N'^^v
 
 a/ 
 
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 \
 
 WALTER FARQUHAR HOOK, D.D. 
 
 FIRST VOLUME
 
 I,ONDON : PRINTED BY 
 
 SPOTTISWOODE AND CO.j NEW -STREET SQUARE 
 
 AND PARLIAMENT STREET
 
 Fairi.: 
 
 '. U U -1-1 t\ K n U L> iv. 
 A I u i: 1 KAlt BY W. K. BRIGGS.
 
 THE 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS 
 
 OF 
 
 WALTER FARQUHAR HOOK 
 
 D.D. F.R.S. 
 
 BY 
 
 HIS SON-IN-LAW 
 
 W. R. W. STEPHENS 
 
 PREBENDARY OF CHICHESTER AND RECTOR OF WOOLBEDING 
 AUTHOR OF 'life OF S. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM ' 'CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM ' ETC. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES 
 VOL. L 
 
 THIRD EDITION 
 
 LONDON 
 RICHARD BENTLEY & SON, NEW BURLINGTON STREET 
 
 Ijixblisljcrs in Orbinacu to ^er ^ajcsti| \\i f^xxttxi 
 1879 
 
 All rights reserved
 
 
 3% 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 One of the earliest recollections of my childhood is 
 r^: concerned with the subject of this Memoir. When 
 [-; I was about five years old, I accompanied my father 
 ^I and mother to London, on a visit to my uncle, then 
 Mr. William Page Wood. As we were going up- 
 to stairs on our arrival, my eye was caught by an oil- 
 ^ portrait of a man with red hair and a large mouth, 
 ^ which hung over the door of the drawing-room, 
 >- and I exclaimed, ' I don't think he's a pretty man.' 
 ^ The justice of the criticism was not denied. My 
 mother allowed that he was not 'pretty,' but in- 
 formed me that he was very good, and, moreover, 
 " that he was my uncle's greatest friend. And from 
 ^ that time forward I became very curious about * the 
 good man,' as I was taught to call him. 
 
 That portrait on the staircase was one of the 
 things I looked forward to seeing on our annual 
 visits to London. I looked at it with increasinof 
 interest year by year, as I gradually heard and 
 better understood who the subject of the portrait 
 was ; how he was Vicar of a very large and very 
 smoky town, far away in the north ; how he had 
 
 249234
 
 vi Preface. 
 
 built a great church there, what thousands of people 
 flocked to it, what beautiful music was sung there, 
 what eloquent sermons he preached, and how 
 deeply he was beloved by the people ; and then, 
 again, how full of mirth he was, what funny letters 
 he wrote, and what droll things he said and did. 
 And on further acquaintance with the portrait, I 
 could see there was a sparkle in the eyes, and a 
 bright honest smile playing about the whole coun- 
 tenance, which largely compensated for the plainness 
 of the features ; and I almost felt remorse for having 
 ever ventured to say that the person depicted was 
 not a * pretty man.' 
 
 The interest which I thus learned to take from 
 childhood in the life of the Vicar of Leeds must be 
 offered as my principal apology for attempting to tell 
 the story of that life. During my boyhood, indeed, 
 and early youth, when he was in the plenitude of 
 his strength and full tide of his work, I very rarely 
 saw him, but I constantly heard about him ; and 
 when in his old age I became connected with him 
 through my marriage, and resided near him, he often 
 talked to me like a veteran soldier of his old cam- 
 paigns, and thus filled up and coloured for me in 
 a great measure that picture of his life which the de- 
 scriptions of others had already drawn in outline. It 
 may seem to be a disadvantage, on the one hand, that 
 a biographer should not personally have witnessed 
 the work of his subject, but on the other, he may be 
 able to write the history of past conflicts and con- 
 troversies more dispassionately and calmly than one
 
 Preface. vli 
 
 who has Hved in the midst of them and has actually 
 taken part in them. At the same time, no one can 
 be more deeply sensible than I am how exceedingly 
 difficult it is to put together a faithful narrative of a 
 life passed in times which are, for the most part, too 
 distant for the writer to draw much on his own re- 
 collections, and yet too recent to be studied in the 
 pages of history. Not that I have endeavoured to 
 write what is commonly called a ' Life and Times,' a 
 combination which generally results in doing justice 
 to neither the life nor the times. My aim has been to 
 write the life of the man, to make him the central 
 figure throughout, and to touch upon surrounding 
 events only in proportion as they concerned him, 
 only in order to indicate the exact position which 
 he occupied relatively to them, and to show how 
 far he affected them, or how far he was affected 
 by them. As far as possible, I have made him 
 speak for himself, by his letters and diary, by 
 extracts from his speeches and published writings, 
 and by such fragments of his conversation as I or 
 others could recollect. The difficulty of selecting 
 and arranging copious materials of this kind, 
 covering a period of more than half-a-century, can 
 hardly be conceived by any but those who have 
 made a similar attempt ; and some indulgence is 
 due, from which I hope not to be exempted, for 
 defects in the execution of such a task. 
 
 To those who have aided me in it, and without 
 whose aid it could not have been accomplished with 
 that measure of completeness to which I trust it may
 
 viii Preface. 
 
 pretend, I beg here most gratefully to acknowledge 
 my obligations. 
 
 Foremost amongst these must be placed my uncle, 
 Lord Hatherley, and my wife's aunt, Miss Hook. 
 They not only supplied me with a vast quantity of 
 valuable letters, but their full and exact reminiscences 
 of distant events have been an unfailing source of 
 trustworthy information. Besides the letter embody- 
 ing his reminiscences, which Lord Hatherley has been 
 good enough to write expressly for this Memoir, I have 
 inserted a few letters addressed by him to his friend 
 between the years 1830 and 1834, not only on ac- 
 count of their intrinsic excellence, but as illustrating 
 the variety of subjects on which the two friends cor- 
 responded. 
 
 I must thank the Rector of Whippingham, the 
 Rev. Canon Prothero, for endeavouring to glean 
 some local information relating to the time when 
 Dr. Hook was curate of that parish. 
 
 To the Vicar of Holy Trinity, Coventry, tho' 
 Rev. F. M. Beaumont, I am much indebted for in- 
 troducing me to some of the old inhabitants of 
 that city, more especially W. Odell, Esq., and Luke 
 Dresser, Esq., whose communications have been ex- 
 ceedingly useful. 
 
 In Leeds my thanks are very particularly due to 
 the Rev. E. Jackson, Incumbent of St. James's, and 
 Honorary Canon of Ripon, whose recollections, as 
 the intimate and confidential friend of the Vicar 
 during the period of his greatest activity, have been 
 especially valuable to me.
 
 Preface. ix 
 
 My thanks are also due to the present Vicar of 
 Leeds, to T. Pridgin Teale, Esq., M.D., to G. B. 
 Nelson, Esq., and others, and, last but not least, 
 to Mr. Edwin Moore, Registrar of the parish church, 
 who rendered me immense aid in the toilsome work 
 of searching out notices bearing on my subject, con- 
 tained in the local contemporary journals. 
 
 In conclusion, I beg to thank collectively the 
 large number of persons who have placed letters 
 at my disposal, many of which are regarded by the 
 possessors as very precious treasures. One word of 
 caution may here be given to the readers of these 
 letters. They must bear in mind that the writer 
 was a man of very strong feelings and impulses. He 
 wrote, and especially to the great friend of his life, 
 in the most spontaneous manner, out of a very full 
 heart, about whatever was uppermost in his mind. 
 This, indeed, in a great measure, constitutes their 
 peculiar charm ; that they are the freshest and most 
 artless expressions possible of the writer's thoughts 
 and feelings at the moment when they were dashed 
 off; but for the same reason they must not always be 
 taken as representing the deliberate and final con- 
 clusions of his mind upon the matters of which they 
 treat. 
 
 The life which it has fallen to my lot to portray 
 was a singularly noble life. I would fain hope that 
 not a few of those who shall read the record may be 
 stirred up by the perusal to emulate the life. 
 
 WooLBEDiNG RECTORY: September 2"] , 1878. 
 
 VOL. I. a
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 CHAPTER PAGB 
 
 I. Early Life and Education. a.d. 1798-1821 . i 
 
 IL Ordination. Life at Whippingham. a.d. 1821- 
 
 1826 49 
 
 III. Life at Moseley and Birmingham, a.d. 1826- 
 
 1829 . . 114 
 
 IV. State of the Church — Rise of the * Tractarian * 
 
 School — Life at Coventry, a.d. 1829- 183 7 138 
 
 V, The Election to the Vicarage of Leeds, 1837 295 
 
 VI. Settlement at Leeds. July to December 1837 369 
 
 VIL Part I. Public Life from 1838 to 1840 , 415
 
 LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 WALTER FARQUHAR HOOK. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION. A.D. I798-182I. 
 
 Walter Farquiiar Hook was the eldest child of 
 the Rev. James Hook and Anne his wife, and was 
 born on March 13, 1798, at the residence in Conduit 
 Street, London, of his maternal grandfather. Sir 
 Walter Farquhar, Bart. He was eleven months 
 older than his only brother Robert, who died in 
 1873. Their only sister, Georgiana, who was several 
 years younger, has survived both her brothers. 
 
 His paternal grandfather, Mr. James Hook, who 
 was a composer and teacher of music at Norwich, 
 married Miss Madden, a lady eminently skilled in 
 painting. Out of a numerous family by this mar- 
 riage, only two sons lived to manhood, James, who 
 was born in June 1771, and Theodore, who was 
 seventeen years younger than his brother. 
 
 VOL. I. B
 
 2 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1798- 
 
 James inherited the talents of his father and 
 mother, and added to them very considerable lite- 
 rary powers of his own. It was truly remarked by 
 one of his friends that had he devoted his whole 
 attention to painting, music, or literature, he would 
 have achieved a high reputation in either of the 
 three professions. His two novels, indeed, * Pen 
 Owen ' and * Percy Mallory,' entitle him to a high 
 place among the writers of fiction. Some of his 
 juvenile sketches were shown by his mother to Sir 
 Joshua Reynolds, who was so much struck by the 
 genius of the young artist that he strongly recom- 
 mended the boy's parents to have him trained for 
 the profession of a painter. A series of caricatures 
 of the leading public men of the day, statesmen, 
 lawyers, actors, and divines, drawn and coloured 
 when he was a school boy at Westminster, aged 
 fifteen, remains in possession of the family. They 
 are inimitably good, not being in the least overdone, 
 though full of humour ; and their value as portraits, 
 sketched from the life, of such men as Pitt, Fox, 
 Burke, Lord Thurlow, Boswell, Kemble, Munden, 
 and many more, has been pronounced by connoisseurs 
 to be very high indeed. 
 
 In music he had the same aptitude as his brother 
 Theodore for playing impromptu on the piano, and 
 was superior to him in execution and general know- 
 ledge of the art ; but although a ready versifier, he 
 did not improvise verses to his own accompaniments, 
 the accomplishment for which Theodore earned such 
 a remarkable reputation. His artistic tastes in fact 
 were rather discouraged by his mother, who feared 
 that they might dissipate his mind and allure it from
 
 -1 82 1 His Father at Westminster. 3 
 
 the higher pursuits for which his more soHd abihties, 
 as she thought, fitted him. James Hook, indeed, 
 enjoyed the inestimable advantage of the training 
 and influence of a sensible and pious mother 
 throughout his youth, and to the loss of this blessing 
 at a very early age the follies and foibles of his 
 younger brother were doubtless very largely owing. 
 In the latter part of the last century Westminster 
 and Eton were the two great rival schools of Eng- 
 land, and a brisk fire of epigram and satire was 
 continually going on between the two through their 
 magazines, the Etonian * Microcosm ' and the West- 
 minster 'Trifler.' Hook was the artist of the ' Trifler,' 
 and one of his drawings represented the boys of the 
 two schools as being weighed by Justice in a pair of 
 scales. The Etonians, it is needless to say, were high 
 in air, although George HI. and other weighty per- 
 sonages were trying to depress their scale ; the West- 
 minsters on the other hand touched the ground. This 
 affront was retaliated by an epigram in the * Micro- 
 cosm ' from George Canning, then an Eton boy : 
 
 What mean ye by this print so rare, 
 
 Ye wits, of Eton jealous, 
 But that we soar aloft in air 
 
 While ye are heavy fellows } 
 
 But his antagonist was as ready with his pen as with 
 
 his pencil, and retorted in the 'Trifler' in a similar 
 
 strain : 
 
 Cease, ye Etonians, and no more 
 
 With rival wits contend : 
 Feathers, we know, will float in air, 
 
 And bubbles will ascend. 
 
 During some of his holidays Hook wrote the 
 
 B 2
 
 4 Life of Waller Farquhar Hooh. 179S- 
 
 libretto for two of his father's operas which were 
 brought out in London. But notwithstanding his 
 inclination for artistic and literary occupation such 
 as has been indicated, his mother, who was anxious 
 that he should enter Holy Orders, carried her point, 
 and after taking his degree from St. Mary Hall, 
 Oxford, he was ordained Deacon by the Bishop of 
 Sodor and Man in 1796, and he married in the 
 following year. 
 
 Those were the days when plurallsts flourished 
 and abounded, and through the interest mainly of 
 his father-in-law. Sir Walter Farquhar, who was the 
 confidential friend as well as the physician of the 
 Prince of Wales, preferments were heaped upon 
 Mr. Hook in rapid succession. He became Rector 
 of Sadington in 1797, Chaplain to the Prince of 
 Wales in 1801, Rector of Epworth in 1802, of 
 Hertingfordbury in 1804, and of St. Andrew and 
 St. Nicholas, Hertford, in 1805. 
 
 The early childhood of Walter Farquhar Hook 
 was spent at the Rectory of Hertingfordbury, and 
 to this the home of his earliest recollections he ever 
 looked back with the fondest affection. A very few 
 years before his death he made a journey with his 
 youngest son expressly to see it ; to pace once more 
 the pleasant lawn and garden, and to see if the 
 names were still legible which in his boyhood he 
 had carved upon some of the trees that shaded the 
 path by the river side — the names of himself and of 
 his friend William Page Wood, together with the 
 names of Shakspeare and Milton, whom they both 
 loved with a passionate devotion. 
 
 While the sensitive tenderness and affectionate-
 
 -1 821 A Mother s Influence. 5 
 
 ness of his nature was inherited from both his parents, 
 the vein of comic humour which equally distinguished 
 him, and which sometimes burst forth into rhyme 
 or frolicsome mirth after the manner of his uncle 
 Theodore, was derived from his father. On the other 
 hand like so many men who have been good as well as 
 great, he thankfully acknowledged that whatever moral 
 virtue he had was largely due to the careful training in 
 early life of a pious mother. ' How much,' he writes 
 in 1829, * my dearest mother, do I owe to you. How 
 often do I trace all that is good in me to the blessing 
 of the Holy Spirit upon your labours, when in my 
 grandfather's bed-room you used to inculcate so 
 pleasantly the truths of Revelation into the hearts 
 of dear Bobby and myself ; those dear square, red 
 books of Mrs. Trimmer out of which you read to us 
 — how well I remember them, and how I wish I still 
 possessed them ! ' 
 
 The two brothers, Walter and Robert, learned 
 all the rudiments of knowledge, including Latin, 
 from their mother till they were about eight or nine 
 years of age. A summary of their progress and 
 remarks upon their character which she wrote, 
 seemingly for her own private use, at the beginnings 
 of the years 1805 and 1806, are striking proofs of 
 the truth of the saying, * the child is father to the 
 man.' Walter is described as being very fond of 
 reading, inquisitive, and anxious to have everything 
 explained ; persevering, and resolute in conquering 
 difficulties, with a strong idea of principle, and a 
 warmth of religious feeling rare in so young a child. 
 His principal defects are said to be a shy and awk- 
 ward manner, and an impulsive and irritable temper,
 
 6 Life of Walter Farqtihar Hook. 179S- 
 
 easily exasperated by opposition, coupled, however, 
 with a keen sense of remorse. On the whole his 
 mother considered that his character was one which 
 required moderate, judicious encouragement, but 
 was unable to bear much praise. Those who knew 
 him best will easily recognise in this description 
 some of the qualities which were most conspicuous 
 in him throughout life. 
 
 When he was about nine years old he was sent 
 with his brother to a school at Hertford, kept by 
 Dr. Luscombe, and from this school he writes to his 
 mother in February 18 10 a letter which is the 
 earliest piece of his writing that I have discovered. 
 
 * Dearest Mother, — I wish June was come and 
 I had to tell you that I was in the Fourth Form. 
 I am very sorry that I am not in the Third Form, 
 but you know I tried very, very hard. It is an ill 
 reward for my fagging ; but it is the will of God 
 that I should not go into the Third Form, and the 
 will of God must be done.' 
 
 Soon after this the two brothers were removed 
 to Tiverton in Devonshire. Their recollections of 
 this school were not pleasant. The teaching was 
 indifferent, the discipline severe, and the food 
 scanty. They saved up their spare pence to buy 
 buns and loaves from time to time to alleviate the 
 pangs of hunger. In the letters, however, written 
 by Walter at this time there are no complaints ; and 
 in his handwriting there is very great improvement. 
 The style of his letters becomes curiously grand and 
 sententious ; but they are written then as ever after in 
 pure, sound English. In one too long for transcrip- 
 tion, bearing date November i, iSii, he begins : —
 
 -i82i Tiverton School. 
 
 • ]\Iy dear Mamma, — You will with me pity that 
 wicked boy, Henry George Salter, who is now 
 publicly expelled from this school : and his master, 
 Master Richards, blotted his name from the Register, 
 October 30, 181 1, that it may be handed down to 
 generations.' Then follows an account of how this 
 ' wicked boy ' enticed another to run away with 
 him, having borrowed a watch which he afterwards 
 sold, saying they would go to London where he 
 would persuade his grandmother to leave him her 
 immense fortune, which he would divide with his 
 companion. The runaways were captured, and 
 Salter wrote a contrite letter upon which young 
 Walter observes, ' Well, so far one would think him 
 to be penitent Salter, but /say, Salter the hypocrite ; ' 
 and he then goes on to relate how this naughty boy 
 repeated his escapade, borrowing and selling another 
 watch, after which he was expelled in the awful 
 manner described at the beginning of the letter. 
 
 In 1 8 1 2, the year after this tragical occurrence, the 
 brothers were removed to * Commoners ' Winchester. 
 Their father had become a Canon of Winchester, 
 and this circumstance probably led to the selection 
 of the school. The narrative of Lord Hatherley ^ 
 placed at the end of this volume and the letters 
 which I have added render it unnecessary for me 
 to trace at length Hook's school career, and I shall 
 confine myself to some general remarks upon his 
 character and conduct at this period. 
 
 In the first place having been ill taught at 
 Tiverton, he was very backward in scholarship, 
 which at that time was the beginning and ending of 
 
 * Formerly William Page Wood.
 
 8 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1798- 
 
 education at a public school. At the instigation and 
 with the help of his friend, William Page Wood, as 
 will be seen, he ultimately obtained a fair position 
 in the school ; but it may be doubted whether under 
 the most favourable circumstances he would ever 
 have made a finished scholar. His mind was not of 
 that critical order which delights in nicely balancing 
 various forms of expression and determining their 
 precise shades of meaning. He always read books 
 for instruction or pleasure, and if he got this from 
 them he cared little about the mould in which the 
 contents were cast. Lively, ready, and original, 
 too, as he was in writing and conversation, he was 
 always rather slow of apprehension, he had great 
 difficulty in committing to memory, nor was his 
 memory, especially for words, very retentive. He 
 was never a rapid reader, and those who read aloud 
 to him — a luxury of which he was very fond in 
 later life — were always required to read very slowly 
 and sometimes to repeat a passage, not seemingly 
 obscure, several times before he could take it in. 
 
 On the other hand, even when he came to Win- 
 chester his delight in reading the best English poets 
 and historians, and the extent of his acquaintance with 
 them were very uncommon for a boy of fourteen. 
 His admiration for ShaksjDeare and Milton grew into 
 a passionate enthusiasm for which it would be hard 
 to find anything like a parallel. Scarcely any letter 
 written throughout his school or college days is 
 •without some reference to or quotation from these 
 favourites. To read them he neglected his school 
 work, and withdrew from the ordinary sports of his 
 schoolfellows. He complains in one of his letters,
 
 -i82i WmcJiestcr. 
 
 September 1813, that the racket and bullying out of 
 school are so great that he can get no time to pursue 
 his favourite studies and meditations ; that he has 
 discovered a new hiding place, a hollow space about 
 six feet deep enclosed by stacks of timber, on a 
 wharf, into which he retreats to read, but that like all 
 the rest of his haunts he fears it will soon be detected. 
 Probably it was for the same purpose of undisturbed 
 reading that he chose to ' take a tunding,' that is, a 
 severe thrashing, twice, rather than fag at foot-ball. 
 It will readily be supposed that to a boy so averse 
 alike from the ordinary work and pastimes of the 
 place, school life was anything but a time of enjoy- 
 ment. In fact he often said that but for his friend- 
 ship with Wood it would have been insupportable. 
 His lamentations are poured forth in letters which 
 are at times really pathetic, but still more often 
 irresistibly droll, from the incongruity between the 
 tragic tone of despair in which they are written and 
 the actual circumstances of the case. 
 
 In October 18 13 he writes to his brother, who 
 for some cause was absent from school : * I hate 
 this place more and more every day. I was licked 
 yesterday more severely than ever before. I cannot 
 run or hollow out loud even now without hurting my 
 side, and I am to be licked again to-day for writing 
 this : yet I should not be able to write at another 
 time as I go " at top of hall " ^ and get so much to 
 do. I begin to fear my licking. If I am killed, which 
 I think I shall be, tell Etheridge ^ to send you my 
 
 * A technical Winchester phrase, signifying that the boy so placed 
 was liable to answer any demand for fagging. 
 ' The school butler.
 
 lo Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 179S- 
 
 books, and hope that I am in heaven happier than all 
 of you ; if for my sins I am condemned to hell, pity 
 me, dear Robert, pity me.^ Let Milton be buried with 
 me, as he has gone through all my hardships with me.' 
 
 Writing a year later he says that though he still 
 hates the place, he is not so rebellious as he used to 
 be, and regards his prison house from a more philo- 
 sophical point of view. * I endeavour to find out the 
 comforts, if any there be, and not the miseries of this 
 place, for as my dear and beloved bard, the honour 
 of England and of the whole of this terrestrial orb 
 says, " the mind is its own place and can make an 
 Heaven of Hell, an Hell of Heaven." Combined 
 with his love of reading in retirement was a habit of 
 meditation and reverie from which, though in itself of 
 rather a melancholy nature, he seems to have derived 
 a peculiar kind of enjoyment. Writing to his grand- 
 father, Sir Walter Farquhar, in 18 16, he says, *I 
 would have you know that if you think nothing ill 
 will turn out from this melancholy I should still like 
 to be possessed by it, as I am exceedingly happy 
 when I have it, owing to the amusing thoughts which 
 come into my mind at such times.' 
 
 His grandfather, indeed, who had won his way 
 from obscurity to the top of his profession by hard 
 industry and talents of the most practical order, 
 although he had formed a high opinion of the 
 abilities of his grandson, was much exercised by fears 
 lest he should become too poetical and dreamy to 
 make his way in the world. The following letter 
 written a short time before that of his grandson's 
 
 ^ How Robert was to know whether he was condemned to hell or 
 not, does not appear.
 
 -1 82 1 Winchester. ii 
 
 just quoted, is a quaint illustration of this dread, and 
 savours of that shrewd worldly wisdom, frugality, and 
 caution, to which he, in common with so many of his 
 countrymen, mainly owed his success in life. 
 
 Conduit St.: June 8, 1815. 
 
 My dear Walter, — Your passion and steady attachment 
 for Milton and Shakspcare, I admire, but as I have not 
 one single particle of poetic fire in my mind and never 
 had, I am not a judge of the justice of your adoration, and 
 therefore you must forgive me for not entering keenly into 
 your indignation at your tutor's presuming to correct 
 Shakspeare. The word ' beteem ' I certainly should not 
 have understood without your explanation, and I should 
 have been considered a great blockhead by you enthusiasts, 
 whom I, on my part, a man of plain common sense, deem 
 a little mad when you get on your hobbies. However I 
 don't mean to stop you full gallop. You may run on, and 
 I will every year add to your library books worth ten 
 guineas, as I am pleased that you have made so good an 
 use of my first present. I therefore desire that you will 
 rummage your poetic and critical brain, and let me know 
 the authors that your next passion lead you to, and before 
 18 1 5 is at an end I will furnish the next shelf in your 
 library. Sometimes I would wish you to descend from 
 the flights of poetry, and study those things that may be 
 useful to you in life, and teach a poor man how to live 
 comfortably upon little, and I shall therefore add to the list 
 you send me of books, Cocker's ' Arithmetic ' and Euclid's 
 * Elements.' Spare half an hour now and then to look into 
 them. You have a first cousin W. Mathison who has 
 shown some talent for figures, mathematics, &c. I have con- 
 sequently made him a present of Euclid's 'Elements,' and 
 if you get over the fifth proposition, the Bridge of Asses, I 
 shall conceive that with your assiduity and application you 
 may even become a mathematician as well as a poet. My 
 love to Robert. I don't know what he has done with his
 
 ri Life of Walter Farqithar Hook. 1798- 
 
 ten guineas, and when he tells me this, I shall then tell 
 him what further I mean to do for him. I want to make 
 him a plodding Dutchman, by which means he may make 
 fortune enough to assist you and your family before you 
 get rich in the Church, or become a Bishop ; as a poet you 
 will run the risk of dying in a garret excepting you bestow 
 a little time occasionally on Cocker, and learn how to make 
 a little money go far, and to manage the sober, dull realities 
 of life in place of being in the poetical clouds for ever. 
 
 I have had a severe attack of cold and cough and been 
 confined to my room, but I am now much better. I am not 
 quite clear that you would have had so long a letter if I 
 had been able to trudge about as usual. 
 
 I am with great attachment, my dear boy, 
 
 Your affectionate Grandfather, 
 
 W. Farquhar. 
 
 There was not, however, in Walter Hook any of 
 that sickliness and softness, either of body or mind, 
 which is so commonly found in boys of a pensive, 
 meditative disposition, who have no relish for the 
 ordinary amusements of their companions. Although 
 tall, gaunt, and so old-looking for his age that one 
 of his school friends now living says, that his face In 
 mature manhood always seemed to him much the 
 same as what It was In boyhood, yet he was muscular 
 and vigorous In no common degree ; none could 
 swim further or dive deeper ; and an audacious bully 
 who once dared to say In his presence that Shak- 
 speare was a fool, was instantly felled to the ground 
 by the fist of the muscular devotee. Some soldiers 
 also on one occasion having tried to usurp a bathing 
 place belonging to the boys, he was selected to fight 
 one of the Intruders and made very short work of 
 his antagonist. Few, if any, of the boys had such a
 
 -1 82 1 Winchester. I3 
 
 peculiar kind of droll humour, and to spend an evening- 
 with Walter in the holidays was considered by his 
 young cousins more amusing than a visit to the theatre. 
 The matron who took care of the boys' linen at 
 Winchester was celebrated for affectins: knowledo^e 
 on all conceivable subjects of enquiry, and it was his 
 delight to put such strange questions to her as would 
 elicit equally strange answers. ' Pray ma'am,' said 
 he one day to her with an air of exceeding solemnity, 
 * What is your opinion of Charles XII. of Sweden ? ' 
 ' Well, Mr. Hook,' she replied, ' I haven't been able 
 to read the papers lately and of course I am not 
 personally acquainted with him.' No one watched 
 with a keener vigilance for the extraordinary and 
 ludicrous blunders made by one of the old minor 
 canons of the Cathedral in his sermons. Two of 
 these especially were never forgotten, and were often 
 repeated by him, or as will be seen referred to in 
 his letters ; and indeed they were worth preservation 
 as specimens of the stuff sometimes tolerated in our 
 cathedral pulpits at the beginning of this century. 
 One was, * What is impossible can never be, and very 
 seldom comes to pass ; ' the other, * O tempora ! O 
 mores ! what times we live in : little girls and boys 
 run about the streets cursing and swearing before 
 they can either walk or talk.' 
 
 Again, although his religious feelings, and his senti- 
 ments of affection for his relations and intimate friend 
 are expressed in fervent rapturous language most un- 
 common in a schoolboy, yet there is nothing unnatural, 
 unhealthy, or effeminate to be detected in them. They 
 were the genuine offspring of a heart warm indeed and 
 tender, yet manly and courageous. He was, in fact,
 
 14 Life of Walter Farqtihar Hook. 1798- 
 
 in boyhood and throughout Hfe eminently EngHsh and 
 eminently Christian ; qualities which in their highest 
 manifestation are incompatible with any tinge of 
 morbid sentiment in the character. And one of the 
 reasons why he regretted the rigid restriction of 
 school work to the study of Greek and Latin was 
 that boys grew up knowing more about Rome than 
 England, more about Paganism than Christianity. 
 Not that he was narrow in his tastes : he read any 
 history with great interest, and in good poetry he 
 delighted in any language in which he could read it ; 
 but English history and English writers had a charm 
 for him which the history and the writers of other 
 nations could not excite. Having been brought up, 
 too, in the strictest and straitest school of Toryism, 
 he fully believed that the British Constitution, alike 
 in Church and State, was the most perfect piece of 
 machinery which could be found under the sun, and 
 in the beginning at any rate of his school days he 
 was prepared sturdily to uphold the virtue of the 
 Prince Regent and the wisdom of Lord Castlereagh 
 asfainst all assailants. In like manner he would 
 scarcely allow a blemish in the moral beauty of Mr. 
 Pitt or a redeeming virtue in the moral blackness of 
 Mr. Fox. In June 18 16, he writes to his mother, 
 * At a party at Mr. Rickett's, in the course of conver- 
 sation Mr. R. said that drinking^ was the chief thinof 
 which killed our great statesman Mr. Pitt. I thought 
 at first he made a mistake and meant that fellow 
 Fox, so I just asked him over again to see if he 
 really meant what he said, but afterwards I asked 
 everyone who was present, when Mr. R. had left 
 the room, not to mention what had passed in
 
 - 1 S2 1 Winchester. 1 5 
 
 Commoners for it would cause much laughter against 
 me, as I always call Fox a "drunken beast;" and 
 now I mean to ask you to petition grandpapa to 
 dictate a few lines as Pitt's doctor and send them 
 to me stating what really did kill him.' 
 
 Combined with his intense love and admiration 
 for everything English, and partly as a consequence 
 of it, was an antipathy and contempt for foreigners 
 and foreign institutions. He was quite prepared 
 to accept the saying of Sam Johnson, ' For all 
 I can see, foreigners are fools ; ' and he was fully 
 persuaded of the truth of the old popular tradi- 
 tion handed down from the days of Agincourt, that 
 'one Englishman was a match for fourteen French- 
 men.' Of course his estimates of public men and 
 historical characters in many cases underwent great 
 alterations with his advance in age, study, and ex- 
 perience, but foreigners as a whole he always re- 
 garded with aversion ; and there was one eminent 
 person of whose character his opinion never changed, 
 and that was Napoleon Buonaparte. His only com- 
 plaint, he says in 18 16 of Scott's ' Life of Napoleon/ 
 was that he had * profaned British paper with the 
 name of ex-Emperor,' and to the end of his life he 
 never spoke of Napoleon by any other name than 
 Buonaparte, regarding him as an unprincipled tyrant 
 and a heartless ravager of the earth, colossal indeed 
 if measured by an intellectual standard, but morally 
 one of the meanest of mankind. 
 
 Although he did not obtain any classical prizes, 
 except one for getting into the Sixth Form by a spe- 
 cial effort, the nature of which is described in Lord 
 Hatherley's narrative, he twice gained the silver
 
 1 6 Life of Walter Fai'quhar Hook. 1798- 
 
 medal for recitation on the Speech Day. The first 
 was in 1S16, when he recited the celebrated speech 
 of Antony upon the death of JuHus Csesar. His 
 voice already possessed much of that rich, melodious 
 softness and flexibility, combined with great volume 
 of tone, for which he was afterwards so remarkably 
 distinguished, and although he did not inherit any of 
 his father's or grandfather's musical talents, and could 
 not tell one tune from another, he was at this time 
 as always very pure in his pronunciation, and skilful 
 in the modulation of his utterances. His hearers on 
 this occasion seem to have been completely capti- 
 vated and enchanted. Canon Nott writes to his 
 father : ' Your son's speaking was admirable. It was 
 neither acting nor declamation, but a chaste medium 
 between the two. He himself felt and made others 
 feel the beauties of his poet. You know the speech : 
 t\\Q gradual introduction of the sneer, " For Brutus 
 is an honourable man," was admirable. Had it been 
 a sneer from the first, it would not have been in 
 nature. Antony did not venture to insinuate any- 
 thing: ao^ainst Brutus until he was certain he should 
 not offend, and this he could not have been in the 
 first instance.' He gained the medal also in the 
 following year for his recitation of Satan's speech to 
 the Sun in Milton's * Paradise Lost.' 
 
 The perseverance with which he worked for the 
 special examination already alluded to, in order 
 to obtain his remove into the Sixth Form, was 
 the first indication of that energy and industry 
 in study which were afterwards so eminently 
 characteristic of him. He sometimes rose at three 
 in the morning to read his Greek play ; and Dr.
 
 -1 82 1 Leaves WmcJiester. 17 
 
 Gabell told his parents that the progress which he 
 made while working for his remove was beyond 
 what he could have thought it possible for any boy 
 to make in the time. Having, moreover, once won 
 his way to the highest form, he showed much anxiety 
 to maintain his position with credit ; and the mis- 
 cellaneous reading which had impeded his progress 
 upwards in the school where so much depended 
 on technical scholarship, now became an advantage 
 and a help. 
 
 His mother writes of him at this period with 
 mingled anxiety and pride. 
 
 His irritable, choleric temper, his fits of melan- 
 choly, his tendency in many ways to impulsiveness 
 and eccentricity, caused her some uneasiness ; but 
 on the other hand the warmth of his affection, his 
 deep sense of religion, and the capacity which he 
 had lately shown for working with dogged resolution 
 when once convinced that duty demanded it, filled 
 her with hope. Dr. Gabell also and all the masters 
 spoke of his general character and conduct in terms 
 of the most unqualified praise, and even admiration. 
 
 It had been intended that he should leave Win- 
 chester at the end of the year 18 16, but at the 
 urgent recommendation of Dr. Gabell, who thought 
 that the delay would enable him to enter upon his 
 Oxford career with better prospects of success, it 
 was decided that he should remain another half-year. 
 His grandfather obtained a nomination for him 
 from the Prince Regent to a studentship at Christ 
 Church, and in December 1817 he was admitted a 
 member of that House. 
 
 Save for the parting with his deeply beloved 
 
 VOL. I. C
 
 1 8 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 179S- 
 
 friend, he quitted Winchester without a pang of 
 regret. But that parting was a very severe trial to 
 both. They had lived a life there which was all 
 their own ; a life bound by the closest ties not only 
 of common interests but of reciprocal obligations, 
 for each had helped to supply what was lacking 
 in the other. And though both felt sure that the 
 friendship never could be broken, yet frequent inter- 
 course was now to cease, and, as it turned out, for a 
 much longer period than either could have antici- 
 pated. Their favourite walk in meads, the old tree 
 beneath which they had compared their youthful 
 attempts in poetry, and Hook had read his tragedy 
 of James II., the chalk pit in which at 'Evening 
 Hills' they used to sit each with his Shakspeare 
 and read the dialogue by turns, the stroll home 
 by * Goddard's walk ' — all these scenes were to be 
 abandoned, all these incidents of daily life were to 
 be brought to a close, and bitter was the grief. 
 
 ITOVOL Ko'ivoi Xofywy, 
 6iJb6(jTS<ybs TS Kal avvsarios ^109, 
 vovs els sv dfKpoiv ov Bv(o, .... 
 ZucTKshaaTai irdvTa, KappiTrrai '^^a/xaL^ 
 
 He began his residence at Oxford in Lent Term, 
 18 1 8. A letter from his grandfather written soon 
 after cautions him against allowing himself to be 
 drawn into discussions about the character of the 
 Prince to whom he owed his studentship ; advises 
 him to keep a commonplace book, and to practise 
 declamation before a looking glass that he may study 
 grace of action as well as eloquence in public speak- 
 ing. Encouraged by his grandson's success in reci- 
 * Greg. Nazianz. De Viid Sud, vol. ii. p. 8, C.
 
 -iS2i Oxford. 19 
 
 tations at Winchester, Sir Walter Farquhar was at 
 this time anxious that he should prepare for the 
 Bar ; and no doubt with this view the recommenda- 
 tion to the rather gaunt, ungainly youth to study 
 gracefulness of action was not undesirable. His 
 awkwardness was no doubt increased at this time 
 by extreme shyness, of which the following letter, 
 describing his first appearance as a Freshman in 
 Hall, furnishes an amusing specimen. 
 
 Christ Church, Oxon. 
 My dear Brother, — When you went away I called on 
 Mr. Goodenough ; but finding him out, I had an audience 
 with Mrs. Bright, who was bright as usual in her conversa- 
 tion, promised to give me advice, and lend me * Anacharsis,' 
 &c. I then saw Mr. G., but all the information that I 
 could get from him was, that I was to dine in Hall, go to 
 Chapel, and hereafter write a Latin letter, all which I knew 
 before ; about an hour after this, I was seized with a 
 violent fit of what we Wykehamists call ' funk,' occasioned 
 (as learned physicians tell me) by the prospect of dining in 
 Hall ; the symptoms at length began to grow alarming, for 
 about one o'clock I could not read, write, or think, save of 
 going up into Hall. About half-past, my memory began 
 to fail, so much so, that I quite forgot whether the dinner 
 hour was a quarter to four or a quarter after four ; so I 
 went to dress. Somewhere about three the bells began to 
 ring for Cathedral, and as by this time I had entirely lost 
 my memory, I began to fear that I must have made a 
 mistake, and taken four for three when I was told the 
 hour. Consequently, I sallied forth, cap and gown, &c., &c. 
 when finding no dinner, or thought of dinner, I retired 
 again into my lurking hole, peeping out of my bedroom 
 window to see if I could see any men going to dinner ; at 
 a quarter to four I hurried out again ; no dinner ready ; 
 looked out of window for another half hour ; quarter past 
 four sallied forth again, and in about five minutes walked 
 
 c 2
 
 20 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 179S- 
 
 * with stately pace and slow,' into Hall, astonishing the weak 
 minds of the inhabitants, who gazed with silent admiration 
 on me, either captivated by the brilliancy ot my head or 
 the beauty of my person. Mortal dull at dinner. Nobody 
 to talk to ; there were only two more Commoners besides 
 myself; blushed, looked sheepish ; tried to carve some veal 
 for myself, failed ; at length pulled off some meat ; blushed 
 again, looked more sheepish than before ; took courage at 
 length, and called like a hero for some cheese ; looked for my 
 cap, could not find it ; at length the servant discovered it ; 
 I marched out of Hall, and here I am. This, my dear Bob, 
 is all that I have done to-day, which amounts to nothing. 
 I am very dull indeed, I should like never to speak to any 
 one, as far as convenience goes, for it would enable a man 
 to study double tides ; but it seems so horridly stupid, 
 that I do not like it. I am rather grumpy, but I wrote this 
 in good spirits, having just performed a wonderful adven- 
 ture : but I am beginning to have a second attack, for how 
 am I to know where to sit in Chapel to-morrow, and various 
 other things. I wish very much that I knew somebody or 
 other ; it would be very convenient, to say the least of it, 
 but ' nihil est ab omni parte beatum,' and I am so delighted 
 with my room that I know not whether it does not make 
 up for other inconveniences. 
 
 His life, indeed, at Oxford was more peculiar 
 and isolated than it had been at Winchester ; and of 
 course there were more opportunities for seclusion. 
 He had no sympathy with the ordinary course of 
 study, and had no longer a friend at hand to stimu- 
 late him in uncongenial work. He soon, therefore, 
 abandoned all attempts to read for honours, and 
 fell back with zest upon the study of his favourite 
 English authors, to whom he now added Hooker 
 and Jeremy Taylor. But his beloved Shakspeare 
 still reigned supreme in his affections ; and it is not 
 too much to say that the characters in Shakspeare s
 
 -1 82 1 Oxford. 2 1 
 
 plays were by far the most real companions and 
 friends of his Oxford life. With Newman he had 
 little or no acquaintance. With Pusey he had some 
 degree of intimacy, yet his name is very rarely 
 mentioned in his letters. Keble, who had taken 
 his degree eight years before, he beheld with a kind 
 of distant reverence and awe. The one unalterable 
 friend to whom he turned for sympathy in all moods, 
 whether of joyousness or depression, was his Shak- 
 speare. The following letters will forcibly illustrate 
 the truth of this observation, which indeed is corro- 
 borated by the countless allusions to the same 
 subject with which his letters teem during this 
 period. The first letter, from which an extract is 
 here given, was written on hearing that his grand- 
 father was recovering from a serious illness. 
 
 .... * You cannot imagine how truly happy your 
 kind letter made me. It set me quite in spirits. 
 The minute I opened the letter and saw the news I 
 pulled down my Shakspeare and had a very merry 
 hour with Sir John Falstaff. I was determined 
 to laugh heartily all that day. I asked Sir John to 
 wine with me. I decantered a bottle of my beloved 
 grandfather's best port, and Sir John and I drank 
 his health right merrily. Perhaps you will want to 
 know how my old friend Sir John drank my grand- 
 father's health. Why I took care to find out the 
 place where he drinks Justice Shallow's health. 
 And so when I said " Here's to Sir Walter," I looked 
 on the book and the knight said " Health and long 
 life to him." But perhaps you will think me a little 
 cracked for opening my " oak " to you, so I will talk 
 more seriously. . . .'
 
 2 2 Life of Walter Farq^ihar Hook. 1798- 
 
 The next letter written to his father a month 
 later illustrates yet more vividly the manner in 
 which he peopled his solitude with the characters of 
 Shakspeare, so that never did anyone more com- 
 pletely make good the saying, ' Nunquam minus solus 
 quam cum solus.* 
 
 Christ Church, Oxford : April 27, 1 81 8. 
 Corckran has gone out sailing to-day with Mr. Barring- 
 ton, a son of Lord Barrington, so that I stay at home ; for 
 to tell you the truth till Corckran comes, since Halliday 
 left, I have taken no walks in the day-time, for it is impos- 
 sible to take a solitary walk, as in whatever direction you 
 go, you must meet some man, and therefore it looks so 
 spoony to be by yourself, that I do not like to walk out ; 
 and I do not like to walk with any man I know here, for 
 v/ith the exception of Duncombe, Sandford, and Napier, 
 who perhaps think the same of me as I do of my other 
 acquaintance, the men I know are such raffs in look and 
 manner, that I do not like to walk with them, lest I should 
 be judged by my comrades, I therefore go out at about 
 eight o'clock, and run for about an hour up and down 
 Christ Church walk (not meads), which is always deserted 
 about that time, except once I met a man not of the 
 University there ; but I do not think exercise agrees with 
 me, for I had almost forgotten what a headache was till 
 to-day, and yesterday I walked about seven miles with 
 Corckran, and am fit for nothing but a long letter ; and 
 yet I am as happy, if not more so (one single thing would 
 make me more so), than I have ever been, except last 
 summer. I have got into a very dissolute set of men, but 
 they are so pleasant that they make me very often idle, 
 when I otherwise should not be so. It consists of one Tuft, 
 H.R.H. Henry Prince of Wales, and a gentleman Com- 
 moner named Sir John Falstaff, and a Mr. Poins, and we 
 have several inferior associates such as Bardolph and Pistol, 
 and some others; and with these I spend most of my time :
 
 ^iS2i Oxford. 23 
 
 I breakfast with them, drink tea, and sometimes wine with 
 them ; of course they sit at a different table from me at 
 dinner. 
 
 Sir John, or as I call him (being great ' cons ' with him), 
 Jack, is very fond of a capon ; and I * sported beaver ' the 
 other day, and went into the market to find one, but could 
 not succeed. I have likewise been made acquainted by 
 Mr. Richardson of Edinburgh with a Danish Prince, and I 
 begin to think that I have mastered a knowledge of his 
 character, which is most amiable. However it is my inten- 
 tion to take all these to Whippingham, and there leave 
 them till I have taken my Degree, as they make me very 
 idle. I shall miss them much next term, for nobody at 
 Oxford can suit me like them. 
 
 The general charm of his letters at this period is 
 that they are not filled with the ordinary gossip of 
 an undergraduate about Oxford work, Oxford poli- 
 tics, Oxford amusements, but with subjects alto- 
 gether peculiar to himself. 
 
 The characters in Shakspeare's plays being his 
 most intimate friends, he was naturally very jealous 
 of Shakspeare's honour, and watched with the keenest 
 interest the manner in which he was represented 
 on the stage. A mutilated version of * King Lear * 
 which had lately been produced having come into 
 his hands, he writes in a fury of indignation to his 
 mother, November 1818 : 
 
 * It is the veriest trash I ever read. Had I time 
 I could point out hundreds of absurdities in it. I 
 could turn myself into a brute beast, and gaze with 
 pleasure at the men who pass off such stuff for our 
 Shakspeare's, were they hanging on the next tree. 
 This has plagued me more than you can imagine : 
 it has been in my thoughts day and night since I
 
 24 Life of Walter Farqiihar Hook. 179S- 
 
 first discovered it. I feel the pride of an English- 
 man in thinking that we can boast of Shakspeare, 
 and consequently I feel indignant and exasperated 
 at seeing our Shakspeare altered to the miserable 
 taste of the French, who have no theatre of their 
 own but only a corruption of the ancients. . . . 
 This preys upon my mind, and in good sooth makes 
 me quite unhappy ; let us quit the subject.' 
 
 The event, however, which most powerfully ex- 
 cited and absorbed his interest during a portion of 
 the year 1 8 1 8, was the great rebellion of the boys 
 at Winchester, which led to the temporary dissolu- 
 tion of the school. His interest was owing partly 
 to the intrinsic importance and extraordinary charac- 
 ter of the event, but more especially to the part 
 which his friend Wood played in it. I have selected 
 the following letter out of many which he wrote 
 upon the subject because, taken together with the 
 account given in Lord Hatherley's narrative, it forms 
 an interesting original piece of evidence respecting 
 a very curious episode in the history of Wykeham's 
 great school. 
 
 Christ Church, Oxford : May 12, 18 18. 
 My dear Mother, .... Grievance upon grievance 
 irritated them ; but the immediate cause was Gabell's 
 threatening to expel Porcher for setting watches to find 
 out when he was approaching, a custom handed down from 
 our ancestors, and daily exercised during the six years 
 which I had the honour of spending at Winchester. They 
 tried remonstrance, which as usual only irritated Gabell. 
 The spirit had been long concealed in the school ; this 
 made it break out. Several patriotic songs were sung, and 
 thus the lion in each boy's soul having been roused, a 
 rebellion was openly proposed. Every single boy in Com-
 
 -1831 Rebellion at Winchester. 25 
 
 moners assented. A message was sent into College, and 
 all except unanimously agreed. This was on Wed- 
 nesday ; it was proposed to be carried into execution on 
 Monday ; consequently deputies met, and everything was 
 privately agreed, and notice given for each boy to supply 
 himself with a small pickaxe and a large club ; but on 
 Thursday information was given that Wickham, the sur- 
 geon, knew of the schemes, consequently open war com- 
 menced at a quarter to four. Thursday evening every 
 boy was armed with a club ; a patriotic song was sung. 
 Etheridge was seized, licked, and the keys of Commons 
 taken from him ; the Commoners rushed into College, took 
 the porter and his keys, and locked the great gates of the 
 inner quadrangle. They closed them to all the masters and 
 everybody, except David Williams and his wife, who passed 
 unmolested on condition that he would bring nobody else 
 in with him. A patriotic song was then sung, three cheers 
 given, and they fell to work with their pickaxes, and dug 
 up the great stones of the quadrangle, took possession of 
 the towers, carried their stones to the top of them, and 
 everything was prepared for a general siege. The Warden's 
 door was blocked up, and all his windows broken. These 
 proceedings went on admirably during the night, and 
 College was so admirably defended with such regularity 
 and order, that though Gabell, with John Williams as his 
 aide-de-camp, and some constables, made several attempts 
 to break into College, they were repulsed entirely. These 
 particulars I have from Wood's letter to me, and Deane's 
 (who did not join) to Heathcote. What happened in the 
 intermediate time I have not yet heard, as Wood had not 
 time to write a long account. All night those who were 
 not on duty sat on the top of the different towers of the 
 Chapel and College, singing patriotic songs. On Friday, 
 Bernard, the brother of the Prebendary, came down to say 
 that the military was called out, and all afterwards found 
 resisting would be sent to prison. A conference was after- 
 wards held with Urquhart from one of the Warden's 
 windows, the boys, except those on duty, standing on the
 
 26 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 179S- 
 
 tower, in which he told them they might go whithersoever 
 they Hked. Afterwards they made an unfortunate sally, 
 intending some of them to have a dinner at the ' George/ 
 and then return ; but they were met (notwithstanding the 
 promise of being unmolested) by a body of soldiers, by 
 Mrs. Heathcote's house. A little skirmish ensued. Two 
 or three who had dirks rushed into the middle of the 
 soldiers, and fought as brave men should do ; they were, 
 however, taken prisoners, and secured in the Cathedral. 
 The rest were then put to flight. They were persuaded to 
 meet Gabell, who expelled a certain number, and the rest 
 (having bound themselves to be expelled if one was) like- 
 wise went ; but some were taken by the constables, and 
 some were persuaded to go back. However, the next day, 
 most of them rushed up to the ' George,' where sixty of 
 them dined, and the rest went home. There are still be- 
 tween eighty and ninety who cannot escape ; but who 
 have broken every window in Commoners, and refuse to 
 go to chapel and school, who are only watching for an 
 opportunity to keep their oaths. If I had been the leader, 
 I should have managed better. There is a room in College 
 whefe all the wills and deeds of College are kept ; having 
 got them once in their hands, they could have threatened 
 to destroy them, and made College listen to any condi- 
 tions. A party of Wykehamists met last night, and drank 
 the health of the rebels in three times three. 
 
 In another letter he writes that he was quite 
 intoxicated with joy at hearing of the rebellion. 
 * All yesterday I was in such a fever of delight that 
 I have now no small headache. I was runningf all 
 over Oxford to get news, and then retailed them 
 with a little bragging to all the men of Eton and 
 Westminster that I know. The Etonians are full of 
 admiration : the Westminsters are thunderstruck. 
 Winchester will now be looked upon as the only 
 school ; it beats every other school in everything,
 
 -i82i Oxford. 27 
 
 except Westminster in rowing and Eton in putting 
 on a neckcloth.' 
 
 In the following year, 18 19, we find him just 
 after passing his ' Little Go ' more averse than ever 
 from classical studies, more thoroughly wedded to 
 his own peculiar and secluded ways of life. In a 
 letter to his mother he declaims vehemently against 
 mere scholarship, and declares his conviction of his 
 utter inability ever to become a scholar in the tech- 
 nical sense. He would have written before but he 
 had been reading hard, and his faculties and feelings 
 seemed blunted by the labour. ' I hate verbal 
 critics,' he proceeds, 'even on Shakspeare, and 
 though they may be a useful, they seem to me to be 
 a rather despicable, set. I shall never become a 
 scholar, my memory is so wretchedly bad and I am 
 so deficient in the art of acquiring the idiom of 
 language ; these, together with an inaccuracy as un- 
 accountable as it seems incurable, and a slowness 
 almost inconceivable in reading, are powerful enemies, 
 and I am striving to conquer them, but hitherto in 
 vain.' 
 
 The quaintness and oddity of his habits are 
 indicated in the following letter to his aunt Mrs. 
 Mathison, written in the same year. There is a 
 tone of philosophic irony also in his remarks upon 
 the ways of ordinary men as contrasted with his own 
 which has a Shakspearian ring about it, and sounds 
 like the utterance of a disciple of the * melancholy 
 Jacques ' in ' As you like it.' 
 
 Christ Church, Oxford : 1819. 
 Not many years ago I thought when I arrived at the 
 age of twenty-one I should entirely put away childish
 
 28 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1798- 
 
 things. But I really find in myself no alteration from 
 what I was twelve years ago. I know nothing, even the 
 most childish thing, in which I used to delight and find 
 amusement then, that I could not do just the same now. 
 And my mind is just as wandering and unsettled. My 
 ideas are more extensive, inasmuch as I know more ; but 
 they are cast in the same mould and run on the same 
 subjects. I used to find great pleasure in taking a stick 
 and flogging trees as if they were my schoolboys, and now 
 I can find just as much pleasure in taking a stick and 
 fighting through a hedge as if it were an army and I an 
 Orlando ; and there is not one of the many games which I 
 used to invent for myself then that I could not enjoy 
 equally now. And when I reflect coolly upon these things, 
 I think that half the world, discovering the little things in 
 which I can find amusement (which Heaven forefend), 
 would put me down as the most consummate idiot and 
 fool. And yet when, as I said before, I reflect coolly on 
 the matter, I think there is no more folly in them than 
 there is in the sports of hunting and shooting. I therefore 
 think * that all the world's a fool ; its actions show it. I 
 thought so once, but now I know it.' And I shall never 
 look for wisdom in any man ; I shall only respect the man 
 who has less folly than others. 
 
 He had to live frugally at Oxford, for his father, 
 notwithstanding his preferments, was a needy man. 
 In the summer of this year, hov^ever, just before the 
 end of term, he had an extra pound of pocket money 
 sent him, and determined to spend it in making a 
 pilgrimage to Stratford-on-Avon. What the delight 
 of this visit was by anticipation the following letters 
 will most clearly show ; but I have not discovered 
 any which were written soon after it had been made. 
 I only know that in spite of the adverse circumstances 
 mentioned in the second letter, he did succeed ia
 
 -1 82 1 your7icy to Stratford. 29 
 
 getting to Stratford ; and the ecstasies of the en- 
 thusiast must be left to the imagination. 
 
 Oxford : June 1819. 
 
 My dear Mother, .... So Mrs. Siddons has been on the 
 stage. How unlucky I am never to be able to see her. I, 
 who feel a filial affection for the stage, corrupted, depraved, 
 and odious as it now is, yet I cannot but feel more than 
 ordinary interest in it, and still hope that the time will 
 come when the abominable, unconstitutional monopoly of 
 the two theatres will be done away with, and that all 
 theatrical talent will be employed in developing the 
 beauties of the real English drama ; and then Shakspeare 
 will shine forth in all his pristine glory. Indeed, it is not 
 my least ambition to be able some day or other to acquire 
 money enough to become a manager of some great theatre, 
 as Sheridan was ; and I am vain enough to think that it 
 would be a national benefit if I were to be so, as I should 
 enter heart and soul into the cause, and that, not for the 
 sake of filthy lucre, but merely to improve the taste of my 
 country and enhance the glory of Shakspeare. On Friday 
 week I start for Stratford, God willing, and return to Ox- 
 ford Monday, to Winchester Tuesday, I might go on 
 Thursday to Stratford, but I shall not, because I shall be 
 more likely to meet an Oxford face on that day, and I 
 shall want to settle many things, I have calculated the 
 expenses on a liberal scale. It is more than I expected it 
 would be ; but thanks to the kindness of my friends I shall 
 be able to support it. 
 
 I shall not go to the * White Lion,' which is a veiy 
 excellent inn, and that at which the jubilee was celebrated. 
 The * Shakspeare Inn ' is about the third. I did think 
 once of going to that, and may now. But the house that 
 Shakspeare was born in is divided into a butcher's shop 
 and the ' Swan,' a public-house. Now if this last can give 
 me only a clean bed, without bugs, which I hate, I mean 
 to go undoubtedly to that. The only objection is, that it 
 may make my friends think that they are justified in
 
 30 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1798- 
 
 charging me with going there from some foolish feeling ; 
 whereas I merely go in a quiet manner to look at the 
 place, just as some people come to lionise Oxford. Now, 
 I mean to take with me a Dutch cheese, which will save 
 the expense of dinners ; for at breakfast I shall have two 
 eggs, and cut off a large slice of bread, which I shall eat 
 with my cheese, and my drink shall be the water of the 
 Avon, which Shakespeare, I make no doubt, drank many a 
 time before. I do not suppose that I shall find all the 
 pleasure which I expect. In thinking of it even, I have 
 been so pleased, till pleasure turned to pain, and I ended 
 with a headache. It is very foolish, but I always anticipate 
 pleasure in this manner. I cannot read properly now from 
 the very thoughts of it, and have not been able for a fort- 
 night. 
 
 Believe me, my dear Mother, 
 
 Your affectionate Son, 
 
 W. F. Hook. 
 
 He worried himself as people so commonly do in 
 the prospect of great pleasure by the dread of some- 
 thing occurring to prevent or mar It. ' I am always 
 thinking,' he writes, ' of the many things which will 
 happen to thwart me, and most of all I fear bad 
 weather. I am something like my mother who is 
 angry at every fine day in town lest the weather 
 should turn out badly when she gets into the country. 
 So I am terrified at this most delio^htful summer 
 weather.' Curiously enough his forebodings of evil 
 weather were verified, as the following lamentable 
 letter proves. 
 
 yoitrncy to Stratford-on-Avon. 
 
 Shipston : 1819. 
 My dear Mother, — Was ever anybody so unlucky ? but 
 I am not at Stratford. How do you think I intend spend- 
 ing my father's pound ? Why, even by sporting myself a
 
 -i82i yourney to Stratford. 31 
 
 chaise to Stratford. I started at twelve last night from 
 Oxford, and arrived here at five. As it began to rain 
 prodigiously hard, and I was outside, as moreover I like 
 to be quite by myself on my entrance to Stratford, I deter- 
 mined upon breakfasting here, ten miles from Stratford, 
 and proceeding per chaise ; still, however, this rain will 
 continue pouring. What shall I do .-* I want not to enter 
 Stratford till it is fine. It is now one o'clock ; the rain has 
 set in, and the provoking people here will not even say a 
 kind word about the weather. When I ask them whether 
 it will clear up, they with one voice answer, ' That it looks 
 black.' Just heard of a return chaise ; must start. I 
 almost believe that this weather, beginning the very day of 
 my intended excursion, is intended as a punishment for 
 me, on account of some crime I have committed, or else 
 some demon is willing to drive me mad with vexation. I 
 have two days ; one of them will, I hope, be fine. All my 
 dreams have vanished with this, and I never shall again 
 trust to the prospect of delight in this world. I knew it 
 would be thus : I was sure of it. Well, all I can say is, 
 that if Shakspeare's spirit could govern the clouds, I think 
 it would for me ; for I verily believe he has few more 
 sincere admirers. Still, however, I feel a glow at approach- 
 ing his birthplace, and I am as puffed with pride and 
 vanity as I well can be. I despise the whole world, and 
 now I feel as if I were a being of superior order. 
 
 In June 1820 he had looked forward to a 
 meeting with his great friend Mr. Wood, who had 
 just returned to England from a two years' residence 
 at Geneva ; but his father was averse to his meeting 
 the son of a man who had so earnestly advocated 
 the cause of Queen Caroline, and in fact for a time 
 he forbade intercourse between them. His mother 
 could not put herself into direct opposition to his 
 father's commands, but seems to have done her best 
 to mitigate the severity of the trial to him. Of
 
 32" Life of Walter Farqiihar Hook. 179S- 
 
 course the enforced separation only added to the 
 warmth of the friendship, and the following letter 
 shows that he was already emancipating himself from 
 the thraldom of that political school in which he had 
 been brought up, and that even King George IV. 
 was to him no longer such an impeccable being as in 
 the simplicity of boyhood he had once believed him 
 to be. 
 
 Christ Church, Oxford : June 15th, 1820. 
 My dearest Mother, — I have to entreat your forgiveness, 
 and my father's, for not having viewed the subject, which 
 I certainly did not, in the same manner in which you have 
 done ; and, though with the deepest and most acute sor- 
 row, I willingly give up that to which for two long years 
 Wood and myself have fondly looked ; a meeting in June. 
 But, I wish you to understand, I give it up on policy, not 
 on principle ; for you tell me that I must not let my feel- 
 ings overcome my principles. But what are, and (I appeal 
 to you) ever have been, my principles .'' Certainly to love 
 my friend ten thousand times better than my king : and a 
 friend too, whom I think to be one of the cleverest, I know 
 to be one of the best, and most pure in mind, of human 
 beings, before a king of whose purity and virtue (though I 
 yield to no one in loyalty and gratitude to him) I would 
 not wish to speak. But I see thoroughly the impolity of 
 it, though it struck me not before ; and I yield to your 
 superior judgment without a murmur. I like consistency 
 in politics, as in every thing else, and surely Alderman 
 Wood may do the same. For years he has supported the 
 Queen : and although he may have given her bad advice, 
 and we may lament it, we surely are not called upon to 
 abuse and insult him, as many papers have most illiberally 
 done. I am not his advocate, and I agree not in his 
 politics ; but as I abhor the Opposition when they charge 
 every action of the Minister to corruption, so in common 
 justice, I blame his advocates, when they call that man a
 
 -i82i Friendship versus Politics. 33 
 
 rascal, who (with views never proved to be wrong) acts 
 injudiciously. I have long determined never to meddle 
 with politics and, by tying myself to a party, barter my 
 liberty. We live in dangerous times ; there are revolutions 
 all over the world, and doubtless England will suffer in her 
 turn. It will therefore be my object in life to be friends 
 with all — Tory, or ultra-Whig, or Radical. So may I 
 live, in virtuous ease, like Atticus of old ; and surely his 
 life was happier than Cicero's ; and, moreover, he had the 
 privilege of dying in his bed, while Cicero fell a victim to 
 the prevailing party. 
 
 I am of that disposition that I cannot live happily 
 without a friend ; my chief discomfort here has been the 
 want of the presence of one. The society of many, I 
 neither seek nor like ; but that of one, who will be as devoted 
 to me, as I to him, is the pleasure of life, and such a 
 friend, for nearly eight years, have I found in Wood. And 
 thus, though I will submit to almost anything, I cannot 
 desert him who has ever been faithful to me, the only one 
 person (out of my family) whom in this world I have 
 found so. I know, my dear father and mother, you never 
 would desire it, and I freely confess I would much, much 
 sooner see the King hurled headlong from his throne, which 
 God forbid, than act in such a manner. I willingly forego 
 a long, long anticipated pleasure, on policy not on princi- 
 ple. It is for this reason and this only, viz. that he is my 
 father's friend, that I like the King. If such had not been 
 the case, I should not much have admired his character. 
 
 I remain, my dearest Mother, 
 
 Your most affectionate, attached, and grateful Son, 
 
 W. F. Hook. 
 
 It was very probably owing to the bitter dis- 
 appointment caused by the prohibition of this long 
 desired meeting with his friend, joined to his in- 
 creasing repugnance to Oxford life and studies, that 
 he conceived about this time a very singular project, 
 VOL. I. D
 
 34 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 179^- 
 
 that of offering himself for the situation of second 
 master in a school at Enniskillen in Ireland, which 
 he had seen advertised as vacant. In a long letter 
 to his parents he dilates on the advantages of this 
 scheme. The salary was 240/. a year, which would 
 be wealth to him and would make him independent 
 of them ; then he should take a quiet curacy in 
 addition, study the habits of the Irish, become editor 
 of some country journal and raise the tone of the 
 local press : he would have leisure for pursuing his 
 favourite studies, and executing his favourite design 
 of bringing out a new edition of the sonnets of 
 Shakspeare. In short, the unpleasant state of 
 politics, and the degenerate state of the theatre, 
 which he considered the disgrace of England at the 
 present time, made him long to escape into a serene 
 atmosphere of reverie and study all his own. I 
 have not found any reply to this curious proposal 
 or any further allusion to it in his own letters ; 
 yet he was clearly very much in earnest about it at 
 the moment. 
 
 The vigilance with which he continued to watch 
 the condition of the stage in his jealous anxiety lest 
 injustice should be done to his beloved Shakspeare, 
 was intense. ' I am waiting,' he writes (March 
 1 821), * anxiously for the arrival of the newspapers to 
 learn how Richard III. succeeded last night. Upon 
 this depends everything to me. If the masterspirits 
 of a better age are once more to tread our stage, 
 England will gain more true glory than she has done 
 from all the victories of Wellington ; but if she 
 refuses them she will be a degraded nation and a fit 
 subject for the speculation of the Radicals.'
 
 -i82i ^ Oxford. 35 
 
 Next to Shakspeare there was no author whom 
 he read at that time with keener rehsh than Walter 
 Scott. He writes in several letters with enthusiasm 
 of * Kenilworth ' which had recently come out. Pil- 
 grimages were being daily made to Cumnor from 
 Oxford, and a subscription list had been set on foot to 
 present the landlord of the ' Sun ' with the sign of the 
 Bear and Ragged Staff. ' Undoubtedly,' he writes, 
 '"Kenilworth" is the finest poem of that "arch 
 knave " and " mad wag " Watty Scott, and I shall not 
 grudge my seven and sixpence to view the scene of 
 Dudley's love and Amy's fate.' Besides the study 
 of his favourite theological writers, he also gave con- 
 siderable time to English history. He begs his 
 father to get some copies of Malmesbury, Monmouth, 
 and other early chroniclers, and declares that he 
 will never again read the 'tasteless Hume.' 
 
 Greatly did he groan over the drudgery of 
 reading for his degree during the spring of 182 i ; 
 but that, to him, dreary season was brightened by one 
 brilliant gleam. He put into a raffle for Boydell's 
 illustrations of Shakspeare, and won it. His raptures 
 of joy must be given in his own words : 
 
 Christ Church, Oxford : April 1821. 
 
 My dearest Mother, — I have only one moment to tell 
 you some good news; I am almost intoxicated with joy. 
 There was a raffle for Boydell's illustrations of Shakspeare, 
 and though I could ill afford my guinea, with an almost 
 superstitious ieeling I did put in, and have just won ; it is 
 most glorious ; if I believed in fairies, I should swear that 
 Oberon and Titania and Puck guided my hand as I threw 
 the dice. It is a glorious thing, bound in blue morocco; 
 
 D 2
 
 36 Life of IVatter Farquhar Hook. i7yS - 
 
 and if I had the text, it would be worth a hundred guineas. 
 The bookseller has offered me twelve for it, but considering 
 the manner I have won it. it would be sacrilege to part 
 with it. You will blame me for hazarding a guinea ; but 
 since I have won, it does not signify. When I can afford 
 it, I shall have my Reid's Shakspeare bound to match. I 
 once thought of making my father a present of it, because 
 it seems too magnificent a book for me ; but I cannot make 
 up my mind to do it, because I am so desirous of having 
 everything belonging to Shakspeare. I threw the dice 
 with so much confidence, I was actually superstitious about 
 it, and I am now quite drunk with joy, so that you must 
 excuse more. With most affectionate love to my dear 
 father, to whom I cannot give the book without he wants 
 it very much, 
 
 I am your most affectionate Son. 
 
 W. F. Hook. 
 
 In Easter Term, 1821, he went into the schools. 
 He had resolved to place himself in some way under 
 the protection of Shakspeare as his tutelary deity. 
 He therefore took with him a small head of the 
 poet carved out of his mulberry tree — a precious 
 relic which he had brought from Stratford-on-Avon — 
 to hold in his hand during viva voce ; and in his 
 paper-work he adopted a singular device which the 
 following letter will explain, and which it appears 
 had been a practice of old standing with him. 
 
 Christ Church, Oxford : June 1821, 
 
 My dearest Mother, — I have only time to tell you that 
 my cares are at an end and, as you would say, my educa- 
 tion finished. I did not take up enough books for a class, 
 I am afraid ; but I did what I did take up better than I 
 could have expected, and was thanked and praised for my 
 Divinity.
 
 -1 82 1 Oxfoi'd. 37 
 
 By the bye, I must tell you a circumstance which amused 
 the examining masters not a little. I have had a custom of 
 writing the name of W. Shakspeare on every paper which 
 I think of importance, from ancient times. You will see it 
 written at the corner of this sheet in very small letters, 
 w>»-.A,,'..,. 1 which very {&\m people would discover ; but it so 
 happened that Mr. Cardvvell, one of the examining masters, 
 observed that this little Shakspeare was in all my copies, 
 and they called me up to know if I meant it as a charm ; 
 which I could not quite deny, and it afforded them great 
 amusement. This I have not told to any of my acquaintance 
 here who would think me a bit of a fool for my pains ; 
 but the report about the University is, that I was cutting 
 jokes with the examining masters all the time. They, 
 however, behaved very good-naturedly to me, except this 
 morning, when one of them, to the great amusement of all 
 the rest, made me prove the errors of the Roman Catholics 
 in worshipping relicks, and the folly of the Jews in wear- 
 ing phylacteries ; the absurdity of superstition, and inutility 
 of charms, all of which subjects I knew pretty well ; and 
 this, with something about the doctrine of the Trinity, made 
 up the whole of my examination in Divinity. 
 
