  of  the  English  Constitution.  I  am  prepared, 
if  Providence  so  orders  it,  to  accept  a  Republican  Govern- 
ment and  a  disestablished  Church.  I  think  the  Church 
politically  would  then  be  far  stronger  than  it  is  now ;  but 
I  don't  think  the  nation  would  be  happier ;  .  .  .  the  extreme 
schools  who  wish  for  all  this  would  be  far  less  likely  to 
find  toleration.  .  .  ." 

His  fear  is  that  it  would  narrow  the  Church,  weaken 
the    influence  of   Christian   dissent,    swell   the    forces   of 


III.]      THEOLOGICAL  DIFFICULTIES  AT  WINCHESTER.      427 


infidelity  and  indifference.  And  so,  with  a  last  appeal  to 
all  who  name  the  only  "  Name  under  heaven  whereby  we 
may  be  saved/*  he  bids  his  clergy  "  not  rend  the  seamless 
coat,  nor  cast  lots  on  it,  whose  it  shall  be.  It  is  the  one 
priceless  heritage  of  Christians,  and  it  is  held  as  an  un- 
divided whole  by  the  Church  of  Christ." 

This  Pastoral  attracted  great  and  general  attention.  As 
it  proposed  to  leave  the  Ritualists  alone  and  to  discourage 
party  strife,  it  was  naturally  not  too  acceptable  to  the 
fighting  newspapers.  The  Nonconformists  were  strongly 
opposed  to  it,  the  Evangelical  Alliance  champions  resented 
his  calling  their  idea  of  unity  hollow  and  ineffective.  It 
may  be  also  that  some  of  the  more  advanced  of  the  newer 
school  of  High  Churchmen  were  in  their  hearts  con- 
temptuous towards  an  Eirenicon  based  on  an  attempt  to 
neutralise,  or  at  least  to  minimise,  the  doctrinal  significancy 
of  their  symbolic  acts  in  the  Holy  Communion.  They 
were  not  prepared  to  say  that  their  elaborate  and  solemn 
ritual  was  doctrinally  unimportant  Though  they  might 
not  be  willing  to  formulate  definite  statements  as  to  the 
Presence,  they  were  determined  that  every  mark  of 
obsequious  honour  should  be  paid  to  the  Elements,  in 
order  that  English  Churchmen  might  become  familiarised 
with  the  usages,  and  so  be  unconsciously  prepared  for  the 
doctrine  underneath.  As,  however,  the  Pastoral  urged 
tolerance  for  them,  they  raised  no  protest,  and  accepted 
it  so  far  as  it  went.  On  the  other  hand,  most  moderate 
Churchmen,  and  all  the  old  High  Church  party,  received 
the  Pastoral  with  warm  approval.  The  rural  deaneries 
in  some  cases  drew  up  memorials  thanking  the  Bishop 
for  his  wise  and  temperate  advice ;  and  these  docu- 
ments were  signed  by  men  of  very  varied  schools  of 
thought. 

Canon  Trevor,  a  high  authority  on  questions  of  Church 


428  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

order,  addressed   the  Bishop  an  interesting  letter,  which 
well  deserves  to  be  preserved  here  : — 

"  Beeford  Rectory,  Hull,  December  7,0th,  1875. 

"It  is,  I  believe,  perfectly  true  that  no  public  order  was 
ever  issued  as  to  the  position  of  the  Tables  substituted  for 
the  Altars.  They  were  placed  as  the  Ordinary  (or  who- 
ever heard  them)  chose  to  set  them.  But  I  feel  some 
surprise  at  your  Lordship's  doubt  of  the  fact  that  they 
always  stood  length-wise,  and  that  this  was  what  was 
meant  by  the  *  table-wise '  position.  I  never  met  with 
any  hint  of  a  table  being  placed  in  the  *  altar-wise ' 
position,  before  Laud.  It  is  often  supposed  that  the  change 
was  made  by  the  rubric  of  the  Second  Book ;  but  in  fact 
it  was  begun  in  London  in  the  year  1 549,  and  was  justified 
under  the  rubric  of  the  First  Book  in  the  Order  of  Council. 
November  1550.  I  have  dwelt  on  this  fact  in  the  enlarged 
edition  of  my  book  on  the  Eucharist,  as  conclusive  evidence 
that  no  doctrinal  significance  is  involved  in  either  position. 
The  'table-gesture'  of  Hooper  and  Knox  was  never 
allowed  ;  of  which  Dr.  Lorimer  has  supplied  some  interest- 
ing proofs  in  his  monograph  on  John  Knox.  I  rejoice  to 
see  your  Lordship  endorsing  my  protest  against  doctrinal 
significance.  After  all,  it  is  the  doctrine  itself  that  most 
concerns  us,  and  I  have  long  been  convinced  that  the  root 
of  all  the  Ritualistic  excesses  is  the  false  doctrine  of  the 
*  Objective '  Presence  invented  by  Archdeacon  Wilberforce 
in  1848,  and  since  developed  into  consubstantiation  by 
Dr.  Pusey  and  Kcble,  and  into  transubstantiation  by  their 
less  learned  disciples.  The  main  object  of  my  book  is  to 
shew  that  this  is  not  the  doctrine  of  the  Fathers  or  Anglican 
divines.  Indeed,  it  was  not  Dr.  Pusey's  doctrine  in  his 
letter  to  the  Bishop  of  London,  1850.  He  had  not  then 
discovered  the  *  Objective  *  theory.  This  is  a  bold  assertion 
to  make,  but  I  have  proved  it  (I  think)  from  a  mass  of  our 
divines,  including  Andrewes,  Bramhall,  Laud,  etc.,  etc, 
and  from  the  fathers  relied  on  in  the  controversy,  who  are 
given  in  the  originals  in  the  Appendix.  This  has  been 
the  labour  of  my  country  life,  and  encountering,  as  I  do, 
the  extremes  of  both  sides,  I  expect  the  hearty  abuse  of 
the  Church  Times  and  the  Rock,  The  mischief  is  that  we 
have  no  genuine  Anglican  Review,  unless  the  new  Clturch 
Quarterly  supplies    it.     By   the   way,   its   article  on  the 


III.]      THEOLOGICAL  DIFFICULTIES  AT  WINCHESTER.      429 

Kantian  Philosophy  ought  to  dispose  of  the  word  '  Objec- 
tive/ which  properly  means  *  imaginary '  and  non-existent' " 

Sir  Robert  Phillimore,  with  his  legal  sagacity  and  High 
Church  feeling,  wished — 

"  that  all  the  Bishops  had  as  clear  an  apprehension  of 
the  perils  to  which  our  Church  is  now  exposed.  It  is 
surely  a  very  critical  period  ;  and  to  me  the  strangest  of 
all  things  is  that  those  in  authority  should  see  a  safeguard 
gainst  division  in  Acts  of  Parliament,  past,  present,  and, 
I  fear,  to  come." 

Canon  McColl  quotes  a  letter  from  Mr.  Gladstone,  in 
which  he  says,  "  I  am  delighted  with  the  Winchester 
Pastoral,"  and  adds  that  "  \  have  heard  but  one  opinion 
of  it  from  all  shades  of  *  High  Churchmanship,* — Machono- 
chie,  Lowder,  and  others." 

And  lastly,  there  is  a  brief  note  from  Mr.  Gladstone 
himself,  in  which  he  thanks  the  Bishop  for — 

"  that  wise  and  good  gift  to  the  Church  which  you  have 
not  feared  to  present,  noiseless  amid  the  din  of  arms.  This 
phrase,"  he  adds,  "is  not  unnatural,  for  I  write  with  the 
blood-red  book  of  the  good  and  well-meaning,  but  fussy 
and  ill-balanced  ....  in  my  eye.  May  your  counsels  of 
peace  be  blessed." 

Such  was  the  tone  and  temper  of  this  Pastoral,  which 
won  the  hearty  commendation  of  all  that  was  most  high- 
minded  in  his  diocese.  In  this  spirit  he  replied  to  those 
who  complained  of  the  use  of  a  manual  or  "  Book  of  the 
Mission"  drawn  up  by  the  Cowley  Fathers,  and  brought 
into  use  at  the  Southampton  "Mission"  of  1876.  To 
the  lay  remonstrants,  headed  by  Mr.  Hankinson,  he 
replied :  "  I  am  very  sorry  that  missions  .  .  .  should  be 
so  conducted  as  to  lead  to  or  encourage  habitual  confession, 
or  the  system  known  ^s  *  direction,*  or  the  system  of  the 


430  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 


*  enquiry  room ' "  ;  and  he  points  out  the  wholesome  direc- 
tions of  the  prayer-book  on  the  subject.  And  the  clergy 
he  assured,  through  Mr.  Wigram  of  Highfield,  that  in 
approving  the  mission  he  had  no  thought  of  giving 
sanction  as  Bishop  to  any  system  of  enforced  confession 
or  direction. 

"  Whatever  may  be  desirable  in  the  case  of  one  unable 
to  satisfy  his  conscience  by  confessing  his  sins  to  God, 
I  agree  with  you  in  holding  that  the  Church  does  not 
encourage  habitual  compulsory  sacramental  confession  to 
man,  or  the  system  known  under  the  name  of  Direction. 
I  believe,  moreover,  that  that  system  is  warranted  neither 
by  Scripture  nor  by  the  practice  of  the  Primitive  Church." 

A  little  later  he  received  a  remonstrance  from  certain 
clergy  in  Portsmouth  against  language  used  of  the  Holy 
Communion.  He  does  not  propose  to  enter  into  discussion 
or  controversy :  he  desires  a  large  toleration  for  "  all  that 
is  fairly  within  the  lines  of  the  English  Church,"  and  is 
not  indifferent  to  the  maintenance  of  fundamental  truth 
or  the  banishing  of  serious  error.  He  has  by  God's 
blessing  preserved  members  of  our  Church  from  seceding 
to  Rome,  has  converted  Romanist  priests,  notably  a  well- 
known  Father  Felix,  to  the  English  Church,  and  in 
the  opposite  direction  has  preserved  men  from  infidelity. 
He  then  explains  minutely  and  somewhat  subtly  the 
bearing  of  a  phrase,  "  Prepare  to  receive  the  Lord's  Body 
into  the  palm  of  your  hand."  The  words,  he  says,  "  are 
very  objectionable  as  likely  to  mislead,  and  yet  they 
do  not  necessarily  imply  Transubstantiation,  still  less  the 

*  Material  Presence'  (which  is  very  different  from  Tran- 
substantiation)." If  they  did,  then  our  Lord's  words,  "  This 
is  my  Body,"  must  be  taken,  as  the  Romanists  take  it,  as 
Christ's  authority  for  that  doctrine.  He  also  condemns 
such  a  phrase  as  "  a  share  in  the  Prayers  of  the  B.  V.  M, 


III.]      THEOLOGICAL  DIFFICULTIES  AT  WINCHESTER,      431 


and  all  Thy  saints."  Still,  feeling  Portsmouth  to  be  in 
great  need  of  zealous  clergy  and  men  willing  to  work 
amongst  the  lowest  of  the  population,  he  is  not  prepared 
to  interfere  hastily. 

"  On  this  ground,  while  I  am  myself  deeply  attached 
to  the  simple  ancient  faith  and  practice  of  the  English 
Church,  and  whilst  I  greatly  deprecate  any  extravagance 
of  Church  doctrine  or  ceremony  as  calculated  to  weaken 
the  Church  and  cause  prejudice  against  it,  yet  I  cannot 
wholly  check  the  exertions  of  men  on  either  side  who  are 
zealous,  even  if  they  are  sometimes  extravagant,  knowing 
that  zeal  is  always  in  danger  of  degenerating  into 
extravagance." 

Soon  after  this  time,  in  1877,  the  Bishop  wrote  on 
similar  subjects  to  a  lady  eminent  in  active  good  works 
in  the  slums  and  courts  of  London  ;  she  had  written  to 
him,  anxious  to  see  her  way  in  dealing  with  confession  as 
a  very  important  factor  in  the  conversion  of  sinners. 

"  I  don't  think  confession  wrong,"  he  writes,  "  or  even 
undesirable,  when  there  is  special  need  for  some  unrelieved 
weight  upon  the  conscience  ;  but  I  am  afraid  lest  the 
habit  should  weaken  the  conscience  instead  of  strengthening 
it  Confession  has  been  called  *  the  luxury  of  repentance.' 
...  It  is  possible  that  some  may  be  so  weak  as  to  need 
to  be  led  by  the  hand.  I  believe  it  far  better  to  acquire 
a  habit  of  leaning  on  the  Hand  of  Jesus  and  letting  Him 
guide  us  and  sustain  us. 

"The  craving  ever  for  human  support  and  to  tell  our 
griefs,  trials,  and  temptations  to  human  ears,  is,  I  think, 
morbid,  not  the  healthy  condition  of  the  Christian  soul. 
To  tell  them  all  to  the  Saviour,  receive  absolution  from 
Him  in  private  and  with  our  brethren  in  the  Church  and 
at  Holy  Communion, — this  appears  to  me  healthy  and 
true." 

Again,  ten  years  later,  he  addressed  a  letter  to  the  same 
lady  on  the  Reservation  of  the  Elements  in  primitive  days 


432  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DJ).  [Ch. 

"  Farnham  Castle,  August  7.znd,  1887. 

"My    dearest , — Dora  gave  me  a  message  from 

you  about  Reservation  of  the  Eucharist.  I  believe  the 
facts  to  be  these  : — The  first  mention  of  it  is  by  Justin 
Martyr,  who  simply  records  that  the  consecrated  Elements 
were  carried  from  the  church  by  the  deacons  to  the  sick 
( Apol.,  p.  98).  This  was  in  the  middle  of  the  second  century. 
Towards  the  end  of  that  century  (if  Eusebius  reports  his 
words  rightly),  Irenaeus  speaks  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome  as 
having  sent  the  Eucharist  to  the  brethren  of  other  Churches 
as  a  token  of  brotherly  love.  We  find  not  long  after  that 
the  consecrated  Elements  were  kept  in  the  house  of  the 
priest  (Eus.,  vi.  44),  and  also  in  private  houses,  that  they 
might  be  received  in  case  of  sudden  illness  or  danger  of 
death.  That  it  was  not  the  one  Species  only  that  was 
reserved  appears  from  a  passage  in  St.  Chrysostom 
(tom.  iv.,  p.  681),  where  he  complains  that  soldiers  broke 
into  the  church,  and  the  Holy  Blood  was  sprinkled  upon 
them. 

"  One  custom  of  the  Eastern  Church  was  *  the  Mass  of 
the  Pre-sanctified.'  In  Lent  they  did  not  like  to  consecrate 
the  Elements,  except  on  Saturdays,  Sundays,  and  great 
festivals.  The  people  communicated  on  other  days,  so 
the  Elements  were  consecrated  on  the  festivals  and  kept 
for  communion  through  the  week.  All  this,  no  doubt,  led 
to  communion  in  one  kind.  It  was  not  easy  to  send  both 
kinds  to  a  distance  ;  so  probably  but  one  kind  was  sent 
The  whole  originated  in  the  simple  notion  of  sending  the 
Sacrament  direct  to  the  sick  and  absent.  The  rest  grew 
gradually,  till  it  reached,  in  the  Western  Church,  the  re- 
serving of  the  one  Species  only,  and  the  communicating 
the  laity  in  that  alone.  In  the  Eastern  Church  the  bread 
is  still  dipped  in  the  chalice,  and  so  both  Species  are 
received." 

Interesting  as  are  these  examples  of  the  way  in  which 
the  Bishop  worked  out  his  middle  path,  it  is  clear  that  he 
was  under  no  delusion  about  them,  but  saw  that  more  was 
necessary  than  an  appeal  to  reason  and  antiquity. 

Feeling  that  there  was  much  restlessness  on  these  sub- 
jects, the  Bishop  thought  at  first  that  matters  might  be 
smoothed  by  a  conference  on  Ritual  between  High  Church- 


III.]      THEOLOGICAL  DIFFICULTIES  AT  WINCHESTER,      435 

men  and  some  moderate  men,  lay  and  clerical.  The  Bishop 
of  Peterborough  and  other  Bishops  warmly  supported 
the  scheme.  It  was  proposed  not  to  invite  the  "  intransi- 
gentes,"  the  extreme  men  likely  to  refuse  all  compromise,, 
but  only  those  who  had  the  unity  of  the  English  Church 
at  heart,  and  were  willing  to  make  some  sacrifice  for 
her  sake.  It  was  thought  that  a  "  modus  vivendi/'  on 
lines  of  moderate  Church  principles  and  reasonable 
obedience  to  episcopal  authority,  might  be  secured  by 
friendly  conference,  and  the  irritating  difficulty  as  to 
allegiance  to  the  lay  courts  avoided.  Bishop  Harvey 
Goodwin  went  so  far  as  to  formulate  his  view  of  the  course 
of  action*  to  be  followed.  The  Ritualists  were  to  produce 
their  scheme  of  Church  government,  and  the  Bishops  ta 
consider  it,  using  it  as  a  basis  for  their  deliberations,  in 
strictly  private  meetings  among  themselves.  Nothing,, 
however,  came  of  it 

This  scheme  (in  the  end  of  1876  and  beginning  of  1877) 
having  thus  failed,  the  Bishop  had  yet  another  plan  to  lay 
before  his  diocese.  This  time  he  would  not  grasp  at  toa 
much ;  but  fell  back  on  the  episcopal  authority,  and  hoped 
to  discover  a  course  by  which  that  authority  could  be 
brought  to  bear  on  the  divergent  parties,  so  as  to  impose 
a  light  yoke  of  uniformity  on  all. 

It  seemed  to  him  that  the  eminent  success  with  which 
he  had  carried  out  his  diocesan  Conferences  was  really 
almost  without  practical  results.  It  was  quite  true,  as  Mr. 
Lewis  M.  Owen,  the  Secretary  to  the  Conferences,  wrote 
to  Mrs.  Harold  Browne,  that  the  Bishop's  presidency  had ' 
been  most  successful. 

**I  feel,"  he  writes  on  November  8th,  1876,  soon  after 
the  clo.se  of  one  of  the  yearly  meetings,  "  that  I  must  tell 
you  what  every  one  has  been  saying  to-day  about  our 
good  Bishop. 

28 


434  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

"  I  have  conversed  with  representative  men  of  all  grades 
and  shades  of  opinion,  some  of  them  famous  for  their 
fastidiousness ;  and  all  agree  in  saying  that  his  skill  in 
managing  the  Conference  was  something  marvellous.  I 
have  heard  nothing  but  praise  and  admiration  of  his 
speeches  for  their  wisdom  and  good  taste,  to  say  nothing 
about  the  learning  which  came  out  in  every  part  of  them. 

"  The  general  feeling  amongst  the  lay  folk  is, — led  by  such 
a  chief  as  we  have  we  feel  ready  to  do  anything  for  him  or 
for  the  diocese.  I  travelled  homewards  with  Mr.  Cowper 
Temple,  who  came  away  simply  delighted  with  his  Bishop. 
The  Dean  describes  his  conduct  of  the  business  as  most 
masterly,  and  other  equally  good  judges  agree." 

Yet  he  still  felt  that  more  was  needed. 

"  There  is  no  Christian  Church,"  he  cries,  "  no  Christian 
sect,  which  is  not  more  closely  organised  than  the  Church 
of  England.  We  rest,"  he  adds,  "  on  our  connection  with 
the  State  and  our  parochial  system  ;  the  former  giving 
us  a  machinery  not  all  our  own,  the  latter  strengthening, 
if  isolating,  our  efforts.  And  as  the  Church  existed  and 
flourished  for  centuries  without  either  State  support  or 
parishes,  and  may  at  any  time  again  lose  both,  we  must 
organise,  by  conferences,  by  ruridecanal  meetings,  by  more 
activity  in  the  Cathedral  body  (to  whom  he  addressed  these 
remarks  at  his  Visitation),  and  in  parishes  by  the  establish- 
ment of  parish  councils,  which  will  often  be  found  of  use, 
both  for  counsel  and  for  work." 

He  had  also  hit  on  another  plan,  that  of  Diocesan 
Synods,  which  the  Bishop  of  each  diocese  should  call 
together  once  a  year.  And  in  September  1877  he  issued 
the  following  circular  to  each  of  the  members  of  a  com- 
mittee of  Conference.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  point  of 
it  is  the  hope  of  peace  to  be  attained  through  authorita- 
tive decisions  of  a  Bishop  in  matters  of  ritual  The 
Bishop  was  prepared  to  promulge  in  a  Synod  of  his 
clergy  "the  Law  of  Ritual  for  the  diocese,  to  continue 
in  force  till  further  order  be  taken  by  authority  higher  than 
that  of  a  single  Bishop  in  his  Synod." 


III.J      THEOLOGICAL  DIFFICULTIES  AT  WINCHESTER.      435 


The  answers  to  his  circular  were  not  encouraging.  His 
reply  to  his  friend  Mr.  John  Pares  of  Southsea  shews  this 
very  clearly  (September  12th,  1877)  : — 

"I  am  very  much  obliged  to  you  for  your  kind  letter 
and  all  that  it  says.  I  am  thankful  to  find  that  you  are 
sanguine.  I  confess  it  seems  to  me  that  the  clouds  are  very 
dark.  I  find  almost  all  the  laymen  unfavourable  to  the 
Synod.     Most  of  the  clergy  are  for  it." 

Chancellor  Sumner  sent  him  a  very  clear  view  of  the 
difficulties  surrounding  the  authority  of  such  a  diocesan 
Synod,  i.  He  doubted  the  sanction  for  it ;  it  is  not  in  the 
Canons.  2.  Custom  and  use  fail  entirely.  3.  The  Prayer 
Book  nowhere  seems  to  point  to  it ;  on  the  contrary,  the 
Bishop  is  to  resolve  doubts,  and,  if  necessary,  he  must 
appeal  to  the  Archbishop.  4.  What  would  be  the  pro- 
cedure? Discussion ?  resolutions ?  and  decisions?  If  so, 
who  shall  guarantee  their  soundness?  if  not,  why  the 
assembly?  The  Bishop's  dicta  would  really  derive  their 
weight  from  his  character  and  office,  not  from  the  fact  of 
their  promulgation  in  Synod.  5.  If  a  code  of  laws  or  ritual 
were  laid  down  in  Synod,  it  might  easily  clash  with  the 
Act  of  Uniformity.  6.  The  appeal  from  the  Bishop's  ruling 
would  be  illusory.  7.  Different  dioceses  would  lay  down 
different  codes,  and  there  would  be  many  "uses."  This 
would  be  an  unwholesome  and  dangerous  state  of  things. 
He  ends  by  urging  that,  considering  the  difficulties,  dangers, 
and  even  the  positive  evils  likely  to  arise  from  such 
synodical  action,  the  Bishop  should  pause  before  trying 
it  A  still  higher  authority.  Lord  Selborne,  entered  at 
great  length  into  the  subject,  in  two  letters,  which  are  so 
weighty  that  they  are  here  given  as  the  view  of  the  legal 
mind  when  most  friendly  to  the  Church. 

On  September  8th,  1877,  he  says : — 

"The  judicial   supremacy  of  the  Crown   is  really  the 


436  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DJ>.  [Ch. 


keystone  of  the  existing  settlement  between  Church  and 
State ;  and  I  cannot  doubt  it  is  an  essential  part  of  the 
idea  of  the  Royal  Supremacy,  not  only  as  embodied  in 
the  statutes  of  the  Reformation  epoch,  but  as  affirmed  in 
the  Canons  and  the  Thirty-Nine  Articles.  To  deny  or 
resist  it  is  ipso  facto  to  commence  the  work  of  disestablish- 
ment ;  and  it  seems  to  me  that  the  principle  of  the  scruple 
in  question  is  essentially  at  variance  with  it.  How  these 
scruples  could  be  met  by  a  ruling  ex  cathedra  of  the  Bishop 
in  a  Diocesan  Synod,  unless  that  ruling  proceeded  on  the 
assumption  that  without  it  the  decisions  of  the  Queen's  Court 
of  Appeal  were  not  binding  on  the  consciences  of  the  clergy, 
but  might  be  made  so  by  it,  I  do  not  at  present  see.  But  a 
ruling,  proceeding  on  that  assumption,  would  appear  to  me 
to  be  full  of  danger.  It  is,  I  conceive,  quite  certain  that, 
in  a  legal  point  of  view,  such  a  ruling  could  have  no  force 
whatever,  and  would  add  nothing  to  the  obligation  which 
the  law  considers  to  be  laid  on  the  clergy  without  it  Nor 
do  I  see  how  it  could  add  anything  to  the  pre-existing 
obligation  in  foro  conscientice,  unless  the  Bishop  (if  he 
differed  from  the  Court  of  Appeal  in  his  own  private 
opinion)  would  be  equally  at  liberty  to  lay  down  the  law 
otherwise ;  in  which  case  I,  for  one,  should  certainly  be 
unable  to  admit  that  such  a  ruling  would  be,  either  legally 
or  morally,  binding. 

"  It  is,  of  course,  possible  that  you  may  have  in  view 
some  mode  of  proceeding  which  would  avoid  these  diffi- 
culties ;  e^.,  to  declare,  in  Diocesan  Synod,  not  merely 
that  the  Bishop,  ex  cathedra,  pronounced  the  law  as  laid 
down  by  the  Judicial  Committee  to  be  binding  upon  his 
clergy,  but  also  that  he  does  so  upon  a  principle  which 
recognises  the  jurisdiction  and  authority  of  the  Queen's 
supreme  Court  of  Appeal  in  ecclesiastical  causes.  If  this 
could  be  done,  and  if  it  would  answer  the  intended  purpose, 
my  apprehensions  would  be  obviated. 

"  There  can  be  no  doubt  that,  according  to  the  decisions 
of  the  Judicial  Committee  in  the  Purchas  and  Ridsdale 
cases,  the  cope  ought  to  be  worn  in  cathedral  and 
collegiate  churches  at  the  administration-  of  Holy  Com- 
munion. 

"Believe  me,  my  dear  Lord, 

"Yours  faithfully, 

"  SELBORNE." 


III.]      THEOLOGICAL  DIFFICULTIES  AT  WINCHESTER.      437 


And  this  was  followed  by  a  second  letter,  in  which  he 
goes  more  into  the  matter  of  ritual  observances  and  the  late 
judgments.  It  will  be  seen  that  he  commits  himself  to  no 
expression  which  could  be  regarded  as  favourable  to  the 
synodical  action  proposed  by  the  Bishop. 

"Blackmoor,  Petersfield. 

*•  September  12M,  1877. 

"  My  dear  Lord, — If  any  way  can  be  found  by  which 
the  object  you  have  in  view  can  be  accomplished  without 
the  danger  which  I  apprehend,  I  do  not  doubt  you  will 
discover  it.  But  it  seems  to  me  to  be  iifi  ^vpov  a^/t^. 
That  is  all  I  need  say  further  about  it. 

"  I  confess  that  my  own  hopes  from  the  more  moderate 
section  of  the  clergy  who  follow  (for  truth  obliges  me  to 
make  this  admission  in  their  favour)  Mr.  Keble's  later 
teaching  have  been  pretty  well  extinguished  by  the  events 
of  this  year,  and  particularly  by  those  events  which  preceded 
the  delivery  of  the  judgment  in  the  Ridsdale  case,  and  of 
which  subsequent  effects  have  been  only  the  natural  sequel. 
They  seem  to  me  to  shew  that,  when  men  have  once 
become  well  entangled  in  the  meshes  of  party  Association, 
the  effort  necessary  for  a  change  of  attitude  (even  if  the 
safety  of  the  Church  is  at  stake)  is  greater  than  the  majority 
can  make. 

