CHAPTER X

ARCADIA CLERORUM

"I am one that had rather go with sir priest,

than sir knight."

Twelfth Night.

arcade;

THE chief charm of Norwich, which was my headquarters, lies in its Cathedral. Architecturally it is a delight to the soul of man. Gazing on arcade piled on Norman pillars, pointed clerestory, clerestory, and triforium; mystic curves and intersections of window tracery; and the noble vaulted roof above; one could sit undisturbed while the Canon in Residence took his weekly toll of our time, and discharged one-thirteenth of his yearly task:

"I'eered un a bummin' awaay loik a buzzard clock ower my yead,

An' I thowt a said whot a owt to a said, an' I comed awaay."

The music was remarkable for the perfect training of the boys' voices by Dr. Buck, and for the incompetence of the aged men, who, though past work, could not be dismissed, because they were freeholders and had not been convicted of felony; as though petty larceny were a graver offence than singing out of tune! Freehold! always freehold !

To me, however, the great attraction was the Dean, Dr. Goulburn. He had been my headmaster at Rugby twenty years earlier; and though I had not had the slightest acquaintance with him, the sight of that familiar face, and the tones of that sonorous voice were sufficient to call up priceless memories of bygone days and longlost friends.

In Norwich the Dean was venerated. In London and Oxford he was famous as a preacher as a writer of religious books he had done excellent work, which, if one may judge from advertisements, still holds its ground. As a headmaster he had been less successful, and I gathered from some slight conversation with him as Dean that the very name of Rugby jarred on his ears. He was a scholar, a divine, a gentleman, a saintly man, and a good companion: but there was something lacking, something essential in dealing with boys. I doubt if he ever was a boy. At Eton, as we learn from his biographer, his short sight debarred him from games, and his "sapping" propensities made him so unpopular with the drones that, although bene natus, bene vestitus, and bene doctus, his election to the Debating Society, called Pop, was secured only by the interposition of the head-master.1 This was Keate, and probably he threatened to flog the Opposition.

When he was himself headmaster in after years, this want of sympathy with athletes and drones must have limited his sphere of influence. In some way he had failed to assimilate himself to Boy, and Boy saw that something was wanting. Without boy-knowledge a headmaster is like a coachman without horse-knowledge: he cannot drive.

1 See "Memoir of Dean Goulburn," page 15.

I could fill many pages with stories of him, and many pages with tributes to his excellent merits, but I forbear. As Inspector I had no dealings with him.

his memory.

Peace be to

Both in the city and in the county my acquaintance during the three years that I spent in East Anglia was almost wholly clerical. The parochial clergy managed the schools, collected the funds, often supplied a large share of the funds, and entertained the inspector. In a short time I found that there was infinite variety in the seeming monotony. Parson A. was literary, and his name was known to all men of letters. B. was archæological, and had views about ruins. C. grew bulbs, and the district. was so badly arranged (quà C.) that his school inspection came in January, when only the noses of his aconites, snowdrops, and crocuses were visible; but from February to June, and even later, he lived in splendid happiness.

D. grew coniferæ, a pursuit which requires expectation of long life; E. grew orchids, and told me of his parlourmaid's bon mot. She was helping in some stage of the culture, and in amazement inquired the name of the unsightly vegetable. "Orchids," she was told. "And a

wera good name far un tew," said the maiden with wholly unconscious pleasantry; "awkidest things I ever handled."

F. was absorbed in schools, and spent half his days there. G. added to the cares of his life by doctoring the bodies of his flock. A neighbouring duly qualified practitioner had threatened him with a prosecution for manslaughter if any more of his patients died. One likes to see the thing done properly, and quâ medicus the Rector was a nonconformist; quâ artifex a blackleg.

H. was High and told me of his persecutions; L. was

Low and tried to interest me in the conversion of the Jews.

The alphabet becomes wearisome. Suffice it to say that the society never became wearisome. In their reception of the common enemy, the Inspector, they varied, as they varied in their pursuits : it is not every man that can stand being told that his school is bad, and that the grant will be reduced; and therefore the smiles of welcome varied a good deal in direct proportion with last year's school balance but we were very good friends on the whole. If old Bookworm compared me to Gloster

"the clergy's bags

Are lank and lean with thy extortions".

I knew that love of Shakespeare, not hatred of Inspectors, moved him. If Carker complained that I had plucked his best boy in Arithmetic, he melted into apologies on seeing the prodigy's prodigiously incorrect sums.

The Norwich district barely touched the Fens. That dismal region where, as a Cambridge man assured me, the inhabitants are web-footed and speckle-bellied (like frogs) was naturally and officially wedded to Cambridge; and I regret that I am unable to report on the accuracy of my friend's statement. On our side the livings of the clergy in the 'seventies were fat, and the churches were magnificent. I fancy that, even then, the congregations were not equal to the splendour of the buildings. There may have been reasons for this. It used to be said in Cambridge in the early years of the last century, that the incumbents of the Fen district lived in Cambridge from Monday to Saturday. On the last day of the week they sought their sphere of labour-where no gentleman could be expected to live-and got through their Sunday duty

H

with tolerable acceptance. the "Lamb" at Ely, and with the aid of the hebdomadal rubber made the place almost as snug as Cambridge. Freeholders! Freeholders! "O sainte Église ! something divine must indeed dwell in thee, when even thy ministers have not been able to ruin thee."

A select band would centre at

In the 'seventies the Norfolk clergy as a rule were resident. There was indeed a strip of country in one quarter, where for several miles the incumbents had "left their country for their country's good," but retained the benefice, deducting a cheap curate and there were others whose throats and chests were not strong enough to stand the Norfolk winter but Providence tempers even the Norfolk wind in certain cases, and I was assured that the common herd, whose livings were of less value than £1,200 a year, bore up wonderfully. There is a system of compensation in the distribution of good things.

I still remember one hoary sinner-possibly still alive, for he was the sort of man who would be likely to live for another thirty years, to support Mrs. Poyser's theory, "it seems as if them as aren't wanted here are th' only folk as aren't wanted i' th' other world "-who boasted that, being entitled to ninety days' leave of absence from his flock in each year, he arranged to take the last quarter of one year and the first quarter of the next, whereby he got six months' solid holiday. The drawback, he said, was that he couldn't get another holiday till October I of the third year.

I cannot say what provision he made for the services in his absence, and it was not for me to ask. But on a visit to a country school in another parish I found that the incumbent had been away for four months by special