 Now I must beg you not to tell this to my friends in 
 town, but keep it to yourself, for some of them would think 
 me an idiot ; I am afraid it will be soon spread over the 
 University, for Cardwell seemed to think it a very good 
 joke, and will tell it, I make no doubt. If so, I shall depart 
 immediately from this place. It is my intention to stay 
 here ten or twelve days, since, to my deep and unfeigned 
 sorrow, I shall not be able to see dear Gilbert. I can 
 come up directly if you wish it, but I shall write fully 
 to-morrow. I shall not take my degree, I think, till just 
 before the long vacation, when I shall return to Oxford, 
 I am at this moment too happy to write sense. I am 
 afraid the examining masters will think me a bit of a fool, 
 but they showed that they thought it innocent and laugh- 
 able folly. I would not, however, have yesterday over 
 
 ' Facsimile of the original 'W. Shakspeare.' 
 
 i:49CC4
 
 38 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1798- 
 
 again, really for a hundred pounds, poor though I am ; I 
 never was so miserable. 
 
 Classical honours he had neither desired nor 
 sought. But there was just one prize upon which he 
 had set his heart : the Newdegate prize for English 
 verse, and he resolved to compete for it. The 
 subject for 1821 was Psestum. 'With trembling 
 hands,' he writes, * and a throbbing heart have I 
 consigned the child of my hopes to the Registrar.' 
 He thought his good fortune in winning the Boy dell 
 Shakspeare in the raffle a bad omen ; it would be 
 impossible to have another great piece of luck in the 
 same year. And his apprehensions were fulfilled. 
 His lines, which have come into my hands, are 
 smooth, melodious, and free from the insipidity of 
 thought and turgidity of language which are so 
 common in Newdegate poems. But the prize was 
 gained by the Hon. Mr. Howard, afterwards Lord 
 Carlisle, who also carried off the prize for Latin verse 
 in the same year. 
 
 His failure to obtain this prize was perhaps the 
 most poignant disappointment of his life. At least 
 there was none on which he expressed his feelings 
 at the time in such inconsolable terms, although of 
 course the trial could not have been a very lasting 
 one. * With indescribable sorrow ' (thus he writes to 
 his father) ' I sit down to inform you that all my 
 hopes of gaining distinction at Oxford are now at an 
 end ; I feel after all my failures that I should like a 
 little quiet and retirement. I cannot pay my London 
 visits.' And so he proposes to go to Whippingham, 
 of which his father was now rector. The sweet air
 
 i82i Leaves Oxford. 39 
 
 and scenery of the Isle of Wight would restore his 
 spirits. * I cannot now look,' he proceeds, * for dis- 
 tinction in life, but a quiet and humble one is perhaps 
 after all the happiest. I wish you and my mother 
 would decide for me what line I should take, and I 
 will endeavour — may God grant with success — to 
 perform its duties.' And in another letter, ' I long 
 to escape from this most odious place : I am dis- 
 gusted with Oxford, and my heart leaps with joy at 
 the thought of quitting it, I might almost say, for 
 ever.' 
 
 LETTERS FROM 1813-1821. 
 
 An Ideal Country Parsonage. 
 
 Winchester : November 7, 1813. 
 
 Dear Brother, .... I have only got to stay here two 
 years more, though two years is no short time ; then, I 
 suppose, I shall go to Oxford and, when I am twenty-three, 
 be made a parson. I do not intend to be minor canon, for 
 when I get a living I must still be minor canon ; but I 
 intend to have a living just in such a village as ' sweet 
 Auburn ' was before it was deserted ; but instead of ' pass- 
 ing rich with forty pounds a year' I intend to have a 
 thousand ; and I shall divide it thus : three hundred for 
 myself, three hundred for the poor, and four hundred for 
 books. I intend to keep a horse, tax-cart, and donkey, 
 one man servant, and one maid servant. I intend to have 
 a good library, and there shall be one corner which I will 
 call Poets' Corner ; and in my grounds I intend there shall 
 be a hill, and I shall build a sort of place like a temple at 
 the top, that I may sit and read at the top in summer. I 
 shall call it Mount Parnassus ; it shall be something like 
 Grongar Hill which Dyer so well describes. I shall have
 
 40 Life of Walter Farqithar Hook. 1798- 
 
 the busts of Milton, Dryden, Pope, Young, and Thomson 
 there. In the morning I shall get up at seven in summer, 
 eight in winter, and take a walk in the garden for half an 
 hour ; come home to breakfast ; then I shall go to visit my 
 poor people, and at ten come home and write some of my 
 sermon; at eleven go out riding, or driving in my tax-cart ; 
 at twelve take luncheon, and go to Parnassus till two ; at 
 three dine ; after dinner go to Parnassus, except in winter, 
 when I shall sit over the fire with wine on the table, read- 
 ing. At eight I shall have prayers in my private chapel, 
 when all those poor people who come I shall put down in 
 my pocket-book to be attended to. At nine I shall go to 
 bed. My library will be open to all poor people. I shall 
 recommend Milton to them ; and I shall build around me 
 a large place like ' St. Cross ' for poor people who are too 
 old to work. I shall be very glad to see my dearest 
 brother Bob, mamma, papa, or any of my other good 
 friends. I shall always have a bed or two, not like Dr. 
 Wavell's, but all well aired, for my servants shall take it 
 by turns to sleep in them. I shall sport tolerable dinners ; 
 I shall have apples, and grapes, and all fruits, and goose- 
 berry wine and currant, and meat when my friends come. 
 I shall plant potatoes, and shall have a dog, a cat, some 
 rabbits and tame pheasants, and shall feed all young birds 
 that choose to come. My sermons will be on an average 
 about an hour long, never more, but generally as long. I 
 shall preach very good sermons for the poor people, but 
 not learned ones, as I do not want to be more learned. I 
 shall have a pair of cotton stockings to go to dine with the 
 squire or charity schoolmaster. I shall have a new coat 
 once in three years. I shall have one hat and one pair 
 of boots. My servant will have all my old clothes for his 
 livery. I shall have a bank at the church, and be the 
 warden to the charity school, which must attend my private 
 chapel to answer the responses. I shall have a hand 
 organ, and the clerk shall play it. I intend to have a river 
 in my garden, and shall have written in large letters on a 
 bit of board, ' At Parnassus. But mark what I areed thee,
 
 -i83i Letters, 1813-1821. 41 
 
 now avaunt ! ' That is to say, that nobody must disturb 
 me when in soHtudc at my Parnassus. I shall keep wine 
 to give to the poor people that are sick, and shall always 
 have plenty on table at dinner, though I shall never drink 
 more than a glass or two at the very most, for two reasons : 
 one, because it would not be right to drink more, and the 
 other, because it would be too expensive. I shall often go 
 to the public-house to see that nobody is getting drunk. 
 My dog will dine with me, except when I have company. 
 Perhaps if it is not too expensive I will keep a mastiff too, 
 to guard the house, and a Newfoundland. I shall have 
 little or nothing to be robbed of except my books, so the 
 mastiff will live in the library. I shall have no plate, but 
 will have pewter spoons ; perhaps I may have a few plated 
 ones, in case I should have company. I shall write to my 
 dear Robert, and papa and mamma often. I shall always 
 give the clerk a Christmas-box, and they shall sing the 
 Christmas carols from Milton. I quite forget the beginning 
 (you must remember) ; in the middle there is, ' Thou sun, 
 of this great world both eye and soul ; ' and there is at the 
 beginning, speaking of God, 'To us invisible or dimly seen 
 in these Thy lower works, yet these declare Thy goodness 
 beyond thought and power divine.' 
 
 I shall have a moss house beside my river, and I intend 
 that there shall be trees about it, that my dear mamma 
 may be able to sit there when she comes. Dear Robert, 
 you shall have the best bedroom but one when you come 
 to see me, because papa must have the best. I shall intro- 
 duce you to the schoolmaster and the squire, and one or 
 two of the farmers ; and if grandpapa will be so kind as to 
 come to see me, I daresay I shall be able to make up a 
 rubber of whist. Now, dear Robert, you see how I intend 
 to live. I shall wish you good-bye. Perhaps you may be 
 Lord Mayor some day or other ; but I hope never to be 
 more than a country parson. Give my best love to papa, 
 mamma, and receive the same from 
 
 Your very affectionate Brother.
 
 42 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1798- 
 
 A Schoolboys^ Debate. 
 
 Winchester : May 2, 1816. 
 
 My dear Mother, .... By the bye, I had an argument 
 of an hour and a half's duration one day on poHtics : I and 
 another of our club were the only ones against five col- 
 legians, all Opposition. They were very abusive of the 
 Prince, whom we defended most properly : we drew up the 
 Opposition one side of the table, my colleague and myself 
 on the other ; we always, except once, called each other 
 honourable gentlemen, but in the heat of argument, I could 
 not help breaking through the rule, and saying the honour- 
 able blackguard opposite, which gave great offence, and 
 was thought very vulgar. We at first agreed to conduct our 
 debates as in the House of Commons, but I was the first 
 who arose, and they declared (though it did not seem so 
 to me) that I spoke for half an hour ; so they thought I 
 should go on all night, and made it fair that we might 
 talk as we chose, which brought us down to common 
 argument. There were many boys standing round who were 
 very much amused with our earnestness, but particularly 
 with mine, for one of the fellows opposite asking. Can any 
 one who admires the ministers ever so much, say that the 
 Prince is not a fat, disgusting, and sinful, drunken beast } I 
 cried out so loud that Mr. Williams, who was at the bottom 
 of the school, sent for me for making a noise, and I with 
 difficulty got off an imposition. As we went on, I asserted 
 that he did not drink at all ; for grandpapa told me he did 
 not, but as I did not feel at liberty to mention his name, 
 my assertion went as nothing, and one member of the 
 Opposition bench quoted Bloomberg that he did drink 
 manfully, and does so still. Now will you ask grandpapa if 
 I may use his name next time we meet, which may be, by 
 the bye, to-day in school as we have nothing to do at that 
 time, but talk or read ; but I must tell you who I was 
 compared to — no less than Mr. Pitt, while my colleague 
 was Mr. Canning. The leader of the party was Mr. Fox,
 
 -i82i Letters, 1813-1821. 43 
 
 because, owing to the violence of his action, he broke the 
 boards of one of my friend's books. I would not trouble you 
 with this, but that I want to get leave to quote grandpapa, 
 if they dare to touch on that head again. I was laughed 
 at much, and it put mc in a great passion, for while I was 
 praising my Lord Castlercagh, one of the fellows asked me 
 if I thought with papa on the Catholic question, for they 
 remember his sermon on that head, I was glad to find ; I 
 answered in the affirmative, and they triumphed much, in 
 saying that Lord Castlercagh did not. Will you tell mc 
 how to defend the noble Lord ? . . . . 
 
 To his Brother,'^ 18 16 — Lord Chesterfield's Letters — The 
 Spectator — Sam. Johnson — Poetical Justice. 
 
 My dear Robert, — You say you have of late been read- 
 ing Lord Chesterfield ; he is an author of whom I am 
 enabled to judge only by extracts that I have met by 
 chance, and by quotations that I have found from other 
 authors, but from what I have seen, he is very far from 
 being a proper author for you to waste much time in 
 studying, far from it ; indeed, I should think that my 
 mother would have a very reasonable objection to your 
 reading it, and if, as you say, you have read it and cannot 
 unread it, nevertheless, I am far from wishing you to pay 
 so much attention to it as will, and must naturally, be the case 
 in translating it from the French : he seems a mean, worldly, 
 despicable nobleman, and he seems to instruct a person 
 in a kind of egotism. Now if I were to advise you what to 
 read, I should propose the ' Spectator ; ' that would not only 
 exercise you in French, but would likewise improve your 
 English style, for the style of the amiable Addison is truly 
 divine, and were the Gods to talk English, it would without 
 doubt be the English of Addison ; you would by that be 
 able to see the whims and fancies and foibles of the last 
 century, and see what we have improved, what corrupted. 
 You would be able when you read Milton, to understand 
 him, too, better by far after the annotations of the amiable, 
 * Then in a house of business in Holland.
 
 44 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 179S- 
 
 learned, and unpedantic Addison, whom I like far better 
 than Sam Johnson, who, though he was of good men 
 perhaps the very best, cannot have so much said of him as 
 a critic ; a sound moraHst he was, but far, very far, from 
 being a good critic. You have heard him extolled, so have 
 I, not as the greatest moralist and wisest of the men of 
 England, but as a superior critic. I must dissent from the 
 general opinion, and as I write to you, I doubt not but you 
 will excuse a boy objecting to the opinions of the learned, 
 but I have had a close intimacy with the Doctor, and tell you 
 that I think he is (and it is the greatest fault in a critic) 
 most partial ; witness the criticisms on Milton, Gray, and, 
 on the other hand, the unfortunate but unprincipled Savage. 
 From his criticisms on our greatest poets, he seems not to 
 have been able to feel any pleasure in the higher flights of 
 poetry, and when he looks at verses on lesser subjects, on 
 love, &c., he blames them for being unnatural, if they 
 happen to mention a heathen god, not perhaps as a deity, 
 but as a personification ; this he does with our poet 
 Hammond, who seems to be a very deserving bard, being 
 the only person who has succeeded in the way of Ovid and 
 Tibullus. But these are his lesser faults ; as a critic in the 
 higher flights, he was rigid, most rigid. If poor Horace 
 was to have such a critic, one might well cry, ' Alack, poor 
 Horace ! ' He believed in the divine right of kings — abomin- 
 able ! but he insists on poetical justice — worse and worse ! 
 In dear Shakspeare's 'Lear,' he quarrels with the 'Spec- 
 tator,' who blames the alteration, and making of the piece 
 end happy. May I ask what can be more unnatural and 
 improbable than justice as administered in poetry ? does 
 the good man always go on well in this world .'' would not 
 everything then be good, and shall then the poet of 
 nature forget to be natural } Heaven forbid ! if this should 
 be debated in the House of Commons, and my Lord 
 Castlereagh — should even that great, that wonderful man 
 defend it with his Pitt-like eloquence, I would sit on the 
 opposite benches.
 
 -i82i Letters, 1813-1821. 45 
 
 Anxiety to hear from his Brother. 
 
 Winchester : May 12, 1816. 
 
 My dear Robert, — It is so long since any letter has 
 been received from you, that I cannot refrain from writing, 
 if it is only to ask and intreat you to write to us soon, to 
 me, or to some other branch of the family. Any letter 
 received from you, or known by me to have lately been 
 received from you, would greatly ease my heart, for I 
 must own to you that I am most excessively uneasy about 
 you ; the length of time that has expired since you last 
 wrote is prodigious — write soon, I pray you — and your last 
 letter told us of your having an asthma, so that I think 
 there is ample room for my being uneasy about you. I hope 
 to goodness that before you read this I shall have heard 
 from you, or of you, my most darling brother. I did not 
 intend writing to you before I heard of you, at first, but 
 now I must write to beg you not to allow us to be any 
 more uneasy about you. To-day is a holiday, and I have 
 leave out to your friend, Mr. Woodburn, for papa and 
 mamma (' Alack the day ! ') are going from hence about 
 the visitation business ; you can easily guess how very and 
 truly unpleasant it is to me to lose their society. I should, 
 I trust, be more happy than I am to-day, for I am at 
 present in a low state, feeling very uncomfortable for more 
 reasons than one, but what always comes topmost to my 
 soul is the anxiety I feel on your account, my dearest 
 Robert ; I think it will do me good having leave out, it 
 will raise my spirits. I was forced to stop a moment, for 
 names have been just called in the hall to my great detri- 
 ment, for my stupid fool of a fag left my boiler in the 
 way, and Gabell has taken it as usual ; he took all my mess 
 things away the other day, and now the boilers, but I shall 
 not lick Elliot (whom you remember), for he is my fag. 
 I should have been bankrupt had it not been for the 
 enormous goodness of my most beloved mother ; for she
 
 46 Life of Walter Farqiihar Hook. 1795- 
 
 made me a present of a pound when she went away, of which, 
 when I pay for this boiler, I shall have only six shillings 
 left, and that I must pay for a cheese, as I am ' in course ' 
 with that to-night for the rest of the half-year. It is really 
 such nonsense of Gabell, allowing boys to have things, 
 and taking them away when he finds them ; but don't 
 mention this in your letters, for this one I mean to seal 
 with my own arms, which my most dearest mother has 
 presented me with. I have shown it to most fellows here, 
 and they all admire it so much, you cannot think, so that 
 it won't be seen and read, for I should not like them to 
 know of my extravagance, and by the time I want some 
 more very urgently, I shall beg for an advance of my holi- 
 day money, which mamma is always kind enough to give 
 me. You must mind to admire my seal, it is most beauti- 
 ful, and the impression is magnificent. 
 
 Would to heaven that the time was come when I am 
 to see you dearest, most beloved Robert again ; pray, pray 
 write, I long so much to hear from you, and tell me how 
 your asthma is. If you knew the agony of mind which I 
 now feel on your account, my sweet Robert, you would not 
 delay an instant. You will think me a fool, but you can- 
 not do so more than I myself do, on that account, but do 
 what I will, the most horrid ideas haunt me in every place, 
 so that I may justly feel desirous of hearing of you or 
 from you, and that too, soon. Now I shall leave off writing. 
 With my very best love to you, and praying you to write 
 soon, 
 
 I shall remain, most dear and darling Robert, upon rny 
 honour, your most dotingly affectionate Brother. 
 
 Christ Church, Oxford : February 182 1. 
 
 My dear Sister, — To so devoted an admirer of the fair 
 sex, as you know I am, and every true and loyal knight 
 must needs be, the letter of ' your naughtiness ' was of 
 course most acceptable, but I will confess that I shall find
 
 -1 821 Letters, 1 8 13-182 1. 47 
 
 some diflficulty in endeavouring to answer it, since its sub- 
 ject was nearly uniform, and that subject being my own 
 praise, I am in modesty bound to be silent thereon. I beg 
 leave, however, to state that though you should certainly 
 have the most dutiful respect and veneration for the 
 character of your elder brother, yet there is no necessity 
 to make it the subject of your letters to him or of your 
 conversations with anybody else, so that, in future I shall 
 hope to hear more of papa and mamma, and less of my- 
 self; and indeed I shall have no very great objection to 
 hear something about yourself (though you are nobody), 
 and to know whether you are improving in your studies, 
 and are more or less naughty than you were a few weeks 
 ago. You must beg mamma to let you read the account 
 of our good King's reception at the theatres. I have just 
 been reading it, and it has rejoiced me so much that it has 
 given me a headache, or I am not quite sure that you would 
 receive this letter. It was one of the most glorious re- 
 ceptions, as represented in the new ' Times,' of which I 
 have read or heard. There are, however, one or two points 
 that have grieved me, but on which I will not dwell here. 
 
 You may nevertheless tell my father that the King of 
 England gave his royal sanction to, and manifested his 
 royal approbation of the vile interpolations which dis- 
 figure the ' Twelfth Night ' as now performed. 
 
 This is so unworthy George IV. that I quit the subject, 
 I like your idea of keeping my letters to show my grand- 
 children, they will no doubt form a fine red headed family; 
 and I hope that I shall be able to exhort them to follow 
 the good example of their Aunt Georgiana. But if you 
 are an old maid, I give you notice beforehand, that I will 
 not permit you to enter into my house, with a whole aviary 
 on your shoulders, and a pack of dogs of all sorts and sizes 
 at your heels. And now my dear Demoiselle, your true 
 faithful Sir Walter of the fiery plume has neither time nor 
 inclination to write any more, but having assured you how 
 highly I appreciate the honour of having opened a corres-
 
 48 Life of Walter Farqiihar Hook. 1798- 
 
 pondence with the fair sex, and having desired you to give 
 my most devoted love to my dear father and mother, I 
 beg you to 
 
 BeHeve me to be, my dear Miss Hook. 
 
 Your most attached and very affectionate Brother, 
 
 W. F. Hook.
 
 -i82i Choice of a Vocation. 49 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ORDINATION. LIFE AT WHIPPINGIIAM. 
 A.D. 182I-1826. 
 
 It had been Sir Walter Farquhars wish that his 
 grandson should study for the Bar : but it was wisely- 
 determined that he should be allowed to choose his 
 own profession after he had taken his degree ; and 
 in the course of the summer of 182 1 he declared his 
 fixed and unalterable desire to enter holy orders. 
 
 He went to London in July and witnessed the 
 coronation of George IV., but party spirit ran so 
 high in reference to the Queen's case that he was 
 not permitted by his father to meet his friend Wood ; 
 a privation to which he submitted, but with resent- 
 ment which he did not attempt to conceal. ' I 
 lament,' he writes, 'that party spirit has now come to 
 such a height that private intercourse between friends 
 must be sacrificed to political feeling. It does not 
 speak well for the times, and I could bring many 
 instances to prove that there is no necessity for 
 friends to part on account of diversity in their poli- 
 tical sentiments ; though that of Addison and Steele 
 will suffice.' 
 
 In fact his disappointment on account of his 
 failure as he called it at Oxford, his dissatisfaction 
 with the tone of politics and with the state of the 
 VOL. L E
 
 50 Life of Walter Farqtihar Hook. 1821^ 
 
 English drama, and the continued prohibition of 
 intercourse with his friend, all concurred to make 
 him turn with a sense of relief from the world, espe- 
 cially the world of London, to quiet preparation for 
 holy orders in the retirement of his father's rectory 
 in the Isle of Wight. In the latter part of the 
 summer the curacy of Whippingham became vacant, 
 and his father was anxious that he should fill the 
 situation and be ordained without delay. He was 
 examined by his father and privately ordained by 
 the Bishop of Hereford, who was also Warden of 
 Winchester, in the chapel of the college on Sep- 
 tember 30, and preached his first sermon in the 
 Parish Church of Whippingham on the following 
 Sunday. 
 
 And now being no longer shackled and fretted 
 by uncongenial studies, he threw the whole force of 
 his intellect and affections into the work to which he 
 had been called. While his well-beloved poets and 
 writers of fiction were still the companions of his 
 leisure hours, theology and ecclesiastical history 
 occupied the foremost place in his attention. He 
 had long delighted in these subjects, and he now 
 pursued the study of them with increased ardour, 
 because he felt it to be his duty as well as his 
 pleasure. But although everyone who knew him 
 intimately, believed, notwithstanding the comparative 
 failure of his career at school and college, that his 
 abilities were of no common order, probably no one 
 had discerned the prodigious capacity for study and 
 the immense practical energy which were to be 
 manifested as soon as they had got a fair field for 
 action. Probably also few were aware what a deep
 
 •-i8:j6 Whippingham. 5 1 
 
 fund of tender, genial sympathy there was in one 
 who had hitherto hved rather after the manner of a 
 shy recluse, and few could have then foreseen what 
 a spell he would henceforth exercise over the hearts 
 of those who were confided to his pastoral care. 
 
 I propose to make a brief sketch of his character 
 and manner of life during the six years of his curacy 
 at Whippingham, reserving for a more particular 
 account the only episodes of importance in this quiet 
 period ; one of which was also the first event that 
 brought him into public notice. 
 
 His father being Archdeacon of Huntingdon and 
 Canon of Winchester, as well as a Royal Chaplain, 
 fond also of London society, a keen politician and 
 writer of political pamphlets, was frequently absent 
 from Whippingham, and when he was there seldom 
 could take much part in parochial duty from increas- 
 ing ill-health and infirmity. His son, therefore, was 
 practically curate in charge, and was often the only 
 inmate of the rectory for weeks or months together. 
 He seems thoroughly to have enjoyed his seclusion 
 and independence, although he had no lack of society 
 if he wished it, being always a welcome guest at many 
 houses, more especially Northwood, the residence of 
 Mr. Ward, near West Cowes, and Norris Castle, the 
 abode at that time of Lord Henry Seymour. Quiet 
 English country scenery had always a peculiar charm 
 for him, and he enjoyed it to the full in the Isle of 
 Wight. An early bathe in the Medina which flows 
 at the foot of the hill on which the rectory stands, 
 study from early morning till the beginning of the 
 afternoon, visits to his flock, evenings spent with his 
 kind and pleasant neighbours or in the society of his 
 
 E2
 
 52 Life of Walter Farqiihar Hook. 1821- 
 
 fondly beloved Shakspeare or Walter Scott or Miss 
 Austen, nocturnal rambles on soft summer nights 
 sometimes prolonged till nearly dawn to listen to 
 the nightingale and watch the silvery light of the 
 moon upon the river or the sea ; these made up the 
 ordinary incidents of his daily life, a strange con- 
 trast in its calm and sweet repose to the years of 
 turmoil and excitement in great smoky cities which 
 were in store for him. Often and often in those 
 later years, as will be seen, did he pine for the tran- 
 quillity of his Whippingham days, and look forward 
 to the time when he might be able to retire to some 
 peaceful home in or near the Isle of Wight. And 
 one great reason of his contentment in old age with 
 the Deanery of Chichester was its proximity to the 
 island which he loved so well. 
 
 A few extracts from his letters at this time will 
 best illustrate the foregoing remarks. Writing to 
 his mother from Oxford where he was staying for a 
 while to attend Lloyd's Divinity Lectures before 
 taking priest's orders, he says, ' My bowels yearn 
 for our lovely island. To peace and quiet, to the 
 parish that I love and the studies I delight in, to 
 pursuits which are congenial to my soul and to that 
 retirement for which I am best adapted, to divinity, 
 to Shakspeare and the Muse, to green fields instead 
 of dirty streets, to the calm of the country instead of 
 the noise of the town, to the love of my simple flock 
 instead of the heartlessness of the world, I shall 
 return with increased joy and redoubled zest, there 
 to lay deep the foundations for future distinction in 
 the vocation to which I am heart and soul devoted.' 
 
 Although he was now sociable on the whole in
 
 -1 826 Whippingham. 53 
 
 his disposition, yet at times the impulse to spend 
 part of his day alone with no society but that of his 
 beloved poets came upon him with a force curiously 
 sudden and irresistible. In a letter dated March 
 1823 he describes how he started one evening to 
 dine at Northwood ' in my best hosen, best trousers, 
 and best coat ; but when I had walked half-way to 
 Cowes it occurred to me that it would be much 
 preferable to return to my own fire-side and read 
 Shakspeare, which I accordingly did ; and I had 
 the satisfaction of hearing the rain come down in 
 torrents just about the time I should have been 
 walking home after my dinner.' 
 
 Those who know the Isle of Wight will recognise 
 in the following letters a very fresh and life-like 
 description of the sweet sunny days in spring, and 
 the blustering rainy south-westers, for which the 
 climate there even in summer is equally notorious. 
 
 yiuie 21, 1824. — * I arrived here cold and chilly 
 on Friday night at a house where I was not ex- 
 pected. Next day I woke early, intending to enjoy 
 the delights of the country, but found it pouring in 
 torrents ; I therefore tried to go to sleep, but failed. 
 I know not anything more miserable than my con- 
 dition that day : without any pursuit, all around dull, 
 dark, and dismal, a strong south-wester howling and 
 the pattering of the rain incessant. I was a perfect 
 " energumen," if being possessed with " blue devils " 
 as well as others entitle one to the name, and would 
 have thanked our Bishop most heartily had he been 
 at hand to exorcise me. Raining as it did, I was 
 forced to go out in self-defence. I found the farmers 
 grumbling because of the hay lately cut, and the
 
 54 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1821- 
 
 labourers surly and wet, the matrons coming from 
 market sulky and the maidens cross, the invalids 
 doubly ill, and all the parish out of humour. When 
 we do have bad weather in the island I verily believe 
 that it is worse than anywhere else in the whole 
 world. But now I have hit upon my line of reading, 
 and it may blow tempests and rain cats and dogs for 
 all I care.' 
 
 May 2, 1822. 
 My dearest Mother, .... This is not Whippingham, 
 it is Paradise ; and if you wish to form any idea of what it 
 now is, dismiss all recollection of it from your thoughts, 
 and read all the fine descriptions of gardens that you meet 
 with in the poets, particularly in Shakspeare and Spenser ; 
 and then you may be able to form some (though a very 
 slight) idea of what it is. I think all the birds in England 
 are on a visit to the island — at least I will be bound to say 
 that you never heard such a choir as we have here. One 
 feels all this the more by living alone ; and, as I have no 
 one else to talk to, and Heaven forbid that I should have 
 any, I may truly say with my friend the duke that I find 
 'tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in 
 stones, and good in everything.' Uncle Theodore would 
 say that it would be more convenient if I could take the 
 last assertion but one in a more literal sense. But really, 
 you cannot think what an interest I take in inanimate 
 Nature, and animate too. I begin almost sometimes to 
 think that I shall grow sentimental, which is the very last 
 thing I desire, and perhaps be inclined ere long ' to hail 
 the gooseberry bushes,' which I trust you have already 
 done at Sydenham. I generally take a stroll in the neigh- 
 bouring fields about five o'clock, and return home to dinner 
 between seven and eight ; and then read till about ten or 
 eleven, when I go out again, and flirt with the moon and 
 listen to the nightingale till one or two ; the moon is on 
 the water about that time. Alas, yesterday morning I 
 was wandering close to the Nashes (where there is a night-
 
 -1826 Whippingham. 55 
 
 ingale) between one and two o'clock, but never a youth or 
 a lass did I meet going to the woods a-Maying ; all was as 
 still and silent as ever. And yesterday I could not resist 
 the temptation of galloping over the country in quest of a 
 Maypole, but not one was to be found ; and I must confess, 
 with all my attachment to the island, I could not conceive 
 a place where there is less reverence for old customs, less 
 of what you may call rural and poetic feelings in the 
 peasantry, than there is here. There never was such 
 weather as this is since the days of Dan Chaucer, and I do 
 sincerely hope it may last. I was made to live alone ; and 
 certainly if one can converse with trees and brooks and 
 stones, they must be the most pleasant companions, because 
 they cannot thwart you, dispute with you, or quarrel with 
 you. And hence I am miserable at the intended visit of 
 Duncomb and Pollen ; at least, if it continues fine like this ; 
 however, if they come, why then we must do as well as we 
 can. Did you ever read 'Pride and Prejudice'.^ I sent 
 for it a few weeks ago when I had a cold, which stuffed up 
 my nose and caused a ringing in my ears, and the weather 
 was rainy, so that I was too poorly to read anything 
 serious, and not in a humour for poetry. It amused me 
 very much ; it is a regular gossip throughout. I found 
 myself in a pleasant family circle, and listened to the 
 gossip without having the trouble of joining in it ; and at 
 last became so interested in their welfare that the mamma 
 herself could not have been more anxious about marrying 
 her daughters than I was. I loved Lizzie ; but I should 
 have married Jane if I had had my choice. Altogether, 
 for a bad gloomy day, and with a cold about one, it is a 
 very good kind of book ; but as to reading it in such 
 weather as this, and in the merry month of May, it would 
 be not only absurd, but impossible. Indeed, I suppose all 
 the world, except people of fashion and business, are read- 
 ing poetry and nothing else, without it is divinity. 
 
 Believe me, 
 
 Your most affectionate Son.
 
 56 Life of Walter Farqtihar Hook. 1821- 
 
 His solitude at the Rectory was relieved by the 
 periodical visits of his parents and sister, and occa- 
 sionally of his aunt, Miss Farquhar — Aunt Eliza as 
 she was called, who seems to have been quite a 
 type of the old maiden aunt of a family — very kind, 
 but rather exacting, and somewhat overwhelming in 
 her ecstatic affection and fussy anxiety for every 
 member of the family ; qualities which could not 
 fail to provoke playful sallies of humour from her 
 nephew. The following letter written during his 
 mother's convalescence after a severe illness in 
 December 1824, puts the worthy aunt completely 
 before us : 
 
 I have no news whatever to tell you. Aunt Eliza was 
 a little disgusted at my not bringing back particulars 
 enough concerning you. Let Georgiana therefore inform 
 us how many hours you usually sleep, how much pheasant 
 you generally eat, and whether Lady Charlotte's society does 
 not particularly, in a kind of indescribable peculiar way, 
 suit you. She must tell us also whether you read, and 
 what you read, and whether you feel exhausted after read- 
 ing, as is sometimes the case, or whether, as is also some- 
 times the case, you do not feel exhausted. Because, if you 
 do not feel exhausted, it will do you good ; but if you do feel 
 exhausted, Aunt E. 'hopes to God' that my father will 
 prevent your reading too much. Aunt E. will not believe 
 me when I tell her that you do not like to read. She says 
 it is all very well for me to say so, or even for you, 
 but with your peculiar temperament she knows that it is 
 impossible. In short, Georgiana must send us more par- 
 ticulars. 
 
 P.S. Quarter past three o'clock. — Tell Georgiana that 
 I am happy in knowing she will write a most beautiful 
 hand. Aunt Eliza can perceive it even now ; there were 
 some letters and some words quite perfect in her last note.
 
 -1826 WhippingJiam. 57 
 
 Aunt E. descanted on it for three-quarters of an hour ' by 
 Shrewsbury clock ' yesterday, and was quite angry with 
 me, even to the stamping of stick authoritatively on the 
 floor, when I was rather sceptical. 
 
 P.S. — I open my note once more to say that Aunt E. 
 says it is only just three, not a quarter past 
 
 Some time after this, when his mother was still 
 in delicate health, he accompanied her on the journey 
 from Whippingham to London. East Cowes, the 
 place of embarkation for the main land, is about two 
 miles distant from Whippingham, and whilst waiting 
 for the boat the following report of their progress 
 was sent back to the anxious aunt : words under- 
 lined after her own style. 
 
 Most confidential. 
 
 My dearest Aunt, — As it will be satisfactory to you to 
 know how we are proceeding on our journey, I cannot 
 resist the temptation of sending you word that we have 
 advanced as far as Cowes most prosperously. My dearest, 
 
 most beloved mother has borne the journey very well 
 
 indeed. 
 
 Your most devotedly, adoringly affectionate Nephew. 
 
 Besides this playful kind of humour which was 
 an essential part of his nature, and which, as will 
 be seen, was constantly bubbling up and overflowing 
 into all the action of his life, he at this time still 
 practised many of the more whimsical kind of frolics 
 which, as he mentions in one of his letters transcribed 
 above, he had Invented for his own amusement. 
 His sister, who naturally came in for a full share of
 
 5$ Life of Walter FarqiiJiar Hook. 1821- 
 
 his raillery and banter, and whom he frequently ad- 
 dressed with mock solemnity as 
 
 Demoiselle buxom, blithe, and debonair, 
 With a naughty look and auburn hair, 
 
 used often to accompany him in his walks and rides. 
 Now and then he would suddenly dart from her 
 side, make a furious rush at trees or hedges and 
 thrash them with tremendous violence, pretending 
 that they were enemies. 
 
 As his sportive freaks were always of the most 
 innocent and childlike character — the mere exube- 
 rance of animal spirits, so also his jocosity was now 
 and always utterly free alike from coarseness and 
 sarcasm or satire ; it never jarred either with the 
 amiability or earnest piety of his character, but 
 blended itself with these qualities and enhanced 
 their charms. 
 
 His mirth was the pure spirit of various wit, 
 But never did his God or friend forget. 
 
 And this absence of discord In his character 
 makes it the more easy to turn from the contempla- 
 tion of h^im in his lighter moods to the consideration 
 of that serious work as a pastor and a student to 
 which he was now heart and soul devoted. The 
 parish of Whipplngham was at that time very ex- 
 tensive, and included East Cowes about two miles 
 distant from the Rectory and Parish Church, con- 
 taining a poor maritime population. No direct and 
 separate provision for ministering to the spiritual 
 wants of these people had been made. Many lived 
 in a condition of godless ignorance ; a few who were 
 more religiously disposed attended their parish
 
 -1826 Whipphigham. 59. 
 
 church sometimes in the morning, and very com- 
 monly some dissenting chapel in the evening. Mr. 
 Hook obtained the use of a large sail loft ia 
 which he held an evening service on Sundays, and 
 catechised the children. These services were very 
 largely attended by sailors, fishermen, and other poor 
 people, and were productive of excellent results. 
 When he was paying a visit to Whippingham after 
 he had become Dean of Chichester, and was walking 
 with the present Rector, Canon Prothero, about his 
 old parish, an aged man came up and anxiously en- 
 quired if he remembered him. He said he did, and 
 afterwards told the Rector that the man was one 
 who had been a loose liver in his youth, but had 
 been Induced to attend the Sunday evening services 
 in the sail loft and had become an altered character. 
 Any man who has made the experiment will be 
 ready to acknowledge that it is no small labour after 
 two full services in one church to walk two miles to 
 conduct a third service in another place, and then to 
 walk home ; and this not once or twice on special 
 occasions, but every Sunday and all the year round. 
 The number of communicants also increased so 
 largely during his administration that on great 
 festivals the intervals between his services on Sun- 
 days were very short. In May 1825, he writes, 
 * On Whitsun Day I was properly worked. We had 
 a very fine attendance at the Altar. I was not out 
 of church till a quarter to three o'clock ; went in 
 again at three ; had five christenings and a funeral, 
 and was not out till five, when I had to start Imme- 
 diately to be in time for the school at East Cowes 
 at six, from which I was not released till eight.*
 
 6o Life of Walter Farqithar Hook. iS2r- 
 
 His zeal, however, was well supported by physical 
 strength to match it, and he seldom, if ever, com- 
 plained of fatigue. One very hot evening, however, 
 in June 1825, he arrived at Northwood rather weary 
 and very hot after his service in the sail loft. His 
 friend, Lord Henry Seymour, happened to be there 
 and proposed that a chapel of ease should be built 
 at East Cowes ; a practical suggestion which not 
 long after, though not in Mr. Hook's time, was 
 carried into effect. 
 
 As he always looked back to Whipplngham 
 ■with gratitude for the leisure which it had afforded 
 him to lay deep the foundation of his theological 
 and historical learning, so also did he regard his 
 residence there as the period in which, more than 
 in any other, he had acquired the pastoral tone of 
 his mind and formed the pastoral habits of his life. 
 When he was not in his study he was constantly 
 engaged in visiting his people, and the parish, though 
 extensive, was not so large as to prevent his be- 
 coming in this way the intimate friend of every 
 member of his flock. His power of sympathy, the 
 most indispensable qualification of a successful pastor, 
 was in this manner continually being drawn out and 
 strengthened, and became then and ever afterwards 
 a principal, if not the principal, source of his extra- 
 ordinary influence over the hearts of those amongst 
 whom he ministered. It was his belief that the 
 larger scale on which work has to be carried on 
 in towns, the multiplicity of business in which town 
 clergy are involved, and the consequent distraction 
 of their energy and sympathy into a variety of 
 channels, rendered a town parish an unfavourable
 
 -1S26 Whippbigham, 61 
 
 school for learning the duties of the pastoral vocation. 
 ' I say without hesitation,' he writes long after he had 
 become Vicar of Leeds, * that the very worst training 
 a man can have is that which he receives if appointed 
 early in life to a town parish. The strong pastoral 
 feeling is generated in the country, and I attribute 
 what little success I have had entirely to my country 
 breeding.' Two or three extracts from his letters 
 written during the Whippingham period will suffice 
 to show how completely he had learned in the most 
 genuine and literal sense to identify himself with the 
 joys and sorrows of his people, to rejoice with them 
 that rejoiced, and to weep with them that wept. 
 The first is to his mother in December 1824. 
 
 ' Your permission and recommendation to have 
 the feast on Christmas Day in the barn is in every re- 
 spect agreeable to me. The children will think more 
 of it — and if it had been given at the school the 
 parents would have thought that it was done by 
 subscription, and have claimed as a right what they 
 ought to receive as a favour. It really was gratify- 
 ing to see the many happy faces which were there 
 yesterday when I gave notice of our intentions, and 
 it was comical to see the doubtful ones of those who 
 were not quite sure but they had exceeded the 
 number prescribed of bad tickets. I doubt very 
 much whether the children enjoy the thoughts of it 
 more than myself. I wish to heaven we could feed 
 the whole parish, and that every day.' 
 
 In like manner, attendance at a village club 
 dinner, which to so many clergy is a vexatious and 
 irksome business, was to him a real pleasure. ' On 
 Easter Monday it would sadly grieve me not to
 
 62 Life of Walter Farqithar Hook. 1821- 
 
 preach to the club and dine with them. It is one 
 of the days I enjoy most in the whole year.' 
 
 Then to take the other side of sympathy : the 
 following is a specimen how thoroughly he entered 
 into the trouble of others as if it was his own, and 
 how his affection for his people and theirs for him 
 had its root in the discharge of his pastoral duty 
 amongst them ; so that it was essentially the love of 
 a pastor for his flock and of a flock for their pastor. 
 * The Tassels are going to Bideford ; they start to- 
 night. You cannot think how sorry I feel at parting 
 with them, for I had trained both of them for Holy 
 Communion, and he took it for the first time on 
 Christmas Day, and she on Whitsun Day : and she 
 was a convert of mine from the Dissenters. Poor 
 Tassel : he cried like a child at parting with me, 
 and so to keep him company I cried too.* 
 
 When he first made up his mind to take Holy 
 Orders he declared his intention of dedicating two 
 years entirely to a deep study of divinity, and to the 
 foundation of his style. This intention was more 
 than fulfilled, for he was a most industrious and 
 laborious student during the whole six years of his 
 curacy at Whippingham, laying up stores of know- 
 ledge and thought during that period which were of 
 incalculable value to him throughout the rest of his 
 life. In fact, whenever he was not visiting in his 
 parish he was engaged in study, and in order to 
 ensure complete privacy he had a little wooden hut 
 erected near the corner of the churchyard, in which 
 he used to read. He once asked his uncle Theodore 
 what he should call it. * I should call it Walter's cot,' 
 was the reply of the ever ready punster. In this cot
 
 -1S26 Whippingham. 63 
 
 or hut he worked at his books, often as many as 
 nine or ten hours, sometimes rising very early and 
 reading on, with only the interval of breakfast, till 
 two or three o'clock in the afternoon. Sometimes but 
 more rarely he sat up late at night, but in any case 
 he usually spent a considerable part of the evening 
 as well as the morning in this retirement. 
 
 In the first year after his ordination as deacon 
 he appears to have read chiefly with a view 
 to his ordination as priest, which took place at 
 Christmas 1822, and also to fill his mind with 
 matter for sermons which for a considerable time 
 caused him no little anxiety and trouble. He 
 w^as indeed so exceedingly distrustful of his powers 
 that at one period he did not venture to preach his 
 own, but having written one which he preached on 
 behalf of some charity at Newport, and which was 
 much commended, he plucked up courage and 
 writes, May 1822, to his mother : * I am now in such 
 good humour with myself that I shall take to writing 
 my own sermons again, for during the last two or 
 three months I have not dared even to attempt one.* 
 
 In 1824 he embarked on a course of reading 
 according to a plan of his own, and completed it in 
 1826. The annexed chart of this course is a sin- 
 gular monument of industry, when the necessary 
 avocations of parochial work and occasional interrup- 
 tion from other causes are taken into consideration. 
 The piles of note books also, in my possession, all 
 bearing date within the space of these two years, are 
 an evidence how steadily and solidly the work was 
 done.
 
 64 
 
 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1821- 
 
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 -1826 A Course of Reading. 65 
 
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 66 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1821- 
 
 His primary object in following out this course 
 was to obtain a clear and comprehensive view of the 
 principles of the Church Catholic from the earliest 
 times, to trace the introduction of errors into the 
 Western Church during the period of Papal domina- 
 tion, and to measure the extent to which these errors 
 were renounced by the Reformers of the sixteenth 
 century, especially in our own country. And as the 
 result of his researches pursued on this historical 
 method, he was led to the conviction which all his sub- 
 sequent studies strengthened, and to which he ever 
 held with a tenacious grasp, that the Reformed Angli- 
 can Church was a pure and apostolical branch of the 
 Church Catholic : that she was essentially Catholic 
 as being on all vital points of constitution, doctrine, 
 and practice in harmony with the primitive Church, 
 and on the other hand essentially Protestant, as 
 opposed to the pretensions of the Papal power and 
 to the corruption in teaching and practice of the 
 Middle Ages. The close of his career of study at 
 Whippingham left him with his antipathies matured 
 against the Romanist who would corrupt the Church, 
 against the Puritan who would destroy it, against 
 the Latitudinarian and Erastian who would sacri- 
 fice its principles to considerations of expediency 
 and worldly interest. And it was his destiny to 
 carry on, throughout his life, a manful and almost 
 incessant contest with these three great elements of 
 danger to the purity and integrity of the Church of 
 England. 
 
 After this general sketch of his life at Whipping- 
 ham, into which it seemed desirable to enter in order 
 to show how strongly and deeply the foundations of
 
 -1826 Visitatio7i Sei'mon. 67 
 
 his future career, both as a pastor and an ecclesiastical 
 historian and theologian, were laid, it only remains to 
 relate in a few words the two incidents by which 
 alone the calm seclusion of this period was in- 
 terrupted. 
 
 His father had been appointed to preach at 
 Newport, the chief town in the Isle of Wight, on the 
 occasion of the Bishop of Winchester's visitation in 
 the summer of 1822 ; but as the time approached he 
 began to shrink from the exertion owing to the 
 feeble state of his health. He determined to pro- 
 pose his son as his substitute, to the no small dismay 
 of the young man, who, as has been seen, was 
 extremely diffident of his powers of composition if 
 not of delivery at this time, and who was as yet only 
 in deacon's orders. Remonstrances, however, were 
 in vain : the Bishop gave his consent ; the young 
 deacon set about his task with the energy and per- 
 severance which always distinguished him in a case 
 of necessity or duty. July 2 arrived. The Bishop 
 (Tomline) passed the night at the rectory, and on 
 the following morning Mrs. Hook, full of maternal 
 anxiety, drove him to Newport in her pony chaise. 
 
 The excellence of the sermon in itself, the per- 
 fection of the young preacher's utterance, and the 
 musical tones of his voice made a very great impres- 
 sion upon all who heard him. The Bishop was 
 especially warm in his praise of it, and made an 
 exception to a rule from which he said he very rarely 
 departed in requesting that it should be printed.^ 
 
 1 It may now be found in vol. i. of the Church and her Ordinances, 
 a selection of Dr, Hook's sermons recently edited by his son, Rev. 
 Walter Hook, Rector of Porlock, published by Bentley and Son. 
 
 F 2
 
 68 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1821- 
 
 The sermon is entitled * The peculiar character 
 of the Church of England independently of its con- 
 nexion with the State.' A certain stiffness and for- 
 mality of style betray the youth of the author and 
 the painfulness and care with which he wrote at this 
 time; but the argument is neither crude nor feeble. 
 It is sustained with the confidence of one who feels 
 sure of his ground and sees his way. That it is the 
 duty of Englishmen to belong to the Church, not 
 because it is established but because it is a pure 
 branch of the Church Catholic ; that such a Church 
 can exist in purity and vigour under any form of 
 government, either severed from the state or in 
 alliance with it ; that the continental Reformers in 
 their intemperate zeal founded new churches, 
 whereas the English only cleansed and repaired the 
 superstructure, leaving the old foundations intact ; 
 that many of the leading foreign Reformers became 
 as dogmatic and exacting as popes, whereas in 
 England individuals, however eminent, had not 
 assumed any such overbearing authority ; that the 
 most dangerous enemies to the Church were still, and 
 always had been, the conforming Puritans, men who 
 adhered to the form but rejected the spirit of the 
 institution, who, in the words of South, ' live by the 
 altar, but turn their back upon it ; catch at the pre- 
 ferments of the Church, but hate the order and dis- 
 cipline of it : ' these are the principal topics of his 
 discourse. These were positions which he maintained 
 to the end of his life ; and the clear and bold assertion 
 of them at this period proves that the laborious plan 
 of study on which he was about to enter did but 
 deepen convictions at which by previous reading he
 
 -1826 Dr. LtLscombe. 69 
 
 had already arrived. When the sermon was pub- 
 Hshed, the congratulations which reached his parents 
 from persons well qualified to judge of its merits were 
 numerous and hearty. Mr. N orris, Rector of South 
 Hackney, writes : 
 
 * I can only express my thankfulness that in a day 
 of rebuke and of blasphemy, when Gebal and Ammon 
 and Amalek,and the confederation of aliens, are setting 
 the battle in array against the Church, there are men 
 rising up and enlisted under her banner who have so 
 eminently qualified themselves for her defence. The 
 sketch taken of the important subject is a most 
 masterly one : Indeed I cannot conceive of one more 
 masterly within the same compass .... I never 
 passed half an hour so much to my satisfaction as 
 that of which I am now detailing to you the impres- 
 sion.' 
 
 The second episode in the Whippingham period, 
 occurring near the close of it, was a matter of much 
 more importance. 
 
 An old friend of his father's, Dr. Luscombe, who 
 had once kept the school at Hertford in which, as has 
 been related, Walter and his brother Robert began 
 their education, had been resident for five years in 
 France, engaged in tuition from 1820 to 1825. It 
 was reckoned that about fifty thousand English were 
 then sojourning in that country ; but the supply of 
 clergy and places of worship for such as belonged to 
 the Church of England was extremely inadequate ; 
 they were not licensed or subject to any regular 
 supervision, much laxity of practice prevailed, and 
 young people grew up without receiving the rite of 
 Confirmation. It appeared to Dr. Luscombe that
 
 7o Life of Walter Farqukar Hook. 1821- 
 
 some recognised, authorised bond of union was 
 highly desirable to hold together these scattered 
 congregations, and keep them true to the principles 
 of the Church of their mother country. Such a tie 
 he conceived might be found in the appointment of a 
 bishop, or at least an archdeacon, for the express 
 purpose of overlooking and organising the clergy and 
 their flocks. He consulted his friends in England on 
 the subject as early as the year 182 1, and there were 
 none of them who entered so warmly into the project 
 as Archdeacon Hook and his son. 
 
 It was at first thought that the design might be 
 effected by the appointment of a suffragan to the 
 Bishop of London, to whose spiritual jurisdiction all 
 British residents on the Continent were nominally 
 subject. Dr. Howley, then Bishop of London, and 
 other prelates, as well as Mr. Peel and Mr. Canning, 
 the Home and Foreign Secretaries of State, were 
 consulted, who after much deliberation and cor- 
 respondence expressed themselves adverse to the 
 proposal. They entertained fears that the sending 
 of a bishop by the Established Church of England 
 to minister in France might be regarded by the 
 Government of that country as an unwarrantable 
 intrusion, and occasion jealousies and suspicions, if 
 not difficulties of a more serious kind. The project 
 accordingly languished and seemed likely to be 
 abandoned. But meanwhile the young curate of 
 Whippingham had been following out a line of study 
 which, as we have seen, led him to discern clearly and 
 to value deeply the essential principles of the Church 
 independently of any connexion with the State. He 
 had consequently learned to take a peculiar interest
 
 -1826 Dr. Luscombe. *]\ 
 
 in the disestablished Church of Scotland, and the 
 iinestablished Church in America. In the former 
 his interest had been more especially excited by a 
 brief account of it in the memoirs of William Stevens, 
 Esq., written by Judge Allan Parke, a friend of his 
 father's, by whose advice he proceeded to read 
 Skinner's ' Ecclesiastical History ' and the * Annals of 
 Scottish Episcopacy.' 
 
 The past sufferings and the present poverty and 
 obscurity of the Scottish Church kindled in him 
 feelings of the tenderest compassion ; its purity and 
 zeal, feelings of the warmest admiration and respect. 
 Suddenly it occurred to his mind that this despised 
 and insignificant branch of the Church Catholic 
 might execute the design to which the Church of 
 England, hampered by its connexion with the 
 State, had not dared to put its hand. Not only 
 would a measure which he considered most salu- 
 tary be thus accomplished, but also a visible proof 
 would be supplied of the vital power of a true 
 branch, however small, of the Reformed Catholic 
 Church, and of the thread of unity which tied 
 all such branches together. As by the consecra- 
 tion of Bishop Seabury, the first American Bishop, 
 in 1784, the little Church of Scotland had be- 
 come the parent of a large and flourishing Church 
 in the New World, so he trusted she might pro- 
 pagate another on the European continent. A re- 
 quest was therefore forwarded at his suggestion to 
 Dr. David Low, Bishop of Ross and Argyle, that 
 he would sound the judgment of his brother bishops 
 on the subject. After much correspondence lasting 
 over several months, and relating chiefly to the
 
 72 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1821- 
 
 question whether an election on the part of the 
 EngHsh clergy in France should be required, and 
 also how far it would be prudent or gracious for the 
 Scottish Church to send out a bishop to minister to 
 British subjects without the direct sanction of the 
 English Church and Government, the College of 
 Scotch Bishops proposed to consecrate Dr. Luscombe 
 himself as their missionary bishop to British resi- 
 dents on the continent of Europe : he on his part 
 pledging himself to renounce all offers of preferment 
 in England. Intimations were received from the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, and Mr. Peel and Mr. 
 Canning, that no obstacles would be raised by the 
 Church or Government in England to this plan. 
 Sunday, March 20, 1825, was fixed for the consecra- 
 tion, which was to take place at Stirling ; and Dr. 
 Luscombe requested his old pupil, now Curate of 
 Whippingham, to accompany him as his chaplain and 
 to preach the sermon. 
 
 His visit to Scotland was always regarded by him 
 as one of the most memorable events in his life. 
 He deeply valued the friendships which he then 
 formed, more especially with Bishops Sandford and 
 Low, Mr. Walker, afterwards Bishop of Edinburgh, 
 and last but not least with the learned, warm- 
 hearted and deeply pious Bishop Jolly, a model of 
 primitive simplicity and poverty in manner of life, 
 of whom Bishop Hobart the American remarked, 
 * Men go from the extremity of Britain to America to 
 see the Falls of Niagara, and think themselves amply 
 rewarded by the sight of this singular scene in 
 nature. Had I gone from America to Aberdeen 
 and seen nothing but Bishop Jolly as I saw him for
 
 -1826 Offer of a London Church. 73 
 
 two days, I should hold myself greatly rewarded. 
 In our new country we have no such men, and 
 I could not have imagined such without seeing 
 him.' 
 
 Just as Mr. Hook was starting on his journey an 
 offer was made of a church in Regent Street, London, 
 or rather a request that he would become a candidate 
 for the incumbency by the detestable plan then not 
 uncommon of preaching in the church as a specimen 
 of his powers. His friends and, to some extent, his 
 parents, who wished to push him forward at a speed 
 in excess of his inclinations, were very anxious that 
 he should accede to the application, and even after 
 his arrival in Scotland he was pestered with en- 
 treaties to return to London for the purpose. But 
 he never wavered in his refusal. At the beginning 
 of his journey to the North, then an affair of several 
 days, he writes while still in London : * I think that 
 a clergyman ought to preach anywhere when he is 
 asked, either to instruct a flock, or to assist a brother 
 clergyman, but most decidedly not to show his 
 qualifications any more than to gratify his vanity ; 
 and with respect to London I never can fight my 
 way in the world. If the State divorces the Church 
 I shall have little doubt of becoming a great man in 
 it : but I do not understand the ways of the world.' 
 And after his arrival in Edinburgh he writes to his 
 father with a decisiveness intended to put a stop to 
 all further solicitations : ' I have finally and com- 
 pletely made up my mind to abandon all thoughts of 
 the church in Regent Street. I am very willing and 
 very desirous to take a high ground, but I never will 
 do so unless I am sure that I can keep my footing
 
 74 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1S21- 
 
 at least with satisfaction to myself, if not with ad- 
 vantage to others. I willingly volunteered my ser- 
 vices on the present important occasion because I 
 had the vanity to consider myself qualified to a 
 certain extent to fulfil it without disgrace. I do not 
 feel myself competent for the situation offered in 
 London. It would necessarily lead to a superficial 
 reading for a temporary purpose, and I should be 
 unable to enlarge that platform upon which I mean 
 to build my hopes. Besides which I should not 
 choose to undertake any office which would, as it were, 
 limit my services to only a particular and inferior 
 branch of my calling (viz. preaching). In addition 
 to this, I have no notion of being chosen like a public 
 singer or actor. . . . Here therefore ends this 
 matter.' 
 
 His father indeed had been a little fascinated by 
 the prospect of his son's abilities being displayed in 
 London, but his more sober judgment was adverse 
 to the step. * Walter's advance,' he writes, ' in his 
 pursuits is extraordinary. He is up at six o'clock 
 every morning in this month of February and lights 
 his own fire, and I think it would be injurious to him 
 should he be interrupted before he has completed the 
 course of study by which he promises to become a 
 most eminent theologian.' His father thought also 
 that, with the exception of Bishop Andrewes, few 
 men had risen to distinction as divines who had 
 begun as preachers only. 
 
 The following group of letters will furnish the best 
 record of his visit to Scotland. The first extract, which 
 is from a letter written at York, I merely introduce 
 as an illustration of the wide difference between the
 
 -1826 yourney to Scotland. 75 
 
 tongue of the North and South of England before 
 the days of railways and education acts. 
 
 * You will be glad to hear of our arrival here, 
 having travelled a day and a night, or rather twenty- 
 six hours ; if indeed this be York we are in. For I 
 rather suspect that while asleep in the coach last 
 night they must have carried me over to Germany, 
 since the language here talked may be German or 
 Danish, but certainly is not English. I heard the 
 " Cryer " just now pursuing his vocation, but I would 
 defy those who live nearer the sun than York to 
 understand what he intended to give notice of.' 
 
 To his Mother. 
 
 Whippingham : December 20, 1824. 
 
 I am so full of ideas all bearing upon my Scotch sermon 
 that I grudge every moment that I am not reading. I 
 wish for a dozen eyes and a dozen brains and a dozen 
 such memories as Woodfall's, for I could name a dozen 
 books, all of which I want to read at once, and the diffi- 
 culty is which first to choose ; for as soon as I sit down to 
 one I immediately wish that I had taken up the other. 
 Had the good Bishop Low consulted me how best he could 
 have gratified me, it would have been by coupling my 
 name as he has done with my dear father's. There is a 
 kind of beautiful rhythm in the sentence : * To the two 
 Hooks, father and son, though entirely unknown to me, I 
 could wish my respects to be made through you for the public 
 and honourable mention which they have made of our pool 
 but still respectable Church.' 
 
 To that poor but respectable Church I last year became 
 a subscriber of \l. annual subscription, which when I be- 
 come a Bishop I mean to make 100/. I think the corre- 
 spondence which has taken place between the Scotch 
 Bishops and Dr. Luscombe speaks volumes in praise of 
 the former; the readiness, the zeal, the kindness, the true
 
 76 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1821- 
 
 Christian feeling with which they have one and all 
 entered into his views remind one of former and better 
 times ; of days when a Bishop was almost another name 
 for a martyr. There is no single office that I would so 
 gladly undertake as that of preaching Dr. Luscombe's Con- 
 secration Sermon, and I am sure there is none for which at 
 present I am so well prepared. 
 
 His Vexation at the Application of Bishop Gleig to the 
 Government for its Sanctioji to the Consecration of Dr. 
 Liisconibe in Scotland, 
 
 Whippingham : December 28, 1824. 
 I look upon the whole business as now at an end. I shall 
 now cease from collecting materials for my sermon and 
 return to my regular pursuits. I should have thought that 
 experience would have taught Bishop Gleig the absurdity 
 of applying to Government for its decision on a subject 
 jpurely theological ; a subject on which most of its members 
 are probably ignorant, and in which in these days of 
 liberality and conciliation they would certainly not willingly 
 commit themselves. Is Government friendly to the Episco- 
 palians of Scotland .'' When has it proved itself so .■* Has 
 it not always been the policy of every Government, Whig 
 or Tory, to oppress, persecute, exterminate the Episcopal 
 Church .'' Was not even their present bare toleration 
 merely wrung from it, with a Lord Chancellor haranguing 
 vehemently against them } But even look further, when 
 the greatest and wisest and best of our prelates, when 
 Wake and Potter and Seeker, names ever to be honoured, 
 were earnest with Government to permit Bishops with- 
 out temporal rank to be sent to our colonies — what did 
 Government do .-' It treated the application with contempt ; 
 or was deterred by political circumstances. It has been 
 the work o{ nearly a century to wring from Government per- 
 mission to send Bishops to our colonies. 
 
 He then goes on to admit that Dr. Luscombe 
 being a presbyter, not of Scotland but of England,
 
 -1826 Dr. Ltiscombes Consecration. *jy 
 
 Bishop Glelg was quite justified in applying (pri- 
 vately) to the Archbishop of Canterbury for his 
 permission to consecrate. ' It is strictly according 
 to the courtesy of the Catholics (true Catholics, I 
 mean) not to ordain ministers of another Church 
 without permission from the Bishop at the head of 
 it. As Demetrius, Bishop of Alexandria, was justly 
 offended when the Bishops of Palestine ordained the 
 celebrated Origen.' 
 
 Edinburgh. — Stirling. — Consecration of Dr. Lnscombe. 
 
 Stirling : March 20, 1825. 
 
 My dearest Father, — I was delighted to find a letter 
 from my beloved mother awaiting me here, and containing 
 so good an account, on the whole, both of herself and you. 
 I have, seen much, and been much interested since I wrote 
 last. I know not when I spent a pleasanter day than that 
 in which I dined with Mr. Walker, who is a man superior 
 both for his learning and piety. Bishop Low has been our 
 constant companion ; Dr. Russell, also, has amused and 
 instructed us by his conversation. On Friday last I went 
 to church at Bishop Sandford's, and was surprised to find a 
 congregation of perhaps 150 persons attending, dressed 
 mostly in mourning. This is the good old way of keeping 
 Lent. The church is a most beautiful one, and the light 
 is pleasing and solemnly deadened by the painted windows. 
 It holds, without galleries, about a thousand persons : it is 
 not so large as Mr. Alison's chapel. There is close to it 
 an ugly, tasteless kirk in which Sir Henry Moncrief 
 officiates ; Bishop Low says it is compared to a bandbox 
 in which Bishop Sandford's Church came down from 
 England. Bishop Low is old enough to remember when 
 the penal laws, the ' accursed '46 and '48,' ^ as they are 
 
 ^ By the Acts of 1746-48 anyone officiating as Minister in any 
 episcopal chapel in Scotland without receiving his letters of orders 
 from some Bishop of the Church of England or Ireland, registering 
 them, taking all the oaths required by law, and praying for the King
 
 78 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1821- 
 
 called, were in full force ; and the marks of the chains are 
 still left upon his mind. The true Episcopalians appear 
 to be fond of dwelling upon the sufferings of their ancestors 
 in the holy cause. Among the sufferers was old George 
 Rose's father ; he lived at Brechin in Forfar, and having a 
 second charge fourteen miles off in the Highlands, he had 
 to trudge there on foot, through rain and snow, with only a 
 crust of bread and an onion in his pocket. He was appre- 
 hended after the '46 for reading Prayers to more than four 
 persons, and put on board a man-of-war in his old age, 
 during the winter months. When Bishop Home was told 
 of this, 'Ah ! ' said he, ' I should not have guessed George 
 Rose's parentage from his principles.' Aunt Eliza will 
 like the following anecdote of Mr. Skinner the historian, 
 grandfather of the present Bishop. He prayed for the 
 Elector of Hanover by name, and as King ; yet for reading 
 prayers to more than four persons he was put in prison ; 
 he used to read the prayers aloud to himself at the prison 
 window, and all his congregation assembled below to 
 catch the words as they fell from him, and for this these 
 Presbyterians actually wished him to be punished still 
 further. Talk of the Papists ! where was such persecution 
 as this subsequently to the days of Constantine ? The 
 Church is little better off now. 
 
 Poor old Bishop Gleig is seventy-two years old, breaking 
 by age, and otherwise afflicted ; but he is too poor to be able 
 to have an assistant This is permitted by a Government 
 which intends to provide for the Papists ; by a Government 
 which yearly gives 8,000/. to the English Dissenters, which 
 has long made an allowance to the Papists and Presbyterians 
 in Ireland. Many Highland congregations are without 
 ministers, because there are no funds to pay them with ; 
 congregations which would rather become Papists than 
 Presbyterians. The case is at present before Government, 
 
 and Royal Family by name, was for the first offence to be imprisoned 
 for six months, for the second to be transported to one of His Majesty's 
 plantations for life. These laws remained unrepealed, though not 
 actively enforced, up to 1792.
 
 -1826 Letters from Scotland. 79 
 
 but with little prospect of being attended to. Lord Bexley 
 has interested himself warmly in it. This is creditable to 
 his Lordship, as the Bishops here run into such an 
 extreme against Calvinism as to be charged with Pela- 
 gianism by their enemies, but unjustly. Will you believe 
 it } an application was intended to be made to the Society 
 for Promoting Christian Knowledge for assistance with 
 respect to the Highland congregations, when upon sound- 
 ing previously some of the English Bishops, two of them 
 dared, in the hardihood of ignorance, to start an objection 
 so infamously Erastian as to say that the assistance ought 
 not to be afforded, since the Episcopal Church was a 
 dissenting Church in Scotland. One blushes with indigna- 
 tion and shame, but I much fear that too many on the 
 Bench are little better than Erastians. In our journey 
 hither we had much to interest us. On the Pentland Hills 
 of Covenanting infamy, the snow was lying. We passed 
 through Linlithgow, the favourite Palace of James IV. ; we 
 passed Falkirk and Bannockburn ; of Bannockburn the 
 Scotch are still most proud. Two Englishmen were 
 wandering on the field and called to a country lad, to 
 show them some particular spot in it. He recounted all the 
 deeds of that day of Scotland's glory with the accuracy of 
 a bard. The Englishman then offered him half-a-crown. 
 ' Na, na,' said the clod, ' keep your siller to yoursel, the 
 English have paid dear enow for Bannockburn before this.' 
 Bishop Gleig has just sent to ask me to drink tea with him, 
 so I must obey. Sunday : I have just returned from 
 church, and I am able to say that at last Dr. Luscombe is 
 a Bishop. We met at Bishop Gleig's Bishop Sandford ; 
 he is the most delightful loveable old man you ever saw, I 
 never knew anyone who looked more truly what one would 
 wish a Bishop to look. His voice is so soft, his manner so 
 gentle, his demeanour so gentlemanlike, that he must win 
 all hearts. He is always in full dress, with his short 
 cassock and buckles, as all the Bishops here are accustomed 
 to be. I never knew a more striking and solemn ceremony 
 than that which I have witnessed to-day. As a sight, it
 
 8o Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 182 
 
 would have been more affecting if it had been at Edinburgh 
 in one of the magnificent chapels there. Stirling Chapel 
 is an ugly building, much about the size of our Church at 
 Whippingham, with rather a larger congregation. My 
 sermon was about forty minutes long ; I was sorry for it 
 for Bishop Sandford is a great invalid, and could hardly 
 remain out the service. Bishop Low was very much 
 pleased with it ; and Bishop Gleig said he could promise 
 me that he never heard a sermon more to his liking upon 
 such an occasion. Bishop Gleig, though a most eccentric 
 character, is a great divine ; so I consider this a great 
 compliment. 
 
 Visit to St. Andrew^ s. — Dr. Chalmers. 
 