"  Of  the  stronger  minds  of  the  party,  some  are  always  in 
the  front  rank  of  the  movement ;  and  these  are  able, 
practically,  to  regulate  the  action  of  the  great  majority, 
who  are  well-meaning  but  weak.  History  seems  to  shew 
that  it  always  has  been  so,  in  the  origin  of  all  schisms 
and  heresies :  the  heresiarchs  lead ;  they  have  an  active 
immediate  following,  violent  and  unscrupulous,  and  the 
rest,  who  learn  their  shibboleths,  go  down  the  inclined 
plane  into  heresy,  without  being  aware  of  it 

"  I  am  not,  therefore,  sanguine  as  to  your  success.  The 
subscribers  to  the  Clmrcli  TimeSy  etc.,  and  the  members 
of  the  *  Order  of  Corporate  Reunion,'  the  *  English  Church 
Union,'  and  the  other  self-constituted  confraternities  which 
have  undermined  and  disintegrated  our  Church,  will  (I  feel 
only  too  sure)  set  at  naught  all  episcopal  declarations 
against  their  views,  whether  made  in  Diocesan  Synod  or 
elsewhere,  as  they  have  always  hitherto  done.     Experience 


438  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D,  [Ch. 


also  compels  me  to  fear,  that  Dr.  Pusey  and  Canon  Liddon, 
etc.,  will  continue  to  side  with  them  against  all  Bishops 
whatsoever,  and  that  this  intermediate  influence  will  pre- 
vent those  on  whose  disposition  to  accept  an  ex  cathedra 
utterance  of  their  Bishop  (on  the  condition  that  he  does 
not  expressly  recognise  the  duty  of  obeying  the  law  of 
the  land  in  such  ecclesiastical  matters  as  those  in  question) 
you  are  at  present  encouraged  to  rely,  from  using  the 
means  of  escape  from  a  false  position  which  you  desire 
to  provide  for  them. 

"  I  am  far  from  thinking  that  it  is  *  inconsistent  with 
loyalty  to  the  present  constitution  in  Church  and  State' 
to  try  such  an  experiment ;  nor  can  I  presume  to  say  that 
there  may  not  be  enough  chance  of  some  good  resulting 
from  it  to  make  it  worth  trying.  But  you  will,  I  am  sure, 
pardon  me  for  finding  it  difficult  to  trust  in  the  eflFect  of 
palliatives  with  those  who  are  radically  disaffected  towards 
that  constitution,  and  to  whom  every  new  manifestation 
of  the  power  of  the  law  (which  they  defy  but  cannot  defeat) 
will  be  a  fresh  occasion  of  discontent.  I  agree  most 
entirely  in  what  you  say  as  to  the  gravity  of  the  crisis. 
We  seem  to  me  to  be,  ecclesiastically  and  politically  also, 
on  a  volcano's  edge  ;  and  these  men  are  doing  all  in  their 
power  to  make  it  overwhelm  us. .  .  . 

"  Believe  me,  ever,  my  dear  Lord, 

"  Yours  faithfully, 

"  Selborne." 

With  Dr.  Millard  he  entered  into  correspondence  on  the 
subject,  and  the  letters  shew  how  carefully  he  had  studied 
the  historical  aspects  of  synodical  action. 

"Farnham  Castle,  September  jth^  1877. 

'*My  dear  Dr.  Millard,— Your  correspondent  seems 
to  be  entirely  ignorant  of  the  nature  of  a  Diocesan  Synod. 
If  he  will  read  Benedict  XIV.,  *De  Synodo  Dioecesana,* 
or  Ferrari's  'Prompta  Bibliotheca  s.v.  Synod  us  Dioecesana,* 
or  Thomassinus,  or  any  other  Canonist  of  authority,  he 
will  see  that  though,  in  a  Diocesan  Synod,  the  Bishop 
should  ask  the  counsel  of  his  C/iapter,  and  propose  to  his 
Synod  whether  they  will  accept  his  decrees  by  acclamation, 
yet  he  is  not  bound  by  the  counsel  of  his  Chapter  or  the 
acclamation  of  his  Synod,  but  is  the  sole  legislator.     *  In 


III.]      THEOLOGICAL  DIFFICULTIES  AT  WINCHESTER.      439 


Synodo  Dioecesium  potest  Episcopus  facere  constitutiones 
et  decreta  absque  consensu  et  approbatione  capituli  et 
cleri.  .  .  .  Solus  potestatem  legislativam  statuendi  habet, 
et  consilium  sequi  non  tenetur'  (Ferrari).  The  Bishop 
of  Lincoln  in  his  Synod  proceeded  on  this  principle.  I 
explained  to  the  Conference  that  I  preferred  generally  a 
Conference  to  a  Synods  because  in  every  true  Synod  of  the 
Church  Catholic  the  Bishop  or  the  Bishops  were  always 
absolute,  and  I  did  not  desire  to  be  absolute.  In  the 
question  of  ritual,  the  ancient  power  of  the  Bishop  was 
even  exceptionally  great.  Each  Bishop  would  frame  his 
own  Liturgy,  and  in  early  times  even  vary  the  form  of  the 
Creed  (Bingham,  Book  II.,  ch.  vi.,  ss.  2,  3).  It  was  the  Act 
of  Uniformity  which  took  away  their  power  from  Anglican 
Bishops.  But  still  the  right  to  interpret  is  reserved  to 
Bishops.  It  is  only  by  falling  back  on  an  Act  of  Parlia- 
ment that  the  Catholic  authority  of  a  Bishop,  either  alone 
or  in  his  Synod,  can  be  disputed.  It  was  with  the  hope 
of  saving  the  Ritualists  that  I  desired  to  hold  a  Synod, 
and  by  ecclesiastical  authority  pronounce  on  Ritual.  Very 
High  Churchmen  have  entreated  me  to  do  so,  as  the  last 
hope  of  peace  ;  but  the  lay  members  of  the  Committee  are 
so  strong  against  it  (only  two  clerical  members  siding  with 
them)  that  I  feel  I  must  give  it  up.  I  am  very  sorry  ;  for 
unless  something  can  be  done  to  appease  the  present 
diversity,  I  am  sure  that  the  Church  will  go  to  pieces. 
Both  sides  wax  fiercer  and  fiercer.  I  am  inundated  with 
furious  appeals  from  both  extremes.  Already  the  strength 
given  to  dissent  and  infidelity  by  our  contentions  is  very 
grievous.  The  Low  Church  party  in  the  Church  was 
moribund,  and  almost  in  extremis.  It  is  now  triumphant 
among  the  laity,  and  gains  fresh  strength  even  among 
the  young  candidates  for  Orders.  This  is  wholly  due  to  the 
impracticable  conduct  of  the  advanced  Ritualists." 

"  Believe  me,  ever, 
"  Most  truly  yours, 

"  E.  H.  WiNTON." 

And  again  he  writes  from  Farnham  on  September 
loth  :— 

"  My  dear  Dr.  Millard,— Very  many  thanks  for 
what  you  say.  I  am  more  apprehensive  of  a  difficulty 
coming  from  the  opposite  side,  viz.,  from  those  who  are 


440  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D,D.  [Ch. 

jealous  for  the  Royal  Supremacy ;  e,g,.  Lord  Selbome.  I 
think  your  objections  might  be  moderated  (not  perhaps 
removed)  by  the  following  statements. 

"  I.  A  Diocesan  Synod  never  deliberated.  Gravamina 
were  presented  to  the  Bishop  (to  which  presentments  at 
visitations  now  correspond)  ;  causes  were  heard  by  the  Bishop 
(now  transferred  to  the  Consistory  Courts)  ;  and  laws  were 
promulged  by  the  Bishop,  which  were  not  discussed,  but 
received  by  acclamation  or  objected  to,  but  not  therefore 
rejected,  by  acclamation  or  by  silence. 

"  2.  The  form  in  which  I  should  propose  to  promulge 
any  law  or  decision  would  be  this.  *  The  Law  of  the 
Church  for  this  diocese  at  present,  and  till  furt/ier  order 
shall  be  taken,  is  so  and  so.'  By  this  means  nothing  would 
be  stereotyped  or  rivetted.  Only,  if  it  were  obeyed,  the 
result  would  be  present  uniformity  {e.g,,  acceptance  of  the 
surplice  in  parish  and  of  the  cope  in  cathedral  churches) 
and  prosecutions  would  be  prevented.  My  special  purpose 
is  to  let  down  the  extreme  men  as  gently  as  possible. 

"  Most  truly  yours, 

"E.  H.  WINTON." 

It  is  clear  from  his  next  letter  that  Dr.  Millard  took  a 
good  and  wholesome  English  alarm  at  the  huge  increase  in 
the  episcopal  authority  here  foreshadowed.  The  Bishop's 
reply  to  his  remonstrance  may  well  close  the  subject : — 

"  Farnham  Castle,  September  20tk,  1877. 

"  My  dear  Dr.  Millard,— I  shall  be  very  sorry  if  I 
leave  an  impression  on  your  mind  that  I  am  not  grateful 
to  you  for  freely  and  fully  expressing  your  views.  I  am 
sure  that  any  experiment  now  is  dangerous  ;  but  I  think 
the  crisis  altogether  so  very  perilous,  that  a  bold  policy 
seems  to  be  the  best.  The  laity,  who  advise  against  the 
Synod,  do  so  generally  on  very  opposite  principles  from 
those  which  guide  you.  They  fear  the  Bishop's  taking 
a  position  of  apparent  antagonism  to,  or  at  least  inde- 
pendence of  the  law,  and  so  a  distinct  move  being  made  to 
disestablishment. 

"  As  to  the  paper  which  you  sent  me  from  an  unknown 
writer,  it  seemed  to  me  that  he  wholly  misunderstood  my 
plan,  and  the  nature  of  Synods.  I  never  dreamed  of  a 
mongrel  Synod.     It  appears  to  me  that  our  only  alternative 


III.]      THEOLOGICAL  DIFFICULTIES  AT  WINCHESTER.      441 


is  the  true  ancient  Synods  of  the  Church,  or  Conferences  of 
Bishop,  clergy,  and  laity.  I  believe  that  the  Church  may 
always  adapt  itself  to  new  necessities.  In  ages  of  com- 
parative rudeness  laymen  were  unfit  to  join  in  counsel. 
Now,  I  do  not  think  we  can  work  without  them.  If  I 
attempted  to  revive  Diocesan  Synods  side  by  side  with 
Conferences,  I  should  certainly  revive  the  ancient  Diocesan 
Synod.  I  incline  even  to  the  same  view  as  regards  Con- 
vocation. Provincial  Synods  were  Synods  of  Bishops  only. 
In  the  thirteenth  century  the  addition  of  abbots  and  other 
ecclesiastics  was  made  to  the  Provincial  Synod  in  this 
country  (and  in  this  country  only,  I  believe);  and  that 
addition  was  originally  quite  as  much  from  national  as 
from  ecclesiastical  expediency,  if  not  wholly  from  national 
expediency.  This  has  grown  into  a  Convocation  of  prelates 
and  clergy.  As  it  is  not  the  ancient  Provincial  Synod,  but 
a  form  of  Council  unknown  to  antiquity,  I  see  no  reason 
why  a  lay  chamber  should  not  be  added,  if  such  lay 
chamber  should  seem  likely  to  give  strength  and  popularity 
to  it 

"  In  the  Middle  Ages,  Diocesan  Synods  were  not  sum- 
moned annually  ;  often  but  once  in  an  Episcopate,  and 
often  because  of  some  grave  necessity.  There  seems  to  me 
now  a  dignus  vindice  fiodus.  But  a  considerable  majority, 
on  very  different  grounds,  dissuade. 

"  I  hope  you  are  right  in  your  sanguine  expectations. 
We  are  on  our  beam  ends  ;  and  the  crew,  if  not  in  actual 
mutiny,  have  no  united  action.  As  far  as  my  power  of 
judging  goes  I  should  say  that  there  was  universal  distrust. 
I  do  not  for  a  moment  think  that  the  ship  will  sink  ;  but  I 
do  fear  that  the  one  organisation  in  Christendom  which  has 
hitherto  succeeded  in  keeping  up  religious  life  in  a  nation 
may  be  altogether  disorganised.  France,  Italy,  Spain, 
Germany,  Switzerland,  Holland,  have  all  but  lost  anything 
like  true  national  Christian  life.  There  is  a  pretty  strong 
Ultramontane  Church,  and  a  very  weak  Protestant  Church, 
in  all  of  them  ;  but  the  Ultramontane,  which  is  the  only 
real  power,  is  extra-national.  It  does  not  pervade  the 
national  life.  Up  to  this  time,  the  Anglican  Church,  with 
all  its  defects,  has  held  the  nation  more  or  less  true  to 
its  faith,  and  (imperfectly)  loyal  to  its  Head.  There  are 
alarming  symptoms  that  this  is  a  state  of  things  rapidly 
passing  away.  The  operatives  are  nearly  lost  to  us.  The 
middle  class  has  long  been  largely  dissenting.     And  now 


442  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D,D.  [Ch.  III. 


the  gentry  are  rapidly  going  off  to  rationalism  or  indiffer- 
ence. All  the  work  we  are  doing  does  not  seem  to  arrest 
the  downward  progress,  or  to  remove  the  distrust  Let  us 
trust  in  Providence  and  Grace.  But  we  must  act  wisely 
under  that  in  which  we  trust 
"  Pardon  length,  haste,  and  scrawl. 

"  Most  truly  yours, 

«  E.  H.  WINTON." 

The  reluctance  and  remonstrances  of  the  large  majority 
of  the  committee  led  the  Bishop  to  abandon  the  scheme  ; 
one  sees  from  above  with  what  despondency  he  bowed  to 
their  opinion.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  view  he  took 
of  the  action  of  a  Bishop  in  Synod,  the  high-water-mark 
of  episcopal  claims  to  authority,  would,  if  carried  out  in 
all  dioceses,  have  had  many  very  dangerous  tendencies. 
With  him,  who  would  have  judged  and  spoken  with 
learning  and  temperate  consideration  for  others,  and  in  a 
true  spirit  of  Christian  charity,  the  results  might  have 
been  productive  of  peace  and  goodwill ;  it  would  not  have 
been  so  everywhere. 

It  is  pleasant  to  have  to  record,  as  the  conclusion  of  the 
effort  which  at  this  time  had  given  the  Bishop  so  much 
anxiety,  that  the  Rev.  D.  Elsdale,  of  St  John's,  Kennington, 
protesting  against  the  extravagant  language  used  by  more 
extreme  men,  spoke  as  follows  respecting  the  decisions  of 
his  diocesan  : — 

"If  our  Bishops  are  to  trust  us,  we  must  trust  them.  I 
have  myself  the  fullest  confidence  in  the  saintly  character 
and  godly  prudence  of  my  own  diocesan,  not  only 
generally,  but  in  this  particular  decision,  which  is  a  more 
inconvenient  one  to  me  than  to  any  one  else  in  the 
world.  When  I  found  that  the  Bishop  had  deliberately 
decided  it,  I  was  neither  persistent  in  my  remonstrances 
nor  peevish  in  my  complaints.  I  only  trust  in  the  great 
day  of  account  I  may  be  judged  to  have  acted  as  uprightly 
and  bravely,  as  kindly  and  humbly,  as  my  Father  in  God 
has  acted." 


CHAPTER    IV. 

ADMINISTRATION   AT  WINCHESTER. 
1873— 1890. 

APART  from  the  anxieties  arising  out  of  the  unsettled 
state  of  Church  opinion  and  practice,  the  Bishop's 
Winchester  life  was  full  of  work  which  taxed  his  powers 
of  endurance.  He  was  well  over  sixty  when  he  made  the 
change.  No  man  ever  spared  himself  less.  He  took  great 
pains  with  his  Confirmations.  Before  he  had  been  at 
Winchester  a  year  he  crossed,  with  much  apprehension 
and  suffering,  to  the  Channel  Islands,  and  took  Confirma- 
tions in  Guernsey,  Jersey,  and  Sark ;  preached  missionary 
sermons;  suggested  his  favourite  Conferences,  to  be  held 
at  "  two  or  three  centres " ;  discussed  the  Public  Worship 
Bill,  over  which  he  had  been  at  variance  with  the  Arch- 
bishop, and  expressed  his  approval  of  the  Act,  because  it 
strengthened  the  Bishop's  hands  without  an  appeal  to  the 
law  courts.  His  visit  roused  great  interest  in  the  Islands, 
and  he  was  welcomed  very  cordially  wherever  he  appeared. 
Consecrations  of  churches,  meetings  of  Convocation,  dio- 
cesan Conferences,  many  sermons,  filled  up  all  his  days  ; 
one  wonders  how  he  could  have  found  a  moment  for 
the  weighty  topics  which  occupied  his  pen  during  these 
years.  No  wonder  if,  in  the  Church  Congress  at  Plymouth, 
in  1876,  he  summed  up  a  rather  heated  discussion  on  the 
increase  of  the  episcopate  with  an  address,  in  which  he 

443 


444  EDIVARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch- 


declared  that  the  work  of  the  dioceses  was  much  better 
done  than  people  seemed  to  think,  and  that  it  was  the 
Bishops  who  really  had  most  cause  to  complain  ;  he  ended 
by  saying  that  an  increase  in  their  number  was  needed  as 
much  for  their  own  sake  as  for  the  sake  of  their  flocks. 

He  held  a  formal  Cathedral  Visitation  on  the  last  day 
of  April,  1878,  and  took  the  opportunity  of  delivering  a 
Charge  to  the  officials  of  the  mother  church  of  his  diocese. 
After  saying  that  in  origin  Cathedral  establishments  were 
closely  connected  with  the  missionary  work  of  the  Church, 
and  tracing  the  growth  of  the  system  to  the  present  form, 
he  goes  on  to  lay  out  his  views  as  to  their  true  functions. 
There  ought  to  be  an  active  body  gathered  round  their 
Bishop,  intent  on  the  advance  of  the  Christian  faith,  holding, 
as  from  the  beginning,  the  posts  of  danger  and  hard  work, 
if  also  posts  of  honour  and  influence.  He  brushes  aside 
the  thought  of  a  leisurely  clergy,  keeping  up  "  the 
solemnities  of  an  elaborate  worship,"  "  enjoying  a  dignified 
retirement  in  old  age."  "All  points,"  he  says,  "to  the 
Chapters  as  learned  bodies,  the  Bishop's  counsellors ; 
intent  on  teaching  and  preaching  throughout  the  diocese. 
The  old  notion  of  a  great  Bishop,  sitting  in  isolated 
grandeur,  has  become  a  thing  of  the  past."  He  no 
longer  administers  his  diocese  with  no  assistance  but  that 
of  a  lawyer  at  his  side !  He  must  take  counsel  with  the 
clergy  and  laity.  Advisers,  teachers,  missioners,  must  the 
future  Cathedral  bodies  be.  He  also  shews  what  should 
be  the  true  status  and  honourable  work  of  Priest  Vicars, 
or  of  Minor  Canons;  nor  does  he  forget  an  encouraging 
word  to  Lay  Vicars,  and  clerks,  vergers,  sidesmen,  and 
chorister  boys. 

This  Visitation  was  followed  immediately  by  one  of  the 
diocese  generally,  in  which  he  gave  utterance  to  his  strong 
alarm  as  to  the  "  organised  "  spread  of  infidelity  in  the i 


IV.]  ADMINISTRATION  AT  WINCHESTER.  445 


country.  This  he  attributed  chiefly  to  the  luxury  of  the 
last  half-century,  and  summed  up  the  result  of  it  in  the 
appalling  formula,  "  No  God,  no  responsibility,  no  sin,  no 
goodness,  no  spiritual  happiness  here,  no  hereafter,"  and 
treated  it  as  an  invasion  of  materialistic  ideals  of  life  and 
happiness,  the  very  antithesis  of  "  altruism,"  Christian  or 
non-Christian.  He  mooted  the  topic  again  at  the  "  Pan- 
Anglican  "  Synod  at  Lambeth  on  July  4th,  1878,  in  terms 
which  are,  says  the  Standard^  "  remarkable  alike  for  intel- 
lectual vigour  and  personal  piety." 

These  labours  and  utterances  were  followed  by  a  Charge 
"  as  remarkable  for  the  variety  of  topics  it  handles,  as  for 
the  sound  common-sense  and  practical  ability  with  which 
it  handles  them."  It  ranges  over  a  wide  field :  the  Con- 
fessional, the  awkward  form  of  the  modern  diocese  of 
Rochester,  religious  education,  the  Dilapidations  Act,  the 
cottages  of  the  working  folk,  allotments,  the  modern  de- 
velopments of  infidelity,  the  resistance  of  some  of  the 
clergy  to  the  Public  Worship  Amendment  Act 

This  was  followed  by  the  Anglo-Continental  Society's 
meeting  at  Farnham ;  and  the  more  public  labours  of 
his  year  were  completed  by  the  two-days'  Conference  at 
Winchester  in  October,  in  which  he  again  attacked  the 
subject  of  unbelief,  and  took  a  lively  and  interested  share 
in  discussions  on  Church  property  and  on  Institutions  for 
Deaconesses ;  he  ended  by  saying  (as  he  had  every  right 
to  say)*that  "  he  had  taken  a  large  part  in  the  debates,  and 
that  he  hoped  they  would  give  him  credit  for  having  no 
intention  of  biassing  in  any  degree  the  free  expression  of 
opinion  by  his  brethren." 

The  Bishop's  position  as  one  of  the  preachers  or  readers  of 
papers  at  Church  Congresses  was  now  completely  assured. 
His  interest  in  these  gatherings  from  the  beginning,  his 
moderation,   even   his  fears    and    despondencies,   marked 


446  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

him  out  for  the  post ;  he  rarely  missed  a  Congress,  and, 
when  present,  often  preached  one  of  the  opening  sermons. 
The  first  of  these  discourses  was  delivered  at  Swansea 
(October  7th,  1879).  In  the  1881  Congress  he  read  a 
paper  on  " the  practical  working  of  Cathedrals;"  in  1883, 
at  Reading,  he  preached  a  somewhat  notable  sermon  on 
Antichrist.  In  1884  he  delivered  an  address  on  "The 
Advantages  of  an  Established  Church,"  at  Carlisle  ;  in 
1885,  at  the  Portsmouth  Congress,  another  "On  Some  of 
the  Difficulties  of  Working-Men."  After  this,  his  failing 
health  forbade  him  any  longer  to  venture  on  such  exciting 
and  fatiguing  tasks. 

The  active  administrative  work  of  the  diocese  was 
beginning  to  tell  on  him  ;  and  the  heavy  calls  on  his  purse 
added  to  his  anxiety.  Writing  to  Bishop  McDougall  in 
1 88 1,  he  lets  us  see  how  his  sensitive  nature  felt  the  painful 
side  of  his  duties : — 

"  Ordination,"  he  says,  "  goes  on  generally  well :  but  I 
am  greatly  shaken  from  having  had  to  reject  two  men 
yesterday,  one  .  .  .  who  says  he  has  a  wife  grievously  ill, 
who  may  probably  die  of  it  These  are  the  saddest  of  all 
trials  as  a  Bishop." 

His  ordinations  were  to  him,  as  they  must  be  to  all 
Bishops,  times  of  unusual  stress  and  anxiety.  Yet,  as 
Canon  Edgar  Jacob  well  says,  speaking  of  these  periods  : — 

"  The  leading  idea  which  a  young  man  would  take  away 
with  him,  would  be  that  he  had  been  brought  into  contact 
with  one  of  the  most  tender  and  fatherly  men  he  had  ever 
met  in  his  life,  of  exquisite  refinement,  and  most  touching 
humility ;  and  that  he  had  been  allowed  to  share  in  such 
a  family-life  as  is  rarely  seen.  ...  I  have  always  thought 
that  the  Bishop  represented  the  episcopate  in  its  fatherly 
aspect  more  perfectly  than  any  one  I  ever  knew,  and  at 
an  ordination  this  was  especially  emphasised.  The  Bishop 
took  little  part  in  any  examinations.     On  the  occasions  on 


IV.]  ADMINISTRATION  AT  WINCHESTER.  447 


which  he  felt  unable  to  pass  a  candidate,  the  pain  which 
it  gave  him  to  reject  a  man  I  can  hardly  describe,  or  the 
exquisite  delicacy  with  which  such  a  decision  was  com- 
municated. .  .  .  You  know  the  combination  of  feelings 
which  a  young  man  brings  to  such  a  week  of  abiding 
memories. .  .  .  He  would  carry  away  from  Farnham  impres- 
sions not  only  of  the  kindest  hospitality,  but  of  a  family 
life,  which  would  do  him  a  world  of  good  in  the  parish  to 
which  he  might  be  sent" 

Many  a  man  can  bear  out  what  Canon  Jacob  here  says, 
and  can  look  back  on  this  sacred  vestibule  of  his  clerical  life 
with  the  deepest  thankfulness. 

Nor  was  his  daily  work  without  more  exciting  elements. 

"  Threatening  letters,"  he  writes  another  day  to  Bishop 
McDougall, "  are  not  confined  to  Corsica.  I  had  one,  anony- 
mous,  a  few  days  ago,  to  the  effect  that  if  I  do  not  stop 
Confession  at  St.  John's,  Kennington  (which  is  no  longer 
in  my  diocese),  the  father  of  one  of  the  girls  will  put  a 
bullet  through  my  head  at  Esdaile's  without  further 
notice." 

This  amused  rather  than  alarmed  him.  He  was  much 
more  seriously  affected  by  the  heated  state  of  opinion  at 
this  period  in  Bournemouth,  where  on  the  death  of  Mr. 
Bennett,  the  Vicar  of  St  Peter's,  a  kind  of  warfare  had 
broken  out  between  Church-parties,  always  specially  in- 
flammable and  irritable  at  watering-places. 

In  October  1879  we  find  the  Bishop,  as  Visitor,  present 
at  the  500th  Anniversary  of  the  foundation  of  New  College, 
Oxford ;  and  in  the  renovated  chapel  he  delivered  an 
address  to  the  assembled  College,  in  which  he  gave  ex- 
pression to  the  forebodings,  happily  never  realised,  with 
which  he  and  very  many  regarded  the  reform  of  the 
Universities,  and  his  fears  lest  in  the  future  the  influences 
of  religion  would  be  less  potent  there  than  they  had  been 
in  the  past.     The  sad  note  of  alarm  which  sounds  through 


448  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DJ>.  [Ch. 

the  address  was  characteristic  of  his  temperament,  which 
longed  only  to  see  the  Collie  moving  along  the  ancient 
ways,  not  engaged  in  what  he  calls  "  the  death-struggle  of 
agnosticism  against  ;faith,  but  reverting  in  spirit  and  use  to 
the  traditions  of  their  great  founder,  William  of  Wykeham." 

A  little  later  he  laid  the  first  stone  of  the  new  Isle  of 
Wight  College,  and  gave  the  Island  folk  a  very  interesting 
account  of  his  visit  to  Dr.  Arnold  at  Rugby  many  years 
before,  and  of  that  great  man's  desire  that  his  school  should 
be  a  potent  influence  for  good  in  the  formation  and 
strengthening  of  the  religious  and  moral  natures  of  the 
youth  of  England. 

Nothing,  it  may  be,  shook  the  Bishop  so  much  as  the 
sudden  and  dramatic  death  of  his  friend  and  coadjutor 
Bishop  Utterton.  That  excellent  and  very  lovable  man 
had  been  told  that  his  life  was  hanging  on  a  thread,  and 
for  some  time  had  been  walking  in  the  full  knowledge  that 
the  summons  might  come  at  any  moment.  It  came  to 
him,  as  a  good  man  would  most  wish  and  pray  that  it 
might  come,  in  perfect  peace,  without  fear  or  suffering,  as 
he  was  about  his  Father's  business.  On  Sunday,  December 
2 1  St,  1879,  he  read  the  Communion  Service  in  the  parish 
church  at  Ryde,  and  when  he  had  ended  the  Prayer  for 
the  Church  Militant,  knelt  down  and  gave  himself  to  silent 
devotion.  At  that  moment  the  summons  came,  and  he 
yielded  up  his  spirit  to  his  Master. 

"  His  death,"  the  Bishop  writes,  "  throws  a  sad  gloom  on 
all  the  diocese.  He  was  all  you  say  of  him,  and  the  longer 
I  knew  him,  the  more  highly  I  esteemed  him.  He  was 
thoroughly  and  actively  kind,  never  sparing  himself  in  the 
work  of  his  Master  and  his  fellow-servants.  To  me  he 
was  thoroughly  loyal  and  useful.  He  knew  the  diocese, 
and  always  gave  me  honest  counsel.  His  death  was  most 
striking.  After  a  week  of  hard  work,  going  to  Ryde  to 
preach  twice,  preaching  an  eloquent  sermon,  and  uttering 


IV.]  ADMINISTRATION  AT  WINCHESTER.  449 

as  his  last  words,  *  that  with  them  we  may  be  partakers 
of  Thy  heavenly  kingdom,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord' 
May  >ve  meet  him  there !  " 

The  archdeaconry  of  Surrey,  thus  rendered  vacant,  the 
Bishop  filled  up  by  an  appointment  which  did  him  honour. 
For  no  one  who  knew  Archdeacon  Atkinson  could  have 
failed  to  recognise  in  him  very  high  and  noble  gifts  of 
Christian  power  and  faith.  But  the  Bishop  shall  speak 
for  himself.  Writing  from  Famham  on  January  8th,  1880, 
he  says : — 

"  I  have  appointed  Atkinson  of  Dorking  to  the  arch- 
deaconry, which  carries  a  canonry.  He  has  been  only 
five  years  in  the  diocese,  and  it  seems  a  little  hard  to 
place  him  above  such  men  as  A.,  B.,  or  C,  but  I  think  he 
has  qualifications  which  none  of  them  [possess].  He  is, 
what  none  of  them  are,  a  very  able  speaker  and  preacher. 
He  conciliates  every  one  without  being  a  time-server. 
Then,  he  is  an  excellent  organiser,  a  thorough  gentleman 
and  devout  Christian,  a  sound  and  moderate  Churchman. 
I  am  afraid  he  is  not  strong,  and  may  therefore  have  to 
give  up  Dorking,  but  I  have  not  urged  him  to  do  so,  for  he 
is  extremely  beloved  there,  and  it  would  be  very  hard  to 
fill  his  place  as  a  parish  priest.  He  is  the  man  the  Dean 
[Bramston]  wished  for,  and  I  learn  that  he  is  the  man 
whom  Utterton  would  have  wished  to  succeed  him.  I  trust 
he  will  be  acceptable  to  you." 

The  Bishop  now  seems  to  have  thought  that  he  could 
cope  alone  with  the  diocese,  relying  on  the  cordial  and 
ever  ready  help  of  Bishop  McDougall.  For  eight  years, 
in  spite  of  his  failing  strength,  he  persevered,  and  it  was 
not  till  1888  that  he  summoned  Archdeacon  Sumner  to 
his  aid. 

During  the  year  1880  the  Bishop's  labours  were  not 
lightened  in  any  way.  In  addition  to  the  ordinary  routine 
duties  of  the  See,  he,  as  Bishop  and  Visitor,  opened  the 
new  Modern  School  at  Winchester  in  May,  with  a  speech 

29 


450  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

wWch  involved  the  very  difficult  task  of  treating  gently 
the  feelings  of  both  the  City  and  the  College,  and  of 
shewing  that  it  was  a  good  thing  to  have  education  divided, 
not  by  the  substance  of  it,  or  by  the  subjects  taught,  but 
by  the  grades  of  society  attending  school  He  also  threw 
some  life  into  a  very  dry  matter — the  praises  of  Latin  as 
a  subject  for  education— by  saying  that  he  had  known  of  a 
very  excitable  youth  of  nineteen  whose  brain  was  in  danger, 
and  his  friends  saved  him  by  prescribing,  as  the  dullest  and 
most  sobering  thing  they  could  think  of,  a  steady  course  of 
long  doses  of  Latin  grammar  ;  and  he  felt  sure,  too,  that 
the  ancients  had  been  exceeding  wise  in  selecting  amo  as 
the  first  example  of  a  Latin  verb,  because  of  the  soothing 
effect  it  was  known  to  have  on  the  youthful  eagerness  of 
boys,  who,  but  for  some  such  cooling  medicine,  would 
always  be  in  danger  of  falling  in  love. 

A  month  or  so  later  we  find  him  taking  part  in  the 
festivities  and  speech-making  at  his  old  College  of  Lampeter, 
on  occasion  of  the  opening  of  the  new  chapel.  And  he 
closed  the  year  by  a  long  address,  delivered  before  the 
Christian  Evidences  Society  at  Bournemouth,  on  the  strife 
between  faith  and  infidelity,  a  topic  now  pressing  ever  more 
and  more  on  his  mind. 

Early  in  1881  a  Resolution  was  agreed  to  by  the 
Upper  House  of  Convocation  calling  on  Government  to 
appoint  a  Commission  on  the  Ecclesiastical  Courts,  and 
he  was  made  a  member  of  it.  On  this  Commission  he 
sat  for  two  years.  He  felt  that  the  three  Courts,  (i)  that 
of  First  Instance,  the  Bishops',  (2)  the  Archbishop's  Court 
of  Appeal,  and  (3)  the  Judicial  Committee  of  the  Privy 
Council,  were  all  open  to  objection.  How  could  they  be 
better  framed  so  as  to  maintain  at  once  the  supremacy 
of  the  Crown  and  the  liberties  of  the  Church  and  of 
Churchmen  ?      He   was   in   favour  of  making  the  Arch- 


IV.]  ADMINISTRATION  AT  WINCHESTER.  451 

bishop's  Court,  in  which  the  Archbishop  himself  sat  with 
comprovincial  Bishops  as  assessors,  the  final  Court  of 
Appeal.  "  It  would  be  a  Court  of  the  most  primitive 
character,  from  which  appeal  could  be  made  to  the  Queen 
in  a  secular  court  if  wrong  were  done  to  the  civil  rights 
or  temporalities  of  her  subjects." 

Twice  in  Bishop  Harold  Browne's  life,  in  1868  and  1882, 
he  seemed  likely  to  become  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  ; 
and,  in  1868  at  any  rate,  he  would  have  welcomed  the 
promotion,  proud  to  be  enrolled  in  the  list  of  Primates. 

In  a  letter  to  Prebendary  Meyrick  he  says  : — ' 

"  You  refer  to  what  occurred  fourteen  years  ago  (in  1868). 
I  do  not  suppose  I  was  so  near  the  Primacy  then,  for 
.  .  .  was  resolved  on  Tait ;  but  I  came  near  enough  to 
be  advertised  and  congratulated.  .  . .  Such  *  close  shaves  * 
seldom  happen  to  one  man  in  relation  to  offices  so 
important.  They  are  all  ordered  by  >yisdom  and  love, 
and  form  part  of  the  trials  and  yet  blessings  of  one's  life.'* 

There  is  a  curious  letter  from  one  of  the  Bishop's 
disappointed  friends,  who  writes  that,  talking  to  one  of 
the  Cabinet  Ministers, — 

"  I  ventured  to  say  that  Bishops  of  London  not  unusually 
succeeded  [to  the  Primacy].  He  said  most  positively, 
'You  may  make  yourself  quite  sure  about  him — he  is 
impossible'  He  then  said,  *  It  is  quite  incredible,  the 
number  of  letters  I  and  others  in  the  Cabinet  have  received 
from   every  part   of  the   country  urging  the   nomination 

of  your  friend  the  B p  of  E— y.'     *  Well,'  I  said,  '  he 

is  the  very  man.  He  is  liked  by  all  classes,  and  would 
be  popular  with  all  parties.  He  is  a  thorough  gentleman, 
which  is  not  the  case  with  every  Bishop,  and  he  has  that 
in  him,  both  spiritually  and  intellectually,  which  would 
ensure  his  rising  to  the  height  of  any  emergency.'  His 
eyes  sparkled,  and  his  face  was  suffused  with  smiles,  and 
he  said,  *  Well,  we  shall  see — only,  remember,  I  don't  know 
finything.'  .  ,  .  Nothing  more  passed,  till  I  saw  the  present 
appointment     I  was  furious  at  the  thought  of  an  Eras- 


452  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch, 


tian   and   champion   of   Colenso    and   patron   of  Stanley 
being  selected  by  a  Conservative  Premier  on    the  eve  of 

a  general  election,  and  I  told that  I  looked  on  D 

as  a  humbug,  that  I  would  as  soon  see  G in  his  place 

as  not,  and  that  I  should  not  vote  to  keep  such  an  im- 
postor in  office." 

In  1882  the  Bishop  was  again  much  spoken  of  for  the 
throne  of  Canterbury.  Nothing,  indeed,  but  his  years  and 
growing  infirmities  stood  between  him  and  the  Primacy. 
Mrs.  Harold  Browne  was  consulted  as  to  the  state  of  the 
Bishop's  health,  and  her  opinion  asked  as  to  whether 
she  thought  he  could  stand  the  strain  of  the  ^jew  duties 
and  of  a  change  of  work,  considering  his  age,  seventy- 
one,  and  his  state  of  health.  Her  necessarily  cautious 
and  guarded  reply  may  have  left  the  impression  that  she 
dreaded  a  change  for  her  husband. 

There  was  a  general  feeling  that  the  Bishop  of  Win- 
chester would  be  a  very  safe  appointment  There  was 
nothing  but  good  will  towards  him  from  the  highest  down- 
wards. The  dying  Archbishop  wished  it.  The  Bishop  of 
Gibraltar,  one  of  Archbishop  Tait's  most  intimate  friends, 
writes  that — 

"In  the  summer  before  he  died  he  said  to  me,  *Who 
ought  to  be  my  successor  ?  *  At  first  I  refused  to  answer  ; 
but  when  pressed  I  said,  *  The  Bishop  of  Winchester.'  He 
replied,  *  Why,  he  is  as  old  as  I  am,  and  as  infirm  ;  give 
me  another  answer.*  I  declined,  and  the  subject  dropped. 
In  the  autumn,  when  he  was  very  ill,  he  sent  for  me  and 
said,  *  I  want  your  advice.  Ought  I  to  resign  ?  *  My 
reply  was,  *  No,  not  now  ;  the  doctors  give  hope  of  recovery. 
But  if,  when  spring  returns  and  the  work  of  the  new  year 
begins,  you  find  that  your  strength  has  not  returned,  I 
think  you  ought  to  resign.'  *  So  do  I,*  said  Tait,  *and  that 
is  the  course  I  mean  to  take.  Now  I  will  ask  you  again 
the  question  I  asked  you  in  the  summer :  who  should  be 
my  successor  ?  '     *  I  give  you  the  same  answer  I  gave  you 


IV.]  ADMINISTRATION  AT  WINCHESTER,  453 

before/  I  replied — '  the  Bishop  of  Winchester/  *  Right/  he 
said,  *  though  he  is  old,  yet  in  existing  circumstances  he  is 
the  fittest  for  the  office/" 

And  again,  in  conversation  with  the  present  Bishop  of 
Rochester,  the  Archbishop  went  so  far  as  to  say : — 

"  I  should  be  truly  thankful  to  think  it  certain  that 
the  Bishop  of  Winchester  would  succeed  me  at  Lambeth. 
He  could  do  more  than  any  other  man  to  preserve  the 
Church  in  peace  for  its  real  work  against  sin.  1  pray 
God  he  may  be  appointed,  and  may  accept  the  call.*' 

Bishop  Harold  Browne's  accounts  of  his  last  interview 
with  Archbishop  Tait  are  too  interesting  to  be  omitted 
here.  The  first  is  addressed  to  his  old  friend  Prebendary 
Meyrick,  the  other  to  his  wife  : — 

''November  2Zth,  1882. 

"  I  went  to  Addington  yesterday  to  bid  a  long  farewell, 
though  at  my  age  it  may  not  be  very  long,  as  I  trust  we 
may  meet,  by  God*s  mercy  in  Christ,  in  the  Paradise  of 
God  and  in  the  presence  of  the  Lamb.  Most  touching  our 
interview  was.  The  strong  man,  with  almost  iron  will, 
gentle  and  humble  as  a  child,  full  of  patience  and  love.  To 
me  he  was  very  affectionate,  and  I  knelt  in  prayer  with  him 
at  his  own  wish,  and  (as  he  said)  to  his  great  comfort.  It 
seems  presumptuous  to  pray,  in  words  of  blessing,  for  one 
greater  and  better  than  oneself.  I  feel  sure  of  his  true 
Christian  spirit,  though  I  have  often  differed  with  him  in 
times  past.  We  have  long  been  on  terms  of  warm  friend- 
ship, and  a  deathbed  unites  in  faith  and  scatters  all  trifling 
differences. 

*'  Most  affectionately  yours, 

"  E.  H.  WiNTON." 


•'BossiNGTON  House,  Stockbridge, 
''November  28/^,  1882. 

.   "It  was  a  scene  of  sadness,  but  yet  of  comfort.     He  is 
very   weak,   and   was   much   affected.     We    mingled    our 


454  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D  [Ca 

prayers  and  our  tears.  He  was  full  of  gentleness,  patience, 
and  love  ;  spoke  of  his  own  faults  as  chief  ruler,  but  of  his 
hopes  for  the  Church  as  well  as  for  himself ;  sent  his  love 
and  blessing  to  all  mine,  spoke  of  his  probable  (as  he 
thought  and  hoped)  successor  too  much  in  the  same 
direction  that  you  point.  I  fear  some  successor  will  be 
soon.  He  is  evidently  sinking,  but  in  this  fine  weather  it 
may  be  slowly.  It  is  very  striking  and  full  of  pathos  to 
see  a  strong  man,  with  such  a  will  as  he  had,  so  like  a  little 
child  going  home  to  his  Father.  May  the  Father  support 
and  guide  and  receive  him,  and  supply  his  place  (it  will  be 
a  large  void)  to  the  Church." 

And  a  very  few  days  later,  on  Advent  Sunday,  the 
Bishop  writes : — 

"  I  have  a  telegram  to  say  that  the  Archbishop  died 
peacefully  at  7.15  this -morning.  Mrs.  Tait  died  on  Advent 
Sunday  too,  1878.  Very  likely  he  will  be  buried  on  the 
7th,  which  is  the  anniversary  of  her  funeral.  This  is  very 
remarkable  and  touching.  I  have  learned  to  love  the 
Archbishop  as  I  never  thought  I  could  have  done.  When 
you  know  him  well,  he  is  full  of  goodness.  May  God 
direct  all  the  future  for  His  Church  and  the  spread  of  His 
Kingdom.  The  struggle  is  strong  between  good  and  evil 
now. 

"  Ever  most  affectionately  yours, 

"  E.   H.  WINTON." 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that,  in  spite  of  age  and  growing 
infirmities,  Bishop  Harold  Browne  felt  a  certain  disap- 
pointment when  he  found  a  much  younger  man  preferred 
before  him.  The  opportunity  of  exercising  his  powers  in 
the  direction  of  peace,  moderation,  and  union  with  other 
communities  would  have  been  very  dear  to  him  ;  as  it  was, 
he  was  too  good  and  noble  of  nature  to  feel  any  bitterness,  or 
even  to  express  much  regret  He  neither  fretted  over  it 
nor  allowed  it  to  interfere  with  his  regular  work  in  the 
diocese.  Before  it  was  settled  he  writes  thus  to  Bishop 
McDougall :-  — 


1V.3  ADMINISTRATION  AT  WINCHESTER.  4^5 

"Farnham  Castle,  December  14/A,  1882. 

"It  will  probably  be  settled  in  a  day  or  two;  offerejd 
(I  believe)  either  to  me  or  to  the  Bishop  of  Truro.  Jt 
would  be  certainly  to  me,  but  from  doubt  of  my  age  and 
health.  If  it  should  be  offered  to  me,  do  you  think  I 
ought  to  take  it  ?  I  am  on  the  road  to  seventy-two.  It 
would  relieve  me  of  so  many  confirmations  and  so  much 
travelling ;  but  it  would  bring  fresh  and  greater  anxieties, 
more  frequent  public  meetings,  etc.,  etc.,  and  larger  cor- 
respondence (for  which  two  secretaries  would  be  absolutely 
indispensable)." 

Then,  on  December  19th,  he  writes  to  the  Bishop  : — 

"  I  hear  no  more  of  the  person  to  whom  Canterbury  is 
to  be  offered.  ...  If  it  were  not  for  the  many  confirmations 
in  the  Channel  Islands,  I  should  prefer  Winton  to  Cantuar, 
especially  with  all  my  friends  around  me ;  only  there 
seemed  a  bright  vision  of  hope  that  I  might  be  permitted 
to  work  for  the  Church  of  God,  having  a  locus  standi  which 
gives  more  purchase  and  power." 

And  then,  again,  a  little  later,  when  he  knew  it  was  not 
to  be : — 

"  I  thank  you  with  all  my  heart  for  all  you  say  of  and 
to  me,  most  undeserving  of  all  such  good  sayings  as  I  am. 
The  Primacy  has  been  so  pressed  on  me  by  those  not  in 
authority,  so  many  said  it  must  be  offered  to  me,  and  so 
many  that  it  was  my  duty  to  take  it,  that  I  had  nearly 
made  up  my  mind  that  it  would  be  so,  much  as  I  felt  my 
want  of  qualifications  for  the  post  So  when  Gladstone 
wrote  to  me  that  I  was  too  old,  I  felt  rather  a  blank.  I 
had  begun  plans  for  mending  matters,  if  possible,  and  their 
fall  brought  some  disappointment  But  I  am  thankful 
that  God  has  so  ordered  it  I  am  (or  at  least  soon  shall 
be)  too  old  for  any  great  struggle,  and  no  one  knows  what 
is  impending.  Benson's  shoulders  are  broader  and  his 
strength  unbroken.  Fourteen  years  ago  I  was  more  con- 
fidently advertised  and  congratulated  on  the  Primacy  than 
I  was  just  now.  I  have  been  spared  much  trouble, 
doubtless,  in  both  cases. 

"  Ever  most  affectionately  yours, 

"  E.  H.  Winton." 


4S6  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D,  [Ch. 

In  another  letter  he  refers  with  pardonable  pride  to  an 
autograph  communication  which  at  this  moment  he  received 
from  the  Queen,  by  whose  most  gracious  permission  it 
appears  in  these  pages. 

*'  Osborne,  December  i^h,  1882. 

"  The  Queen  has  been  much  touched  by  the  very  kind 
letter  from  the  Bishop  of  Winchester  to  Lady  Ely,  and 
wishes  herself  to  thank  him  for  it,  and  for  all  the  kind 
expressions  towards  herself  which  it  contains.  No  one 
could  more  worthily  have  filled  the  position  of  Primate 
than  the  Bishop,  and  the  Queen  would  have  sincerely 
rejoiced  to  see  him  succeed  our  dear  and  ever-lamented 
Archbishop  Tait  But  she  feels  it  would  be  wrong  to  ask 
him  to  enter  on  new  and  arduous  duties,  which  now  more 
than  ever  tax  the  health  and  strength  of  him  who  has  to 
undertake  them,  at  his  age,  which,  as  the  Bishop  himself 
says,  is  the  same  as  that  of  our  dear  late  friend 

"  The  Queen  thanks  the  Bishop  of  Winchester  for  saying 
that  he  will  give  the  new  Primate  all  the  support  he  can, 
which  will  be  of  inestimable  value. 

"She  cannot  conclude  without  offering  him  and  his 
family  the  ^  best  wishes  and  blessings  of  the  season." 

Of  Mr.  Gladstone's  letter  he  gives  a  brief  summary  in 
a  note  to  Bishop  McDougall,  dated  December  22nd,  1882  : — 

"  On  Wednesday  night  I  got  a  long  and  very  kind  letter 
from  Gladstone,  saying  that  (referring  to  some  qualities 
which  my  friends  are  too  kind  in  seeing)  if  the  Primacy 
had  fallen  a  few  years  ago,  I  must  unquestionably  have 
been  *  ordered  to  accept  the  succession  to  that  great  See.' 
Then  he  speaks  of  the  *  newness  of  the  duties  of  the 
English,  or  rather  Anglican  or  British  Primacy,  to  a 
Diocesan  Bishop,  however  able  and  experienced  * ;  the  pre- 
cedents, viz.,  that  no  Bishop  .since  Juxon  (1660) — a  very 
exceptional  case — *  has  assumed  the  Primacy  after  seventy;' 


IV.]  ADMINISTRATION  AT  WINCHESTER.  457 


says  *how  pleasant  it  would  have  been  for.  him  to  have 
marked  his  respect  and  affection  for  me  by  making  the 
proposal/  and  adds,  *  What  is  more  important  is  that  I 
am  authorised  by  Her  Majesty  to  state  that  this  has  been 
the  single  impediment  to  her  conferring  the  honour  and 
imposing  the  burden  upon  you  of  such  an  offer.' " 

After  a  few  days  he  recurs  to  the  subject  in  his  almost 
daily  letter  to  Bishop  McDougall  : — 

"  Farnham,  December  29M,  1882. 

"My  dear  Brother, — ♦  ♦  ♦  ♦  i  believe  that  Benson 
will  make  an  excellent  Archbishop.  I  like  him  very  much. 
He  is  vigorous,  able,  modest,  and  warm-hearted,  a  strong 
Churchman,  but  with  large  sympathies.  Gladstone  was 
quite  right  to  pass  by  an  antiquity  like  myself  for  the  youth 
and  vigour  of  Benson.  It  is  perhaps  a  little  mortifying  to 
see  in  all  papers  so  much  about  one's  advanced  age  and 
growing  infirmities,  when,  thank  God,  I  feel  stronger  and 
better  than  I  have  been  for  years.  Gladstone,  I  learned 
both  from  himself  and  others,  searched  into  all  precedents, 
from  the  Commonwealth  to  the  present  day,  for  a  Primate 
who  began  his  work  at  seventy,  and  found  none  but 
Juxon.  Curiously,  I  have  been  reading  that  he  himself, 
prompted  by  Bishop  Wilberforce,  wanted  Palmerston  to 
appoint  Sumner  (of  Winchester)  when  he  was  seventy-two. 
It  was  when  they  feared  that  they  could  not  get  Longley 
(who  was  sixty-eight)." 

In  the  end  his  calm  and  unselfish  judgment  enabled  him 
to  say  : — 

"  If  the  Primacy  had  been  offered  me  the  dying  words 
of  the  late  Primate,  the  urgency  of  the  Archbishop  of 
York  and  my  brother  Bishops  and  of  others,  might  have 
led  me  to  accept ;  and  in  a  year  or  two  I  might  have  failed. 
I  thought  that  I  might  find  the  new  work  easier  than  the 
present,  which  is  very  heavy  ;  and  the  new  stimulus  might 
have  given  me  fresh  life.  But  clearly,  Bishop  Benson 
is  far  fitter  for  care  and  responsibility  than  I  am,  who 
am  eighteen  years  older.  The  great  kindness  of  the 
Queen's  letter  to  me,  and  of  every  one,  especially  of  my 


458  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DM.  [Ch. 

brother  Bishops  and  my  diocese,  ought  to  make  me 
thankful  and,  still  more,  humble,  as  sensible  of  my  great 
unworthiness." 

From  this  time  onward  we  can  see  that  it  was  becoming 
for  the  Bishop  a  growing  struggle  against  failing  strength. 
On  the  one  side  was  his  love  of  work,  and  determined 
power  of  will,  which  drove  him,  often  against  his  better 
judgment,  to  undertake  exhausting  duties  and  to  fulfil 
even  unnecessary  engagements  ;  on  the  other  side  was 
the  steady  advance  of  years,  the  slow  development  of  that 
feebleness  of  frame  which  is  ever  a  sore  trial  to  the  active- 
minded  man.  Very  soon  after  the  Lambeth  matter  was 
over  he  began  to  think  about  another  Suffragan  in  the 
place  of  Bishop  Utterton. 

"I  am  always  feeling,"  he  writes,  17th  March,  1883, 
"that  it  may  soon  come  to  my  resigning,  or  having  a 
regular  Suffragan,  which  would  be  much  more  expensive. 
My  perpetual  liability  to  cold,  often  turning  to  fever,  gives 
warning  of  this.  Resignation  would  be  best  for  my  pocket, 
and  perhaps  for  myself  and  family  ;  for  episcopacy  is  a 
very  expensive  luxury." 

A  little  later,  July  9th,  1883,  he  discusses  the  topic  of  a 
Bishop  of  Southampton  and  the  Channel  Islands. 

"  The  doubts,"  he  says,  "  I  felt  at  the  first  moment  were  : 

"  I.  Whether  the  Bishop  of  London  would  dislike  such  a 
proposal. 

"2.  Whether  much  additional  responsibility  would  be 
thrown  on  me,  as  I  am  growing  older. 

**  3.  Whether,  if  I  were  to  need  a  Suffragan,  of  which  I 
have  often  thought,  it  would  prevent  me  from  getting  one 
and  yet  not  supply  the  place  of  one  to  me. 

"  I  have  still  (though  I  have  lost  South  London)  the 
largest  country  diocese  in  England  ;  by  '  country  *  I  mean 
excluding  London  and  the  manufacturing  districts.  My 
population  is  still  as  large  as  Lincoln,  which  has  a  Suffragan 
and  yet  clamours  for  subdivision.  I  have  nearly  a  thousand 
clergy.     My  area  lis  from  the  Thames  to  Normandy.     I 


IV.]  ADMINISTRATION  AT  WINCHESTER,  459 

think,  however,  that  both  for  the  public  good  and  for  that 
of  my  own  diocese  I  should  be  glad  to  come  into  the 
scheme,  if  it  should  approve  itself  to  others." 

The  "  Suffragan  for  the  Continent "  was  a  plan  by  which 
it  was  proposed,  at  the  instance  of  the  Anglo-Continental 
Society,  to  appoint  a  Bishop  of  Southampton,  whose 
business  it  should  be  to  watch  over  the  Channel  Islands, 
and  the  English  congregations  on  the  Continent,  and  also  to 
be  a  link  connecting  the  English  Church  with  the  reform 
movements  in  France  and  Spain.  The  Islands  rose  at  once 
in  fierce  revolt  They  resented  bitterly  any  attempt  to 
sever  them,  even  partially,  from  the  diocese  of  Winchester 
and  from  the  English  connexion,  and  thought  that  they 
were  going  to  be  handed  over  to  a  kind  of  Bagman  Bishop 
who  would  nominally  be  theirs,  while  really  he  was  moving 
from  place  to  place  on  the  Continent.  Their  opposition 
was  so  strong  that  the  Bishop  gave  way  before  it,  and  the 
whole  scheme  fell  through. 

A  little  later  he  thinks  of  inviting  retired  Colonial 
Bishops  to  settle  in  the  diocese,  and  to  give  him  aid 
when  needful,  as,  for  example,  in  confirmation  times ;  in 
this  way  he  had  for  some  time  the  help  of  Bishop  Cramer 
Roberts.  About  the  same  period  there  was  some  talk  of 
the  probable  resignation  of  one  of  the  strongest  and 
best  of  our  English  prelates.  Bishop  Eraser  of  Manchester. 
The  good  living  of  Old  Alresford  was  likely  to  be  vacant, 
and  his  plan  was  to  invite  the  Bishop  of  Manchester  to 
settle  there  as  his  helper.  In  this  he  was  checked  by 
somewhat  small  and  narrow  objections  raised  by  one  of  his 
most  trusted  counsellors  : — 

"  A.,  to  whom  I  hinted  it,  says  it  would  be  very  unpopular 
with  Churchmen  in  the  diocese.  I  doubt  this,  as  Eraser  is 
a  very  pleasant  man,  though  unfortunately  led  into  a  party 
fight.     He  is  certainly  not  a  Low  Churchman." 


46o  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,   D.D,  [Ch. 

Still,  With  his  marked  deference  for  the  opinions  of  others, 
the  Bishop  paused  ;  and  the  diocese,  which  has  too  often 
been  unable  to  keep  its  men  of  ability,  lost  the  chance  of 
being  reinforced  by  a  really  strong  man.  The  question  as  to 
a  Suffragan  slumbered  till  1888,  when  Mr.  George  Sumner 
was  appointed  Bishop  of  Guildford. 