 St. Andrew's : March 24, 1825, 
 
 My dearest Mother, — I am writing this in an apartment 
 which once formed part of the palace of our unfortunate 
 Archbishop Sharp. It is rather remarkable that the first 
 thing which met our eyes upon entering Edinburgh was 
 a placard, announcing the exhibition of Allan's picture of 
 that most fiendlike act of Presbyterian intolerance and 
 bigotry, and upon our arrival at St. Andrew's we were 
 forced into the house of that unfortunate martyr. Whether 
 it forbodes ill to Bishop Luscombe or me, I know not ; 
 but I believe that, as far as I am concerned, I could 
 suffer martyrdom very decently, but then I should like it 
 to be in the more regular way ; by the halter or the stake, 
 not by the knife of the assassin. The first thing we did 
 this morning was to wait upon Dr. Chalmers, Professor of 
 Moral Philosophy, a friend of Dr. Luscombe's, to request 
 permission to attend his lecture ; he received us very 
 civilly ; we shall meet him at a small party this evening. 
 I was glad to attend his lecture, as it would be contrary to 
 my principles to hear him preach. His lecture was a very 
 good one, showing how the discoveries which have been 
 made by geologists tended to the corroboration of revela- 
 tion. He availed himself largely of Professor Buckland's 
 works ; but it is rather surprising that while he referred to
 
 -1S26 Letters from Scotland. 81 
 
 Cuvier by name, he omitted to mention that great English 
 geologist. His style was rather too figurative ; one or two 
 splendid sentences towards the close produced great effect. 
 I was not aware that the force of a few words would be so 
 great, for it was not the matter, but the words, which told. 
 I shall in future endeavour to close my sermons with a 
 few strong sentences. I understand that Chalmers has in 
 his former lectures praised our English divines, and pro- 
 nounced the hierarchy of England to have been the great 
 bulwark against infidelity. Upon the whole his lecture 
 was a good one; but I doubt much if it had been delivered 
 by an Englishman, whether it (or any of his works, if the 
 works of an Englishman), would have obtained for the 
 author that fame which the Whigs have bestowed upon 
 Chalmers. He gave me the idea of a person who spoke 
 more for effect than utility ; to produce admiration for 
 himself rather than to afford edification to others. We 
 afterwards viewed the ruins of the cathedral ; dauntless did 
 I stand under them, for I am convinced, God be thanked, 
 that I have not in my veins one drop of the blood of John 
 Knox ; if I had, I would draw it from my body, at the 
 risk of my life. I refer to a story which was told me by 
 Bishop Low. When Dr. Johnson was shown the ruins of 
 St. Andrew's, they pointed out to him a part of them 
 which was likely to fall, and for fear of its doing mischief, 
 they were thinking of taking it down. * No,' said the good 
 Doctor, ' let it stand for the present, it may chance to fall 
 upon the head of some descendant of John Knox.' 
 
 The Episcopalians here are not numerous, but, as is 
 the case everywhere in Scotland, they are the most respect- 
 able inhabitants. The present chapel is a room fitted up 
 for the purpose, and by far too small for the congregation. 
 The new chapel is nearly finished ; it is a small, handsome, 
 Gothic building, in the shape of a cross. I have recom- 
 mended that at each gable end there should be erected a 
 small cross on the exterior of the building ; and I am 
 particularly urgent to have a slight alteration made by 
 which the altar may be placed at the east, whereas they 
 VOL. I. G
 
 82 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1821- 
 
 were going to place it at the north. Bishop Luscombe was 
 not warm upon the subject at first, but now, just as I am 
 coohng, he takes my view to the full extent. I say that I 
 do not esteem it quite so essential as I did, because, 
 although the early Christians did almost invariably worship 
 to the east, and particularly look to the east when pro- 
 fessing their faith, there is, if I mistake not, an exception 
 to the rule mentioned by Eusebius in describing the 
 Church of Paulinus, which lay, I think, north and south, 
 instead of east and west ; but Eusebius mentions it and 
 remarks upon it as an exception to the rule. The Epis- 
 copalians are much delighted in having about a fortnight 
 ago carried a point which was thought impracticable. For 
 three centuries no service has been performed at the grave 
 of an Episcopalian. The holy service was always per- 
 formed in a room, a little dust being brought in a plate to 
 be thrown upon the body. About a fortnight ago, an 
 Episcopalian lady died, one who was universally respected 
 and deeply lamented. Bishop Low was determined to 
 'take the bull by the horns,' and came over from Pittenweem 
 to perform the last service for his departed friend himself. 
 No disturbance was offered, although many Presbyterians 
 were present. The established ministers regard our Church, 
 which never wilfully interferes with them, with greater 
 feelings of hostility than any of those sects which are most 
 violent against the establishment. For the ministers of the 
 other Dissenters rank below the established ministers, but 
 the Episcopal Clergy always above them. 
 
 Doctor CJiatuicrs — Presbyterian Theological Parties. 
 
 Edinburgh: Tuesday before Easter, 1825. 
 My dearest Mother, .... As I told you in my last, I 
 was much pleased with my visit to the kingdom of Fife. 
 On the evening of the day upon which I wrote last I had the 
 pleasure of meeting Dr. Chalmers, who, although he never 
 dines out, came in the evening and partook of the whiskey 
 toddy (most odious beverage). Both he and Dr. Nicol;
 
 -1 826 Letters from Seat laud. 8^ 
 
 the Principal of the University, gave precedence to Bishop 
 Luscombe, who was called upon to say grace. With Dr. 
 Chalmers I had some conversation tcte-ci-tcte in the draw- 
 ing-room. He is an unassuming man, and in close corres- 
 pondence, evidently, with our Evangelicals ; however, I did 
 not want to enter into controversy with him, but talked 
 upon his experience on the management of the poor at 
 Glasgow, the nature of which I remembered to have read 
 in the ' Edinburgh Review.' His idea is this, that if you 
 teach the poor to look for no assistance from the rich, they 
 will, from the mere feeling of self-preservation, lay up for 
 themselves a sufficient store for their old age ; and that by 
 the mutual interchange of good offices among themselves, 
 they will not only make themselves more comfortable and 
 independent, but the very disgrace which will attend the 
 acceptance of favours, without the possibility of returning 
 them, will operate in a great measure to prevent any kind 
 of distress ; except such as results from casualties, which 
 is the proper object of charity. This is, as far as I could 
 understand, his theory, and very good it seems to be. But 
 these theorists, when they come to practice, are found at 
 fault. I asked him what he would do, if, as is sometimes 
 the case in England, he found a sick person lying on a bed 
 without a blanket, and in a room without a fire. ' Oh ! ' 
 quoth the professor, * I can prescribe nothing for that false 
 state of society in which you are in England.' So that, in 
 fact, his theory is only applicable to a new country. Dr. 
 Chalmers is a ' high flyer,' a leader of the party ; the ' high 
 flyers ' answer to our Evangelicals. Principal Nicol is the 
 leading man of the moderate party, a great speaker at the 
 General Assembly. The moderate party, I am grieved to 
 say, incline to Socinianism in general. But the Principal, 
 who was really most kind to us, by the indignation he 
 expressed against the English Presbyterians who have 
 lapsed into that Deistical, horrible heresy, is, I hope and 
 trust, free from all taint. The Principal himself showed us 
 the two churches. In one I was much surprised to see the 
 monument of Archbishop Sharp ; and truly a matter of 
 
 G 2
 
 §4 Life of Walter Fa7'qtthar Hook. 
 
 surprise it need to be to find such a record of Presbyterian 
 atrocity in a Presbyterian kirk. But the secret came out 
 afterwards ; they had intended to pull it down, but it was 
 found that the best estate belonging to the kirk was left 
 upon condition of the monument being permitted to re- 
 main. Our host, Mr. Binny, knew my uncle Walter very 
 intimately, and spoke of him with great affection ; he was 
 acquainted with uncle Robert also in India. 
 
 Bishop Luscombe has gone, with my piayers for his 
 success. It was necessary that I should spend a week in 
 Edinburgh, for I have not seen all the lions of the city, and 
 I have to see those of the vicinity. My father advised me 
 to do all that was necessary to do at first, but I have not 
 followed his advice strictly on this point, for this reason. 
 In this Presbyterian land they do not commemorate the 
 day of our Saviour's death. I would not choose, therefore, 
 to be in the country during Passion week, especially when 
 most of the families of our persuasion are coming to town 
 to celebrate the great festival which succeeds. Many 
 persons, very wrongly in my opinion, go to kirk in the 
 country, but, not acknowledging the capability of a Presby- 
 terian minister to consecrate the sacramental elements, go 
 during the great festivals to some place where there is an 
 Episcopal chapel. So here I stay till Easter Monday, and 
 here do you direct till you hear again. 
 
 Your devoted Son, 
 
 W. F. Hook. 
 
 Visit to Bishop Jolly. 
 
 Aberdeen : April 12, 1825. 
 My dearest Mother, — When I wrote to you last I was 
 about to start for Fraserburgh, from which place I reluc- 
 tantly tore myself away yesterday morning, being under 
 an engagement to dine with Bishop Skinner here. Not 
 arriving at Fraserburgh until ten o'clock on Saturday 
 night, I did not wait upon good Bishop Jolly till the follow- 
 ing morning. I knew that the Bishop rose at four o'clock ; 
 and therefore I called at nine : but I knocked at the door
 
 -i82<s Letters from Scothuid. 85 
 
 in vain. I was told by a passer-by that if I walked on 
 the opposite side of the road, the Bishop would probably 
 see me, and speak to me from the window. No one how- 
 ever appearing, I began to fear that he was gone on a 
 visitation ; I knew that he kept no servant, and that an old 
 woman in the neighbourhood took care of the house, who 
 after shutting the shutters and so forth of an evening, very 
 often locked the Bishop in, and took the key with her to 
 her own house. For this woman I enquired ; she refused to 
 disturb the Bishop before ten. I accordingly gave her my 
 card to deliver to him when she went to him. He imme- 
 diately sent me a note requesting me to call upon the 
 Rev. Mr. Pressley, who would respectfully conduct me to the 
 Bishop. At half-past ten therefore I saw the good old man. 
 He was dressed in his canonicals, with the whitest and 
 largest wig in Christendom. His room was small, with 
 a small round table and a desk, and various books of 
 reference on the surrounding shelves. He seemed truly 
 glad to see me, and said ' I am to understand that you are 
 the son, the reverend and worthy son, of a dignified Arch- 
 deacon of the honoured Church of England.' He after- 
 wards asked me whether that good worthy man, the Arch- 
 deacon, were well. I set him right, of course, about my 
 father's age, and told him that he had lately been very ill ; 
 he then adverted to the grand day at Stirling. * I can as- 
 sure you,' said he, * my heart was with you. I read through 
 the whole of the Consecration Service, on that morning ; 
 and my reverend assistant, Mr. Pressley, and myself prayed 
 together heartily that the grand design might turn out to 
 the glory of God.' He then informed me that it was 
 impossible for him to leave his parish during Lent, or he 
 would have been at Stirling on that grand day, as he was 
 preparing his young folk for Confirmation. In his own 
 parish, he has an annual Confirmation ; in the diocese it '\\ 
 only triennial. In his own small parish he had nineteen 
 persons to confirm, out of whom eleven were converts from 
 Presbyterianism. The Bishop did not seek first to convert 
 them, but they made the advance. Now this is very glorious..
 
 £6 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1821- 
 
 and very striking'. I asked him whether he did not think 
 it necessary that they should be first baptized ; he said 
 that he would confess to me, as I was a friend, that they all 
 were re-baptized, and this at their own request, since they 
 had scruples about lay baptism, and of course, when they 
 were converted they regarded, as we do, the ministers of the 
 Scotch Established Church merely as laymen. Be careful 
 not to talk of this ; for although it is always done, it is 
 done under the rose, since the ministers of the Establish- 
 ment are very irate indeed when they discover that we 
 re-baptize the quondam members of their communion. 
 The bishop would not permit me — a reverend clergyman 
 of the honoured Church of England (and he said 'we 
 are very like the Church of England, almost the same,' ) 
 — to sit without the rails of the altar, but I sat within with 
 him, and read the Epistle. In the afternoon Mr. Pressley 
 said it would be * brotherly to read prayers,' which I did. 
 Between the services, I was delighted with the conver- 
 sation of the good, dear Bishop ; a biscuit and a glass of 
 wine was all his dinner ; in general he takes a basin of 
 soup, but, in honour of me, he had some wine that day, 
 Avhich made his dinner. He has perhaps as good a 
 divinity library as any clergyman in Great Britain ; some 
 most scarce and valuable books are in it. It has been the 
 collection of fifty years ; many of them presents, or bought 
 when books were cheaper than they are now. It shows 
 what a man may do on a little ; for this most apostolic 
 Bishop has only 60/. a year to live on, having by ill health 
 been obliged to procure an assistant at 40/. per annum ; 
 this 40/. is exclusive of the 60/. ; of this 60/, he spends 
 half in charity. You can form no conception how he is 
 beloved. It is a beautiful sight to see the children running 
 across the street when he appears, and holding down their 
 little heads while he lays his hands upon them and blesses 
 them. Many of the grown up people kneel down and 
 receive his blessing also. Last year when Mr. Walker was 
 at Fraserburgh, some fishermen, going out on the whale 
 fishing, walked six miles before they sailed, to receive his
 
 -1826 Letters from Scotland. 87 
 
 blessing. It was the old custom in England, long retained 
 in Scotland, for any person when waiting on a Bishop, to 
 kneel down and beg his blessing. I lament, however, to say 
 it is going out here, and is retained only by Bishop Jolly, 
 except on particular occasions. Mr. Pressley told me that 
 he always knelt down and received his blessing on Sunday 
 morning, or when he waited on him on clerical business, or 
 to pray with him. This worthy young man, Mr. Pressley, 
 is treading in the Bishop's steps ; he was ordained deacon 
 at nineteen ; he is now only twenty-four. His reading has 
 been so extensive that he would shame many first-rate 
 divines in England ; all our great English authors he knows 
 well ; he has read the Fathers, that is the best of them ; he 
 can refer to any sentence of Scripture, mentioning even the 
 chapter and verse ; he can read any book in Latin, Greek, 
 or Hebrew ; and this good young man is living contentedly 
 on 40/. a year, out of which he has to contribute to the 
 support of his parents. He is educating two young men 
 gratis (for they cannot afford to pay him) for the Episcopal 
 Church, and has a gentleness and urbanity of manners 
 w hich is perfectly wonderful, considering that he has nev'cr 
 been farther south than Aberdeen. For a few years 
 Government allowed 100/. per annum to each of the Scotch 
 Bishops ; it was called a regium donum. Five years ago 
 it was stopped, with no reason assigned, by this very 
 Government who mean to pension the Papists. ]Mr. Press- 
 ley says this stoppage necessitated Bishop Jolly so much 
 to curtail his charities that it weighed much upon the good 
 man's spirits, and he has stinted himself ever since. At 
 six o'clock I went to drink tea with the Bishop. The old 
 woman brought a teapot with the tea made from her own 
 house, wrapped in a pocket handkerchief, and having laid it 
 on the table, begged a blessing and departed. The Bishop 
 and I (for Mr. Pressley was gone to a Sunday school) then 
 got the cups and saucers from the closet, and drank our tea ; 
 he said ' You see I am a perfect monk, not from choice, 
 but a wonderful train of Providence placed me in the situ- 
 ation I am in, and I am perfectly happy.' He talked of
 
 SS Life of IVal/er Farqiihar Hook. i?2i- 
 
 the reception the bishops met with from the good King 
 George, a print of whom was given him at Edinburgh. 
 * But,' said he, pointing to a print of Prince Charles, * he has 
 been over my fireplace for forty years, and I could not 
 find it in my heart to depose him.' So he has placed the 
 king in the next honourable situation, between the effigies 
 of Archbishop Laud and Archbishop Sancroft. I said 
 that I wanted a copy of the Scotch Episcopal Communion 
 Service, and asked where I could get one ; he said he had 
 one by him, and would give it to me. ' I am ashamed,' he 
 said, ' to give you only a little sixpenny pamphlet, but,' look- 
 ing with affection on his books, ' these are to be a legacy to 
 our poor Church, so I cannot part with them.' I insisted 
 on his writing his name in the little book, and this is what 
 he wrote : * Accepted with much goodness by the Rev. W. 
 F. Hook, from Alexander Jolly, Bishop, whom he delighted 
 by his company in Fraserburgh, Low Sunday, 1825.' I 
 need not tell you that to my dying day, I shall value this 
 little book. I could write on this subject for ever, but my 
 paper warns me to conclude. After shaking hands with 
 the dear old Bishop, I knelt down, and never, never shall I 
 forget my feelings when, laying his two hands upon my 
 unworthy head, he said, as if from his heart of hearts, ' My 
 6on, may God Almighty bless you by His Holy Spirit, 
 preserve you from sin and danger, direct and prosper you 
 in all your studies and holy duties, and keep you in His 
 love and favour evermore.' I must add that he wishes that 
 whenever that worthy and venerable man, the archdeacon 
 writes to the now Bishop Luscombe, he will state that he 
 (Bishop Jolly) will think of him QWQvy morning, and pray 
 in great truth for his success. 
 
 The four consecrators of Dr. Luscombe were : 
 Bishop Gleig, the Primus ; Dr. Sandford, Bishop 
 of Edinburgh ; Dr. Skinner, Bishop of Aberdeen ; 
 and Dr. Low, Bishop of Ross and Argyll. The 
 very sight of Dr. Skinner was interesting, for he 
 was a direct link between these peaceful times and
 
 -1826 Consecration of Dr. Ltiscombe. 89 
 
 one of the most suffering epochs of the Scottish 
 Church. His grandfather, the Rev. J. Skinner, for 
 sixty-four years pastor of Langslde, had been im- 
 prisoned for six months under the oppressive Act 
 of 1748 for the crime of reading the EngHsh Liturgy 
 to more than four persons, although he had taken 
 the oaths of allegiance to Government. Large 
 crowds, however, used to gather on Sundays round 
 the Tolbooth, to whom he preached from the grated 
 window of his cell. His son was afterwards Bishop 
 of Aberdeen, and father of the Bishop who assisted 
 in the consecration of Dr. Luscombe. The object 
 which the Scottish Bishops had in view in con- 
 secrating Dr. Luscombe will best be understood 
 from the concluding words of the Letters of Colla- 
 tion which they delivered to him : ' He is sent by 
 us, representing the Scotch Episcopal Church, to 
 the Continent of Europe, not as a Diocesan Bishop 
 in the modern or limited sense of the word, but for 
 a purpose similar to that for which Titus was left 
 by St. Paul in Crete, that he may " set in order the 
 things that are wanting " among such of the natives 
 of Great Britain and Ireland as he shall find 
 professing to be members of the United Church 
 of England and Ireland and the Episcopal Church 
 in Scotland, and to these may be added any 
 members of the Episcopal Church of America who 
 may chance to be resident in Europe. But as our 
 blessed Lord, when He first sent out His apostles, 
 commanded them, saying, " Go not into the way of 
 the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans 
 enter ye not; but go rather to the lost sheep of 
 the house of Israel," so we, following so divine
 
 90 Life of Walter Farquhar Hooh. 1821- 
 
 an example .... do solemnly enjoin our right 
 reverend brodier not to disturb the peace of any 
 Christian Society established as the National Church 
 in whatever nation he may chance to sojourn, but to 
 confine his ministrations to British subjects and to 
 such other Christians as may profess to be of a 
 Protestant Episcopal Church. 
 
 * And we earnestly pray God to protect and 
 support him in his arduous undertaking, and to 
 grant such success to his ministry that he may be 
 among those who, having turned many to righteous- 
 ness, shall shine as the stars for ever and ever.' 
 
 The sermon preached on this occasion^ elicited 
 great praise from the Scottish Bishops and others 
 who heard it, and was the first production which 
 brought the author into public notice. It is entitled 
 ' An attempt to demonstrate the Catholicism of the 
 Church of England and the other branches of the 
 Episcopal Church.' In force and freedom of style 
 and weightiness of matter, it is a very great 
 advance upon the sermon of 1822. The prac- 
 tical bearing of the sermon upon the matter in 
 hand consisted In demonstrating that, if there was 
 an essential unity between all branches of the 
 Reformed Catholic Church, the appointment of a 
 Bishop by one branch to minister to members of 
 other branches hitherto destitute of such provision 
 could be no intrusion or usurpation. Notwithstand- 
 ing differences of nationality and position, such as 
 the Church being established in one country and 
 disestablished in another, yet in itself was it one and 
 indivisible ; consequently the English, Scotch, and 
 * No. 2 in vol. i. of The Church and her Ordinances.
 
 -1826 Sermon at Slirling. 91 
 
 American members of the Church, clerical and lay, 
 sojourning on the Continent might freely acknow- 
 ledge the authority of a Bishop duly consecrated 
 and sent forth by any one of the three branches. 
 Neither was there any fear, as some had supposed, 
 that such a Bishop would disturb the foreign Pro- 
 testants or the Roman Church. 
 
 The following wise words might well be weighed 
 by those Dissenters, on the one hand, who seek to 
 upset the Church of England as at present estab- 
 lished, and on the other by those members of the 
 Church who dally and coquet with Nonconformists, 
 whether Protestant or Romanist. ' We seek not to 
 interfere with, much less to overthrow, any Christian 
 form of worship which may be established by its 
 civil constitution, so long as it tends to promote (as 
 every Christian mode of worship will in a greater 
 or less degree promote) the great ends of virtue, 
 morality, and religion. For ourselves, we lay claim 
 to the privilege of worshipping the Almighty in the 
 manner we conceive to be prescribed by him, and 
 of keeping clear from what we consider to be error 
 on the one side or on the other, whether resulting 
 from the innovations of the Protestant or of the 
 Romanist. In this country (Scotland) grateful for 
 the toleration which is afforded to the Reformed 
 Catholic Church, its pious ministers, while they 
 vindicate its doctrines and maintain its discipline, 
 seek not to interfere with the Presbyterian estab- 
 lishment : but although they cannot enter Into its 
 communion or attend its services, they duly appre- 
 ciate its merits in contributing to rear and foster a 
 thinking and religious people. The same sentiments
 
 g2 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1821- 
 
 influence us when resident in a country where the 
 Church of Rome is estabHshed. Far be from our 
 views that misdirected and fanatic zeal, which would 
 seek at all hazards the downfall of even an erro- 
 neous mode of Christian worship, reckless of the 
 consequences ; which in removing one stumbling- 
 block may open the door to a thousand others, and 
 let loose passions which war against the spirit of 
 Christianity itself.' 
 
 The mission of Bishop Luscombe, however, 
 harmless as such a proceeding would be considered 
 in the present day, excited a great deal of contro- 
 versy at the time, and was viewed with displeasure 
 and alarm by many good Churchmen on the very 
 grounds which were combated in the sermon 
 quoted above. Many persisted in thinking that a 
 Bishop consecrated by a disestablished Church, 
 could have no right to exercise authority over the 
 members of an established Church, although residing 
 out of their country ; and also that his introduction 
 into the dioceses of a Church which was in alliance 
 with the State, and was also a branch, although a 
 corrupt one, of the Catholic Church, could not be 
 justified. Mr. Norris, rector of South Hackney, 
 was one of the most eminent who held these views 
 on the subject, and he expressed them in an article 
 in the ' Christian Remembrancer ' for December 1825. 
 Had Christianity itself been in danger, then, since 
 salus Ecclesics supreina lex, he thought the irregu- 
 larity would have been pardonable, but not otherwise. 
 To this article and other adverse criticisms, Mr. 
 Hook replied in the same journal, May 1826. He 
 points out that of the Catholic Church it had been
 
 -1826 Replies to Crilics. 93 
 
 an invariable tenet that the Episcopate was one, 
 and that consequently a member of the Church owed 
 allegiance, not merely to the prelates of the country 
 in which he was born, but to the duly consecrated 
 Bishop of the place in which he might happen to 
 reside. * With that Bishop he is bound to com- 
 municate, notwithstanding differences in rites and 
 ceremonies, except where, as in the case of Greece 
 and Rome, they have degenerated into heretical and 
 idolatrous superstition ; for there, as it was ruled by 
 Cyprian and thirty-six other prelates in the case of 
 the Spanish Bishops, IMartialis and Basilides, the 
 clergy and people are not only authorised, but in 
 duty bounden, to renounce their allegiance ; and the 
 orthodox Bishops of a neighbouring nation, acting 
 not in their ordinary but in their Catholic character, 
 are permitted to send one of their number to pre- 
 side over those who may continue in the primitive 
 faith. ... If the Church of England were merely 
 a sect, then indeed it would be necessary for the 
 English abroad on all occasions to apply for sanction 
 to the authorities at home ; but being in fact, when 
 once they have quitted the shores of England, mem- 
 bers of the Church at large, their allegiance becomes 
 due, as I said before, not to an English diocesan, 
 but to the Ordinary of the place wherein they reside ; 
 if in Scotland to the Scottish Bishop, if in America 
 to the American Bishop, and so on. When, how- 
 ever, they are resident on the Continent of Europe, 
 there are few places where there is an authority 
 established which they can conscientiously acknow- 
 ledge, for, as Theodoret observes, " where Christians 
 are given to the worship of angels," {a fortiori of
 
 94 L^f^ of Walter FarqiiJiar Hook. 1821- 
 
 saints) " they have left the Lord Jesus Christ." 
 They must therefore in this case apply to proper 
 ecclesiastical authority for the appointment of an 
 Ordinary, qualified for the discharge of episcopal 
 functions. The question then Is, In whom is that 
 authority vested? "Simplex"^ would answer that 
 they could only apply to the Bishops of England, 
 whereas I contend that though I should prefer it, 
 yet this Is by no means necessary, and in some cases 
 may be an inexpedient course. Suppose, for instance, 
 I were resident in a town in France, in which there 
 were also resident several Scottish and several 
 American Episcopalians, " Simplex," if not an Eras- 
 tian, will allow that we should be all of the same 
 communion, and that if any one should refuse to 
 hold communion with the others we should be schis- 
 matics. Suppose also an American clergyman were 
 to come to reside among us for the purpose of per- 
 forming divine service, and that, convinced of the 
 irregularities arising from want of an Ordinary, and 
 desirous of securing the rite of Confirmation for our 
 children, we should determine to apply In the proper 
 quarter for the redress of the grievance ; if the 
 Englishman should contend that application should 
 be made to the English bench, and the Scotchman 
 should plead for the Episcopal College In Scotland, 
 the American would think it necessary to uphold 
 the dignity of the prelates in the United States. 
 Each party would, in this instance, be acting on the 
 narrow principles of a sect, and Catholic unity 
 would thus be destroyed. But sinking all national 
 distinctions they would, if they acted properly and 
 
 * One of his critics who wrote under this name.
 
 -1S26 Bishop Lnscombcs Mission. 95 
 
 as really Catholic Christians, come to the determi- 
 nation of applying" to any lawful authority, capable 
 of judging- of the expediency or inexpediency of 
 granting their petition and relieving their wants. 
 Referring to the records of the Church in its primi- 
 tive and purest ages, they would find that the 
 Christians in those days, when they were in want of 
 a Bishop, did not think it necessary to apply to any 
 particular Church, but to a synod of neighbouring 
 Bishops canonically convened.' 
 
 It only remains to say, that Bishop Luscombc 
 met with a most cordial reception in France, from 
 the British Ambassador at Paris, and from all mem- 
 bers of the Reformed Church abroad ; and if his 
 mission was not ultimately so successful as had beea 
 hoped, the failure was due to causes which were 
 not connected with the nature of the mission itself, 
 and into which therefore it is not worth while to 
 enter here. 
 
 LETTERS, 1822-1826. 
 
 Renewal of hitercoiirsc zvith Ills Friend William Page Wood. 
 
 Whippingham, Isle of Wight : March 1822. 
 My dearest Mother, .... I shall now proceed to my 
 own business, which is, of course, quite and entirely confi- 
 dential between you and me. After nearly eleven years' 
 friendship, the better half of Wood's life, and no small 
 portion of mine, it would be useless to deny that we are 
 both of us impatient to meet once more. If, therefore, the 
 same objections do not still exist, I am sure you, my kind 
 mother, will endeavour, if possible, to procure and accelerate 
 that meeting. Had you not kindly mentioned the subject
 
 gS Life of Walter Fai'q7ifiar Hook. 1821- 
 
 when last here, I should have given it up as a hopeless 
 case for the present, but since by your mentioning it 
 there must be a possibility, I cannot restrain my feelings so 
 far as not to express my wishes, and to strive to promote 
 an object 1 have so much at heart. This point, however, 
 I leave to my father's decision of course. If it is thought 
 expedient that we should not yet meet, then I shall remain 
 here ; for, except for that purpose, I would not sacrifice the 
 solitude, peace, and quiet which I am here enjoying in 
 perfection. But if (as God grant it may be) it is possible, 
 or rather expedient, for me to see Wood, I will tell you 
 the plan which sometimes flies athwart my brain as I 
 compose myself to my evening's nap ; though it will never 
 be put in execution, forasmuch as I have already enjoyed 
 it in anticipation. I should like to get a parson's holiday, 
 and spend three days with you in town, that I may make 
 a solitary expedition to the Tower, and pay my usual visit 
 to Poet's Corner, and see the Panoramas, and go to Astley's 
 or one of the minor theatres, which is a thing I want to 
 do for sundry reasons. Then I should like to spend three 
 days with dear Aunt Mathison at Hampstead, and after 
 that, to go with my father to the visitation ; from thence to 
 Cambridge. All this is very fine talking, you will say, but 
 it is prodigiously dissipated for a parson, and veiy expen- 
 sive. And yet, if you except the three days in town, when 
 I shall be on a visit to you, the week at Cambridge is not 
 much after four years' absence, to those who, for nearly 
 seven years, were scarcely ever four hours absent from one 
 another in a day. 
 
 Your most affectionate Son, 
 
 W. F. Hook. 
 
 Invitation to be Stezvard at a Ball. 
 
 Whippingham : April 1822. 
 Mr. H.'s note did not arrive till yesterday, but the 
 answer was in time ; what it was I suppose you have antici- 
 pated. I should verily as much have thought, nay, even 
 more seriously, of going to Jericho than of becoming
 
 -1826 Letters, 1 82 2-1 826. 97 
 
 steward to a ball. I should be worried and bothered my- 
 self, and worry and bother everybody else ; and as to my 
 qualification, if I were to dress up one of my father's cows 
 she would perform the duties with infinite more grace and 
 good humour than I should. Besides the plague of it 
 would be so great that I should die under it, and it would 
 look very ill upon my tombstone to see ' Here lies Walter 
 Farquhar Hook, B.A., student of Christ Church, chaplain 
 to his Grace the Duke of Argyll and sometime curate of 
 this parish. He died of a ball, universally regretted, on the 
 23rd day of April 1822, in the 25th year of his age.' 
 
 Detestation of French Characters. 
 
 ' Conduct is Fate ' I cannot read. I am too much of a 
 John Bull to take any interest in Monsieurs and Madames 
 and Mademoiselles, and I suppose the heroine is a French 
 woman ; and how could I take any interest in the adven- 
 tures of a woman born and bred in that country where 
 Buonaparte tyrannised, and that atheistical villain Voltaire 
 spat his dirty venom at Shakspeare. 
 
 Law's ' Serious Cat/.* 
 
 Whippingham, Cowes, Isle of Wight : May 5, 1824. 
 
 My dearest Brother, ... I have lately been reading a 
 book the Dean of Winton gave me, Law's * Serious Call.' 
 I had not read it for several years ; it is a book exquisitely 
 written, and written in such a manner that I defy any 
 body to read it without being interested. Dr. Johnson 
 when he was at Oxford took it up, expecting to find it a 
 dull book, and perhaps to laugh at it. These are his own 
 words, but says he, ' I found Law an overmatch for me, 
 and that was the first occasion of my thinking in earnest 
 of religion, after I became capable of rational enquiry. 
 Now of this book I intend always to read a chapter every 
 morning ; I am sure it will be of advantage through the 
 whole day ; and if you will do the same, you have only to 
 VOL. I. H
 
 98 Life of Walter Farqiihar Hook. 1821- 
 
 order it at Rivingtons, and place it on your bookshelf as a 
 gift from a devotedly attached brother. You will think the 
 first day that he commands impossibilities, but you will on 
 the second day think those impossibilities less impossible ; 
 and I pray God to grant us both His grace that we may 
 both go on thus improving every day. You will, I am sure, 
 take in good part this wee-bit prose. You know me, you 
 know how weak I am, how easily I have yielded, and still 
 yield, to temptation. You have always been my friend 
 and confidant. I tremble often at the thoughts of the 
 future, and I have been tempted to despair of the mercy oi 
 God ; but on that mercy I have now learned wholly and 
 solely to rely, through my blessed Redeemer, and humbly 
 I pray that I may finally be triumphant over those evil 
 thoughts and wicked passions which too often assail me. 
 I pray the same for you, my dear Robert, and I entreat you 
 to join in the prayer. Believe me, my dearest Robert, to 
 remain 
 
 Your devotedly attached Brother, 
 
 W. F. Hook. 
 
 The three letters which follow relate to a visit to 
 London to see Dr. Hobart, the Bishop of New 
 York, and will perhaps be better understood if pre- 
 faced by a few words of explanation. Before the 
 declaration of Independence in 1783, the Church in 
 America had nominally been subject to the epis- 
 copal supervision of the Bishop of London. Com- 
 missaries were sent over by him from time to time, 
 and very Ineffectually as a rule did they discharge 
 their work. After the establishment of the Re- 
 public it became necessary for the American Church, 
 if it was to be episcopal at all, to obtain Bishops 
 for itself. Dr. Seabury was sent over to England 
 in 1785 to seek consecration from the Archbishop 
 of Canterbury ; but the prelates of the Established
 
 -1 826 Bishop Ilobart. 99 
 
 Church were afraid of taking the step lest it should 
 involve the English Government in difficulties with 
 the American Republic, which had just been recog- 
 nised. Dr. Seabury accordingly was consecrated by 
 the prelates of the Scotch Church. Three other 
 Bishops were afterwards consecrated in England, 
 the political impediments having been surmounted. 
 The American Church, thus refounded, set about 
 adapting itself to the altered condition of things 
 with laudable zeal and wisdom ; but for some time 
 it had to contend against misrepresentation, obloquy, 
 and suspicion, and it was sinking into an unsatis- 
 factory state of supineness when in 1798 John 
 Henry Hobart was ordained to the ministry. He 
 quickly began to rouse the Church into vigorous 
 action, and in 181 1, at the age of thirty-six, he was 
 consecrated Bishop of New York. I will conclude 
 these remarks by an extract from a lecture on the 
 American Church given by Dr. Hook in Leeds, in 
 which he alludes to the visit mentioned in the letters 
 below. 
 
 ' For several years the moral persecution which 
 Bishop Hobart had to endure depressed his spirits, 
 but never for a moment slackened his energfies. 
 Every kind of falsehood was invented to blacken his 
 name, and for a time he had to fight almost single- 
 handed the battle of the Church. But by degrees 
 friends rallied round him, they increased in number, 
 they gave him their confidence ; he lived down his 
 enemies. Long before his death he had the hap- 
 piness — and a greater happiness man can scarcely 
 enjoy — of counting among his supporters and friends 
 
 some who had been at one time his bitter opponents. 
 
 H 2
 
 lOO Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 182 1- 
 
 Even among those who still thought it their duty to 
 pursue a course of conduct different from that which 
 suggested itself to him, many regarded him in private 
 with feelings of friendship ; and in the various de- 
 nominations which at one time had gone out of 
 their way to oppose him, many so much admired his 
 wisdom, his foresight, and his energy, that they were 
 now ready to admit that they were prepared to take 
 him for their model, and to bring his principles of 
 energetic action to bear on those very denominational 
 peculiarities which he most condemned. 
 
 'In 1823, worn out and fatigued with his many 
 anxieties and cares, he visited Europe ; and he was 
 received in England with those feelings of admiration 
 and respect which he so fully deserved. 
 
 ' I was at that time a curate in the Isle of Wight. 
 There were no railroads and very few steamboats, 
 and travelling therefore was expensive ; but though 
 I could ill afford it, I journeyed to London on a cold 
 November day on the top of the coach to receive at 
 the end of my journey the blessing of a man whom 
 I admired, respected, and revered. I found him in 
 the grandeur of his simplicity as ready to open his 
 full mind to a young curate as he would have been 
 to a person of his own age and station. He prided 
 himself, and went out of his way to show it, on being 
 a Republican ; and the mixture of Republican with 
 High Church principles perplexed not a few among 
 those who approached him, and who confounded the 
 Church with the Establishment. He gave some 
 offence by preferring his own branch of the Church 
 to ours on those matters of detail in which a dises- 
 tablished Church must differ from an Establishment. 
 
 t^l
 
 -1826 Letters, 1 822-1 826. 101 
 
 He told me that the cause of the Church was re- 
 tarded in America at that time by the fact that many 
 narrow-minded persons still felt that there must be, 
 on the part of the Episcopalians, a secret attachment 
 to the principles of the English monarchy which was 
 treason to American republicanism. He wished 
 while showing and proclaiming his devoted attach- 
 ment to the Church of England to prove in his own 
 person that he could be a loyal citizen of the United 
 States. From that time the progress of the Church 
 in the United States has been rapid and satisfac- 
 tory.' 
 
 Bishop Hobart and the American Church. 
 
 16 St. James's Street, London : November 1823. 
 My dearest Father, — I write to request a very great 
 favour of you. The Right Reverend Father in God John 
 Henry Hobart, Bishop of New York, has arrived in 
 England, and is, I hear, staying at Mr. Norris's. Now, as 
 I know that you are acquainted with Mr. Norris, I should 
 feel, if it is not improper, the greatest possible pleasure in 
 having an introduction given me to him. If you think this 
 no improper intrusion, and you can send me a letter of 
 introduction by return of post, I can easily go by the stage 
 to Hackney some day next week. Few people, I flatter 
 myself, in England are better acquainted than I am with the 
 history of the Apostolic Church in America. I have been 
 making, since I have been in town, a close abstract of Bishop 
 White's history of that Church, published only in America, 
 and I think I shall be able to afford you some entertain- 
 ment and information on that subject when we meet. It 
 is so interesting a history that really, were I a little older, 
 and a deeper divine, I should instantly set to work, and 
 from my notes, the appendix to Bishop White, and my 
 conversations with Mr. Wheaton, I should publish a short 
 account of it. With these feelings, you will not wonder
 
 I02 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1821- 
 
 that I would strain a point to get an introduction to Bishop 
 Hobart. I have frequently met the Dean of Winton, and 
 I always join him to talk a little High-Churchery. He is 
 quite as delighted with the Apostolic Church in America 
 as I am. I am more particularly interested in the subject, 
 as it will cause Episcopacy to be better understood in 
 England by the generality of persons. 
 
 Mistaken for Bishop Hobart. 
 
 16 St. James's Street : November 12, 1823. 
 My dearest Mother, .... I can give you but little 
 family news. I went to Hackney yesterday. When I 
 arrived at Mr. Norris's I was received by his servant with 
 the most marked and peculiar respect ; he told me that 
 Mr. N. was out, but that he would return soon, and 
 entreated me to sit in the library while he sent to town for 
 his master. By this time several of the other servants had 
 collected round the door, and the maids were looking out 
 of window. I said that I would not permit Mr. N. to be 
 sent for, when the servant told me that his master would 
 never forgive him if he sent not for him express. I then 
 said I would walk about Hackney and call again in the 
 course of an hour, when the sei-vant begged me to leave 
 my name. Alas ; on seeing my card, and on finding that 
 I was a simple presbyter, all his respect and admiration 
 vanished. He then said that Mr. N. was gone to town to 
 fetch Bishop Hobart, Bishop of New York. ' We thought,' 
 quoth he, * that you, sir, were the Bishop.' You cannot 
 think how I was flattered by this, and no Bishop, of either 
 Scotland or America, could have assumed more episcopal 
 dignity when surrounded by moody Covenanters or hostile 
 sectarians, than I assumed when perambulating the streets 
 of Hackney. I called again on Mr. Norris, who had not 
 met the Bishop, who was detained in town by business 
 with the American ambassador. This, and the miscarriage 
 of his letters, in which he had arranged that the Bishop 
 should, like the apostles of old, be ' brought by the
 
 -i826 Letters, 1 822-1 826. 103 
 
 Church ' all the way from Dover to London — that is, that 
 he should sleep and stay at the houses of different clergy 
 men on the road — these things, I say, had evidently put 
 him a little out of sorts ; and although he was particularly 
 civil, I did not get from him all that information which I 
 expected, nor did he even offer me the loan of the official 
 papers of the American Church. By the way, if my father 
 thinks it practicable, and I can get at the ' Quarterly ' 
 through Croker, I think of drawing up an article for that 
 review from my knowledge of the American Church. It 
 can be done in the shape of a review on Bishop Dehon's 
 sermons, and I think it may be rendered instructive, 
 interesting, and useful. 
 
 Your most devoted Son, 
 
 W. F. Hook. 
 
 Meeting with Bishop Hohart. 
 
 16 St. James's Street, London : November 13, 1823. 
 
 My dearest Mother, .... I have just come from that 
 great and good man, Bishop Hobart. To be sure, I went pre- 
 disposed to like him ; but my expectations were surpassed 
 beyond expression. His spirit, his vivacity, his judgment, 
 are striking even in half an hour's conversation. His sober, 
 but zealous piety ; his strong, vehement, but tempered 
 orthodoxy ; his veneration for our Church, his candour 
 with respect to his own, have won my heart. And when 
 he told me that he had read my father's charge, in New 
 York, I could not help giving him an invitation to Whip- 
 pingham ; when he expressed his pleasure at the prospect 
 of an introduction to the archdeacon, but he feared that 
 his health would not permit him to visit us at present, as 
 he would have to go south, but on his return he promises 
 to come. Alas, I fear that you will be away at that time. 
 There is no difference in his appearance from that of a 
 simple presbyter, nor is his exterior very polished, but 
 there is a strong, marked expression in his face which 
 speaks of one who has stood firm in the hour of peril, and
 
 I04 Life of Walter FarqjiJiar Hook. 1821- 
 
 who has fought, and will fight, the good fight, ay, and (for 
 God is on his side) will eventually prevail over all his 
 enemies. Gilbert says that the respect with which he is 
 treated at New York is wonderful ; that even the Evan- 
 gelicals who differ from him are forced to acknowledge the 
 pre-eminent sanctity of his character and the sobered zeal 
 of his religion. Nay, Gilbert has even been asked by 
 Presbyterians, 'Have you seen our Bishop.-" and they 
 spoke of him as a great man that he must see before he 
 left New York. Now the Right Reverend Father himself 
 told me in conversation that it was necessary that the 
 character of the Bishop should be upholden, as the Repub- 
 licans would all be very willing to carp at and deny the 
 necessary respect due to the office. I felt, of course, the 
 awe and respect which a presbyter ought to feel in the 
 presence of a Bishop ; but he was very condescending, and 
 seemed to think that the honour was rather conferred on 
 him than on me. I wish I was settled in the neighbour- 
 hood of town, for I long to be dabbling in High-Churchery. 
 However, my day is not yet come ; I shall one day or 
 other hope to be a bulwark of the Church. In the mean- 
 time, I must lay deeper the foundation, which has been too 
 much neglected. 
 
 I shall be glad to return to you all — sweet and peaceful 
 Whippingham, my family, the school, the parish. 
 
 Your most devoted Son, 
 
 W. F. Hook. 
 
 Whippingham, Isle ofWight : June 5, 1825. 
 My dearest Robert, — I do from my heart wish you 
 many, many happy returns of the day whether, as it is 
 doubtful, to-day or to-morrow be your real birthday.* To- 
 day I dine with Lord Henry and I shall propose your 
 health. To-morrow, to make assurance doubly sure, I will 
 drink it in my toast and water, which is my strongest beve- 
 
 * Because Robert was born so near midnight that it was difficult 
 to determine to which day his birth belonged.
 
 -1S26 Letters, 1822-1826. 105 
 
 rage, except on Sundays, when I take a glass of wine. I 
 will do what is more, I will make peculiar mention of you, 
 my dear, dear brother, in my private prayers, and especially 
 to-morrow which is, I believe, your proper birthday, when I 
 shall have an opportunity of doing so in the most solemn 
 rite of the Church, as I have appointed that day for the 
 private administration of the Sacrament of the Lord's 
 Supper to a rich parishioner. And if the present dissipa- 
 tion of London has not too much disordered your thoughts, 
 if you are fully prepared, I would advise you not only to 
 form good resolutions upon your birthday, but to confirm 
 them by receiving that sacrament as soon after as you pos- 
 sibly can. There is an administration of it every Sunday at 
 St. Martin's. If you are not prepared then, the question is, 
 why are you not .■' and I would advise you just to look at the 
 quotation from Dr. Andrewes's sermon as given by Judge 
 Park in his excellent little work upon the Sacrament ; at 
 the end. 
 
 Adviee to a Yotmg Man of Business. 
 
 Whippingham, Cowes : December 6, 1825. 
 
 My dearest , — If I may be allowed to give you a little 
 
 advice, it is simply this, to confine your attention almost 
 exclusively to one point and one subject ; that is, your pro- 
 fession. No man ever succeeded in any one thing whose 
 thoughts were not exclusively devoted to it. Let all your 
 readings bear upon this point ; make yourself thoroughly 
 master of one subject (and no man can hope to be master 
 of more), and general knowledge will flow in wonderfully, 
 where you least expect it. I should say that your fault is 
 a desire to be able to say something of every thing. You 
 have many irons in the fire, but not one red-hot. You 
 dogmatise upon every subject, whether you understand it 
 or not, and I think sometimes take up opinions at second 
 hand. I was struck with this when you were with us ; 
 there were some points on which I had intended to have
 
 io6 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1821- 
 
 gained information from you, but whenever I alluded to 
 them, I found that you knew nothing of particulars ; and 
 had only a general, that is to say, a confused notion upon 
 them ; I therefore did not press them. If you wish for 
 proof of the truth of this charge, just ask yourself upon 
 what single point I could consult you as an authority, and 
 yet again on what single subject would you not hazard an 
 opinion. If you wish to succeed in any profession, the 
 thing is, to make yourself completely and entirely master 
 of every subject relating to it. This is of course the work 
 of time; and then upon that subject you may be justified 
 in dogmatising if you please ; on all others be silent in 
 most instances, in all speak with diffidence. There is 
 another point on which I wish to prose you ; you have very 
 good abilities and a very sound judgment, if you were 
 pleased to exercise them, but you now seem to regard the 
 opinion of any person of great name as a law, and im- 
 mediately adopt it as your own. When you are struck 
 with any opinion or sentiment, ponder on it seriously, re- 
 flect on it, and judge for yourself whether there be not 
 some error in it ; until you are able to decide thoroughly 
 upon it, never sport it as your own. A man of real 
 talents would never do so under any circumstances. You 
 should always remember that pretenders to genius are 
 fond of starting a paradox to make fools stare ; but they 
 never do so without supporting it with a specious argu- 
 ment. He who professes to hold an opinion and yet 
 cannot support it, is considered not very wise. Again, if 
 a person lays down the law upon a subject, and when 
 questioned is found to know really little or nothing upon 
 it, that person is noted as a superficial fellow. All this 
 lecture amounts to this : Human nature is such that it is 
 scarcely possible for a man to be thoroughly master of 
 more than one subject, though he devote his life to it ; if 
 he is not master of some one subject, thoroughly master, he 
 will not succeed, and is not wise. Circumstances point out 
 the one subject to be studied ; providence has appointed 
 you to be a man of business, and in so doing tells you
 
 -i?o6 Letter's, 1 82 2-1 826. 107 
 
 what it is to which you are exclusively (always except- 
 ing the higher claims of religion) to devote your time. 
 
 You seem to wish to have that general knowledge 
 which you hear great talkers lay claim to ; these great 
 talkers are men of quickness who let fly at everything and 
 astonish greater fools than themselves ; but they never 
 fail to expose themselves when talking to those who have 
 really studied any particular subject out of the many 
 which they pretend to understand. I can only judge from 
 my own experience. I know some men that pass for men 
 of talent ; their knowledge of the law, of general literature, 
 of physics, and metaphysics, &c., &c., has astonished me ; 
 they have had just as much pretensions to theological 
 subjects, the only one on which I am really capable of 
 judging. I have found them upon getting on that topic 
 overbearing and positive, but most awfully ignorant ; those 
 men I have of course set down as empty pretenders, and I 
 consider them as ignorant on subjects relating to law, 
 physics, metaphysics &c., as I have found them to be in 
 theology. These people are admired at dinner parties, 
 and so forth, but if they had to make their bread by their 
 talents, they would be found lamentably deficient. Now 
 to shine in mixed companies, is not to be your business, 
 however much your vanity may desire it ; it is your duty 
 to become a steady, unpretending, well-informed banker. 
 I say, unpretending; for depend upon it, where a man 
 knows most, there he will be most modest. 
 
 Whippingham : May 9, 1826. 
 
 My dearest Mother, — I have no patience with in 
 
 making such a fool of himself. A boy of sixteen, with his 
 head full of Ovid, Tibullus, and Catullus, would not be guilty 
 of such folly. I would advise him like Romeo to look out 
 for a new mistress in the first pretty face he meets, and 
 Rosaline will be soon forgotten in the superior charm of 
 Juliet. * Tut, man, one fire burns out another burning ; take 
 thou some new infection to thine eye, and the rank poison 
 of the old will die.' Shakspeare does well to call such
 
 io8 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1821- 
 
 love ' fancy.' It is in my opinion all a pack of nonsense. 
 I do not mean to say that all love is nonsense, but such a 
 
 kind of ideal love as 's, unrequited and for a person 
 
 whose character he does not know, is quite nonsense in any 
 
 but a child. Tell all this, and add with my love that I 
 
 think him a blockhead. 
 
 You surprise me about J. W. I think his marriage a 
 very bad thing. He will never be a good divine, if he 
 marries so early in his clerical life. No man should marry 
 at all events while he is in the lower order of the Diaconate. 
 Three or four years undisturbed by family botherations are 
 positively necessary even to ground a man .... Yet I 
 would have you know that I have a female correspondent 
 from whom I heard only yesterday. The letter came from 
 Cheltenham, and was franked by a Bishop. The lady has 
 in her veins the blood of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. She 
 is a steady, respectable body, rather the worse for years, 
 not pretty, but very good. You are acquainted with her, 
 and her name I leave you to guess. 
 
 Baptism of Converts from Anahaptism. 
 
 Whippingham, Cowes, Isle of Wight: May 29, 1826. 
 My dearest Father, .... Yesterday something singu- 
 lar and important occurred. Ryder brought his two sons 
 to be received into the Church, informing me that they 
 had been ' named,' by which the poor people here mean 
 privately baptized ; but upon putting the questions to him 
 according to the directions in the Prayer Book, I found 
 that they had only been immersed in water by an Ana- 
 baptist teacher at an Anabaptist conventicle. I therefore 
 administered the Sacrament to them according to that form 
 which the Church prescribes in doubtful cases : * If thou 
 hast not been baptized already, I baptize thee in the 
 Name,' &c. The children were six or seven years of age, 
 and through ignorance, I administered the Sacrament to 
 them by sprinkling ; but on reference to the Rubrics and
 
 -1826 Letters, 1 82 2-1 S 26. 109 
 
 the Liturgical writers, I am afraid that I acted too hastily, 
 for by the Rubric we are directed to dip the child, unless 
 'they certify that it is weak,' which in the case of infants is 
 always of course inferred. In a case like the present, the 
 proper course would have been to apply to my Ordinary. 
 Now, my Lord of Winton being, I ain sorry to say, a very 
 Low Churchman, would most probably be willing to allow 
 the validity of an Anabaptist's dipping ; but in this case, 
 his would only be an opinion, and that the opinion of a 
 fallible man in opposition to the doctrine of the Church. 
 
 But in proportion to his being low in principle, he is 
 very strict in discipline ; and should it come to his ears 
 that I have acted on my own discretion contrary to a 
 Rubric, he may be, and that justly, offended. Perhaps 
 therefore, you will explain the case to his Lordship, and 
 express my very great sorrow for this irregularity, the only 
 one that I am conscious of having been guilty of since 
 I have been in his diocese ; he would, no doubt, have 
 directed me to pour water on the child, which by the way 
 I did, and always of course do ; sprinkling, therefore, is a 
 wrong term : but I ought, no doubt, to have applied to you, 
 and you to the Bishop. 
 
 I remain, your most devoted Son, 
 
 W. F. Hook. 
 
 Expected Meeting with Agents of Religious Traet Society. 
 Whippingham, Covves, Isle of Wight : June 9, 1826. 
 
 My dearest Mother I so fully expected to have 
 
 seen you to-day, that I am sadly disappointed at your 
 non-arrival. I am so full of St. Andrew's, and am building 
 such churches in the air, that I long to talk over all my 
 schemes with you and my beloved father. Welcome, there- 
 fore, doubly welcome will you be to this beautiful abode of 
 black-beetles and crickets ; it will certainly reconcile me 
 to our departure that we shall at least escape those odious 
 companions, since one or two have paid me a visit in bed.
 
 no Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1821- 
 
 I dread them as much * as a sick girl.' I have much to say, 
 but I cannot write now ; I am in what we used to call at 
 school 'a blue funk,' for I am to be attacked by two 
 heretics to-day, at 4 p.m. The challenge was conveyed 
 in the following anonymous note, received yesterday : ' An 
 auxiliary to the Religious Tract Society having been lately 
 formed at West Cowes, the committee respectfully pre- 
 sent the enclosed (to wit, a pamphlet) to the Rev. W. F, 
 Hook, soliciting his approval and assistance. Two of the 
 collectors will wait on Mr. H. to-morrow, at 4 o'clock p.m., 
 to receive his answers.' Now as I live on very good terms 
 
 with Mrs. , Mrs. Gibbs, Mrs. Brown, &c., and even go 
 
 so far as to shake hands with them, they suspect me, I 
 suppose, of heresy ; but I shall content myself with telling 
 them very plainly that I cannot, consistently with my 
 principles, interfere with the religious institutions of any 
 parish except my own ; or patronise a society established 
 for religious purposes, unless it be under the official super- 
 intendence of my Diocesan ; and thus I shall decline all 
 argument. But as the Apostle tells me to beware of 
 false prophets who come to me in sheep's clothing, because 
 inwardly they are ravening wolves, I have ordered the 
 deacon, on his allegiance to a priest of the Church of 
 Winchester to attend the conference. These little breezes 
 in a quiet life are very pleasant, but nevertheless, as I said 
 before, I am in a bit of a * funk,' and can write of nothing 
 else. 
 
 Your most devoted Son, 
 
 W. F. Hook. 
 
 Interview with Agents of Religious Tract Society. 
 
 Cowes, Isle of Wight : June 13, 1826. 
 My dearest Mother, .... When I wrote to you last, I 
 believe I informed you that I expected an interview with 
 some schismatics ; at the appointed hour they came, and 
 I asked them whether they had applied to the Bishop 
 officially on their entering his diocese, and whether the
 
 -i826 Letters, 1822-1826. 11 1 
 
 Society was placed under his direction. On their answering 
 in the negative, I told them that I could not consistently 
 with my feelings and principles as a clergyman of the 
 Church of England, sanction a society professedly estab- 
 lished for a religious purpose, unless it were placed officially 
 under the direction of my Diocesan. I told them also 
 that the Bishop is the ordinary minister of God over the 
 whole diocese, and that we only preside over our respective 
 parishes under his superintendence, and consequently that 
 all things relating to religion through the whole district 
 must be under his guidance. I quoted one or two passages 
 from St. Ignatius, who was consecrated a Bishop by the 
 Apostles themselves, to show that this was no new rule ; 
 but that, in the verj^ first age of the Gospel the law was, 
 that nothing was to be done without the Bishop, that we 
 were to obey the Bishop, &c. Thus I gave them to under- 
 stand that it was as much a point of conscience with me, 
 when presiding over this parish, to oppose, as I had no 
 doubt it was with them, to support, the Tract Society. 
 As I said all this very civilly, wishing indeed, in a quiet 
 way, while accounting for my own principles, to convince 
 them of the error of theirs, they were not at all offended, 
 but they stated, that owing to Mr. Nickson's having given 
 his sanction at West Cowes, they had obtained so very 
 many subscribers, that they were anxious also to obtain 
 my support, and they hoped that (although they saw that 
 I could not conscientiously belong to the Society) I would 
 not oppose their proceedings, as they would pledge them- 
 selves to circulate nothing but the essentials of Christianity. 
 I then told them that I did not intend to discuss any 
 particular points, but I was afraid that we could not agree 
 as to what were the essentials of Christianity ; for instance, 
 I asked them if they worshipped the same God as myself, 
 One Being in a Trinity of Persons, the Trinity in Unity. 
 They seemed shocked at my doubting this, and I begged 
 their pardon, telling them that I always act firmly upon 
 the principles of the Church of Christ, and not troubling 
 myself with the tenets of others, I might naturally be
 
 112 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1821- 
 
 ignorant on that point. They held also the doctrine of the 
 Atonement. But when I asked if they held the Sacra- 
 ments to be the ordinary means of grace, they were silent ; 
 and they were also silent of course, when I asked them if 
 they believed in the Divine Institution of the Church. I 
 then observed that these were essentials, according to my 
 faith ; and I dared not presumptuously declare which, of 
 things that God pronounced to be essential, is the most es- 
 sential, although I would by no means condemn those who 
 were so unfortunate as not to believe all. Yet, even if my 
 former objection were overcome, I could not support a 
 society which taught only part of what I believe to be 
 essential, as sufficient. 
 
 They then described the mighty good which had been 
 done, the number of drunkards reclaimed, &c., by the 
 Society. Without denying that much good might have 
 resulted, I asked them whether they thought that I might 
 do what I considered evil that good might come. Besides 
 which, I asked them whether these persons did not owe 
 their conversion to the grace of God, at which they ex- 
 claimed yes ; ' then I believe that He would not have left 
 them unconverted, but other means would have been found 
 if their minds had been prepared, even if this Society had 
 not existed.* In short I told them that it was no use talk- 
 ing of the good done by the Society when I thought it 
 wrong to belong to it, for that would be, as I said before, 
 to argue on a Popish principle (and I abhor all Popery), 
 that the end sanctifies the means. I offered them refresh- 
 ment, and lionised them all over the garden ; and we 
 parted the best friends imaginable. 
 
 I remain, your devoted Son, 
 
 W. F. Hook. 
 
 Whippingham : August 7, 1826. 
 My dearest Robert, — If tears were guineas, you should 
 be relieved from all your difficulties immediately, for I 
 cried very much at your letter. You must, however, keep
 
 -i826 Letters, 182 2-1 826. 113 
 
 your mind composed, for it is madness to add to real 
 grievances by fretting about them. Do endeavour, my 
 dear, to bear up like a man under your present pressure ; 
 and to be able to do so, address your mind to God in 
 prayer. It is of no use to fall down on your knees when 
 you are visited by misfortune, unless you determine in 
 your heart to lead a strictly religious life for the time 
 to come. Recollect that by a religious man no one single 
 sin is to be permitted, tolerated, or even winked at. Sins 
 of weakness, sins unpremeditated, committed through the 
 strength of temptation, will be pardoned upon repentance ; 
 but he who does not intend in all things to strive to the 
 utmost to do his duty, can have no pretence whatever to 
 be called religious. I say this, because now is the time 
 seriously to form good resolutions ; and because, in becom- 
 ing religious, you not only lay up a store of happiness 
 hereafter, but secure it here. Virtue, says a celebrated 
 writer, is happiness in hand, and heaven in reversion. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 114 ^^f^ ^f Walter Farquhar Hook. 1826- 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 LIFE AT MOSELEY AND BIRMINGHAM. 
 A.D. 1826-1829. 
 
 In the spring of 1825 Archdeacon Hook was ap- 
 pointed to the Deanery of Worcester ; and, although 
 he did not take up his abode at Worcester before 
 the following year, the pleasant home at Whipping- 
 ham had to be broken up. His son's plans were 
 unsettled for some time. It was at first proposed 
 that he should be Curate of Stone (a country living 
 near Worcester, held at that time with the Deanery), 
 and also act as Chaplain to St. Oswald's Hospital in 
 Worcester. His fancy was much captivated by this 
 project ; it seemed to offer that combination of re- 
 tirement and activity which was most to his taste. 
 In May 1826 he writes, ' I know not any situation 
 which is so likely to suit me. Whilst living in per- 
 fect seclusion — a kind of monastery — I shall yet be 
 able, when I find it dull at home, to enjoy a little 
 family society at the Deanery.' This plan however, 
 fell through. 
 
 The next scheme was to get the living of St. 
 Andrew's in Worcester for him. To this also he 
 was quite favourable, for he began to think that
 
 -1829 Moseley. 115 
 
 much leisure in a small country parish might foster 
 in him habits of indolence and dreaminess, to which- 
 he still considered himself too prone. * My wish 
 and desire is to be guided wholly by my dear father's 
 judgment. I am, however, sure of one thing, that 
 it is both for my interest and my happiness to be 
 actively engaged in my vocation : for my interest, 
 because being naturally of a heavy, indolent habit, I 
 want continual excitement to keep me awake ; and 
 for my happiness, for I grow every day more and 
 more exclusively devoted to my clerical pursuits, so 
 much so indeed that nothing affords me pleasure 
 except as it is connected with them. I am afraid 
 that a small parish, much as I have speculated 
 upon it in lazy moments would after all be the 
 worst thing for me in the world ; for, although I 
 should still employ myself diligently in the specu- 
 lative, I should soon grow careless in the active, 
 parts of my profession ; and habits are quickly 
 formed.* 
 
 The fact is that literary occupation to which he 
 turned with such energy and zeal in his old age was 
 always the kind of work to which his natural incli- 
 nation most powerfully gravitated ; but the pastoral 
 vein was also strong, and an equally strong sense of 
 duty being thrown into that scale turned the balance 
 in its favour. Hence that remarkable combination 
 of literary and pastoral activity which we shall find sa 
 conspicuous in the whole of his subsequent career 
 down to the time of his retirement from Leeds. He 
 was first and foremost, from the time of which we 
 are now speaking, a diligent parish priest ; but he 
 ever considered it a principal part of his duty as a 
 
 I 2
 
 ii6 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1826- 
 
 parish priest not only to exhort, reprove, and console, 
 but also to teach, and he never forgot that he who 
 would teach must learn. He was, therefore, an in- 
 defatigable student, and from his study, day by day, 
 he went out into his parish full of ideas to be im- 
 parted to others, and carried forward to some practical 
 issue. 
 
 After the contemplation and failure of several 
 plans, he was appointed to the perpetual curacy of 
 Moseley, near Birmingham, to his entire satisfaction. 
 'At the thought of Moseley,' he writes in June 1826, 
 * I felt the spirit (without the powers) of Athanasius 
 and Horsley rising within me, and a very pugnacious 
 desire of grappling with the descendants of Priestley 
 and jousting with the humanitarians of Birmingham.' 
 In fact he was getting so eager for work that he 
 hardly cared where he went. Even as late as 
 October there seems to have been some new pro- 
 posal that Moseley should be given to a cousin, and 
 something else found for him ; upon which he writes 
 that he was quite willing to surrender Moseley, 
 'only I am so tired of my holiday that a cure of 
 souls I must and will have ere long, even though I 
 take it gratis. I should not at all object to taking 
 a curacy in one of those delightful churches in Bir- 
 mingham ; indeed I should particularly like it. For 
 although there are good preachers in Birmingham, 
 the services of the Church are shamefully con- 
 ducted. ... I wish to goodness the rectors would 
 think less of preaching, and more of having the 
 liturgy rightly performed.' 
 
 The end of October, however, saw him fairly 
 established at Moseley, now a suburb of Birmingham,
 
 -1829 Moseley. 117 
 
 but at that time a quiet country village nearly four 
 miles distant from the town. He was delighted 
 with the aspect of it. * It is just the place,' he says, 
 ' where I can live and die in peace and seclusion, 
 which is all I want. We have a capital shop in the 
 village where meat and beer, and cheese and eggs, 
 and whipcord and thread, and tops, and gingerbread, 
 and garden stuff, and butter and milk and cream, 
 and almost everything are sold. Now I have turned 
 these good people also into booksellers, and as soon 
 as I finish this scratch I am going off to them with 
 the Society's Bibles and Prayer Books, and as I will 
 undersell the Bible Society even though the money 
 comes, as it will, out of my own pocket, I shall per- 
 suade the " Missus " to buy them of me, offering the 
 books at 5 per cent, below the Bible Society's price.' 
 His stipend was only 150/., and as he wished to 
 spend liberally upon parochial matters he measured 
 his personal expenses on the most frugal scale. He 
 drank raspberry vinegar instead of wine, and fre- 
 quently eat pork instead of beef and mutton, which 
 were then considered very dear, he writes, at Zd. and 
 ']\d. a pound. He declared himself a confirmed 
 bachelor, not only, however, because he could not 
 afford to marry, but for another and singular reason ; 
 that he should wish his wife, if he had one, to con- 
 form to the model of George Herbert's pastor's 
 wife, of whom one indispensable qualification was to 
 be that she should cure and heal all the wounds 
 and sores of the parishioners with her own hands. 
 * Now I never could bear to have these dressed 
 •with my wife's hands ; therefore I must remain a 
 bachelor.'
 
 ii8 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1826- 
 
 With his sermons he began to take very special 
 pains, being the more careful because Socinians 
 abounded in the parish and neighbourhood, and not 
 a few came to his church. * I am now reading very- 
 hard,' he writes in May 1S27, 'to prepare myself to 
 state and enforce the Catholic doctrine concerning 
 the Third Person on Whit Sunday, and that of 
 the hypostatic union on the Sunday following. I am 
 going to Birmingham this morning for the purpose 
 of getting the works of Athanasius, and Bishop 
 Horsley's tracts.' 
 
 The practical work which occupied him most 
 during the summer of 1827 was the foundation of a 
 village school. On June 18 he writes to his mother, 
 ' I write a few lines lest you should be anxious, but I 
 have not time for much. I have been on my legs 
 since seven o'clock this morning all over Birmingham 
 and its vicinity to persuade some landholder to sell 
 us the eighth of an acre of land for building upon ; 
 but I have not yet succeeded. We have a meeting 
 on Friday, and what with computing the expenses, 
 talking over my neighbours, preaching two sermons 
 to convince the rich of the necessity of establishing 
 schools, drawing up resolutions, superintending the 
 plans and estimates of builders, applying to everyone 
 who thinks himself a gentleman and soliciting his 
 support, I am pretty busy ; but I never was in my 
 life in better health and spirits, and I am sure that I 
 never was happier, for I feel that I am just in my 
 element.' 
 
 It must be owned that the laity of the neighbour- 
 hood seem to have been far from enthusiastic in the 
 work, but the energy and resolution of the young
 
 -x829 Moseley. 119 
 
 curate at length succeeded in breaking down all 
 obstacles. ' I have at last persuaded the good 
 people,' he says, ' that what is represented as utterly 
 impossible does sometimes come to pass.' His 
 squire, Mr. Taylor, let half-an-acre on a lease of 
 ninety-nine years at a guinea rent, and the building 
 was soon begun. His first experience of opposition 
 from members of the extreme Evangelical party 
 began in connexion with this undertaking. They 
 are commonly designated the ' saints ' in his letters 
 of this period. There was no kind of opposition 
 which irritated and vexed him more than this ; but he 
 met it \yith much forbearance, and for the most part 
 foiled his assailants with considerable dexterity. 
 ' One old Saint,' he writes, ' has annoyed me much. 
 He appeared to approve the plan until the day of 
 our meeting, and then all at once he sent me a note 
 containing a statement of sundry difficulties in the 
 way of the proposed establishment, and resigning 
 into my hands the accounts of the Sunday school 
 and evening lecture. As to his objections I passed 
 by them with contemptuous silence ; and as to the 
 accounts I returned them, stating that I had no 
 intention to take upon myself the office of treasurer to 
 the Sunday schools ; that if he wished to call a meet- 
 ing of the subscribers and resign his office into their 
 hands, I should have no objection to permit a notice 
 to that effect to be given in the church, and, upon 
 their appointment, to take the office ; but even then I 
 would not receive any unaudited accounts, which has 
 brought Mr. Saint to his right senses, and pleased 
 the subscribers because it looks business-like. I 
 have indeed stolen a march on the "saints" by con-
 
 I20 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1826- 
 
 verting an old widow lately who was once their 
 leader.' She had consulted him about supporting 
 the Bible Society, and he had convinced her that it 
 was based on unsound principles. He now intended 
 to put her at the head of his list of school visitors, 
 and employ her to counteract any interference on 
 the part of others. It was his customary policy, 
 as soon as he had made an impression on anyone's 
 mind, to lose no time in giving him work of some 
 kind to do, in which the newly inculcated principles 
 might be strengthened by exercise. 
 
 In August of this year he paid a visit to his 
 friends the Wards in the Isle of Wight, and assisted 
 in the Sunday service at Whippingham, where the 
 Rev. James Ward was now curate in charge. 
 When he preached in the afternoon, not only the 
 church but the churchyard was crowded ; all the 
 windows of the church being set open, so that many 
 persons outside, owing to his strong, clear voice, 
 could hear most of the sermon ; and when he left 
 the church the path to the rectory was lined with his 
 old parishioners. An eye-witness said it was one 
 of the most interesting and affecting sights he ever 
 beheld. 
 
 About the same time he accepted the offer of 
 a Lectureship at St. Philip's, Birmingham, Dr. 
 Gardner, Canon of Lichfield, being the rector, 
 and entered upon his duties there in September. 
 
 The stipend was 250/. per annum, so he was 
 enabled to keep a curate at Moseley ; though he 
 did not spare himself, for after walking or riding 
 four miles into Birmingham, visiting the sick or the 
 schools there, and returning to Moseley, he would
 
 -1829 Moseley and Birmingham. 121 
 
 frequently walk two miles or more about that 
 parish. 
 