In  this  year,  1883,  the  Bishop  took  active  part  in  pro- 
moting the  "  Children's  Charter,"  the  Bill  for  the  Protection 
of  Women  and  Children,  and  saw  with  thankfulness  its 
passage  into  law.  The  welfare  of  the  little  ones  was  always 
very  dear  to  him ;  their  childishness  woke  all  the  child- 
nature  in  him,  and  always  secured  his  willing  help.  He 
was  also  devoted  to  animals,  and  braved  the  anger  of  the 
medical  world  this  year  by  taking  the  chair  at  an  anti- 
vivisection  meeting  for  the  protection  of  God's  dumb 
creatures. 

He,  also,  about  this  time,  in  1882  and  1883,  had  the 
great  pleasure  of  taking  part  in  the  marriages  of  his  three 
clerical  sons,  Barrington,  Thirlwall,  and  Robert  Barring- 
ton,  whose  first  wife,  Helen,  daughter  of  Dr.  Jackson^ 
Bishop  of  London,  after  a  brief  and  happy  wedded  life, 
had  died  of  decline  at  Madeira,  was  now  married  to 
Louisa,  daughter  of  the  Bishop  of  Guildford,  his  father's 
trusted  friend  and  helper.  Thirlwall  was  married  to  Rose, 
daughter  of  Mr.  Anderson  of  Waverley  Abbey ;  and 
Robert  to  Agnes,  Lord  Rollo's  eldest  daughter.  Robert 
was  at  the  time  his  father's  chaplain,  as  his  elder  brothers' 
had  been  before  him  ;  so  that  the  young  couple  spent  the 
first  seven  years  of  their  wedded  life  at  Farnham,  where 
three  of  their  children  were  bom.  It  was  a  fresh  be- 
ginning of  life  for  the  affectionate  old  man ;  his  little 
grandchildren  were  ever  a  source  of  the  deepest  and 
purest  delight  to  him. 

In   the   autumn   he    took    a  charming   holiday   in   the 


'  th. 

i:    .nti 


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si 


IV.]  ADMINISTRATION  AT  WINCHESTER,  46 1 

Scottish  Highlands,  and  while  there  wrote  his  well-known 
Congress  Sermon  on  Antichrist,  which  he  preached  at  St. 
Laurence's  Church,  Reading,  in  the  following  October.     It 
is  tinged  with  a  sense  of  apprehension  ;  there  is  the  gloom 
of  one  who  seems   to   see   the  forces   of  evil   gathering 
round  the  citadel  of  the  Church,  and  listens  intently  for 
the  signal  of  attack.      The   hindering  power,   which  has 
kept  Antichrist  at  bay,  is  the  Holy  Roman  Empire  in  its 
earlier  or  later  developments,  and  its  principle  of  Roman 
law  combined  with  religion.     This,  he  urges,  was  "taken 
out  of  the  way  "  by  the  French  Revolution,  with  the  fall 
of  the  older  world  ;  the  new  world,  then  born,  has  slowly 
shaken  itself  free  from  the  bonds  of  Order  ;  "  the  fabric 
is  rapidly  loosening,"  he  says  :  the  next  century  may  "  see 
the  world  bereft  of  that  power  of  social  order  and  of  iron 
law  tempered  by  Christian  faith,"  and  "a  spirit  growing 
up,  silently  gaining  strength  and  ascendency,  which  has 
well-nigh  every  mark  of  St  PauFs  Man  of  Sin  and  of  St. 
John's  Antichrist " ;  and  so  next  century  will  see  a  death- 
struggle  between  the  Church  and  the  world.      How  this 
view  can  be  reconciled  with  the  doleful  state  of  religion  in 
past  days,  when  '*  Law  and  Order  "  reigned  supreme,  is  not 
ours  to  say:  it  may  at  least  as  well  be  argued  that  the 
liberties  of  our  time  are  more,  not  less,  favourable  to  the  true 
advance  of  religion.      Still,  the  sermon  was  received  with 
great  approval  by  all  whose  minds  had  been  alarmed  by 
the  swift  advances  of  these  later  days,  and  by  changes 
which,  as  they  sweep  away  the  ancient  barriers,  compel 
new  thoughts   and  ways  of  appealing  to  the  souls   and 
consciences  of  men. 

Among  the  many  letters  called  forth  by  this  sermon 
is  one  from  Mr.  Gladstone,  who  was  clearly  much 
interested  in  the  subject. 

"  I  must  now  send  thanks  more  than  formal,"  he  writes 


462  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DO.  [Ch. 

from  Downing  Street,  in  the  midst  of  the  cares  of  office. 
"It  seems  to  put  into  a  practical  and  pastoral  form  the 
matter  of  a  learned  and  careful  dissertation.  ...  It  has,  I 
think,  much  cleared  my  ideas,  and  I  thank  your  Lordship 
very  much  for  such  assistance ;  especially  in  regard  to  your 
exposition  of  *  he  that  letteth.'  I  understand  this  to  be  in 
your  view  the  strong  hand  of  law,  embodied  as  well  as 
represented  in  the  Roman  Empire,  on  and  after  which  was 
modelled  the  Roman'  State.  And  this  State,  not  allowing 
free  opinion,  repressed  licence  as  well  as  liberty,  and 
prevented  the  profession  and  extension  of  atheism  in  its 
now  multitudinous  forms. 

"  I  have  no  doubt  wc  have  among  us  an  idolatry  of 
*  Church  and  State '  ;  and  the  idolaters,  or  some  of  them, 
would  not  scruple  to  say  that  whatever  is  barbarously 
termed  'voluntaryism,'  which  is  making  progress  in  the 
world,  was  Antichrist  Yet  I  suppose  it  to  be  incredible 
that  Apostles  who  were  teaching  Christianity  as  (in  this 
sense)  a  private  opinion,  against  or  in  fear  of  the  State, 
could  have  meant  to  describe  as  Antichrist  a  full  and  free 
permission  by  the  State  to  teach.  .  .  . 

"lit  is  now,  I  think,  over  forty-five  years  since  Manning 
was  the  first  to  point  out  to  me  that  the  Church  was 
pushing  back  into  the  condition  which  it  held  before 
Constantine. 

"  It  all  shows  us  a  vast,  overpowering,  and  bewildering 
drama  :  but  not  without  a  key  to  its  plan  and  meaning." 

With  this  courteous  and  very  able  criticism  of  the 
sermon  we  may  pass  on.  The  bulk  of  the  acknowledg- 
ments were  those  of  friends  who  sympathised  with  the 
Bishop's  gloomier  view  of  things,  while  they  also  joined 
him  in  refusing  to  fasten  on  the  Roman  Church  the  stigma 
of  being  Antichrist. 

It  was  in  1883  that  England  woke  to  the  fact  that  she 
possessed  a  real  Christian  hero  in  General  Gordon.  At 
this  time  he  was  much  drawn  to  our  Bishop,  and  studied 
eagerly  the  "  Exposition  of  the  Thirty-Nine  Articles,"  a 
book  which,  one  might  have  thought,  would  have  repelled 
a  man  of  action,  untrained  in  theology.     It  was  exactly 


IV.]  ADMINISTRATION  AT  JVINCHESTER.  463 

the  contrary.  His  eager,  devout  spirit  was  attracted  by 
the  piety  and  learning  of  the  Bishop,  and  he  at  this  time 
wrote  him  one  or  two  interesting  letters  on  "  the  first  and 
second  eating," — that  is,  on  the  loss  of  God's  presence  at 
the  Fall,  and  the  recovery  of  it  at  the  Holy  Communion, 
through  the  sacrifice  of  the  Cross. 

"In  1 88 1,  I  wrote  to  your  Chaplain  about  your  work  on 
the  Thirty-Nine  Articles,  with  regard  to  original  sin  ;  and 
then  I  sent  your  Lordship  a  small  paper  on  the  *  two 
eatings,'  the  first  in  Eden,  the  second  in  the  Lord  s  Supper ; 
since  which  time  I  have  thought  much  on  these  two  Com- 
munions, and  it  was  a  true  pleasure  to  me,  when  we  both 
were  ill  from  our  mutual  first  eating,  to  meet  you  at  the 
antidotal  (if  there  is  such  a  word)  eating  at  St.  'Luke's, 
Southampton.  ...  As  the  first  eating  made  us  partakers 
of  Satan,  so  the  second  eating  makes  us  partakers  of 
Christ." 

His  letter  ends  with  a  very  characteristic  passage  on 
the  Jews : — 

"  It  may  be  that  some  of  your  clergymen  will  be  inclined 
to  take  up  this  view  of  the  Jews,  as  typical  of  the  wailing 
Christians.  It  is  not  accidental  that  this  typical  nation  are 
so  distinguished  for  usury,  for  collecting  old  clothes,  filthy 
rags  of  righteousness.  They  are  the  same  as  ever  they 
were.  Mr.  Friedlander  came  back  from  England,  and  many 
hundred  Jews  met  him,  hoping  he  had  got  funds  for  a 
Colony,  where  they  would  have  house,  etc.,  etc.  They 
greeted  him  with  the  title  of  Messiah  !  That  is  their  view, 
to  get  back  their  carnal  things,  and  then  they  will  act  even 
as  they  did  before  to  Jehovah."  ' 

It  is  touching  to  t!s,  seeing  what  is  past,  thus  to  get  a 
glimpse  into  the  mind  of  this  pious  mystic,  whose  jsoul  was 
ever  striving  to  win  its  way  into  the  true  presence  of  God, 
and  who  felt  by  instinct  that  the  Bishop  would  understand 
and  sympathise. 

"  Your  writings,"  says  Prebendary  Barnes,  "  have  led  him 
to  read  *  Pearson  on  the  Creed '  and  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln's 
(Wordsworth's)    Commentary ;    and    in    order    to    study 


464  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DD.  [Ch. 

Sc*ripture  he  has  lived  almost  as  a  hermit  in  Jerusalem  or 
Jaffa  for  this  year.  .  .  .  Though  his  ideas,  as  expressed  to 
you,  may  seem  half-incoherent,  yet  my  long  correspondence 
makes  me  sure  that  he  has  clear  and  coherent  thought, 
and  sees  much  which  other  men  usually  do  not." 

For  the  General  was  as  one  of  the  prophets  of  old  time ; 
and  men  misunderstood  him  accordingly,  or  thought  him 
mad.  Inspiration  carries  a  man  beyond  the  bounds  by 
which  our  poof  finite  minds  measure  all  things,  whether  in 
heaven  or  earth. 

Soon  after  this  time  General  Gordon,  called  to  Brussels 
by  the  King  of  the  Belgians  in  order  that  he  might  head 
the  anti-slavery  campaign  in  Africa,  returned  to  England. 
Early  in  the  year  1884,  Prebendary  Barnes  wrote  to  our 
Bishop  to  arrange  that  he  and  the  General  should  meet 
before  the  latter  started  for  Africa.  The  visit,  however, 
never  took  place.  Mr.  Barnes's  next  letter  describes  his  de- 
parture for  his  last  heroic  effort,  as  he  set  forth  with  noble 
and  far-reaching  aims,  eager  to  lead  the  crusade  against 
Arab  slavery.  For  this  he  gladly  laid  down  his  life.  The 
work  to  which  his  strong  faith  in  Christian  liberty  thus 
allured  him  a  decade  ago  is  still  undone,  though  there  are 
signs  on  the  political  horizon  that  the  ultimate  struggle 
will  not  long  be  delayed.  Once  more,  let  us  hope,  England 
and  Belgium  will  lead  in  the  battle  for  the  liberties  of  the 
children  of  Ham. 

On  February  i8th,  1884,  Mr.  Barnes  writes  thus  to  the 
Bishop  :  "  I  have  a  telegram  dated  this  afternoon,  saying 
that  he  had  been  summoned  to  London,  and  adding,  *  I  go 
to  the  Soudan  to-night:  if  He  goes  with  me,  all  will  be 
well.'" 

One  letter  only  has  to  be  added,  ere  we  bid  farewell  to 
the  most  interesting  and  noble  figure  of  modem  English 
history ;  it  was  written  a  year  later,  after  the  whole  drama 


IV]  ADMINISTRATION  AT  WINCHESTER.  465 


had  been  played  out  to  the  end,  and  England's  head  was 
bowed  low  with  sorrow  and  even  with  remorse.  It  is  from 
his  devoted  sister,  still  hoping  against  hope: — 

"  5,  RocKSTONE  Place,  Southampton, 
''February  19M,  1885. 

"  My  Lord, — Thank  you  sincerely  for  your  kind  letter 
of  sympathy  in  this  terrible  trial.  I  cling  still  to  the  hope 
he  may  be  a  prisoner,  but  my  hope  is  all  but  dead.  His 
kindness  and  help  to  me  at  all  times  no  one  can  know  but 
myself,  and  I  feel  in  future  this  must  be  a  weary  life.  God 
alone  can  take  away  my  rebellious  will.  He  warned  me 
from  Khartoum,  March  nth,  to 'remember  our  Lord  did 
not  promise  success  or  peace  in  this  life.  He  promised 
tribulation,  so  if  things  do  not  go  well  after  the  flesh.  He 
still  is  faithful ;  He  will  do  all  in  love  and  mercy  to  me ; 
my  part  is  to  submit  to  His  will,  however  dark  it  may  be. 
Every  judgment  we  pass  is  impugning  His  Godhead,  and 
is  paganism.' 

"  My  brother  often  spoke  to  me  of  you,  and  would  like 
much  to  have  met  you,  as  he  valued  your  opinions  ;  but  it 
was  not  to  be  in  this  world.  He  longed  for  and  truly 
desired  to  depart,  and  now  he  has  his  wish.  He  so  often 
said,  *  I  would  so  like  to  have  a  peep  over  the  hedge  and 
see  this  New  Jerusalem.' 

"A.  Gordon." 

In  this  year,  1884,  on  the  occasion  of  the  three-hundredth 
anniversary  of  the  foundation  of  his  College  at  Cambridge, 
the  Bishop  was  elected  Honorary  Fellow  of  Emmanuel, 
and  was  present  at  the  commemoration,  preaching  in  the 
College  Chapel  on  "  Sowing  and  Seeding."  He  dealt  with 
the  fact  that  his  College  had  been  founded  on  Puritan  lines, 
full  of  the  force  of  the  then  rising  ideas.  "  In  those  early 
days  it  seems  to  have  attracted  great  numbers,  for  more 
than  three  hundred  undergraduates  at  once  are  recorded 
to  have  studied  here.  Four  of  the  translators  of  the 
Bible  were  Emmanuel  men;  during  the  Commonwealth 
it  gave  Heads  to  no  fewer  than  eleven  Colleges."     After 

30 


466  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 


the  Restoration,  Sancroft  was  made  master,  that  he 
might  purge  out  the  Puritan  leaven,  and  succeeded  so 
thoroughly  that  the  College  shrank  to  half  its  size, 
under  the  influence  of  High  Church  theology  and  the 
Tory  politics  of  the  time.  The  Bishop's  graphic  picture  of 
the  strength  and  weakness  of  Puritanism  make  "  Sowing 
and  Seeding"  one  of  his  happiest  utterances.  At  the 
luncheon  which  followed  next  day,  he  touched  on  his 
ancient  connexion  with  the  College.  "  I  came  up  as  a  boy 
to  Emmanuel,  and  for  fifty-six  years  have  been  one  of  her 
sons.  I  lived  here  twelve  years  as  a  Scholar,  ten  as  a 
resident  Professor,  and  ten  as  Bishop  of  Ely,  in  all  that 
time  enjoying  the  closest  connexion  with  the  College." 

It  was  a  year  of  commemorations.  Hardly  was  the 
first  over,  when  he  came  to  Winchester  to  honour  the  seven- 
hundredth  anniversary  of  the  Mayoralty  and  civic  con- 
stitution of  the  city,  and  at  the  banquet  claimed  for  Church 
and  clei^  that  they  "  had  ever  been  on  the  side  of  liberty." 
A  few  weeks  later,  as  Senior  Steward,  he  presided  over  the 
yearly  festival  of  the  Natives'  Society,  which  had  been 
established  in  the  time  of  Charles  H.  to  succour  the  orphans 
of  those  who  perished  at  Winchester  in  the  Plague  of  1666. 
He  took  the  opportunity  of  disclaiming  all  party  feelings. 
"  I  have  a  great  horror  of  politics,"  he  said,  "  and  often  widi 
there  were  no  such  thing  in  existence.  .  .  .  Party  politics 
ruin  friendships,  and  I  have  dear  friends  on  both  sides. 
It  is  not  so'  bad  now  as  in  the  days  of  the  Reform  Bill, 
when,  at  a  Northamptonshire  ball,  the  Whigs  took  one  side 
of  the  room  and  the  Tories  the  other,  and  a  Whig  lady 
would  not  dance  with  a  Tory  gentleman,  or  a  Tory  lady 
with  a  Whig." 

From  the  Church  Congress  at  Carlisle,  where  he  read  a 
paper  on  the  "  Advantages  of  an  Established  Church,"  and 
urged  his  hearers  to  pursue  the  noblest  form  of  "  Church 


IV]  ADMINISTRATION  AT  WINCHESTER.  ^67 

defence/*  the  form  of  devotion  to  the  cause  of  the  gospel 
among  the  neglected  masses  of  our  fellow-countrymen,  he 
passed  into  Scotland.  There  he  was  present  at  the  most 
interesting  anniversary  of  all,  the  centenary  of  the  con- 
secration of  the  first  American  Bishop,  Dr.  Seabury, 
(November  14th,  1784).  The  occasion  appealed  to  his 
very  heart.  He  saw  in  it  the  germ  of  unity  among  the 
many  branches,  English,  Scottish,  American,  Colonial,  of 
the  Anglican  Church.  In  his  speech  on  the  occasion  he 
again  urged  the  double  duty  of  our  Church,  to  be  the 
Church  of  the  poor  and  suffering,  and  also  to  be  the 
mother  of  united  Churches  and  bearer  of  a  message  of 
peace  and  fraternal  love  to  other  bodies  of  Christians. 
Looking  back  on  this  period  of  activity  he  writes  i— 

"  Carlisle  was  hard  work ;  so  was  Aberdeen,  at  which 
I  had  to  represent  the  English  Episcopate ;  for  Carlisle 
[Harvey  Goodwin]  was  only  there  one  day,  and  I  was  the 
senior  Bishop.  So  I  had  plenty  of  speeches  to  make, 
besides  one  special  address.  It  was  very  interesting :  five 
American  Bishops,  six  Scotch  (all  but  the  good  old  Primus), 
Gibraltar  and  Maritzburg  for  the  Colonies.  The  functions 
and  the  speaking  were  very  interesting,  the  congregations 
and  other  assemblies  crowded  and  large." 

The  Episcopal  Church  in  America  has  great  promise  of 
the  future ;  it  is  "  High "  Anglican  in  usage,  fresh  and 
liberal  in  opinion  ;  it  shews  how  well  the  Episcopal  system 
can  fit  the  untrammelled  freedom  of  a  republic ;  it  is,  too, 
a  wholesome  link  between  the  old  country  and  the  new, 
and  a  proof  that  establishment  has  nothing  to  do  with 
the  essence  of  a  Church's  life  ;  it  encourages  us  if  we  are 
gloomy  as  to  the  future ;  it  helps  us  to  bring  the  religion 
of  past  days  into  harmony  with  the  aspirations  of  the  new 
era  ;  it  speaks  successfully  to  an  independent  and  self-reliant 
people  ;  and  while  it  may  well  be  destined  to  modify  some 
of  our  stiffer  and  more  traditional  notions,  also  influences 


468  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DJ),  [Ch. 

in  a  really  conservative  spirit  some  of  the  cruder  tendencies 
of  the  modem  American  life. 

In  this  very  busy  year,  which  taxed  all  his  powers  so 
severely,  the  Bishop  still  found  time  to  take  part  in  many 
movements  which,  had  he  so  been  minded,  he  might  have 
left  on  one  side.  One  such  effort,  which  he  warmly  sup- 
ported, was  the  "  White  Cross  League,"  of  which  Lord 
Mount-Temple  and  Canon  George  Butler,  with  his  noble 
wife,  were  the  chief  supporters.  The  Bishop  asked  to  be 
made  President  of  this  League,  and  thus  shewed  his  sym- 
pathy with  all  efforts  on  behalf  of  social  purity  and  the 
protection  and  elevation  of  suffering  womankind.  In  this, 
it  need  scarcely  be  said,  he  was  most  warmly  seconded  by 
Mrs.  Harold  Browne,  who  has  ever  been  a  true  friend  and 
champion  of  her  sex.  At  the  close  of  the  year,  the  Bishop 
suffered  a  very  severe  loss  in  the  death  of  Archdeacon 
Jacob,  who  had  held  in  his  hands  many  of  the  threads  of 
diocesan  work  for  nearly  half  a  century,  and  had  grown 
in  power  and  breadth  of  views  all  that  time, — a  man  of 
remarkable  character,  humorous,  affectionate,  strong,  who 
by  a  long  life  of  hard  work  and  rigid  uprightness  and 
justice  had  endeared  himself  to  the  whole  diocese  The 
Bishop,  writing  to  Bishop  McDougall,  thus  describes  the 
shadow  of  approaching  death : — 

'*  Farnham  Castle,  December  i<M,  1884. 

"  My  dear  Brother,—  ...  I  had  plenty  of  work  in 
Winchester.  On  Sunday  I  preached  (necessarily  rather 
a  long  sermon)  to  a  very  large  congregation,  and  there 
were  many  communicants.  After  church  I  sat  and  prayed 
with  the  dear  old  Archdeacon  [Jacob],  and  after  the  after- 
noon service  I  confirmed  some  boys  who  had  been  on  the 
sick-list  when  I  held  my  confirmation  in  the  College.  .  .  . 
On  Monday  morning  I  administered  Holy  Communion  to 
the  Archdeacon.  He  is  very  feeble  ;  but  his  pulse  is  firm 
and  fairly  strong,  and  his  hands  are  warm.     He  is  full  of 


IV.]  ADMINISTRATION  AT  WINCHESTER,  469 

goodness  and  faith  as  ever.  I  had  rather  a  tiring  day 
yesterday,  having  to  go  down  to  Southampton  to  con- 
secrate Northam  Church.  The  weather  was  very  wet  and 
unpleasant.  This  is  a  very  heavy  week,  for  to-morrow  I 
have  to  open  Kingsworthy  Church ;  on  Friday  S.  P.  G.; 
two  meetings  at  Southampton,  where  temperance  and 
other  novelties  have  shelved  old  societies  and  old  work  ; 
and  on  Sunday  I  have  to  preach  at  Peper-Harow  for  the 
opening  of  a  new  organ.  I  generally  avoid  organs,  if  I 
can  ;  but  Lord  Midleton  is  a  very  kind  neighbour,  and 
was  Barry's  patron,  and  I  did  not  like  to  refuse.  But  this 
is  a  bad  preparation  for  next  week,  the  Ordination 
Examination." 

Archdeacon  Jacob  died  on  December  21st,  1884;  and 
the  Bishop  took  his  funeral  at  Crawley,  in  the  midst  of 
a  crowd  of  old  friends  and  parishioners. 

Next  year,  on  April  30th,  Bishop  Harold  Browne  saw 
the  close  of  one  of  the  most  anxious  of  all  his  tasks.  In 
the  Jerusalem  Chamber  at  Westminster  the  Old  Testament 
Revisers  met  that  day  to  present  copies  of  their  completed 
work  to  the  President  of  the  Upper  and  the  Prolocutor  of 
the  Lower  Houses  of  Convocation.  The  Bishop,  as  chair- 
man of  the  Revising  Committee,  gave  a  brief  address  on  the 
course  of  their  labours.  They  had  begun  on  May  6th,  1870, 
sitting  without  a  serious  break  for  nearly  fifteen  years.  Of 
the  sixteen  original  members,  only  six  saw  the  completion 
of  the  task.  They  had  been  authorised  to  invite  the  help 
of  any,  of  whatever  nation  or  religious  body,  who  were 
learned  in  the  Scriptures  ;  they  had  done  so  with  great 
advantage.  They  had  hoped  in  vain  for  the  aid  of  Cardinal 
Newman ;  but  the  Roman  Church  could  not  take  part. 
Bishop  Thirlwall  had  been  their  first  chairman,  and  when 
he  was  taken  away.  Bishop  Harold  Browne  had  succeeded 
him  (with  exception  of  a  period  of  ill-health)  down  to  the 
end.  He  had  been  brought  back  to  the  work  at  the  urgent 
request  of  the  Bishop  of  Peterborough,  in  order  that  he 


470  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D,D.  [Ch. 

might  have  the  chief  hand  in  drawing  up  the  important 
preface  to  the  new  version.  The  Bishop  writes  thus  early 
in  July  1884: — 

"  I  took  the  chair  for  the  last  time.  We  finished  the 
preface,  putting  the  final  touch  to  the  whole  work.  We 
gave  God  thanks,  and  I  finally  dismissed  the  company, 
which  has  worked  now  for  fourteen  years,  with  the  blessing. 
I  feel  it  a  great  privilege  to  be  accepted  as  the  Chairman 
of  so  learned  a  body,  engaged  on  so  great  a  work  ;  though 
of  late  I  have  been  able  to  do  so  little  of  it.  I  think  we 
shall  come  before  the  Church  with  a  much  more  conserva- 
tive dress  than  the  New  Testament  company.  Our  work 
has  necessarily  been  of  a  different  character  from  theirs,  and 
we  have  been  less  daring." 

The  result  of  their  eighty-five  sessions,  each  of  which 
usually  lasted  nine  days,  has  been  in  the  main  a  great  gain. 
The  beauty  of  the  Authorised  Version  has  been  kept ;  altera- 
tions are  judicious  and  conservative ;  the  power  of  adverse 
criticism  is  greatly  lessened.  It  is  a  formidable  thing  to 
criticise  on  a  basis  of  Hebrew,  in  face  of  some  of  the  best 
Hebraists  in  Europe  ;  consequently,  the  Old  Testament 
Revised  Version  has  been  treated  with  far  greater  respect 
than  fell  to  the  share  of  the  New  Testament,  of  which 
every  one  who  knew  a  little  classical  Greek  deemed  him 
self  to  be  a  competent  judge.  The  Old  Testament 
Revision  is  a  great  and  valuable  help  towards  the  under- 
standing of  the  Bible  in  English. 

In  this  year,  his  tender  feeling  for  the  afflicted  made 
him  listen  to  the  appeals  of  the  deaf  and  dumb  in  his 
diocese ;  and  he  ordained  as  Deacon  Mr.  R.  A.  Pearce,  a 
deaf  mute,  who  for  some  years  had  been  a  lay-agent  among 
his  afflicted  brethren.  The  Deaf  and  Dumb  Mission  has 
throughout,  thanks  largely  to  the  energy  of  Canon  Mans- 
field Owen,  been  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  successful 
of  the  spiritual  agencies  of  the  Hampshire  Diocesan  Society. 


IV.]  ADMINISTRATION  AT  WINCHESTER.  471 


The  Bishop  also  threw  himself  warmly  into  the  efforts  being 
made  for  the  education  of  wha^t  are  sometimes  called  the 
middle  classes  :  he  had  supported  Canon  Sapte's  successful 
^heme  for  a  boys*  school  at  Cranleigh,  and  in  June  1885 
took  tht  lead  in  the  establishment  of  a  similar  sqhool  for 
girls  at  Bramley,  filso  in  Surrey.  He  saw  the  great  inipprt- 
ance  of  wholesome  education  for  girls,  and  that  it  would 
be  vain  to  bar  the  way  to  their  eager  ambition  for  know- 
ledge ;  in  ever-swelling  numbers  they  are  finding  out  that 
there  are  ends  in  life  higher  than  the  ball-room,  and  that 
knowledge  is  better  company  than  society.  He  aimed 
at  so  directing  this  eagerness,  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
and  hopeful  characteristics  of  this  age,  that  the  gospel  of 
Jesus  Christ  might  not  be  left  out  of  court  in  education. 
He  deemed  it  needful  for  the  truest  and  highest  develop- 
ment of  the  human  character. 

"  It  is  of  vital  consequence,"  he  writes,  "  to  future  genera- 
tions that  education  should  be  conducted  on  the  highest 
principles  of  refinement,  morality,  and  religion.  .  .  .  The 
women  of  a  nation  are  its  earliest  and  most  effective 
teachers,  and  they  specially  need  to  be  well  taught" 

And  this  led  him  also  warmly  to  support  the  plans 
which,  a  little  later,  Mrs.  Sumner  laid  before  him  for  a 
"Mothers'  Union."  He  drew  up  a  circular,  which  was 
sent  to  every  clergyman  in  his  diocese. 

"  I  believe  the  Union,"  he  says,  "  to  be  a  real  help  in 
producing  a  moral  and  religious  tone  in  the  family  life  of 
our  people.  Pure  and  Christian  homes,  which  depend 
much  on  the  mother,  are  the  greatest  strength  of  our 
nation.  ...  I  hope,"  he  adds,  at  the  time  of  his  withdrawal 
from  public  life,  "  I  shall  never  cease  to  remember  the 
good  work  the  society  is  doing,  and  to  pray  for  a  blessing 
upon  it" 

This  Union,  which  was  made  diocesan  only  in  1887,  has 


472  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DM,  [Ch. 

spread  with  most  amazing  rapidity  all  over  the  kingdom, 
until  now  it  numbers  over  seventy  thousand  members,  of 
all  ranks  and  classes,  banded  together  to  uphold  the 
sanctity  of  marriage,  to  arouse  in  parents  more  sense  of 
their  duty  to  their  children,  and  a  greater  personal  zeal 
for  purity  and  holiness  of  life.  The  President  appeals  to 
all  mothers  to  help  forward  so  good  a  work,  and  so  "  to 
make  England's  future  better  than  her  past"  The  old 
prelate's  blessing  has  surely  done  much  to  strengthen  and 
expand  this  wholesome  attempt  to  encourage  the  Christian 
bringing  up  of  our  children  even  from  the  knee. 

It  was  in  this  year  1885  that  Bishop  Harold  Browne 
presided  over  the  Church  Congress,  at  Portsmouth,  and 
gave  us  an  account  of  the  first  beginning  of  Convocation, 
and  of  these  yearly  meetings. 

"  I  am  the  only  living  prelate,"  he  says,  **  I  am  one  of 
but  three  or  four  of  the  clergy  now  living,  who  sat  and 
took  part  in  the  Convocation  of  1852,  after  its  voice  had 
been  silent  for  a  century  and  a  quarter.  I  can  well  say, 
that  we  who  then  met  together  in  small  numbers  at  the 
Jerusalem  Chamber  rejoiced  with  trembling.  Parliament 
was  hostile  to  us  ;  public  opinion  unfavourable  ;  Church 
and  even  clerical  opinion  divided.  By  i860,  however.  Con- 
vocation had  nearly  established  its  constitutional  right  to 
meet  and  debate.  Still,  there  was  an  anxious  questioning 
whether  there  ought  not  to  be  a  lay  element  Difficulties 
were  in  the  way,  perhaps  happily.  Then  this  expedient 
of  Church  Congresses  was  devised.  We  met  first  in  King's 
College  Hall,  at  Cambridge.  The  numbers  were  smaS ; 
the  Bishop  of  the  diocese  [Turton]  too  old  and  feeble  to 
preside ;  no  member  of  the  home-episcopate  was  with  us. 
My  old  and  revered  tutor  at  Eton,  Bishop  Chapman,  alone 
represented  the  living  Bishops.  Still,  the  meeting  was  a 
success,  and  was  repeated  the  next  year  at  Oxford.  There 
Bishop  Wilberforce  gave  it  his  presence  and  encourage- 
ment, and  it  has  since  gone  on  growing  and  advancing." 

He  also  addressed  the  working  men  at  this  Congress, 


IV.]  ADMINISTRATION  AT  WINCHESTER.  473 


and  showed  a  surprising  knowledge  of  scientific  subjects. 
His  characteristic  defence  of  final  causes,  and  of  a  personal 
Providence,  made  much  impression  on  his  audience. 

On  other  burning  questions  he  kept  an  even  mind. 
Though  not  a  Home  Ruler,  he  regarded  Irish  matters 
with  sympathy  and  coolness  of  judgment,  and  was  very 
unlike  those  wild  opponents  of  everything  Irish  whose 
voices  are  heard  among  us.  He  saw  the  difficulties  of  his 
fellow-countrymen,  and  was  all  for  remedial  measures. 

"Imperial  affairs,"  he  writes  in  1886,  "are  sad  indeed. 
I  think  Lord  Salisbury  has  acted  unwisely  in  declaring 
coercion  for  Ireland  with  no  measure  of  healing.  England 
has  for  five  hundred  and  fifty  years  sinned  so  heavily 
against  Ireland  that  fifty  years  of  partial  repentance  cannot 
undo  the  evil.  We  have  sown  the  wind  and  reap  the 
whirlwind."  And  again :  "  I  am  not  a  bigoted  politician. 
If  Gladstone  had  proposed  what  I  think  a  possible  Bill, 
I  should  probably  be  a  Home  Ruler  now.  Even  now  I 
should  probably  not  vote  against  a  measure  of  his  for 
Ireland." 

On  the  exciting  subject  of  Disestablishment  he  could 
also  speak  very  calmly.  He  studied  the  processes  by 
which  an  independent  Church  might  organise  itself  so  as 
to  face  the  difficulty.  "  There  is  no  open  vision,"  he  cries, 
"yet  there  are  some  very  cheering  symptoms;"  and  he 
points  to  the  figures  of  contributions  for  Church  purposes, 
then  lately  issued,  as  showing  that  "the  people  would 
provide  for  their  churches  and  clergy,  were  we  despoiled 
of  our  goods." 

In  the  summer  of  1887  the  aged  prelate  took  part  in  the 
Winchester  festivities  at  the  Queen's  Jubilee.  In  a  speech 
he  then  made  we  see  again  his  love  of  the  middle  course, 
and  the  measure  of  his  hopefulness  for  his  country.  Lord 
Tennyson's  pessimist  poem,  he  said,  had  been  answered 
by  the  speech  of  an  optimist  Prime  Minister ;  and  "  I  am 


474  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D,  [Ch. 


inclined  to  take  a  somewhat  middle  line  between  the  two." 
He  thankfully  reviews  the  moral  and  social  gains  of  the 
half-century — duelling  stamped  out;  less  drunkenness, 
especially  in  the  upper  classes ;  oaths,  which  in  1837  had 
been  plentiful  and  part  of  a  gentleman's  furniture  of 
speech,  were  now  rarely  heard  in  society;  less  jobbery 
in  public  life ;  less  crime  and  violence.  Still,  it  could  be 
shewn  that  in  some  other  matters  we  were  not  better 
than  our  fathers.  Above  all,  he  thought  the  Church 
evidently  stronger  and  purer  than  she  had  been  in  1837. 

Near  the  end  of  1887  the  Bishop  was  an  honoured  guest 
at  the  consecration  of  Truro  Cathedral,  and  revisited  the 
scenes  of  his  clerical  life  at  Kenwyn.  Many  old  friends 
of  those  days  welcomed  him  and  Mrs.  Harold  Browne 
warmly,  and  revived  sweet  memories  of  the  happy  hard- 
jvorking  days  of  forty  years  before.  We  feel,  however, 
that  the  thought  of  failing  strength  with  growing  work  was 
on  him  ;  he  let  fall  hints  that  he  was  willing  to  stand  aside, 
though  the  entreaties  of  his  many  friends  had  stayed  his 
hand.  Then,  early  in  1888,  the  subject  of  the  severance 
of  West  Surrey  from  Winchester  came  up  again ;  and  he 
told  his  friends  that  he  was  quite  willing  to  withdraw,  if 
by  so  doing  he  could  clear  the  way  for  good.  As  to  an 
actual  subdivision  of  the  diocese,  he  spoke  strongly  against 
a  diocese  of  Southwark ;  he  thought  the  Channel  Island 
bishopric,  in  spite  of  its  great  unpopularity  among  the 
islanders,  would  be  the  best  solution.  This,  ho^wever,  .\yas 
felt  to  be  impossible,  and  the  subject  dropped. 

The  Bishop,  shortly  after  this,  was  called  on  to  deal  with 
a  matter  which  offered  many  points  of  interest  to  him. 
In  the  spring  of  1888  application  had  been  made  to  him 
in  the  matter  of  the  marriage  of  Prince  Oscar  of  Sweden. 
In  February  the  Swedish  Anabassador,  Count  Piper,  had 
consulted  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.     Prir\ce  Oscar, 


IV.]  ADMINISTRATION  AT  WINCHESTER.  475 

deeply  attached  to  Miss  Ebba  Munck,  maid  of  honour  to 
the  Crown  Princess  of  Sweden,  was  willing  to  give  up  his 
claim  to  the  succession  to  the  Swedish  throne,  for  the  sake 
of  marrying  her ;  and  as  the  Queen  of  Sweden  was  win- 
tering that  year  at  Bournemouth,  they  were  all  most 
anxious  that  the  wedding  should  take  place  there.  It 
must,  however,  be  solemnised  after  the  Swedish,  not  the 
English  rite,  to  secure  the  validity  of  the  marriage  in 
Sweden.  And  here  the  difficulty  arose.  The  first  idea 
was  that  it  might  take  place  in  Holy  Trinity  Church, 
Bournemouth.     This,  however,  was  found  to  be  illegal. 

"  But  if  a  church  not  consecrated,  and  not  licensed  for 
marriages,  could  be  found,  there  would  be  no  legal  impedi- 
ment Only  in  this  case  the  registrar  must  attend  the 
ceremony,  and  it  would  be,  according  to  English  law,  a 
proper  civil  marriage  ;  it  would  also,  no  doubt,  if  performed 
with  Swedish  rites,  be  a  proper  religious  marriage  so  far 
as  the  Church  of  Sweden  is  concerned." 

Nor  would  any  special  license  be  needed.  Now  St. 
Stephen's,  Bournemouth,  was  just  in  this  position,  neither 
consecrated  nor  licensed  for  marriages;  and  was,  with 
permission  of  the  incumbent,  available.  The  Archbishop 
suggested  that  the  assent  of  the  Bishop  of  the  diocese 
ought  to  be  obtained.  The  Bishop,  on  being  asked,  at 
once  replied,  readily  assenting. 

"  It  will  give  me  great  pleasure,"  he  writes,  "  to  sanction 
the  use  of  St  Stephen's  Church,  Bournemouth,  for  the 
marriage.  ...  I  am  very  glad  that  the  legal  difficulties 
can  thus  be  overcome.  I  will  communicate  with  the 
incumbent  of  St  Stephen's,  who,  I  trust,  will  offer  no 
objection." 

Mr.  Bennett,  the  vicar,  made  no  difficulty  about  it ;  and 
the  wedding  took  place  there  in  due  time. 

The  Bishop  rejoiced  in  it,  as  significant  of  a  brotherly 


476  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 


reunion  between  the  Swedish  and  English  Churches,  and 
as  a  step  forward  in  one  branch  of  the  work  in  which 
the  Anglo-Continental  Society  was  so  patiently  engaged. 
And  so  it  was  generally  regarded.  One  High  Churchman 
wrote  to  the  Bishop  thus  :— 

"  Your  Lordship  has  done  much,  very  much,  to  help 
forward  that  reunion  of  Christians  for  which  our  blessed 
Lord  so  earnestly  prayed;  and  I  think  that,  supposing  the 
Swedish  orders  are  not  precisely  the  same  with  our  own 
and  those  of  the  rest  of  the  Catholic  Church,  they,  as  a 
National  Church,  are  far  more  likely  to  seek  to  obtain 
'regularity'  from  friendly  prelates  like  your  Lordship— a 
consummation  devoutly  to  be  wished — than  from  tiose 
who  fail  to  discriminate  between  *  validity  *  and  *  regularity/" 

The  Lambeth  Conference  of  1888  saw  a  gathering  of 
one  hundred  and  forty-five  Anglican  Bishops  ;  and  Bishop 
Harold  Browne,  as  the  senior  prelate  present,  had  great 
influence  over  its  deliberations.  He  was  also  named 
Chairman  of  two  important  Committees,  on  his  favourite 
subjects — the  one,  on  the  relations  of  the  Anglican  Com- 
munion to  Scandinavian  and  other  reformed  Episcopal 
bodies,  and  to  other  non-Episcopal  Churches  ;  the  other,  on 
the  relations  between  the  English  and  the  Eastern  Churches. 
These  committees  met  at  Farnham  Castle  soon  after- 
wards. The  first  of  these  bodies  heard  a  very  interesting 
argument  on  the  validity  of  the  Moravian  Episcopate. 
And  in  the  Diocesan  Conference  at  Winchester  that 
October,  the  Bishop  referred  to  the  proceedings  at  Farn- 
ham, He  told  his  hearers  that  neither  Committee  had 
touched  the  subject  of  reunion  with  Rome,  nor  had  they 
dealt  with  the  Ritualistic  movement ;  and  he  once  more 
protested  against  the  Papal  claim  that  every  Bishop  must 
be  a  Vicar,  not  of  Christ,  but  of  the  See  of  Rome. 

The  gradual  diminution  of  the  Bishop's  strengfth,  and 


IV.]  ADMINISTRATION  AT  WINCHESTER.  477 


the  warnings  of  his  physician  against  railway  travelling, 
induced  him  to  apply  again  to  Government  for  permission 
to  have  a  Suffragan.  On  the  30th  of  November,  1888, 
Archdeacon  George  Sumner,  most  unselfish  and  energetic 
of  men,  was  consecrated  as  Bishop  of  Guildford.  All  were 
pleased ;  the  new  Bishop  was  much  beloved,  and  all  were 
thankful  that  the  aged  prelate  would  now  be  helped  in  his 
work,  and  might  the  longer  be  spared  to  rule  over  us. 
And  the  happy  choice  seemed  at  once  to  revive  his 
strength.  At  a  large  meeting,  in  the  following  February, 
on  behalf  of  the  Diocesan  Society,  he  spoke  with  as  much 
life  and  power  as  he  had  ever  shewn.  No  one  would 
have  thought  that  he  had  had  more  than  one  serious 
shock  to  his  constitution,  and  that  he  would  soon  be 
eighty  years  of  age. 

"  Every  one,"  says  one  of  those  present,  "  was  glad  to  see 
the  Bishop  in  the  chair  again,  looking  well,  and  proving  by 
his  admirable  address  that  he  had  lost  nothing  of  the  fair- 
ness, the  clear-sightedness,  and  sweet  reasonableness  by 
which  his  episcopal  rule  had  been  marked." 

And  now  there  came  a  fresh  call  on  his  powers.  Early 
in  1889  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  summoned  him,  as 
one  of  the  comprovincial  Bishops,  to  sit  as  assessor  at  the 
memorable  trial  of  the  saintly  Bishop  of  Lincoln.  The 
strange  perversity  of  the  Church  Association  had  singled 
Bishop  King  out  for  a  test  case  on  ritual  usages.  It  was 
as  if  they  had  been  careful  to  select  the  most  unfavour- 
able case  they  could  find.  He  was  no  mere  trifler,  but 
a  devoted  hard-working  prelate,  who  loved  Christ  well 
enough  to  pick  up  the  outcast  in  the  street,  and  who 
cared  little  about  ceremonies,  so  that  Christ's  work  was 
faithfully  done.  Happily,  the  general  feeling  of  Churchmen 
was  outraged  by  this  attempt  to  punish  a  man  who  had  in 
him  so  much  of  his  Master's  spirit. 


478  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  DD.  [Cbl 

The  trial  was  a  triumph  for  the  Primate's  sagacity  and 
power ;  yet  at  the  outset  our  Bishop  was  full  of  anxieties. 
The  Archbishop  was  claiming  to  sit  in  judgment  on  one  of 
his  comprovincial  Bishops,  who,  in  Bishop  Harold  Browne's 
eyes,  was,  within  his  own  diocese,  of  equal  authority  with 
the  Primate  ;  he  feared  an  attack  on  the  episcopal  authority- 
Yet  he  felt  that  here  was  a  purely  ecclesiastical  tribunal,  to 
which  the  accused  could  conscientiously  submit ;  this  court 
might  solve  many  of  the  difficulties  which  clustered  round 
this  and  similar  cases  of  semi-legal,  semi-ecclesiastical 
dispute.  He  doubted  whether  the  Primate  could  have 
safely  summoned  any  other  tribunal ;  he  thinks  that  all 
Churchmen  should  loyally  accept  its  decisions.  So  he  took 
his  seat  under  a  deep  sense  of  responsibility,  which  shewed 
itself  in  his  bearing. 

"  Harold  Browne's  face,"  says  an  eye-witness,  "  was  full 
of  solemn,  earnest,  eager  sympathy ;  he  was  reverent  and 
anxious,  and  apparently  keenly  sensitive  to  the  occasion, 
and  overwhelmed  with  its  magnitude  and  import." 

He  said  himself  that  "  the  issue  of  this  trial  was  of  less 
importance  than  the  permanent  relation  of  the  Archbishop 
to  the  Church,"  a  point  on  which  he  was  ever  sensitive 

Before  the  trial  was  over  his  health  compelled  him  to 
withdraw,  and  the  Archbishop  summoned  to  fill  his  place 
the  able  prelate  destined  ere  long  to  succeed  him  also 
at  Winchester,  Dr.  Thorold,  then  Bishop  of  Rochester. 

He  has  left,  in  a  reply  to  Canon  Lucas  and  others,  who 
had  presented  an  address  to  him,  the  substance  of  his 
views  on  the  subject. 

"  I  consented  to  act  with  the  Archbishop,"  he  writes,- 
"  in  the  beginning  of  the  whole  affair.  I  was  not,  indeed, 
allowed  a  voice  in  the  judgment  which  he  has  given  as 
to  the  constitution  of  the  Court ;  but  I  had  an  opportunity 
of  expressing  to  him  my  opinion  as  to  some  of  his  argu- 


IV.]  ADMINISTRATION  AT  WINCHESTER.  479^ 

ments,  before  he  delivered  the  judgment.  .  .  .  Since  that, 
illness  obliged  me  to  decline  to  act  as  an  assessor  in  future. 
I  am  not  sure  that  the  Archbishop  is  quite  happy  at  all 
this  action  and  cessation  to  act  On  my  part.  I  think, 
therefore,  it  is  my  duty  to  be  very  guarded  in  what  I  now 

do  or  say 

"I  think  all  this  is  reason  why  I  should  not  take  any 
steps  or  give  any  counsel  until  the  address  is  presented 
to  me.  I  shall  then  feel  at  liberty  to  reply  ;  but  I  should 
not  wish  it  to  be  known  that  I  was  even  consulted." 

And  then,  after  receiving  the  address,  he  replies  as 
follows.  It  will  be  seen  that  he  wrote  a  private  letter  ta 
his  friend  Canon  Lucas,  and  also  enclosed  with  it  a  full 
statement  of  his  own  views  on  the  subject 

"  Farnham  Castle,  Feb,  Zth,  1890, 

"  My  dear  Canon  Lucas,— May  I  send  you  the  enclosed 
as  an  answer  to  yourself  and  others  about  the  Court  of 
the  Archbishop?  I  am  satisfied  that  there  was  no  such 
Court  in  primitive  times — none  strictly  analogous  to  it  in 
mediaeval  times  ;  but  it  was  the  policy  of  the  Tudor  princes 
and  others  after  them  to  play  off  the  Archbishop  against 
the  Pope  on  the  one  hand,  and  against  the  Bishops  and 
clergy  on  the  other;  and  I  am  satisfied  that  the  Court 
now  summoned  by  the  Archbishop  is  a  Court  acknow- 
ledged by  this  Church  and  realm  since  the  time  of  the 
Revohition.  .  .  .  ." 

With  this  came  his  formal  answer  to  the  signatories  of 

the  address  : — 

'*  Farnham  Caotle,  Feb,  Ztk,  1890. 

"My  dear  Canon  Lucas, — I  have  received  through 
you  an  address  from  a  large  number  of  the  clergy  of  this 
diocese  expressing  great  anxiety  in  consequence  of  the 
decision  of  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  to  try  the  case 
of  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln  in  a  Court  presided  over  by 
himself  with  the  aid  of  assessors  only.  I  do  not  think 
I  can  enter  fully  into  this  very  important  question  ;  but 
I  should  like  to  say,  first  of  all,  that  I  doubt  if  the  Arch- 
bishop   could,   in    the    present    state  of    the    law,    have 


480  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D,D.  [Ch. 

summoned  any  other  tribunal  The  only  clear  precedents 
of  the  last  three  hundred  and  fifty  years  have  been  those 
of  Lucy  V.  the  Bishop  of  St.  David's  and  the  cases  subse- 
quent to  that,  which  were  dealt  with  on  the  same  principles. 
The  proceedings  of  Archbishop  Tenison  in  the  case  of 
Bishop  Watson  of  St.  David's  were  sanctioned  and  con- 
firmed by  all  the  Courts,  civil  and  ecclesiastical,  and  they 
have  formed  a  precedent  from  that  time  to  this. 

"Our  own  Archbishop  at  first  declined  to  proceed, 
doubting  whether  he  had  any  jurisdiction ;  but  the  Privy 
Council  decided  that  he  had  jurisdiction,  and  that  he 
must  proceed. 

"  Had  he  devised  any  other  Court,  it  is  very  doubtful 
whether  he  would  have  satisfied  the  requirements  of  the 
law.  Since  the  thirteenth  century  we  have  had  no  Pro- 
vincial Synod  but  Convocation,  which,  not  consisting  only 
of  Bishops,  would  not  be  a  Court  for  trying  Bishops 
according  to  either  primitive  or  mediaeval  practice  or 
precedent.  A  Court  consisting  only  of  Bishops  would  have 
corresponded  with  primitive  practice  ;  but  I  fear  that  it 
would  have  wanted  authority  from  Anglican  usage,  and 
would  probably  not  have  been  accepted  as  constitutional 
The  Court  which  has  been  summoned  has  at  all  events 
these  advantages.  It  is  a  purely  spiritual  Court,  yet  it 
cannot  but  be  recognised  by  the  civil  power.  It  is  com- 
posed of  elements  to  which  no  reasonable  man  can  take 
exception  ;  and  the  members  are  able,  thoughtful,  learned, 
and  evenly  balanced  in  religious  opinions. 

**  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  Archbishop  is  actuated 
by  an  earnest  desire  to  act  fairly  towards  all  parties,  and, 
if  possible,  to  still  the  angry  passions  which  are  threaten- 
ing not  only  to  turn  the  Church  militant  into  a  Church 
litigant,  but  to  bury  all  Church  life  and  work  in  a  confused 
ch^os  of  malice  and  ungodliness. 

"  It  is  therefore  surely  our  duty  to  pray  earnestly  and 
constantly  for  guidance  and  blessing  on  the  Court,  now  that 
no  other  Court  is  possible,  or  could  have  been  in  the 
present  instance  devised. 

"  Notwithstanding  the  very  able  arguments  of  the  Arch- 
bishop, I  may  say,  with  the  utmost  respect,  that  I  am 
unable  to  follow  His  Grace  in  the  opinion  that  the  Court  of 
a  Metropolitan  other  than  the  Synod  of  the  Province,  or 
a  body  of  Bishops  presided  over  by  but  independent  of  all 
control  from  the  Metropolitan,  was  legal  or  possible  in  the 


IV.]  ADMINISTRATION  AT  WINCHESTER.  481 


early  ages  of  the  Church.  I  agree  with  you  also  in  holding 
that  the  primitive  practice  should  always  rule  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Church  of  England.  Though  I  think  this 
tribunal  now  sitting  should  be  accepted  and  loyally  obeyed 
by  all  Churchmen  in  this  present  distress,  yet  I  concur  in 
the  opinion  expressed  by  the  Ecclesiastical  Courts  Com- 
mission in  1883,  that  *  in  the  early  Christian  Church  are 
to  be  found  both  principles  and  precedent  for  a  provision 
that  such  charges  and  complaints  should  be  tried  by  a 
tribunal  of  comprovincial  Bishops.' 

"  I  hope  that  hereafter  this  opinion  of  the  Commissioners, 
which  exactly  coincides  with  that  expressed  by  the  suc- 
cessive Lambeth  Conferences  of  1867  and  1878,  will  one 
day  be  embodied  in  a  law,  which  will  clear  up  all  difficulties 
in  the  way  of  the  constitutional  and  satisfactory  trial  of 
Bishops. 

"  I  am,  my  dear  Canon  Lucas, 

"  Ever  most  truly  yours, 

"E.  H.  WiNTON. 

"Rev.  Canon  Lucas." 

And  with  this  we  may  leave  the  subject  of  this  famous 
trial,  as  it  no  farther  affected  our  Bishop's  life. 

It  was  while  judgment  in  it  had  not  yet  been  given  that 
he  had  one  more  opportunity  of  shewing  how  deeply  he 
sympathised  with  all  efforts  to  bring  the  Church  and  the 
people  into  harmony  together,  at  the  consecration  of  the 
new  St  Mary's  at  Portsea.  Thanks  to  the  wise  energy 
and  power  of  Canon  Jacob,  and  the  munificence  of  Mr. 
W.  H.  Smith,  M.P.,  that  fine  building  was  ready  for  con- 
secration in  October  1889.  It  is  a  noble  structure,  which  can 
easily  hold  two  thousand  worshippers,  and  is  equally  well 
adapted  for  prayer,  or  praise,  or  teaching. 

In  the  following  year  took  place  a  scene  which  can  never 
be  forgotten  by  any  of  those  who  were  present.  The 
aged  Bishop,  still  making  brave  front  against  growing 
infirmities,  completed  the  fiftieth  year  of  his  married  life,, 
and  celebrated  his  golden  wedding  on  Waterloo  Day,  1890. 
The  whole  diocese,  knowing  well  that  we  should  not  have 

31 


482  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D,D.  [Ch. 

him  long,  eagerly  seized  on  this  opportunity  of  bearing 
witness  to  the  deep  affection  and  respect  felt  for  him. 
With  the  proceeds  of  a  general  subscription  a  goblet  duly 
inscribed,  an  illuminated  address,  and  a  purse  with  the 
balance,  £727,  were  presented  to  the  Bishop  on  July  iSth, 
1890.  The  day  should  have  been  June  i8th,  but  an  attack 
of  illness  had  put  off  the  reception.  When  we  met  him  he 
was  so  far  restored  that  he  met  the  large  crowd  of  friends, 
and  made  them  a  long  speech  of  singular  vigour  and 
clearness.  He  spoke  pleasantly  on  the  old  topic  of  a 
celibate  or  a  married  clergy  ;  glanced  at  the  connection  of 
St.  Swithun  (it  was  his  day)  with  Famham  and  Winchester, 
claiming  him  as  builder  of  the  original  Castle ;  he  also  paid 
a  passing  tribute  to  William  of  Wykeham.  On  the  same 
day  he  received  an  affectionate  address  from  his  old  friends 
of  the  Anglo-Continental  Society.  Her  Majesty  was 
pleased  to  send  him  a  message,  received  with  deep  emotion 
by  the  aged  and  loyal  prelate — 

"  Pray  accept,  as  well  as  Mrs.  Harold  Browne,  my  best 
wishes  for  this  eventful  day,  and  for  your  health  and 
happiness.     V.R." 