 One evil custom connected with the mode of 
 conducting the Burial Service had prevailed in 
 Moseley, with which he and his curate resolutely 
 refused to comply, though it involved a sacrifice of 
 fees amounting to about 20/. a year. That part of 
 the funeral service which is appointed to be read 
 in the church had been commonly omitted, unless 
 the officiator received a hatband or half a guinea. 
 The bodies of the poor were, as a consequence, 
 very rarely taken into the church, until Mr. Hook 
 abolished this odious and shameful distinction 
 between poverty and wealth. 
 
 In the latter part of October 1827 Dr. Gardner 
 was dangerously ill, and Mr. Hook thought that in 
 the event of death it might be his duty to reside 
 altogether in Birmingham. * Dr. G.'s successor,' he 
 writes, ' would do everything in his power to render 
 my situation disagreeable,^ and thus to force me to 
 resign ; but of that I should be very regardless and, 
 to compare small things with great, I should, like 
 old Hooker, take care that if "right Geneva" was 
 preached in the morning, " right Canterbury " should 
 be heard in the evening .... Old Gabell was 
 one of my congregation yesterday. He was quite 
 enthusiastic in his eulogy upon my sermon, criticising 
 it just as he used to do my prose tasks at school.* 
 
 The work in Birmingham which engaged most 
 of his time and attention was the establishment of 
 a Penitentiary and the superintendence of schools. 
 
 * The appointment of St. Philip's being vested in the Bishop, then 
 an extreme Evangelical, Bishop Ryder.
 
 122 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1826- 
 
 An extract from a letter, descriptive of the pro- 
 ceedings at a committee in connexion with the 
 former work, illustrates very well the attitude which 
 on this and similar occasions he adopted towards 
 N onconformists. 
 
 * I think I have gained some credit by the way 
 in which I have managed the committee. I have 
 insisted that the rector of the parish in which the 
 Penitentiary is situated shall ex officio be a mem- 
 ber of any committee, and that the chaplain shall 
 be licensed by the Bishop, which, though of slight 
 use in the present reign, will be a wholesome check 
 when it pleases heaven to remove our present most 
 worthy Diocesan. . . . The " saints " want to esta- 
 blish a committee of ladies. This I have resolutely 
 opposed — a female committee always causes squab- 
 bling. The " saints " thought I should oppose any 
 co-operation with dissenters ; when I observed that 
 if they proposed any such resolution as the one in 
 the Bath Penitentiary, which says that the parochial 
 clergy and ministers of dissenting congregations 
 shall be ex officio members of the committee, I 
 should oppose them most decidedly, because I could 
 not conscientiously admit any proposition which 
 would go to assert the ministerial office of a 
 dissenting teacher. But if they excluded the 
 dissenters from religious interference, I said that I 
 should be among the first to seek the support of 
 that respectable body of men. I added that I 
 would never refuse to co-operate with dissenters, 
 when I could do so without compromising the prin- 
 ciples of the Church, but that I would sacrifice 
 nothing.'
 
 -1 829 Moseley and Birmingham. 123 
 
 He succeeded in defeating- the proposal for a 
 committee of ladies, and remarks, ' My triumph was 
 rather unexpected. I find myself much in the same 
 predicament as the Duke of Wellington was, last 
 session, when he carried his amendment of the Corn 
 Bill against the ministers. I had no expectation of 
 being in a majority. I only intended to oppose so 
 strongly that Hodson and Spooner might see they 
 were not to dictate to us. Hodson came down to 
 the meeting thinking that he would be able to carry 
 all before him, and when it was given against him, he 
 and our chairman sat quite aghast, the latter actually 
 forgetting to count hands. Hodson immediately 
 withdrew from the office of secretary, having de- 
 clared a ladies' committee to be a sine qua non, and 
 the unanimous call upon me to supply his place 
 was certainly the greatest compliment that could 
 be paid, because it was as much as declaring me 
 to be the leader of one side, as Hodson is of the 
 other.* 
 
 Besides occasional shorter visits, he once a 
 month devoted the greater part of a day to a care- 
 ful examination of the schools for poor children in 
 Birmingham. He mentions in one of his letters, 
 that he inspected the Blue Coat School from twelve 
 to one o'clock, the Boys' National School from two 
 to four o'clock, and the Girls' from four to five 
 o'clock. How he won the hearts of many of the 
 children, may be learned from the following inter- 
 esting letter, written to me by Mr. Peers, for many 
 years a working silversmith in Birmingham. 
 
 I attended Pinfold Street School in 1828, which stood 
 upon the present site of the London and North Western
 
 124 Ltf^ ^f ^y<^^i^'^ Farquhar Hook. 1826- 
 
 Railway Station, Dr. Hook was a busy, bustling man, full 
 of life, and a great lover and forwarder of education. 
 Once a month he came down to our school, and after 
 going through it and looking into everything, he examined 
 the first class. I was in that class, and we always did 
 our best, because we knew the man and loved him. His 
 examinations were thorough and searching ; he warmed 
 to his work, and so did we. When he had finished, he 
 would say, ' Well done, my boys, you are a credit to the 
 school.* 
 
 I never saw the good man again, since the last time 
 that he examined the school, but he always took an 
 interest in any of the scholars. He sent me his portrait 
 some years since, which I often look upon with pleasure. 
 God bless him ! I trust we shall meet again in heaven, 
 where he is gone. 
 
 Since I received this letter, I have found another 
 amongst Dr. Hook's papers, addressed to him in 
 1864 by the same person. It was called forth by a 
 letter which had appeared in the ' Times,' and had 
 been copied into the ' Birmingham Daily Post ' on 
 the relation of political parties to the Church. This 
 will be mentioned more particularly in its proper 
 place. The first part of the letter from his old 
 Birmingham scholar is concerned with that subject ; 
 but in the latter part he refers to his boyish recol- 
 lections of the Curate of Moseley. 
 
 If I mistake not, sir, I have very old reasons to respect 
 you. I can remember when I was a little boy, and you 
 took a great interest in the Birmingham National School, 
 and when you had examined the first class, in which I was 
 a scholar, you used sometimes to show how pleased you 
 were by emptying your pocket of all your loose silver to
 
 -1829 Moseley and Birmingham. 125 
 
 be divided among us. Oh ! those were glorious times. It 
 sometimes came to as much as 2\d. each ; and then the 
 consultation as to what we should do with so vast a sum ! 
 No Privy Council was ever more solemn in their discus- 
 sion ; nor did the Rothschild family ever feel the weight of 
 their riches more than we did ours. 
 
 But somehow the ' hot suck ' shop, at the top of Lease 
 Lane, generally got the lion's share of the money. Only 
 once, I remember, we marched in a body to an empty 
 house in High Street, which had been converted into a 
 theatre, to see the * Babes in the Wood.' That was my 
 first view of scenic representations, and I have to thank 
 you, sir, for many an hour's enjoyment, for it set me 
 reading, and reading has been to me like an extra sense 
 given by the Deity. 
 
 I think you were at the examination when two books 
 were put up as prizes for competition, and I won the first 
 prize. It is lying by my side as I write, and the date is 
 July 20, 1829. I often think of you and the years gone 
 by, and when you bring out a new work, I read the reviews 
 of it in the papers with interest, as I am too poor to pur- 
 chase the books themselves. 
 
 May God give you His blessing, and may you be led 
 by His hand still higher in His Church, to do good to 
 His people, is the sincere wish of your humble servant, 
 
 A. Peers. 
 
 In February 1828 his father died, and the 
 family was left very ill provided for. His mother 
 and sister resided with him for a short time at 
 Edgbaston, and afterwards took a small house at 
 Leamington. His mother was extremely anxious 
 to obtain a living for him, but he earnestly depre- 
 cated, and finally forbade her application to the Lord 
 Chancellor, the Bishop of Lincoln, and other patrons 
 with whom she had some acquaintance. He had
 
 126 Life of Walter Farqtihar Hook. 1826- 
 
 enough, he said, to support him as long as he re- 
 mained unmarried, and did not wish to have a rich 
 Hving. 
 
 Lord Lyndhurst, however, the Chancellor, who 
 was an old schoolfellow and friend of his father's, 
 would have given him the rich living of Stone, had 
 it not been promised to Mr. Peel, a brother of the 
 Home Secretary. * I am extremely sorry,^ he writes, 
 * that it is not in my power to give you the living of 
 Stone, which I should be desirous of doing, as well 
 from the respect I bear for the memory of your father, 
 as from the very favourable report I have heard of 
 your own character and acquirements.' He offered 
 him the living of ' Stoke Bliss,' in Herefordshire 
 (which was declined), and added, ' I shall be glad if 
 it is in my power on a future occasion still further to 
 assist you.' 
 
 His Birmingham friends, meanwhile, were in 
 great dread of losing him. A 'round robin' was 
 largely signed in May 1828, entreating the Bishop 
 to give him the living of St. Philip's in the event 
 of Dr. Gardner's death, which then seemed im- 
 minent. The committee which organised the 
 movement was a mixed body of leading Tories, 
 Whigs, and Dissenters ; a very remarkable coalition 
 in days just preceding the Reform Bill, when party 
 strife was carried on with unprecedented bitter- 
 ness. * It is a curious thing,' he writes, * that I am 
 popular with the Dissenters, and a great number 
 of them always form part of my afternoon con- 
 gregation.' 
 
 In August 1828 a letter appeared in one of the 
 Birmingham papers urging that the stipend of the
 
 -1829 Offer of Holy Trinity, Coventry. 127 
 
 lectureship at St. Philip's should be augmented by- 
 annual subscription lest the present lecturer should be 
 lost to the parish from the necessity of his seeking a 
 more amply endowed post, * In my own circle,' the 
 writer says, ' I am acquainted with at least a dozen 
 who eagerly wait for an opportunity of this kind to 
 testify their admiration of the greatest genius that 
 has ever graced the pulpits of our town. Let but the 
 appeal once be made, and I am fully satisfied that 
 it would not be made in vain.' 
 
 But if the people of one town were anxious not 
 to lose him, the people of another town were equally 
 anxious to gain him for themselves. Early in the 
 autumn of 1828 the living of Holy Trinity, Coven- 
 try, became vacant, and some of the parishioners 
 lost no time in seeking an interview with him, 
 and begging him to apply to the Lord Chancellor 
 for it. After going over to Coventry with his friend 
 Wood to survey the church and parish, he deter- 
 mined on making an application to Lord Lyndhurst, 
 through his uncle. Sir Thomas Farquhar. The 
 Chancellor wrote to him in very friendly terms on 
 October 3rd, offering the living, * I am informed,' 
 he said, ' that it is a situation which requires great 
 exertion and much discretion on the part of the 
 incumbent. I trust, and have no doubt, that 
 you will fulfil the opinion which I entertain of you 
 in making this appointment. Yours very truly, 
 Lyndhurst. 
 
 Having now completed those early stages of his 
 life in which, first as a schoolboy, and afterwards as 
 a curate, he occupied a dependent and subordinate 
 position, two features in his character may be noticed
 
 128 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1826- 
 
 which specially distinguish it during this period. 
 First, his humble and reverent submission to 
 authority ; the more remarkable in one whose 
 natural disposition was fiery and impulsive. How- 
 ever much his wishes were at variance with the 
 decisions either of his schoolmasters or his parents 
 in early youth, he never questioned the superiority 
 of their judgment, and never hesitated to comply 
 with it. And in like manner as a curate, first under 
 his father and afterwards under Dr. Gardner, he 
 never would act on his own responsibility, but before 
 every step he took he had consulted and obtained 
 the consent of his chief. Secondly, whatever posi- 
 tion he was called upon to fill he made the best 
 of it ; he saw all its advantages and few of its 
 drawbacks, and discharged the duties of his office 
 with a cheerful persuasion that of all duties in 
 the world they were the pleasantest which could 
 be assigned to him. 
 
 LETTERS, 1827-1828. 
 
 To his Father. — Meeting tvith Mr. Wilberforce, the father 
 of Bishop Wilberforce. 
 
 June 4, 1827. 
 And now you will wish to know how I, of all men in 
 the world, should have fallen in with Mr. Wilberforce, or 
 Mr. Wilber, as his intimates style him. Since I have been 
 at Moseley, conciliation has been the word with me, as 
 well as with his Majesty's ministers, but not, as in the case 
 of the latter, with the sacrifice of principle. And the 
 'saints' and I are on the best possible terms — I, on the one 
 hand, hoping to convert them, and they expecting, on the
 
 -i829 Letters, 182 7-1 828. 129 
 
 other, to pervert me ; so a whole gang of their sanctities 
 having come to Birmingham to a Jews' Society on Thurs- 
 day, I was invited to meet the leaders at dinner at Mr. 
 Palmer's on Friday. I accepted the invitation, and we 
 
 really had a pleasant and even cheerful party. Mr. , 
 
 the leading 'saint' of Birmingham, and chaplain to my 
 Lord Bishop, had previously called upon me. lie is a 
 most delightful man, and I should have some hope of him 
 if his wife were not as full of spiritual pride as an egg is of 
 meat. I wished to have a little conversation with Mr. 
 Wilber after dinner, and we gossiped together for some 
 time. He began by recommending me not to study or to 
 take exercise directly after meals, but to take up one of 
 Scott's novels ! which I must own made me stare. We 
 talked on till he alluded to the London University, which 
 he said he had not supported because there was not provi- 
 sion made for religious instruction, although there was to 
 be admission to all parties. He thought those evidences 
 might be admitted to which even Socinians would not 
 object. I told him that I hoped he would not consider 
 me presumptuous, but I could not go so far with him as 
 that, for the objections would not be removed in my mind 
 if a false religion were allowed to be taught ; that the step 
 he proposed seemed to me to go towards the establishment 
 of Socinianism ; and that, besides, a Christian has no right 
 to preach part of the truth — he must preach the whole or 
 none ; he must not only preach Christ, but Him crucified. 
 So that I amused myself by attacking the psciido-Evmi- 
 gclical on really Evangelical grounds, and almost to make 
 him appear as the advocate of Socinianism ! He then said 
 that he would agree with me to a certain point, but he 
 thought that since we could not do all the good we wished, 
 we might nevertheless do all that was possible for us to 
 do. To this T replied that I agreed in this doctrine, as 
 long as we could do this good by lawful means ; and here, 
 I told him, appeared to me to be the grand difference be- 
 tween his principle and that of those whom I considered 
 to be right ; namely, that we do not solely regard the end, 
 VOL. I. K
 
 130 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1826- 
 
 but also attend to the means — that to do a great good we 
 do not consider ourselves justified in acting even a little 
 wrong. He would not allow that such were his principles, 
 but he could not prove the contrary. I then showed him 
 that on his own grounds the good he proposed could not 
 be obtained. The object he hoped to gain was this — that 
 evidence should be brought to prove the Scriptures genuine 
 and authentic, and that then, this point gained, we might 
 afterwards convert them by reasoning from Scripture 
 genuine religion ; but, I said, suppose the genuineness of 
 the Scriptures to be proved, a Socinian lecturer would 
 persuade his auditory that our version is incorrect, and if 
 they could not refer to the original they would then have 
 recourse to Mr. Belsham's Bible, and thus be more 
 hardened in their Socinianism. I concluded by stating it 
 as my principle to do right, according to the rules of the 
 Church, and I leave the rest to Providence. He seemed 
 to be much interested in the conversation, for we stood for 
 a long time by ourselves, and we then went to other sub- 
 jects. He shook me heartily by the hand at parting. 
 Miss Wilberforce received the Sacrament at my hands 
 yesterday. I am afraid, however, that she will take but a 
 bad account of me to her papa, for I gave them a most 
 strong sermon against trusting to religious feelings, and 
 showed that it a zeal for the promotion of religion was not 
 accompanied with the regular discharge of other duties, or 
 even if it led us into schism, it might be inspired by a 
 lying spirit, and that by our conduct only we could judge 
 of the influence of the Spirit. 
 
 Prospect of a Lectureship at St. Philip's, Birmingham. 
 
 Moseley, Birmingham : September i8, 1827. 
 
 My dearest Mother, — My spirit is quite up with respect 
 to the Lectureship of St. Philip's, and many are the mighty 
 castles of orthodox utility that I have been building upon
 
 -i829 Letters, 1 827-1 828. 131 
 
 the subject, I intend to recall, if possible, the remnant of 
 Dr. Story's scattered friends ; I shall volunteer my services 
 as secretary to the Society for Promoting Christian Know- 
 ledge, and by my activity compel the Bishop to give it 
 more decided support. When I am licensed, I shall speak 
 to his lordship about establishing a branch of the Society 
 for Propagating the Gospel. I intend to take the blue- 
 coat school (which has been much neglected by the clergy) 
 under my fostering wing, I shall tell Hodson that on all 
 points where we do not differ, I will go hand in hand with 
 him ; and thus get my footing in the national and infant 
 schools. I shall take also great pains with my sermons, and 
 thus by exertion and prayer I hope to obtain God's grace, 
 and to do some good in my generation. All this, however, 
 will occupy my whole mind so completely as to render it 
 necessary for me to decline engagements as much as pos- 
 sible, and my visits to Worcester will be like angels', * few 
 and far between.' I am not quick, and require delibera- 
 tion ; in a bustle and confusion, also, I can do nothing ; I 
 require calm and retirement to collect my thoughts. I 
 intend to devote all the energies of my mind, by God's 
 blessing, to my new appointment, and I long to begin, I 
 shall be obliged to keep a horse for myself and curate, 
 which I think I can do at a neighbouring farmer's for six 
 or eight shillings a week. I shall also get my curate to 
 take a lodging with two bed-rooms, and by paying him a 
 small sum for one of them, I shall have an apartment in 
 Birmingham ; and I shall get Dr. Gardner to give me the 
 key of the parish library, which can be my Birmingham 
 study, in which I will make a point of passing one day out 
 of the seven, so that people may know where to find me, 
 Whateley tells me that my appointment has given much 
 satisfaction, and that Dr. Gardner is very much pleased 
 with it. 
 
 Your devoted Son, 
 
 W. F. Hook. 
 
 K2
 
 132 Life of Walter Farqtihar Hook. 1826- 
 
 Hard Work. 
 
 8 Colmore Row, Birmingham : November 2, 1827. 
 
 My dearest Mother, .... I have now so much on 
 hand, that you must not expect me to be a very good 
 correspondent ; indeed, I am quite awestruck at my 
 temerity in undertaking what I have done. A semi-saint 
 told me, upon my saying that I respected Mr. Hodson's 
 character, though I disHked his principles, that he knew 
 Mr, Hodson and Mr. Garbett also respected me, inasmuch 
 as they are afraid of me, both as being steady in my 
 principles and having much influence in the neighbour- 
 hood. I am here almost single-handed. There are many 
 persons who will act orthodoxly when put up to it, but 
 they cannot advise as to the line to be taken, and there is 
 a prevalent wish to yield as far as possible to the ' saints ' on 
 one side ; and, on the other, one or two persons are so 
 violently opposed to them that they put themselves in the 
 wrong. I have another difficulty to overcome : my Mose- 
 ley people, I hear from all quarters, are very angry at my 
 leaving them. With all these difficulties I am expecting 
 my new schoolmaster and mistress from Bath, and I have 
 to attend a sub-committee for forming a penitentiary, of 
 which I am the only member who even pretends to 
 orthodoxy. If I can get through all these things well, I 
 shall not care ; but I must own that I regard my present 
 position with fear and trembling. Besides all this, I have 
 sermons to write or to correct with the greatest care, for 
 people discuss points on which I have spoken in the pulpit, 
 and seem to watch me very narrowly — in fact, I find my- 
 self placed in a very prominent situation, too prominent 
 for my time of life, and it is with no ordinary diffidence 
 and fear that I look forward to the future. 
 
 Your devoted Son, 
 
 W. F. Hook.
 
 -1 829 Letters, 1 82 7-1 82 8. 
 
 Blunders in Bishops' Titles. 
 
 8 Colmore Row : December lo, 1827. 
 
 My dearest Mother, .... I wish a certain person 
 would not trouble himself in matters ecclesiastical ; he has 
 made the most ridiculous blunder in censuring the writer of 
 the 'Times ' for calling the Archbishop of Canterbury the 
 ' Metropolitan ' ; thinking, I suppose, that the Bishop of 
 London, being Bishop of the civil metropolis, must natu- 
 rally be so of the ecclesiastical one. He said not long ago 
 that the Bishop of Winton had refused the Metropolitan 
 see, meaning the see of London. A censor of others 
 ought himself to be correct. I see the papers continue to 
 speak of the reconsecration of the Bishop of Rochester ; I 
 wish very much to know whether this is true. If it is, all 
 I can say is, that it is the most infamous, shameful act of 
 barefaced schism that has ever been committed in the 
 Church of England since the Reformation, degraded as 
 she has too often been, and still is, by those careless 
 Bishops and Archbishops, who have not scrupled to violate 
 at will the fundamental principles and canons of the 
 Universal Church of Christ. I have not time for more ; I 
 expect some staunch friends to meet me here for the 
 purpose of arranging places for Wednesday. I have just 
 been reading the last report of the S. P. C. K., where the 
 reply of Bishop James to the address of the Bishop of 
 Gloucester is given. I am still more convinced than ever 
 that there could not be a more unfit man than Bishop 
 James for the Church of India ; evidently not a divine, and 
 also evidently an egotist. He will be unable to meet the 
 Greek Christians in the way in which they ought to be 
 met ; and, ignorant of the nature of the Church, he will be 
 unable to propagate Christianity in the way in which it 
 ought to be propagated. He is a semi-saint, and if the 
 Church Missionary Society and Bible Society ply him, 
 as no doubt they will, with flattery, he will soon be a 
 red-hot one.
 
 134 '^^/^ ^f ^Valter FarquJmr Hook, 1826- 
 
 With best love to my father, of whom I shall still be 
 anxious to hear, 
 
 I remain, your devoted Son, 
 
 W. F. Hook, 
 
 Letter from Bishop Jolly on the Death of Mr. Hook's Father. 
 
 Fraserburgh : March 24 (Annunciation Eve), 1828. 
 
 My very dear reverend Brother, — Ever thinking of you 
 with affectionate esteem, I felt how you must have been 
 affected upon the demise of your most venerable and worthy 
 father, now for ever happy. A heart so tenderly filial as 
 yours (and the best hearts feel most) must have smarted 
 under the stroke, while you kissed the rod with entire sub- 
 mission and resignation to the holy will of our Heavenly 
 Father. I pretend not, therefore, to suggest topics of conso- 
 lation to you, who have them for your own use in abundance, 
 and minister them to others. And indeed, at present, I am 
 very unfit to write anything upon any subject, being, upon 
 the back of a heavy cold, under particular oppression and 
 languor. But having a letter from our mutual dear friend 
 of Fifeshire, in which he kindly writes of you, I could not 
 forbear to give you the trouble of my line of condolence 
 with the best wishes of my heart, which begs your prayers 
 for me in return. The very title which your excellent 
 father most worthily bore was endearing to me. His ever 
 memorable predecessor, great and good Dr. Hickes, in his 
 preface to Bishop Campbell's book on the intermediate state 
 of the soul, writes and states that scriptural and truly 
 primitive doctrine so as, in my opinion, to yield a vast 
 fund of consolation under our momentary separation (and 
 that only in respect of bodily intercourse), from our 
 deceased friends. Bishop Hickes I consider and rank 
 among the best writers against the corruptions of the 
 Church of Rome. The truly Catholic practice of prayer 
 for the advancement of the final consummation of the bliss
 
 -i829 Letters, 182 7-1 828. 135 
 
 of the faithful departed, plants a barrier strong against 
 some of its most dangerous doctrines and practices. 
 
 That quondam dean, with whom the late good dean 
 now is, drew up a prayer to be used for himself after his 
 decease, which he put for that purpose into the hand of a 
 friend ; from that friend our excellent Bishop Rattray 
 received it in London, 17 17, and I have it in the hand- 
 writing of Bishop Alexander, Bishop Rattray's successor. 
 As my paper may, I think, contain it by compressing, I will 
 transcribe a copy which you will receive as a curiosity. I 
 entertain no doubt upon the point ; and my great favourite, 
 Dr. S. Johnson, used such prayer, and would probably have 
 done it with more confidence had he been as well versed 
 in the ancient fathers as Dr. Hickes was. The phraseology 
 is that of the Apostolical Constitutions. 
 
 * O God, who by Thy nature art immortal and ever- 
 lasting, by whom all things mortal and immortal were 
 created, and who madest Thy rational creature, man, the 
 inhabitant of this world, subject unto death, but hast pro- 
 mised him a resurrection unto eternal life ; O God, who 
 wouldst not suffer Enoch and Elias to undergo the sentence 
 of death ; O God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who art 
 the God of men, not as they are dead but as living ; 
 because the souls of all live unto Thee, and the spirits of 
 the just, whom no torments can touch in any degree, are 
 in Thy hand, they being all holy in Thy sight ; do Thou, 
 O Lord, now look upon this Thy servant, whom Thou hast 
 chosen, and taken from this into the other state. O Thou 
 lover of men, forgive him all his offences, which he hath 
 committed willingly or unwillingly against Thee ; and send 
 Thy benevolent angels to him to conduct him into the 
 bosom of the Patriarchs, Prophets, and Apostles, and of all 
 Thy righteous servants who have pleased Thee from the 
 beginning of the world ; into that region of light, where 
 there is no sorrow, no grief, no lamentation, but a calm and 
 quiet place of bliss and blessed spirits, and a haven of rest, 
 free from the storms and tempests of this world, and where 
 the souls of the just converse together in a joyful expecta-
 
 136 Life of Walter Fargtikar Hook. 1826- 
 
 tion of their future reward, and behold the glory of Christ. 
 In whose name, we beseech Thee, O Father of spirits, to 
 accomplish the number of Thine elect, that we with this Thy 
 servant, and with all who are gone before us, and who 
 shall follow us to their promised rest, may have our con- 
 summation of perfect bliss, both in body and soul, at the 
 resurrection of the just ; through our Lord Jesus Christ, who 
 rose from the dead, and ascended into Heaven, from whence 
 He shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and 
 the dead. To whom, with Thee and the Holy Ghost, the 
 Lord, and Giver of Life, be all glory, honour, worship, 
 thanksgiving, and adoration, now and for ever. Amen.' 
 
 In the above I do most humbly think there is nothing 
 but what results from the blessed apostle's prayer for his 
 dear Onesiphorus which we read last evening, ' The Lord 
 grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that 
 day.' The final blotting out of sin awaits His coming from 
 Heaven to raise and refine the body also, and make it a 
 fit companion for the soul in eternal glory ! meanwhile, 
 although the body lies insensible, the fellowship of souls in 
 the Communion of Saints, remains uninterrupted, and defe- 
 cated of corporeal affections, is the more spiritualised. The 
 translation of our dear departed friends elevates our hearts 
 more to the heavenly state, and to think of the bliss of 
 Paradise. I ever read those words of St. Cyprian (in his 
 sweet little book, ' De Mortalitate,') with tender emotion. 
 ' Magnus illic nos carorum numerus expectat ; parentum, 
 fratrum, filiorum, frequens nos et copiosa turba desiderat, 
 jam de sua immortalitate secura, et adhuc de nostra sollicita. 
 In horum conspectum et complexum venire, quanta et illis 
 et nobis in commune laetitia est ! ' 
 
 Accept now, my very dear reverend sir, this poor 
 attempt of my goodwill to express the cordial attachment 
 of your very respectful 
 
 Alexander Jolly. 
 
 I earnestly request a place in your prayers.* 
 
 ' The good Bishop lived ten years after the date of this letter, and 
 died aged eighty-two. I cannot forbear relating the affecting circum-
 
 -i829 Letters, 1827-1828. 137 
 
 stances of his last illness and death as recorded by his chaplain the 
 Rev. Charles Pressley. A lay friend visited him in the summer of 
 1838, when a general synod of the clergy was about to take place. ' Tell 
 Dr. Walker ' (Bishop of Edinburgh), he said, ' that I am dying, getting 
 weaker and weaker. I trust to his taking care that things are so 
 managed at the synod that the principles of the Church may be 
 preserved unimpaired. I am more and more convinced of the awfully 
 responsible situation of the clergy, and I greatly fear that (not ex- 
 cepting myself), they fall far short of what they ought to be.' His 
 Iriend remarked that it all the clergy performed their duty as he had 
 done his, they might have confidence : to which he replied that he had 
 no confidence in anything but the merits of his Saviour, on which 
 alone he trusted. A few days after this, on the evening of St. Peter's 
 Day, he seemed better than usual, and was left alone for the night 
 about nine o'clock. When his attendant returned in the morning 
 about seven o'clock he found the Bishop dead, lying in the most easy 
 posture with his hands folded across his breast, and a most serene 
 expression of countenance. Sutton's ' Disce mori ' (' Learn to Die,') 
 lay by his side.
 
 138 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook, 1829- 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 STATE OF THE CHURCH RISE OF THE * TRACTARTAN 
 
 SCHOOL LIFE AT COVENTRY. A.D. 1 829- 1 837. 
 
 We have now reached the period when the subject 
 of this memoir begins to occupy a conspicuous place, 
 not only as an eminent parish priest, but also as an 
 actor in the great ecclesiastical movements of the 
 age. In order, therefore, to form a just estimate of 
 the character and value of his work, it seems de- 
 sirable to take a brief survey of the condition of 
 the Church of England at this epoch. 
 
 She had but lately begun to shake off the lethargy 
 by which she had been oppressed during the eigh- 
 teenth century. The causes of that depression had 
 been manifold. The unfortunate attachment of a 
 considerable body of the clergy to the dynasty of the 
 Stuarts excluded for more than half a century many 
 men of ability, learning, and earnest piety — men 
 devoted to Catholic doctrine and practice of the 
 purest type — from positions of influence in the Es- 
 tablished Church. In the reigns of the first two 
 Georges, the energy of the Church, such as it was, 
 had to contend, on behalf of the first principles of 
 faith and morality, against a flood tide of Deism, 
 Atheism, and profligacy. It was as much as she 
 could do to stem the torrent ; she did not advance,
 
 -1 837 State of the Church. 139 
 
 and in many vital respects she slipped back. Whilst 
 the reason was occupied with evidences and demon- 
 strations, the religious sentiments and emotions were 
 comparatively uncultivated and the love of many 
 waxed cold. It was the policy of the State to de- 
 press the Church, and to convert it as much as 
 possible into a servile implement for political pur- 
 poses. Worldly-minded ministers conferred bishop- 
 rics on worldly-minded men, under whose misrule 
 fearful havoc was made in the doctrine and discipline 
 of the Church. Laxity and listlessness in the dis- 
 charge of spiritual functions pervaded, with some 
 noble exceptions, all ranks of the hierarchy. In 
 days when a Bishop of Winchester made one visit- 
 ation only in the course of twenty-one years — when an 
 Archbishop of York confirmed but once — when a 
 Bishop of Llandaff, who never resided in his diocese, 
 complacently thanked God that he had not spent 
 his time in idleness, but had been usefully employed 
 in writing many ' seasonable publications,' and build- 
 ing and planting on his estate in Westmoreland — 
 when candidates were admitted to ordination, after 
 a few hasty questions put by a chaplain, sometimes 
 in the cricket field, or after his return from hunting, 
 it is not surprising that parish priests, especially in 
 rural places, were to be seen smoking their clay pipes 
 with village gossips outside the alehouse ; that they 
 caroused with their squire or farmers over the punch 
 bowl ; and that on Sundays they preached, what 
 Samuel Pepys would have called ' lazy, dull sermons * 
 in mouldy churches, to scanty congregations. 
 
 Such scandals were not extinct at the beginning 
 of this century, but they were rapidly diminishing ;
 
 140 Life of Walter FarquJiar Hook. 1829- 
 
 for during the latter half of the former century, a 
 noise and a shaking had been going on amongst the 
 dry bones. 
 
 That great apostle of Christ, John Wesley, 
 and his disciples, kindled a flame of piety in the 
 land, although the Church in her coldness and 
 pride repelled it. The spiritual work which the 
 Wesleyans conducted, after their secession, out- 
 side the Church, was carried on by the Evangelical 
 school which grew up within the fold. But the 
 Evangelicals were unable to revive the Church, 
 for the simple reason that they did not compre- 
 hend or enforce more than a part of her doc- 
 trine, while they were comparatively regardless of 
 ecclesiastical discipline and liturgical ordinances. 
 They had a zeal for God, but not according to know- 
 ledge. Their theology was based, rather on the 
 teaching of Wesley and Whitfield, than on a study of 
 the primitive fathers and the history of the Church, 
 or the great divines of the English Reformation. 
 The sum and substance of it was the doctrine con- 
 sciously embraced of man's inability to save himself, 
 a total abnegation of his own merits, and an abso- 
 lute dependence on the merits of Christ's sacrifice 
 for salvation. They were powerful in showing the 
 work done for us by our Redeemer ; where they 
 failed was, in showing the work which he does in us, 
 more especially through the Sacraments, and (In 
 their measure) through other ordinances of the 
 Church as divinely appointed means whereby men 
 may become partakers of the Divine Nature. By 
 their neglect of discipline and ordinances they con- 
 fused the lines of demarcation between the Church
 
 -1837 State of the Church. 141 
 
 and Dissent, and fed the ranks of Nonconformity 
 instead of recruiting from them. A very marked 
 increase in the number of sects is visible after the 
 rise of the EvangeHcal movement. Thus, while the 
 Church is indebted to the Evangelicals for an infu- 
 sion of piety, she is also unhappily indebted to them 
 for the creation of much schism and confusion. 
 
 The revival of the Church was to come from 
 men of another stamp ; from men who understood 
 and taught and, as far as possible, practised the prin- 
 ciples of the Church in their integrity and fulness. 
 From the time of the Restoration onwards, such 
 men had never been wanting ; even in the darkest 
 days of trouble and rebuke and blasphemy and cold- 
 ness they were to be found, although like the seven 
 thousand in Israel, who had not bowed the knee 
 to Baal, they were often unnoticed and unknown. 
 
 Religious societies, which lasted from the Re- 
 storation to the reign of the Georges, had been 
 formed for the avowed object of 'promoting holi- 
 ness of heart and life,' including amongst the means 
 to this end daily services, weekly celebration of 
 Holy Communion, a strict observance of the fasts 
 and festivals of the Church, monthly conferences of 
 the clergy, the establishment of schools, and various 
 other agencies for reclaiming the vicious and igno- 
 rant. There were about thirty-nine of such societies 
 in or near London, with branches in other parts of 
 the country. These societies gave birth to the * So- 
 ciety for Promoting Christian Knowledge ' whence 
 proceeded the ' Society for the Propagation of the 
 Gospel in Foreign Parts,' They were stifled soon 
 after the commencement of the Hanoverian rule,
 
 142 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1829- 
 
 but they had bred a race of men which never died 
 out. Such, amongst Bishops, were Wilson and 
 Butler, Wake and Potter, Gibson, Berkeley, and 
 Louth ; amongst the second order of clergy, Bingham 
 and Waterland ; amongst the laity, Samuel Johnson. 
 They were the successors, though at long intervals, 
 in thought and feeling, of Collier and Ken, and 
 Nelson and Horneck. 
 
 And when we cross the boundary which divides 
 the last century from the present, the number of 
 such men, especially amongst the laity and the 
 inferior ranks of the clergy, largely increases. 
 William Stevens, the Treasurer of Queen Anne's 
 Bounty ; Jones of Nayland ; Bishops Van Mildert, 
 Lloyd, and J ebb; Alexander Knox, Joshua Watson 
 and Henry Handley Norris, are only the most con- 
 spicuous and able amongst many who studied, loved, 
 and reverenced the principles of the Anglican Church 
 and of the Church Catholic as it was constituted 
 before the disruption of Eastern and Western Chris- 
 tendom. In this succession, for at present it was 
 a succession rather than a definite school or party, 
 the subject of this memoir is entitled to be placed. 
 Bishop Jebb, indeed, Joshua Watson, and Mr. Norris 
 were his personal friends in early life. He was a 
 connecting link between such men and the Oxford 
 Tractarian School, which was yet unformed. 
 
 The great and good men whose names I have 
 just cited did much — some by their writings, others 
 by their practical exertions — to promote the know- 
 ledge of sound principles and to engender that 
 corporate feeling and action on the part of the 
 Church in which she was as yet very deficient. By
 
 -1837 State of the Church. 143 
 
 their efforts, the National Society for Promoting the 
 Education of the Poor in the Principles of the Estab- 
 lished Church was founded in the year 181 1, and 
 the old Societies for Promoting Christian Knowledge 
 and Propagating the Gospel were quickened into 
 fresh life. But much remained to be done. By the 
 end of that period to which the present memoir has 
 been brought down, the organisation of the Church 
 was still very incomplete. Episcopal Visitations and 
 Confirmations were in many instances very irregularly 
 performed. Agencies for sustaining the corporate 
 life of the Church were in abeyance. Convocation, 
 suppressed in 171 7, was still silent. Congresses, 
 conferences, and even ruridecanal meetings were as 
 yet things unknown. There were not those large 
 bodies of hearty supporters of the Church which 
 are to be found among the laity of the present day, 
 although there were earnest and enlightened laymen 
 who have never been surpassed in their attachment 
 to it. 
 
 The clergy also were as a body very deficient in 
 activity and such learning as pertained to their voca- 
 tion. It was remarked by Dr. Hobart, the Bishop 
 of New York, when he visited England in 1824, 
 that while the best educated among the English 
 clergy were well versed in scholarship or divers 
 branches of science, they were very commonly igno- 
 rant of the theology and the history of the Church. 
 There seemed good ground for such complaint, 
 when for a long time it was found impracticable to 
 get support for a journal of sacred literature. * The 
 country clergy,' wrote Mr. Norris, 'are constant 
 readers of the " Gentleman's Magazine," deep in the
 
 144 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1829- 
 
 antiquities of the signs of inns, speculations as to 
 what becomes of swallows in winter, and whether 
 hedgehogs or other urchins are most justly accused 
 of sucking milch cows dry at night.' It was not till 
 the year 1818 that Mr. Norris and Joshua Watson 
 induced Mr. Iremonger to start the ' Christian Re- 
 membrancer.' 
 
 The diocesan supervision of the clergy, in fact, 
 was so imperfect, and they so rarely met in those 
 voluntary conferences in which experiences are com- 
 pared and emulation is kindled, that if a country 
 parson was inclined to lapse into the easy-going 
 country gentleman, there was no strong force of 
 public opinion in the Church to hinder him. Sydney 
 Smith's rhyming summary of Bishop Blomfield's 
 first Charge in the Diocese of Chester in 1825 is a 
 burlesque, but it indicates truly enough the kind of 
 amusements to which the country clergy in that part 
 at least of the kingdom were addicted. 
 
 Hunt not, fish not, shoot not ; 
 
 Dance not, fiddle not, flute not ; 
 
 But, before all things, it is my particular desire, 
 
 That, once at least in every week, you take 
 
 Your dinner with the Squire. 
 
 Moreover, even amongst High Churchmen, so 
 called, both clerical and lay, the idea of the Church 
 as a divine institution, rather than a merely political 
 institution or department of the State, was very 
 imperfectly formed ; while, even as a department 
 of the State, its growth and action were hampered 
 and impeded at every turn. Most of the parochial 
 endowments remained as they had been in the days 
 when the clergy were celibate, and the value of
 
 -1837 State of the Church. 145 
 
 money was five times as great as it is in the nine- 
 teenth century. Out of a total of some 10,600 
 parochial benefices at the beginning of this century, 
 the incomes of more than half were under 50/. a year. 
 The number of the parochial clergy was 10,300, 
 actually smaller than the number of parishes to be 
 served ; hence a vast number of pluralist incumbents, 
 parishes without parsonage houses, curates dividing 
 their time between several cures, often considerable 
 distances apart, Sunday services cut down to one in 
 a fortnight, sometimes to one in three weeks, or on 
 accidental occasions ; holy communion celebrated 
 at rare intervals, and in some instances altogether 
 dropped for several years. There were indeed 
 churches where divine service was still carried on 
 daily, sometimes even twice a day, but this was for 
 the most part in towns where special endowments 
 existed from ancient times for the purpose, and they 
 were mere ghosts of what they once had been in 
 days when the religious societies were in full 
 activity. It was suggested by some, as one induce- 
 ment amongst others to Mr. Hook to take the living 
 of Trinity, in Coventry, that the Wednesday and 
 Friday services had been dropped since the death of 
 the late Vicar, and that there was no need to resume 
 them. 
 
 In the distribution of the clergy, there was the 
 same kind of disproportion relative to the popula- 
 tion as that which prevailed in Parliamentary repre- 
 sentation. Just as great manufacturing towns where 
 the population had risen to 50,000 or 100,000 souls, 
 returned only one member to Parliament or none at 
 all, so very commonly were they provided with but 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 146 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1829 - 
 
 one or two pastors. This was not the fault of the 
 Church ; for before the Church Building Act of 181 8 
 it was not possible to divide a parish without a special 
 Act of Parliament, the cost of which was ruinously 
 great. After the passing of this Act and the 
 establishment of the Incorporated Church Building 
 Society, a great spring in the direction of church 
 extension took place. During the first seven years 
 of this century only twenty-four churches were con- 
 secrated in the kingdom, whereas between 182 1 and 
 1830 the number was 308, and Bishop Blomfield 
 between 1828 and 1856 consecrated more than 200 
 in the diocese of London alone. 
 
 But while the Church had been heavily clogged 
 in her endeavours to keep pace with the population, 
 Dissent had been free ; Dissent, never powerful in 
 the country, stepped into the great waste places in 
 large towns, and established strongholds from which 
 it is now only beginning to be dislodged. During the 
 first two or even three decades of the century. Dissent 
 did not assume a very hostile or aggressive tone to- 
 wards the Church, because the Church was too feeble 
 and inactive to provoke jealousy or alarm. It was 
 not until the Church began to shake herself free from 
 her slumber and her shackles, and to do her duty 
 by the nation as she never had done it before, that 
 Dissent began to clamour for disestablishment and 
 disendowment. While the Church * was dying * as 
 Sydney Smith said, ' of dignity,' Dissent was quiet 
 and content. Thus it will be seen that the most 
 active opposition which Dr. Hook encountered in 
 the earlier part of his career proceeded, not so much 
 from the Dissenters outside the Church, as from the
 
 -1 837 State of the Coimtry. 147 
 
 more fanatical of the Evangelicals inside her walls. 
 This indeed was also due to the principle, which he 
 always advocated and practised, of absolute tolera- 
 tion towards them ' that are without ' : he neither 
 denounced them nor molested them in any way, but 
 left them to pursue their course without interference, 
 and whenever it was possible, without compromising 
 his principles, he worked with them. ' There is a 
 line between us,' he used to say, ' but across that 
 line we shake hands.' 
 
 The state of the country when he became Vicar 
 of Trinity, Coventry, was not such as to render the 
 pastoral charge of a large manufacturing parish 
 agreeable or encouraging. The repeal of the 
 Corporation and Test Acts in 1828, and the passing 
 of the Roman Catholic Relief Bill in 1829, had in- 
 deed removed two irritating causes of political 
 discontent, but the social condition of the people 
 was one of deep and deplorable distress. The long 
 exhausting war with the French, which ended in 
 the victory of Waterloo, had left the nation bur- 
 dened with a huge debt. The population rapidly 
 increased after the establishment of peace, while 
 the duties on the importation of foreign corn 
 hindered a supply of food adequate to the increased 
 demand. In addition to this the poor laws were ill 
 devised and ill administered, while, to crown all, 
 Parliamentary representation was so unequal that 
 large masses of the people were unable to seek re- 
 dress for their grievances through natural and 
 constitutional channels. From all parts of the 
 country during the years 1829 and 1830 innumer- 
 able petitions poured into Parliament representing 
 
 L 2
 
 148 Life of Walter Fai'qiihar Hook. 1S29- 
 
 the pitiable state of depression and distress which 
 prevailed in every department of industry. Agri- 
 cultural labourers were found starved to death. In 
 spite of landlords' reducing rents and clergy fore- 
 going payment of tithe, wages fell. The peasantry in 
 their dense ignorance and mad despair took to break- 
 ing machines and burning ricks, and night after 
 night the sky was lit up with the ruddy glare of the 
 flames which were destroying the nation's food. 
 
 The distress of the manufacturing districts was 
 less severe and was more patiently endured ; but 
 frequent strikes, and occasional disturbances of a vio- 
 lent character proved that it was keenly felt. The 
 returns of the Coventry Union at this time illus- 
 trate the state of things in that city, and may be 
 taken as a sample of the condition of large towns all 
 over the country. The number of families receiving 
 relief in Coventry in the year 1827 was 280; the 
 number in 1830 was 1,312. The number of paupers 
 in the house at the close of the year 1827 was 183 ; 
 the number at the beginning of the year 1830 was 
 456. These statistics moreover were a very imper- 
 fect representation of the distress in Coventry. It 
 is an ancient privilege of the inhabitants in that city 
 that any man who has served an apprenticeship of 
 seven years at one trade is entitled to the franchise, 
 and the holders of this franchise are at all times very 
 reluctant to forfeit it by falling upon the parish. 
 Hence the distress of the operatives in Coventry, 
 especially the weavers, during a depression of trade 
 is always peculiarly great. 
 
 Although the clergy, speaking generally, did 
 their utmost by the most charitable and self-denying
 
 -1 837 State of the Count? y. 149 
 
 labours to relieve the misery by which they were 
 surrounded, yet their popularity as a body was at a 
 low ebb, owing to the unfortunate opposition which, 
 with some exceptions, they offered to the demands of 
 the nation for Parliamentary Reform. The Bishops, 
 who consistently voted against the Reform Bill in 
 the Upper House, were insulted and threatened in 
 public; and in the riots of Bristol in 1831 the 
 Bishop's palace was rifled and partly burnt. By not 
 heartily throwing themselves into the cause of Re- 
 form the clergy lost a magnificent opportunity of 
 attaching the people to the Church, and were too 
 commonly regarded by the vulgar mind as opponents 
 rather than champions of the great Christian prin- 
 ciples of liberty and justice. The interests of Libe- 
 ralism and Dissent came to be considered identical, 
 although there is no natural or necessary connexion 
 between them. Deeply beloved as the Vicar per- 
 sonally was by the poor of his parish in Coventry, 
 he owns in one of his letters that it was a rare thing 
 to get a civil answer from a working man, if he was 
 a stranger. Although theoretically a Tory, and as 
 such opposed to the Reform Bill, yet he abstained 
 from taking part in any public opposition to the 
 measure ; he was not slow to recognise the justice of 
 it when it had become law, and as time went on he 
 became, especially on social and educational questions, 
 a Reformer himself of a bold and advanced type. 
 From political agitation of any kind he always held 
 aloof on principle, and he was of too large and inde- 
 pendent a mind to attach himself irrevocably to any 
 party leader in the affairs of either Church or State. 
 • Nullws addict us jtirare in verba ^nagistri ' was a
 
 150 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1829- 
 
 motto which he was accustomed to quote in refer- 
 ence to himself. 
 
 The throes and struggles by which the country 
 was convulsed during the slow and painful birth of 
 the Reform Bill, amongst other good results, com- 
 pletely woke up the Church. The events which her 
 foes hoped, and which some of her friends feared, 
 would effect her downfall, really turned out in many 
 u^ays to her advantage ; they led to the removal or 
 rectification of abuses, they caused her truest-hearted 
 members to rally round her in force, to * lengthen her 
 cords and to strengthen her stakes.' 
 
 All kinds of schemes of Church Reform, some 
 reasonable, others violent and wild, were afloat. 
 While some persons would have been content with 
 the abolition of Church rates and the readjustment 
 of ecclesiastical revenues, others demanded the ex- 
 pulsion of the Bishops from the legislature, and 
 others the complete separation of Church and State ; 
 while others, such as Dr. Arnold and Lord Henley, 
 though they did not agree in details, would have 
 united all sects with the Church by Act of Parlia- 
 ment, on the principle of each retaining its distinctive 
 doctrines, and all using the buildings of the Church 
 in common, just as one sometimes sees cats, dogs, 
 mice, and all manner of birds confined within one 
 cage. The proposals for alterations in the Liturgy 
 were countless, and would, if acted upon, have 
 improved that venerable compilation off the face of 
 the earth. The usual lies were diligently circulated 
 concerning the * enormous wealth ' and ' State pay ' 
 of the clergy ; the usual ' scandals ' were industri- 
 ously sought out, or fabricated, for the purpose of
 
 -1837 The Oxford Movernent. 151 
 
 disgracing a whole order in the eyes of the world 
 by parading the delinquencies of a few unworthy 
 members. On the other hand the attachment of 
 many to the Church was wholly or mainly political : 
 they viewed it as a department of the State, and 
 were profoundly ignorant of Church principles. 
 
 The alarm of the friends of the Church, already 
 excited by the Roman Catholic Relief Bill and by 
 the Reform Bill, was brought to a height by the 
 suppression often Irish Bishoprics in 1833. 
 
 It was then that a small knot of friends, men of 
 mark indeed in the Universities but otherwise little 
 known to the world, began to take counsel together 
 to devise means for helping the Church in the hour, 
 as it was believed, of extreme peril. 
 
 At the beginning of the Long Vacation of 1833 
 the Rev. W. Palmer of Worcester College, Oxford, 
 and Mr. Hurrell Froude met in the Common Room 
 of Oriel, and resolved to form an association for the 
 purpose of vindicating the rights of the Church, and 
 restoring the knowledge of sound principles. The 
 design was communicated by Mr. Palmer to Mr. 
 Hugh James Rose, then Rector of Hadleigh in 
 Suffolk, and by Mr. Froude to Mr. Keble. Mr. 
 Newman was at that time absent from England, but 
 joined the party on his return from the Continent. 
 The Rev. Arthur Perceval also was soon afterwards 
 added to the number. A conference of the friends 
 was held at Hadleigh, and they parted comforted in 
 spirit and strengthened in purpose, more especially 
 by the influence of the learned, large-minded, warm- 
 hearted Rector, Mr. Rose, ' who,' to quote the words 
 of the most illustrious of that company, * when hearts
 
 152 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1829- 
 
 were failing, bade us stir up the gift that was in us 
 and betake ourselves to our true mother.' 
 
 Mr. Rose had started the ' British Magazine' in 
 1832, a periodical which, under his able editorship, 
 and afterwards under that of Dr. Maitland, helped 
 much to cultivate a spirit of churchmanship, and to 
 extend a knowledge of sound Church principles. 
 Some articles by Mr. Palmer had lately appeared in 
 the Magazine calling attention to the increasing 
 feebleness of Dissent, more especially as betrayed in 
 the tendency to endless subdivisions of sects, the ig- 
 norance of many of their ministers, and the estrange- 
 ment from their ranks of the higher orders of society. 
 In July 1833, Mr. Hook had contributed a paper to 
 the same journal, in which the absurdity and im- 
 practicability of Dr. Arnold's scheme for identifying 
 Church and State by the simple expedient of includ- 
 ing all denominations within the lines of the Church, 
 were ably exposed. He pointed out that any such 
 attempt to secure the Establishment by sacrificing the 
 fundamental principles of the Church would involve 
 the loss of nearly all the best of the clergy, who 
 would never consent to minister in a Church so 
 constituted, and that (to quote his own words) ' the 
 sight would not be edifying of ejecting the most 
 learned and devoted of the clergy to turn their 
 churches into parochial Exeter Halls.' 
 
 He was not present at the conference at Had- 
 leigh ; but from letters written to him by Mr. Rose, 
 Mr. Palmer, and Mr. Perceval, it is clear that he was 
 kept well informed of the proceedings of the newly- 
 created party. After the conference at Hadleigh, 
 frequent meetings took place at Oriel College
 
 -1 837 The Oxford Movement. 153 
 
 between Mr. Newman, Mr. Keble, Mr. Palmer, and 
 Mr. Froude, the first result of which, and of corre- 
 spondence with their friends at a distance, was that 
 a formulary was drawn up entitled, ' Suggestions for 
 the Formation of an Association of Friends of the 
 Church,' which was printed and extensively circu- 
 lated in all parts of England in the autumn of 1833. 
 The objects of the Association were defined to be : 
 
 * I. To maintain pure and inviolate the doctrines, 
 the services, and the discipline of the Church : that 
 is, to withstand all change which involves the denial 
 and suppression of doctrine, a departure from primi- 
 tive practice in religious offices, or Innovation upon 
 the apostolical prerogatives, order, and commission of 
 bishops, priests, and deacons. 
 
 ' 2. To afford churchmen an opportunity of ex- 
 changing their sentiments, and co-operating together 
 on a large scale.' 
 
 Mr. Palmer visited several of the large towns to 
 enlist the sympathy of the clergy in the Association, 
 and from none did he meet a heartier welcome or 
 receive more cordial promises of support than from 
 the Vicar of Holy Trinity, Coventry, and such clergy 
 belonging to that city or neighbourhood as were 
 under his influence. 
 
 One of the most direct fruits of the Association 
 was an address signed by about 7,000 of the clergy, 
 and presented to the Archbishop of Canterbury 
 (Howley) in February 1834. This address was a 
 declaration, that amidst the growth of Latitudinarian 
 sentiments and ignorance concerning the spiritual 
 claims of the Church, the signatories wished to 
 express their devoted adherence to the apostolical
 
 154 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1S29- 
 
 doctrine and polity of the Church, and their deep- 
 rooted attachment to the Liturgy as an embodiment 
 of the primitive faith ; but that while they deprecated 
 any rash innovation in spiritual matters, the primate 
 might rely upon their hearty and dutiful support in 
 carrying into effect such wholesome reforms as the 
 times might require, especially such as would tend to 
 revive the discipline of ancient times, to strengthen 
 the connexion between the bishops, clergy, and 
 people, and to promote the purity, efficiency, and 
 unity of the Church. 
 
 This address was signed by Mr. Hook. It was 
 not long afterwards followed by a declaration on the 
 part of the laity, which was mainly composed by 
 Joshua Watson. Its language was similar to the 
 address of the clergy, save that it insisted more 
 forcibly on the importance of protecting the Church 
 as an establishment, asserting that ' the consecration 
 of the State by the public maintenance of the 
 Christian religion Is the first and paramount duty of 
 a Christian people.' Many laymen, zealously de- 
 voted to the Church, abstained from signing the 
 declaration on account of these strong expressions, 
 and among them Mr. W. P. Wood. It received, 
 however, the signatures of about 250,000 heads of 
 families. The activity of the Vicar of Holy Trinity 
 in obtaining signatures in Coventry may be esti- 
 mated from the- fact, that in his parish 1,120 names 
 were appended to the document, whereas in the 
 adjoining parish, though nearly double in population,^ 
 the number was only 529. 
 
 Although he did not object to the declaration 
 
 I TV.O nnnnl-^tinn of Holy Trinity Parish was ;'bout 10,000.
 
 -1837 The CJnirch and the Establishment. 155 
 
 notwithstanding tlic prominence which it gave to the 
 duty of supporting the Church as an estabHshmcnt, 
 yet he thought that many High Churchmen at this 
 time dwelt too much on that aspect of the Church, 
 and overlooked its higher and more commanding 
 claims as a Divine Institution. On the other hand, 
 he fully allowed and, with advancing years, became 
 increasingly convinced of, the value of an Estab- 
 lished Church in keeping religion alive in places 
 where, without it, the people would probably relapse 
 into total godlessness. Writing to Mr. Wood, in 
 June 1834, he confesses that at one time he had 
 been too much in favour of disestablishment, and 
 says, ' My error consisted in thinking only of the 
 purity of the Church. I would far sooner myself 
 live in a Church unshackled by the State ; but then 
 we must look to the indirect good ; to the forming a 
 religious atmosphere. It is something to provide 
 a religion for quiet, unreflective classes of society, 
 who, but for an Establishment, would be respectable 
 Nothingarians.' 
 
 The same argument is worked out at length, and 
 with very considerable force, in the second of two 
 sermons which he preached about this time on the 
 ' Church and the Establishment.' 
 
 'It is true,' he says, 'that even though the 
 Church were not established, religion would still have 
 its influence. I will go even further, and add, that 
 so far as regards those who are churchmen in deed 
 and in truth, the Church itself would be benefited by 
 a separation from the State : for she would regain 
 those undoubted rights from which, for the sake of 
 harmony, she now recedes : the right, for instancj^ r^
 
 156 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1829- 
 
 legislating for herself on all occasions, and of elect- 
 ing her Bishops without the interference of the civil 
 power. The question with the legislator is not 
 whether the Church would do much good, though 
 unconnected with the State, but whether by an 
 alliance therewith she cannot do more good ; and the 
 question with the churchman is, whether, for placing 
 in abeyance some of her spiritual rights, the Church 
 does not receive compensation by the indirect in- 
 fluence she is enabled to exert. The Church may be 
 less free, but is she not more efficient ? ... It is, 
 indeed, not as churchmen but as patriots that we 
 deprecate the desecration of the State ; that is to 
 say, we deprecate it for the sake, not of those who are 
 within the pale, but of those that are without : we 
 deprecate it not because the Church would be a less 
 efficient minister of grace to the faithful if, driven 
 from her glorious cathedrals, she summoned her 
 children around her in the upper room of a hired 
 house, or the caves of the desert, but because she 
 would be a less effectual preacher of morality to the 
 unenlightened and the unbeliever. Her voice would 
 still be the voice of the charmer, but it would not 
 reach so far. . . . The strong would have their meat, 
 but how would the babes be supplied with milk ? . . . 
 In short, where there is no national establishment 
 they who require instruction least receive it most ; 
 and they who require it most receive it not at all. 
 And, therefore, whether we look at the fact with 
 the eye of the legislator or of the Christian, the 
 circumstance of stationing a man of education, 
 respectability, and religion in each parish where the 
 inhabitants are too poor to support, or too ignorant
 
 -1 837 The ' Tracts for the Thnes^ 157 
 
 to desire, an instructor, is an advantage to the 
 country which will only then be properly appreciated 
 when it is lost.' 
 
 Thus he held the balance between those who, 
 in their zeal for the Establishment, underrated the 
 claims of the Church, and those who in their zeal for 
 the purity of the Church undervalued the advantages 
 of an establishment. This last was the error, he 
 conceived, of Mr. Hurrell Froude and some other 
 enthusiasts of the new movement, who were amongst 
 the writers of * The Tracts.' These Tracts, which 
 afterwards became so celebrated under the name of 
 ' Tracts for the Times,' began to appear towards the 
 latter part of the year 1833. M^- Newman was 
 their editor, and in a great measure at first their 
 author. Dr. Pusey made his first contribution to 
 the series by the Tract on Fasting in the end of 
 December. The writers were generally known to 
 be Oxford men, and the tracts themselves were 
 commonly designated the Oxford Tracts. The origi- 
 nators of the new movement had always contem- 
 plated the necessity of employing the press for 
 the revival of those principles which they had at 
 heart ; but when the Tracts began to appear Mr. 
 Palmer, Mr. Perceval, and some others, were anxious 
 that they should be subjected to a committee of revi- 
 sion, and thus go forth stamped with the authority 
 of the whole school or association. Mr. Newman, 
 however, Mr. Keble, and Mr. Froude were wholly 
 opposed to this proposal. * If we altered to please 
 everyone,' wrote Mr. Newman to Mr. Palmer, 'the 
 effect would be spoiled. They (the Tracts) were not 
 intended as symbols e cathedra^ but as the expression
 
 158 Life of Walter Farqiihar Hook. 1829- 
 
 of individual minds ; and individuals feeling strongly, 
 while on the one hand they are incidentally faulty in 
 mode or language, are still peculiarly effective. No 
 great work was done by a system ; whereas systems 
 rise out of individual exertions.' 
 
 From this point the leading men of the new 
 movement, although maintaining now and long after- 
 wards the most friendly intercourse, were fairly 
 divisible into two main classes. There were those 
 who by age, position in the Church, or family asso- 
 ciations, were closely connected with the old school 
 of High Anglicans. They were men who, although 
 they would not surrender to expediency the smallest 
 atom of what they deemed essential, nevertheless 
 valued the Establishment ; and in all matters relating 
 to the revival of forgotten doctrines or abandoned 
 customs were inclined to proceed with caution and 
 judgment. Such were Mr. Palmer and Mr. Le Bas. 
 Some of them, especially those who were incumbents 
 of parishes, were eminently practical in their views 
 of things ; they were men of tact, accustomed to feel 
 the pulse of their people, and knew the risk of 
 putting new wine into old bottles. Eminent in this 
 class were Mr. Rose, Mr. Paget, and the subject of 
 this memoir. 
 
 Amongst the men in the other class, were some 
 who had been originally brought up in the Evangeli- 
 cal school, and who now embraced High Church 
 principles and sentiments with all the ardour of those 
 who have discovered a new treasure ; others were 
 young, few of them had pastoral cures, some of them 
 were resident in Oxford. Amongst these were the 
 Tract writers. Full of intellectual vigour and learn-
 
 -1837 The Tract Writers. 159 
 
 ing, full of earnest piety, full of hope and even 
 confidence that they were destined to work out a 
 second Reformation of the Church, they wrote freely 
 and fearlessly, unfettered by restraints, especially such 
 as are felt by men who, moving in a practical sphere, 
 have to consider not only the best possible, but also 
 and primarily, the best practicable. Hence although 
 it was a long time before Mr. Hook and others 
 like-minded publicly expressed their disapproval of 
 any of the Tracts, believing, as they did, that on the 
 whole the dissemination of them was most salutary ; 
 yet even in the earlier Tracts, which were the least 
 open to objection of any, they detected expressions 
 which they regretted as unseasonable, incautious, 
 and liable to misunderstanding, if not in themselves 
 objectionable. They watched them as they came 
 out with interest, with much sympathy, but with no 
 little anxiety. In the earlier numbers, Mr. Hook 
 for the most part rejoiced, as teaching what he had 
 long been endeavouring to inculcate ; he distributed 
 them, but with caution, among his flock, and warned 
 those who read them against particular parts which ap- 
 peared to be inconsiderate or overstrained in expres- 
 sion. Nevertheless, he seems to have been regarded 
 by the Tract writers for some time as the principal, 
 almost the solitary, instance of one who worked out 
 in a large parochial sphere fully and freely the princi- 
 ples which they taught. Mr. Newman, in a letter con- 
 gratulating him on the recovery of his health in the 
 latter part of 1834, begs him not to risk it by a repe- 
 tition of overwork. * Your being obliged,' he says, 
 ' to retire from parochial duty, would be a calamity 
 we ought to try to prevent, as we have no specimen
 
 i6o Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1829- 
 
 (so far as I know) but that which you supply of the 
 influential nature of true Church principles on a town 
 population.' 
 
 On the other hand it must be carefully borne in 
 mind that he was neither a colleague nor a disciple 
 of the Tract writers. He was for a certain time with 
 them, but he was never <?/*them. He had advanced 
 some distance upon his career, with clearly formed 
 principles and aims, the result of patient study and 
 practical experience under guidance, long before 
 many of the most eminent of the Tract writers had 
 settled their opinions and line of action. Presently 
 they came up with him ; he welcomed them as fellow 
 travellers, and for a while they journeyed side by 
 side. After a time when, as will be seen, they 
 diverged from his path, and got into difficulties, he 
 defended them as long as he conscientiously could ; 
 and when their most illustrious leader fell away from 
 the ranks of the Church, when the Tracts came to an 
 end and the party was shaken to its foundation, 
 he went on his way at the same steady pace and 
 with the same undeviating straightforwardness of 
 movement as before his connexion with them. The 
 uncomfortable and painful contact into which he was 
 afterwards brought at Leeds with some extreme 
 disciples of this party will be narrated in its 
 proper place. It will suffice to close this general 
 sketch by remarking that to extremes in every direc- 
 tion he was always steadily opposed. Whichever 
 school was for the time being most dominant, aggres- 
 sive, and dangerous to the highest interests of the 
 Church, whether it was the Puritan, the Latitudi- 
 narian, or the Romanising school, received the full
 
 -1 837 Coventry. i6i 
 
 force of his attack. And this was the reason why, 
 whilst really being in the mean, he often appeared 
 to superficial observers to be gravitating towards 
 one of the extremes ; so that when he attacked 
 the Puritans or Erastians he was denounced as a 
 Tractarian, and when he attacked the Romanizers 
 he was upbraided for deserting the ranks of High 
 Churchmen ; whereas, in fact, he remained steadfast, 
 only facing first in one direction and then In another. 
 As Bishop Wllberforce once happily expressed It, 
 ' Hook is like a ship at anchor, which, without moving 
 from its anchorage, always swings round to turn Its 
 breast to the tide.' 
 
 The letters written during his Incumbency at 
 Coventry are so numerous and full that they supply 
 a chronicle of his life, almost month by month, and I 
 have not found It necessary to do more than to add 
 a few details which they do not contain, or to explain 
 some matters to which they refer. 
 
 He read himself In at Holy Trinity, Coventry, 
 on Sunday, December 14, 1828, and on January 4, 
 1829, he preached his farewell sermon at St. Philip's, 
 Birmingham, on the text i Cor. xIII. i, 2,3. One of 
 the Birmingham papers, In reporting the sermon, re- 
 marks, 'We can give the matter of his discourse, but 
 the charm of his manner and voice must be left to 
 the Imagination or the memory, for It Is Indescribable.' 
 
 In the same month the congregation of St. 
 Philip's presented him with a service of plate, bear- 
 ing an inscription, which stated that it was given ' In 
 testimony of their respect and of their gratitude for 
 his zealous services as Lecturer during the past four- 
 teen months.' 
 
 VOL. I. M
 
 1 62 Life of Walter Farqiihar Hook, 1829- 
 
 On February 15, he preached his first sermon 
 in the Church of Holy Trinity, Coventry, and began 
 to enter on his pastoral labours there. 
 
 He had now a sphere of work adequate to his 
 powers, and those powers were soon to be alike 
 quickened and chastened by coming under the influ- 
 ence of her to whom not only the happiness but 
 also the success of his future life was very largely 
 owing. 
 
 He had become acquainted in Birmingham with 
 Dr. John Johnstone, a physician of very high repu- 
 tation, a man of great ability and scientific know- 
 ledge, a Fellow of the Royal Society, the intimate 
 friend and biographer of Dr. Parr. Dr. Johnstone's 
 eldest daughter, Anna Delicia, was only seventeen 
 years of age when Mr. Hook was appointed to his 
 living in Coventry, but beneath the most girlish play- 
 fulness and sparkling vivacity of manner, was a 
 deep fund of sound practical wisdom and earnest 
 piety. He had not been slow to discern and to be 
 captivated by this combination of high qualities, but 
 her extreme youth and his own want of means until 
 he had obtained a living deterred him for some time 
 from declaring his attachment. 
 
 In February 1829 she wrote a valentine in verse 
 to a lady with whom he was acquainted, under the 
 assumed name of * John Bright.' The handwriting 
 however was detected, the verses were shown to Mr. 
 Hook, and he composed the following reply for his 
 friend, which was in fact the first approach to an 
 open declaration of his sentiments. It is dated 
 February 15th, the very day on which he officiated 
 for the first time as Vicar In his church at Coventry,
 
 i837 Anna Delicia Johiistofie. 163 
 
 and it is therefore a curious illustration of the natural 
 and innocent way in which he passed from things 
 grave to gay. 
 
 Lady, I think that you are right, 
 When valentines you would indite, 
 Under fictitious names to write ; 
 And upon none could you alight 
 So well appropriate as ' Bright.' 
 Between yourself and all that's bright, 
 You thus comparison invite ; 
 Let us examine then your plight. 
 Winning the heart of many a wight. 
 Those soft dark eyes are beaming brigJit, 
 And far eclipse the orbs of night ; 
 The Paestan roses are less bright 
 Than th' hues which on your cheek unite. 
 Upon that neck — (itself as bright 
 As alabaster's purest white) 
 The locks that hang in ringlets light 
 As ebony are black and bright ; 
 When you are smiling with delight, 
 Your smile is as the sunbeam bright, 
 Revealing to the enraptured sight 
 Those teeth than ivory more bright ; 
 While the two pouting hps they bite, 
 Are as the coral red and bright. 
 But brighter far, O far more bright, 
 The charms within ! if brought to light, 
 They'd prove that you're perfection quite : 
 A mind with wit and talent bright, 
 A soul so pure, that well it might 
 Be deemed the soul of angel bright. 
 Hence, lady, I must think you right 
 When you assume the name of Bright. 
 