Among  other  incidents  of  the  day  was  the  tea-party  given 
to  the  old  people  of  Farnham,  at  which  he  said  a  few  words 
with  a  pleasing  and  gentle  note  of  sadness  in  them,  on  the 
fifty  years  of  his  happy  wedded  life  : — 

"  You  may  have  thought,"  he  said,  "  that  my  dear  wife 
and  I  have  had  no  troubles,  while  you  have  been  struggling 
hard  for  existence.  It  is  not  so  :  during  the  first  seventeen 
or  eighteen  years  of  our  married  life  we  had  sorrow  after 
sorrow.  Child  after  child  whom  we  loved  was  taken  from 
us.  After  that,  we  have  had  the  great  blessing  of  seeing 
our  children  grow  up  in  health  and  strength  ;  *  we  have 
seen  our  children's  children  and  peace  upon  Israel.' " 

The  sum   presented   to  the  Bishop  was  dedicated,  as 


IV.]  ADMINISTRATION  AT  WINCHESTER,  483 


people  generally  thought  it  might  be,  to  the  Deaconess* 
Home  at  Portsmouth,  for  the  erection  of  a  Refectory, 
with  rooms  for  a  chaplain  and  others,  as  well  as  dor- 
mitories. The  block  was  to  be  called  "  the  Harold  Browne 
Building,"  to  perpetuate  the  honoured  name.  For  the 
good  Deaconesses  occupied  much  of  his  thoughts  to  the 
end.  In  the  Church  Congress  of  1890  he  moved  two 
resolutions  on  Sisterhoods  and  Deaconesses  ;  and  in  his 
farewell  address,  a  little  later,  at  the  Diocesan  Conference, 
he  once  more  spoke  very  warmly  in  their  favour,  express- 
ing great  regret  that  deaconesses  had  been  in  both  west 
and  east  gradually  superseded  by  sisterhoods.  One  of 
his  last  prayers  to  his  friends  was  that  they  would  not 
let  this  primitive  institution  fall  into  neglect 

After  the  strain  of  the  golden  wedding  receptions  and 
festivities  the  Bishop  withdrew  for  a  while,  and  spent  a 
tranquil  month  at  Blackmore  Vicarage,  near  Petersfield, 
where  he  had  the  privilege  of  frequent  visits  from  his  old 
and  valued  friend,  Lord  Selborne,  with  whom  he  held 
long  talks  on  many  subjects  of  common  interest  both  in 
Church  and  State,  and  rested  tranquilly  before  the  final 
leave-taking. 


CHAPTER   V. 

RESIGNATION   AND  DEATH. 

WHILE  the  Bishop  of  Winchester,  at  his  golden 
wedding,  was  speaking  at  considerable  length,  I 
noticed,  that,  almost  in  front  of  him,  a  gentleman  was 
watching  him  with  much  interest  and  some  anxiety. 
Struck  by  his  look,  I  inquired  who  it  was,  and  learnt 
that  it  was  the  physician  in  charge  of  the  Bishop's  health. 
I  therefore  took  the  opportunity,  a  little  later,  of  introduc- 
ing myself  to  him,  and  said  that  no  doubt  he  had  felt 
somewhat  relieved  when  the  whole  ceremony  and  speech 
were  over.  "  Yes,"  he  replied,  "  I  well  might  be,  for  his 
Lordship  might  have  fallen  down  dead  at  any  moment" 
The  whole  machinery  of  his  tall  frame  was  completely 
worn  out,  and  the  heart's  sound  action  could  no  longer 
be  depended  on. 

He  had  long  been  lamenting  the  gradual  loss  of  his 
more  active  powers.  "  I  don't  feel,"  he  writes  from  Buxton 
in  1875,  "as  if  I  have  much  more  work  in  me."  And  in 
1880,  "Sloman  somewhat  encouraged  serious  reflexions, 
as  he  looked  very  grave,  and  spoke  of  an  escape  from 
serious  consequences.  Of  course,  I  should  never  be  sur- 
prised at  things  going  wrong  with  me,  when  I  want  but 
four  months  of  seventy  ;  and  if  I  had  all  the  faith  I  desire, 
I  should  feel  no  great  wish  to  live  on  too  long,  if  it  were 
not  for  those  around  me,  whom  I  fear  I  love  too  welL*^ 

484 


CH.V.J  RESIGNATION  AND  DEATH,  485 


A  little  later  he  complained  of  gouty  troubles ;  and  in 
January  1883  he  suffered  from  a  sharp  attack  of  fever, 
which  much  weakened  him,  and  made  him  say,  "  These 
things  tell  us  plainly  enough  that  the  veil  is  thin  between 
time  and  eternity." 

And  yet,  when  Sir  Andrew  Clark  examined  him  care- 
fully in  the  summer  of  1884  he  ended  by  declaring  that 
he  knew  but  one  man  of  his  years  with  so  sound  a  con- 
stitution. "  I  cannot  see,"  he  said,  "  the  chink  through 
which  his  soul  will  escape."  The  other  man  was  Mr. 
Gladstone. 

In  1885,  while  spending  November  at  the  "  Eagle  Tower," 
Southsea,  the  Bishop  was  troubled  with  much  bleeding 
at  the  nose,  and  was  ordered  to  keep  perfectly  quiet, 
and  to  do  nothing  for  three  months.  "  I  must  either,"  he 
says, "  think  of  resignation  or  of  handing  over  a  considerable 
share  of  my  work  to  a  stronger  man."  Then  it  was  that 
he  was  much  distressed  by  "  Winton's  "  strong  remarks  on 
the  neglected  state  of  the  diocese ;  and  his  son,  Mr. 
Harrington  G.  Browne,  wrote  in  reply  : — 

**  In  the  thirty-two  years  during  which  he  has  been  a 
Bishop  he  has  given  himself  very  little  holiday,  and  only 
when  much  needed  for  his  health,  as  all  who  know  him 
best  can  testify.  Several  times  he  has  taken  no  holiday 
for  a  whole  year." 

The  correspondence  resulted  in  a  warm  and  spontaneous 
movement  of  indignation,  which  took  the  form  of  an 
address  from  about  six  hundred  of  his  clergy.  Still  it 
was  clear  that  his  bodily  powers  were  slowly  failing.  One 
illness  after  another  shook  him.  In  June  1886  he  could 
not  address  his  candidates  for  Orders ;  in  Scotland,  three 
months  later,  he  was  laid  up  at  Edinburgh.  We  see  some- 
thing of  the  struggle  in  a  letter  from  Dr.  Burton,  whom 
he  ordained  in  1888. 


486  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 


"  I  shall  never  forget  that  day,  the  quiet  church  at 
Farnham,  and  the  good  Bishop,  so  ill  that  he  could  hardly 
kneel  throughout  the  length  of  the  service:  from  the 
constant  moving  of  his  feet  and  legs  you  could  see  that 
it  was  pain  to  him ;  and  yet  I  shall  never  foi^et  the  ' 
interview  with  him  in  his  study  when  all  was  over;  his 
calling  for  the  Greek  Testament  he  had  given  me,  and 
the  legend,  ravra  fuXera'  ev  roxnoi^  ladi. 

And  in  a  letter  to  Dr.  Burton  he  touches  on  one  of 
his  health  difficulties.  If  he  went  to  the  Highlands,  which 
suited  him  best,  Mrs.  Harold  Browne  ran  a  serious  risk, 
being  liable  to  throat-troubles  in  damp  air  ;  whereas  if 
he  followed  her  to  the  climates  which  suited  her,  he  was 
very  liable  to  be  the  worse  for  it. 

"  I  came  here,"  he  says,  **  for  Mrs.  Harold  Browne's 
health.  The  sea  is  about  death  to  me :  I  bear  it  better 
at  Bournemouth  than  elsewhere." 

The  zealous  help  ungrudgingly  given  by  the  Bishop  of 
Guildford  carried  him  on  for  a  time ;  yet  we  all  saw  that 
the  end  could  not  be  very  far  off;  and  at  his  golden 
wedding  day,  no  one  would  have  been  surprised  had  he 
announced  his  resignation  of  the  See.  A  month  after  that 
day  he  took  the  requisite  steps,  and  in  the  diocesan  Con- 
ference in  the  October  following  made  public  reference  to 
it.  He  then  reviewed  the  work  done  during  his  episcopate ; 
a  list  of  practical  matters.  He  names  the  Girls'  Friendly 
Society,  the  Mothers'  Union,  the  Great  Town's  Mission 
at  Portsea,  the  Young  Men's  Friendly  Society,  the  Guild 
of  St.  George,  the  efforts  on  behalf  of  St  Thomas' 
Home,  the  establishment  of  Connaught  House  for  neglected 
girls,  the  "  Watchers  and  Workers,"  the  Aldershot  Ladies' 
Society.  The  emotion  of  the  Conference  and  the  speeches 
which  followed  the  announcement  shewed  the  Bishop  how 
warm  was  the  feeling  throughout  the  diocese.     It  brought 


v.]  RESIGNATION  AND  DEATH,  487 


out   the  touching  and   simple  humility  of  his  character. 
Writing  soon  after  to  the  Dean  he  says  : — 

"  Especially  I  want  to  tell  you  how  deeply  I  was  touched 
by  your  words  concerning  myself  at  the  Conference.  I 
could  bear  the  others,  for  I  am  not  conscious  of  any 
intentional  neglect  of  duty  to  my  diocese,  or  of  kindness 
to  my  friends.  God  has  helped  me  so  far.  But  you 
attributed  to  me  faithfulness  not  to  man  only,  but  to  my 
great  Master,  and  I  could  feel  only  ashamed  and  con- 
founded, when  my  conscience  told  me  how  I  had  neglected 
His  calling,  been  deaf  (how  often  !)  to  His  teachings,  and 
especially  had  been  ungrateful  for  His  love.  You  did  not 
mean  to  abash  me,  and  I  am  very  grateful  for  your 
friendship." 

Very  soon  after  this,  on  October  nth,  1890,  the  news- 
papers announced  that  Dr.  Thorold,  Bishop  of  Rochester, 
was  to  be  his  successor.  The  knowledge  that  an  active 
prelate,  of  well-tried  experience  in  every  branch  of  Church 
work,  skilled  in  the  organisation  of  a  diocese,  moderate 
and  tolerant,  and  a  man  of  real  depth  of  spiritual  life, 
would  take  his  place,  must  have  been  a  real  comfort  to 
the  aged  Bishop  as  he  laid  down  the  burden  he  had  borne 
so  long.  And  yet  his  heart  was  full  of  longings  and 
regrets.  Nothing  but  a  high  sense  of  duty  would  have 
made  him  resign  the  crozier,  and  pass  away  to  a  quiet  life. 

"I  am  expecting,"  he  writes  on  November  24th,  1890, 
"  to  be  transplanted  from  this  place,  in  which  I  had  taken 
deep  root,  in  little  less  than  a  fortnight.  I  can  work  no 
more  for  my  flock.  I  trust  I  may  still  be  able  to  pray. 
I  do  not  believe  in  *  well-earned  retirement'  I  would 
work  on,  if  I  could." 

The  last  and  most  fitting  public  act  of  the  Bishop  was 
the  Ordination  in  Winchester  Cathedral,  on  St  Thomas' 
Day,  1890.  Next  day,  at  Canon  Warburton's  house  in  the 
Close,  he  received  two  farewell  addresses  from  his  clergy, 


488  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 


and  in  spite  of  manifest  feebleness,  responded  briefly,  and 
so  humbly  and  touchingly  that  tears  were  not  far  from 
the  eyes  of  all  who  heard  him. 

Other  tokens  of  regret  and  affection  were  not  wanting ; 
one  of  these  was  especially  grateful  to  him,  as  indeed  it  well 
might  be,  for  it  indicated  the  way  in  which  he  was  regarded 
by  the  very  highest  in  the  realm.  Her  Majesty  the  Queen 
was  graciously  pleased  to  mark  her  kind  feeling  towards 
the  aged  Prelate  of  her  Order  of  the  Garter,  by  sending 
to  him  a  beautiful  reproduction  of  the  jewel  he,  as 
Prelate,  had  worn  on  all  important  occasions.  On  March 
27th,  1 89 1,  he  acknowledged  this  gracious  token  of  Her 
Majesty's  favour  in  these  terms : — 

"  Bishop  Harold  Browne  presents  his  dutiful  respects 
to  your  Majesty,  and  desires  to  express  his  most  grateful 
acknowledgment  of  your  Majesty's  most  kind  and  thought- 
ful remembrance  of  him  in  his  retirement  in  sending  him 
the  beautiful  jewel  of  the  Garter,  in  imitation  of  that 
formerly  worn  by  him  as  Prelate  of  the  Order,  and  in 
permitting  and  commanding  him  to  wear  it. 

"  He  can  only  assure  your  Majesty  that  he  values  it  most 
highly,  and  that  he  will  ever  prize  it  so  long  as  he  lives, 
in  memory  of  the  illustrious  Sovereign  whom  he  has  been 
permitted  to  serve  and  love,  and  who  never  forgets  to  do 
acts  of  kindness  and  speak  words  of  sympathy  to  all  who 
need  them." 

To  this  Her  Majesty  was  pleased  to  send  a  reply  in  her 
own  handwriting,  the  grace  and  kindness  of  which  is  very 
touching  : — 

"Balmoral  Castle. 
"  The  Queen  thanks  Bishop  Harold  Browne  very  much 
for  his  extremely  kind  letter,  and  rejoices  to  hear  that  he 
is  pleased  with  the  little  souvenir  she  has  sent  him  of  the 
office  he  held  as  Prelate  of  the  Order  of  the  Garter.  The 
Queen  much  regrets  that  his  health  no  longer  permitted 


V.J  RESIGNATION  AND  DEATH.  489 

his  remaining  at  Winchester,  but  she  hopes  that  the  rest 
and  quiet  he  so  much  needed  have  been  beneficial  to  him. 

"  The  Bishop  will  have  grieved  at  the  untoward  illness 
of  the  Bishop  of  Rochester,  which  obliges  him  to  abstain 
from  all  work  for  so  long  a  time." 

Many  other  leave-takings  sweetened  and  made  more 
touching  the  farewell  to  the  diocese.  Perhaps  none  was 
more  pleasing  to  the  Bishop  than  the  gift  of  a  beautiful 
set  of  silver  furnishings  for  a  writing-table  from  the  in- 
habitants of  Farnham,  among  whom  he  had  lived  so  long 
and  happily. 

At  last,  the  bitter-sweet  of  parting  over,  the  venerable 
prelate  took  possession  of  his  new  home,  Shales,  near 
Bitterne,  a  pleasant  country-house  a  few  miles  out  of 
Southampton.  Here  in  comfort  and  quiet,  among  the 
pleasant  woods  which  clothe  the  gravel-hills,  and  on 
a  delightful  rising  ground,  whence,  on  clear  days,  he 
had  a  distant  view  of  Winchester,  the  last  year  of  the 
Bishop's  long  and  active  life  was  spent.  Here  from  time 
to  time  he  saw  one  or  another  of  his  old  friends,  and 
occupied  himself  with  books  and  letters,  and  enjoyed  the 
constant  presence  of  his  beloved  wife  and  daughter,  and 
also  of  his  aged  sister,  who  accompanied  him  thither 
from  Farnham. 

It  was  not  till  June  17th,  1891,  a  month  after  the  Bishop 
reached  Shales,  that  the  Bishopric  of  Winchester  was 
formally  declared  vacant,  and  the  arrangements  for  the 
succession  of  Bishop  Thorold  to  the  See  could  be  begun. 
A  little  later  again,  on  February  3rd,  Convocation  met 
as  usual  at  Westminster,  and  all  felt  the  silent  eloquence 
of  the  vacant  chair  on  the  left  hand  of  the  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  which  had  been  so  long  and  so  well 
filled   by   the    late   Bishop   of  Winchester.      The    Upper 


490  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

House  paused  a  moment  to  bid  farewell  to  the  venerable 
prelate.  The  Bishop  of  London  moved  a  resolution  in  a 
fine  speech,  filled  with  a  deep  sense  of  the  beauty  and 
lovableness  of  his  character.     The  resolution  ran  thus  : — 

"  That  this  House  desires  to  record  its  sense  of  the  great 
loss  sustained  not  only  by  the  House  but  by  the  whole 
Church  in  the  resignation  of  the  Bishop  of  Winchester, 
whose  great  learning,  devout  spirit,  wise  counsels,  invariable 
courtesy  and  gentleness,  have  endeared  him  to  all  who 
knew  him,  and  caused  his  episcopate  to  make  a  permanent 
impression  upon  the  Church  at  large." 

And  very  happy  are  the  words  with  which  Bishop 
Temple  closed  his  speech  : — 

"  He  always  gave  the  impression  of  a  man  who  was  full 
to  overflowing  of  gentleness  and  love,  ready  to  accept  all, 
and  ready  to  bestow  on  all  the  tenderness  of  his  own 
nature.  And  to  that  should  be  added  the  impression  that 
he  constantly  made  on  all  who  held  converse  with  him, 
that  his  was  a  spirit  more  than  ordinarily  devout,  that  he 
was  one  who  lived  in  prayer,  one  to  whom  the  thought 
of  his  Saviour  and  his  God  was  ever  present,  one  who  to 
me  seemed  more  nearly  to  approach  the  character  of  a 
great  saint  than  almost  any  other  man." 

The  resolution  was  seconded  in  an  admirable  speech  by 
Bishop  Thorold,  his  successor  in  the  See  of  Winchester, 
and  he  too  dwelt  on  his  indomitable  love  of  work,  his 
affectionate,  sympathetic  character,  deep  learning,  innate 
modesty  and  gentleness  of  bearing  ;  he  emphasised  also 
his  singular  dignity  and  high  breeding.  The  Bishop  of 
Bath  and  Wells,  his  old  fellow-worker,  followed  next,  and 
finally  came  the  Bishop  of  Oxford,  who  seemed  to  say  the 
truest  thing  of  all. 

"  He  was  a  man  in  whose  presence  it  was  impossible  to 
say  an  ill-natured  thing  of  any  one.  From  him  there  was 
a  sort  of  effluence  of  kindness  and  goodness,  taken  in  con- 
junction with  his  great  learning,  most  accurate,  careful,  and 


v.]  RESIGNATION  AND  Dl 


loving  judgment,  which  made  one  fee 
any  talk  or  intercourse  even  by  letter 
and  good  a  man  he  was." 

With  these  words  our  Bishop's  put 
end,  and  the  greater  world  saw  him  m 
almost  to  a  day,  he  lived  in  "  tranq 
Keble's  November  leaves,  at  Shales, 
and  unwearied  care  of  those  arounc 
was  able  for  awhile  to  walk  hither  j 
grounds,  interesting  himself  in  their 
often  to-cra^e  northward  to  the  point  ^ 
between  her  sheltering  hills.  Over  al 
peace  and  thankfulness.  Those  wl 
grateful  for  this  time  of  still  relief,  a 
wants  with  watchful  affection.  From 
another  of  his  sons  would  come  and  ^ 
cheering  him  greatly,  even  by  the 
Thirlwall  Gore  Browne,  Rector  of  Far 
reach,  and  could  frequently  go  over  o 
an  hour  at  Shales,  and  renew  the  fres 
gratitude  to  a  father  so  wise,  so  cons 
A  few  letters  to  be  written  every  day, 
to  read  again,  to  listen  to  the  fain 
world — here  were  his  occupations  a: 
beneath  all,  as  the  fit  foundation  of 
hourly  communing  with  his  Heave 
offering  of  prayer  and  thanksgiving 
he  had  loved  and  served  throughou 
So  peaceful,  so  dignified  an  old  ag 
few ;  so  well-deserved  a  time  of  pes 
end  free  from  suffering,  save  from  tl 
powers,  was  the  fitting  and  merciful  < 
honoured  life. 

For  all  this — the  loss  of  life-worn  d 


492  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

interesting  and  sometimes  all-engrossing  work,  the  conscious- 
ness that  his  voice  could  no  longer  be  raised  on  high  for 
the  gospel  and  the  Church, — these  things  were  still  a  trial 
to  the  aged  Bishop,  and  threw  a  sadness  over  these  last 
months.  One  day,  the  first  time  that  I  had  been  able  to 
visit  him  after  his  retirement,  he  talked  to  me  with  all  his 
old  interest  and  graceful  urbanity,  as  he  shewed  me  his 
new  home.  Presently  he  carried  me  into  his  library  ;  there 
I  made  some  commonplace  remark  about  his  old  friends 
the  books,  which  never  grew  weary  of  him  or  left  him. 
To  this,  with  a  sad  resigned  smile,  he  replied  that  he  sj>ent 
many  hours  in  that  room  among  them,  laboriose  nihil  agendo^ 
as  he  added  with  a  sigh.  For  the  spirit  of  active  work  was 
still  strong  in  him,  and  he  never  was  reconciled  to  the  stem 
necessity  which  had  bidden  him  withdraw  from  it  On 
another  occasion,  after  I  had  sent  him  a  copy  of  a  book  on 
the  Cathedral  Screen,  he  wrote  : — 

"  Once  my  Cathedral  Church, — alas  !  no  longer  mine/  I 
no  longer  belong  to  it,  except  that  I  must  still  be  on  the 
bedc-roll  of  its  Bishops,  from  Birinus  through  Swithun, 
Wykeham,  Andrewes,  and  Morley,  the  patron  of  Ken. 
Though  I  am  buried,  I  am  alive  enough  to  be  sensible  of 
the  privilege  of  having  my  unworthy  name  written  for  all 
time  in  that  illustrious  roll." 

Just  a  month  before  his  death  in  December,  1 891,  he  had 
written  a  few  words  to  Bishop  Maclagan,  on  his  translation 
to  the  Archbishopric  of  York  ;  and  in  reply  to  the  Arch- 
bishop*s  acknowledgment,  he  sent  him  the  following,  which 
was  one  of  the  very  last  letters  that  he  wrote  : — 

"Shales,  near  Bitterne,  Hants, 

*' November  2otk,  iZ^i. 

"My  dear  Lord  Archbishop, — You  did  write  and 
most  kindly  in  answer  to  my  letter  hailing  your  appoint- 
ment to  the  Archbishopric.     Your  letter  jiist  received  is  only 


v.]  RESIGNATION  AND  DEATH.  493 


the  more  welcome  to  me,  though  a  work  of  supererogation 
in  you.  I  can  well  understand  the  heavy  burden  of  your 
twofold,  or  rather  manifold,  work.  I  pray  that  you  may  be 
more  and  more  supplied  with  the  strength  which  only  can 
sustain  human  weakness. 

"  The  reports  about  my  health  to  which  you  kindly  refer 
have  been  very  busy  of  late.  Three  months  ago  I  had  a 
third  paralytic  attack,  which  confined  me  to  bed  for  a 
fortnight  or  so.  By  God's  mercy  I  have  gradually  recovered 
a  good  deal  of  strength,  and  can  move  in  a  bath  chair 
about  my  garden,  and  sometimes  walk  two  or  three  hundred 
yards.  Of  course,  I  feel  that  at  any  time  I  may  be  called 
to  meet  my  God,  who  is  happily  my  Saviour  too.  But  at 
my  age  I  might  expect  this  without  warnings,  though  my 
sister  still  lives  at  ninety-four,  clear  in  mind  as  beautiful 
in  soul  and  body,  though  apparently  just  passing  through 
the  dark  valley  to,  I  trust,  a  bright  and  blessed  awakening 
beyond.  All  this  about  myself  you  will  forgive,  as  you 
asked  for  it  You  asked  my  prayers  too,  which  you  always 
have.  I  should  be  very  thankful  for  a  corner  in  yours. 
Few  men  need  fhem  more  than  those  who  have  had  so 
long  a  life,  so  responsible  an  office,  and  so  much  of  sin  and 
infirmity  to  deplore. 

"  My  wife  joins  me  in  very  kind  regards. 

"  Always,  very  affectionately  yours, 

"Harold  Browne,  Bishop." 

It  was  about  this  time  that,  worn  out  by  the  three 
successive  seizures,  he  wrote  the  following  letter  to  a 
friend  :  "  I  have  been  very  feeble  lately,  but  now  manage 
to  get  round  my  garden  in  a  bath  chair,  hoping  that  I  may 
yet  be  so  far  restored  as  to  reach  church  again."  This  wish, 
born  of  his  longing  once  more  to  taste  the  joy  of  an  English 
Church  service,  was  never  granted.  Instead  of  it  came 
that  far  better  and  higher  call  to  the  Church  of  God  in 
Paradise.  Without  suffering,  in  simple  confidence  on  his 
Redeemer's  love,  he  yielded  up  his  soul  in  the  early 
morning  of  December  i8th,  1891.  His  sister,  his  life's 
comrade  and  friend,  survived  him  but  nine  days,  and 
passed  peacefully  away  in  her  ninety-fifth  year.     They  lie 


494  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D.  [Ch. 

side  by  side  in  the  cemetery  of  Westend  parish,  awaiting 
the  Great  Day.  Even  more  than  the  pair  whom  David 
sang,  this  brother  and  sister  "  were  lovely  and  pleasant  in 
their  lives,  and  in  their  deaths  they  were  not  divided." 

As  the  glooms  of  night  rise  on  us,  we  turn  our  faces 
westward,  to  watch  the  last  message  of  the  day.  There, 
in  the  subtle  changes  of  form  and  colour,  in  the  silence 
of  sundown,  we  seem  to  see  well-known  figures  passing 
through  the  golden  light  into  another  clime,  in  which  God's 
waiting  saints  are  at  rest.  We  have  had  a  glimpse  of  the 
light  from  heaven's  gate  ;  and,  sorrowful  yet  rejoicing,  can 
discern  that  our  faces  have  caught  something  of  the  glow, 
dimly  reflecting  the  brightness  of  a  good  man's  life. 

Thus  passed  away  the  eighty-third  in  the  direct  succes- 
sion of  the  Bishops  of  Wessex  and  Winchester.  We  may 
never  know  how  far  the  Church  owes  her  sgife  passage 
through  more  than  one  serious  crisis  to  Bishop  Harold 
Browne's  wise  and  temperate  counsels  and  example. 
True,  he  was  no  party-leader,  and,  as  the  Times  newspaper 
wrote,  **  lent  his  name  to  no  heroic  measures,  and  recog^nised 
no  short  cut  to  a  spiritual  Millennium,"  and  consequently 
his  episcopate  lacked  "  prominent  or  emphatic  features  "  ; 
still,  he  was  a  happy  link  between  parties,  not  least,  though 
he  knew  it  not,  between  the  vigorous  and  advancing  section 
of  High  Churchmen  and  the  more  thoughtful  and  earnest 
of  the  Broad.  His  keen  feeling  about  social  wrongs  made 
him  an  unconscious  ally  of  the  modem  school  of  Church 
thought ;  the  dislike  of  badges,  the  refusal  to  crush  out 
opinions  he  did  not  like,  made  him  the  forerunner  of  that 
coalition  of  Church  parties  which  seems  to  mark  our  day. 
He  felt,  as  we  feel,  that  in  face  of  a  thousand  social  and 
religious  problems,  Christians  have  no  call  to  quarrel.  If 
the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  true  evangelic  message,  does 
ever  touch  the  labouring  world  of  our  day,  it  will  partly 


v.]  RESIGNATION  AND  DEATH.  495 


be  due  to  Harold  Browne's  sympathies  :  his  love  for  justice 
and  right  was  stronger  than  either  his  creed  or  his  scheme 
of  Church  order.  One  of  the  newspapers  said,  at  the  time 
of  his  death,  that  the  Church  of  England  was  losing  one 
of  those  men  who  are  almost  peculiar  to  her  communion. 
Though  his  political  leanings  were  mainly  conservative, 
he  never  shewed  any  partisanship,  save  when  he  thought 
"  the  Church  in  danger."  He  never  said,  as  many  did, 
that  in  a  clergyman  conservative  politics  alone  could  be 
respectable.  In  a  word,  as  one  of  the  journals  phrased  it, 
"  he  was  highly  valued  by  all  parties  in  the  Church  who 
deprecated  the  falsehood  of  extremes,"  and  who,  we  may 
add,  also  shrank  from  the  driving-power  of  enthusiasm  and 
strong  convictions. 

"  He  was  for  many  the  exemplary  instance  of  the 
*  safe '  ecclesiastic.  His  mind  was  essentially  contemplative, 
satisfied  with  calm  and  dispassionate  reasoning,  and  willing 
to  hear  both  sides  of  a  question." 