 It was perfectly true ; — ' Brightness ' was emi- 
 nently characteristic of his future wife. The fresh- 
 
 M 2
 
 164 Life of Walter Farqiihar Hook. 1829- 
 
 ness and buoyancy of her spirits never forsook 
 her to the end of her Hfe, although that hfe was 
 shortened by care, anxiety, and toil which overtasked 
 her physical strength. Naturally elastic, however, 
 as her spirit was, the invariable and equable cheer- 
 fulness which she exhibited was partly sustained 
 from a sense of duty. Her husband was attacked 
 with some alarming epileptic fits soon after his set- 
 tlement at Coventry, and she was then informed by 
 the doctors that his future health and, perhaps, his 
 life would depend upon his preservation from those 
 moods of undue depression to which impulsive and 
 irritable temperaments, such as his, are especially 
 liable. Thus her original and natural disposition to 
 cheerfulness was cultivated and trained into a habit, 
 but at times the maintenance of this habit, as one of 
 the duties of daily life, was a severe strain. There 
 was no doubt a considerable fund of common sense 
 and practical wisdom in her husband, but there were 
 also some of the eccentricities which belonof to that 
 order of mind which we call genius, and the very 
 warmth of his affections and vehemence of his 
 impulses which, on the one hand, constituted his 
 strength, on the other overbore at times his calmer 
 judgment, and hurried him into acts of which the 
 consequences were embarrassing. By her superiority 
 in discernment of character, and in the affairs of 
 practical Hfe, his wife was constantly engaged in 
 saving him or extricating him from the awkward 
 positions into which his reckless generosity and his 
 violent fits, either of affection or antipathy towards 
 individuals, were constantly urging him. To make 
 both ends meet with a large family and small means,
 
 ~i837 Anna Delicia Hook. 165 
 
 to mediate, to conciliate, sometimes to soothe and 
 encourage, sometimes to warn and repress, was the 
 daily task of her life, and nobly did she discharge it. 
 He himself knew his failings, and he had prepared 
 her mind for the work she would have to do. In 
 one of his letters, written before their marriage, he 
 says, ' I never can or will intentionally hurt your 
 feelings ; but I am rather an uncouth being whom 
 you must polish and tame. I am a kind of Cimon 
 and you must be my Iphigenia.' Having to deal 
 with one who was always very irrepressible in the 
 expression of his feelings, and occasionally allowed 
 them to outrun the bounds of discretion, she was as 
 a rule reserved and undemonstrative, although this 
 habit was partly also due to the circumstances of 
 early life. ' I was very timid,' she writes, ' in my 
 early youth, and used often to get put down if ever, 
 conquering my shyness, I uttered anything senti- 
 mental ; and these early influences wear deeper into 
 the character than people are commonly aware of, 
 even to quenching sometimes what was originally a 
 prominent part of it. I think there is a great deal 
 of self-knowledge required to discover how far we 
 may indulge our feelings, and when we ought to 
 repress them ; but perhaps in this we may take our 
 common duties as a measure, and whatever unfits 
 us for them we may suppose to be undue.* How 
 admirably and wonderfully these * common duties ' 
 were discharged, alike in the household and in the 
 parish, cannot be adequately understood save by 
 those who actually witnessed the execution of them ; 
 but the depth and fervour of her religious feel- 
 ings may be known to all who read the * Medita-
 
 1 66 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1829- 
 
 tions for Every Day in the Year,' which were com- 
 posed by her, or ' The Cross of Christ,' which she 
 compiled, although, appearing as they did under 
 the editorship of her husband, they have commonly 
 been ascribed to him. There are few women who 
 could turn from the drudgery of account-keeping 
 and other matters of domestic or parochial business 
 to the composition of manuals of devotion, which 
 have been the refreshment and consolation of 
 thousands of pious Christians. In a letter written 
 late at night from Leeds, she says, ' I have a great 
 bundle of proofs at my side, and account-books 
 frowning at me in the distance and threatening an 
 hour or two of calculation and puzzling. How I 
 hate them ! being in a constant apprehension of 
 spending too much and not having enough to meet 
 all demands.' The close juxtaposition of her Book 
 of Meditations and of her account-books alluded to 
 in this letter is not a bad key to the character of the 
 writer : she was eminently devout and at the same 
 time eminently practical. 
 
 And this union of qualities was the great secret 
 of her remarkable influence alike within the circle of 
 her family and beyond it. She was, indeed, at once 
 the fresh and cheerful companion of her children, 
 entering with keen relish into their amusements and 
 pursuits, especially music, in which she was uncom- 
 monly skilled ; and also the counsellor on whose 
 sound judgment they could always rely for instruction 
 and advice respecting their duty in this world, and 
 their preparation for the world which is to come. 
 And in like manner, outside the walls of home, the 
 curates who looked up to her as a mother, and a
 
 -1837 Anna Delicia Hook. 167 
 
 large number of friends, young and old of both sexes, 
 were wont to turn to her before all others for the 
 Christian sympathy and the wholesome counsel which 
 were never asked in vain. 
 
 Few, indeed, have more nearly fulfilled the 
 description of the virtuous woman drawn long ago 
 by the Wise Man : 
 
 She openeth her mouth with wisdom, and in her tongue 
 is the law of kindness. 
 
 She looketh well to the ways of her household, and 
 eateth not the bread of idleness. 
 
 Her children arise up and call her blessed ; her husband 
 also, and he praiseth her. 
 
 Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest 
 them all. 
 
 And not less applicable to her are the words of 
 one of our wisest and noblest poets : 
 
 A being breathing thoughtful breath, 
 A traveller between life and death, 
 The reason firm, the temperate will, 
 Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill : 
 A perfect woman, nobly planned 
 To warn, to comfort, and command : 
 And yet a spirit too, and bright, 
 With something of an angel light. 
 
 I have dwelt thus long upon the character of 
 Mrs. Hook not only because it deserved some 
 special notice, but also to impress on the reader of 
 this memoir that, although comparatively few direct 
 allusions to her may occur in the following pages, it 
 must never be forgotten that, while her husband is 
 the prominent actor in the foreground, she is always
 
 1 68 Life of Walter Farqiihar Hook. 1829- 
 
 a controlling regulating principle in the background, 
 and that without her it is probable that he never 
 would have become what he was, or have accom- 
 plished the things which he did. 
 
 They were married on June 4, 1829, and in the 
 latter part of the summer the bells of Holy Trinity 
 Church rang to welcome the arrival of the Vicar 
 and his young wife. They took up their abode in 
 one of a row of small red brick houses in a by- 
 street called St. Nicholas Place. The street itself 
 is rather gloomy, but the situation is high, and the 
 back windows command a good view of the ancient 
 city of Coventry, out of the midst of which rise 
 conspicuous the two noble churches of St. Michael 
 and Holy Trinity with their graceful and lofty spires. 
 The house soon became too small for their needs, 
 and they then moved to a larger one in the 
 Leicester Road, just outside the town. Soon after 
 the Vicar and his wife had settled in their home it 
 was broken into by burglars who were probably 
 tempted by the hope of getting the service of plate 
 which had been presented to him by his flock in 
 Birmingham. As they did not succeed in robbing 
 the house of any valuable contents, the incident 
 would be hardly worth recording but for the singular 
 and ludicrous circumstance that the thieves drank a 
 quantity of ink under the impression that it was port 
 wine, and one of them was afterwards detected by 
 the stains of ink upon his clothes. 
 
 As the temporal condition of the people of 
 Coventry was deeply depressed when he entered 
 upon his pastoral charge, so also was the spirit of 
 churchmanship at a low ebb. That kind of irre-
 
 -■1837 Coventry. 169 
 
 verence towards holy places and holy things w!i*ich 
 is bred partly of ignorance, partly of that indifference 
 which is the result of ignorance or at least of low 
 and feeble ideas on the whole subject of religion, 
 was prevalent and startling. He found that it was 
 the custom at vestry dinners to propose as the first 
 toast, ' Trinity in Unity,' which was considered a 
 pleasant punning allusion to the dedication of the 
 Church to the Holy Trinity ; and no one seemed to 
 have any perception of the profanity of the practice 
 until the new Vicar pointed it out and put a stop 
 to it. On such a subject he could speak with a 
 dignified sternness and a force of resolution which 
 few dared to resist or disobey. On one occasion 
 a vestry meeting was so numerously attended that 
 it was adjourned from the vestry to the church. 
 Several persons kept their hats on. The Vicar 
 requested that they would take them off, but they 
 refused to comply. ' Very well, gentlemen,' he re- 
 plied, ' but remember that in this house the insult is 
 not done to me, but to your God ; ' and the hats were 
 immediately taken off. 
 
 In the internal arrangements of the church, the 
 principal alterations which he made consisted in re- 
 moving a painting at the east end, which represented 
 a kind of Moorish Temple, and placing a simple Rere- 
 dos in its stead ; filling the east window with stained 
 glass, detaching the prayer desk from the pulpit, 
 beneath which it had stood confronting the people, 
 and turning it round so that the officiating priest 
 faced eastwards. On this subject there is a very ex- 
 cellent letter by him in the ' British Magazine ' for 
 October 1833, i" which he points out that ' confined
 
 1 ']0 Life of Waiter Farquhar Hook. 1829- 
 
 in a narrow box, the officiating minister cannot per- 
 form his various offices as he ought to do ; with his 
 face always turned to the people, most of the people, 
 listlessly rolling in their seats, seem to think he is 
 reading to them.^ The points on which he mainly 
 insists are : that when the priest is praying he ought 
 to be as low as possible in position, provided he can 
 be heard ; and when preaching only so high as con- 
 veniently to overlook his flock. He also proves that 
 the chancel is the proper place in which to say the 
 prayers ; but concludes, * I am not visionary enough 
 to suppose that in these days we shall be permitted 
 to go back to the chancel, though I trust that I have 
 shown that if we iimst have a reading desk, we ought 
 not to make it look like a pulpit.' 
 
 As regarded the services of the church, he found 
 that it was a common practice with his parishioners 
 to attend church on Sunday morning and to go to 
 some Dissenting chapel in the evening. He there- 
 fore began evening services on Sunday during the 
 summer of 1830. These were very largely attended, 
 nearly 2,000 being generally present ; and the people 
 were so unwilling they should be dropped, that in 
 the month of August a meeting was held in the 
 vestry, at which it was resolved that the church 
 should be lighted with gas. The resolution was 
 carried into effect, and on November 7, 1830, even- 
 ing service was held for the first time in the newly 
 lighted church, being the first church ever opened 
 for evening service in Coventry. 
 
 In Lent of the following year he gave a course 
 of lectures, which were delivered on the morning 
 of each Wednesday, and so great was the interest
 
 -1^37 Coventry. 171 
 
 which they excited that, as I have been told by an 
 aged parishioner, who was then a young man in a 
 house of business, he and many others similarly 
 occupied used to get permission from their employers 
 to leave their offices to attend them. Others, who 
 were unable, to quit business at that hour, entreated 
 the Vicar to deliver the lectures in the evening in- 
 stead of the morning. Several anonymous letters to 
 this effect have come into my hands. In one of 
 these the writer concludes, ' with many, many thanks 
 for your increasing attention to our spiritual and also 
 our temporal welfare, and trusting that you may long 
 be spared to dwell among us, I remain, reverend sir, 
 Your dutiful servant and parishioner.' And this is 
 only a specimen of others expressed in the same 
 style of admiration and gratitude. 
 
 In Holy Week of the same year, or as it was 
 then more commonly called, Passion Week, he deliv- 
 ered day by day the lectures which were afterwards 
 published under the title of the ' Last Days of our 
 Lord's Ministry.' This was his first literary ven- 
 ture, and not one of the least successful. He was 
 encouraged to undertake the work by the learned 
 and pious Bishop of Limerick, Bishop Jebb, who 
 had now been residing some time for the sake of his 
 health at Leamington, where he had first formed in 
 T828 an acquaintance with Mr. Hook, which had 
 soon ripened into a close and affectionate friendship. 
 The Bishop corrected the proofs of the volume, sug- 
 gested the title, and in part composed the dedication 
 which runs thus : ' To William Page Wood, of 
 Lincoln's Inn, Esq., late Fellow of Trinity College, 
 Cambridge, this volume is inscribed as the record
 
 172 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1829- 
 
 of an early and unlntermitting friendship.' He re- 
 ceived letters expressing high admiration of the work 
 from Southey, Wordsworth, Joshua Watson, Mr. Le 
 Bas, Dr. Butler, afterwards Bishop of Lichfield, 
 Bishop Monk of Gloucester, and Judge Alan Park, 
 who took a kind of fatherly interest in his career. 
 
 But perhaps the testimony which he valued most 
 of all was that of good Bishop Jolly, who in writing to 
 thank him for the copy which had been presented to 
 him, said, 'You have traced the adorable steps of 
 our Divine Redeemer dying for us, in such a manner 
 as has affected my heart and repeatedly sent me to 
 my prayers.' 
 
 And the following acknowledgment of a similar 
 gift from one of his churchwardens, who made it his 
 special business to keep all the parochial accounts, 
 was just the kind of evidence that he had not 
 laboured in vain, in which his pastoral heart espe- 
 cially delighted, and which stimulated him to 
 further exertions more than any other kind of 
 praise. 
 
 * If at any period I have in the least degree con- 
 tributed to your comfort and convenience, I am 
 amply rewarded by your confidence and esteem, and 
 by the advantages which I have derived from your 
 ministerial instructions. 
 
 * That you may long continue to be our pastor and 
 guide, is the earnest prayer of your devoted, faithful 
 servant, James Wall.' 
 
 The preface to a new and cheaper edition in the 
 year 1863 pointing out, as it does, how uncommon 
 the delivery of such a course of lectures was at the 
 period when they were originally published, bespeaks
 
 -1837 Coventry. 1 73 
 
 for them a kind of historical interest, apart from 
 their own intrinsic merits, which are of a high order. 
 
 * The author of this Httle volume,' he writes, 
 'was in Edinburgh in the year 1825. . . . During 
 Passion Week he occasionally assisted Dr. Sandford, 
 the . earnest-minded Bishop of Edinburgh, who 
 preached every day on the events of that sacred 
 season. Deeply impressed with what he heard, the 
 author determined if he ever had a parish of his 
 own to follow the example of the pious prelate ; and 
 in the Passion Week, 1831, the following sermons 
 were delivered day by day in the Church of the Holy 
 Trinity, Coventry. At that time there was not 
 perhaps any other parish in England, certainly not 
 in the large towns, where this course was pursued. 
 Now, after the lapse of thirty years, we are able 
 to affirm that there is not perhaps a large town in 
 England in which a daily course of sermons is not 
 delivered during the Holy Week. We bless God for 
 this increased attention to public duty which indi- 
 cates an increased devotion of mind to the things of 
 God. Many things to which a pastor, thirty years 
 ago, had to call especial attention, are now regarded 
 as truisms ; a pleasing circumstance which is stated 
 to account for the fact that some things in the notes 
 to these discourses are proved or explained which in 
 the present day would be taken for granted.' 
 
 In fact this course of lectures, like so many other 
 things which he said and did, would scarcely deserve 
 special mention, save as an illustration of the manner 
 in which he led the way in the reformation and 
 revival of the Church, anticipating to a great ex- 
 tent that more general revival which was afterwards
 
 174 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1829- 
 
 the result of the Tractarian or Oxford movement. 
 And this indeed is the impression which his minis- 
 try at Coventry seems to have left most deeply en 
 graven in the minds of those who lived under it. 
 Aged parishioners, to whom I applied for informa- 
 tion respecting his work amongst them, while in 
 some instances unable to recall many particulars of 
 it, were all unanimous in saying, ' He was the 
 beginner of all things here ; he set everything a 
 going.' And this is a truth which cannot too con- 
 stantly be borne in mind in reading the record of his 
 early life. Sunday evening services, frequent com- 
 munions. Saint's day services — these are wonderfully 
 common things now, but they were rare novelties 
 then. The voice of the Church had been almost 
 dumb during the season of Lent, and 
 
 He was the first that ever burst 
 Into that silent sea. 
 
 How scanty, indeed, were the services in a large 
 number of our parish churches at this period, may 
 be gathered from a letter by Dr. Burton in the 
 'British Magazine' for May 1832, in which he re- 
 commends that sermons should be preached at 
 evening as well as morning services, and that where, 
 as zvas most cormnoji, the Holy Communion was 
 celebrated four times a year, at the great festivals, 
 an additional celebration should be held on the Sun- 
 day following each of those festivals. The editor in 
 a note observes that, ' in one large village known to 
 him there was an early communion at eight o'clock as 
 well as at the usual hour on the great festivals.' 
 
 The multiplication therefore of services and ser-
 
 -1 837 Coventry. 175 
 
 mons by the Vicar of Holy Trinity may well have 
 been deemed amazing. He did not, however, mul 
 tiply services without seeking in a corresponding 
 degree so to instruct and train his flock that they 
 might comprehend and value them. This he did by 
 frequent explanations in his sermons of the several 
 ofiices in our Prayer Book, more particularly in the 
 year 1834 by a complete series of lectures on the 
 Liturgy. His Sunday evening sermons almost 
 always consisted of an expository course upon some 
 subject, or upon some book of Holy Scripture. For 
 several years he was engaged in this manner upon 
 St. Matthew's Gospel, and the sermon afterwards so 
 notorious, ' Hear the Church,' was originally com- 
 posed for this series. 
 
 Thus he gathered around him a body of intelli- 
 gent as well as devout worshippers ; persons who 
 felt the influence of his learning as well as of his 
 piety. How intense his own devotion was, those 
 who saw and heard him minister in the services of 
 the Church could best understand ; and how deeply 
 he felt his responsibility as a leader of the devo- 
 tions of others may be gathered from the following 
 letter to Mr. Wood. 
 
 I find it always wise to keep quiet in my study on 
 Monday. The increasing excitement and fatigue during 
 twelve hours on the Lord's Day demand that kind of rest 
 which I can only find in my study. A layman is not 
 aware of what a High Church parson goes through on a 
 Sunday. To say nothing of the noise of schools, and the 
 fatigue of catechising and preaching, a layman has in 
 church to do little else than join in the devotion. But a 
 clergyman, besides praying, has also the excitement of 
 endeavouring to set off the glorious services of the Church
 
 176 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1829- 
 
 to the best advantage. Even if he does not officiate at 
 the prayers, still he has to respond loud, and to take the 
 lead, so as to excite others to do their duty — that duty 
 which Protestants so sadly neglect. Then if you find your 
 congregation joining well, there is the excitement of joy : 
 if not, there is the annoyance ; and all this coexisting with 
 one's own devotions, with the feeling that you are in some 
 degree responsible for the deficiencies of the congregation ; — 
 all this quite knocks me up, not on the Sunday, but on the 
 Monday morning, and I consequently feel it quite impor- 
 tant to remain quiet. 
 
 The Sunday schools and catechising, to which 
 reference is made in this letter, occupied a great 
 deal of his interest and attention ; and in the admin- 
 istration of this department he had an able assistant 
 in his wife. Writinof soon after their settlement at 
 Coventry, he says, ' She has taken possession of the 
 Girls' Sunday school, and is to have the management 
 under her husband and pastor of the Girls' National 
 school. In fact she is a very notable person, and I 
 really like her tolerably well.' The rapid and steady 
 increase in the number of children attending the 
 Sunday schools is a powerful indication of the pro- 
 gress made in this most important branch of pastoral 
 work. In the summer of 1829, when the Vicar en- 
 tered on his charge, the total was 120. In August 
 1834 the number had risen to 524 boys and 407 girls ; 
 fifty-two adults also were instructed on Sunday even- 
 ings, and before the Vicar quitted Coventry in 1837 
 the total number of Sunday school children consider- 
 ably exceeded 1,200. His old scholars retain a lively 
 impression of his teaching and catechising ; he was 
 never dull and heavy, and whilst severe in the re- 
 pression of levity or irreverence, he at times rallied
 
 - 1 837 Coventry . 177 
 
 the interests of the children and won their sympa- 
 thy by mingling fun with his reproofs. ' Why, what 
 is the matter with you ? ' he said one cold winter's 
 morning, when he thought the children of his class 
 were slow in answering, ' I think the frost has got 
 into your throats.' There was something in his tone 
 and manner, as he said it, which tickled the fancy of 
 the children, and their wits and voices were effectually 
 thawed for the rest of the school hour. How com- 
 plete was the control which he exercised over them, 
 and how promptly and instinctively they responded 
 to his admonitions, was curiously illustrated one day 
 ill church. They had been noisy and ill-behaved 
 during the service, and consequently in his sermon 
 he addressed them in a particularly grave and ear- 
 nest manner, ending with an appeal to their good 
 feelings, and saying, * I am sure, my dear children, 
 you won't do this again ; ' whereupon they stood 
 up in a body there and then and replied, ' No, sir ; 
 we won't.* 
 
 Besides reviving and extending the Sunday 
 schools, he was the principal founder of other useful 
 institutions, some of which continue in a highly 
 flourishing condition to the present day. ' I am 
 endeavouring,' he writes in 1830, 'to establish an 
 infant school, a dispensary, and a savings' bank ; on 
 the first I am opposed by Dissenters because I in- 
 sist on the master being a member of the Church, 
 but I have triumphed gloriously, as I have raised 
 300/. and they only 100/. On the second, I am 
 opposed by the doctors ; and on the third, by the 
 bankers, publicans, and brewers. We are all, 
 however, very good friends.' 
 
 VOL. I. N
 
 178 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1829- 
 
 The infant school was opened in January 1831. 
 The dispensary was started in 1830, but owing partly 
 to the depression in trade and the secretary becom- 
 ing insane, it remained for some time almost in 
 abeyance. At length in 1834 trade having become 
 more prosperous, Mr. Dresser, a gentleman, who to 
 this day takes an active part in the management 
 of the institution, suggested to the Vicar that the 
 opportunity was favourable for reviving it. The 
 Vicar took up the matter most warmly, and became 
 himself one of the six trustees. The thing was 
 established on a sound, self-supporting basis, and is 
 perhaps the most thriving institution of its class in 
 the kingdom. The free members subscribe a penny 
 a week ; the number of free members is about 13,000, 
 and their subscriptions amount to 1,500/. a year, 
 enabling the committee to pay three surgeons at the 
 rate of nearly 300/. a year each. 
 
 Some few years ago a debt of 600/. was incurred 
 in building another house. It was proposed to the 
 free members, who now principally manage the 
 concern, that they should provide for the discharge 
 of the debt. This they did by a voluntary rate of 
 one shilling a head payable quarterly, which not only 
 cleared off the debt, but left a surplus which was 
 invested and produces interest to the amount of 1 20/. 
 a year. 
 
 The savings bank also was established mainly 
 through the exertions of the Vicar in 1834. The 
 balance in the first year was 1 24/. : the present 
 amount of deposits from 7,300 depositors is about 
 225,000/. with a surplus fund of 4,300/ Of course 
 the lasting prosperity of these and similar institutions
 
 - 1 837 Covc7i try. 1 7 9 
 
 has been due not only to the sound principles on 
 which they were originally based, but also to the skill 
 and energy of those who have been concerned in 
 the management of them ; but all who recollect 
 their foundation agree in attributing it to the activity 
 and perseverance of the Vicar. In matters of this 
 kind his power consisted not in working the prac- 
 tical details of business, for which he never had any 
 aptitude or liking, but first of all in discerning and 
 securing the right workmen, and then interesting 
 them in their duty and animating them with zeal 
 and courage to fulfil it. 
 
 The institution in which, from the nature of the 
 case, he took personally the most lively interest was 
 the Religious and Useful Knowledge Society, which 
 was founded in May 1835 for the purpose of forward- 
 ing and extending such knowledge by means of a 
 library, classes of instruction, and periodical lectures. 
 The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge 
 made a grant of books to the value of 25/., which was 
 the starting point of the library. The Vicar was 
 indefatigable in securing lecturers and giving lectures 
 himself, which were delivered during the first winter 
 in St. Mary's Hall. The subscriptions to the society 
 were one shilling, half-a-crown, or five shillings a 
 quarter, and the society was so popular that in 
 January 1836 it was resolved that a room should be 
 built or bought in which the library might be kept 
 and the lectures carried on. This society and the 
 Mechanics' Institute were afterwards united under 
 the name of the Coventry Institute, which still exists, 
 but is used more as a reading room and club than 
 anything else ; the Free Library, School of Art, and 
 
 N 2
 
 i8o Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1829- 
 
 Science classes having superseded the more educa- 
 tional purposes to which it was formerly devoted. 
 
 One of his last acts on behalf of the society 
 before he left Coventry was to write an application 
 for support to Sir Robert Peel, as being an owner of 
 land in the neighbourhood, to which he received the 
 following reply. 
 
 * I am afraid my local interest in connexion with 
 Coventry is too remote to enable me on that ground 
 to accede to your request without the establishment 
 of rather an inconvenient precedent. But the insuffi- 
 ciency of that claim on my contribution is amply 
 supplied by my respect for your character and for 
 your unremitting and successful exertions to promote 
 the moral and religious instruction of the people 
 committed to your spiritual charge. I have with 
 pleasure, therefore, enclosed the sum of 10/. in aid of 
 the object in respect to which you have addressed 
 me.' 
 
 The origin and early progress of this society are 
 described by the Vicar in the following letter, dated 
 June 1836, to the Dean of Hereford, who seems to 
 have applied for information concerning it as a guide 
 to himself in establishing something of the same 
 nature. 
 
 Very reverend and dear Sir, ... As this society has 
 gradually arisen from the circumstances of this place and 
 not from any particular plan devised by me, I must trouble 
 you with a little history in order to enable you to perceive 
 its nature ; and at the same time I must disclaim any wish 
 to hold it forth as a model. It is adapted, I think, to our 
 position — in another place it might require various modi- 
 fications. Indeed it has been always my rule of conduct
 
 -1837 Coventry. 181 
 
 not to adopt any general theory as to the management of 
 a parish or the regulation of schools : but (having formed 
 certain principles from which I never permit any notions of 
 expediency to lead me to deviate) to take the materials I 
 find, and to mould them, not into the best shape I can 
 imagine, but into the best that circumstances will admit. 
 I have invariably maintained strong Church principles, and 
 declared my resolution never to act on any others : and 
 then I leave them to do their work. Of these principles 
 this society is the fruit — as will now be seen. 
 
 When first I came here about eight years ago, I of 
 course catechised the children regularly at church. As 
 the children in the upper classes became too old for school, 
 they many of them requested permission to stay as teach- 
 ers. To this, of course, I readily consented. Their number 
 increasing they formed themselves into a society under the 
 superintendence of the clergy of the parish. And now we 
 have a Sunday school of nearly twelve hundred children, 
 managed almost entirely by these teachers, about fifty in 
 number. The clergy have only to look into the school for 
 a few minutes before church to see that all is going on right, 
 and the teachers bring what classes they think fit to be 
 catechised at church. With these persons of course a 
 familiar intercourse has taken place ; and with the clergy 
 of the town and neighbourhood, churchwardens, &c., we go 
 out into the country in the summer and dine together, 
 while at Christmas they all dine with me. These are all 
 very zealous churchmen, and tJicy are the originators of the 
 society in question. About twelve months ago they came 
 to me, and said they were much in want of the means of 
 self-improvement, and that young persons who had left 
 school had only the resource of the Mechanics' Institute, 
 which having been started by the Political Union was 
 managed by Radicals and Dissenters, and where all the 
 good principles imbibed at school were destroyed. They 
 complained also that the Church was continually attacked 
 by persons in their own line of life, and that they had no 
 books to refer to for the defence of their principles. They
 
 i82 Life of Walter Farqiihar Hook. 1829- 
 
 suggested, therefore, the establishment of a Mechanics' 
 Institute on right principles. I accordingly called them 
 together, asking one or two other friends to attend, when 
 they proposed that the Bishop should be President, the 
 Archdeacon Vice-President, and that every clergyman in 
 the town should be ex officio on the committee, which 
 would consist besides of fifteen members. The property 
 was vested in four trustees, who have a veto on all pro- 
 ceedings of the committee. To exclude politics, the trustees 
 consist of two Tories and two Whigs. There are three 
 classes of subscribers, 5^. per quarter, 2s. 6d. per quarter 
 and IS. per quarter — thus to admit all orders of society. 
 The first class have tickets of admission to all lectures, 
 transferable, and may also introduce a friend ; the second 
 class, transferable tickets ; the third class, non-transferable 
 tickets. The object here is to bring all kinds of people 
 together. There is a reading-room open every evening 
 from seven to nine o'clock, an important arrangement as 
 many young apprentices go to an alehouse merely because 
 they have no comfortable apartment in which to sit. On 
 the table we have the * Saturday ' and * Penny Magazine,* 
 the 'British' and the 'New Monthly,' ' Chambers' Edinburgh 
 Journal,' &c., and any books may be had from the library. 
 Classes are formed for reading history, for arithmetic, and 
 drawing. I conduct one myself of divinity, chiefly of young 
 shopkeepers, and relating to Church history and those ques- 
 tions in religion which cannot be conveniently handled in the 
 pulpit. We have already about nine hundred volumes in 
 the library in various branches of literature. For I am very 
 desirous to cultivate among the people not merely a sciai' 
 tific but a literary turn of mind, to induce them to relish 
 poetry and works of imagination : for the civilised mind is 
 best prepared to give the heart to religion. We have had 
 lectures given, twelve on experimental philosophy, twelve 
 on physiology, two on perspective, one on the origin and pro- 
 gress of society, and I am now preparing one on the history 
 of literature and science. We have upwards of six hun- 
 dred members. We have met with most violent and furious
 
 -1 837 Coventry. 183 
 
 opposition from Dissenters of all classes except Wesleyans. 
 I have been abused most fiercely in the Radical paper, 
 and the Mechanics' Institute, from a spirit of opposition, has 
 increased from sixty members to two hundred. But this 
 only shows that we are doing good. Such is our history. 
 
 The remarks at the close of this letter are emi- 
 nently characteristic of the writer, and illustrate his 
 favourite maxim, that plentiful abuse partly indi- 
 cated, partly promoted the prosperity of the cause 
 which was attacked. His parting words to the 
 members of the society, in which he sketched the 
 history of its progress, were to the same effect. * At 
 first the members had pursued the noiseless tenor of 
 their way unmolested, an insignificant body. But 
 the little society had grown into a large and im- 
 portant institution, and then like all other prosperous 
 parties they were surrounded with a host of op- 
 ponents and revilers. But the society when reviled 
 reviled not again, and the good policy of this conduct 
 became apparent since their opponents saved them 
 the trouble of advertising.* 
 
 The manner also in which the society grew up, 
 as described in the beginning of his letter, is a good 
 example of the way in which, alike at Coventry and 
 Leeds, he always adapted his action to circumstances 
 and never forced circumstances to square with some 
 preconceived plan of action. He inculcated prin- 
 ciples and left them to work. The consequence of 
 this wise policy was, that to a great extent the 
 action of the Church in his parish proceeded from 
 the laity ; it was the spontaneous fruit of the spirit 
 which they caught and of the principles which they 
 learned from him. Hence, also, they took an un-
 
 184 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1829- 
 
 common pride and interest in things which were 
 their own production. Writing later in life he says, 
 ' My plan has never been to force a practice, but 
 rather to have things forced upon me. My aim has 
 been to lay down principles and encourage a cer- 
 tain kind of spirit : then, after a time, as men love 
 to find fault, they have blamed me for not acting up 
 to my principles. The answer is then ready : " Oh ! 
 very well ; if ^^^^ wish it, I will do it." Thus a choral 
 service at Leeds was actually forced upon me.' And 
 here we have a key to the meaning of his famous 
 saying many years afterwards at the Church 
 Congress in Manchester where he had been asked 
 to relate how he managed his parish. ' I did not 
 manage it ; the parish managed me.' 
 
 After this general sketch of his work at Coventry 
 it only remains to mention, in their chronological 
 order, a few incidents which seem to require a more 
 particular and separate notice. 
 
 First among these must be placed the remon- 
 strance which he addressed, in 1830, to his diocesan, 
 Dr. Ryder, the Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, a 
 prelate of extreme Evangelical views, for presiding at 
 a meeting of the Bible Society in Coventry. The 
 letter has a twofold interest, because it was employed 
 as a weapon against him, seven years afterwards, by 
 the party which vehemently opposed his election to 
 the Vicarage of Leeds. 
 
 The following account of the transaction and 
 copy of the letter is taken from one of the local 
 newspapers of the day : 
 
 On Thursday, August 19, 1830, the Bishop of Lichfield 
 and Coventry presided at the eighth anniversary of the
 
 -1837 Covefttry. 185 
 
 Coventry Bible Society. His lordship said that although 
 it had occasioned him some inconvenience, he could not 
 suffer the present anniversary to pass without coming for- 
 ward to express his constant and unceasing attachment 
 to the British and Foreign Bible Society, supported, as it 
 was, by the most respectable inhabitants of Coventry and 
 its neighbourhood. He highly approved of the Society and 
 the object which for five-and-twenty years it had uniformly 
 pursued ; and it was gratifying to him that it had a ten- 
 dency to promote a union of Christians of all denominations, 
 without compelling them to compromise their principles. 
 He would repeat, that the Society should have his un- 
 ceasing support, and he wished to see it extend itself 
 through the whole of his large and populous diocese — a 
 diocese containing not less than 1,000,000 souls. A few 
 days before the meeting, the Rev. W. F. Hook, Vicar of 
 Trinity Parish, Coventry, and his curate addressed the 
 following remonstrance to the Bishop : 
 
 * My Lord, — We feel it to be our duty respectfully to 
 represent to your lordship the mischief that is likely to 
 result to the cause of religion in this city, from your de- 
 termination to preside at the meeting of the Bible Society 
 on Thursday next. 
 
 ' Surrounded by Dissenting teachers, your lordship will 
 not be supported by the clergy of this town, with perhaps 
 one solitary exception. And we do earnestly request 
 your lordship to reflect on the impression which will be 
 made on the minds of our people when they see their 
 Bishop co-operating with sectarians in promoting measures 
 uncalled for by the exigencies of the place, and inconsis- 
 tent with the principles inculcated by their more immediate 
 pastors. As far as our own parish is concerned, if your 
 lordship's object is to supply us with Bibles, we can obtain 
 all that we require from the Society for Promoting Chris- 
 tian Knowledge ; if it be to levy contributions for the 
 speculations of the society in foreign parts, we beg to 
 inform your lordship that the demands upon the charity
 
 i86 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1829^ 
 
 of our more opulent parishioners for local purposes are 
 already greater than can be easily met, and that the poor 
 will be injured in proportion as the society is benefited. 
 We will take the liberty further to observe that your lord- 
 ship compels us, in self-defence, to state to those persons 
 committed to our charge what our reasons are for declin- 
 ing to support a society at which our Bishop presides. If 
 we fail to convince them that we are right, we shall expose 
 ourselves to their contempt, and our ministrations will 
 become ineffectual ; if, on the other hand, we succeed, we 
 shall do what is equally to be deprecated, by rendering 
 our Bishop obnoxious to their censures ; or, at all events, 
 those who hold to the one side will despise those who hold 
 to the other ; and while we are humbly endeavouring to 
 promote harmony and goodwill in our parish, your lord- 
 ship will, unintentionally, be the means of exciting a party 
 spirit, than which nothing can be more detrimental to the 
 sacred cause in which we are engaged. So important it 
 is, in an extensive parish like this, to maintain unanimity 
 and concord, among Churchmen at least, that we seriously 
 and solemnly, in the name of our common Lord and 
 Master, entreat and implore your lordship not to sow 
 among us the seeds of discord. 
 
 'Your lordship is so honest in the discharge of all 
 that you conceive to be your duty, that we feel assured you 
 will not be unnecessarily offended at our maintaining our 
 own principles with equal honesty and zeal, or at our 
 endeavouring to avert what we have reason to know will 
 be attended with the most mischievous consequences, by 
 causing a division in our flock and by affording a triumph 
 to Dissenters. 
 
 * On the merits or demerits of the Bible Society, we at 
 present say nothing. Our observations have reference 
 only to your lordship's supporting it, so far as our parish 
 is concerned, in opposition to our wishes, and in spite of 
 our well-known opinions and principles. With our humble 
 but hearty prayers to Him from whom all good counsels as 
 well as all just works do proceed, that He may vouchsafe to
 
 -1837 Coventry. 187 
 
 direct your lordship to a wise decision upon the subject, 
 we have the honour to remain 
 
 ' Your lordship's obedient servants.' 
 
 In 1 83 1 he was attacked with fits of an epileptic 
 nature, in which he lost his consciousness and lay to 
 all appearance as one dead for five or ten minutes. 
 They were attributed by the doctors to over-anxiety, 
 and excitement of the brain. His first seizure was 
 during the Archdeacon's visitation in June 1831. 
 He turned faint while reading the prayers in his 
 church, and was carried in an unconscious state into 
 the vestry, where he recovered, and wrote a note to 
 his mother, who was then at Leamington. Fearing 
 lest she should hear an exaggerated account, he makes 
 as light of it as possible, and attributes it mainly 
 to a little worry and nervous anxiety lest the Arch- 
 deacon, an Evangelical, should say anything unortho- 
 dox in his church, and so interfere with his usefulness. 
 
 His father-in-law. Dr. Johnstone, insisted on his 
 abstaining from all parochial work for a time, and 
 the greater part of the summer was spent under Dr. 
 Johnstone's roof, where he gradually recovered his 
 nervous power. The preparation of his lectures on 
 ' The Last Days of our Lord's Ministry,' for publica- 
 tion was his chief occupation during this period of 
 enforced leisure. He was not permitted to return 
 to his parish before September. The enthusiasm 
 with which he was greeted by his flock filled him 
 with delight, and made him set about his work again 
 with renewed energy and spirit. * On coming out 
 of church,' he writes to Mr. Wood, ' the first evening 
 that I preached, there was quite a mob round the
 
 1 88 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1829^ 
 
 door of people rushing forwards to shake hands with 
 me, and my hand, though a good stout one, was 
 nearly squeezed to a mummy/ And the following 
 letter to his mother describes the occasion more 
 minutely. 
 
 September 1831. 
 
 My dearest Mother, — You will be glad to hear that I 
 am wonderfully well this morning ; I only went to church 
 once yesterday, that is to say, in the evening, when I 
 preached. Delicia had made me go on Saturday morning 
 by way of a break, and it was lucky I did, for the manner 
 in which I was received as I drove through the town, and 
 the way all the old people came up to shake hands with 
 me, with tears in their eyes, quite affected me ; nothing 
 could have been more gratifying to my pastoral feelings 
 than my reception yesterday ; there was an immense con- 
 gregation, and as I left the church there was quite a mob 
 collected round the door to shake hands with me, and 
 bless me ; it was indeed one of the happiest moments of 
 my life ; may God Almighty bless them all. How much 
 has poor Coventry been maligned. I was affected when 
 I began my sermon, but soon took courage and proceeded 
 right well, although to add to my nervousness someone 
 fainted almost as soon as I commenced. I took for my 
 text Psalm cxix. 71 : *It is good for me that I have been 
 afflicted.' Coker Adams and his warm-hearted family 
 were all present, and nothing could have been kinder. 
 The churchwardens are to apprehend me if I go into the 
 town on week-day duty, and to take me before Coker 
 Adams as a Justice of the Peace. It was well for me that 
 Coker Adams was with me, for he performed the service 
 as if he had some fellow feeling with my people, rejoicing, 
 as they evidently were, to see their pastor once again. I 
 have not felt so well as I now do for a long time, and I 
 will tell you why I did not like to defer my first sermon ; 
 the prospect of it so excited me, and rendered me so 
 nervous that I really think I should have been made ill
 
 -1837 Covefitry. 189 
 
 had I put it off till next Sunday ; for the three or four 
 last days I could do nothing, and the very fact of persons 
 telling me that they doubted whether I should be equal to 
 the exertion almost incapacitated me for it : the act itself 
 was not very fatiguing, but the anticipation of it was both 
 absorbing and exciting ; it was on these gounds that I 
 determined to get it over as soon as I could. I am now 
 so calm and comfortable, and in such good temper with 
 the world, that my sermon must have been better than a 
 dose of physic. 
 
 He was not wholly free from epileptic attacks 
 for three or four years, and occasionally had to 
 suspend work to recover his strength, and for a 
 time the thought of resigning Coventry and seeking 
 a rural parish was seriously entertained by him and 
 his friends. But gradually the attacks abated, until 
 he attained that singularly robust state of health 
 which he continued to enjoy far into old age. The 
 recovery and subsequent preservation of his health 
 were due day by day to his wife, in a measure which 
 can hardly be over-estimated. By her union of 
 cheerfulness, common sense, and piety, she exercised 
 that calming, soothing influence which had a most 
 salutary effect, physical as well as moral, upon his 
 sensitive and excitable temperament. ' I am very 
 sorry to think,' she writes during one of his absences 
 from home, * of you as being so languid and nervous. 
 It is a sign of an over-wrought mind. I, too, have 
 suffered " no end " from my nerves, and have come 
 to an idea on the subject which, I think, has helped 
 me more than anything else to act against the 
 malady. It seems to me that when we are placed 
 in a situation tolerably free from temptation of an
 
 190 Life of Walter Farqiiha7^ Hook. " 1829- 
 
 ordlnary kind, and when God has blessed us with a 
 frequent and free access to the means of grace, by 
 which we have been enabled to subdue our passions 
 and submit our wills to His, He allows the devil 
 to work upon us in another way, by turning the 
 very sensitiveness which God has given for a special 
 blessing, into a temptation. I have endeavoured to 
 battle and subdue these feelings in every way in my 
 power, and have found if I take them in that light, 
 that I can put aside the perplexing feelings. Here 
 is my philosophy : and from what I have observed 
 of your cranky fits, I am almost sure a similar course 
 would answer. Never allow yourself wittingly any 
 contortions of feature or body, they only add to the 
 misery ; and set about doing something quite in an 
 opposite line to that which worries you.' 
 
 By the close of the summer of 1834, his health 
 seemed to be re-established — his wife writes in July 
 that he was in * monstrous spirits, and had not been so 
 well for ages,' and that he had left off the wig which 
 he had worn since his first attack, after which his head 
 had been shaved. Some persons in Coventry have 
 a lively recollection of his wig, for in his fits of frolic- 
 some mirth he would sometimes take it off and kick 
 it across the room. 
 
 In the autumn, however, of this year, his health 
 was again a cause of uneasiness. There was a slight 
 recurrence of the fits, and he again went for rest and 
 retirement and medical care to his father-in-law's 
 house. He preached two sermons at Oxford in 
 November, having been appointed one of the select 
 preachers for the University, and it is not improbable 
 that this effort, which seems to have caused him
 
 - 1 837 Coventry. 191 
 
 much nervous anxiety, may have partly occasioned 
 his relapse. He did not, however, betray any 
 symptoms of weakness during his visit to Oxford, 
 and the sermons were considered eminently suc- 
 cessful. His cousin, Walter Hamilton, afterwards 
 Bishop of Salisbury, writes to Mrs. Hook : ' He was 
 looking very well, was in excellent voice, and com- 
 manded the most complete attention. I never 
 recollect so strong an impression created. He 
 preached in the morning on the Glory of God, and 
 in the evening on the Special Providence of God. 
 His matter was most eloquent, and his manner very 
 impressive and effective. In the evening the church 
 was crowded to excess. In short, he has been quite 
 successful — may the blessing of God rest upon his 
 awakening appeals.' 
 
 The following letters, however, show that his 
 health was unsettled throughout the latter half of 
 the year 1834, and that he still clung to the idea of 
 retirement to a country living. 
 
 To ArcMcacon Hamilton. 
 
 Coventry : August 5, 1834. 
 My dear Uncle, — When I was at Leamington on 
 Friday, my mother showed me a copy of the note you 
 wrote to the Chancellor, requesting him to give me St. 
 George's, Bloomsbury ; and I cannot refrain from express- 
 ing to you my warmest and most grateful thanks for your 
 consideration of me. Your kindness to me on this and 
 very many other occasions I feel indeed most deeply. 
 About the same time I had been privately informed my 
 dear friend Archdeacon Baylcy was trying to obtain for 
 me St. Margaret's, Westminster ; but the Dean of Ripon 
 will not now resign, as the Bishop of Lichfield threatens,
 
 192 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1829- 
 
 in the event of a vacancy, to hold it in commendam. 
 But the object of our wishes is a country living ; and if 
 I might name a living, it would be Hertingfordbury. 
 Delicia and I are quite agreed on that point ; and the 
 innocent pleasures of a country life are those most to be 
 desired for my little ones, to whom is due my first and 
 dearest duty, I have been thirteen years in holy orders, 
 and seven of these I have spent in situations as difficult 
 and laborious as any in England ; and if I live for two or 
 three years longer I shall think myself privileged to re- 
 tire, for I am come to St. Basil's opinion, that happiness 
 is to be found in quiet. Fervour and zeal are providen- 
 tially ordained to set us a-going on our Christian course ; 
 but the perfection of a Christian life is to be found in 
 calmness and peace. Give my love to Walter, and tell 
 him how happy we shall be to see him here, though our 
 cool temperature will but ill accord with his boiling heat. 
 From what I have heard and seen of my reverend cousin, 
 I suspect that he has taken his place in his friend Words- 
 worth's boat, ' in shape a very crescent moon,' and gone up 
 into the clouds, looking after what he will not find, the god- 
 dess Perfection. If this be so, I am glad of it ; few men are 
 worth anything who have not wandered a little among the 
 clouds ; and then by degrees they come down, and find 
 that men, though not perfect, may gradually pass from 
 dutiful sons to affectionate parents and kind masters, and 
 die good honest Christians, and that such are the charac- 
 ters to be valued. 
 
 Your grateful and affectionate 
 
 W. F. Hook. 
 
 To W. P. Woody Esq. — Sermons at Oxford. 
 
 Oxford : November 3, 1834. 
 
 My dearest Friend, — Although I have so much to do, 
 
 say, and see, that I cannot write a long letter, yet I know 
 
 that you will like to receive a line from me, and to hear 
 
 that I am passing well. I preached twice yesterdav, and
 
 -1837 Letters from Oxford. 193 
 
 although I did not preach as well as I could wish, yet I 
 hope I may have set some young heads a-thinking in the 
 right way, which is what I aim at in my sermons, since 
 two undergraduates have called upon me to request per- 
 mission to read my evening sermon. As they are perfect 
 strangers to me I shall refuse to lend the sermon, but I am 
 going to their college (Lincoln), and shall read it over to 
 them, with my comments ; thus I am going to give a 
 divinity lecture. 
 
 I have been amused (and so will you be) at finding 
 in a French paper (' L'Univers,' just brought to me by an 
 acquaintance at Worcester College) a quotation from my 
 sermon on the Church, almost every word, by the bye, spelt 
 wrong. I am classed with Bishop J ebb, Reveridge, {sic), 
 Joseph Mede, Hammond, and others among the great 
 divines of the Church of England. I was going to return 
 home to-morrow, but having received an invitation from 
 Dr. Burton, I thought it right to accept it. The Dean of 
 Christ Church has also invited me, which is very civil, 
 for Oxford is a perfect aristocracy ; the heads of houses 
 keep entirely aloof from the masters, and the masters from 
 the undergraduates ; which is, I think, on the whole a good 
 thing. It was rather awful to sit in a large kind ot 
 chapter room, before going into sermon, and to see the 
 heads of houses one by one come in, not deigning a look, 
 each silently taking his place till the procession was pre- 
 pared to move into church. It is a good thing to find 
 how infinitely small one really is, after having played the 
 great man in a parish. My reception in Oxford, after so 
 many years of absence, has been very gratifying and, in- 
 deed, flattering. 
 
 To Mrs. Hook. 
 
 O.xford : November 3, 1834. 
 
 My dearest Love, — I can only find a single sheet of 
 paper in the blotting book, and I therefore write a billet- 
 doux. I am very well, I preached yesterday tolerably, 
 VOL. I. O
 
 194 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook, 1829- 
 
 not so effectually as I could wish, but I hope with some 
 effect, as two undergraduates have just called on me to 
 ask permission to read the sermon I preached in the after- 
 noon. We went to evening service at Newman's church ; 
 he is, my dear love, the most delightful apostolical man I 
 ever met; I wish you could have been with me at the 
 service ; his sermon was one of the most useful I ever heard. 
 I have been much amused at finding myself quoted as a 
 great divine in a French paper, called 'L'Univers.' I 
 suppose I may now consider that I have a ' continental 
 reputation ! ' 
 
 I will call on Mr. B (d. v.) as I pass through 
 
 Leamington ; thanks for the hint. I long to be at home ; 
 kisses to the brats, love to Miss Ross, a box on the ear to 
 yourself. 
 
 Your reverend Husband, 
 
 W. F. Hook. 
 
 Beaumont Street, Oxford : November 3, 1834. 
 
 My dearest Mother, — As I mentioned in my last that 
 I had been ill, I think it right to tell you now that I con- 
 tinue to be well ; all the better, indeed, for my delightful 
 little holiday. My duties yesterday were light, compared 
 with those I have at home ; but as you probably fancy 
 them greater than they were, you will be glad to hear 
 that I am not at all knocked up. I preached twice, and 
 then attended the evening service of my admirable friend 
 Mr. Newman. Now I consider it to have been a blessed 
 privilege to have been able to unite, both on Saturday 
 (All Saints' Day) and Sunday, in public prayer with that 
 apostolical man ; his appearance, his voice, his sermon, were 
 so perfectly what they ought to be, that I could almost 
 have imagined that one of that glorious army of saints 
 and martyrs, whose memory we were celebrating, had 
 risen from the grave and come among us. Mr. Palmer 
 and myself afterwards dined in Merton Hall with Walter 
 Hamilton ; the Fellows there appear to be pleasant men of
 
 Seeks a Coiintry Living. 195 
 
 the world, but the society was not such as to suit Palmer 
 and me : besides, it is a waste of precious time to associate 
 with men who are not of my own party, when I have only 
 three or four days to spare for Oxford. I am very much 
 of my friend Rose's opinion, that we do ourselves no good 
 by mixing much with other people, whose opinions do not 
 accord with our own on fundamental points. 
 
 Your devoted Son, 
 
 W. F. Hook. 
 
 To the Bishop of L icJificld. 
 
 Coventry : December 29, 1834. 
 
 I\Iy Lord, — The kindness of your last letter encourages 
 me to make a request to your lordship. My medical friends 
 concur with your lordship in thinking it to be essential to 
 my health that I should quit the noise and oppositions of 
 this place ; and although I should regret to leave a parish 
 where I am now enjoying the fruits of my past labour, yet, 
 with an increasing family, I think it my duty to listen to 
 their advice. 
 
 It is not, indeed, to be supposed that anyone who has 
 a pleasant country living, will be willing to exchange it 
 for this ; but I have sufficient interest with Lord Lynd- 
 hurst to feel sure that, on my resigning this piece of pre- 
 ferment, he would be willing to present me to some other 
 of equal value, upon my application. 
 
 The difficulty is, to know where an eligible rectory 
 within reasonable distance of London is, or is likely to be, 
 vacant. And my request, therefore, to your lordship is, 
 that you will have the kindness to inform me whenever 
 you know such to be the case. I beg to apologise for 
 this intrusion upon your valuable time, an intrusion which 
 may be considered as the penalty for having made me 
 what I most sincerely am, my lord, 
 
 Your lordship's ever obliged and dutiful servant, 
 
 W. F. IIOOK. 
 02
 
 196 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1829- 
 
 But before the offer of the country living came, 
 he had shaken off the malady (which never re- 
 turned) and was, physically, prepared for the gigantic 
 labours which he was destined to undertake and ac- 
 complish. 
 
 On the complete restoration of his health in 
 1835, a very handsome and costly testimonial of 
 plate, to which the poor subscribed in large numbers 
 as well as the rich, was presented to him. In the 
 course of his reply to the address made at the time 
 of presentation, the Vicar said, * It has been my 
 endeavour to unite with the firmest and most un- 
 compromising adherence to the principles of that 
 blessed Church of which you are respected members, 
 and of which I glory in being a minister, the great- 
 est courtesy towards those who unfortunately differ 
 from us, the greatest charity in judging of the 
 motives of others, and goodwill towards all men. 
 By this public mark of your approbation I presume 
 that you desire me to persevere in this course, and 
 by God's help so I will.' 
 
 The only remaining event of importance which 
 deserves a separate notice was the visit, in the 
 summer of 1833, of Dr. Low, Bishop of Ross, 
 Moray, and Argyll, whose friendship he had formed 
 on the occasion of the consecration of Dr. Lus- 
 combe in 1825. 
 
 The last relic of oppression of the Church of 
 Scotland was not yet removed by the repeal of the 
 Act which prohibited anyone who had received holy 
 orders in that Church from ministering in England.^ 
 The Vicar of Trinity shortly before the arrival of the 
 
 * This Act was repealed in 1840.
 
 -1 837 The American Church. I97 
 
 Bishop was dining with his old friend Judge Park. 
 ' I told him,' he writes to Dr. Low, ' with some 
 complacency that I was expecting a visit from your 
 reverence, when he reminded me of the iniquitous 
 Act of Parliament which prevents your officiating in 
 England. I replied that I should elevate a seat 
 within the rails of the altar for the Bishop, and 
 though the State might silence him, the Church 
 should receive him with the same episcopal honour 
 as she would offer to our own diocesan. You will 
 be received in this house by as firm and true a body 
 of the clergy as any in England, many of whom are 
 devoted admirers of your Church — some, indeed, 
 made so by me, for I speak of my visit to the Scotch 
 Church wherever I go, and I have lent all the books 
 bearing upon your history to the right hand and to 
 the left.' 
 
 The Bishop accordingly was welcomed at Coven- 
 try with all the honour which the clergy could pay 
 him. Besides beino- conducted into the church with 
 the reverence usually shown to episcopal visitors, 
 and being placed in the seat of dignity within the 
 sanctuary, he was also entertained at a public dinner 
 which all the clergy of the neighbourhood attended. 
 The event was thoroughly gratifying to the Vicar 
 who delighted in any opportunity, however small, 
 of testifying to the unity of the Reformed Catholic 
 Church by paying equal honour to all branches of it, 
 whether established or disestablished. To enlighten 
 the profound ignorance which then commonly pre- 
 vailed respecting the Episcopal Churches in Scot- 
 land and America, to kindle an interest in their 
 welfare, and to promote their prosperity by every
 
 iqS Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1829- 
 
 means which lay within his power, was in fact one of 
 the labours of his hfe. The condition indeed of the 
 American Church about this time was viewed by 
 him, and some of his Oxford friends, especially Mr. 
 Newman and Dr. Pusey, with considerable anxiety. 
 The opinions and the tone of some of the American 
 clergy and Bishops who had recently visited Eng- 
 land seemed to them far from satisfactory. On the 
 subject of Baptismal Regeneration, especially, there 
 seemed reason to fear that the American Church 
 might split into two sections — the western taking 
 the extreme Protestant view, the New York con- 
 nexion following the Catholic doctrine. Mr. New- 
 man thought it would be highly desirable that two 
 or three able and learned men of sound views 
 should go over to New York and make it their 
 head-quarters for several years, for the purpose of 
 propagating Catholic truth ; but it seemed impossible 
 to find men who combined ability, leisure, and means 
 to undertake the work. Mr. Hook proposed send- 
 ing books instead of men ; and started a subscription 
 for purchasing a complete set of the Fathers to be 
 presented to the library of the Episcopal College at 
 New York. * It is obvious,' he writes to Mr. New- 
 man in April 1835, 'that surrounded as the Church 
 there is by papists and fanatics, our grand hope 
 under God must rest with a learned clergy. . . . 
 Certainly the divinity of some of our Transatlantic 
 brethren (and fathers even) is somewhat crude ; * 
 and in December of the same year he says in another 
 letter to Mr. Newman : 
 
 I wrote to Dr. McVicar to ascertain what standard 
 works of the Fathers they possessed. He stated in answer.
 
 -1837 Last Year at Coventry. 199 
 
 scarcely anything ; except Cotelerius and one or two very 
 common editions. They have Bingham and Suicer and 
 books of that sort. I cannot contribute myself more than 
 5/., and I expect to raise in this neighbourhood 20/. more. 
 I feel anxious to assist the brethren in America, because 
 though they have a Catholic Church, there prevails among 
 its members very little genuine Church principle. I have 
 watched their progress for some years, and have seen 
 with sorrow that there has always been an inclination even 
 among their best men to yield to the prevailing opinions of 
 the age : see, for instance, their Rubric on Regeneration. I 
 fear that our American fathers and brothers are too apt to 
 consider that if they maintain the one doctrine of Epis- 
 copacy, sadly curtailed as the jurisdiction of Bishops is, 
 nothing more is required.' 
 
 As he lived to see these fears dispelled, and to 
 esteem some of the American clergy and Bishops, 
 especially Dr. Doane, the Bishop of New Jersey, as 
 distinguished ornaments of the Church, it was no 
 small pleasure to him to reflect that he had ever 
 striven to promote intercourse between the English 
 and American members of the Church, and had thus 
 helped to keep the Transatlantic branch stedfast in 
 the faith. 
 
 The year 1836 was the last of his ministry at 
 Coventry, although, his health being now re-esta- 
 blished and all idea of seeking a country living 
 being abandoned there seemed every prospect of his 
 remaining where he was for some time to come. 
 He was thoroughly contented, thoroughly happy. 
 His habit indeed of makino- the best of his circum- 
 stances whatever they were, which was due partly to 
 his sanguine, manly, and cheerful disposition, partly to 
 his trust in the Providence of God, had never failed 
 him even when the state of his health seemed to
 
 200 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1829- 
 
 indicate the expediency of rest and change. * Thank 
 you,' he wrote to a friend in the midst of that crisis, 
 'for wishing what I wish myself — a country parish ; 
 not, however, that I wish to leave my own dear 
 parishioners, for I do really love Coventry from the 
 bottom of my heart, but I long to see woods, hills, 
 and lakes ; I quite pine for all this. Nevertheless, 
 God's will be done. Determined I am of one thing ; 
 to take things as they come, to look on the bright 
 side, to thank my Saviour and my God, and to 
 endeavour to show my gratitude by my obedience.' 
 And his obedience was rewarded by finding himself, 
 after eight years of labour in Coventry, the vicar of 
 a grateful parish, possessed of much influence in the 
 town and neighbourhood, and triumphant over the 
 opposition which he had encountered in the outset 
 of his career. This of course had proceeded from 
 Dissenters and extreme Evangelicals, though it was 
 never comparable in vehemence to that which he 
 afterwards experienced in Leeds. A Nonconformist 
 minister in the city, a man of some ability, attempted, 
 by delivering a set of lectures in his chapel in 1 834, to 
 confute the lectures on the Liturgy which were being 
 given by the Vicar in his church ; but, as the Vicar 
 remarked, the attack upon his series enhanced their 
 importance, had the effect of an advertisement, and 
 increased the number of his hearers. 
 
 On the first Sunday in each month he, at one 
 time, omitted a sermon owing to the large number 
 of communicants. A few malevolent Evangelicals 
 represented this to the Bishop as a great derelic- 
 tion of duty, although at that very time, being the 
 season of Lent, he preached thrice every week.
 
 • 1837 Death of Infant Son. 201 
 
 The Bishop, however, although himself an extreme 
 Evangelical, was a kind and fair man, and dismissed 
 the complaint with the contempt it deserved. 
 
 There was, however, one source of annoyance to 
 which the Vicar never was reconciled, and which, I 
 have often heard him say, was the only reason why 
 he really was glad to leave Coventry. The income 
 of the living depended on a rate levied on all house- 
 holders in the parish. The system was so dis- 
 tasteful to him that he never would push his rights 
 against defaulters, and consequently seldom received 
 more than half the amount to which he was entitled. 
 The assessors of the rate were appointed at a parish 
 meeting, and, on one occasion, soon after he became 
 Vicar, the Dissenters procured the nomination of one 
 of their party with a view to annoying the Vicar and 
 keeping down the rate. But they had mistaken 
 their man. The Vicar met him soon after his ap- 
 pointment, shook hands with him in his heartiest 
 manner, saying, ' I am very glad you are appointed ; 
 I shall trust you to do all that is just an4 right, and 
 that is all I care about.' The man, however, did not 
 relish his office and resiofned. 
 
 The year 1836 ended in grief. Mrs. Hook's 
 father died on December 28, and a few weeks before 
 this event their eldest and, at that time, their only 
 boy was taken from them after a lingering illness. 
 The brief reports of his condition, written by his 
 father from day to day to various relations and 
 friends, are deeply affecting in their expression of 
 passionate affection for the child, coupled with meek 
 submission to the will of God. And now and then, 
 even in the midst of his anxiety and distress, the
 
 202 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1829- 
 
 irrepressible vein of his playful humour comes to the 
 surface, as in one of the reports which is cast into the 
 shape of an official medical bulletin, and is addressed 
 to his brother Robert, and Mr. and Mrs. Wood, as 
 
 Messrs. Robert, William, Charlotte, & Co. 
 
 Sympathisers, 
 
 London. 
 
 The invitation which he received to become a 
 candidate for the Vicarage of Leeds, early in the 
 following year, was a salutary diversion to the 
 thoughts of the sorrow-stricken parents. But a 
 more particular account of his election to Leeds and 
 departure from Coventry must be reserved for 
 another chapter. 
 
 LETTERS, 1829-1836. 
 
 To his Curate^ Rev. E. Gibson. 
 
 Coventry : March lo, 1829. 
 
 My dear Sir, — I am extremely sorry to be obliged to 
 quarrel with you so early in our acquaintance, and espe- 
 cially after the very kind and gratifying note which I have 
 just received. 
 
 It is lucky that we are both parsons, or a duel would 
 probably ensue ; for you have treated with the greatest con- 
 tempt one part of my note yesterday — that which requested 
 the pleasure of your company at dinner. This is a kind 
 of insult which can only be atoned for by your making a 
 point of dining with me in spite of any other engagement 
 which you may have. No excuse whatever can be ad- 
 mitted, and therefore no further answer is required. Come 
 you must, or we must fight in private — without seconds, 
 to avoid the scandal. 
 
 Yours most truly.
 
 -1 837 Letters y 1829- 1836. 203 
 
 To the same. 
 
 Rue Castiglione, Paris : June 29, 1829. 
 [After asking for information about the Parish] — ' I am 
 heartily sick of Paris ; hate P>ance, and think Frenchmen the 
 most detestable of human beings. In three weeks I hope to 
 be in dear old England, and never shall I wish again to quit 
 her shores. I particularly feel the want of clerical employ- 
 ment, and of books of reference when reading the Bible. 
 Should I not, however, return before the Archdeacon's visit- 
 ation, will }'ou have the kindness to make my apologies, and 
 to take care that every kind of attention is shown him t I 
 dislike the man's principles, and think the man himself a 
 humbug, but I should not like him to have it in his power 
 to say that I had shown any disrespect to his office ; I wish, 
 therefore, to be particular on this point. . . , 
 
 To W. P. Wood, Esq. — Charitable Judgments — Character 
 of George I V. 
 
 July 6, 1830. 
 
 My dearest Friend, .... I have just been publish- 
 ing a sermon. I am afraid you will consider me rather 
 ultra ; but you will see by my attack on the Bishops that, 
 Tory though I am, I can still be independent. If I main- 
 tain my own principles strongly, God, who knows my 
 heart, can bear me witness that I am equally ultra in the 
 charity with which I judge of others. I always hold that 
 we may condemn opinions, but that we may not condemn 
 those who hold them. That we may, for instance, say that 
 damnation is threatened against habitual drunkenness, but, 
 that we may not say to the drunkard, * Thou wilt be 
 damned.* 
 
 I have felt much the death of poor King George, for he 
 was so kind a friend to my father and my grandfather, that I 
 looked upon him with something like family affection. When 
 we consider the faults of his education, the talent which was 
 early used to corrupt him, and the strength of the tempta-
 
 204 ^i/^ ^f Walter Farquhar Hook. 1829- 
 
 tions to which he was exposed, I think the judgment 
 which has been passed upon him by the London papers 
 in general, harsh and unchristian. In such a case espe- 
 cially, I hold that the rule 'Judge not' is peculiarly applic- 
 able. You, of course, have had other feelings towards him 
 than I have had, but now he is gone, I dare say you feel 
 as I do. 
 
 What a blessing it is to have been well and piously 
 brought up in middling life, and thus unexposed to those 
 temptations to which the extremes of high life and low 
 life are so peculiarly exposed. When we take eternity 
 into consideration I think that this is a blessing, the extent 
 of which cannot be too highly estimated. The very circum- 
 stance of being obliged to labour for subsistence is the source 
 of many virtues, to which a higher station would render us 
 strangers ; while the being exempted from actual penury 
 enables us to encourage those tastes and feelings, without 
 which the moral man cannot be brought to any degree of 
 perfection. The more I see of the world, the more am I 
 impressed with the advantage of being placed in that 
 station of life which leads a man to labour in a liberal pro- 
 fession rather than in a trade ; though I consider a trade, 
 in nine instances out of ten, to be preferable to an inde- 
 pendent fortune. 
 
 To some few persons an independent fortune is an 
 advantage ; but how many does it ruin .-' while the number 
 of persons improved by professional avocations, and even 
 by professional ambition, is incalculable. Your Charlotte 
 may complain that your professional business takes you 
 too much from her ; but perhaps, (tell her not this, lest she 
 utterly discard me) the very fact that you are obliged 
 sometimes to leave her renders the moments you spend 
 in her society doubly dear. 
 
 Yours devotedly, 
 
 W. F. Hook.
 
 -i837 Letters, 1 829-1 836. 205 
 
 To the same — Recollections of School Days — Contentment — 
 Foreign Chnrchcs and Sects — TJie Bible Society. 
 
 July 19, 1830. 
 
 My dearest Friend, .... The disposition of my mind 
 is to revert to old times and old friends with more than 
 usual fondness ; I forget the discomforts of the former and 
 the faults of the latter, and love to remember them, and 
 to cherish their memory. When I think of Winchester I 
 put out of consideration the floggings and bullyings and 
 revilings, which rendered me miserable on first going to 
 school ; and think only of the happy hours I used to pass 
 with my friend, with whom I did, indeed, take sweet coun- 
 sel, and who was always ready to sympathise with me 
 under discomforts to which I was more sensibly alive than 
 most boys of my age. And when I remember good old 
 Gabell, I think only of his great kindness, his very great 
 kindness to me, and of the admirable manner in which he 
 instructed us, without reference to his occasional mis- 
 management out of school. I have seen him several times 
 since, and I love him the more, from the deep interest he 
 seems always to take in the welfare of his quondam naughty 
 boys. Under these circumstances, nothing touched me 
 more than the delightful picture you have drawn in your 
 letter of the old man sitting in the House of Commons, 
 like a patriarch, surrounded by his children. I wish I 
 had been with you ; indeed, I wish more and more to be 
 settled in London, I should so like to mix under altered 
 circumstances with my contemporaries ; moreover, a little 
 clerical and literary society would do me good, in addition 
 to the immense advantage — leaving pleasure out of the 
 question — which I should derive, as I have always done, 
 from a nearer intercourse with you. I think my mind has 
 much improved of late, and, I begin to hope that I could 
 stand my ground in such a field as London, without dis- 
 gracing myself or doing injury to the Church. I should 
 have shrunk from it a year or two ago. But, after all,
 
 2o6 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1829- 
 
 what am I saying ? I scarcely know whether I am speak- 
 ing the truth ; I sometimes sit me down and think that I 
 am the most contented of human beings, since my church 
 is just the kind of church I like, and my parish suited to 
 my abilities ; while my new curate suits me in every way. 
 But at other times, when I try to wish for something, 
 I wish for London. This is a kind of contradiction, but 
 it is that kind of contradiction which, I presume, exists 
 occasionally in all minds in a healthy state. My notion 
 is, that we should always be so contented as never to 
 envy anyone else ; and yet not so contented as to prevent 
 a proper degree of emulation. While acting from the 
 higher motives of religion, we are not to eradicate but to 
 direct the inferior motives which set human nature in 
 motion ; character is to be continually improved, and as 
 long as this process is going on, no matter how it is 
 accomplished ; for the glory is to be ascribed to God, whose 
 providence ordains those circumstances under which we 
 are placed. 
 