Perhaps  he  hardly  recognised  the  deep  truth  in  wise 
Verulam's  saying  that  "  there  is  no  excellent  beauty  that 
hath  not  some  strangeness  in  the  proportion "  ;  for  he 
loved  to  have  all  things  to  fit  in  with  his  clear-cut  theory 
of  the  English  Church,  and  shrank  from  any  divergence 
from  it,  to  the  right  hand  or  the  left. 

Yet  there  was  nothing  of  indifference  about  him. 

*'  There  is  a  danger,"  he  writes,  "  that  the  English  Church 
should  die  of  respectability.  I  confess  to  having  a  lingering 
love  for  respectability.  I  should  choose  for  myself  a 
gentleman-clergy,  sober  and  solemn  yet  warm  and  hearty 
services,  and  sermons  full  of  thought  and  wisdom,  though 
earnest  and  home-thrusting  and  spirit-stirring.  But  we 
want  mission-work  of  all  kinds  in  our  towns  and  alleys,  on 
our  heaths  and  hills.  Mission  chapels,  open-air  services 
suited  to  untrained  tastes,  sermons  that  tell  on  the  feelings 
without  offending  the  intellect ;    above   all,   the  enlisting 


496  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D,D,  [Ch. 


of  a  much  larger  army  of  workers  from  every  class,  rich 
and  poor,  high,  middle,  and  low,  to  work  as  subdeacons, 
lay  readers,  district  visitors,  deaconesses,  mission-women. 
There  is  nothing  in  the  National  Church  unfavourable  to 
all  this,  though  there  may  be  in  the  prejudices  of  her 
members." 

What  could  be  fairer?  The  pressing  problems  of  the 
faith  of  the  masses  of  our  people,  and  the  best  ways  of 
influencing  them,  were  rarely  out  of  his  thoughts.  He 
describes  his  relations  with  the  three  chief  Church  parties 
in  his  opening  address  at  the  Diocesan  Conference  of  1889, 
when  he  said  : — 

"  I  have  lived  a  long  life,  and  have  seen  and  known 
leaders  of  all  these  parties.  In  my  youth  it  was  my 
privilege  to  know  Simeon,  a  leader  of  one  section  at  that 
time  ;  I  knew  Keble,  who  led  another  section  ;  and  I  knew 
F.  D.  Maurice ;  and  I  can  say  that  I  agreed  in  the  main 
points  with  every  one  of  these  great  and  good  men,  and 
honoured  and  loved  them.  ...  I  could  heartily  subscribe 
to  the  chief  tenet  of  Simeon's  school,  that  Christ  is  the 
only  way  of  salvation,  and  that  no  creature,  earthly  or 
heavenly,  can  intervene  between  the  soul  of  the  sinner 
and  his  Saviour.  I  can  subscribe  to  Keble's  faith  in  the 
assured  presence  of  Christ  in  His  Sacraments,  the  commu- 
nion of  the  individual  with  his  Saviour,  the  indwelling  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  and  the  Communion  of  Saints.  I  can  join 
heartily  in  the  teaching  of  Maurice  that  the  Eternal  Father 
regards  with  all-embracing  love  those  He  has  created  and 
redeemed.  Nay,  I  doubt  not,  in  the  Kingdom  of  our 
Father  we  shall  see  each  of  these  men,  unless  indeed  (as 
Whitfield  said  of  Wesley)  they  are  too  near  the  eternal 
brightness  for  us  to  be  able  to  discern  them." 

And  a  month  later,  referring  to  some  controversy  which 
had  sprung  up  on  these  noble  words,  he  says : — 

"  The  assertion  that  I  am  a  High  Sacerdotalist  is  abso- 
lutely untrue.  I  am  quite  as  much  an  Evangelical  as  I 
am  a  High  Churchman.  ...  I  can  find  no  party  name  by 
which  to  call  myself." 


v.]  RESIGNATION  AND  DEATH,  497 


In  these  manly  utterances  he  never  speaks  of  himself  as 
touched  with  Broad  Church  qualities,  though  they  were  in 
him  just  as  much  as  the  others.  He  kept  them  back 
through  fear  of  those  extremer  utterances  which  had 
alarmed  him  in  earlier  life. 

His  eminent  fairness  of  mind  led  his  friends  to  put 
implicit  confidence  in  him.  It  is  very  striking  to  read 
among  his  letters  one  from  Lord  Beaconsfield,  then  Mr. 
Disraeli,  asking  him  to  suggest  a  vicar  for  Hughenden 
parish. 

"'Tis  a  vicarage  approaching  ;^400  a  year,  with  the 
prettiest  house  in  the  world  in  the  park.  The  duties  are 
ample  without  being  excessive.  He  must  be  a  gentleman, 
accustomed  to  country  life,  and  married.  If  his  Church 
views  resemble  your  Lordship's,  they  will  represent  mine  : 
pace  the  Record." 

At  another  time  he  asked  the  Bishop  to  send  him  a  list 
of  a  dozen  names  of  Cambridge  men  fit  for  bishoprics, 
deaneries,  canonries  ;  again,  he  consulted  him  as  to  Welsh 
Bishops,  saying  : — 

"  I  am  examining  anxiously  the  question  whether  I 
can  find  a  Welshman  proper,  who,  being  not  greatly 
deficient  in  other  requisites  of  a  Bishop,  would  have  that 
most  essential  one,  an  access  to  the  hearts  of  the  people 
through  the  free  and  effective  use  for  pastoral  purposes  of 
their  own  tongue." 

And  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  a  little  later,  in  1 876, 
Mr.  Gladstone  also  wrote  to  him,  craving  his  advice  and 
assistance  in  the  matter  of  the  jappointment  to  another 
Welsh  bishopric  ;  so  that  both  heads  of  parties  trusted  to 
him  alike,  and  looked  to  him  for   sound  advice. 

In  literary  matters,  also,  many  appealed  to  him  for  help 
or  information.  He  was  a  frequent  referee  for  the  Society 
for  the  Promotion  of  Christian  Knowledge,  and  often  gave 

32 


498  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D,  [Ch. 


them  sound  advice ;  though  the  task  sometimes  puzzled 
him.  In  criticising  some  book  submitted  to  him  he 
writes  : — "  It  is  difficult  to  get  really  able  writers  to  contri- 
bute to  the  Society's  publications,  if  their  hands  are  too  much 
tied.  The  unutterable  dulness  of  past  times  almost  ruined  the 
Society."  On  one  occasion  Mr.  Gladstone  asked  him  to 
read  the  proofs  of  an  Article  in  reply  to  Reville,  who  had 
accused  the  Prime  Minister  of  believing  in  a  primitive 
revelation.  "  You  will  tell  me,"  he  writes,  "  whether  in  this 
portion  of  my  subject  I  commit  myself  egregiously  to  any 
thing  false  or  foolish."  In  which  we  can  admire  equally  the 
modesty  of  the  great  man  and  his  absolute  confidence  in 
the  Bishop's  honesty  and  fearlessness  of  judgment 

Though  the  Bishop's  funeral  in  the  bare  new  cemeter>' 
of  Westend  parish  was  kept  very  quiet,  those  who  were 
there  on  that  bright  winter's  day  felt  that  one  of  the  best 
of  men  had  passed  away.  The  ceremony  shewed  the  same 
beautiful  union  of  true  dignity  with  simplicity  which  had 
marked  the  Bishop's  character  throughout.  "Avhpaaiv 
67ri^i/oi9  ^oo-a  yfj  Td<l>of: :  and  though  one  might  have 
wished  to  treasure  our  much-loved  Bishop's  remains  under 
the  shadow  of  the  Cathedral  Church  over  which  he  had 
ruled  so  well,  still  it  was  not  amiss  that  he  should  make  his 
grave  among  his  people,  and  lie- at  rest  beneath  the  open 
vault  of  heaven. 

And  as  we  watched  the  sad  group  round  the  grave,  there 
came  the  thought  that  this  was  truly  a  happy  man,  whose 
greatness  and  dignity  might  pass  away,  while  his  essential 
goodness  was  enshrined  for  ever  in  the  hearts  of  that  family 
circle  devoted  to  him  in  life  or  death.  Never  was  any  man 
endowed  with  more  beautiful  natural  gifts  and  qualities; 
never  did  the  grace  of  God  and  the  love  of  the  Saviour  do 
more  to  heighten  and  give  free  play  to  those  natural 
qualities.     "  The  greatest  of  these  is  charity,"  the  greatest 


v.]  RESIGNATION  AND  DEATH.  499 


and  most  lasting ;  and  this  was  true  of  him  throughout.  As 
an  old  friend  said  of  him,  "  I  cordially  agree  with  you  as  to 
the  marvellous  attraction  of  the  Bishop's  character,  which 
seems  to  have  resulted  from  his  intense  and  universal  love 
of  all  mankind,  combined  with  the  spotlessness  of  his  moral 
character."  Great  was  his  indifference  to  wealth ;  he  had 
no  happiness  so  great  as  that  of  ministering  to  the  wants 
of  those  who  depended  on  him,  pr  indeed  of  any  who  made 
suit  to  him.  He  was  the  friend  and  champion  of  the  weak 
and  down -trodden  ;  a  warm  lover  of  children,  and  one  who 
did  his  best  for  their  protection  ;  they  seemed  to  him  to  be 
the  special  charge  laid  by  Christ  on  His  stronger  servants. 
He  was  also  devoted  to  animals,  and  they  to  him.  There  is 
a  delightful  letter  from  him  to  Mrs.  Josephine  Butler,  written 
on  the  occasion  of  the  death  of  a  favourite  dog  belonging 
to  the  Canon  her  husband  ;  for  he  entered  with  all  his 
heart  into  the  friendships  between  man  and  beast.  He 
used  to  say  that  the  fidelity,  the  gleams  of  a  moral  sense^ 
the  power  of  amendment  and  improvement,  and  the  gift 
of  being  able  to  look  up  to  a  master  and  take  orders 
obediently  from  him,  all  indicated  possibilities  of  a  future 
life  in  the  dog-world.  And  he  told  with  great  interest 
and  sympathy  the  story  of  one  of  his  own  dogs  which,  as 
he  used  to  say,  became  "  a  converted  character."  It  was 
a  creature  of  bad  disposition,  with  many  evil  tricks  and 
ways.  This  animal  was  nursed  by  an  old  servant  of  the 
house  through  a  bad  illness  with  the  utmost  care  and 
affection  ;  and  when  the  creature  recovered,  it  was  found,, 
to  the  surprise  of  all,  to  have  "turned  over  a  new  leaf"  ;  it 
had  become  perfectly  sweet-tempered,  had  forgotten  or  laid 
aside  all  tiresome  tricks  and  ways,  and  was,  as  they  said, 
"altogether  another  dog."  After  the  animal's  death,  the 
servant  who  had  been  so  kind  to  it  seemed  inconsolable, 
and  Mrs.  Harold  Browne,  by  way  of  cheering  her,  said  to 


SCO  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D,  [Ch. 


her,  "But,  you  know,  the  Bishop  thinks  there  may  be 
another  life  for  animals  as  well  as  for  men,  so  that  perhaps 
you  will  see  him  again  "  ;  and  the  poor  woman,  with  tears  in 
her  ^y^s,  replied,  "  I  knew  it,  ma'am,  I  did  ;  but  I  didn't 
think  it  was  right  to  say  so  ;  but  now  if  the  Bishop  thinks 
so  too,  I  know  it  is  ail  right  with  the  poor  beast."  And 
Mr.  Carlyon  tells  a  charming  story  about  the  Bishop's 
tenderness  of  heart : — 

"  Coming  out  of  church  at  Thorney  Abbey  after  a 
confirmation,  I  was  immediately  behind  the  Bishop,  as  his 
Chaplain,  in  a  surpliced  procession  of  clergy,  when  a 
sudden  halt  brought  us  all  to  a  standstill.  It  was  only  that 
the  Bishop  saw  an  earthworm  crossing  the  path,  and  in 
fear  of  its  being  trampled  under  foot,  stooped  down,  picked 
it  up,  and  laid  it  tenderly  on  the  grass  beside  the  path ; " 

and  not  till  this  had  been  done  could  the  astonished 
procession  move  on  again. 

It  need  hardly  be  said  after  this,  that  the  Bishop,  with 
his  excellent  power  of  conversation,  drawn  from  a  thousand 
varied  sources,  his  invariable  courtesy,  and  gentleness,  and 
high  breeding,  was  an  eminently  "  clubbable "  man  ;  and 
when  he  had  the  leisure  for  it,  enjoyed  to  the  full  the 
social  pleasures  of  club-life.  He  was  a  member  of  "  No- 
body's Club,"  a  very  select  body,  originally  founded  by 
William  Stevens  in  1800.  It  was  a  gathering  of  friends, 
who  met  to  dine  together  thrice  a  year,  in  order  to 
support  "  the  principles  of  Religion  and  Polity  which 
guided  the  Founder's  conduct  in  times  of  spiritual  apathy 
and  lukewarmness,  and  of  public  restlessness  and  anarchy." 
This  club  was  in  fact  a  form  of  reaction  against  those 
movements,  which  sprang  out  of  the  enlargement  of 
the  world's  eyesight  by  the  French  Revolution.  The 
Bishop's  warnings  as  to  the  too  rapid  advances  of  his  day, 
his  fears  for  the  stability  of  institutions,  his  despondent 


V.|  RESIGNATION  AND  DEATH,  50I 


views  as  to  the  religious  and  political  outlook,  were  doubt- 
less in  part  due  to  the  influences  of  this  club.  He  was  also 
a  member  of  the  Athenseum,  which  he  visited  from  time 
to  time.  A  sarcastic  onlooker  speaking  of  him  there 
says : — 

"Nothing  ever  gave  me  so  vivid  an  impression  of  the 
power  and  beauty  of  Christianity  in  moulding  life  and 
conduct,  as  the  sight  of  Bishop  Harold  Browne  at  the 
Athenaeum,  *  a  light  shining  in  a  dark  place.' " 

Surely,  rather  hard  on  that  distinguished  literary  body  ! 
This  taste  for  club  life  was  in   the  Bishop  compatible 
with  the  simplest  and  sweetest  home  life. 

"  I  always  felt,"  writes  one  of  the  distinguished  daughters 
of  the  late  Bishop  of  Carlisle,  "  that  the  Bishop's  wonder- 
fully happy  marriage  had  much  to  do  with  making  him 
the  man  he  was.  I  began  to  know  and  love  Mrs.  Browne 
when  I  was  five  years  old,  and  have  always  had  the  same 
feeling  about  her.  The  Bishop  was  naturally  rather 
delicate,  and  always  worked  up  to  the  very  extreme  of  his 
strength,  and  did  not  naturally  take  a  very  rose-coloured 
view  of  things ;  but  Mrs.  Browne  always  made  sunshine 
wherever  she  was.  I  have  often  seen  him  come  home  so 
weary  and  fagged,  and  look  quite  dejected  ;  and  then  her 
lovely  thoughtful  sunny  nature  just  brought  him  into 
her  sunshine.  She  always  took  a  hopeful  view  of  things, 
and  by  entering  into  his  work,  not  professionally,  so 
to  speak  (as  is  rather  the  plan  now),  but  just  from  her 
sweet  wifely  sympathy,  constantly  smoothed  rough  places 
for  him.  No  one  who  has  stayed  for  weeks  together  with 
them,  as  I  have  done,  can  forget  the  picture  of  domestic 
peace  and  concord  hallowed  by  love.  And  then  her  spirit 
of  fun  was  so  exactly  what  he  needed.  When  we  were 
children,  in  the  Cambridge  days,  he  would  take  part,  as 
well  as  his  wife,  in  the  games  that  went  on  in  the  evenings, 
even  to  his  latter  days ;  and  I  have  always  felt  that,  great 
and  beloved  as  he  was,  he  would  not  have  been  anything 
like  the  complete  man  that  he  was  had  it  not  been  for  her. 
He  acknowledged  this.  Every  intonation  of  his  voice  shewed 


502  EDWARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D  D.  [Ch. 


his  loving  appreciation  and  tender  feeling  for  his  wife; 
and  I  remember,  in  one  of  his  parting  speeches  at  leaving 
Ely,  he  was  so  moved  as  he  finished  by  letting  his  hand 
just  rest  on  his  wife's — *  I  can  only  say  my  greatest  help 
has  always  been  at  home : '  and  every  one  knew  he  was 
speaking  just  the  truth." 

And  this  purity  of  affection,  this  crown  of  Christian 
charity,  made  itself  felt  far  and  wide ;  all  his  friends,  even 
his  merest  acquaintances,  confessed  the  charm  of  it,  and 
knew  that  here  was  a  true  and  transparent  rendering  of 
the  Divine  influences  of  the  Gospel.  What  could  be 
better  than  the  following  letter  to  Archdeacon  Jacob, 
who  was  a  very  zealous  total  abstainer,  a  man  of  strong 
convictions,  with  a  plentiful  courage  to  support  them  ? 

"Farnham  Castle,  Oct  7.%th,  1883. 

"  My  dear  Archdeacon, — I  must  write  one  line  to-day, 
though  I  said  something  about  it  yesterday.  I  have  thought 
much  of  you  on  this  your  eightieth  birthday.  I  have  not 
drunk  your  health ;  I  feared  you  might  think  health-drink- 
ing to  be  vetitum  nefas  ;  but  I  have  asked  God's  blessing 
on  you  and  yours,  specially  at  that  which  I  hope  is  an 
acceptable  time,  in  God*s  House  and  at  the  hour  of  Holy 
Communion.  My  unworthy  prayers  may,  I  hope,  be  offered 
for  me  by  Him  who  is  all-worthy,  and  in  whom  the  Father 
is  well  pleased.  I  must  ever  be  grateful  to  you  for  all 
your  loving  help  to  me  during  the  past  ten  years  of  my 
Winton  episcopate.  Having  served  for  nearly  half  a  cen- 
tury with  my  predecessors,  you  might  have  looked  on  me 
as  an  upstart,  and  looked  coldly  upon  me.  But  I  have 
ever  found  you  the  kindest  and  truest  of  friends.  May  it 
please  God  to  preserve  you  yet  to  us  as  long  as  it  can  be 
a  blessing  to  you  to  wait.  And  when  waiting  is  over,  may 
we  meet  where  we  need  neither  wait  nor  watch. 

**  Your  ever  most  affectionate, 

"E.  H.  Winton." 

Or,  taken  at  hazard,  and  at  very  different  points  of  his 
life,  what  could  serve  better  than  the  following  to  shew  the 


v.]  RESIGNATION  AND  DEATH.  503 


care  he  took  not  to  involve  his  clergy  in  needless  outlay  ? 
At  the  first  Ely  Diocesan  Conference  the  overflow  clergy 
had  to  be  billeted  out,  some  in  private  houses,  some  in 
the  inns.  One  rector,  from  the  wilds  of  Cambridgeshire, 
arriving  cold  and  wet  at  his  hotel,  called  for  "a  brandy- 
and-water  hot,"  and,  when  he  asked  for  his  bill  the  next 
evening,  was  told  there  was  no  bill,  and  that  the  Bishop 
defrayed  all  charges.  Thereupon  he  was  struck  with  terror. 
What  if  his  Bishop's  eye  were  to  fall  on  that  "  brandy-and- 
water  hot"?  So  he  begged  the  landlord  to  let  him  pay 
for  the  extra,  and  wipe  it  out  of  the  account. 

And  what  could  better  describe  the  kindliness  and 
simplicity  of  his  behaviour  towards  his  clergy  than  the 
following,  which  I  have  from  the  clergyman  to  whom  it 
occurred,  the  Rev.  Telford  Macdonough?  After  having 
been  disestablished  in  Ireland,  that  gentleman  undertook 
sole  charge  work  in  England.  In  one  case  the  rector, 
a  very  old  man,  non-resident,  demanded  from  him  fifty 
pounds  for  some  worn-out  furniture  in  the  house.  Mr. 
Macdonough,  however,  had  furniture  enough  of  his  own, 
and  demurred  to  the  charge,  declining  to  buy  what  he  did 
not  want.  To  protect  himself  he  appealed  to  his  Bishop, 
asking  him  to  hear  the  case  and  advise  him.  Thereupon 
Bishop  Harold  Browne  made  an  appointment  to  see  him 
at  a  convenient  point,  in  a  clergyman's  house,  at  which 
he  was  staying  for  some  episcopal  work.  It  was  a  bitterly 
cold  day,  and  the  Bishop,  feeling  the  cold,  as  he  always 
did,  "  sat  in  the  fire,"  and  insisted  that  the  curate  should 
also  draw  his  chair  close  to  the  blaze  ;  and  there  they  sat 
with  their  feet  on  the  fender  while  Mr.  Macdonough  told 
his  tale,  and  receivec  in  reti'rn  some  very  good  and  kind 
words,  with  sensible  advice. 

**  When  I  rose  to  take  leave,  the  Bishop  expressed  his 
regret  that  the  matter  would  have  to  end  by  my  taking 


S04  EDIVARD  HAROLD  BROWNE,  D.D,  [Ch. 

Other  work.  I  was  just  two  years  younger  than  his  Lord- 
ship, and  said  in  reply  that  I  had  private  means,  and 
might  very  soon,  being  so  well  advanced  in  years,  retire 
altogether  from  work.  To  this  the  Bishop  replied,  *Oh! 
do  not !  If  you  cry  out  for  rest,  what  ought  we  Bishops 
to  do?' 

"  It  was  striking  to  see  that,  when  the  interview  was  over, 
instead  of  ringing  the  bell  for  the  servant,  the  Bishop  rose 
with  me,  accompanied  me  to  the  front  door,  and  stood 
bidding  me  farewell  in  the  cold  breeze, — doing  it  no  doubt 
both  to  spare  trouble  to  the  servants  in  another  man's 
house,  and  perhaps  also  as  an  act  of  kindly  feeling  and 
generous  sympathy  towards  an  old  curate  in  a  moment  of 
anxiety." 

This  lovely  gift  of  sympathy  pervaded  all  the  Bishop's 
life,  and  gave  it  strength  and  weakness  at  once.  It  made 
his  patronage  a  great  trouble  to  him.  He  said  once  that 
he  did  not  valuie  his  patronage  in  the  least  degree,  except 
for  the  opportunity  it  afforded  him  of  sometimes  advancing 
a  good  man.  Nay,  his  patronage  was  perhaps  the  heaviest 
burden  he  had  to  bear.  He  took  great  pains  over  it,  and 
consulted  those  immediately  around  him,  shewing  himself 
very  sensitive  as  to  their  opinion. 

The  same  sensitiveness  made  him  feel  the  reality  of 
another  world :  coincidences,  omens,  dreams,  ghosts,  ever 
seemed  to  him  substantive  and  true.  When  he  had  tidings 
in  1879  of  the  death  of  his  daughter-in-law,  Mrs.  Barrington 
Browne,  he  writes  : — 

"It  was  very  remarkable  that  about  two  hours  after 
her  death  we  were  reading  in  our  chapel  service  in  the 
lesson  for  the  day,  *  The  damsel  is  not  dead,  but  sleepethl 
and  next  morning  we  received  the  telegram,  'Helen  fell 
asleep  last  evening.*  A  similar  coincidence  happened  to 
me'  twenty-two  years  ago,  when  my  eldest  daughter  died 
at  the  age  of  sixteen.  I  had  to  read  next  morning  in  our 
family  prayers,  *Weep  not,  she  is  not  dead,  but  sleepeth.* 
The  words  are  engraved  on  her  coped  coffin-tomb  in 
Trumpington  Churchyard." 


v.]  RESIGNATION  AND  DEATH.  505 


He  was  an  admirable  teller  of  a  ghost  story,  just  because 
he  had  so  much  belief  in  it  all,  and  had  a  fellow-feeling 
with  the  ghost,  and  felt  that  in  his  own  case  the  bound- 
aries between  this  present  life  and  the  larger  world  around 
might  at  any  moment  be  overstepped.  He  delighted  in 
the  respectable  ghosts  attached  to  Famham  Castle. 

"  When  strolling  over  the  Castle,"  Mr.  H.  D.  Cole  writes, 
"the  Bishop,  pointing  up  to  some  winding  stairs,  said, 
*  This  is  the  place  where  the  ghost  goes  up  and  down  ; 
but  we  have  never  seen  it,  though  that  room  (pointing  to  one 
door)  is  my  son's  bedroom.  But  then  he  is  a  lawyer,  and 
is  not  a  bit  afraid  of  it;  for  ghosts  don't  like  lawyers, 
because  they  always  want  to  argue  the  point  out  with 
them,  and  a  ghost's  brains  are  rather  weak  ;  nor  indeed 
do  they  like  curates,  because  they  are  sure  to  ask  for 
subscriptions  to  the  parish  charities,  and  that  puts  a  poor 
ghost  at  a  sad  disadvantage." 

This  was  the  good  Bishop  in  his  more  playful  and 
domestic  life.  And  in  his  more  public  life  also  the  same 
qualities  were  ever  discernible.  It  was  not  by  a  masterful 
will  that  he  governed.  "  He  ruled,"  says  Dr.  Millard,  "  and 
ruled  effectually,  by  the  power  of  men's  reverence  and 
affection  ; "  and  still  more,  as  Dr.  Millard  notes  in  the  same 
letter,  by  his  eminent  straightforwardness  and  simplicity  of 
aim  and  character. 

"  I  always  regarded  him  as  without  exception  the  most 
fearless  man  I  knew,  simply  by  virtue  of  his  singleness 
of  heart.  He  could  not  see  more  than  two  courses,  a  right 
and  a  wrong,  and  never  supposed  the  latter  possible." 

This  was  perhaps  sometimes  modified  by  his  deference 
to  the  opinions  of  others,  "  whether,"  as  Dr.  Millard  adds, 
"  country  squires  or  hereditary  ecclesiastics,"  in  which  his 
Christian  humility  led  him  often  to  defer  to  the  opinions 
of  men  far  beneath  him  in  power  of  judgment. 

But  the  time  has  come  for  us  to  bid  farewell  to  this  noble 


INDEX. 