 With respect to your observations about the circula- 
 tion of the Scriptures in Greece, &c., you, by taking a 
 view rather inclining to one side, and I, by taking a 
 view rather inclining to the other side, without materially 
 disagreeing, would, perhaps, arrive at an opinion in which 
 there would be a shade, and only a shade, of difference. 
 My studies have lain among the primitive writers, and in 
 the study of the early antiquities of the Church ; and my 
 principle, perhaps originating from that circumstance, is 
 this, to endeavour to render the Church as conformable as 
 possible with the primitive model. Hence, I differ from 
 such divines as Paley ; he would make such alterations 
 in the Church as would render it more comprehensive, 
 taking, if I may so say, a political view of it; and this 
 seems to be the object with most of the Church Reformers 
 of the day. For this purpose he would do away with 
 many primitive customs, to which those who think with 
 me are attached. Thus he looks to what must be impos- 
 sible, owing to the lax state of discipline, a union with 
 Protestant Dissenters. Now we look not to this, but by (if
 
 -i837 Letters, 1 829-1 836. 207 
 
 any alteration is necessary) even a return to some of the 
 usages discarded at our Reformation, to conform more 
 and more to the primitive model ; that thus, when the 
 Roman Catholic Churches abroad gradually attempt to 
 reform themselves, or what is yet more likely, when the 
 Church of Greece, to which I mainly look, begins to re- 
 form, they may see that this can be done without running 
 into that discord and confusion which is certainly the 
 disgrace of Protestantism, and which as certainly makes 
 it stink in their nostrils. The Greeks abominate the Pope ; 
 but our disunion they abominate equally. They dread 
 reformation on this account ; ours is the only Church which 
 shows that the Church can be reformed, not as in the 
 case of most other Protestants — I ought to except those 
 of Denmark and Sweden — that to correct abuses it must be 
 first overturned and then rebuilt, de novo ; and we prevent 
 them from feeling an inclination to reform, by so many of 
 our countrymen in those parts making common cause with 
 all Protestants. Let us leave events, say I, to Providence ; 
 let us bring ourselves as near to perfection as we can ; 
 nor would I ever for one moment admit it as a ground 
 for any concession, that the safety of the Establishment is 
 concerned. Concede, in God's name, on all points where 
 concession is innocent, but never from the worldly con- 
 sideration of sustaining the worldly pre-eminence of the 
 Church, With respect to the circulation of the Scriptures 
 in Greece, I conceive that, where any prospect of good 
 arises, the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge 
 would come forward ; but the absurdity is, to commence 
 on a new field ere half the work is done on the old ; our 
 own colonies are lamentably destitute. As to our liturgy, 
 the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge would 
 never think it a necessary accompaniment to the Scrip- 
 tures among the Christians of the Church of Greece. But 
 you can have no conception of the mischief done there 
 and elsewhere by the circulation of Bibles by the Bible 
 Society, translated imperfectly and, I may say, dishonestly, 
 or at least, unfairly, by Socinians. 
 
 The traveller Macfarlane, whose work on Constantinople
 
 2oS Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1829- 
 
 you have probably read, asserts that the Bible circulated 
 among the Greeks is written in such strange Romaic that 
 they cannot read it You will find this, and some other 
 striking cases, stated in the third edition of Arthur 
 Perceval's ' Reasons Why I am not a Member of the 
 Bible Society,' a little tract which I would very strongly 
 recommend to your notice ; it only costs one shilling. 
 
 To the same — Preparations for Sunday Evening Services — 
 
 Remonstrance with the Bishop for attending the Meeting 
 
 of the Bible Society. 
 
 September 5, 1830. 
 
 I have been of late rather overworked, and I foolishly 
 consented to make a tour in Wales ; I was only absent 
 five days, so you may imagine that I was rather hurried, 
 but as I could not enjoy myself when absent from my 
 beloved wife, and as m.uch travelling does not agree with 
 me, I returned without being much refreshed as to mind, 
 and with a body rather the worse for wear. Then I have 
 been busily employed in getting subscriptions for lighting 
 my church by gas ; as I am anxious to establish a third 
 service on the Sunday evening, which I did during the 
 summer, and found it to be highly serviceable. This third 
 service I give to my parish ; for, as your friend Irving 
 would say, ' Silver and gold have I none, but what I have — 
 that is my labour — I bestow,' Though even here, by the way, 
 — since for ' none ' we ought to read ' but little ' — my purse 
 suffers, as it entails upon me the expense of a curate. In 
 most parishes the evening lecturer is paid ; but I thus take 
 that payment on myself I say this, because I have been 
 abused like a pick-pocket, not by my own parishioners, 
 but by Dissenters and Evangelicals, because I addressed 
 a remonstrance to the Bishop for coming to preside at a 
 Bible meeting in my own parish, and they wish to make it 
 appear to the world that, somehow or other, this arrange- 
 ment will benefit my pocket. 
 
 I remain, your devoted Friend, 
 
 W. F. Hook.
 
 -1837 Letters, 1829-1836. 209 
 
 Visit to the Bishop of London. 
 
 10 Dean's Yard, Westminster : October 1S30. 
 Wife ! — Learn to treat your husband with the respect 
 which is due to a man of his consequence. When the 
 Lord Bishop of London invited the Rev. Vicar of Holy- 
 Trinity, Coventry, to dine with his lordship, at his lord- 
 ship's palace at Fulham, who do you think was the only 
 person (with the exception of the chaplain) that the said 
 Lord Bishop thought worthy to be invited to meet the 
 said Rev. Vicar, your honoured lord and master .-' hear and 
 be confounded — His Grace the Lord Archbishop of Can- 
 terbury, Primate of all England and Metropolitan !!!!!! 
 Your poor weak little bit of a mind would indeed have 
 been astonished and astounded to hear how these three 
 pillars of the Church (for I consider the chaplain as a 
 nonentity) discuss affairs ecclesiastical ; yet, without a joke, 
 it was an awful solemnity. The poor Vicar was quite 
 dumb-founded till he had refreshed his nerves by a glass 
 of the Bishop's best wine. Things were going on smoothly 
 after this, when, lo and behold ! in a meek and gentle voice 
 the Lord Archbishop challenged the poor priest to take a 
 glass of wine, and the said priest was again overpowered : 
 he spilt the wine, first on the table-cloth, then on his coat, 
 and forgot to bow to his grace. Luckily ' Piety Without 
 Asceticism ' ' was named, and the very thought of his dear, 
 kind, apostolical patron, the Bishop of Limerick, inspired 
 the poor priest once more with courage. We all chanted 
 the praises of the work ; and then the poor priest was 
 listened to with interest, as he could give the latest account 
 of Ireland's best Prelate. Indeed, he/ could not help 
 thinking that his grace the metropolitan seemed to treat 
 him with more respect, when he remembered, probably, 
 that he, the said priest, was immortalised by being men- 
 tioned in ' Practical Theology,' as Bishop Jebb's friend. 
 At ten o'clock the three assembled pillars, accompanied by 
 
 ' Tide of a work by Bishop Jebb. 
 VOL. I. P
 
 2IO Life of Walter Farqiihar Hook. 1829- 
 
 Mrs. Blomfield, went to the chapel, where upwards of fifty 
 servants were assembled ; this was indeed a sublime and 
 touching sight. A delightful chapel, the prayers read by 
 a Bishop, and the Vicar kneeling at the side of an Arch- 
 bishop. Well here ends the history : how I have lived to 
 write it I know not ; but I can say no more, for by eleven 
 o'clock I must attend the meeting of Convocation at St. 
 Paul's, thence I shall have to hurry to the levee. I asked 
 the Bishop whether I was to preach next Sunday ; he said 
 * of course,' as he never preached except by the King's 
 command : but then he dines with the King on Saturday, 
 when probably he will be commanded. You had better send 
 this letter on to my mother, who will be anxious to hear 
 how things went off at Fulham. Kiss our sweet babe for 
 me till you are tired. I am aweary of these honours, and 
 long to be back with my dear, dear wife, who has in me a 
 
 Most devoted Husband, 
 
 W. F. Hook. 
 
 To his Wife — First Sermon at the Chapel Royal, 
 
 16 St. James Street, London : November 1830. 
 My dearest Love, .... I had the honour yesterday of 
 preaching before their Majesties. Bob says I delivered 
 the sermon well ; but I do not think the sermon itself was 
 a good one. I trust, however, that I may have touched 
 the hearts and roused the feelings of some of my congre- 
 gation ; for I warned them in pretty strong terms of the 
 danger, as well as the sin, of denying God and deserting 
 the cause of religion. The Bishop of Chichester ^ came 
 into the vestry after service, and introduced himself as an 
 old friend and schoolfellow of my father's ; he said he could 
 not mistake me from my likeness. His lordship told me 
 that in the bidding prayer I ought not to name the Bishop 
 of the Diocese when preaching in a royal chapel, since 
 such chapels are considered as peculiars. * And,' said he, 
 ' I may without fear of offence point out one fault, when 
 
 ^ Dr. Cam
 
 -1 837 Letters, 1 8 29-1 836. 211 
 
 there is so much to admire, both in matter and manner.' I 
 made one great, uncavalierlike mistake. The etiquette is, 
 to walk down from the pulpit backwards, and I was told of 
 it twenty times at least ; but when the sermon was ended I 
 forgot it all, and in my eagerness to escape, down I ran with 
 my back to his Majesty. I have heard of various eulogies 
 (the abuse, of course, not being reported to me) from 
 persons who are so ignorant of ecclesiastical affairs as not 
 to know so wonderful a person as myself, for one person 
 to Gilbert Mathison called me Mr. Wood ; another to Mr. 
 Tupper, Mr. Cook. But I see the Court circular, in the 
 newspapers, sets the matter right. Upon the whole, I am not 
 plccised with myself ; I have seldom been more discontented 
 with any of my performances of any kind. 
 
 Your most devoted Husband, 
 W. F. Hook. 
 
 From W. P. Wood, Esq. — Character of Lord Brougham. 
 
 Lincoln's Inn : Dec. i, 1830. 
 
 .... Assuredly, my dear friend, the situation of our 
 country does not appear to be such as to inspire ambitious 
 thoughts, and those who undertake to steer us through our 
 difficulties are bold adventurers. I have little doubt that 
 Lord Brougham had sense sufficient to foresee the difficul- 
 ties to which the new administration will be exposed. I 
 seriously think that he has acted most honestly in taking 
 office. In fact, as I believe I have often said to you, I do 
 not consider that Brougham was ever dishonest, in the 
 worst sense of the word ; but, with a sincere desire to 
 promote many useful objects, he at the same time is beset 
 by no slight degree of what the American Channing calls 
 'self-exaggeration.' Added to this defect, he is frequently 
 the servant of sudden impulses, for lack of sufficient fixed- 
 ness of character. Whatever want of confidence may 
 have been evinced by his associates towards Brougham, 
 has arisen rather from his independence than his servility, 
 
 p 2
 
 2 12 Life of Walter Farquha7' Hook, 1829- 
 
 and he certainly has never been guilty of an actual breach 
 of political principle. His conduct in taking office was 
 marked with his usual faults, and precipitancy. He refused 
 the seals, and then must immediately make a speech to let 
 the world know that he had declined office (for nobody 
 of course would have supposed that it had been offered 
 to him) : he is then told, that an administration cannot be 
 formed without him, and he has in my judgment acted 
 rightly in accepting office, believing of course, as he does, 
 that a Whig administration will be beneficial to the country, 
 and that he himself (an advantage he certainly will not un- 
 derrate,) will thus be enabled to realise many of his schemes 
 for the public benefit and his own renown. The latter 
 object he is, I think, anxious — as most men are, and he 
 perhaps more than many — to attain, but he fortunately 
 couples it with the best method of attainment. He will, I 
 think, in all probability overthrow the ministry by endea- 
 vouring to take the lead of them ; and his splendid speech 
 on the establishment of local courts, the peroration of 
 which I think as magnificently eloquent as any remains 
 of ancient didactic eloquence, furnished a specimen of his 
 probable course ; the bill being brought in, as he stated, 
 independently of any communication with the ministry. 
 
 From W. P. Wood, Esq. — Sympathy between Rich 
 and Poor. 
 
 Lincoln's Inn : May 21, 1831. 
 
 .... I do not intend to trouble you with politics, but 
 I am sure that a great proportion of the troubles which 
 disturb old-established governments arise from the want 
 of sympathy between the rich and poor. I mean that real 
 sympathy which consults the feelings, and the mental as 
 well as bodily wants of the sufferer ; that truly Christian 
 spirit of benevolence which prompts the more favoured 
 individual to lower himself as far as possible to the level 
 of the poorer classes in his intercourse with them ; to con- 
 vince them that he regards himself standing before God
 
 -i837 Letters, 1829-1836. 213 
 
 as humbled a creature as the meanest of his brethren, and 
 that he feels his worldly wealth only entrusted to him 
 as a means of effecting the most extensive good ; whilst, 
 after all the good which he can effect, he is but an unpro- 
 fitable servant. It is not enough to say that in England 
 more is done for the poor, than in any other country, by 
 gifts : the question is Jiozo is the wealth given .-* and if it 
 should ever be shown that more of actual intercourse 
 with the poor exists among the gentry of this country than 
 of any other nation, yet is it after all but comparative ; and 
 I fear we are very, very far below what might be expected, 
 after eighteen centuries of instruction in real wisdom have 
 been vouchsafed the world. In one respect we are decidedly 
 behind our continental neighbours, and that is in the in- 
 effable distance between master and servant. It is impos- 
 sible you can work upon the minds of those who regard 
 you with no affection ; and I would ask if anyone can 
 point to more than half-a-dozen instances of attached 
 domestics within his own knowledge. I would follow 
 up my inquiry by asking him the reason. I do not think 
 that foreigners, in general, sufficiently avail themselves of 
 the advantages they have over us in this respect, by 
 influencing the minds of their dependants ; but, I can safely 
 say that we can never hope to effect much benefit in our 
 families while this barrier exists. . . , 
 
 I fully agree with you in the excellent view you take of 
 the gradation of duty. An instance of perverted feeling 
 on this subject was shown the other day in this great mart 
 of all extravagance. Crowds had attended meetings held 
 in the new hall in the Strand, for converting the Continent by 
 ' Sabbath Societies,' and various other contrivances ; but at 
 a meeting for the promotion of 'district visiting,' the only 
 really efficacious means of bettering the temporal and 
 spiritual condition of the poor, but a few stragglers could 
 be collected. Those who are thus usefully employed 
 were perhaps better engaged than in contributing to the 
 parade of a public meeting, but where were the customary 
 haunters of these exhibitions .-* preaching in imagination to
 
 214 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1829^ 
 
 the Chinese, or weeping tears of joy over a letter from 
 Otaheite. 
 
 To IV. P, Wood, Esq. — Parochial Work — Opposition front 
 
 Dissenters. 
 
 January 31, 1831. 
 
 .... This letter only comes a month after the time ; 
 it ought to have been received on the first of January. I 
 hope it will be received on the first of February, and 
 though it would not be according to etiquette to express 
 what I heartily wish, that you may pass a happy twelve- 
 month, yet, here are from me and mine, to you and yours, 
 most hearty wishes for a happy elevenmonth. Christmas 
 time is among the parsons, as you well know, no holiday 
 time; much extra duty always awaits us; and the delightful 
 task of dispensing charities, feeding the national school 
 children, &c., S:c., consumes time most voraciously. In 
 addition to this, ours has, till within the last ten days, been 
 the city of the plague ; small pox, measles, scarlet and 
 typhus fever have been raging around us ; and God 
 Almighty be thanked that w^e, of this household, have 
 hitherto escaped. I have likewise had the very disagree- 
 able duty of having to beg, from house to house, to get 
 support for our intended infant schools. I am beginning to 
 be a little vain, for I cannot but suppose, as all my friends 
 assert, that the bitterness, I may say the fierceness, with 
 which I am assailed by some of the Dissenters here, must 
 arise from having emptied their shops by establishing an 
 evening service, and stirring up the Churchmen who were 
 before permitted to go to sleep. Every kind of abuse, the 
 most personal, has been heaped upon me, on account of 
 this infant school. I was told that it was expected that 
 the Church should come forward, and that the Dissenters 
 would contribute. Together, therefore, with all the bene- 
 ficed clergy of the city, we called a meeting, only insisting 
 that the children should be taught the Creed, Lord's 
 Prayer, and ten Commandments, and that the master 
 should be a member of the Church. It was necessary to
 
 i837 Letters, 1 829-1 836. 215 
 
 do this before calling a meeting, because we knew that, 
 while Churchmen would supply the money, the Dissenters 
 would be able to outnumber us by resorting to measures 
 for packing the meeting, to which we would not conde- 
 scend. We thought it right, therefore, to state what we 
 should consider a sine qua iion. At the meeting, if the 
 Dissenters could not conscientiously support our plan, I 
 intended to propose, that we should raise a subscription 
 together, and establish two schools ; one to be superin- 
 tended by the clergy, the other by the Dissenters, with an 
 understanding that neither party would receive the chil- 
 dren dismissed for ill-conduct from the other establishment. 
 But a violent Dissenting teacher, abetted by as violent an 
 Evangelical clergyman, chaplain to the Bridewell, called 
 an opposition meeting, branded us with the title of intole- 
 rant bigots, and determined to crush us. We have let 
 them have their way ; when reviled, we have carefully 
 abstained from reviling again ; and the consequence has 
 been that we have raised nearly 300/., and their subscrip- 
 tions are, I suspect, so inconsiderable that they have 
 hitherto refrained from publishing them. Their funds have 
 chiefly been supplied by the Quakers, who at first promised 
 to support us ; by some few among the gentry at a distance, 
 who were deceived by their assuming the name of an aiiti- 
 scctarian infant school ; and by the political characters who 
 have subscribed to both. All this is easily written, but it 
 was not so easily done. It has been personally satisfactory 
 to me, since many persons have given their five pounds, 
 saying at the same time that they had not intended to 
 support an infant school, but they were glad of any oppor- 
 tunity to show their respect for me. Thus you see how I 
 am situated ; you cannot in Coventry take a single step in 
 any matter without meeting with a factious opposition. I 
 have found, however, staunch friends where I did not expect 
 them ; while this has been balanced by an opposition, which 
 has shown its bitterness in ascribing to me words and 
 deeds which have not a shadow of foundation in truth.
 
 2i6 Life of Walter Farqtihar Hook. 1829- 
 
 To the same — Foundation of a Dispensary. — Resignation of 
 Moseley — Parochial Work. 
 
 Coventry : March 14, 1831. 
 
 My dearest Friend, — I lose no time in thanking you 
 and your wife for your kind letter of congratulation, if 
 it be a subject of congratulation, that I have entered 
 my thirty-fourth year and am no better than I am. 
 I am at present a bachelor, my spouse having run 
 away from me, with the heiress of all the Hooks, to 
 pay a visit to her father and mother. I am too busy to go, 
 and I am at present almost too nervous to write, for I am 
 to make my first — no, my second (after a long interval) 
 — appearance as an extempore speaker to-morrow. The 
 thought of it, strange as it may appear, in one who 
 preaches so often, makes me ache all over. The meeting 
 is called for the purpose of establishing a self-supporting 
 dispensary, and I am to move the first resolution. We 
 shall be opposed by a host of medical men ; but a dispen- 
 sary of some sort or other shall be established ; they may 
 bully, but we are determined not to yield. You tell me 
 you shall write to me on politics ; remember. Sir Radical, 
 that I am a Tory ; so moderate your tone of triumph, if it 
 be from mere compassion. But in truth, I am too much 
 occupied in parochial details to be able to busy myself in 
 politics ; and the state of politics is such at present as so 
 to sadden my poor Tory heart that I avoid the subject as 
 much as possible, seeing that I could do no good. I 
 seldom indeed advert to them, except when I offer the 
 prayer for Parliament, which is offered from the heart. 
 But let us fly from this gloomy subject, and let me tell 
 you of what will probably prevent our intended visit to 
 London by burdening us with expense. We are about to 
 change our house, having found one to our liking, just out 
 of the town, but in the parish. And as we cannot go to 
 you, why will not you come to us .? we have a nice airy 
 situation, a good small garden, and everything that can
 
 -1837 Letters, 1 829-1 836. 217 
 
 allure you. The expense of flitting is not all ; for I have 
 now diminished my income 50/. a year, by resigning 
 Moseley. I was overpersuadcd by my mother to keep it, 
 but for the last year and a half I have been anxious to 
 give it up, from a feeling that my being non-resident at a 
 living so near Birmingham was injurious to the cause of 
 religion ; I retained it, however, for the sake of my curate. 
 That difficulty has been overcome ; for the Bishop of 
 Rochester, the patron, having heard of my wish, sent me 
 a letter last week stating that he wished to bestow the 
 preferment so as to advance the cause of true religion, and 
 to counteract the effects of the fanaticism prevalent in 
 Birmingham and its vicinity. He consequently placed 
 the nomination in my hands, and I have nominated my 
 curate. This is very noble in his Lordship, since we had 
 some misunderstanding when he took possession of the 
 Deanery. All these things, with the small-pox raging like 
 a plague around us ; with a dispensary, savings bank, and 
 infant school to be established ; with lectures every Wed- 
 nesday, and lectures to prepare for every day in Passion 
 Week ; with, I am delighted to say, an improving parish, 
 and consequent increase of parochial duty — all these things 
 must account for the fact that Walter Hook is not so good 
 a correspondent as he once was, that when he has time to 
 write, his pen is employed in sermons rather than in letters ; 
 but it will not prove to William Wood, who knows him so 
 well, that his love and friendship are one whit the less. 
 
 To the same — Lectures on the Last Days of our Lord's 
 Ministry —Change of House — Foundation of a Dispen- 
 sary — Calu mn ies. 
 
 Leicester Road, Coventry : April 13, 1831. 
 
 .... I delivered my lectures every day in Passion 
 Week to a very attentive and devout congregation. Indeed, 
 I have reason to hope that they were of service, not only 
 to myself, but to many who heard them. On one person 
 in particular I know that they have made a serious im-
 
 2i8 Life of Walter Farqiihar Hook. 1829- 
 
 pression, and a Socinian lady who was with me all the 
 week presented herself at the altar on Easter day. I have 
 indeed been very successful in my ministry of late, for two 
 of the leading surgeons in my parish have not only become 
 regular attendants at church but have received the Sacra- 
 ment. . . . All this has been highly satisfactory, and I am 
 in good humour with my parish. It was nevertheless hard 
 work, for I had only written one of my lectures when I 
 commenced, and had in consequence to sit up late and 
 rise early ; besides which, I started one evening to see my 
 little wee bit of a wife (she is only about an inch taller 
 than yours), and having found her as well as could be, I 
 returned in the morning. Then I have been very busy in 
 moving from St. Nicholas Place to this house. I have 
 been labouring night and day to get it ready for Delicia, 
 so that she may have no trouble or fatigue when she re- 
 turns, which I hope will be on Friday. I have seldom 
 felt so anxious for any day since I left Winchester ; my 
 feelings are just those with which we used to look forward 
 to the holidays : I have been so busy about all this, that 
 I have not seen her for a week. I must tell you that this 
 house though in the parish is in the country ; quite rural, 
 with a garden and all. I have been studying the art of 
 gardening too ; I can give you the history of gardening, 
 from that of Paradise to that described in the Canticles ; 
 and from that of Alcinous to that of Academus, and so 
 on to Sir William Temple and Kent, down to our own 
 times, not forgetting the hanging gardens of Babylon. 
 This morning I have been sowing peas : but there have 
 arisen a very disagreeable sect of Dissenters in my little 
 plantation ; they are known by the name of slugs, and have 
 opened a conventicle in the very heart of my cabbage-bed. 
 I am a bigoted, intolerant wretch, as you know, and 
 mean to burn them, not with fire and fagot, but with 
 lime. I must narrate another grievance. In endeavour- 
 ing to establish a self-supporting dispensary I have in- 
 curred the wrath of all the doctors in this place ; I know 
 not whether I mentioned this before, but so it is, and thus
 
 -1837 Letters, 1829-1836. 219 
 
 I am placed between two fires. In the Coventry papers 
 the doctors are attacking me as a hypocrite, &c. &c., and 
 all the time a Dissenting teacher is publishing every week 
 an ecclesiastical lecture, in which he holds me up to cen- 
 sure for various iniquities : one, in particular, is rather 
 amusing, he accuses me of avarice, and calls me ' the holy 
 minister of Holy Trinity.' Now avarice is certainly not 
 one of my faults ; and if he inquired further he would find 
 that while by my rate here, at the lowest valuation, I 
 ought to receive 498/. a year, I only in fact receive 250/. ; 
 and when some of my parishioners found fault with my 
 collector (for the business is not managed by me), he told 
 them that the blame did not rest with him, but if anyone 
 goes to the Vicar he not only excuses them but gives them 
 something for the trouble of calling. However, so it is 
 with my Dissenting friends ; many of my real faults are 
 passed over, and things are brought against me of which 
 my conscience does not accuse me. Now you know my 
 sensibility, and will think, perhaps, that all these things 
 are sufficient to drive me mad ; but no, I have found the 
 secret which enables me to laugh at them. I have learned 
 not to care for man's judgment, and simply to think how 
 far I am doing what is right in the sight of God. 
 
 Infidels and fanatics are furious against me, but that 
 only proves that having flung the stone at them, I have 
 made the curs yelp, while my congregation has increased, 
 and my flock, generally speaking, are devoted to me. 
 
 To tJie same — Abstinence from Politics, 
 
 May 16, 1831. 
 
 My poor dear Friend, ... At Worcester you car- 
 ried all before you, but I voted of course for Lygon. In 
 Coventry I never meddle with politics. My principle is 
 this ; to do those duties, or rather to attempt to do them, 
 which Providence points out to us, by the circumstances 
 under which we are placed, always remembering that the
 
 2 20 Life of Walter Farqiihar Hook. 1829- 
 
 nearest and easiest duties are to us the first in importance. 
 Thus I consider my first duty is to my family, including 
 my servants ; my next to the parish, over which the Holy 
 Ghost has made me overseer ; then to my diocese, my 
 country, and so on to all mankind. It is that which 
 our hand findeth to do that we are to do with all our 
 might. And the mischief of the present age is, that every 
 one is striving to do some great thing ; while those minor 
 points, which are first to the individual, are neglected. 
 Men are devising schemes to convert heathens, while 
 their own families, and perhaps themselves, are quite as 
 much in need of conversion ; they are anxious to waft 
 the Scriptures from the Ganges to the Mississippi, but for- 
 get to make the Bible their own companion and familiar 
 friend. It would be well for England if, instead of 
 clamouring for reform, men would do (as Rickman, the 
 Quaker architect, observed to me the other day) their own 
 business, and reform themselves. It was on these prin- 
 ciples that I voted at Worcester, having a vote for the 
 county. I thought myself in these times called upon to 
 exercise my privilege and, consequently, I voted like an 
 obstinate old Tory (as Lord Lyttleton, who brought in his 
 brother-in-law, called me). I take a gloomy view of things. 
 It is at the same time a comfort to me to feel that you, 
 who are so much wiser than I am, and are not a party 
 man, at least, not violently so, think otherwise. I consider 
 you as a thoroughly honest politician. The men I dislike 
 are those who support the Reform Bill simply because it 
 is introduced by their friends. 
 
 To Hon. and Rev. A. Perceval — Advantages of an 
 Establishment. 
 
 Coventry : May 25, 1831. 
 
 I am now become a waiterupon Providence. For some 
 
 inscrutable purpose the country appears to me to have been 
 
 demented ; the afflicting hand of Providence is upon us, 
 
 and we must diligently labour to ascertain precisely what
 
 -i837 Letta's, 1829-1836. 221 
 
 our duty is, both in bearing and forbearing, and then seek 
 for grace to perform it. 
 
 As churchmen, we have the blessed conviction that the 
 Church will flourish more under oppression than at any other 
 time. St. Hilary says ' Hoc habct proprium ecclesia, dum 
 persecutionem patitur floret, dum opprimitur proficit, dum 
 laeditur vincit, dum arguitur intelligit, tunc stat, quum 
 superari videtur.' 
 
 But as patriots and as Englishmen who but must weep } 
 let the Church be unestablished and infidelity will be ram- 
 pant. I am one of those who think a little religion to be 
 better than none at all. And I regard the establishment 
 of the Church to be one of the means appointed to lead 
 men gradually to a serious sense of the faith. A man may 
 love the Church at first merely because it is an institution 
 of his country. With an honest mind, like the apostles 
 when first called to be disciples, their principles may be 
 too secular. Too many do not advance at all, but many 
 more come by degrees to see how the Church is the mysti- 
 cal body of their Saviour, and glorying in their privilege, 
 they not only abide in Christ but Christ abides in them. 
 From fruitless they are pruned into fruitful branches of the 
 Vine. That God will devise other means for bringing 
 those who are of honest and good hearts to the truth, no 
 one will deny, but no Christian can contemplate without 
 sorrow the withdrawment of one of the visible means 
 hitherto ordained for that purpose, even though the Church 
 itself be purified, while depressed, thereby. As a Church, 
 the Reformed Catholic Church in England will be benefited 
 by its disunion from the State ; but, as the Bishop of 
 Limerick observes, the question is not whether the Church 
 be less pure, but the country be not more pure. And one 
 of the offices of the Church is to be the salt of the earth, 
 and indirectly to purify even worldlings. I refer our 
 calamities to the repeal of the Test Act ; for then the 
 State virtually renounced every connexion with religion. 
 It pronounced religion to be, so far as the State is con- 
 cerned, a thing indifferent.
 
 222 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1829- 
 
 England is now in the position of a man who has 
 excommunicated himself. To the special protection of 
 Providence and of grace it has no longer a covenant 
 claim. Our legislation is in fact of any religion, which is 
 the same as saying of no religion. 
 
 Convalescence. 
 
 Birmingham : June 14, 1831. 
 
 My dearest Mother, — Although I am mending fast, the 
 doctor entirely disapproves of my leaving the Monument at 
 present, and my system is, strictly to follow the advice ot 
 the doctor under whose care Providence, by the arrangement 
 of circumstances, has placed me ; then, as our good Lord 
 of Limerick says, if I die, it is his fault and not mine. 
 That I am better will appear from this, that I am growing 
 hourly more impatient to return to dear Coventry ; happy 
 I never can be out of my parish, and I long to offer my 
 prayers once again in my noble church. There is no church 
 in England that suits me so well. ' Say not this is lame 
 devotion that cannot mount without the help of such a 
 wooden stick ; rather 'tis lame indeed which is not raised 
 though having the advantage thereof This sentence is 
 from Fuller, whose * Holy State ' I am reading, much to 
 my edification and delight. I am going out a-fishing to- 
 day ! ! but truth to tell, I should be more in my element 
 if I were at Coventry trying to catch men ; the fact is 
 that I am so identified with my parish that, if too much duty 
 knocks me up, a little duty is essential to amuse me. 
 Without parochial duty I feel much as a dram-drinker 
 must do when robbed of his morning draught. 
 
 An Author' s Anxieties about the Publication of his 
 First Book. 
 
 The Monument : August 1831. 
 
 My dearest Mother, .... On one point you dis- 
 appointed mc in your last ; you told me that you had had
 
 -i837 Letters, 1 829-1 836. 223 
 
 a long conversation with the Archdeacon about me, and 
 yet told me not what the Archdeacon said : now this is 
 acting the part of Tantalus. All that he said about 
 divinity would of course be interesting to me, for he is 
 my pope. His medical opinions you might have sup- 
 pressed, because, as he has not graduated in medicine, I 
 might be unwilling to follow his advice; indeed, I hope 
 you will no more write on that subject. But I am very 
 anxious to hear what he says of my lectures ; from your 
 sileace I suppose he does not think them worth publishing, 
 which annoys me. Pray let me have them back again ; 
 the only little solace I have consists in preparing these 
 lectures for press. It is a light and agreeable study, such 
 as Dr. Johnstone approves of; it leads my mind back to 
 the happy period when I delivered them, and sometimes 
 flatters my vanity by making me hope to be useful after I 
 have been consigned to the grave. The thought of being 
 compelled to dismount my little hobby is painful ; it is 
 as much as telling me that I am put entirely on the shelf, 
 and then what am I to do .-' for I have no one pleasure, 
 no thought, no wish that is not professional : pray send 
 me back my poor little lectures, and pray for me that I 
 may have health and strength to preach them yet again, 
 and fail not to let me know at once if they are condemned ; 
 put me out of my pain, suspense is disagreeable ; I have 
 been able to do nothing at them for the last two or three 
 days, because if those two are condemned, it is needless to 
 go on with the others ; and then poor Othello's occupation 
 is done. 
 
 To W.P. Wood, Esq. 
 
 Coventry : December i, 1831. 
 
 My dearest Friend Now for your letter ; — 
 
 thank you much, for the delightful pouring out of your 
 feelings ; and believe me, that when I read the senti- 
 ments of humble piety which you therein express, I am 
 more proud of the friendship which has ever been my 
 honour as well as my delight. Thank God it is not on
 
 2 24 Life of Walter Farqiihar Hook. 1829- 
 
 our own works that we depend for hope, as to everlasting 
 bhss. Christ is our all in all, and to Him we can only- 
 approach by faith. Now it is on this doctrine of justifica- 
 tion by faith alone, that I delight to dwell when I am 
 inclined to despond ; I then throw myself without reserve 
 at the feet of Christ. You, my dear Wood, understand 
 me in what I say, and know very well that I am not 
 pleading the cause of Antinomianism. Nothing is more 
 easy than to reconcile St. Paul and St. James, when we 
 understand the scheme of redemption as revealed in the 
 Gospel. I only refer to that doctrine, which is our greatest 
 comfort and consolation when we are humbled and laid in 
 the dust. It is not the only doctrine of Scripture, and 
 therefore we shall miss the truth if we consider it without 
 reference to others which limit and elucidate it ; but it is 
 the doctrine that gives life and health to the humble and 
 lowly of heart. As to prayer, I suppose every person has 
 some different method of elevating his soul to communion 
 with the Deity. For my part, I find I can pray best when 
 I am walking in my garden ; indeed, I am generally a peri- 
 patetic in my devotions, and I find the open air my most 
 delightful temple. Again, I know nothing more conducive 
 to bring me to a devotional disposition than to read some 
 portion of the Bible, till I gradually sink off into a holy 
 reverie. I throw out these hints, because when first I 
 became seriously impressed with religious feelings, I had 
 some of those difficulties of which you seem to complain. 
 And even in those days when we cannot take the usual 
 delight in prayer and praise, we ought to remember that 
 our Saviour knows our hindrances, and that by Him, the 
 will will be taken for the deed ; when we have struggled 
 much without success, faith will, in this sense, be counted 
 to us for righteousness.
 
 -i837 Letters, 1829-1836. 225 
 
 From IV. P. Wood, Esq. — Uses of a Belief in Angels — 
 Irvingism. 
 
 Lincoln's Inn : March 1832. 
 
 .... I thank you for your beautiful hint as to the 
 Angels.* It is curious that I have two or three times said 
 to my wife that I thought we were too much in the habit 
 of neglecting the clear doctrine, as laid down in the Bible, 
 of spiritual agents subordinate to the Deity, and of their 
 interference with the events of this world. There is certainly 
 a degree of danger in dwelling too much on such a subject 
 if the mind be predisposed to enthusiasm ; but at the same 
 time I think that the great caution of many preachers has led 
 to a carelessness even as regards the restless machinations of 
 our great spiritual adversary. You will recollect that you 
 told me an anecdote of a Unitarian saying * nobody could 
 believe in the devil.' Still more may have been deprived 
 of great spiritual consolation from the neglect of those 
 many beautiful passages in Scripture which represent the 
 watchfulness of the angels over those who serve God, and 
 their great interest in all that concerns our welfare. People 
 are very apt to imagine that their deceased friends take 
 an interest in their conduct, for which we have no direct 
 Scriptural authority (the parable of Lazarus being, perhaps, 
 only a parable), and which may prove a dangerous conceit 
 as tending to saint worship. Now the clear knowledge 
 afforded us of the ministry of Angels ought to be no less 
 consolatory. 
 
 My mind has been brought to dwell upon many of the 
 deeper points of the ' mystery of Godliness ' owing to a 
 visit from two young friends, who have been, to a certain 
 extent, led away by the enthusiasts of Irving's school. 
 With regard to the alleged miracles, I think it is at once 
 an answer to say that no miracle has yet been even 
 stated; for the uttering of sounds which no one professes to 
 
 ^ That the knowledge of tlieir sympathy should be an auxiliary to 
 our devotions. 
 
 VOL. L Q
 
 226 Life of Walte7' Farquhar Hook. 1829- 
 
 comprehend is so far from miraculous that any of us could 
 do the same thing for hours together ; and I think I satis- 
 fied our friends of the wonderful difference between such 
 quackery and the stupendous miracle of the day of Pente- 
 cost. But the greatest difficulty I met with was on the 
 subject of election. My own views on this subject do not 
 quite coincide with Whately's. I think a little more is 
 meant than the simple fact of election to privileges which 
 may be accepted or waived, and I confess I rather lean to 
 the doctrine of those who think that God, foreseeing who 
 will accept the conditions of salvation, and having promised 
 that all who do so accept them shall be saved, may be said 
 in that sense to have elected the saved. But then I am 
 quite certain from Scripture that although God knows this, 
 no man can know it, no man can see the end of his career, 
 which God does see, and therefore no man can be assured 
 that he will continue in a state of grace. A man may 
 perhaps feel an assurance that through Christ's mercy, 
 if he were to die that moment, he would be saved, but 
 he can say nothing more. Not even St. Paul would 
 venture on so bold (so almost blasphemous) a conviction, 
 I Cor. ix. 27, Phil. iii. 11-14. You have, I dare say, 
 observed a remarkable mistranslation in Heb. x. 38, where 
 ' any man ' has been substituted for ' he,' and thus a strong 
 text against absolute, certain election has been consider- 
 ably weakened. Rom. viii. 29, 30-33, and some other 
 passages induce me not to adopt Whately's views entirely, 
 though I think the word ' election ' is often used in his sense ; 
 for, as he has observed, there are no strict logical definitions 
 in the Gospel. Irving, of course, adopts the most pre- 
 sumptuous and dangerous doctrine of the high Calvinists. 
 
 To W. P. Wood, Esq. — Christian Sympathy. 
 
 Leamington : March i, 1832. 
 
 My dearest Friend, — As usual, I must begin my letter 
 with an excuse. To avoid this frequent repetition, let it
 
 -i837 Letters, 1829-18 -56. 227 
 
 be fairly understood that I love you as much as ever ; 
 you must not therefore attribute my silence to any diminu- 
 tion of affection. A little writing soon knocks me up ; and, 
 consequently, I can never think of a letter until my sermons 
 are off the stocks, and that seldom is till Saturday evening. 
 We came here last week to visit my mother. My brother 
 having also arrived, we are, what we seldom are, all of us 
 together. I have also enjoyed the society of my honoured 
 friend and patron, the Lord Bishop of Limerick ; he is 
 indeed a right worthy successor of the Holy Apostles : to me 
 he has ever been like a parent. He has perused the manu- 
 scripts of my lectures, and what is more, with unheard of 
 kindness, he offers to correct the press for me, and to take 
 all the drudgery of publication off my hands. This, he 
 says, will be a little useful employment to him ; and it will 
 be everything to me to be sent into the world under such 
 auspices. He has, however, directed me to write some 
 notes, and has moreover advised that the publication 
 should be deferred till the end of the year, since nobody 
 now thinks of anything but reform and cholera. I in- 
 tended to answer your last most interesting letter fully, 
 but I have forgotten to bring it with me. But I remember 
 well one topic to which you refer, which is, the want of 
 Christian sympathy which you seem to experience when 
 worshipping in church. This is a subject on which I have 
 had very many conversations with my reverend brethren 
 in this neighbourhood ; for fifteen or twenty of us frequently 
 meet, not to discuss, but to converse ; being happily of 
 pretty nearly the same principles in religion, though there 
 are slight shades of difference in our politics. Nothing 
 fills the Dissenting chapels so much as their being able to 
 remedy the defect of which you complain. When a man 
 has seriously turned his thoughts to religion, he comes to 
 church and finds no one sympathising with him, no one 
 under circumstances somewhat similar, ready to communi- 
 cate his thoughts. He goes to a meeting house, he is 
 immediately hailed as a convert ; he is flattered, calmed, 
 and soothed. Now we have considered whether some such 
 
 Q2
 
 2 28 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1829- 
 
 steps as these might not be profitably adopted in the 
 Church ; it would immediately increase its popularity with 
 some religionists ; for man is an aristocratic animal, and 
 sectarianism flatters the aristocratical feeling. Everyone 
 in religion, as in everything else, likes to be a peg above 
 his neighbour, and to be one of a party superior in purity 
 or in wisdom to those around him. If, then, we were to 
 consider merely the religionists, if merely the popularity of 
 the Church, it might be well to adopt some such classifica- 
 tion as prevails with the Methodists. But the Church of 
 Christ, I conceive, is not intended to be confined as to its 
 benefits and advantages to those who are true Christians : 
 here is the mistake with the sectarians. There is a yet 
 more extensive object, though less flattering to human 
 pride ; it is to act as leaven and as salt by which the mass 
 of society may be gradually purified ; it is indirectly to 
 benefit those who are without, as well as those that are 
 within the pale ; to improve men's morals, when it cannot 
 prevail upon them to become Christians in very deed. 
 Thus it has been shown by Bishop Jebb that, in the com- 
 mission of the Apostles, our Lord commanded them first 
 to convert individuals, and then to convert nations ; to have 
 to do with whole masses of society. While the Church 
 was composed merely of individuals, as was the case till 
 the time of Constantine, it was in its purest state ; when it 
 was allied with the world, its discipline was relaxed, and 
 consequently it became less pure. But the question is, 
 not whether the Church be less pure, but whether the 
 world by this contact, be not more pure ; and of this no 
 one, I presume, can doubt. We ought, therefore, always to 
 recollect this secondary but very important character of 
 the Church, this leavening and salting purpose for which it 
 is intended, and not to administer it so as to seek the grati- 
 fication of those only who are really pious in their feelings. 
 The advantage of this indirect influence on society is great. 
 Suppose I prevail upon a man no further than to respect 
 the common decencies of life ; as to his fate we dare not 
 decide, God alone can judge ; but this I see, that his
 
 -iS37 Letters, 1829-1S36. 229 
 
 children being brought up morally, and orderly, are pre- 
 pared to embrace the whole faith, as it is in Jesus. Pray 
 read Bishop Jebb's beautiful perfect sermon on transmissive 
 religion in ' Practical Theology ' ; if you have not the book, 
 say so, and I will send you a copy. 
 
 To his Wife — Account of Visit to Lincoln to he Installed as 
 Prebendary of Caistor} 
 
 Lincoln : Trinity Sunday, June 1832. 
 
 My dearest Love, — I wrote to you chiefly to state my 
 intentions with respect to my movements. I hope to leave 
 this early on Tuesday morning, and to reach London the 
 same day ; but you must not be alarmed if I do not make 
 my appearance till Wednesday. My journey here was 
 prosperous ; I got on to Loughborough from Leicester, in 
 a return chaise for two shillings. With the collegiate 
 church of Southwell, I fell desperately in love ; it is really 
 beautiful, with fine old Norman arches. I attended service 
 there, and found the choir well managed. The town itself 
 is pretty, and I should not object to have a stall there, 
 with a living attached. From Southwell to Lincoln, the 
 journey is easy ; but I was obliged after all to post one 
 stage. Arrived at Lincoln, I found the inn in much confu- 
 sion, for there was a visitation dinner. ' Whose visitation is 
 it .'' ' I asked : ' The Archdeacon of Stow's,' was the answer ; 
 and sure enough I saw his reverence at no great distance, 
 giving a jobation to a churchwarden. * Give the Arch- 
 deacon this card,' said the Prebendary elect ; on receiving 
 which, forth comes my kind friend Archdeacon Bayley, 
 pulls me into the room, and says, * Gentlemen, allow me 
 to introduce our new Prebendary ; you have all heard of 
 Mr. Hook ; ' and then a long eulogy was pronounced. 
 ' P^or his own sake, therefore,' said the Archdeacon, * and 
 his admirable father's sake, let us drink his good health 
 
 ' The stall had been given him by the Bishop, who was a friend of his 
 father.
 
 230 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1829- 
 
 in a bumper,' The Dean was present, and invited me to 
 dine with him to-day. The preacher of the visitation 
 sermon gave me a bed, two miles in the country at his 
 pretty Parsonage. The Sub-dean has been most kind, but 
 unfortunately his house was full, and he could not therefore 
 give me a bed ; but he has forced me to stay over Monday 
 to meet Archdeacon Bayley, the Dean, and others at 
 dinner. The Dean, Sub-dean, and a brother Prebendary 
 dined with me yesterday at the Inn ; a very bad custom, I 
 think, but so it is. The Minster is grand beyond descrip- 
 tion, it beats every other cathedral, in my opinion, out of 
 the field, except York, and it yields not to that. The in- 
 stallation is a very good ceremony, it took place yesterday. 
 To-day I read in, morning and evening, and preached 
 twice ; this in fact it is that has quite decided me not to 
 go away to-morrow ; a day's rest will be useful. I long to 
 see you again, my dear, sweet little wife, and I long also to 
 behold our darling. May God Almighty bless you both. 
 I hope to find a letter at the post. Love to all friends. 
 
 Your devotedly attached Husband, 
 
 W. F. liooK. 
 
 In the autumn of 1832 his mother and sister 
 spent some time in the Lake Country near Rydal. 
 They became intimate with the Wordsworth family, 
 and paid almost daily visits to the poet's house. 
 One day during the severe illness of his sister, Miss 
 Wordsworth, they found the poet sitting by her 
 side, where he had been for hours rubbing her feet. 
 Miss Hook wrote a letter to her brother full of 
 enthusiastic admiration for this trait of fraternal 
 affection on the part of Wordsworth ; to which he 
 replied in the following strain : 
 
 I wish you could read Quinctilian or Longinus, and
 
 -i837 Letters, 1829- 1836. 231 
 
 then, as in times past, I should set you a portion to learn 
 by heart, and initiate you into the arts of composition. 
 Most horrible was the bathos into which your last letter 
 plunged. Having descanted not only on the genius but 
 the virtues of the poet, having entered into 'your little 
 boat, in shape a very crescent moon,' and carried me into 
 the third heaven, you then introduce me to the venerable 
 bard — surrounded by the Muses — doing what } striking 
 the silver lyre ? no ! rubbing his dear old sister's cold toes. 
 
 fie ! Miss Hook ! fie ! as a punishment I shall put down 
 my pen, and conclude this letter just when I please. I 
 should not indeed write to you at all, but that I should 
 like to earn another such letter, excepting that part which 
 descants on brotherly affection towards cold feet in a sister. 
 
 1 hope that you will always be able to keep your feet 
 warm with exercise, and your heart still warmer by enthu- 
 siasm, kept of course under the fraternal control of good 
 sense. . . . 
 
 The Lakes — Wordsworth. 
 
 Coventry : September 8, 1832. 
 
 My deatjst Mother How I do envy you your 
 
 delightful visit to the Lakes ; no, envy is not the right 
 word, for I should like to enjoy it with you, I think as one 
 grows older, and becomes more christianised (almost all 
 other terms have been so wrongly applied, that it is scarcely 
 lawful to use them), as the natural man goes down hill, and 
 the moral man learns to take higher and higher flights 
 towards those heavenly regions where he humbly hopes 
 to live for ever with his Saviour and those who were 
 worthy of his love on earth ; so do we feel more deeply, 
 more intensely, the beauties of inanimate nature — that 
 nature to which your honoured friend Wordsworth has, 
 more than any other poet, given a voice ; a voice which 
 speaks to the very heart of hearts. In early youth there is 
 an enchantment in the scenes of nature which makes 
 every lad worth anything, think and hope that he is born
 
 232 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1829- 
 
 to take station among the poets of his country. How 
 beautifully are these feelings described in the ' Excursion.* 
 But the boy tries his hand at expressing his thoughts, and 
 finds in despair that language fails him : he cannot say all 
 he feels, and rushes out from the Temple of the Muses in 
 despair. Encouragement no one can give, for he who 
 feels strongly will most likely feel awfully sensitive in 
 permitting his feelings to be known ; they can only be 
 fully opened to a person of the same age, a wife, or such a 
 friend as Wood. Then other pursuits engage the attention, 
 the feelings are chilled by a cold world ; worldliness of 
 mind ensues, ambition urges on to exertion, and the soul 
 is more and more alienated from heavenly aspirations. 
 After this comes disappointment and misfortune ; those 
 blessings in disguise, when religion becomes once more a 
 reality, when the soul becomes elevated, the affections 
 spiritualised, and the mind no longer earthy ; and it is then 
 that nature in her grand and in her calmer scenes once 
 more speaks to the heart. Having diligently marked not 
 only the progress of my own mind, but that of many of my 
 contemxporaries, and having also had minds opened to me 
 by persons who have wished for spiritual consolation in 
 my parish, I am so convinced that this is the usual process 
 with such as become rightly religious, that the tone of my 
 sermons is always in accordance with these notions. I 
 don't like violent philippics against vice, or those feelings 
 which zvill have their way. I like to paint the loveliness 
 of religion, to call back the mind to those calm joys it 
 experienced, before worldliness, or inordinate ambition, or 
 the passions assumed their tyranny ; and then to show how 
 by degrees God's grace will not only restore those amiable 
 sentiments of childhood, but give them a vigour and a 
 holiness of which the worldly can form no conception. 
 Now, as I humbly hope that my mind has become spiri- 
 tualised, I feel that I am just in the condition to profit by 
 those delightful views which you and dear Georgiana so 
 well describe. I should indeed delight to wander over 
 your- mountains, and pour out my thoughts, not in poems,
 
 -i837 Letters, 1 829-1 836. 233 
 
 but in sermons. I am weary of towns, and especially of 
 manufacturing towns, and I sigh for the country. 
 
 Deh'cia and I agree that of all places we have seen 
 Hertingfordbury would suit us best, yes, even more than 
 Whippingham ; she likes the retirement of Hertingford- 
 bury, and I confess that the dark, shady walk by the river 
 has fresh charms for me as I grow older. I am, as the 
 good dear Bishop would say, something self-complacent, 
 at the praise you tell me has been bestowed on me by 
 Wordsworth ; Delicia and I have guessed the truth. It 
 is so utterly impossible that he should ever have heard of 
 me, that we conclude thus : One day Mrs. Hook was 
 talking to the poet, and, in the overflow of her maternal 
 fondness, she told him that her son was the finest preacher 
 and best parson, &c., &c., in England. Well, many days 
 had elapsed, and the poet had meanwhile been in the 
 third heavens. When Mrs. Hook calls on him again, the 
 name of her son is mentioned ; * Oh,' says the poet, * I 
 have heard that your son is a very fine preacher, and a 
 very good divine.' ' Who told you ? ' 'I quite forget,* 
 replies the poet, 'but I am certain that I have heard it.' 
 I am so convinced that this, or something like it, is the 
 fact, that I am not vain, as I otherwise might be, at the 
 eulogy. But I am indeed complacent at the idea of my 
 being known, even by name, to the living poet of England. 
 I have in my time so worshipped poets, that the very 
 thought of being known to such a poet as Wordsworth 
 stirs up the enthusiasm which the noise and smoke and 
 bustle of a large town has well nigh quenched. By the 
 bye, I do not at all approve of Mr. Macaulay's criticism ; I 
 hate to hear people call Wordsworth 'the modern Milton,' 
 as they so frequently do : it gives one the idea of his being 
 one of the servile herd of imitators. Now, of all poets that 
 ever existed, saving only Homer, and my old friend, 
 Shakspeare, Wordsworth is the most original. He has 
 shaped out a line peculiarly and entirely his own ; and one 
 of the reasons that for a long time he was not popular with 
 the mob of readers, was this very circumstance— he was so
 
 234 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1829- 
 
 dififerent from the namby-pamby poetasters they had 
 been accustomed to admire, that they could not relish 
 him ; or else, because he was so different from other poets, 
 they knew not by what rules to try him. But Wordsworth 
 was a true poet, and those many hearts he touched by his 
 poetry soon learned that he was to give laws, or rather to 
 provide materials, from which future Aristotles might 
 frame laws, and not to receive them from pedants. 
 
 Your devoted Son, 
 
 W. F. Hook. 
 
 To W. P. Woody Esq. — Origin of Heathen Ideas about a 
 Future State. 
 
 Coventry : October 3, 1832. 
 My dearest Friend, .... Since you left us, we have 
 been going on as you, knowing our ways of proceeding, 
 would expect, with the exception that I have of course had 
 some arrears of business to make up after my happy holi- 
 day during your stay with us. I have made but little 
 progress in the metaphysical or philosophical inquiries, if 
 they deserve the name, on which we conversed when you 
 were with us. I am, however, reading St. Augustine's ' De 
 Civitate Dei,' or rather the three last books of it, which 
 relate to the doctrine of the Resurrection. Some years 
 have passed since I read it before, and I may trouble you 
 on some future occasion with my thoughts upon that very 
 extraordinary work. I am also going to read Cicero's 
 Tusculans ; the more I consider the subject, the more 
 convinced I am, that the better informed among the 
 heathen held the doctrine of a future state, merely as a 
 careless opinion, not as an article of faith, which would 
 influence practice ; but that the doctrine was, in some sense 
 or other, universally held by the mass of mankind, appears 
 to be indisputable. Whence could it arise that such was 
 the fact .^ Not from the discoveries of reason, for even 
 when a Plato reasoned thereon, he only fell into absurdities,
 
 -i837 Letters, 1 829-1 836. 235 
 
 but from a tradition which was gladly received, because 
 congenial with the mind of man, ever looking forward, and 
 ever ready to believe that God is just. But then, where is 
 the revelation of the fact, which a tradition would suppose ? 
 We can only speak on this point by reference to Scripture, 
 and Scripture does not record any early revelation. But 
 then, Scripture does tell us of the promise to Adam of a 
 future deliverer, and it does also tell us that this promise 
 was handed down in many instances from sire to son. At 
 first, the Patriarchs might have expected its fulfilment 
 before they themselves saw death, but when their children 
 found that their expectations were erroneous, they would 
 look for the fulfilment of the promise after their death ; 
 but if they were to be interested in its fulfilment, this 
 would of course induce them to suppose that they would 
 be recalled from the dead. To confirm this expectation, 
 the rapture of Enoch may have been intended. It seems 
 much more likely that men should in early ages have 
 received the doctrine, in some such way as this, than that 
 they should have arrived at it by any metaphysical reasons. 
 An express revelation then, of course, could not be till the 
 doctrine of the Atonement, on which the doctrine of the 
 Resurrection depends, was fully known. You see, I take 
 rather a midway station bctweeen Warburton and his 
 opponents. I know not whether I have made myself 
 intelligible, but I hope if you understand me, and any 
 facts or arguments,/;-^ or con., suggest themselves to your 
 mind, you will send them. 
 
 Your devoted Friend, 
 
 W. F. Hook. 
 
 Publication of Lectures en ' Last Days of our Lord.* 
 
 Lichfield: November i, 1832. 
 
 My dearest Mother, .... The work is to come out this 
 
 week, and therefore your country bookseller will have no 
 
 difficulty in obtaining copies from his agent in London. I 
 
 think you had better send the copy to Mr. Southey, and
 
 236 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1829- 
 
 all others, except to Mrs. Grant, from yourself; I will be 
 your debtor for the last, and also for one which I should 
 like to present to Mr. Wordsworth if he will accept it. Tell 
 him that it comes from me who venerates his character 
 and who has derived, not only intellectual pleasure, but 
 moral improvement from his immortal writings. I am 
 afraid, however, that neither he nor Southey will approve 
 of what was written, not by a retired scholar, but by a 
 clergyman, who has never known what leisure is, since 
 he entered into holy orders, and who is therefore guilty 
 perhaps of unpardonable presumption in thrusting himself 
 into the republic of letters. I certainly wish for the 
 success of the work, not because it deserves success, but 
 because, if I am not severely cut up, I may be able to do 
 something better. I am glad to hear you talking, or 
 rather to read you writing of settling at the Lakes : we 
 might easily arrange matters, so that we could spend two 
 or three months with you in the summer, and you, two or 
 three months with us in the winter. I only wish that we 
 had commenced housekeeping less expensively than we 
 did, for though our expenses are less than those of most 
 persons in our station of life, yet they leave us not the 
 means of travelling, or indulging our wishes on several 
 other points. From various circumstances, our income, 
 which I once thought would be 800/. a year, and thus very 
 plentiful, has fallen down to 500/., which is certainly more 
 than many of our betters possess, but is, nevertheless, 
 only barely equal to the many demands upon us. If I 
 can but make 200/. by my book, it will be glorious. 
 Delicia could then have a piano of her own ; I would get 
 a Benedictine Chrysostom ; my church should be presented 
 with a painted window ; and you and Georgiana should 
 have our company in your visit to the Lakes next year. 
 
 I remain, my dearest Mother, your devoted Son, 
 
 W. F. Hook.
 
 -i837 Letters, 1 829-1 836. 237 
 
 To IV. P. Wood, Esq. — Different Classes of Writers — 
 Letter from Wordsworth. 
 
 November 27, 1832. 
 It seems that we, once the most proHfic of letter-writers, 
 are now compelled to commence each epistle with an 
 apology. But as Thompson said when writing to his 
 sister, we know one another better than to interpret our 
 silence into any decay of affection. It seems to me that 
 the intellectual world may be divided into two parties ; 
 first, there is a class consisting of those whose talents are 
 ever ready, whose armour is ever bright and polished. 
 Such was Shakspeare, such was our dear lost Sir Walter 
 Scott, such are those differing infinitely in degree but not 
 in genus, whose pen is at all times prepared to write a 
 letter, or to chatter and gabble in society on every sub- 
 ject. The next class consists of those who have the pen 
 of a ready writer, but who can only use it when the fit of 
 inspiration is upon them. At the head of this tribe, 
 according to his biographers, was Milton ; and, though 
 infinitely beneath their great masters, such are they who 
 can sometimes write with a vigour and energy and zeal 
 and enthusiasm, for which at others they sigh in vain. In 
 this latter class I rank myself ; my vigour is at all times 
 but weakness, but yet comparatively it is vigour when 
 contrasted with the listlessness and lassitude with which I 
 am occasionally oppressed for weeks and months. Some 
 months there are when I pen off a sermon at a sitting, 
 and can write a fresh one every day in the week ; while 
 there are many weeks when my poor head conceives, but 
 brings forth nothing. So also is it with respect to letter- 
 writing, I have been long waiting till the spirit would 
 move me to unburden my mind to you, but alas, my spirit 
 is for the present quite immoveable, and I therefore compel 
 myself to write merely on the principle, that even in such 
 friendships as ours a discontinuance of intercourse for any 
 great length of time is dangerous. My mother and sister
 
 238 Life of Walter Fm'qiihar Hook. 1829- 
 
 have also formed a bosom friendship with the great poet 
 Wordsworth, who appears to be as heavenly-minded, as 
 pure, and as christian in his daily intercourse with society 
 as I think him to be pre-eminent in his poetry. At my 
 mother's request I presented him with a copy of my 
 lectures ; and so complacent am I at the autograph letter 
 in which he acknowledges the present that, at the risk of 
 being accounted rather vain, I shall copy it. 
 
 ' Dear Sir, — I cannot but avail myself of the present 
 opportunity to thank you for the very valuable volume 
 of lectures which I have had the honour of receiving 
 from you through the hands of your excellent mother. 
 Having been absent from home I have not had opportunity 
 yet to read more than the two first discourses, with the 
 matter and manner of which I have been exceedingly 
 pleased. The first and paramount importance of the sub- 
 ject cannot but recommend to general notice, at least so 
 I trust, a work executed with so much sincere piety and 
 fervour, and with learning and ability of so high an order. 
 Wishing you earnestly success in the labours of your 
 ministry, and health and life to prolong them, 
 
 * I remain, dear Sir, 
 
 * Faithfully your obliged, 
 * Wm. Wordsworth.' 
 
 To W. P. Wood, Esq. — Baptismal Regeneration. 
 
 January 3, 1833. 
 Most happy indeed I am once more to see your dear 
 old fist, and I hasten to assure you that my prayers for 
 you and your Charlotte shall be as fervent as yours are 
 for us. The feelings you express at the commencement 
 of your letter are natural, and I fear those which we must 
 all of us experience ; they are, however, so well expressed 
 that had your letter come last week I should have put 
 some of your observations into my sermon. I think you 
 will find much comfort and much food for thought if you 
 can read Mr, Alexander Knox's letter to the Bishop of
 
 -1837 Letters, 1829-1836 239 
 
 Limerick, published in tiie introduction to Burnet's ' Lives,* 
 just edited by his lordship. It will not take five minutes 
 to read, and probably, therefore, you will be able to borrow 
 it of your bookseller. In every sentiment there expressed 
 I fully agree ; but I am inclined to quarrel with some of 
 his expressions, and especially with his reference to the 
 text, ' Except ye be born again, ye cannot enter into the 
 kingdom of Heaven.' It is not fair to quote thus partially, 
 for our Lord says, ' Except a man be born of water and 
 of the Spirit' a passage which Dr. Wall shows was in- 
 variably interpreted by the ancients as relating to baptism. 
 I conceive the doctrine to stand thus : We are not by 
 nature entitled to eternal life ; it is important that this 
 should be constantly borne in mind ; nothing can more 
 strongly impress this upon us than a rite by which we are 
 translated from a state of nature and placed in covenant 
 with God. This fact declares that our only trust, even 
 with respect to innocent babes, is in God's free, undeserved 
 mercy : even for them we do not claim Heaven as a 
 matter of rigJit. The Holy Ghost, the divine Person, 
 under whose superintendence the Christian Church is, 
 receives us in the ordinance appointed by our Saviour as 
 children of God ; and thus as heirs, not for our own merits 
 but through God's mercies in Christ, of heaven — heirs, not 
 possessors. As children of God we are, moreover, entitled 
 by the covenant to the assistance of the Holy Ghost, if 
 duly sought. Woe to parents and sponsors who teach 
 not their children how to avail themselves of this great 
 privilege. If we avail ourselves of it, then the Holy Ghost 
 renews or renovates our souls ; this is a process to go on to 
 our dying day ; we, with the assistance of the Holy Ghost, 
 are to go on improving our souls, until they become en- 
 tirely changed from what they would have been if left to 
 nature. An effectual change vinst take place, but whether 
 it be slow or not will depend on circumstances. When- 
 ever by repentance we replace ourselves in the covenant 
 with God, the Holy Spirit still stands ready to effectuate 
 this change ; the change, as I said before, is not complete
 
 240 Lif^ of Walter Farqtihar Hook. 1829- 
 
 till we go hence and be no more seen ; but it may be 
 very marked and discernible, especially in those who have 
 not been religiously brought up, I believe till the days 
 of Calvin there had been no dispute on this subject ; and 
 it is a most important one, since as you will easily see it 
 is an effectual check upon fanaticism, to which a weak 
 mind, holding the doctrine of the Spirit's forming a new 
 heart within us, may incline, and still more, as silen- 
 cing the doubts of those who would otherwise begin to 
 despair of their election. Whether there be any other 
 election than this is not for us to know. That point has, in 
 my mind, been quite set at rest by Archbishop King's 
 admirable sermon on Predestination, edited by Whately. 
 If you have not read it, it will amply repay all trouble. 
 In Mr. Knox's conversation with a member of your pro- 
 fession, now dead, you will see what appears to me to 
 be a useful remark on the advantages of an Establishment 
 in keeping up a low tone of religion among those who 
 otherwise would have no religion, and in thus preparing 
 the way for true religion. 
 
 * Judge not.* 
 
 March 22, 1833. 
 
 My dearest Brother, — I must beg to thank you for 
 your great kindness in writing to me, notwithstanding the 
 many claims upon your time. In all your excellent 
 sentiments I most cordially agree. Christianity, while it 
 enjoins us to threaten with severity the living, teaches us to 
 hope for the best, with respect to the dead. * Judge not,' 
 says our Saviour. His words are not, Judge not harshly, 
 but 'Judge not' — ^judge not at all. And why.-* Because, 
 as you very justly observe, you cannot tell what disad- 
 vantages, from internal weakness or the force of external 
 temptation, another person has had ; you cannot tell what 
 disadvantages were opposed to his apparent advantages. 
 You can tell, to a certain extent with respect to yourself, 
 what advantages have been afforded you, and you know 
 that for the neglect of them you will be punished : but the
 
 -i837 Letters, 1829-1836. 241 
 
 Searcher of hearts, and He only, can tell this with respect 
 to others. Be this, however, as it may, sure I am that the 
 wretched sinner who dares to judge another with respect to 
 his eternal state places himself on the same footing as the 
 most determined profligate ; and certainly, unless he re- 
 pents, excludes himself from any part in Christ. As to 
 our poor dear uncle, the speech to Mr. Cooper, which 
 you related in your last, proves that he had been thinking 
 of his latter end ; but, however, that may be, he who dares 
 to judge him is no Christian. Thus perfectly agreeing 
 with you, my beloved brother, 
 
 I remain, your devoted Brother, 
 
 W. F. Hook. 
 
 To IV. P. Wood, Esq. — Calvinism — Wesley. 
 
 April 13, 1833. 
 
 My dearest Friend, .... So much have I to say to 
 you, that I know not where to begin. In your first letter 
 I perfectly agree with you in your opinion touching those 
 dogmas which are usually called Calvinistic ; but which 
 might perhaps with equal propriety be called Augustinism, 
 as Augustine was their first promulgator. I think that, 
 even admitting them, they need not perplex a humble- 
 minded Christian. But alas ! this is not always the case ; 
 a clergyman finds in his intercourse with his flock that 
 these opinions lead to the most fatal consequences. I do 
 not think much of what polemics say against them, with 
 respect to their encouraging men in sin. However theo- 
 retically this may be a legitimate consequence from the 
 doctrine, it is not practically found to be the case, or, at 
 least, not often. 
 
 The way they operate for evil is through the awful 
 despair to which they depress some, and the awful presump- 
 tion to which they excite others. If all men were men of 
 sense it would not much signify ; we could easily satisfy 
 them. But you can have no conception of the difficulty we 
 sometimes find in quieting unnecessary alarms. I have 
 VOL. I. R
 
 242 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1829- 
 
 heard it said that men of business lay it down as a rule that 
 when they deal with a man they always treat him as a 
 knave. Sure I am that a pastor must, if he wishes to do 
 good, treat men as fools. It is not till men arrive at my 
 age that people unburden their minds to their pastor ; but 
 I have now had many consciences, the consciences of edu- 
 cated persons, laid open to me, and have had in some 
 degree the advantages of a confessor ; and I am inclined 
 to think that the fools far surpass the knaves. Oh, the 
 difficulty of knocking a foolish idea out of some persons' 
 heads ; it is quite surprising. It is only surpassed by the 
 difficulty of knocking in a right idea. So that you must 
 not always think that a poor parson is fighting a shadow 
 when he is combating a doctrine, which to you may 
 appear to be a matter of indifference ; for it is not for 
 the wise alone that we write and preach and think. Still, 
 I regard these points merely in the light of preventing 
 persons from enjoying those comforts of religion which 
 they would otherwise have. So long as a person is 
 brought to Christ, and gives his heart to Christ so that 
 it may be prepared for heaven by the Holy Spirit, so 
 long, I think, he is safe ; though the devil may have power 
 for awhile to torment him. A clergyman, in my humble 
 opinion, is to be regarded as much as a comforter as an 
 adviser. 
 
 I like what you say of Wesley. Intellectually and 
 morally, he was a great man ; his latter days were his 
 worst, for this plain reason — he was worshipped as some- 
 thing more than human ; and whose head would not be 
 turned by such adoration } A great man of the world 
 feels that most of his worshippers are worshipping him 
 chiefly with a view to their own interests ; but Wesley 
 must have felt that among his adorers were some of the 
 best of God's creatures. That he erred, grievously erred 
 in his conduct, I think. That religion, before his day, had 
 become too much a business of the head alone, I admit ; 
 and that he was a main instrument of restoring it to the 
 dominion of the heart, must ever be acknowledged. But
 
 ->837 Letters, 1829-1836. 243 
 
 the believer in a providence must ascribe the consequences 
 of all events to God, and God alone ; he must not per- 
 mit the good that has been deduced from an action to bias 
 his judgment in deciding on the nature of the action itself. 
 Wesley might have been as much the instrument of good 
 without his schism as with it. We can never too con- 
 stantly bear in mind that we are not to look to the end, 
 but, leaving all events in the hands of God, take the cir- 
 cumstances which He provides for us, and then ask, What 
 under those circumstances is my duty ? That it is which 
 God tells me to do : in that way it is that I am to advance 
 His glory. 
 
 To the same — Importance of Encouragement — Puseys 
 Criticism on his Lectures. 
 
 May 8, 1833. 
 
 .... I think that the system adopted by Evangelical 
 preachers, and to which Benson would seem to incline, is 
 a very bad one, viz. to divide their people into two parts, 
 the saints and the sinners. For my part, I know that 
 my own growth in grace has been very slow and gradual ; 
 and, therefore, I am desirous of encouraging others, who, 
 though perhaps not quite so far advanced as I am now, 
 are still going on, and yet feel something like despair at 
 the slowness of their progress. Few are they who come 
 regularly to church who have not some feelings of reli- 
 gion, some wishes to improve. Encourage, excite, animate 
 such persons ; don't say to them, ' You must be damned, 
 because you are not better than you are ; * but say, ' I am 
 glad to see that God is so merciful to you : now try if you 
 cannot make a little further spring in the straight and nar- 
 row path.' O encourage, encourage, encourage one another ! 
 I hate your preachers that are always dealing in hell and 
 damnation ; I am sure that they can have never experienced 
 the difficulties with which most people have to contend, 
 and I am doubtful how far you can account that as a 
 virtue which it has required no difficulty to acquire ; 
 while I am quite certain that the wickedness is great to 
 
 R 2
 
 244 Zz}^ of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1829- 
 
 regard with self-complacency what is merely a gift. For 
 a man to say, I am never in a passion, therefore, how 
 much better a man I am than so and so, is, of course, 
 absurd, if he has never been tempted by the passion of 
 anger. But he who, being naturally an ill-tempered man, 
 has overcome the wicked passion, may say, God has given 
 me proof that He is assisting me with His grace on this 
 point, and, therefore, I have full confidence, that confidence 
 which experience gives, that He will likewise assist me on 
 others, where now I am almost inclined to despair. I 
 have been interested in what you say about the critics and 
 criticism of my poor volume, which, except when it is re- 
 verted to by you, I have well nigh forgotten. It is clear 
 that Pusey is disappointed with it ; he tells me he agrees 
 with what I say of Church government in my first lecture, 
 but thinks it unduly pushed forward on such an occasion ; 
 it takes too prominent a place. Here I plead guilty ; it 
 is undoubtedly a fault ; but when a man gets on his hobby, 
 his hobby will be frisky. By the bye, I have told you 
 why I insist so much on this point ; of course I should 
 insist on anything that I believe to be truth ; for we are 
 to be the guardians not only of saving truths but of all 
 truth. But the reason why I think it expedient to bring 
 forward this matter so much is that, it seems to me, we are 
 in these days hurrying to a very dangerous extreme, which 
 our wise Reformers providentially avoided. All the writers 
 on Church reform seem to take it for granted that our first 
 step ought to be a step for which everything is to be sacri- 
 ficed ; to conciliate Protestant sects. Now I maintain that 
 the Reformed Episcopal Church ought to present to the 
 world a system which will conciliate the good opinion of 
 other parties besides Protestants. The day will surely come 
 when the Greek Church will awaken to a sense of her 
 errors ; surely it will be not a little important to let them 
 see that reformation is not incompatible with the most 
 steady adherence to ecclesiastical discipline and tradition. 
 So with respect to those foreign Churches in connexion 
 with Rome ; it is most important to show that we can
 
 -i837 Letters^ 1829-1836. 245 
 
 retain what is Catholic, while we renounce what is Popish. 
 It is in some such manner as this that I expect union 
 to be restored to Christendom. When Catholic Churches, 
 Greek, Roman, and Reformed, all purified of their grosser 
 errors, are united in one sacred bond of union, then may 
 we hope that sectarianism will fade away. 
 
 To tJie same — Extremes in Religious Feeling — Over-esti- 
 mate of Preaching — Keble's ' Christian Year* 
 
 June I, 1833. 
 .... You can hardly imagine the difficulty there is 
 in keeping people just at the right heat. It is a fact, that 
 Dissent generally abounds in those parishes where the 
 clergy are most active, and insist earnestly on the necessity 
 of sanctification ; and I conceive the reason to be that 
 they warm up the cold hearts to a certain heat, and then 
 many of them boil over. Of persons whom I have been 
 permitted to be the instrument of awakening to a lively 
 sense of religion, I feel morally certain that several, though 
 so attached to me that they will not desert me so long 
 as I remain among them, would, in the event of my leaving 
 them, seek ' to sit under ' an Evangelical preacher. You 
 will not misunderstand me in what I have said. I do not 
 like the one class of preachers more than the other, for I 
 think the medium between the two that which is right. 
 But if driven to the choice, I would prefer him who is 
 rather too cold to him who is rather too warm, as giving 
 though not the most pleasant, yet the most wholesome 
 food. For, after all, the right religious heat is to be kept 
 up in our own hearts by ourselves, and chiefly by the 
 Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. It is a dangerous down- 
 falling in the present age to exalt the ordinance of 
 preaching unduly, and to make it, as some do, a third 
 Sacrament. The being moved at a pathetic discourse is 
 no more proof of our being in a right religious tone of mind, 
 than the crying at a tragedy is proof of a tender heart. 
 Buonaparte could deluge the world with blood for his selfish
 
 246 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1829- 
 
 purposes, and yet weep over the sufferings of a wounded 
 soldier. Sensibility does not necessarily imply a kind dis- 
 position. Talking of sacred poets, I hope you have read 
 and often recur to the ' Christian Year,' written by a most 
 holy man, an acquaintance of mine at Oxford, Mr. Keble. 
 He is a man the most meek, the most humble, and yet the 
 most gifted with genius and learning, of any I ever met 
 with. He went to Oxford at fourteen, and carried away 
 all the honours and prizes ; and lately refused to stand for 
 the Headship of his College, though almost certain of suc- 
 ceeding, that he might be the comfort and support of his 
 aged father, and relieve him from the cares of his parish 
 by acting as his curate. 
 
 From W. P. Wood, Esq. — The Philosophy of Jeremy 
 Bentham} 
 
 10 Dean's Yard, July 3, 1833. 
 
 .... I will at once tell you all that occurs to me 
 respecting the Utilitarians or Benthamites ; but in the first 
 place you would, I think, do well to ascertain whether this 
 pestilent sect abounds at Oxford as much as at Cambridge. 
 I know but few Oxford men, and I do not think that among 
 those few there is one Benthamite, and of course if the error 
 be not rife, then your lectures would be directed, compara- 
 tively speaking, against a phantom. At the same time the 
 principle which I term the principle of ' refined selfishness,' 
 and which is in fact pure Epicureanism revived, is one that 
 may readily find its way to the corrupt portion of our 
 hearts ; and though few have the patience to explore it 
 through all its intricacies as traced in Bentham's work, yet 
 most men have some practical acquaintance with it, and 
 are glad, at some time or other, to find the dictates of an 
 unregenerate heart dignified with the title of Philosophy. 
 
 If you have had time to look into Bentham's work 
 
 ' Mr. Hook was thinking of introducing some criticisms upon Benthamism 
 into his Oxford Sermons,
 
 -i837 Letters, 1 829-1836. 247 
 
 which I mentioned to you, you will find that he assumes 
 that there are only three principles of action, i. asceticism, 
 2. sympathy, 3. utility. There is a misplaced attempt at 
 facetiousness involving a gross misstatement of the first of 
 these principles at the outset of the book ; for it is a bad 
 introduction to a work professing strict philosophy to lay 
 down that the principle of asceticism consists in supposing 
 the ' misery of His creatures to be gratifying to the Creator.' 
 The principle, though carried to an excess, was in itself 
 good and true, namely, the subduing of sensual appetites as 
 a means of freeing the mind from their bias. Like every 
 other device of man, this principle failed with the monks 
 as it had failed with the Stoics, and I think that on inquiry 
 it would be found the radical vice of the system was its 
 leading men to dwell too exclusively on self, by which in 
 the first place pride, and in the next indifference to the 
 happiness of others, became gradually engendered in the 
 ascetic. 
 
 The principle of ' sympathy ' is dismissed with nearly 
 the same flippancy by Bentham. If you want to see what can 
 be made out of that principle, you should read Adam Smith's 
 * Theory of Moral Sentiment.' You will find there a convic- 
 tion equally strong with that of Bentham of the inadequacy 
 of the principle as a guide of moral action, but on different 
 grounds, for I ten thousand times prefer it to Bentham's 
 substitute, and think a man much more likely to act right 
 in following the dictates of a refined sympathy such as is 
 delineated by Smith, than in acknowledging no guide but 
 his own self-conceit ; that is, I prefer the heart to the head 
 even in the natural man, though I see no necessity for 
 separating feeling and reason, the great but opposite error 
 of the Sympathetic and Utilitarian doctors. 
 
 Before proposing his own doctrines, however, Bentham, 
 in one of his most obnoxious passages (chap. ii. § 18 and 
 note), tells us he utterly discards the theological principle, 
 and that which refers right and wrong to the will of God, 
 which he says cannot be the revealed will as contained in 
 the Sacred Scriptures, for that is a system to which nobody
 
 248 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1829- 
 
 ever thinks of recurring at this time of day, for (what do 
 you think ?) the details of political administj'ation ! and even 
 before it can be appHed to the details of private conduct, it 
 is universally allowed by the most eminent divines of all 
 persuasions to stand in need of ample interpretations, else 
 to what use are the works of those divines ? (! !) In time, 
 Bentham's own argument may recoil upon himself, for his 
 disciple Mill has already published pretty ample exposition 
 of his master's principles which, therefore, are insufficient, 
 * else to what use ' are the said Mill's works ? 
 
 He then proceeds in a note to tell you his notion of 
 God's will. * The principle of theology refers everything 
 to God's pleasure, but what is God's pleasure ? God does 
 not. He confessedly does not 7iow ' [ergo, I suppose He never 
 did. Q. E. D.] * either speak or write to us. How then are 
 we to know what is His pleasure ? ' [now the grand arcanum 
 of Utilitarianism is to be revealed] ' By observing what is 
 our own pleasure and calling it His. Accordingly what 
 is called the pleasure of God, is and must necessarily be 
 (revelation aside) neither more nor less than the good 
 pleasure of the person, whoever he be, who is pronouncing 
 what he believes or pretends to be God's pleasure.* Here 
 is, you will observe. Atheism in all its hideousness, and an 
 acknowledgment that, revelatioii aside, there is no medium, a 
 result at which Bishop Butler, I think, satisfactorily arrives 
 in his ' Analogy,' though happily for him he embraced the 
 opposite alternative, and did not set revelation aside. I 
 think these parts I have pointed out by far the most 
 vulnerable of Bentham's work. He is an acute logician, and 
 like Spinosa, from whom he borrowed largely, you must 
 attack his first principles, or you will find his deductions 
 unassailable. It is true there is a moral rediictio ad 
 absiirdtim in some of his conclusions on legislation, as 
 where he considers the murder of an infant by the consent 
 of both parents a trifling error ; but although you may say 
 at once the principles must be wrong which lead to such a 
 result, you will find the result is correctly deduced from 
 them, and as an * ad absurdum ' is not considered the most
 
 -1837 Letters, 1 829-1 836. 249 
 
 satisfactory refutation, it is better to attack the principles 
 per dirccttun. Now it appears to me that the whole evil of 
 the system is apparent in the last quoted note. He lays 
 down the principle of utility as that which produces the 
 greatest happiness to each individual as regards morals, or 
 the greatest happiness to the greatest number as regards 
 politics. This happiness he considers to be composed of 
 certain ingredients divisible into two classes, viz. pleasures 
 and pains ; and he has given a very beautiful analysis of 
 them, borrowed, however, in a great measure from Spinosa's 
 third book * De Afifectibus.' He then establishes four * Sanc- 
 tions ' (i) the physical, by which a man will avoid physical 
 pain, and seek physical pleasure ; (2) the moral, which 
 operates chiefly through the medium of the opinion of 
 others as to our conduct, so that he sometimes calls it 
 the sanction of human or public opinion ; (3) the political 
 sanction, namely, the pains and pleasures affixed by laws 
 to our conduct ; (4) the religious sanction, which he con- 
 siders too weak to have any effect, on account of the dis- 
 tance of its proffered pains and pleasures ; for he calls those 
 pleasures the most desirable which are most speedy, certain, 
 intense and lasting, and vice versa of pains. 
 
 Now one thing that stares you in the face in all this 
 doctrine is, what can be the use of it } It is our interest, 
 he tells us, to secure the greatest lot of desirable pleasures 
 with the least admixture of pains, but pray who is to tell 
 us which are most desirable t He makes a fine catalogue, 
 somebody else may make a different one ; or, in other words, 
 as he tells us in the famous note, God's pleasure (and a 
 fortiori, the wisest man's opinion) is to be judged by every 
 individual according to his own fancy. In one sense, indeed, 
 his whole theory is only a truism ; for men will necessarily 
 act according to what gives the most pleasure and least 
 pain, and do not require Bentham's recommendation to do 
 so ; but if Bentham means, as he does, that the philosopher's 
 view of pleasures and pains is to be taken, how can he ex- 
 pect that any man will give more credit to his (Bentham's) 
 philosophy than he (Bentham himself) is willing to give to
 
 250 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1829^ 
 
 others who assert what God's pleasure is ? Each man will 
 answer, ' I am my own philosopher, and know best what 
 will give me the most pleasure and least pain.' The thief, 
 the drunkard, the debauchee may say, ' It is very true our 
 pleasures are short, but they are intense, and make up by 
 their intensity for want of duration,' and so on. To sum 
 up. Men will always in one sense seek pleasure and avoid 
 pain, but you say, ' We mean philosophical pleasure and 
 philosophical pain ; ' then I answer ' Every man will be his 
 own philosopher, and as for your sanctions how are they 
 to act upon men whom you teach at the outset to despise 
 any rule of conduct but that which their own good pleasure 
 suggests } ' 
 
 Now to turn to the more pleasing picture. What is the 
 peculiar beauty of Christianity ? It affords ample scope 
 for the exercise of the reason, but at the same time teaches 
 us that there is a divine reason which, unlike ours, coincides 
 with the affections ; perfect wisdom and perfect love being 
 identical. It teaches us that our hearts are desperately 
 corrupt and widely removed from the guidance even of 
 natural reason, for what we would not that we do. How 
 is this corruption to be cured ? By the eradication of the 
 selfish principle which regards neither God nor man, and 
 the implanting of a faith which enables us in some sense 
 to see the union of wisdom and love. But how can such 
 eradication be effected .-* By no other means than a child- 
 like submission to Him whose works proved His authority, 
 and who spake as never man spake, and by giving up our 
 whole affections also to Him as the undoubted fountain 
 of light and love. We are thus at once enlightened in 
 our understandings, and corrected in the depravity of our 
 hearts, which, no longer dwelling on ourselves, expand in 
 benevolence to our fellow-creatures as such ; that is, as the 
 offspring of a common Father, who must, as indeed He 
 tells us, love them, and whom He therefore commands us 
 to love. 
 
 I will only add one hint. Take the three principles of 
 love, fear, and mere selfish calculation, and how quickly can
 
 -i837 Letters, 1829-1836. 251 
 
 the advantage of the first be perceived as enforcing action, 
 whether the object loved be present or absent, with equal 
 energy and uniformity ; whilst fear, independently of its 
 slavish effects on the mind, will not operate without the 
 strongest conviction of the power and presence of the person 
 feared ; and selfish calculation is irregular in its results, 
 depending on the caprice of passion and the changes of 
 sensibility. 
 
 Hearty Greeting on Return to his Parish. 
 
 July 15, 1833. 
 My dearest Mother, .... My dear flock rallied round 
 me yesterday in grand style, as if glad to see me after even 
 one Sunday's absence. I certainly intend to take a month's 
 holiday, or rather absence from my parish ; I know few 
 things more delightful than the return to one's parish after 
 a short absence ; the smile of recognition, the friendly nod, 
 sometimes even the extended hand, as one walks up the 
 aisle to the vestry, which awaits one from the earlier 
 comers to church. Then the clerk, the sexton, the beadles, 
 all activity and bustle, the bolder few pressing into the 
 vestry to say they are glad to see the Vicar back ; the 
 triumphant voluntary of the organist, the responses rather 
 better made than usual, the charity children seeming as if 
 they would speak if they dared, the poor ' God blessing 
 you, glad to see your reverence back ; ' then, when in the 
 pulpit, you look round upon the well-filled pews, their in- 
 mates seem to look back a ' How d'ye do 1 ' All these are 
 joys which a pastor's heart only can feel ; and feeling them, 
 he feels himself more than repaid for all his troubles. 
 These joys I have experienced, and I hope to experience 
 them again. And now having given you this pretty picture, 
 I will send to you a parson's blessing, if you will send a 
 mother's blessing in return to 
 
 Your devoted Son, 
 
 W. F. Hook.
 
 252 Life of Walter Farqtihar Hook. 1829- 
 
 From W. P. Wood, Esq. — Christian Ethics — Brewstet^s 
 Life of Newton. 
 
 Lincoln's Inn : August 1833. 
 
 .... I agree with you certainly on the point of con- 
 science, and detest Paley's chapter on the Moral Sense. 
 The question is not, whether it be thought right in one 
 country to kill your aged parents, and in another to 
 cherish them, but whether there be, or be not, a principle 
 within us, which occasions uneasiness when we do that 
 which we think wrong, however erroneous our estimate of 
 right and wrong may be. I have not read Brown's ' Philo- 
 sophy of the Mind,' but have read his ' Cause and Effect,' 
 a work undoubtedly of great merit and some originality, 
 but falling into the general error or vice of the Scotch 
 school — abusing Berkeley, and at the same time pillaging 
 him most unmercifully, so that one cannot but suspect 
 them of Voltaire's course with Shakspeare — thieving, and 
 throwing filth upon their booty to conceal it. 
 
 I like your suggestion of Scripture Ethics, the more so 
 because, in my vanity, one of my favourite plans if ever I 
 became rich, and free from the necessary drudgery of a 
 profession, has been to write on what I meant to term 
 Christian Ethics. , . . My scheme would be to draw out 
 a system, as near as possible resembling those of the 
 heathen authors, whose heads were by no means deficient ; 
 and thus to point out more clearly, in what they were 
 really deficient in each branch of duty ; for though my 
 principles would be essentially different, and therefore the 
 results would be correspondingly modified, yet, no doubt, 
 \k\& principle of conscience has been too strong to be, in 
 fact, obliterated, and therefore the details of right and 
 wrong in the several relations of life would not vary so 
 much as might be at first imagined. . . . 
 
 I have been pleased lately with the Life of Newton, 
 by Brewster. Brewster is, I am happy to find, a sincere 
 Christian, and as such takes great pains to clear up the 
 question of Newton's alleged insanity, of which some
 
 -1837 Letters, 1829-1836. 253 
 
 infidel French philosophers, (as they style themselves) 
 have made use, in order to effect a wider breach than 
 already too often exists between intellect and religion, 
 and to prove that none who have eaten of the tree of 
 knowledge can ever be desirous of approaching the tree 
 of life. These miserable men seem to envy the blissful 
 serenity which religion alone was able to impart to 
 Newton's naturally irritable temperament ; and have as- 
 serted, first, that he was mad during the latter half of his 
 life ; second, that he wrote his theological works during 
 that interval. Brewster has demonstrated from published 
 and unpublished documents, first, that he was never de- 
 ranged, though he suffered a short attack of extreme ner- 
 vous excitement, occasioned by the loss of his papers by 
 fire ; and second, that one of his principal theological works 
 was written before even his alleged madness, and that he 
 w^as also before that time in correspondence with Locke 
 on the Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation. 
 
 Zeal for God, not according to knowledge, 
 
 Birmingham : August 23, 1833. 
 
 My dearest Brother, . . . The error of lies not in 
 
 his religious principles, but in weakness of judgment, and 
 consequent obstinacy of character ; it is his logic, not his 
 religion which is to blame ; not his principles, but his wrong 
 application of them. His position is true, that if the 
 commands of his God and the wishes of his father are at 
 variance, the former are to be obeyed rather than the latter ; 
 but he does not see that it is, in the first place, important 
 to be morally certain as to what the command of God in 
 any particular case is ; for a man may (as he has done) 
 mistake for a command of his God what is, in fact, merely 
 the surmise of his own mind. He thinks it to be his duty 
 to God to attempt the conversion of his sisters ; but, who 
 commissioned him to do this ? who gave him authority 
 over his sisters ? If he looks to the Bible, he may be 
 certain that it is his duty to honour his parents ; if he
 
 254 Life of Walter Farqiihar Hook. 1829- 
 
 appeals to his common sense, he must perceive that he 
 cannot dishonour them more than by leading their children 
 to infer that they have neglected their education, in the 
 most essential of all points. He thus neglects a duty of 
 which he may be certain, to perform a duty which he 
 cannot prove that he is commissioned to perform. For 
 again I ask, who gave him such commission .'' all he can 
 say is, that he feels it to be a duty ; but I remember a 
 poor man who felt it to be a duty to send the first good 
 man he met to heaven, and consequently he killed him. 
 To trust to mere feeling is absurd ; we are always to do 
 what our conscience thinks right, but we are to enquire 
 whether that is right which our conscience thus thinks. 
 That it would be his duty, if he had children of his own, 
 to seek for God's grace to instil into their minds the 
 doctrines he believes to be true, there can be no doubt ; 
 that he is thus to promote God's truth wherever Provi- 
 dence affords an opportunity for doing so, without the 
 violation of any known duty, is also not to be doubted ; 
 but here Providence does not open a door to him ; he 
 cannot attempt this without dishonouring his parents. As 
 
 Lady observes, the children are theirs not his ; if God 
 
 intends him to be the means of awakening them (supposing 
 that they are not awakened to a proper sense of religion), 
 he will call their parents to himself and put it into their 
 minds to leave him as their guardian. Then what is 
 now presumption will become a duty. He is now acting 
 as if he were without faith in the special providence of 
 God. I say all this because I am sure he will only be 
 confirmed in his errors if they are ascribed to his religion. 
 Religion has nothing to do with them. He would be indig- 
 nant at the idea ; but I think that between his religious 
 principles and mine, there can scarcely be a shade of 
 difference ; the grace of God has softened and sanctified 
 his heart, and his affections are right with his Saviour. It 
 is the head that is the source of all the mischief, I have 
 known him quote texts of Scripture in a sense directly 
 opposed to what is correct, from mere ignorance of the
 
 -1837 Letters, 1 829-1 836. 255 
 
 Greek ; he converses on religious topics only with persons 
 as ignorant as himself: he learns to dogmatise on his own 
 imaginations ; he becomes self-sufficient and soon learns to 
 think all the world wrong except the few weak but well- 
 meaning characters who love his virtues and have not the 
 skill to discover that he is no wiseacre. Now all this 
 might just as well have happened to him if he had given 
 up his mind to banking instead of religion ; he would then 
 perhaps have undertaken, on some hypothesis of his own, 
 to set you all right in the mode of doing business. Depend 
 upon it, my dearest Robert, that the fault in all this 
 matter is to be traced to a weak head, not to a pious 
 heart ; his piety only renders his obstinacy and self-suffi- 
 ciency less than they would otherwise have been ; and I 
 doubt not but that these faults, venial faults, will gradually 
 diminish in so bright and almost perfect a character. But 
 let the language of his friends be to him, not 'you are too 
 religious,' for then he will think himself a martyr ; but ' you 
 are a bit of a blockhead ; ' he may then perhaps seek for 
 advice. I take it, his education was defective ; not being 
 of an energetic character, he did not work, I suppose, at 
 Eton ; and it may be lamented that he had not been sent 
 instead to a good strict tutor, who would have compelled 
 him to study. When he was with me, I wished to per- 
 suade him to study Adam Smith, but he had no powers of 
 application, and soon laid aside what could only be 
 mastered by deep thought. I think now the best thing 
 would be for him to have a separate lodging, and not to 
 live in his father's house, where his morbid feelings would 
 be increased, and if it were possible to find a really 
 religious friend of great abilities, who would urge him on 
 to deep study, even on theological matters, I think all 
 would come right. The worst of it is, there are no really 
 learned and clever men whom he will tolerate ; men of his 
 sort can only put up with flatterers, with persons who 
 entirely agree with them. 
 
 Your devoted Brother, 
 
 W. F. Hook.
 
 256 Life of Walter Farqiihar Hook. 1829- 
 
 From W. /*. Wood^ Esq. — Berkeley's Philosophy. 
 
 Lincoln's Inn : December 7, 1833. 
 
 .... I am glad you are about to read Berkeley. There 
 was never, I think, any man since Plato who was gifted 
 with imagination and reasoning power in so high a degree ; 
 and if he, like Plato, occasionally let his imagination run 
 wild, yet I question whether Plato ever, like Berkeley, prac- 
 tically acted on the views which were deemed visionary, 
 and thus gave evidence of sincerity and singleness of heart. 
 I am always in love with Berkeley when I think of his 
 proffered resignation of the bishopric to ameliorate the 
 condition of the unhappy Bermudians. . . . You will feel 
 the great value of Berkeley as giving a sound resting place 
 for the mind amid the bewilderments of metaphysics. It 
 is quite false to say that Hume has demonstrated that 
 there is no siich thing as spirit ; on the same principle 
 Berkeley had shown that there was no such thing as 
 matter. In the first place, Berkeley makes no such asser- 
 tion, but simply that matter, considered independently of 
 mind, is a nonenity. That all those sensations we daily 
 experience from objects termed external, are real, Berkeley, 
 who is eminently an experimental or Baconian philosopher, 
 was never absurd enough to deny. For external, read 
 independent of us or our minds, and you will have 
 Berkeley's notion of matter as regards man ; but he boldly 
 asserts that matter cannot be conceived of by us as inde- 
 pendent of a mind. The Scotch metaphysicians to a man 
 either wilfully or stupidly jumble a mind with the mind, 
 meaning each individual's mind, whilst by a mind, Berkeley 
 means i-^;«^ mind or other ; and admitting that the table at 
 which I am now writing will exist when I do not think of 
 it, the question is. Can it exist if there be no mind to 
 limit out its nature, which is but an aggregate of sensations.? 
 Berkeley says, No ; and experience, I think, demonstrates 
 that what can only be known as an object of sensation, 
 owes its existence to a sentient power ; not mine or yours,
 
 -1837 Letters, 1829-1836. 257 
 
 because experience shows the sensations to exist indepen- 
 dently of your will or mine, but to the Eternal sentient 
 power by whose will our minds perceive it as that which is 
 created or willed by Him. This is always to mc the most 
 beautiful demonstration of a God, and most satisfactory 
 refutation of the eternity of matter which is, according to 
 Berkeley, an absurdity, matter being but the stage in 
 which certain volitions of the Supreme Mind arc exhibited 
 to man. The resurrection of the body also becomes thus at 
 once intelligible, because He who wills us to perceive the 
 efforts of His will in a certain manner now, may cause us 
 to perceive them in a similar manner at any future time, 
 blessing us probably with additional pleasure by a more 
 thorough perception of the beauty of His work. By ^us* 
 you will see I consider the mind alone, regarding the 
 material about lis as no other than a combination of God's 
 impressed thoughts (if I may so say) which affects our 
 minds with various impressions, such as pain and pleasure 
 and their infinite varieties. . . . 
 
 I have not time to write to you about Miss Martineau's 
 Tales, of which of course you have heard, and we have read 
 many. Some are, I think, excellent, and all are powerful 
 where her imagination comes into play. Her reasoning is 
 not and does not pretend to be original. It is taken verba- 
 tim from Malthus and McCulloch, a bad school, and her 
 sectarianism not unfrequently peeps out ; but I would 
 recommend you strongly to read the ' Manchester Strike,' 
 which might I think be useful to your poor people at 
 Coventry hereafter, if the time should come when any such 
 folly should be meditated. 
 
 To IV. P. Wood, Esq. — Plaiii Sermons — Optimism — 
 Mode of Conducting Divine Service. 
 
 December 9, 1833. 
 
 And now, my dearest friend, I am determined to sit 
 down to have a little gossip with you. When one's hands 
 are full one thinks it impossible to write a long letter, and, 
 VOL. I. S
 
 258 Life of Walter Farqtihar Hook. 1829- 
 
 therefore, neglects to commence one ; an unwise course, 
 seeing that a short letter is better than none, and that, in 
 this respect as in some others, one frequently finds that 
 what is * impossible, does sometimes come to pass.' I be- 
 lieve Seneca is right when he says, ' Scis quare non possumus 
 ista ? quia nos posse non credimus.' 
 
 In the first place let me ask whether you think Rose 
 has done justice to your brother's sermons. The slight 
 censure makes the praise doubly valuable, and I incline 
 to agree with the critic, that there is something rather 
 objectionable in the sermon on our Saviour's sufferings. I 
 wish he could be prevailed upon in another edition to give 
 us more than twelve, or rather, to send out a second 
 volume. I really have never read anything better fitted 
 for its intended purpose than that volume. ' Dispeream 
 si quid legi unquam sanctius, aut si quid potuit populo 
 tradier utilius.' I hate the title ; it would be better were 
 it to describe the sermons as addressed to a congregation 
 entirely agricultural ; ' plain sermons,' &c., plain everything 
 I dislike, because the term has been used so much, that 
 it seems to savour of affectation ; it as much as says, I, 
 the author, could do a great deal better, but behold how I 
 condescend to men of low estate. Now it is well known, 
 and admitted on all hands, that really plain sermons, such 
 as his, are the most difficult compositions in the language. 
 Tell him to go on ; I wish he would learn the art of weaving, 
 and send me some sermons for my manufacturers ; I am 
 such a ' thick ' that I cannot, for the life of me, understand 
 the art of weaving, and I seldom venture beyond a quota- 
 tion, to remind my people that their days are swifter than 
 a weaver's shuttle. 
 
 I am a bit of an optimist, I always look to the bright 
 side of things ; though I sometimes croak, as I sometimes 
 scold Delicia, not because she deserves a scolding but, as 
 I tell her, to keep her up to duty-mark (a very whole- 
 some exercise, take my word for it). You will, of course, 
 rub out the parenthesis before you show this to your wife. 
 But I really like to trace good out of evil ; you know how
 
 -i837 Letters, 1 829- 1 836. 259 
 
 I disapproved of Roman Catholic Emancipation, but now 
 that the measure has been carried, instead of looking on 
 the attendant evils (as I think them), I look to the good 
 which will result, and one great good in my opinion is, 
 that we shall no longer attempt to club together, and to 
 hold up general Protestantism against Popery. Take 
 Protestantism in general, that is, all sects not popish, and I 
 think there is quite as much error on one side as the other. 
 I would side with a Papist rather than a Unitarian ; I hope 
 that henceforth the question will simply be between the 
 Church of England and the Church of Rome ; so far as we, 
 who are members of the Church of England, are leaving 
 other Protestants to fight their own battles, we have a very 
 strong case. As to theirs, I fancy they must fight hard 
 to obtain the victory. In like manner, the attacks which 
 are made on the liturgy will do good, by inducing per- 
 sons to examine the subject yet further, and thus to 
 appreciate its excellencies more highly. The clergy have, 
 in my opinion, been very careless as to their mode of per- 
 forming divine service, reading prayers instead of performing 
 service. The officiating minister ought to have two objects 
 always in view ; his own devotions and a desire to excite 
 the devotions of others, and to do justice to the glorious 
 services of the Church. The latter object is too often lost 
 sight of ; for my part, I continually keep it in view, and 
 even when I am not officiating myself, I always in my own 
 church appear in my official character, and take as much 
 pains to lead the responses as the clerk. Justice is very 
 seldom done to the liturgy ; I had some remarks on this 
 subject in the October number of the ' British Magazine.* 
 
 To the same — Attitude toivards Dissenters. 
 
 December 20, 1833. 
 
 During the season of Christmas — sermons, sacraments, 
 
 and holy rejoicings, you cannot expect a long letter. But 
 
 yet I cannot refrain from expressing to you how heartily 
 
 and entirely I concux with you in ail you say in your last 
 
 S2
 
 26o Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1829- 
 
 The comparison between the worshippers on Mount Gerizim 
 and the Dissenters is admirable, and is precisely the view 
 I have always taken of the question. We are, moreover, 
 always in speaking of an action to make the distinction 
 between what is absolutely and what is relatively right 
 or wrong. It is for the intention only, i.e. the relative 
 rightness or wrongness, that a man will be judged, if he 
 has properly enquired, as far as his abilities permit, as to 
 the absolute nature of the action. That schism is a sin, 
 we know, but that every schismatic (so called) is a sinner, 
 I by no means admit, for he may not act with a schis- 
 matical intent. And yet it may be charity in me, in some 
 instances, to tell him that I think him a schismatic, in 
 order to awaken him to enquiry. In some instances I say ; 
 for my rule is never to disturb the faith of those who 
 have been educated in Dissent, if they hold the doctrine 
 of the Atonement, if they are persons not qualified to 
 judge of the differences between us. Believe me, my 
 dearest friend, that you have quite mistaken me, if you 
 think I regard Presbyterians, Wesleyans, &c., in the light 
 of heathens, /z,^ fyhoiro. I regard them just as you do ; 
 they look only to the end, without sufficiently thinking of 
 the means ; they labour to bring men to Christ, and they 
 do well, but they forget that besides this there is another 
 object which ought not to be overlooked ; to wit, the pre- 
 servation of the purity and unity of the Church. I believe 
 that our position is this : you may be going in the right 
 road, and I hope you are ; but I feel more certain that this 
 is the right road, and, therefore, I remain in it ; my assur- 
 ance is stronger. 
 
 To the same — Ths Gpod and Evil of the Established 
 
 Church. 
 
 February 4, 1834. 
 
 .... I perfectly agree with you in thinking that a 
 man may be attached to the Church, and opposed to an 
 establishment ; Bishop Hobart was so, and most of the very 
 high Churchmen in England are so : it was indeed chiefly
 
 -1837 Letters, 1 829-1 836. 261 
 
 with a view to them that I have printed the second sermon.^ 
 If you look to the rehgious public only, I should agree ; 
 but, looking to the irreligious also, I do not agree. I know 
 that you think an establishment tends to secularise the 
 clergy ; but I see quite as much, and more, secularity 
 among the Dissenting ministers. If the clergy are too 
 much inclined to Toryism, the Dissenting ministers are to 
 radicalism, and some of the Dissenting meeting-houses in 
 this city are, every Sunday evening, converted after service 
 into political debating societies. Is not the Dissenting 
 teacher as secular when seeking to fill his pews by preach- 
 ing, not truth, but popular doctrine, as the clergyman who 
 makes unworthy compliances to conciliate a patron ,-• Both 
 are to be condemned ; but while the world lasts some 
 degree of secularity in twelve thousand men there must 
 be ; the only question is, whether it matters how it shows 
 itself ,'' Mind, my dear friend, I do not quarrel with you 
 for taking just the opposite view, I only state what occurs 
 to me : my prejudices may induce me to exaggerate the 
 advantages of an establishment, and yet the time was when 
 I preferred being without one. 
 
 From W. P. Wood, Esq. — Advantages and Evils of an 
 Established Religion. 
 
 Lincoln's Inn : February 1834. 
 
 , ,\ . \ think you have brought forward every argu- 
 ment in favour of an establishment with the greatest 
 force. You tell me you hope to convert me, and will, I 
 dare say, think me an obstinate creature if not quite a 
 convert. However, I will acknowledge that you have 
 confirmed my perhaps hesitating opinion that where we 
 find a Church established we ought not to lend any assist- 
 ance towards z^//establishing. I am not a lover of change 
 at any time for the sake of change (though you may 
 smile at this, looking to my radicalism) ; I ever consider 
 change as a positive evil, for assuredly happiness consists 
 
 * * On tlie Church and the Establishment.'
 
 262 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1829^ 
 
 in tranquillity, and He who is all wise and all happy is 
 immutable ; but there are cases, as all must admit, where 
 the evils of abiding in your actual state and the advantage 
 to be derived from a change fully justify the effort and 
 sacrifice required for alteration. Such, however, is not, 
 I think, the case with regard to the establishment. 
 Amongst the evils, which I cannot but yet think inci- 
 dent to the compulsory support by the State of any 
 religious doctrine, there are to be found unquestionably 
 great and perhaps counterbalancing benefits, and I would 
 not root up the tares lest the wheat be rooted up also. 
 
 Of course I do not think an establishment unscriptural, 
 that is, forbidden by Scripture, or I should consider the 
 question settled. * Unscriptural ' is one of those convenient 
 words for controversy, which allow the opponents of the 
 Church the widest possible field by keeping off any close 
 attack. In one sense, unquestionably, the Establishment 
 is unscriptural ; that is to say, the early Christian Church 
 as delineated in Scripture rested, from the necessity of the 
 case, upon no support from the State, and this the Dis- 
 senter falls back upon, when pressed by argument. I think 
 your argument as to the Jewish Church a very good one 
 against the Establishment being unscriptural in any other 
 sense, but I do not think it equally good as a positive 
 reason to urge us to an alliance of Church and State, for 
 there was a direct temporal covenant between God and the 
 Jewish nation. The government remained in some sense 
 a theocracy even after St. Paul's conversion, and where God 
 was the temporal monarch it was almost a necessary conse- 
 quence that His ministers would be temporal governors also. 
 My objections, or rather I should say my difficulties, as to 
 establishments are several ; first, political, the difficulty of 
 choosing your establishment, for I incline to think that the 
 forcing of six millions in Ireland to pay for the maintenance 
 of the religion of one million is almost unscriptural in the 
 worst sense. In Scotland we have acted differently ; treat- 
 ing Ireland as a conquered country, that is, by the rule of 
 force. I think an establishment of our Church in India,
 
 -i837 Letters, 1 829-1 836. 263 
 
 supported by forced contributions from the natives, would 
 be monstrous. To this I know you will answer that the 
 tithes are a gift by Christian possessors. This may, and 
 I think, does apply to England ; but consider how the pos- 
 sessors acquired their property in Ireland — by nothing in 
 fact but brutal violence done to the large majority of 
 that nation, though a weak minority as compared with the 
 overwhelming forces of England. My second objection to 
 establishments is, their effect on the clergy, but I will 
 not enter into a long disquisition on this point ; and my 
 third objection is, the effect on the laity, who become 
 members of a Church because it is established, and make 
 no further enquiry. I admit great force in the arguments 
 you bring forward as to the indirect effect on families, 
 and I admit also the difficulties entangling the whole 
 question, but I should ever wish, above all things, to see 
 the questions kept separate, for there are not many who 
 have your liberality in thinking one can belong to the 
 Church of Christ without being over anxious as to the 
 seats of bishops in Parliament, and the other consequences 
 of a union between Church and State ; and this species of 
 bigotry is itself one of the evils of that union, for I fear 
 many give the State at least equal consideration. 
 
 To W. P. Wood, Esq.— A busy Week. 
 
 Coventry : Easter Monday, March 31, 1834. 
 
 I write to you to thank you for your kind letter, though 
 I cannot write much ; for although my hard work of 
 Passion Week is over, yet my feasting work of Easter Week 
 has begun. My curate, Mr. Crawford, this day regales the 
 girls of our blue-coat school ; to-morrow our vestry dine 
 together ; next day I feast fifty young operatives, who 
 assist in the management of our Sunday schools ; Thurs- 
 day, I suppose, I shall be sick with all this festivity ; 
 Friday, I must visit my poor ; Saturday, write my sermon \ 
 so, you see, though very pleasant, my hands are very full ; 
 and, to add to my calamities, my wife is going to desert
 
 264 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1829- 
 
 me ; she is to pay a visit for ten days to her parents, at 
 the Monument ; I hope to join her for two days next week, 
 and then I intend (D.V.) to take a bond fide holiday, by 
 skipping a Sunday and spending a fortnight at Leaming- 
 ton with my mother. 
 
 To W. P. Wood, Esq. — Correspondence of Alexander Knox 
 and BisJwp J ebb — Henry Martin — Lucas on Happiness. 
 
 September 22, 1834. 
 
 i . . . I exhort you very earnestly to read the cor- 
 respondence of Knox and J ebb, because it is a book 
 well calculated to calm your mind at the present time, 
 and to set one a-thinking in the right line. I am rather 
 urgent upon this subject, because, moreover, while Mr. 
 Knox frequently reminds me of you, while he was to 
 Bishop Jebb nearly as much as you are to me ; their 
 system of Christian philosophy is one peculiarly adapted 
 to you. I think that of late (and under your present 
 afflictive circumstances it is natural that it should be so) 
 your views with respect to religion have taken a less bright 
 turn than I could wish ; I mean that you seem to despond 
 too much about the capabilities of renewed human 
 nature and, falling a little into the spirit of the age, to 
 rate too highly the active, and too lowly the contempla- 
 tive life. On all these points the words of Knox and 
 Jebb appear to me to be the words of soberness and 
 truth. We are not to underrate, and we are not to over- 
 rate, the persons of active life, the practical men as they 
 are called ; but the meditative Christian may, perhaps, 
 be able to draw nearer to perfection than the other ; 
 though the meditative Christian philosopher would scarcely, 
 in these days, be called a Christian at all. I would not 
 have you measure yourself by Henry Martin, nor would 
 I have held you up to Henry Martin as a model. I think 
 that Martin, by the bye, committed a grievous error in 
 throwing himself out of that sphere to which Providence 
 assuredly called him ; and hence, probably, his want of
 
 -i837 Letters, 1829-1836. 265 
 
 success. I wish not to detract from the virtues of so 
 admirable a man ; but I should say to another, if God has 
 caused you to be born in a Christian country, has put it 
 into your parents' minds to give you a learned education, 
 and has so far blessed your exertions as to enable you to 
 become a senior wrangler, you should read in that circum- 
 stance His command to serve Him as a man of learning 
 and reading. Practical work may be performed by an in- 
 ferior intellect, not only as well, but better ; the religious 
 cultivation of intellect is a duty to those who have the time. 
 Again, I would say that those who find themselves en- 
 gaged in a secular profession ought not to torment them- 
 selves, because they are not directly engaged in God's work ; 
 they may do more good by the rhetoric of their good 
 example. Knox and J ebb are great perfectionists ; re- 
 ligious edification, not religious excitement, was what they 
 sought ; and feeling sure that the Scriptures could not urge 
 an impossibility, they fully expected to reach, and I really 
 believe they did reach what the Scripture means by per- 
 fection ; although, because not a bustling, busy, practical 
 man, Bishop Jebb was much abused by the Evangelicals. 
 If you wish to see what the Scripture means by perfection, 
 I would refer you to a book recommended in their letters, 
 the second volume of Lucas upon Happiness ; a work 
 which is so strictly devotional that it would be a good 
 one for your Sunday readings. I delight in it ; you will 
 there find it, I think, satisfactorily proved that when the 
 Scriptures speak of perfection, they mean habitual righteous- 
 ness. Conversion begins, perfection completes, the habit. 
 Habit is second nature, therefore the habitually righteous 
 are called new creatures, partakers of the divine nature, &c. 
 Lucas shows how a man, in this world, can live without 
 sin, that is, mortal sin ; venial sin or imperfections of course 
 there are, but these he would style frailties : I perfectly 
 agree with him. If you look upon sin as unconnected 
 with a Saviour, there can be no such thing as venial sin ; 
 sin is the transgression of the law, and the soul that 
 sinneth it shall die. But what has Christ done for us ?
 
 266 Life of Walter Farqiihar Hook. 1829- 
 
 He has procured heaven for the habitually righteous ; they 
 are thus freed from the penalty of the original law ; and 
 being under the Gospel their occasional infirmities are 
 either not to be called sins, or to be classed as venial sins, 
 not having in them any longer the sentence of death. 
 Connected with this subject Lucas and the correspondents 
 would open a via media with respect to Romans vii., 
 neither agreeing with those who would apply the passage 
 to the renewed Christian as long as he is in the flesh, 
 nor agreeing with those who would have applied it to the 
 unrenewed. They would apply it to such as are in a pro- 
 gressive state, who are in progress to renovation ; to the 
 babe in Christ, the young man of St. John, not to the per- 
 fect man, not to the fathers. 
 
 To W. P. Wood, Esq. — Scrmon-wriiing — Knox and Jehh — 
 Regeneration and Renovation. 
 
 September 31, 1834. 
 
 I avail myself of a wet day and a little poorlytnde to 
 have a little coze with you. I very often feel inclined to 
 write to you, indeed I always do when I am in meditation 
 mood ; but that is the very time, of course, for sermonising 
 also : and as duty must yield to pleasure, so my correspond- 
 ence with you flags, that sermons may exist. For my part, 
 I think one sermon per week for a man of moderate 
 abilities, and with three days entirely devoted to practical 
 work, during which writing and reading must be suspended, 
 is quite enough. I write my sermon at a sitting, at least 
 generally, and I find those extempore discourses tell best ; 
 but then I have to think it well over during the early days 
 of the week, and to consult commentators when there is 
 need ; and sometimes one cannot help feeling, as one 
 advances in learning oneself, that it would be pleasanter to 
 have a more intellectual congregation than I have here. 
 It is not pleasant, and perhaps not profitable, to be obliged 
 to check one's thoughts, and to blot out a page because 
 you feel it to be above the reach of any of your hearers.
 
 1S37 Letters, 1 829-1 836. 267 
 
 But then, on the other hand, the moral disclph'ne is very- 
 useful ; and when a man begins to think that he could do 
 better in a more extensive sphere, the probability is that 
 there is a spirit of pride lurking in the heart, and ' Get thee 
 behind me, Satan ! ' ought to be resolutely said with a 
 prayer for grace. 
 
 Delicia and I are reading together the correspondence 
 of Bishop Jebb with Mr. Alexander Knox; it is a work which 
 no one can read without improvement. The natural, 
 fervent, glowing eloquence of Mr. Knox is sometimes very 
 striking. In the use of some terms he is unfortunate ; e.g. 
 he uses the word regeneration for what we should call 
 renovation, making, as the apostle does, a distinction 
 between the washing of regeneration and the renewing of 
 the Holy Ghost. Both are needful to make the complete 
 Christian, but the renewing of the Holy Ghost may not be, 
 as we too sadly see, where the regeneration has been. 
 Regeneration was the term applied to baptism by all the 
 Fathers; by every writer, I believe, till the Reformation, 
 and it was used to denote, not the final triumph of grace 
 over the heart, but the primaiy operations of the Spirit in 
 the scheme of man's redemption. The Puritans used the 
 term to signify the final triumph of grace over the heart ; 
 and then, giving a new meaning to the term, abused the 
 Church for using the word in the old sense. I believe that 
 much of the difficulty which some persons have as to the 
 true doctrine is to be traced to their considering, perhaps, 
 without acknowledging, grace to be indefectible, and to 
 their forgetting that by the neglect of the person or the 
 parent the Spirit may be quenched. I look upon the 
 doctrine as important, as it at once puts an end -to idle 
 fears as to election. We can say to the penitent who has 
 been baptized, ' You are elected, so far as the Scripture 
 says anything of election ; ' and it enables us to tell others, 
 'If you fall, the fault will be yours, since the Holy Ghost 
 has covenanted to create a new heart in you, if you will 
 but apply to Him.* While on this subject I will mention a 
 new argument, which I have lately met with on infant
 
 268 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1829- 
 
 baptlsm. Christ blessed infants. Was His blessing an idle 
 ceremony ? No ; if He blessed, He sanctified them ; but 
 how could He sanctify, except by imparting to them a 
 portion of His Spirit ? How the Spirit operates we know 
 not. I would add, with respect to infant baptism, that I 
 apprehend doubts on the subject may be traced to our 
 regarding the Lord Jesus as an instructor, rather than as 
 * the way, the truth, and the life,' through whose merits a 
 being who comes into the world condemned may obtain 
 salvation. 
 
 To W. P. Wood, Esq. — Summoned to Preach at Oxford. 
 
 October 9, 1834. 
 
 I suppose you will soon be settled again in London, I 
 therefore write to you a hasty line — a hasty line — because I 
 have much to do. I have within the last few days received 
 a notice from Oxford calling upon me, as select preacher, 
 to preach on the first Sunday in November. The sudden- 
 ness of this (as I did not expect to be called upon before 
 Christmas), has quite shaken my nerves ; and I begin to 
 feel, that in consenting to become a select preacher before 
 the University, I have presumptuously taken a position 
 far above the reach of my abilities. Who am I, that I 
 should address a learned body, being so unlearned myself.? 
 I really do feel that I have been guilty of unheard of pre- 
 sumption. When I know myself to be really in my 
 place, I have no fears ; but I do fear much, fear lest I 
 should injure the cause I have at heart ; and also, lest I 
 should do discredit to myself, and thus interfere with my 
 usefulness in many ways, when I thus put myself, as it 
 were, out of my place. Now with these feelings it would 
 be an inexpressible comfort to me if you would read my 
 sermon ; having your sanction, I should have confidence, 
 for I know you would not flatter. I rejoiced to hear from 
 Mrs. Wood that you are very busy ; but as you never 
 work on Sundays, I am thinking that you might kindly 
 permit my discourse to form part of your Sunday readings.
 
 -1837 Letters, 1 829-1 836, 269 
 
 either next Sunday se'nnight, or the Sunday following. We 
 so cordially agree in our views on metaphysical and theo- 
 logical subjects, that your opinion would be to me more 
 valuable than anyone's else. The only point I believe on 
 which we differ, is on the necessity of the State's having a 
 religion. I did once entertain your views, and prefer the 
 state of things in Am.erica ; and I believe that these 
 are the highest Church views, and lead one more closely 
 to investigate its spiritual claims, I cannot enter now 
 into the arguments which have made me think differently, 
 but I will (d.v.) some time or other ; I only allude to the 
 circumstance, because there arc one or two passages in the 
 sermon, which I have now nearly finished, bearing upon 
 that point. 
 
 To Rev. y. H. Newman — Suffragan Bishoprics} 
 
 April ir, 1835. 
 
 Our friend, A. Perceval, I find, prefers the division of 
 the Diocese to the restoration of Suffragans. I confess I 
 agree with you rather than with him on this point, because 
 I think it most important that there should be frequent 
 intercourse between the people and the highest order of 
 pastors, and this under existing circumstances can only be 
 done by the reinstitution of Suffragans. Of course we 
 should all prefer the establishment of twenty or thirty new 
 Dioceses, but of that there is no hope, 
 
 I am not so fearful of an open attack as of a system of 
 undermining. Hating the Church as they do, I verily be- 
 lieve that the Whigs will attempt to ruin it by preferring 
 unworthy characters. And surely we ought to be pre- 
 pared for action, we ought to be prepared to petition 
 generally throughout every Diocese against such an ap- 
 
 ^ The Church Commission issued their first Report this year, con- 
 taining proposals for the formation of some new sees, and the readjust- 
 ment of diocesan boundaries and episcopal incomes.
 
 270 Life of Walter FarqitJiar Hook. 1829- 
 
 pointment, and to adopt every lawful means to prevent 
 its confirmation, if made. I think too we ought to get up 
 petitions without loss of time, praying the King to make 
 some alteration in the mode of appointing bishops. I 
 suppose you have read Perceval's pamphlet on the subject. 
 ... I fear that the majority of Conservatives in Parliament 
 are influenced by little better than party feelings with 
 respect to religion. 
 
 To W. P. Wood, Esq. — Siijfyagan Bishops — Admission 
 of Laymen to Convocation — Church and Dissent. 
 
 April 1S35. 
 
 .... I cannot help saying how entirely I agree in all 
 the sentiments you so well express, except in your allusions 
 to the Bishops. I consider it important in this age, when 
 political power is everything, that there should attach some 
 degree of political power and consequence to the heads of 
 the Church. I do not say that the attachment of the peer- 
 age to the bishoprics is not attended with some evil, but 
 I think the good preponderates, and I hope that there will 
 be instituted suffragan bishoprics, for which the constitu- 
 tion makes provision without peerages, and this will bring 
 the bishops and the people, as you wish, into closer com- 
 munion. I perfectly admit what you say touching the 
 propriety of an occasional national synod ; say, a synod to 
 be held once in three years, together with annual diocesan 
 synods ; and I should wish to have the laity represented 
 in them. My former objection was to Convocation, which 
 is, in fact, not an ecclesiastical synod, but, merely a con- 
 vention of ecclesiastics, originally called by the King to 
 tax themselves, and afterwards — first from convenience and 
 then from custom — formed into an assembly for the dis- 
 cussion of spiritual affairs. I am an advocate for the 
 introduction of laymen, though I think the proportion is 
 too great in the American convention, to the constitution 
 of which there are some objections. It is a curious fact
 
 -i837 Letters, 1829-1836. 271 
 
 that, when the attention of the laity is called to such 
 matters, the laity always become higher Churchmen than 
 the clergy, the latter generally I suppose, feeling a fear 
 lest they should appear to advance their personal claims 
 when defending the rights of their order. Our two great 
 High Church authorities are, Robert Nelson, Esq., and 
 Henry Dodwell, Esp. ; and it is a curious fact that, 
 when it was lately proposed in America that the pulpits 
 of the Church should be opened to all sectarians holding 
 the doctrine of the Trinity, the clergy yielded, but the 
 laity resolutely resisted the shameful proposition. So 
 again, when it was proposed to let the Wesleyans unite 
 with the Church on condition that their existing ministers 
 should not be episcopally ordained, here also the clergy, 
 looking to the immense accession to their numbers (not of 
 course to their principles, or what ought to be their 
 principles) which would thus occur, gave ground ; but the 
 laity would not consent. Anything which would bring 
 these subjects under discussion would be a good, at least 
 in our opinion, who believe that we have the truth ; and 
 it is lamentable to see how ignorant the clergy are, even 
 good, pious, hardworking men, on the commonest points of 
 discipline. I agree with you also in what you say of Brother 
 Jonathan ; with all his faults he is our brother, and if I 
 am driven from England, I shall hope to abide with him. 
 America is the next best country to our own, and as to 
 what travellers say of the Americans, we may always 
 reply : the wonder is, not that they are behind us, but that 
 so new a country should have come so near to us. 
 
 To W. P. Wood, Esq. — Catniness and Confidence in 
 the Discharge of Duty. 
 
 Leamington : May 6, 1835. 
 
 .... The cure of twenty thousand souls would not 
 be to me more arduous than that of nine thousand, for 
 why .'' in either case it is impossible to attend to them all,
 
 272 Life of Walter FarquJmr Hook. 1829- 
 
 and God does not require impossibilities at our hands. 
 I should feel then as I feel now, ' All that the Father 
 giveth to me, will come unto me ' ; there will be a special 
 providence over those who are prepared to embrace the 
 means of salvation, and either they will be led to me, or I 
 to them. It is the fault of the present day, to think and 
 to act as if man could do everything, and certainly to 
 forget God's special Providence. Hence that busybodyness 
 which distinguishes the religious world, and prevents that 
 depth of piety which is the result of sober, calm reflection, 
 and which shows itself in doing calmly, and unostentatiously, 
 not what seems likely to be attended with the greatest 
 results, but simply the duty our hand findeth to do. What 
 does God require of me .-• is the question to be asked, and 
 the answer is, nothing that can interfere with any immediate 
 duty. Your immediate duty, for instance, of a Sunday 
 afternoon is, as you say, with your father ; you would be 
 wrong then to omit this, even were the entire welfare of 
 the school to depend on your individual exertions ; for God 
 can provide teachers for the school without your aid. In 
 the morning, no immediate duty claims your time, and you 
 therefore devote it to a work of charity. Now with these 
 principles, I should not feel any fears in undertaking any 
 parish ; and though I do not see any objection to the plan 
 you propose, of licensing rooms for divine service, yet I 
 would never do anything irregular for any object whatever, 
 under the conviction that the times and seasons are in 
 God's own hands. 
 
 To W. P. Wood, Esq. — Youthful Dreams — Advice to 
 
 Young Poets. 
 
 October 14, 1835. 
 
 .... Yesterday I returned, and this my first holiday I 
 
 dedicate to my friend ; for though, after a day of labour, I 
 
 cannot sit down to write a letter, because the stooping tries 
 
 me, I know no recreation greater than that of writing to 
 
 you. I always in doing so regain some portion of that
 
 -i837 Letters, 1829-1836. 273 
 
 boyish enthusiasm for which, as we advance in years, we 
 so often sigh in vain. I remember well the days when 
 the highest object of my ambition was that we should be 
 famed in story as the modern Pylades and Orestes, and 
 appear as twin authors, the rivals of Beaumont and 
 Fletcher. Those were days when I thought no one worthy 
 of consideration except a poet ; and I fondly dreamed 
 what I found out, to my great comfort, in good time to 
 be only a dream, that I was born to be one whose eye 
 should be always in a * fine frenzy rolling.' I have this 
 day thought of this the more, since I found awaiting my 
 arrival from Oxford a small volume of poems by a very 
 youthful poet, requesting me to give my advice as to the 
 publication of them. This kind of thing has often occurred 
 to me, and it places one in a most awkward predicament. 
 If you advise the author to publish, you only send him to 
 the flogging form to be scourged to death by the critics ; 
 and if you tell him honestly that the thing will not do, 
 you seriously hurt a mind which must be sensitive {iniist 
 be, or it would not overflow in poetry), and do injury to 
 feelings which are for the most part amiable. I do cor- 
 dially enter into the feelings of the poor young writers, for 
 I have felt as they feel, and had I been in their situation 
 of life with a friendly pastor to consult, I should most 
 likely have written the same kind of warm-hearted, respect- 
 ful, tremulous letter as those are which I am frequently 
 in the habit of receiving. The volume now before me is 
 accompanied by a letter, which, as it gives me archiepis- 
 copal honours (bishops having succeeded poets in my love), 
 styling me ' most reverend Sir,' is very flattering. But 
 poor lad, what am I to do for him .-* with much poetical 
 sentiment he has much bad grammar, with no povver of ex- 
 pression : — that is, he is born to admire poetry, not to write 
 it ; although he expects clearly that when his volume sees 
 the light, some future Johnson will contend for his admission 
 into the assembly of British poets. I must do to him as 
 I have done for others : after a civil word or two, I must 
 VOL. I, T
 
 2 74 Life of Walter Farqiihar Hook. i«29- 
 
 assume the look, not of a critic, but a friendly adviser, of a 
 Moecius or a Horace, and say of the poem, 
 
 .... nonumque prematur in annum, 
 Membranis intus positis ; delere licebit 
 Quod non edideris. Nescit vox missa reverti. 
 
 This must be the text, and I must expound it ; happy I, 
 that my proteges understand not Latin, or perhaps their 
 minds would go a little higher up the page and understand 
 my hint too clearly, upon seeing. 
 
 Qui nescit, versus tamen audet fingere. 
 
 Luther and C Connell compared — Catholicisvi most potent 
 against Popery. 
 
 October 1835. 
 
 My dearest Mother, .... I am glad that Georgiana so 
 thoroughly understands the principles of the Church of her 
 Saviour, and is not ashamed of them. The danger now is, 
 not from Popery, but from that snare of Satan, ultra- 
 Protestantism. Perhaps, if she had read as much about 
 Luther as I have done, she would have floored her anta- 
 gonist by stating her abhorrence of that man's principles. 
 I am amused to hear those who abuse O'Connell eulogising 
 Luther ; for Luther's line of conduct, his violence, his in- 
 subordination was precisely similar to that of O'Connell. 
 Luther was certainly a most ultra- radical, and he certainly 
 permitted the Elector of Hesse to marry two wives in 
 order that he might secure him for a political partisan. 
 Both he and O'Connell have made religion their pretext ; 
 but whether they were not both rather influenced by a 
 factious spirit, may be doubtful ; the only difi'erence 
 between them is, that they have taken the opposite 
 extremes. I am a lover of truth wherever it leads, and 
 therefore I will not seek to whitewash Luther merely 
 because he was a useful instrument against Popery. I am 
 rather amused at your saying that you would not receive
 
 -i837 Letters, 1 829-1 836. 275 
 
 the Sacraments from a Popish priest, and in the same 
 sentence professing admiration of the Church ; for if the 
 ministrations of Popish priests be not vahd, how do you 
 prove the vaHdity of our own orders, descended as we are, 
 in regular line from Popish priests ? 
 
 Let Georgiana glory in being called a Papist, while she 
 holds not Popish, but Catholic principles. All the great 
 divines of the Church of England, from the blessed 
 martyr Laud, down to Bishop Butler, and from Bishop 
 Butler down to our own times, to Mr. Rose, all have been 
 called Papists, though they have hated the Pope, and done 
 more service against Popery than all the Ultras, who really 
 act on Popish principles. Tell her that when a man in 
 argument urges extreme cases, it is a sign that he is a 
 blockhead, and I always cut the matter short by saying : 
 ' Pray, what would you do if you were a horse } W^heri 
 you have made up your mind on that point, then I will 
 tell you what I should do were I placed in circumstances 
 in which I never expect to be placed.' 
 
 Your devoted Son. 
 
 Contentment with Coventry. 
 
 Coventry : October 2T, 1835. 
 
 My dearest Mother As to any change in my 
 
 preferment, I speak the sentiments both of Dclicia and 
 myself, which we often express to one another in great 
 sincerity, that we should contemplate any change with 
 sorrow. Here we are, as perfectly happy and as nearly 
 contented as mortals can be. Two hundred a year, to 
 enable me to buy a few more books and her to have a 
 little carriage, would be the very summit of our wishes j 
 and if that wish were granted, other evils would attend. 
 If we improve our condition in one way, we should only 
 injure it in another ; we have here a union of perfect 
 retirement in one respect, with just sufficient excitement 
 in another. I hope you will persevere in your course of 
 
 T 2
 
 276 Life of Walter Fai'qnhar Hook. 1829- 
 
 saying nothing about me or my affairs ; as the good old 
 Bishop used to say, * The less we hear of ourselves, either 
 in praise or dispraise, the better.' As regards myself, my 
 system has always been to act according to my own views, 
 to do what I think right, without the least regard to the 
 opinions of others, to evil report, or good report ; this is 
 the only way to obtain peace of mind and consistency of 
 conduct. I find now that those who were at one time 
 very angry with me, seeing they cannot alter me, are 
 beginning to praise me ; to wit, our kindhearted Bishop. 
 I will not budge a step to go over to others, and therefore 
 many others of my acquaintance have come over to me, 
 while all do me the favour of leaving off any attempts to 
 convert me. I have always determined to be independent, 
 to go my own way to work, and consequently, I am as 
 obstinate as a pig ; unless a friend chooses to call my 
 obstinacy perseverance in a good cause. I never care for 
 censures, and when I am praised, my chief rejoicing is, if I 
 know myself, that my principles have prevailed. For as 
 to the praise of man, I know its worthlessness, for I find in 
 general when it is bestowed upon me it is a bitter satire, 
 alluding rather to what it is supposed I have done than 
 to what is really the case. 
 
 I heard to-day from my friend, my very kind friend, 
 Mr. Rose ; by the way, his is a very flattering letter, as he 
 expresses his great wish that nothing may take me away 
 from Coventry. When people say this, it is a real compli- 
 ment ; and dear, dear Coventry, I never wish to leave thee. I 
 confess I feel what the good Bishop would have called a little 
 sinful pride, at having the title of ' Mr. Hook of Coventry ' : 
 my ambition is, to be known in after times in the catalogue 
 of our Vicars as * the painful preacher of Coventry.'
 
 -i837 Letters, 1S29-1S36. 277 
 
 To W. P. Wood, Esq. — Sermons, Means of Instruction 
 rather than of Grace — Dr. Mobcrlj — Sermon at Oxford. 
 
 November 21, 1835. 
 
 .... I do not look upon sermons, as people in the 
 present day too frequently do, as direct means of grace, 
 but simply as means of instruction. The ultra-Protestant 
 notion, that preaching is a direct means of grace, was un- 
 known to the ancients ; they taught men to seek for grace 
 chiefly in the two Sacraments, and then in prayer. The 
 relative merits of the ordinances may be seen from the 
 following outline of their penitential discipline. There 
 were four orders of penitents : first, the 'rrpoaKkaiovrss, 
 flentes, whose station was in the vestibule of the church, 
 who begged the prayers of the faithful, as they went into 
 the sanctuary ; not daring to join in the public prayer 
 themselves. Second, the aKpoajfisvot, andientes, who were 
 allowed to enter the church, to hear the Scriptures read, 
 and to attend the sermon, but not allowed to stay for the 
 common prayers. Third, the yovvK\iPovT£9, geniificctentcs, 
 who were admitted to the prayers, and were blessed by the 
 Bishop ; but when the rest of the congregation stood (as 
 was the universal custom on Sundays) in prayer, they were 
 obliged to kneel ; their station was round the reading desk. 
 Fourth, the awiarafiivoi, consistentes, who were admitted to 
 all the privileges of the common prayer, and even stood at 
 the rails of the altar while the faithful communicated, but 
 were not yet permitted to communicate themselves. 
 
 When I was at Oxford, I had the pleasure of hearing the 
 new Master of Winch Jster preach. He was select preacher 
 in the morning, I in the afternoon. I afterwards met him 
 at Dr. Burton's, and he told me he remembered my last half 
 year at Winton ; I suppose, therefore, you knew more of 
 him. His name is Moberly ; he is a delightful preacher ; 
 his discourse was deeply mctaph)'sical, on Predestination, 
 and I thought he handled it admirably. I certainly never 
 preached to such a mob before, not even in my own church ;
 
 2^S Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1829- 
 
 not only was the church crowded with gownsmen up to 
 the pulpit stairs, but the townspeople presented in the 
 distance quite a sea of heads. You will perhaps think I 
 was appalled at the sight ; but no ! I am very nervous 
 jvhen I preach in a place for the first time, but when I am 
 accustomed to it, my nerves become hardened. It is not 
 from nerves that I suffer so much as from great excite- 
 ment, and as I am excited just as much when I write what 
 I am to speak, as when I speak what I have written, 
 sermonising does not particularly agree with me. I find 
 that I can put myself in precisely the same position of 
 mind when delivering my sermon as when writing, and 
 consequently can add extempore bits. And this is in fact 
 all that extempore preachers really do, if they are speakers 
 worth anything ; they have a speech by heart, of which they 
 are so thoroughly masters that they can add to it, take away 
 from it, or partially change as they go on. If the speech 
 is their own, the overflow of their own thoughts, they can do 
 this ; if, as is generally the case, they have only worked up 
 other people's ideas, they cannot do this, and consequently 
 they fail ; is not this the case } 
 
 To W. P. Wood, Esq. — Refusal of a joint Offer made by 
 
 him and Archdeacon Bay ley to provide a second 
 
 Oirate. 
 
 December 1835. 
 
 Where I feel a little overworked now-a-days is in a 
 department where help cannot be given. People write to 
 me from all quarters requesting advice on this point or 
 that ; here on a parochial matter, there on a doctrinal matter. 
 Quarrels and misunderstandings and jealousies occur 
 between persons in this parish on whom I must depend, 
 which no one but myself can set to rights. Meetings are 
 proposed and societies formed in which I am compelled to 
 come forward, because I have some personal influence. 
 For instance, at the present moment some of my people 
 are eager to have a meeting for the Irish Clergy ; the 
 management of which will be most troublesome to me, as
 
 -1837 Letters, 1S29-1836. 279 
 
 I shall have so to arrange matters as not to give offence to 
 our very touchy Archdeacon, to get influential people to 
 attend, to draw up all the Resolutions, and above all to 
 take care that it does not degenerate into a political 
 assembly. In all this no curate can help me. Were I 
 writing to anyone else it would seem conceited in me to 
 say this. But I can only place the matter before you by 
 so doing. By steadiness to certain principles, and by having 
 gone straightforward in my course, and by the success of 
 some of my measures, I have acquired an influence over 
 much superior men to myself who have been wanting in 
 perseverance. And here it is that I am sometimes a little 
 overworked. 
 
 To W. P. Wood, Esq. — Argument — Prejudice — Religious 
 and Useful Knowledge Society. 
 
 February r, 1836. 
 
 .... You say that my argument about the Reforma- 
 tion is monstrous, and that it will convince no one. My 
 dear friend, did you ever know anyone convinced by 
 argument .'' it is a thing I never attempt. All that I 
 attempt is to confirm those in their opinion, whose opinion 
 I believe to be correct ; and this you seem to admit will 
 be done. My own conviction is, that men never entirely 
 quit their hereditary opinions and principles, except from 
 interest or passion ; I look upon the Whig son of a Tory, 
 or the Tory son of a Whig, as an ill-conditioned cur. 
 All that I should attempt to do would be to modify ; to 
 make a man less vehement and violent, and so to prepare 
 the next generation for an imperceptible change. If a 
 W^hig turns Tory, or a Dissenter a Churchman, I rejoice, 
 but it is generally speaking merely because his family will 
 be educated in what I think right principles, that their 
 prejudices will be in favour of the truth ; the convert 
 himself in nine cases out of ten (mind, I make exceptions), 
 has been influenced by some passion or pride. We inherit 
 in like manner our religion, and it was intended that we
 
 28o Life of Walter Farqtihar Hook. 1829- 
 
 should do so. Christianity was taught by word of mouth, 
 before the Scriptures were written ; what we receive by 
 tradition, we correct and improve by reference to Scripture. 
 No man takes his rehgion from Scripture only ; it would 
 take a lifetime to do this ; he is what he was brought up, 
 and corrects himself by the Scriptures which were given 
 •for that purpose. And I look upon the advantages of an 
 Establishment to consist greatly in this, that it secures a 
 wide spread of traditionary religion, creates a prejudice in 
 favour of religion. I put down a man who pretends to be 
 unprejudiced as a humbug. The great thing is, to create 
 good prejudices : this is what the Bible tells us to do, when 
 it bids us bring up our children in the ' nurture and admoni- 
 tion of the Lord.' It is through the spectacles of prejudice 
 that we look upon facts the most clear ; for instance and 
 with reference to that which has given rise to these obser- 
 vations, what different impressions are made on your mind 
 and mine by certain facts. We learn from history that the 
 vote for the renunciation of the Popish supremacy in the 
 Irish Parliament was unanimous, that it was received with 
 joy throughout the nation, the clergy having been un- 
 popular ; that in Convocation the bishops and almost all 
 the clergy (in England I believe there were only 138 dis- 
 sentients, but that is not to the purpose) assented to the 
 Reformation ; there were only two, some say four. Bishops 
 who refused. From these facts (and I only regret that in 
 my sermon I did not quote my authorities more fully), I 
 draw inferences which you think monstrous, because you 
 simply say you cannot believe the facts. So it is ; I do not 
 expect to convince you ; I should say at once 'he is a 
 Whig, there is no hope of convincing him.' My point is 
 gained if I add one more impulse to the conviction of 
 those with whom I think the truth is ; and all I can 
 expect of you is, what you are willing to say, that there 
 is more to be said on the subject than you before sup- 
 posed. 
 