Aberdeen,  American  Bishops  at, 
467 

Abei^gwili,  visits  to,  88 

Abraham,  first  Bishop  of  Welling- 
ton, New  Zealand,  9 

Act  of  Uniformity,  435 

Addington,  visit  to,  453 

Additional  Curates  Society,  261 

Address  from  six  hundred  clergy 
of  Winchester  diocese,  485 

"  Aids  to  Faith,'*  essay  on  Inspira- 
tion in,  209,  211,  212,  213,  242 

Airy,  Professor,  27 

Aitkenite  movement,  122 

Albury,  16,  17,  46 

Aldershot  Ladies'  Association,  486 

Allen,  Joseph,  Bishop  of  Ely,  44 

American  Episcopal  Church,  467 

Anderson,  Rose,  daughter  of  Mr.,  of 
Waverley  Abbey,  460 

Andrewes,  Lancelot,  Bishop  of  Ely 
and  of  Winchester,  258,  286,  369, 
388 

Anglican  Bishops,  gathering  of,  445, 
476 

Church  in  Ireland,  378,  380,  384 

Orders,  412 

Anglo-Continental  Society,  182,  228, 
229,  231.  407,  409,  413,  415.  445. 
459.  476.  482 

AngoulCme,  Duchess  of,  7 


Animals,  devotion  to,  499 
"  Antichrist,"  a  sermon,  1 56,  446,  461 
Apostolical  succession,  58,  386 
Archbishop,  Court  of,  for  the  Lin- 
coln trial,  479,  480,  481 
Archdall,  Dr.,  Master  of  Emmanuel, 

37,  165 
Archdeaconry  of  Exeter,  233,  234 
Archdeacons  of  the  Diocese  of  Ely, 

letters  to  the,  on   Dr.  Temple's 

appointment,  324 
Archdeacons,  the  four  in  the  Diocese 

of  Ely,  269 
Arches,  Court  of,  370,  371 
Armstrong,  Bishop  of  Grahamstown, 

160 
Arnold,  Dr.,  headmaster  of  Rugby, 

8,  38,  39.  286,  448 
'*  Articles,  Thirty-Nine,   Exposition 

of,"  81,  85,  462 
Athenaeum  Club,  501 
Atkinson,  Archdeacon,  449 
Aylesbiuy,  sermons  at,  196,  363 

the  Prebendal  House,  birth  at, 

3.4,6 

Baden  Powell,  Mr.,  209 
Baldhu,  Incumbent  of,  122 
Barnard,  Hebrew  teacher,  29 
Barnes,   Mr.  Ralph,   Chapter  clerk 
of  Exeter,  186,  237 


509 


512 


INDEX, 


Court  of  Appeal,  Archbishop's,  450 
Cranleigh,  boys'  school  at,  471 
Cuddesdon,    Theological    College, 
195 

Pavidson,  R.,  Bishop  of  Rochester, 

489 
Davies,  Esther,  marriage  of,  86 
Deaconesses,  358-62 

Home,  Portsmouth,  483 

Deaf  and  Dumb  Mission,  470 
Dean  and  Chapter,  265 
Degrees,  B.A.,  28 ;  M.A.,  36 
Denison,     Archdeacon,    143,    291, 

292 
"Diaconate      and     Lay     Agency, 

Thoughts  on  Extension  of,"  1 59 
Diocesan  conferences.    See  Confer- 
ence. 

life,  scheme  of,  264 

Society,  meeting  of,"  477 

Diocese,  size  of  the  Winchester,  458 
Disestablishment     **  a     deplorable 

evil,"  287 
and  disendowment,   376,  377, 

378,  385 
District  \4sitors,  121 
DOllinger,  Dr.  Von,  408,  409,  410, 

413.414 

Douglas,  Canon,  J.  J.,  B.D.,  83 

Downall,  Archdeacon,  197 

Downing  College,  Cambridge,  Fel- 
low and  Tutor  of,  37,  40 

Dublin,  Archbishop  of.  Lord  Plun- 
ket,  415 

Dundas,  Canon,  20 

Durham,  Bishop  of,  344.  See  Light- 
foot  and  Westcott. 

Durst,  Canon,  Warden  of  Dea- 
coness' Home,  Portsmouth,  362 

East     Anglian     Bishops,     yearly 

meeting  of,  282,  283 
Eastern  Bishops,  183 

Churches,  184,  476 

Patriarchs,  365 


Ecclesiastical  Courts  Commission, 

450,  481 
Edge,  Rev.  William  John,  40 
Education,  Diocesan  Board  of,  375 
Elementary  Education  Act  of  1870, 

374 
EUicott,    C.    J.,    Dean    of    Exeter, 

afterwards  Bishop  of  Gloucester 

and  Bristol,  221,  232 
Elsdale,  Rev.  D.,  442,  447 
Ely,  Bishop  of,  Harold  Browne,  222 

Bishopric  of,  247 

Dean  of.     See  Goodwin 

Diocesan  Conference,  anecdote 

of,  503 

farewell  to,  387,  390,  502 

ten  years*  work  at,  258,  264 

Emery,  Archdeacon  of  Ely,  180,  340, 

389 
Emmanuel  College,  Cambridge,  22, 

23,  24,  35,  37,  39,  60,  464,  465, 

466 
"  English    Church,     Position    and 

Parties  of  the,"  a  Pastoral,  424, 

425,  427 

Church  Union,  437 

Enthronement  at  Winchester,  397 
Enys,  Mrs.,  of  Enys,  visit  to,  191 
Episcopal  Churches,  407 
"  Essays  and   Reviews,"  196,   200, 

205,  320,  321,  324,  336 
Established  Church,  advantages  of 

an,  466 
Eton,  3,  8,  10.  14,  182 
Evans,  Prebendary,  8$ 
Exeter,  Canoniy  of,  234,  333 

Deanery  of,  199 

H.  Philpotts,  Bishop  of.    See 

Philpotts 

Salutary  Place,  69 

St  James',  Perpetual  Curacy, 

69 
St.  Sidwell's,  69 

Faithful,     Master     of     Warfidd 
School,  7 


INDEX. 


513 


Famham,  present  from,  489 
Famham  Castle,  alterations  made, 

402 

as  a  residence,  400 

conference    of  Old   Catholics 

and  other  Bishops,  413-15 

ghosts  at,  505 

golden  wedding  celebrated  at, 

482 

meetings  at,  476 

Farquhar,  Sir  Walter,  404 
Father  Felix,  conversion  of,  430 
Federation  of  Churches,  419 
Fellowship,  Magdalen  College,  Ox- 
ford, 34,  35 
Fen  Ditton,  first  sermon,  59 
Fraser,  Bishop  of  Manchester,  459 
Fust,  Sir  Herbert  Jenner,  135 

Garter,  Prelate  of  the  Order  of,  488 

Ghost  stories,  505 

Gibraltar,  C.  Sandford,  Bishop  of, 

452,  453-  454i  467 

Girls'  Friendly  Society,  486 

Gladstone,  W.  E.,  Right  Hon.,  M.P., 
8»  139'  347»  348,  379.  383,  429, 
455.  456,  457.  461,  485,  497.  498 

Gloucester  and  Bristol,  Bishop  of. 
See  EUicott 

Golden  wedding,  celebration  of, 
482 

Goodford,  Dr.,  afterwards  head- 
master of  Eton,  9 

Goodwin,  Harvey,  Dean  of  Ely, 
afterwards  Bishop  of  Carlisle, 
250.  267,  268,  269,  292,  335,  467 

Gordon,  General  Charles,  462,  463, 
464,  465 

Miss,  sister  of  General  Gor- 
don, 465 

Gorham,  the  case  of.  Vicar  of  Bram- 
ford  Speke,  135,  136,  137 

Gostick,  Mr.,  Wesley  an  minister, 
189 

Goulbum,  Dean  of  Norwich,  267, 
352,  354,  355 


Graham,   Dr.,    Master    of   Christ's 

College,  26 
Grahamstown,  bishopric  of,  160 
Grandchildren,  460 
Grant,  Archdeacon,  183 
Graves,  Hon.   Henry,   portrait   by, 

107 
Gray,  Bishop  of  Cape  Town,    160, 

216,  296,  297,  298.  299,  308,  310. 
Greek  Churches,  409 
Green,  Mr.,  formerly  M.P.  for  Bury 

St.  Edmunds,  letter  to,  257 
Grote,  Professor  John,  26,  30 
Guernsey  and  Jersey,  first  visit  to, 

400 
Guest,  Dr.,  Master  of  Caius,  Vice- 

Chancellor,  170,  171 
Guiana,  Bishop  of,  415 
Guildford,  Bishop  of.     See  Utterton 

and  Sumner 

Hale,    Rev.    Matthew,    Bishop   of 

Perth,  Western  Australia,  32,  66, 

195 
Hales,  Rev.  W.,  St   John's,    Hey- 

wood,  153 
Hampden,  Bishop  of  Hereford,  206 
Hampshire  Diocesan  Society,  470 
Hardie,  Rev.  John,  113,  114,  259 
Hardwick,  Rev.  C,  Fellow  of  St. 

Catherine's,  candidate  for  Norris- 

ian  Professorship,  165 
Harrison,  Archdeacon,  145 
Haslam,  Rev.  William,  127,  129 
Hatherley,    Lord    Chancellor,   379, 

382 
Hayne,  Rev.  R.  J.,  Vicar  of  Buckland, 

359 
Heavitree,  185,  187,  192,  233,  236, 

237 
Hebrew  Professorship,  91 

Tyrwhitt  Scholarship,  26,  29 

Heidelberg,  illness  at,  1835,  30,  34, 

35 
Henry  de   Blois,   Famham    Castle 
built  by,  402 

33 


514 


INDEX. 


Hervey,  Lord  Arthur,  late  Bishop 
of  Bath  and  Wells,  9,  283,  320, 
324,  328,  490 

Herzog,  Dr.  Edouard,  first  Bishop 
of  the  Swiss  Christian  Catholic 
Church,  4T3,  414,  415 

Higgins,  C.  Longuett,  presents  pas- 
toral staff,  349 

Hogg,  Rev.  Lewis,  183,  409 

Holt,  Rev.  Robert,  tutor  at  Postford, 

I5»  17. 
Hooker,  Richard,  born  at  Heavitree, 

49,  52,  192 
Hort,  Dr.,  180 
Howley,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 

506 
Howson,  Dean  of  Chester,  359 
Hughenden,  Vicar  for,  497 
Huntingdon,  Conference  at,  269 
Hyacinthe,  Pdre,  409.  414,  415 

Ilfracombe,  reading  party  at,  1834, 

30,  34 
Indian  bishoprics,  403 
Inverary,  reading  party,  1833,  30 
Irish  Church  disestablished,  287 
Isle  of  Wight,  College,  448 

Jackson,  John,  Bishop  of  Lincoln 
and  of  London,  300 

Rev.    Frederick,    Rector    of 

Stanmore,    132,  156 

Jacob,  Archdeacon,  468,  469,  502 

Canon  Edgar,  404,  406,  446, 

447,  481 
Jacobson,  Bishop  of  Chester,  221 
James,     Rev.     Walter,    curate    of 

Kenwyn,  letter  to,  122,  124 
Jayne,  Dr.,  Principal  of  St.  David's 
College,    afterwards    Bishop    of 
Chester,  108 
Jeremie,  Professor,  221,  254 
Jerusalem  Chamber,   Ritual  Com- 
mission sits  in,  367,  469,  472 
Jones,  Enoch,  letter  from  Lampeter, 
87 


Jowett,  B.,  Master  of  Balliol,  209 
Jubilee    of    H.   M.  the  Queen    at 

Winchester,  473 
Judicial   Committee,   judgment  of, 

on  the  Colenso  controversy,  293, 

294 

Kaiserwerth,   Deaconess'  Home, 

359 
Kaye,  Dr.,  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  42 
Kean,  Charles,  9,  10,  12,  13,  48 
Keate,   Dr.,    Headmaster  of  Eton, 

14,  15 
Keble.  Rev.  John,  496 
Kenwyn,  96,  102,  1 11,  112, 113,  187, 
188,  189,  191,  235,  474 

and  Kea,  institution  to,  111,112 

King,  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  477,  478, 

480 
King's  College,  Cambridge,  472 
Kingsley,  Rev.  Charles,  396 
Kitchin,  Dean  of  Winchester,  192, 

403.  487»  492 

Lahore,  Bishopric  of,  404 
Lambeth  Conferences,  182,  301,416, 

476,  481 
Lampeter,  St.  David's  College,  36, 

76,  77.  79,  81,  83,  94,  97,  106, 108. 

2^2 

Laymen,  House  of,  147 

Lay  readers,  357 

Lee,  Dr.  Samuel,  Regius  Professor 
of  Hebrew,  34 

Leighton,  Archbishop,  286 

Lewellin,  Dr.,  Dean  of  St.  David's, 
Principal  of  St.  David's  College, 
79,  94,  97,  108 

Liddon,  Canon,  415,  438 

Lightfoot,  Professor,  afterwards 
Bishop  of  Durham,  180,  222,  250, 
281,  397 

Lincoln,  Bishop  of.  See  Words- 
worth and  King 

Littledale,  Dr.,  letter  from,  314 

Llandewi  Velfrey,  90 


INDEX. 


SI5 


Llandovery  school,  92 

London,  Bishop  of.  See  Tait,  Jack- 
son, and  Temple 

Long  versus  Bishop  of  Cape  Town, 
297 

Longley,  Bishop  of  Ripon,  after- 
wards Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
247 

Louis  XVIIL  at  Hartwell,  6,  7 

Lowe,  Dean  of  Exeter,  152,  185, 
237 

Lucas,  Canon,  478,  479,  481 

Lycurgus,  Archbishop  of  Syra,  27 

Macdonough,  Rev.  Telford,  503 
Mackenzie,  Bishop,  318 
Maclagan,  Archbishop  of  York,  178, 

492 
Macrorie,  Rev.  W.  R.,  Vicar  of  Ac- 
rington,  317 

consecrated  bishop  in  Natal 

and  Zululand,  318 
Magee,    Bishop    of    Peterborough, 

283,  399.  400,  433.  469 
Manchester,  Bishop  of.    See  Fraser. 
Mar  Gregorius,  415 
Maritzburg,  Bishop  of,  467 

Dean  of,  299,  317 

Marriott,  Charles,  of  Oriel,  180 

Martin,  Chancellor  of  Exeter,  186 

Maurice,  Rev.  F.  D.,  211,  496 

McCaul,  Dr.,  222 

McColl,  Canon,  429 

McDougall,    Bishop,    7,    288,    318, 

346,  393.  394,  395.  396,  446,  447, 

454.  456 
McNeile,  Rev.  Hugh,  Rector  of  Al- 

bury,  17,  18,  19,  20 
Medley,  John,  Bishop  of  Frederic- 
ton,  New  Brunswick,  73 
Melbourne,  Bishop  of,  410 
Melvill,  Canon  of  St.  David's,  106 
Merivale,  Dean  of  Ely,  354 
Merriman,  Dr.,  on  lectures,  179 
Meyrick,  Rev.  Frederick,  Fellow  of 

Trinity    College,     Oxford,     now 


Rector  of  Blickling,  Norfolk,  230, 

415,453 

Meyrick,  James,  Fellow  of  Queen's 
College,  Oxford,  230 

Midleton,  Lord,  469 

Millard,  Dr.,  Rector  of  Basingstoke, 
39,  422,  438,  439.  505 

Missionary  bishops,  405 

"  Mission,  Book  of  the,"  by  the 
Cowley  Fathers,  429 

Great  Towns,  486 

parochial,  at  Bedford,  364 

Missions,  foreign,  work  in  St.  Sid- 
well's,  Exeter,  133 

Modem  School,  Winchester,  449 

Moravian  Orders,  416 

Episcopate,  476 

Morell's,  Mr.,  "  Philosophy  of  Reli- 
gion," 212 

Mortlock,  Mr.  Charles,  at  Emman- 
uel. 39,  40 

Morton  House,  near  Buckingham, 
residence  of  Colonel  Browne,  36 

Morton  Shaw,  Rev.,  Rector  of 
Rougham,  335 

Mothers'  Union,  471,  472,  486 

Mowbray,  Right  Hon.  Sir  John, 
Bart.,  M.P.,  70 

Munck,  Miss  Ebba,  475 

Murray,  Mr.  J.,  221,  222 

Napoleon  Bonaparte,  5,  6 

Natal.     See  Colenso 

Newcastle,  Bishop  of.     See  Wilber- 

force 
New  College,  Oxford,  447 
Newman,  Dr.,  afterwards  Cardinal, 

50,469 
Newnham  Cottage,  Cambridge,  167 
New  Testament  Revision,  470 
New    Zealand,     Bishop     of.      See 
Selwyn. 

Sir   Thomas    Gore    Browne, 

Governor  of,  196 
Nobody's  Club,  500 
Norrisian  prize  essay*  29 


Si6 


INDEX, 


Norrisian   Professorship,  102,    165, 

166,  224 
North,  Archdeacon  of  Cardigan,  82, 

106 
Norwich,  Bishop  of.    See  Pelham 
Dean  of.    See  Goulbum 

(Ecumenical  Council,  287 
Old  Catholics,  408,  410,  411,  412, 
416 

Conference  of,  409 

Kea,  116 

Testament  Revisers,  469,  470 

OUivant,  Daniel,  factotum,  86 
Dr.,  V.-P.  of  St.  David's  College, 

afterwards  Bishop  of  Llandaff,  78 
Ordination,  First,  261,  446 
last  in  Winchester  Cathedral, 

487 
Owen,  Rev.  L.  M.,  433 

Canon  Mansfield,  470 

Oxford,  Bishop  of.    See  Wilberforce 
and  Stubbs 

teaching,  118 

writers,  51.  54 

Palmerston,  Lord,  248,  249,  457 
Pan-Anglican  Synod,  Lambeth,  304, 

445 
Papal  aggression,  sermon  on,  1 54 
Pares,  Mr.  John,  435 
Parish  Councils,  279,  280 
Parker,  J.  W.,  publisher,  157 
Pastoral  of  1875,  4^2,  427,  429 

staff,  presented  by  C.  Longuet 

Higgins,  Esq.,  348-50 
Peacock,  Dean  of  Ely,  Prolocutor, 

145 
Pearce,  Mr.  R.  A.,  ordained  Deacon 

for  deaf  and  dumb,  470 
Pelham,  Bishop  of  Norwich,  282 
Pembroke    College,     Dr.    Carlyon 

Fellow  of,  62 
Pentateuch   and   Elohistic  Psalms, 
five  lectures  on,  217,  219 


Pentateuch,    the,     and     Book    of 

Joshua,  lectures  on,  216,  242 
Perowne,  J.  J.  Stewart,  222 
Peterborough,      Bishop     of.       See 

Magee 
Phillimore,  Sir  R.,  371,  429 
Phillips,  Sir  Thomas,  90^  93 
Philpotts,  Henry,  Bishop  of  Exeter, 
71,  102.  103.  136,  255.  321 

Rev.  T.,  old  schoolfellow,  191 

Piper,  Count,  Swedish  Ambassador, 

474 
Plate,  curious  church,  i6th  Century, 

at  Kea,  113 
Plymouth,  Congress,  446 
Portsea,  St  Mary's,  consecration  of, 

481 
Portsmouth  Congress,  446,  472 
Postford  House,  school,  16,  46 
Pretoria,  Bishop  of,  415 
Primacy,  the,  456 
Privy  Council,  Judicial  Committee, 

370,  372 

Professor,  Norrisian,  elected,  166 

lectures  of,  166 

Professorship,  Lady  Margaret,  170, 

173.  175 
Public  Worship  Act.  399,  443,  445 
Pupil  teachers,  "  Harold  Browne " 

prizes  for,  389 
Purchas  and  Ridsdale  cases,   370, 

371,  436 

Pusey,  Dr.,  51,  212,  438 

Q^arterly  Review,  242 
Queen,  Her  Majesty  the,  456,  457, 
482,  488,  489 

Rangoon,    bishopric    of,    founded, 

404,406 
Reading  Congress,  446 
Rebecca  riots,  Lampeter,  80 
Reinkens,  Bishop,  Old  Catholic,  413 
Reservation  of  the  Elements,  letters 

on,  432 


INDEX, 


517 


Resignation   of  the    See  of   Win- 
chester, 486 
Revision    of   the   Old    Testament, 

chairman  of  committee  of,  347, 

348,  469»  470 
Ripon,  See  of,  247 
Ritual  Commission,  367 

conference  on,  432 

Roberts,  Bishop  Cramer,  459 
Rochester,  Bishop  of.    See  Claugh- 

ton,  Thorold,  and  Davidson 
Rollo,  Agnes,  daughter  of  Lord,  460 
Romilly,  Lord,  Master  of  the  Rolls, 

293,  294 
Rose,   Rev.   H.  J.,   Archdeacon  of 

Bedford,  170,  328,  329,  330,  331 
Rugby,  Examiner  at,  38,  39 
Rural  deans,  269,  270 
Rushden  Hall,  near  Higham  Ferrers, 

36 

"  Sacrifice,  Altar,  Priest,"  six  let- 
ters to  a  friend,  367,  368 

Sadlerian  lectureship,  37 

St.  Albans,  Bishop  of.  See  Claugh- 
ton 

St.  Athanasius'  Paschal  Epistles, 
translation  from  the  Syriac,  181 

St.  David's,  Bishop  of.  See  Thirlwall 

Cathedral,  Prebend  in,  90 

St.  Etheldreda,  twelve  hundredth 
anniversary  at  Ely,  387 

St.  George,  Guild  of.  486 

St.  John's  College,  Cambridge,  169, 
170 

St.  Mary  Overy  as  the  Cathedral 
Church  for  South  London,  424 

St.  Peter's,  Bournemouth,  447 

St.  Stephen's,  Bournemouth,  mar- 
riage of  Prince  Oscar  in,  475 

St.  Swithun,  482 

Salisbury,  Bishop  of,  on  the  Old 
Catholics;  414 

Marquis  of,  405 

Salmon,  Professor,  409 

Sapte,  Archdeacon,  471 


Scandinavian  and  Anglican  commu- 
nion, 476 

Scholarships :  Emmanuel,  Crosse, 
Tyrwhitt,  28,  29,  43 

School  Board  system,  374,  375 

Schools,  public,  225,  227,  240 

Scottish  bishops,  317 

Screen  in  Winchester  Cathedral, 
492 

Scrivener,  Dr.,  collation  of  Greek 
manuscripts,  167 

Seabuiy,  Dr.,  first  American  bishop, 
centenary  of  consecration,  467 

Sedgwick,  Professor,  26,  168 

Selborne,  Earl  of,  379,  435,  437, 
44D,  483,  506 

Select  preacher,  Cambridge,  241 

Selwyn,  G.  A.,  Bishop  of  New 
Zealand,  afterwards  of  Lich- 
field, 9,  27,  228,  305 

Professor  William,  Canon   of 

Ely,  170,  222,  268 

Senate,  Grace  of,  Cambridge  Uni- 
versity, 175 

Sewell,  William,  118 

Shaftesbury,  Lord,  366 

Shales,  near  Southampton.  489, 491, 
492 

Sharp,  Rev.  John,  24 

Simeon,  Rev.  C,  47,  496 

Sister  Emma,  head  deaconess  of 
Portsmouth  House,  362 

Smith,  W.  H.,  Right  Honourable, 
M.P.,  481 

Southampton  and  the  Channel  Is- 
lands, 458,  459 

Southampton  Mission,  429 

Southey,  Robert,  on  the  revival  of 
Deaconesses,  359 

Southsea,  Eagle  Tower,  485 

Southwark,  Diocese  of,  474 

Sparke,  Dr.,  Bishop  of  Ely,  41,  43, 44 

"  Speakers  Commentary,"  242 

Harold  Browne  asked  to  take 

part  in,  220 

S.  P.  G.,  180,  404 


Si8 


INDEX, 


Stanley,  Dean,  218,  288,  312,  314, 

316,  317 
Steward,  G.,  M.P,,  of  Nottington, 

grandfather  of  the  Bishop,  4 
Steward,   Sarah  Dorothea,  mother 

of  the  Bishop,  4»  I3»  3'.  3^ 
Stowe,  visit  to,  7 
Stroud,      Holy      Trinity     district, 

Gloucestershire,  66,  68 
Stubbs,  Bishop  of  Oxford,  490 
Suffragan  Bishops,  345 »   347f  45^, 

459»  477 
Sumner,  Archbishop,  144,  304 

Archdeacon,  afterwards  Bishop 

of  Guildford,  449,  477,  480, 
486 

Bishop  of  Guildford,  Louisa, 

daughter  of,  460 

Bishop   of  Winchester,   396, 

400,457 

Chancellor,  435 

Mrs.,  471 

Surplice  question,  the,  at  Exeter,  73 
Surrey,  West,  474 
Swansea  Congress,  446 
Sweden,  H.  M.  the  Queen  of,  475 
marriage  of  Prince  Oscar  of, 

474 
Swedish  Church,  416,  476 
Switzerland — 1835,  30 
Synod  held  by  Henry,   Bishop  of 

Exeter,  138 
Synods,  diocesan,  271,  275,  276,  434, 

435»  438,  440 
Syra,  Archbishop  Lycurgus  of,  27, 

408,  413 

Tait,  a.  C,  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, 201,  288,  300,  303,  304,  305, 
396,451.453,454 

Taunton,  Archdeacon  of.  See  Deni- 
son 

Temple,  Cowper,  Mr.,  434;  after- 
wards Lord  Mount  Temple,  468 

Temple,  Dr.,  Headmaster  of  Rugby, 
afterwards  Bishop  of  Exeter  and 


of  London,  320,  321,  322, 323, 324, 

325,  329,  490 
Tennessee,  Bishop  of,  letters  to,  on 

the  Natal  Question,  305 
Tennyson,  Lord,  25,  473 
Theological  College,    Exeter,    185, 

232 
Thirlwall,  C,  Bishop  of  St.  David's, 

83.  93'   105,   137,   151,  213,  304, 

305.  469 
"Thirty-Nine   Articles,    Exposition 

of  the,"  81,  148,  149,  150 
Thomson,  Archbishop  of  York,  209, 

319 

Thorold,  A.,  Bishop  of  Rochester 
and  Winchester,  478,  487,  489 

Thorp,  Archdeacon,  Rector  of 
Kemerton,  252 

Tindal,  Mr.  Acton,  Aylesbury,  363 

Tozer,  Bishop,  318 

"Tracts  for  the  Times,"  50,  117 

Training  College,  Chelsea,  offer  of 
headship,  65 

for  Welsh  clergy,  93 

Tregavethan,  hamlet  in  parish  of 
Kenwyn,  ill,  112,  132 

Tregrehan,  Cornwall,  62 

Trench,  Dean,  afterwards  Arch- 
bishop of  Dublin,  168,  221 

Trevor,  Canon,  letter  on  the  pastoral 
of  1875,  428 

Trinity,  Master  of,  29 

Tripos,  classical,  26,  28 

mathematical,  26,  28 

Trower,  Bishop,  184,  250 

Trumpington  churchyard,  504 

Truro,  Bishop  of.    See  Benson 

Cathedral,     consecration     of, 

191,  474 
Tupper,  Martin,  16,  20,  21 
Turton,  Bishop  of  Ely,  247,  472 

University  for  Wales,  93 

Press,  167 

reform,  447 

University  Students'  Guide,  241 


INDEX. 


519 


Utterton,  Bishop  Suffragan  of 
Guildford,  398,  448,  458 

Visitation,  cathedral,  444 
charge,  262,  340,  444 

Walpole,  Spencer,  Home  Secre- 
tary, 139 

Waltham  Abbey  Church,  sermon 
preached  at,  196 

Warburton,  Canon,  487 

Warfield,  first  school,  7 

"  Watcliers  and  Workers,"  486 

Watts,  F.R.A.,  portrait  by,  389 

Webley  Parry,  Miss,  88 

Wellington,  first  Bishop  of.  See 
Abraham 

Wesley,  John,  286 

Wesleyans  at  Kenwyn,  287 

Wessex  and  Winchester,  eighty-third 
Bishop  of,  494 

Westbury,  Lord,  297 

Westcott,  B.  F.,  Bishop  of  Durham, 

344 
West  End  Cemetery,  494,  498 
Western  New  York,  Bishop  of,  415 
Westminster   Abbey,    consecration 

in,  254 
Whateiy,  Bishop,  afterwards  Arch- 
bishop of  Dublin,  286 
Whewell,    Dr.,    Master  of   Trinity, 

168,  171 
White  Cross  League,  468 
Whitfield  and  Wesley,  496 
Wilberforce,  E.,  Bishop  of  Newcastle, 
422 


Wilberforce,  S.,  Bishop  of  Oxford 
and  of  Winchester,  142,  195,  206, 
25  5»  299.  379'  421,  422,  472,  305 

Williams,  Archdeacon  of  Llandovery, 

95 

Bishop  of  Connecticut,  250 

Rev.  George,  Fellow  of  King's, 

9 
Rev.  Rowland,  Vice-Principal 

of  St.  David's  College,  109, 

136,  204 
Winchester,  appointment  to,  393 
Bishop  of.     See  Sumner,  Wil- 
berforce, Thorold 

Bishopric  vacant.  489 

Dean  of    See  Kitchin 

Diocese,  422 

House,  London,  suggested  sale 

of,  401 

Natives'  Society,  466 

Mayoralty,  700th  Anniversary, 

466 

See  of,  accepted,  387 

Wolvesey  Palace,  Winchester,  as  a 

residence,  402 
Women's  work  in  the  Church,  358 
Wordsworth,  Christopher,  Bishop  of 

Lincoln,  183,  220,  283,  366,  415 
Working  men,  addresses  to,  472 
Wykeham,  William  of,  448,  482 

York,  Maclagan,  Archbishop  of,  418 
Thomson,  Archbishop  of,  209, 

319.  457 
Young  Men's  Friendly  Society,  486 


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