 As to parish business, I am at present, as I believe every 
 active man occasionally is, in hot water, and if you were
 
 -i837 Letters, 1829- 1836. 281 
 
 to see our Whig newspaper and some other publications 
 you would think your friend a very devil incarnate. I be- 
 lieve I mentioned to you that just before I left home in the 
 summer the teachers of my school expressed a wish to 
 form a society for the improvement, after quitting school, 
 of the young people, and especially with a view to the 
 establishment of a library of religious books. Well, I 
 rejoiced at the proposal and entered into it cordially ; I got 
 a grant from the Society for Promoting Christian Know- 
 ledge of 25/., emptied my own library of all my spare 
 works ; begged books of others, and the end has been that 
 we have now a library containing nearly 500 volumes, and 
 we have 600 members. The Mechanics' Institute having 
 gone on for years and not having above 200, our success 
 has excited the wrath of the members of the latter society, 
 against which I have never done a hostile act ; and now 
 they let out upon me the vials of their abuse, and even 
 threaten my person, which is very illiberal in liberals. 
 This kind of thing does not move me, for my rule never 
 is to oppose, but to proceed in my own course ; I never 
 interfered with the Mechanics' Institute, though I could 
 not conscientiously belong to it. I instituted our Society, 
 because I considered its establishment a positive good ; 
 and all these attacks on me do good. As I said before, 
 I do not hope to gain converts from them, and their 
 abuse of me makes those who love me as their pastor 
 more zealous ; while, on the same grounds, the others will 
 not win from us any worth keeping. That there was need 
 of our society is proved from this, that at the Mechanics' 
 Institute an order was made to admit religious books, 
 which was immediately rescinded, because to meet the 
 religious views of some of the members, it would be 
 necessary to admit Tom Paine's works. Meanwhile, not 
 conscious of having done any man wrong by establishing a 
 society in which religion is recognised as a branch of useful 
 knowledge, we are raising money to erect a building and I 
 am preparing to deliver a lecture on savings banks. Can 
 you assist me ? it is not much in my line of business but
 
 282 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1829- 
 
 there are only seventeen weavers in all Coventry who put 
 into our savings bank ; so that I think I ought to do some- 
 thing ; pray help me if you can. 
 
 To W. P. Wood, Esq. — Accused of Intolerance — Sermon at 
 
 Oxford. 
 
 Shrove Tuesday, February 17, 1836. 
 
 .... I am rather amused with our opponents having 
 styled me the Rev. Autocrat of Coventry ; my autocracy 
 simply consisting in always doing what I think to be right, 
 without regard to consequences, and the result being, as it 
 generally is, that, as I will not go over to others, others 
 come over to me. I have a strong feeling that I will not 
 belong to a society from which my Saviour and my God 
 is virtually excluded. I belonged to a rather good library 
 and reading room in this town, from which I withdrew on 
 that account, viz. that no religious books were admissible ; 
 the object of course being to obtain the support of all 
 sects. I did not state, and have not stated, this to be my 
 reason, but simply retired, not having sufficiently examined 
 the subject to urge the principle upon others ; but the 
 more I reflect on it, the more inclined I am to think that 
 I am right. An express exclusion of the Master we serve 
 ought to be a virtual exclusion of ourselves. I mention 
 this because I should like to know whether and what you 
 have to object to it. If things go on as they now are, I 
 shall be obliged in self-defence to assert my principles. 
 Our position is this ; we are accused of intolerance and I 
 know not what all for not having acted with the Mechanics' 
 Institute ; and as to religious works it is asked, Why 
 could not the Rev. Autocrat establish a Church lending 
 library } and we are assailed with all manner of abuse. 
 Now, it certainly seems to me that the intolerance is all 
 on the other side ; for it is intolerance to try to compel 
 another, no matter how, whether by ridicule, abuse, or 
 force, to walk in my way ; but it is not intolerance for me 
 to refuse to walk in the same path with another if I dis-
 
 -1837 Letters, 1S29-1S36. 283 
 
 agree with him, or if I cannot conscientiously do so. You 
 are kind enough to ask how my sermon went off at Oxford, 
 and I hope by the attention that is paid to me, that by 
 the blessing of a good God my labours in the University 
 will not be vain. My brother was there, and he was 
 told that the church was fuller than it had ever been since 
 
 's memorable sermon, in which he attacked the 
 
 Church just before he quitted our communion. It was 
 indeed a grand and imposing sight, as one stood in the 
 pulpit, and until I got well into my subject I was very 
 nervous and, as I was afterwards told, looked deadly pale. 
 From the pulpit you see nothing but men, and the black 
 gowns give a sombre appearance to the scene. There is 
 too, a most awful silence, occasioned doubtless by the 
 absence of children, and of the rustling of silks and satins. 
 
 To W. P. Wood, Esq. — Justification — Neglect of Primitive 
 Tradition — Interpretation of Scripture. 
 
 March 25, 1836. 
 , , . . Since I wrote yesterday I have found that the 
 prayer you object to is found verbatim in Bishop Andrewes' 
 devotions ; nor did he seem to anticipate the shadow of 
 an objection to it. The fact is, in his time the tra- 
 dition of our Church was much purer and more primitive 
 than it has been since the Rebellion. It is perhaps now 
 peculiarly erroneous, from the fact that those who stirred 
 up the religious feelings in the country about fifty years 
 dgo, and their successors the Evangelicals or popular 
 party have gone, not to the fountain head, not to the 
 tradition as it was set a-flowing by the Apostles, and 
 jealously watched and guarded by the primitive Church, 
 but merely to the doctors of the Reformation, who, how- 
 ever praiseworthy in their resistance to Popery, were not 
 of course armed at all points, and were better skilled most 
 of them to pull down than to build up. The doctrine may 
 be best stated perhaps by altering the terms ; Justification 
 is by faith alone, the salvation of the justified by works,
 
 284 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1829- 
 
 founded upon faith, and wrought through the influence of 
 the Holy Ghost. No one may approach the Father but 
 through the Son. He who is brought to the Father by 
 the Son is permitted to make the offering of good works, 
 which, knowing his own impotence, he implores the Holy 
 Ghost to enable him to perform. Thus did the traditional 
 religion of the Primitive Church accord with all parts of 
 Scripture, whereas the modern ultra-Protestant ideas so 
 ill accord with Scripture as a whole that Luther actually 
 rejected the Epistle of St. James, thus in fact condemning 
 the ultra-Protestant notion of justification by faith as 
 unscriptural. And in these days for one that preaches 
 justification by works, there are a hundred that preach 
 justification by faith alone. Yet St. James expressly tells 
 us that we are justified by works ; why reject St. James 
 more than St. Paul .-* The consequence of modern teaching 
 has been high pretensions, but much lax morality, much 
 fanaticism with little mortification, but the consequences 
 are not the consideration ; the question is simply. What 
 has been revealed .■* To ascertain what has been revealed, 
 it is I apprehend necessary, first, to discover what the Uni- 
 versal Church taught, when the means existed of ascer- 
 taining this fact ; and then to see whether this tradition is 
 confirmed by Scripture. If it be, then I conceive we may 
 be sure that we have the truth. We shall only err if we 
 assert as truth what I, an individual teacher, think that 
 Scripture means. What / think the Scripture means, an 
 Arian or Socinian may not think. I do not blame anyone 
 for holding to the modern doctrine ; for in point of fact 
 most persons must receive their doctrines in the first 
 instance from tradition, from what their teachers tell them, 
 adhering to them if they appear to be proved by Scripture, 
 rejecting them only if they are directly contrary to 
 Scripture. But those who are able or have time to 
 examine more deeply, to ascertain what was the traditional 
 teaching in the Apostolic age, they are bound to correct 
 the erroneous tradition of their own age. Thus it was that 
 I said in my preface, the prayers published by me would
 
 -i837 Letters, 1 829-1 836. 285 
 
 not accord with the religious feelings of the present time ; 
 ergo, I stand a chance of being abused, but it is my duty to 
 throw my drop into the stream which is purifying the 
 tradition of the time. 
 
 To IV. P. Wood, Esq. — A Drifter into Romanism — Trans- 
 viissive Religion. 
 
 April 18, 1836. 
 
 .... And now for Minchln. I predict that he will be- 
 come a Romanist, because his affections are engaged on 
 that side. He is disgusted with the illiberality of ultra-Pro- 
 testants, which is doubtless great, but he does not perceive 
 the illiberality of Romanism, which is yet greater. See par- 
 ticularly Pope Pius's Creed and the Canons of Trent ; this 
 one-sided view of that question shows the predilection, and 
 when that is the case, Romanism has much to say for 
 itself My opinion is that God intends that religion shall 
 be as the general rule transmissive ; and that we are to 
 take the religion we inherit, and examine it by the Scrip- 
 tures, adhering to it if we find the Scriptures in great 
 degree confirming what we have received, correcting and 
 improving what was deficient in our father's creed or 
 practice; but in doubtful cases interpreting Scripture so 
 as to lean to the side of our ancestors ; thus using our 
 reason, but acting with humility. This makes it important 
 for us never for the sake of peace to shrink from the asser- 
 tion of truth, since it is most important to make the tradi- 
 tional religion of our country what it ought to be. Now it 
 appears to me that to Minchin very little religion was 
 transmitted ; what he learned was very imperfectly learned 
 at Winchester. He has lived chiefly abroad, and there the 
 religion transmitted to him has been Romanism ; it has 
 had attractions for him, and he is much in the condition of 
 a man who has been born and bred a Romanist. When he 
 examines, he will incline to the side of Romanism ; doubt- 
 ful points will receive force from this prejudice, he will 
 often see the weakness of an argument on our side, seldom
 
 286 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1829- 
 
 on the side of the Romanists. I think, however, the best 
 book you can send him at present is a Httle work I re-pub- 
 lished a few years ago with notes. * Friendly Advice to the 
 Roman Catholics.' It is by the celebrated Dean Comber, 
 and is written in a very mild, conciliatory tone. If this 
 makes an impression, I will think of some other works for 
 his edification. I like your idea of Hooker ; it is always 
 better to explain the nature of true Churchism than to 
 make a decided attack on Romanism ; to assert the truth 
 than to combat error. Palmer has a work in the press, 
 perhaps the most important on this subject since the days 
 of Hooker, and intended to meet the modern objections of 
 Romanism ; I wish it were out. You know I am an un- 
 flinching asserter of what I believe to be the truth, regard- 
 less of persons and consequences, and I am therefore called 
 illiberal and bigoted, &c. But I never condemn an indivi- 
 dual who piously belongs to the system I may censure and 
 oppose. I would stay the progress of an erroneous system, 
 even sometimes when I should refrain from seeking to 
 make a proselyte of one who belongs to the system ; for 
 unless that proselyte can be made by sound reasoning, you 
 gain nothing by winning him, and perhaps injure his own 
 character ; saving that you secure the better education of 
 his children, which is sometimes to be considered. I can 
 thus oppose Romanism, but love a Romanist ; and I 
 should rejoice to renew my acquaintance with old Toody, 
 of whom I can never think without affection ; even though 
 we could not prevail upon him not to take this false step, 
 to which, as I conceive, I can trace the circumstances 
 which led him. 
 
 To a Young Clergyman — Opinion on Lay Baptism — Advice 
 about Private Life — Treatment of Dissenters. 
 
 Leamington : July 27, 1836. 
 
 My dear , — The question you propose is a difficult 
 
 one to answer. So far as argument goes, it appears to nie 
 that the line of argument adopted by you is correct, and
 
 -iS37 Letters, 1 829-1836. 287 
 
 lay baptism ought not to be considered valid. But I am 
 inclined to think that the practice of the Catholic Church 
 has been on the other side, and that lay baptism, though 
 considered uncanonical, improper, and much to be censured, 
 has not been treated as invalid. When heretics were 
 received into the Church they were not baptised, but con- 
 firmed, and by the act of confirmation the previous unca- 
 nonical act was made canonical. But here we may observe 
 that all the ancient heretics had, in some sense, the 
 Apostolical succession : they had Bishops, though not 
 canonical ones. To this, however, it is replied that hereti- 
 cal orders were never regarded as valid. In short, the 
 whole subject is a difficult one. Some divines make a 
 distinction between toy, and unaiitJiorised baptism, lay bap- 
 tism when the Bishop sanctions it being accounted valid, 
 but Dissenting baptism, not having secured the episcopal 
 sanction, invalid. The Church in this country, from the 
 period of the Reformation, and indeed before that time, 
 till the reign of James I., undoubtedly sanctioned lay 
 baptism by licensing midwives to baptise. When that 
 rubric was altered and we were directed to send for a minis- 
 ter, it would seem to decide that it ought to be a ministe- 
 rial act. I remember two strong instances in the primitive 
 Church on the other side. St. Athanasius was baptised by 
 his playfellows in sport, and this baptism was deemed 
 sufficient ; and so was that of an actor who was baptised 
 in the regular form on the stage in a play written to ridi- 
 cule Christianity. 
 
 Being removed from all my books I cannot enter more 
 fully into the subject, but you will see it incidentally dis- 
 cussed in Dr. Pusey's admirable treatise on Holy Baptism, 
 published among the Oxford Tracts, to which I particularly 
 invite your attention. You may consult also on the one 
 side Lawrence, on the Invalidity of Lay Baptism, and on 
 the other Bingham's ' Scholastic History of Lay Baptism.* 
 As to the practical point I am in the habit of telling people 
 that at least there is some doubt on the subject, and if they 
 received lay baptism and are fearful on that account, I use
 
 288 Life of Walici" Farqiihar Hook. 1S29 
 
 the conditional form, ' If thou hast not been before baptised,' 
 &c., as found at the end of our Baptismal Service, and this 
 is the course pursued by the Bishops and clergy in Scot- 
 land when persons come over to them from the Established 
 Church. . . . You may depend upon it that nothing is to 
 be done in a parish without a patient care of the schools. 
 It is by patience only, a patient continuance in well-doing, 
 that you will be able to make your present situation an 
 agreeable one, always remembering that permanent comfort 
 and happiness are not intended for this world. Peace is 
 the reward of our labours here, in the world to come, pur- 
 chased for us by our Lord. You must also remember that 
 you let many precious years pass by, to say the least of it, 
 in carelessness, for which you ought to make up by humili- 
 ation, mortification, and other holy exercises. If you have 
 not strength of mind to do this for yourself, you ought to 
 pray that God may take the discipline of you into His own 
 hands — that he may so order things that your pride and 
 vanity may be mortified, that while in His hands you are 
 an instrument of good you may not for a season witness 
 the effects of your labours. To a man who ought like you 
 to seek for mortification, who ought to take the lowest seat 
 at the heavenly banquet, I should say that your present 
 situation because tinpleasant is a very proper one. And 
 perhaps it may be well after a week of such fasting and 
 prayer to ask earnestly and seriously why it is unpleasant. 
 Seek not the pretext but the real reason of your present 
 discontent. Particularly be sure that vanity, pride, pre- 
 sumption have nothing to do with it. I mention these 
 faults as being those of young men very frequently which 
 can easily be masked by an appearance of religious zeal. 
 
 I sincerely hope as you say that the cause of Catholi- 
 cism is prospering everywhere, though I am inclined to take 
 a less sanguine view of our present position than you do. 
 As to Dissenters I literally know nothing of them. You 
 speak of a schism among the Methodists. I am sorry to 
 hear of it ; for all schisms, even schisms among schis- 
 matics, engender bad feelings. Sure I am that we shall
 
 -i837 Letters, 1 829-1 836. 289 
 
 not profit by any such evil deeds. Those who quit Dissent- 
 ing congregations are far more likely to turn infidels than 
 Churchmen. A true Churchman will feel that to him a 
 high trust is committed, viz, the preservation of God's 
 truth. It may be that in maintaining God's truth he may 
 have to fight single-handed against a multitude. Still he 
 will be unmoved. In God's good time His Holy Spirit will 
 bring over the people to the side of His truth, and till that 
 time comes we must keep our souls in patience. One of 
 the worst things a man can do is to try and make converts, 
 one of the next is to attack Dissenters, or to have anything 
 whatever to do with them. Keep aloof from Dissenters as 
 persons of a different religion, and try to build up the two 
 or three God sends to you in the principles of the Holy 
 Catholic Church, 
 
 I could say much more, but want of room prevents my 
 so doing. 
 
 Believe me to be, my dear ^ 
 
 Your faithful and sincere friend. 
 
 To his Wife, during a Tour in the Autumn of 1836 %vith a 
 Lady and Gentleman in the North of England. 
 
 I was amused with something Mrs. B. told me on the 
 way, which accounts for a very warm reception I met with 
 at the inn at Matlock, The landlord's daughter there 
 gazed on me with an admiration which much perplexed 
 me. The servants followed the mistress's example, I was 
 removed to the best room in the inn, and everybody 
 seemed delighted to serve me. They had caught my 
 name, and the fair daughter of the landlord said to Mrs. 
 B., * Excuse me, ma'am, but I suppose Mr. Hook is the 
 great Mr. Hook.' ' Yes,' said Mrs. B. * Ah ! ' said the fair 
 Maid of the Inn, ' I have just been reading his beautiful 
 work " Gilbert Gurney." ' ' Oh ! ' quoth Mrs. B., ' this Mr. 
 Hook is nephew to that Mr. Hook ; and though his works 
 VOL. I. U
 
 290 Life of Walter Fai'qtihar Hook. 1829- 
 
 are very celebrated, they are of a different kind ; ' but, alas ! 
 my friend confesses that the young lady was sadly dis- 
 appointed. 
 
 To a yoimg clergyman — Study and Dissenters. 
 
 Coventry : November 2, 1836. 
 
 My dear Friend, — I have just received your delightful 
 and gratifying letter, and though I am rather overwhelmed 
 with my correspondence, having sometimes to write eight or 
 nine letters in a day, I shall always be glad to hear from you 
 if you will kindly permit me to take my own time for my 
 answer. I say this because it may occasionally be agree- 
 able to you, living in such retirement as you do, to open 
 your mind to a friend. But I must protest against your 
 speaking of me in the terms you do ; I can only aid you 
 by having a little more experience and having experienced 
 all those evils which you have to lament, and by being 
 able, in consequence, to sympathise with you while I offer 
 advice. . . . There are two points in your letter to which 
 I must now address myself. 
 
 It seems clear to me, in the first place, that you require 
 some hard study ; something rather dry. If you were near 
 a library, with plenty of time, I would mark out a course 
 for you. As it is, I recommend you to read through Bing- 
 ham's ' Antiquities,' to be followed by Palmer's * Origines 
 Liturgicae,' and then I would have you go on with Jeremy 
 Collier's ' Ecclesiastical History of England.' By these 
 means you will lay in a vast store of useful information ; 
 you will be giving to yourself a habit of study, and you will 
 overcome a habit of self-indulgence which may creep on 
 us even in our studies. During the first seven years that I 
 was in orders, I was a hard student, and I used to rise at 
 four o'clock in the morning. This, perhaps, would not suit 
 you, but when you are at these studies, it might be well 
 to read standing, or in a part of the room far from the fire. 
 This keeps up attention, and is a little useful bodily disci-
 
 ►I 837 Letters, 1829-1836. 291 
 
 pllne. I agree with you as to what you say with respect 
 to works on personal devotion in your particular case. 
 Your heart is right, and what you now chiefly want is self- 
 discipline. 
 
 In the next place, if the Methodists do attend church, 
 and do not attend meeting, they are clearly not Dissenters. 
 The original Methodists under Wesley were on very many 
 points much to be admired. Their doctrine of Perfection 
 is good, and has been of great use against the prevailing 
 Calvinism of the day. I am afraid that in my last I did 
 not express myself quite clearly. What I mean is this, 
 that we ought to look with a single eye to the truth, not 
 to the filling of our churches, and decreasing Dissent or 
 anything else. What we are required as preachers to do is, 
 to declare all the counsel of God, reckless of consequences. 
 If people take offence, they must do so ; if not, then give 
 God the praise. Our business is to state fairly the tradition 
 of the Church as it is preserved in our Ritual, Liturgy, and 
 Articles (learned men go to the fountain-head at once, the 
 primitive Church), and then to prove that the tradition of 
 the Church is scriptural. We receive our religion from the 
 Church, wQp'ove our religion from the Bible. 
 
 Your affectionate Friend. 
 
 I would advise you always to read with a pen in your 
 hand, noting down everything remarkable in a common- 
 place book. 
 
 To the Rev. T. H. Tragett—How to Refit a Church- 
 Catechising, 
 
 Coventry : November 5, 1836. 
 
 .... And now let me congratulate you on your 
 parish — I wish it were entirely your own, as it is unpleasant 
 to depend on the life of another ; I have often dreamed 
 of retiring upon just such a parish; about 2,000 people. 
 Yours is doubtless a holy ambition, to make your little 
 parish a perfect model of what a parish ought to be ; such 
 
 U 2
 
 292 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1829- 
 
 a parish I have in Utopia, and I will tell you what I would 
 do with it. If the walls of the church are strong, I would 
 gut it. I would beg of my friends and acquaintance till I 
 obtained 200/. (if you should think of anything like this, 
 come to me for i/. \s.\ I would then entirely refit the 
 interior, having no pews, and erecting in the chancel an 
 open seat, like one of the stalls in a cathedral, for my 
 reading-pew. I would then observe who were regular 
 attendants at church, and at Christmas give them a good 
 dinner. This would soon increase the congregation, and 
 why should we not act thus } Our Blessed Lord fed the 
 five thousand before he began to teach them ; and if we 
 can bribe people to hear us, they may afterwards stay 
 without a bribe. But indeed, with such a parish you might 
 give them all a good dinner of roast beef and plum- 
 pudding, for as much as two dinners to your equals would 
 cost ; and the surest way to men's hearts, as old Hamond 
 used to say, is down their throats ; and when you have 
 their hearts they will patiently hear you, while you endea- 
 vour to cure their souls. As to the children, they are cer- 
 tainly the first and grand consideration. Vou say you are 
 a wretched catechist, but the art of catechising does not, 
 any more than that of reading and writing, come by nature ; 
 but to become a good catechist you must catechise, and it is 
 astonishing how rapid is the improvement, both on the 
 part of the catechiser and the catechised. It is important 
 to have by heart the answers in Grossman and Lewis, and 
 the books with which the children are acquainted, so that 
 when the questions you have put in other words are unan- 
 swered, you may fall back on those they have by rote, and 
 so shame the fools. And the first boy or girl who smiles 
 at any little pleasantry of which you may be guilty, will 
 deserve a reward, as giving proof that the intellect is begin- 
 ning to thaw, I have found it best to stick to the Church 
 Catechism, as by a little skill you can put questions from 
 all the books they may have learnt, without much forcing ; 
 one question leads to another. It is impossible, however, 
 to draw too largely on the bank of stupidity, and the same
 
 -1837 Letters, 1 829-1 836. 293 
 
 questions must come perpetually over and over again ; 
 Henderson on the Catechism is a work which will give you 
 some invaluable hints. You ask what I did at Whipping- 
 ham and Moseley : I laboured much at my schools, and 
 never missed an attendance there all day on the Fridays, 
 when I examined all the classes ; only catechising in church 
 in Lent. I was younger then than I am now, and I should 
 now catechise in church under any circumstances, under 
 the expectation of receiving greater grace, and under the 
 conviction that the fact of their being examined in church 
 impresses it on the minds of the children that it is not 
 knowledge, but religious knowledge, that they come to 
 receive. In Coventry', I can only get the lower orders to 
 attend, but next spring, (d.v.) Augusta will be catechised 
 with the rest, and I hope this example will have good 
 effect. At Whippingham and Moseley my schools cost me 
 a mint of money ; not much less than 20/. a year, for I 
 established a system of tickets, which came to a great deal. 
 This was folly, but my schools there were my hobby ; still 
 at first it is well worth while to incur some expense ; for it 
 is astonishing how it quickens the wits, and the attention 
 to find that attention has a marketable value. Here, again, 
 I act on the system that we may begin with giving the 
 loaves and fishes : thence, when you have secured atten- 
 tion, you may proceed to higher principles, and gradually 
 drop the bribing plan ; for once get an active stirring spirit 
 in a school, and it will remain. 
 
 Your affectionate Friend. 
 
 From W. P. Wood, Esq. to W. F. Hook— On the Death of 
 his Infant Boy. 
 
 Lincoln's Inn : December 23, 1836. 
 
 .... It is a great comfort to know that you are thus 
 upheld in the hour of need. Doubtless our God is a ' very 
 present help in trouble,* and it should be at once a confirm- 
 ation of our faith and an exhortation to abide in it when
 
 294 Life of Walter Farqtihar Hook. 
 
 we see that so severe a dispensation can be softened and 
 tempered to you both. I sometimes ask myself under 
 such trials, what would my situation be if I believed not in 
 a hereafter ? I am not at all surprised that the heathen 
 should have so often resorted to self-destruction. But to 
 the Christian the heaviest afHiction is but a cloud, or at the 
 most but as a thick mist, and if he cannot always see that 
 God hath ' set his bow in the cloud,' yet he knows that the 
 hour of the power of darkness is measured, while his hope 
 is unbounded as eternity. ' Heaviness may endure for a 
 night, but joy cbmeth in the morning.' . . . One sometimes 
 feels it a happiness to be permitted to retire from the bustle 
 of life under domestic affliction, though of course such 
 feelings must not be indulged beyond very moderate limits, 
 as we are readily tempted to sink into morbid indolence. 
 The daily labour we are called upon to perform seems mer- 
 cifully ordered in a world where death prevails, to tear away 
 our minds from too deep and overpowering a sorrow for the 
 dead, and to divert them also from an appalling fear of death. 
 The poor, who have so much to contend with, find, I have no 
 doubt, great relief in the necessity of constant occupation. 
 You will have a comfort which none but those of your 
 vocation can enjoy, that while your occupation will allay 
 your sorrow, it will not tend to separate you from God. For 
 the great danger with men of other professions is that they 
 will try to bully their feelings by over-activity and bustle ; 
 and instead of casting their cares upon God, try to for- 
 get them, and in the experiment too frequently end by 
 forgetting Him also.
 
 The Election to Leeds. 295 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE ELECTION TO THE VICARAGE OF LEEDS, 1 837. 
 
 In the year 1836 Mr. William Page Wood and his 
 wife paid a visit to the Vicar of Trinity at Coventry. 
 Soon after their return to London they were invited 
 by Dr. Williamson, the Head Master of Westminster 
 School, to meet a barrister from Leeds, Mr. Robert 
 Hall, who had recently taken a house in Dean's 
 Yard, where they also at that time resided. When 
 the day for dining at Dr. Williamson's arrived, Mr. 
 Wood was unable, owing to a feverish cold, to fulfil 
 his engagement, and his wife was very unwilling to 
 leave him, but knowing that ladies would be wanted 
 to make up the party, she thought it would be selfish 
 to decline at the last moment. At dinner she sat 
 next to Mr. Hall. He was not only an agreeable 
 and able man, who had taken first-class honours at 
 Oxford, but a zealous Churchman, and he therefore 
 listened with interest to an account which Mrs. Wood 
 gave of the great and good work which had been, 
 and was being, done by her husband's friend at 
 Coventry. To this conversation so accidental, as it 
 would be carelessly called, so nearly being missed 
 owing to the reluctance of one of the parties to leave 
 home on that particular evening, the appointment of 
 Mr. Hook to the Vicarage of Tweeds was, under
 
 296 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 
 
 God, primarily due, so that to the end of his life he 
 was accustomed to call Mrs. Wood his ' patroness ' ; 
 and that the wife of his deeply beloved friend should 
 have been unconsciously instrumental in sending 
 him to the place where he did his greatest work and 
 won his greatest fame, was a circumstance on which 
 he reflected with delight to the end of his life. 
 
 In January 1837, a few months after the meeting 
 just mentioned with Mr. Hall, the Vicar of Leeds, 
 Dr. Fawcett, somewhat suddenly died. The patron- 
 age of the living is vested in twenty-five trustees. 
 The senior trustee at that time was Mr. Henry 
 Hall, father of Mr. Robert Hall, who also himself 
 was a junior member of the body. No sooner had 
 Mr. Robert Hall heard of the death of Dr. Fawcett 
 than his mind reverted to the description which he 
 had heard of the hard-working Vicar of Coventry. 
 He is the man for Leeds, thought Mr. Hall, if he 
 is all that he has been represented to be. So he 
 instantly hastened to Coventry, verified by private 
 enquiry and observation the account which he had 
 received of the man and his work, and on his return 
 called upon Mr. Wood to tell him that if his friend 
 would become a candidate for the vacant living he 
 would do his utmost to secure his election. But he 
 added that great opposition must be expected, as 
 Mr. Hook belonged to a school in the Church totally 
 different in thought, feeling, and practice from any 
 which prevailed in Leeds, a school, moreover, which 
 at that time, owing to its supposed connexion with 
 the ' Oxford movement,' was regarded with peculiar 
 suspicion. Mr. Hall, therefore, was anxious that no 
 time should be lost in ascertaining whether he would
 
 The Election to Leeds. 297 
 
 consent to be a candidate for the living, in order 
 that the largest possible number of testimonials 
 might be got together from persons representing 
 various shades of opinion in the Church. How the 
 application was made and received will be seen 
 from the following letter to Mr. Wood. The 
 absence of Mrs. Hook, who was staying with her 
 mother, increased the difficulty of coming to an 
 immediate decision. 
 
 Coventry : February 22, 1837. 
 My dearest Friend, .... On Sunday I received, 
 quite unexpectedly, from Oxford a letter stating that I 
 had been recommended in several quarters to the trustees 
 of the Vicarage of Leeds, and that the trustees wished 
 to ascertain through my kind friend Dr. Barnes, Sub-dean 
 of Christ Church, whether, if the living were offered to 
 me, I would accept it. It is a great calamity to be 
 separated from Delicia at such a moment ; but, in order 
 that we might communicate with one another by letter, 
 I took two or three days to consider the business, and I 
 have now written to say that if offered the appointment I 
 would accept it, but that I should decline presenting my- 
 self as a candidate, or adopting any steps for procuring it. 
 My rule has been this, not to shrink from any duties to 
 which I may be providentially called, having full reliance 
 on the grace of my Saviour ; on the other hand, in humble 
 distrust of myself, not to seek any responsible office. 
 Delicia tells me that, if our family increase, we cannot go 
 on long as we now do, and that if her health fail we have 
 not the means of educating our children according to their 
 condition ; I see, too, that her anxiety lest we should not 
 be able to make the two ends of the year meet is weighing 
 on her health and spirits ; so that I think I am justified 
 in the step I have taken. Leeds is valued at 1,257/., the 
 average of three years before the last Parliamentary returns. 
 If I do not obtain the appointment, my pride will be morti- 
 fied, a very good thing ; I was not aware of the existence
 
 298 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 
 
 of the evil passion in me till on self-examination, I found 
 that my chief wish to obtain the living is to prevent the 
 mortification : it will be a good Lent exercise therefore. 
 If I get it it will be sad, not only to quit a people whom 
 I love, and by whom I am loved, but to leave many kind 
 friends ; and not least, to move far away from those still 
 loved remains, which are deposited in Trinity Church. 
 From you and yours, to be removed 190 miles, will be like 
 banishment ; I confess that the objections were so strong 
 on my mind that I had fully determined to refuse the 
 thing out and out, but Delicia, together with her mother 
 and sister, urged the thing upon me, and I have done as 
 I have said. I am sore perplexed ; — I dread the thing. 
 Did I ever tell you that the Bishop of Worcester told 
 our friend. Lord Eastnor, that there were two livings 
 likely to be soon vacant, to the first of which he would 
 present me ? St. Philip's, Birmingham, is one, the other 
 I do not know ; I should like to wait for these birds in 
 the bush, for at my time of life, just forty, I do not like 
 breaking new ground. 
 
 The conflict of arguments and feelings in his own 
 mind v^ras so great that from the first he declared to 
 his wife the decision must rest with her, not with 
 himself. 
 
 I have, really and honestly speaking, (he writes to 
 her on March 2) no wish upon the subject. The worldly 
 considerations weigh not with me in the least. The only 
 thing that makes me hesitate to say no is this — there is 
 no Church feeling, no Catholic feeling, as I am informed 
 in that part of the country. People there do not know 
 what the Catholic Church is, and if I may be honoured as 
 an instrument to introduce Catholicism there, as I have 
 done here, I should feel that I have not lived entirely in 
 vain. Then on the other hand we must remember that I 
 should probably have a bad successor here : ' one who 
 
 * The Whig Ministry being then in office.
 
 The Election to Leeds. 299 
 
 would undo all that I have been doing during eight years 
 of labour, so that when the one thing is weighed against 
 the other I think I should not be induced on these grounds 
 to make the change. You now know my feelings on the 
 subject : yours, I repeat, must lead to the decision, for it is 
 mere matter of feeling not of duty. 
 
 If our sweet boy had lived, perhaps the patronage 
 would have been a temptation, but now I cannot expect 
 to live to see a son of mine labouring in the service of the 
 beloved Church, so that is out of all consideration. To me 
 the agreeable part has taken place. I am very sensible of 
 the honour of having been singled out, without my having 
 the remotest intention of becoming a candidate ; and yet 
 these compliments are very humiliating. How humiliating 
 it is to find that the world thinks you better than you really 
 are; how much the conscience reproaches one on these 
 occasions. Perhaps I am more than usually sensible of this 
 from the self-examination to which this season of Lent 
 has led me. What a blessing, my dear love, it is, that 
 the Apostles and primitive Bishops appointed this season 
 for us to perform that duty which, if not compelled to do 
 it, we should, perhaps, put off and put off, and never per- 
 form. 
 
 Your devoted, adoring Lover. 
 
 His wife and her mother were in favour of his 
 consenting to be nominated as a candidate, and so 
 one step was gained. But the inflexible resolution 
 of the candidate on another point threatened to be a 
 formidable, if not fatal, obstacle to further progress. 
 He flatly refused to go to Leeds to present himself 
 to the trustees ; still less would he consent to preach 
 a ' trial sermon,' or canvass interest on his behalf, as 
 most of the other candidates had done. Here was 
 a dilemma which at first caused no small vexation 
 and perplexity to Mr. Robert Hall and his father,
 
 300 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 
 
 and some of the other trustees whom he had inspired 
 with an enthusiastic desire equal to his own for the 
 election of his candidate. Mr. Wood, however, 
 suggested as a solution of the difficulty that some of 
 the trustees should go to Coventry unknown to the 
 Vicar, and he promised that he would not give his 
 friend any intimation of their visit. Some old people 
 in Coventry can remember the curiosity which was 
 excited on Sunday, March 12, 1837, by the appear- 
 ance in Trinity Church of six strange gentlemen at 
 the morning and evening services, who had requested 
 that they might be placed together in a position 
 favourable for hearing the reading and preaching of 
 the Vicar. Who they were and what they heard 
 will be learned from the following letter, written by 
 the Vicar the day after to Mr. Wood : 
 
 Coventry : March 13, 1837. 
 
 My dearest Friend, — Wearied with the labours of 
 yesterday I cannot write con spirito, but still I must make 
 you acquainted with the state of affairs. Yesterday 
 Coventry was filled with trustees, Hall, Becket, Gott, 
 Banks, Tennant, and one from the enemies' camp, Atkin- 
 son, to spy out the nakedness of the land. 
 
 They all in the morning spoke to me of what would 
 happen if I went to Leeds ; in the evening it was ' when 
 you go to Leeds.' Mr. Gott said, ' I suppose you must 
 be aware that many of the trustees are favourable to you.' 
 * Pooh, nonsense,' quoth Mr. Banks, ' you have the very 
 large majority,' The prudent Mr. Hall, however, only 
 reckons on twelve. But we were talking of Dr. Thorpe, 
 and Sheepshanks was saying something not quite compli- 
 mentary, when Mr. H. said, ' We will say nothing about 
 that, as we mean him to vote for us ; but he is not one of 
 the twelve certain.' 
 
 I verily believe that the sermon I delivered in the
 
 The Election to Leeds. 301 
 
 evening, I wrote under the special direction of God ; it 
 was written quite extempore and in a hurry on the Satur- 
 day, but if I had laboured to preach at the trustees I 
 could not have done so well. You know I am preaching 
 on St. Matthew's Gospel, and the text that came to me 
 was Matthew xxiii. 8, 9, 10, when I was naturally led 
 to explain in a simple manner the impropriety of choosing 
 for an authority in religion either the Pope or a Protest- 
 ant Reformer, and how we took for our guidance, in 
 doubtful points, the customs of the first churches. This 
 explained to my friendly trustees (though I did not in 
 the least expect to see them) my views as they are, and 
 not as they are misrepresented. I then branched off into 
 a discourse on justification by faith, making the law our 
 rule of righteousness, but not our means of justification, in 
 a manner that could not but appease the fears of my 
 opposing visitor. One of the trustees, Mr. Gott, who 
 seemed very much impressed with the sermon, and asked 
 me to lend it, which I thought better to decline, said to 
 Sheepshanks, ' That sermon ought to be published.' ' Oh,' 
 exclaimed my enthusiastic partisan, 'if you think that, every 
 sermon preached every Sunday evening ought to be pub- 
 lished ; this is by no means the best we hear here.' Dear 
 good Sheepshanks is almost mad with zeal. With Mr. 
 Atkinson I had some conversation in the vestry ; of course 
 I could not give him entire satisfaction, but he was more 
 favourably impressed than he had been before ; I assured 
 him I did not hold the doctrine of Transubstantiation. He 
 is a nice, pleasant, well-informed man ; I told him that I 
 would not discuss, but I was fully convinced of the truth 
 of my principles, and would answer him any questions he 
 might like to ask. He cross-examined me, but in a pleasant, 
 gentlemanlike style. 
 
 The reader will perceive from the foregoing 
 letter that however much puzzled some members of 
 the congregation at Holy Trinity may have been 
 by the visit to their Church of six rather inquisitive
 
 302 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 
 
 strangers, the Vicar himself was not equally taken 
 by surprise. The fact was that four out of the six 
 trustees had called upon him the night before, not 
 however so much to make known the purpose of 
 their coming to Coventry, as to entreat that he 
 would consent to go to Leeds for a few days, not to 
 preach, not to canvass, but merely to be seen. Mr. 
 Hall, indeed, had written to the same effect a few 
 days before, * The wish to hear you preach is given 
 up. I find that the opinion is gaining ground that 
 it is improper for a man to get up into a pulpit for 
 the purpose of preaching not Christ crucified, but 
 himself and his preferment. There is, however, a 
 strong wish to see you : some of the trustees have 
 declared their determination not to vote for a man 
 they have never seen.' 
 
 To these solicitations, which were backed by his 
 uncle, Archdeacon Hamilton, and Mr. Wood, he 
 yielded, and writes to the latter that he has accepted 
 the invitation to be the guest for two days of Mr. 
 Henry Hall, the senior trustee, *to exhibit my fat 
 carcase at Leeds, and I certainly look what the 
 people here call jolly.' But the prospect of the 
 tremendous responsibilities which would fall upon 
 him in the event of his election deterred him from 
 any enthusiasm in his own cause. * I feel interested 
 in my success,' he writes, 'as I should do in that of 
 the respectable Mr. Richard Roe or John Doe if 
 they were engaged in a contest, and I was of their 
 counsel. But when I think of the thing itself or the 
 pang of parting with old friends, and the annoyance 
 of breaking up new ground, my heart becomes sick, 
 and I ask why I consented to embark in this affair.'
 
 The Election to Leeds. 303 
 
 Meanwhile those who were eager for his success 
 had collected a mass of testimony in his favour from 
 very various sources, in order to prove that he was 
 respected and admired not by one school or party 
 only in the Church, but by many, and had * won 
 golden opinions from all sorts of people.' 
 
 At the request of his friends he asked Sir 
 Robert Peel whether the letter which he had written 
 in answer to an appeal on behalf of the Religious 
 and Useful Knowledge Society,^ might be used as a 
 testimonial. To this he received the followine 
 reply. It was one of the few testimonials for which 
 he made personal application, and was probably one 
 of the most telling. 
 
 Whitehall : March i, 1837. 
 Sir, — You have my full permission to make whatever 
 use you please of the letter to which you refer. It contains 
 a sincere and disinterested testimony to your character 
 and acquirements, from one who has not the pleasure of 
 your personal acquaintance, and who had no conceivable 
 motive for bearing that testimony, excepting the firm 
 impression that you had, as a preacher and minister of 
 religion, essentially served the cause of religion and of 
 charity, in two great manufacturing towns, and under 
 circumstances of no ordinary difficulty, by a rare combina- 
 tion of ability, firmness, and devotion to the duties of your 
 spiritual office. 
 
 I am Sir, with much respect, your faithful Servant, 
 
 Robert Peel. 
 
 One of the warmest testimonials was from the 
 Bishop of Lichfield, Dr. Butler, formerly Head 
 Master of Shrewsbury, a man of critical mind, and 
 not addicted to lavish praise. 
 
 ' Quoted above, p. 180.
 
 304 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 
 
 As a parochial minister he is considered an example, 
 not only in the district to which he belongs, but far be- 
 yond it, of what an indefatigable, pious, and strictly con- 
 scientious clergyman ought to be. His immense church 
 at Coventry I have witnessed full to overflowing. He has 
 inspired into that large parish under his care, containing 
 about 10,000 inhabitants, quite a new life ; and the ex- 
 ample has widely spread through the city, which is be- 
 coming full of attachment to the Church, though previously 
 remarkable for Dissent. I may appear to have written 
 strongly, but I am quite sure I have written only the 
 truth, and I ought to say that in political opinions Mr. 
 Hook and I do not perfectly agree ; you may, therefore, 
 feel assured that I have not been influenced in my testi- 
 mony by any party feeling. 
 
 Mr. Le Bas pronounced him to be 'the fittest 
 man in England to preside over such a parish as 
 Leeds. Let Coventry and Birmingham be appealed 
 to. If the former place is silent, it would only be 
 because it could not raise its voice without danger 
 of losing the spiritual guide who has bowed the 
 hearts of his congregation towards him as the heart 
 of one man.' 
 
 Mr. Keble wrote, * I was acquainted with Mr. 
 Hook when he was an undergraduate at Christ 
 Church, and I believe that his conduct was then as 
 blameless and exemplary, as his heart was unques- 
 tionably always open and generous. Since that 
 time I have not often met him, but I have read his 
 publications, and I should say that for eloquent 
 persuasiveness, and soundness of principle, they 
 certainly rank among the first of the age, to say 
 nothing of the rare theological learning which they 
 exhibit. As a preacher I need only refer you to the
 
 The Election to Leeds. 305 
 
 fact that no one draws such crowded congregations 
 among the young men of Oxford :- no bad test, 
 perhaps, of the quahties which make a person 
 effective in that duty.' 
 
 A large number of the clergy in Coventry and 
 the neighbourhood signed an earnest declaration of 
 their affection and esteem. * We have witnessed In 
 him,' they said, ' a combination of ability, zeal, and 
 spiritual-mindedness in the discharge of his parochial 
 duties such as is seldom met with, and we see the 
 fruits of it in a very greatly increased and increasing 
 attendance in his parish upon public worship and 
 the Lord's Supper. The younger portion of us 
 have looked up to him in every duty as an exemplar, 
 and in every difficulty as a kind and faithful guide, 
 and those amongst us who are his contemporaries 
 or his seniors have beheld with heartfelt respect 
 and approbation his apostolic zeal for his Master's 
 glory.' This collective testimony from the clergy 
 was clenched by a private letter to the trustees from 
 his great friend Mr. Tragett, who had held a cure 
 in Coventry. ' The clergy,' he writes, * of the city 
 of Coventry and its extensive neighbourhood looked 
 up to him as their head and chief ; and his learning, 
 wisdom, and discretion formed the bond of union 
 and zealous co-operation by which we were all 
 enabled to act in harmony amongst ourselves, and 
 to the general benefit of the community.' 
 
 Such are a few specimens out of a great multitude 
 of testimonials which poured in thick and fast from 
 persons of various positions in the Church. 
 
 There was one enthusiastic partisan, however, 
 whose zealous activity occasioned some anxiety and 
 
 VOL. I. X
 
 3o6 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 
 
 annoyance to him for whose benefit it was intended. 
 Mr. Theodore Hook announced his intention of 
 writing to Sir John Beckett, who had great influence 
 in Leeds, on behalf of his nephew. The nephew 
 deprecated the appHcation, and suggested that it 
 should at least be made through Mr. Croker, a 
 common friend, rather than directly by Mr. Theo- 
 dore Hook himself. But the uncle was not to be 
 thwarted, and replied to the remonstrance in the 
 following characteristic letter : — 
 
 I dare say I have done wrong — I don't care if I have. 
 I am sure I haven't done harm. I really don't see why / 
 should not write to Sir John, or why I should ask Croker 
 to ask him. I do their jobs : why the deuce should they 
 not do mine } It is not as if I asked them to prop up a 
 stupid, ill-conditioned cur, because he happened to be my 
 relation. It is / who do them a favour in giving them the 
 opportunity of getting such a clergyman. If you are angry, 
 I can't help it. I will have my own way, so I don't care. 
 .... Come now, none of your nonsense — don't be angry 
 and look cross ; the mouse may do good to the lion. 
 
 The last clause in this letter indicates the humble 
 respect and almost reverence with which the cele- 
 brated humourist regarded his clerical nephew. His 
 was a warm-hearted and generous disposition, sus- 
 ceptible also of religious feelings, and capable of 
 admiring and envying in others that strength of 
 moral purpose which was unhappily too much lacking 
 in himself 
 
 The supporters of Mr. Hook had good reason 
 for making very strenuous efforts on his behalf In 
 the first place there were many competitors, the 
 most formidable being Mr. Molesworth and Mr
 
 The Election to Leeds. 307 
 
 Hugh Stovvell, and they had been present in the 
 town and had i)rcached in several of the churches 
 long before Mr. Hook had been brought forward as 
 a candidate. The election was to take place on 
 March 20, and it was not till the beginning of March 
 that his name appeared in the published lists of 
 candidates. And then a fierce storm of opposition 
 burst forth, and every endeavour was made to pre- 
 judice and intimidate the electors. The * Record * 
 wrote in an agony of alarm, and sought to persuade 
 the religious world that he was a very monster of 
 Tractarian iniquity. * He professed that kind of 
 modified popery with which the ** Tracts for the 
 Times " were filled. For his fierce bigotry and 
 intolerance he could be compared only with Laud : 
 he consigned all Dissenters to the uncovenanted 
 mercies of God, and denied the right of private 
 judgment, which the " Record " considered the fun- 
 damental principle of the Reformation. A Jesuit in 
 disguise could not do more mischief to the Esta- 
 blishment than one who in spirit and doctrine 
 seemed as if he had been brought up within the 
 Holy Inquisition.' In short, it would be impossible 
 to imagine an appointment more fraught with disaster 
 to Leeds and to the Church of England. 
 
 These pleasant remarks in the * Record ' were 
 followed by a sharp attack in the * Christian Ob- 
 server,' directed against his statements in two of 
 his Oxford sermons on the value of Catholic tra- 
 dition and the authority of the Church. Feeble as 
 the criticism was, his supporters dreaded the effect 
 it might produce on the minds of some of the 
 trustees, especially as it insinuated that his views 
 
 X 2
 
 3o8 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 
 
 were identical with those expressed in the * Tracts 
 for the Times,' and it was thought expedient that Mr. 
 Wood should address a letter to one of the Trustees, 
 exposing the fallacies and misrepresentations of the 
 article. ' The reviewer,' he writes, * maintains that 
 the Bible, and the Bible only, is the religion of 
 Protestants.' In one sense we all agree in this. 
 All admit that nothing is to be believed which 
 cannot bear the test of Scripture. In another sense 
 it is not admitted by the reviewer himself, for in 
 disputed points he says, * We will refer to nothing 
 but the Bible and our own authorised formtilaries^ 
 What are these but the creeds, articles, catechism, 
 &c. ? Is not the catechism taught to children before 
 they can themselves deduce it from the Bible, and is 
 not this transmissive religion ? The reviewer talks 
 of our putting the Bible to the humble office of 
 confirming opinion. The office of an umpire in 
 settling disputes is not considered a humble one. If 
 each man is to be his own interpreter, you may have 
 Muggletonians "et hoc genus omne" without end, and 
 " quot homines tot sententise." The Oxford men do 
 not say the Church is infallible, but they believe that 
 the Holy Spirit is promised to the Church : they 
 believe the Church consists of men united in a faith 
 which is cemented by well-approved formularies 
 handed down from age to age. The Church may 
 err ; but the chances of error in the case of indi- 
 viduals are infinitely greater.* 
 
 As the time for the election drew nearer, the 
 strife of parties in Leeds waxed very hot. The 
 papers were filled with all kinds of statements, true 
 and false, concerning the candidates, and the trustees
 
 The Election to Leeds. 309 
 
 were inundated with letters, many of them anony- 
 mous, until it was not easy to keep their heads clear 
 or their tempers cool. Those who were known to 
 be favourable to Mr. Hook, especially Mr. Robert 
 Hall, were subjected to the most severe inquisitorial 
 examinations respecting his character and opinions 
 by the evangelical leaders in Leeds. Mr. Hall in 
 one of his letters gives a specimen of a cross-ques- 
 tioning which he endured. What were Mr. Hook's 
 opinions on baptismal regeneration ? Did he preach 
 the necessity of a converted heart ? Did he make 
 justification and sanctification prominent points in 
 his preaching, or did he merely concede them } Did 
 he support the Church Missionary Society ? Was 
 he of holy life and conversation ? Of course he did 
 not play cards or countenance gay amusements 
 himself, but did he permit his family to do so ? and 
 so on for nearly two hours, until Mr. Hall's patience 
 was fairly worn out, and he declined to be tormented 
 any longer. 
 
 Mr. Hook himself was so much distressed at 
 having become the occasion of contention and ill- 
 will that about this time he announced his intention 
 of withdrawing from the contest, in the following 
 letter to Mr. Robert Hall :— 
 
 Dear Sir, — I send a line, though in the greatest haste, 
 to acknowledge and to thank you for your kind letter. 
 This is necessary, because tv/o or three days may elapse 
 before I can obtain a sight of the * Christian Observer,* 
 which no person, that I can hear of, in this neighbourhood 
 takes in, and which was lately expelled from our Clerical 
 Society on account of the loicJiristian spirit, as it seemed 
 to us, in which it was conducted, especially on account of
 
 3IO Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 
 
 its abuse of that good man, my dear friend, the late Bishop 
 Jebb. Although I have never written any of the Oxford 
 Tracts, nor indeed, have read them all, still, I am known 
 to be a High Churchman, and it is not wonderful that I 
 should be attacked by the ' Christian Observer,' which is 
 the organ of Low Churchism or No Churchism. 
 
 But it may be necessary for me, when I have read the 
 articles to which you refer, to trouble you with a few 
 remarks in vindication of my character, and it will then be 
 my wish to retire from this unpleasant contest. I consider 
 it due to you, my dear sir, and to my friend Wood, not 
 to take this step without your sanction. I wrote to him 
 on the subject yesterday ; and I now state to you what 
 my wish and, unless you prohibit it, my intention is. I 
 thank God that my circumstances are independent, and 
 I am very happy here. When I was brought forward 
 as a candidate on this occasion, I felt anxious for my 
 success, because it is my nature to take an eager interest 
 in any business in which I am engaged. But I am very 
 unwilling to cause dissension among the trustees. I do 
 not choose to have my peace of mind disturbed by the 
 abuse of anonymous assailants, and I am unwilling to 
 place myself in a situation which may give rise in me to 
 those angry feelings which I condemn in my opponents. 
 I am now able to retire without a feeling of regret, with- 
 out bearing ill-will to anyone, with a sense of obligation 
 to the trustees in general and with feelings of gratitude 
 towards you which will, I hope, ripen into a lasting friend- 
 ship. I am sorry to have caused you so much trouble, 
 and I will endeavour to repay you for it by using all the 
 influence I possess in favour of that candidate who is con- 
 sidered by you fittest for the situation. 
 
 Believe me to be, my dear Sir, with every sentiment of 
 gratitude and respect, 
 
 Your obliged and faithful servant.
 
 The Election to Leeds. ' 311 
 
 His friends, however, unanimously insisted on his 
 retracting this decision. ' We must, if possible,' wrote 
 Mr. Robert Hall, * have the best man in the king- 
 dom for Vicar of Leeds : you must therefore suffer 
 me for the present to consider you as not having 
 retired from the contest.' And Mr. Henry Hall 
 wrote to the same effect : * Attempts have been made 
 to force upon us some clergymen of the Low Church 
 party, and, in furtherance of this object, exceptions 
 have been made to some of your doctrinal views ; 
 but I assure you the misrepresentations of the 
 " Christian Observer " have produced no effect on 
 the majority of the trustees ; we are convinced that 
 you will faithfully preach the Gospel to our people 
 (this is what they look for, regardless of party 
 names), and that you will by your *' preaching and 
 living " stop the mouths of all gainsayers.' And 
 Mr. Wood restored the calmness of his friend by 
 dwelling on higher considerations. * We will not 
 do those who have shown so much kindly feel- 
 ing the injustice of supposing they will be turned 
 from their good purpose by an anonymous attack. 
 If we have trusted the event sufficiently to God, 
 nothi7iz ouc^ht to disturb us : if we are but conscious 
 that we otirselves have not occasioned failure, either 
 by negligence in proper exertion, or by undue eager- 
 ness, then the result will be right and good, and no 
 scribbling in reviews or anything else can alter the 
 case.* 
 
 Not long after this, in compliance with the 
 request of the deputation which went to Coventry, 
 Mr. Hook paid his visit to Leeds, and on Wednes- 
 day, March 15, he was introduced to the trustees at
 
 312 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 
 
 their weekly meeting in the vestry of the parish 
 church. The following letters refer to the event : — 
 
 First Visit to Leeds — Machinations of the Hostile Party. 
 
 My dearest Friend, — I send just one line to say that 
 I have returned from my northern expedition in good case. 
 I wish I had gone to Leeds before, for my mind is now 
 quite at ease. If I am to stay here, the comfort, a 
 little quiet, and the regular routine of my duties, will be 
 delightful ; if I am to go to Leeds, now that I have recon- 
 noitred the country, I know that I shall not enter upon 
 duties for which I am wholly disqualified. I feel quite up to 
 the work, by God's grace ; depending on the Divine assist- 
 ance, I shall embark in it, if at all, with vigour and con- 
 fidence. We arrived, as Hall will have told you, on 
 Tuesday. On Wednesday morning I saw most of the 
 clergy, all of whom but two are on my side, and one of 
 whom had generously drawn up a vindication of my 
 doctrines. I stated to the trustees that I had come to 
 Leeds at the request of certain of their body, not to 
 canvass, but to be able at once to deny certain charges, 
 if brought against me. To avoid all appearance of can- 
 vassing I left the town on the Wednesday evening. The 
 cfergy seemed to think me their Vicar, who is spoken of as 
 somebody next in importance, if not to the king, at least to 
 his prime minister. Several trustees told me that I might 
 consider myself as elected ; even Hall seems to be in good 
 cheer: but I know the party I have to deal with too 
 well to feel anything like confidence. They have to meet 
 on Wednesday for the purpose of memorialising the 
 trustees against me ; they have represented me, as I sup- 
 pose you have heard, not only as a Papist, but as a 
 drunkard, a gambler, &c., &c. How I bless God that 
 he has given me a heart that never bears malice or hatred; 
 irritated I may sometimes be, but these kind of things do
 
 The Election to Leeds. 
 
 not irritate me. I have many, very many difficulties to 
 contend with, from a nature desperately wicked ; but this 
 is one of my advantages, that I scarcely notice, and im- 
 mediately forget injuries. I should think that my best 
 chance is, that the opposite party have no distinguished 
 person to bring forward ; and the town clergy very properly 
 say that, if they are passed over, they ought, at least, 
 to have put over them a man of eminence ; and such, 
 I presume, from the abuse heaped on me they suppose 
 me to be. I suppose you have seen Stowell's letter 
 following the attack upon me in the * Record.' I told 
 the trustees that I should regard an attack in the 
 ' Record ' in the light of a testimonial. I was told that 
 some of the opponents threatened to withdraw their ac- 
 counts from Becket's bank, if they voted for me. Since 
 writing this, the Coventry paper has come in ; by whom 
 the Leeds paragraph was written I know not ; I suspect 
 Sheepshanks. I am deeply gratified by the conduct of 
 the people here ; they are all anxious for my welfare, and 
 yet sorry to part with me. Is not this nice and kind and 
 generous } This, too, will render my remaining here the 
 more comfortable, especially as they will know that it is 
 only party violence that will exclude me. 
 
 Fro7n Mrs. Hook to Mr. and Mrs. Wood. 
 
 Coventry : 1837. 
 
 My dear Friends,— I received your letter during my 
 solitude, and was quite comforted by it. Though I felt 
 desperately anxious all the time the old boy was away, 
 yet he is come back so well, so pleased, so frisky, and so 
 tiresome, that I can hardly write a word for his coming 
 and making impertinent remarks. His account of Leeds 
 is satisfactory, and I feel that as a home it will be pleasant, 
 though its distance from London must be a drawback. I 
 suppose you will hear the result as soon as we do. I really
 
 314 Life of Walter Farqithar Hook. 
 
 cannot help feeling anxious, in spite of my determination 
 to think either way the best. 
 
 Ever your truly attached Friend, 
 
 A. D. Hook. 
 
 There remained only three days between his 
 departure from Leeds and the 20th, the day ap- 
 pointed for the election, and in this little interval 
 the opposition fired their last and largest gun. This 
 was a petition to the trustees against his appoint- 
 ment, signed by 400 persons. A copy of his letter 
 to the Bishop of Lichfield in 1830, deprecating his 
 presiding at a meeting of the Bible Society, was 
 apppended to the document. The following is the 
 memorial : — 
 
 To the Trustees of the Advoivson of the Vicarage of Leeds. 
 
 We, the undersigned inhabitants of the parish of Leeds, 
 and members of the Established Church, beg leave respect- 
 fully to memorialise you upon the pending election to the 
 vacant vicarage. We have heard with considerable alarm 
 that there is every probability that the Rev. W. F. Hook 
 will obtain a majority of your suffrages. We beg to sub- 
 mit to you our decided opinion that, on account of the very 
 peculiar tenets maintained and published by that gentle- 
 man, such election will be attended with the most mis- 
 chievous consequences to the interests of the Establishment 
 in this parish. 
 
 The following are some of the doctrines which Mr. 
 Hook avows in his published works, and which we consider 
 in the highest degree objectionable. He denies the right 
 of private judgment in matters of religion. He maintains 
 that Holy Scripture is an insufficient guide to salvation ; 
 and that no man ever did, and few ever could, form their
 
 The Election to Leeds. 315 
 
 code of faith and morals from the Bible, and the Bible 
 only. He virtually excludes Methodists and Dissenters 
 of every name from the pale of Christianity. He is the 
 avowed opponent of the British and Foreign Bible Society, 
 and we have reason to believe that he is unfriendly to the 
 Church Missionary Society and to the Society for Promo- 
 ting Christianity amongst the Jews. He addressed an 
 expostulatory letter to the Diocesan of his present Incum- 
 bency upon the occasion of his taking the chair at one of 
 the meetings of the first, a copy of which we beg to sub- 
 join. 
 
 Your memorialists observe, with unfeigned satisfaction, 
 a growing disposition in the members of the Church of 
 England, in this parish, to unite, as in a common cause, in 
 the advancement of its interests. They beg respectfully, 
 but firmly, to avow their conviction that the immediate 
 effect of Mr. Hook's election will be to interrupt this holy 
 harmony, by reviving those irritating discussions, the exist- 
 ence of which between her members has so long been the 
 subject of regret with every true friend of the Church ; 
 thereby not only to open again that division within her own 
 bosom which they had hoped would soon have been alto- 
 gether obliterated, but ultimately to widen it into a hope- 
 less and incurable schism. It is also observable, and your 
 memorialists allude to the fact with the utmost pleasure, 
 that the asperities of other classes of Christians in the 
 parish against our Church have of late been considerably 
 modified and softened down, and that many among them 
 are disposed to listen to the strong arguments which may 
 be adduced in her favour, and to attend upon her services. 
 The effect of the election of a clergyman of Mr. Hook's 
 avowed opinions upon such persons is sufficiently obvious. 
 Having only been attracted thither by the prevalence of 
 sentiments diametrically opposed to his, they will with 
 proportionate force be repelled, and finally estranged, from 
 her communion. 
 
 We do not wish to go too minutely into matters of 
 objection ; still less do we desire to take an offensive atti-
 
 3i6 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 
 
 tude, or do anything that may wear the appearance of dic- 
 tation. We disclaim all motives save those arising from 
 what we believe to be a christian duty. It is in this spirit 
 that we would respectfully call upon you to consider the 
 appointment about to be made, not merely as one of taste 
 or expediency, not as one of personal feeling, but as one 
 involving the everlasting welfare of souls. We would ven- 
 ture to add that your office was instituted for the benefit 
 of the inhabitants ; and we earnestly hope and pray that 
 you may so fulfil it as to promote the paramount object 
 which we trust we all have in view. 
 
 This memorial, however, was instantly followed 
 by a counter-declaration signed by about 300 per- 
 sons. 
 
 To the Trustees of the Advowsoii of the Vicarage of Leeds. 
 
 March 17, 1837. 
 
 We, the undersigned frequenters of the Parish Church, 
 and other friends of the Establishment generally, beg leave 
 respectfully to address you on the subject of certain recent 
 measures which have been taken to influence, if not to 
 coerce, your choice, of a Vicar for this extensive parish. We 
 wish to express to you that we have viewed the proceed- 
 ing with considerable regret ; and that we utterly disclaim 
 and disavow any participation in it. We sincerely trust 
 that in the execution of your high duty you will set aside 
 all such representations ; and we can assure you that we 
 rest with the most perfect confidence in the rectitude of 
 your judgment, and in your well-known and long-tried 
 attachment to the doctrines and principles of the Church 
 of England. 
 
 On Monday, March 20, the trustees assembled 
 in the vestry for the purpose of election. All were 
 present except Mr. John Hardy and Mr. Peter
 
 The Election to Leeds. 317 
 
 Rhodes. Each wrote his own name on one side of 
 a card, and on the other the name of the candidate 
 for whom he voted. One of the trustees collected 
 the cards, the sides on which the names of the 
 electors were written being uppermost. When 
 handed to the chairman they were reversed, so that 
 he saw the names of the candidates only. Having 
 examined the cards, the chairman, Mr. Henry Hall, 
 said that the Rev. W. F. Hook was elected by six- 
 teen trustees out of twenty-three. He then went 
 into the choir and announced the result of the 
 election to a large crowd of parishioners. He de- 
 clared that the trustees had been influenced by the 
 purest motives, and deprecated a hasty judgment of 
 their choice. They had sought, and believed that 
 they had found, a man of piety and learning, of 
 amiable disposition and literary attainments ; one 
 who in the late scene of his labours had been inde- 
 fatigable in ministering to the wants, spiritual and 
 temporal, of all his parishioners. 
 
 The announcement and address was received 
 by the assembly with much applause, only mingled 
 with a few murmurs and faint cries of * Stowell.' 
 The church bells rang out a joyful peal, and Mr. 
 Henry Hall started with a full heart to carry the 
 good news to Coventry. 
 
 The feelings with which the recipient of the 
 tidings was affected will best be gathered from the 
 letters placed at the end of this chapter. 
 
 The sentiments of his old parishioners were well 
 expressed in one of the principal local journals. * It 
 is with mingled feelings of triumph and regret,* 
 wrote the ' Coventry Standard,' ' that we announce
 
 3i8 Life of Walter Farquhar liook. 
 
 that the Rev. W. F. Hook was on Monday last 
 elected Vicar of Leeds by a very decided ma- 
 jority of the trustees. He will carry with him not 
 only the respect and good wishes, but the warm 
 gratitude, the individual personal affection, of a large 
 portion of the inhabitants of this city, both rich and 
 poor ; and although his future lot be cast far away 
 from those among whom he has ministered for 
 several years, yet he will ever live in their memories 
 a a most zealous and indefatigable minister, a 
 judicious and affectionate friend.' 
 
 This prediction has thus far been verified. In 
 the brief but excellent sketch of his life which 
 appeared in the parish magazine of Trinity parish, 
 Coventry, in November 1875, one month after his 
 death, the writer says, * Thirty-eight years have not 
 effaced from the grateful minds of his old parishioners 
 the remembrance of their Vicar. A generation has 
 indeed grown up which knows him not, and yet his 
 name is so familiar to us all that we find it difficult 
 to realise the long lapse of time since he was living 
 and working in our parish. The work he did in 
 Coventry has been permanent and abiding. ... it 
 is almost impossible to over-estimate the manner in 
 which he quickened Church life.' These are not 
 vain words. How vividly he is remembered and 
 how deeply honoured by the aged, the writer of this 
 biography can testify, being under obligation to 
 many who have been as eager to impart information 
 concerning the work of their former pastor, as during 
 his life-time they were zealous to assist him in that 
 work. The stained glass in the great west window 
 of their magnificent church is the visible proof of
 
 The Election to Leeds. 319 
 
 the affection, gratitude, and respect of the parish- 
 ioners of Holy Trinity for that Vicar who, in the 
 words of one who preached on the occasion of the 
 window being completed,^ ' undertook his ministry 
 in days when earnestness in Church Hfe was rare,' 
 and where manifested * was frequently received with 
 aversion if not with contempt ' : who ' in much 
 difficulty, misapprehension, and misrepresentation 
 laid here the sound foundation of Church principles, 
 and commenced the system of parochial administra- 
 tion which has become more and more firmly esta- 
 blished under his successors.' 
 
 He was instituted Vicar of Leeds on April 4, 
 and the next three months were occupied by the 
 painful and harassing process of severing his con- 
 nexion with one place and forming it with another. 
 
 On Sunday, the i6th, he * read himself in.' His 
 rich, powerful, melodious voice produced its full 
 effect upon the musical ears of the northern people, 
 and he had not proceeded far in the prayers before 
 a godly old Dissenter present was heard to say, 
 smiting his knee with his hand, ' He'll do ; he'll do.' 
 
 On this Sunday he preached twice, enormous 
 crowds being present at both services. He was 
 labouring under a heavy cold, a very rare occurrence 
 with him, and had difficulty in speaking so as to 
 be heard, which was a great vexation to him in the 
 morning, as his sermon was mainly a declaration of 
 his principles, and of the line of conduct which his 
 parishioners were to expect from him. 'You see 
 before you,' he said, * a firm, determined, consistent, 
 uncompromising, devoted, but I hope not unchari- 
 
 * Rev. H. W. Bellairs, June 24, 1877.
 
 320 Life of Walter Farqtihar Hook. 
 
 table, son, servant, and minister of the honoured 
 Church of England. It is as a minister of the 
 Church of England that I am placed here. I am 
 7iot placed here to indulge in speculations of my 
 own as to what / may think to be useful, or what / 
 may think to be expedient — I am instituted under 
 the Bishop to administer the discipline, the sacra- 
 ments, and the doctrines of Christ as the Lord hath 
 commanded, and as this Church and realm hath 
 received the same. I am to labour for the salvation 
 of souls and the edification of the Church, but not in 
 ways and modes of my own devising, but according 
 to the laws, the regulations, the spirit of the English 
 Church. And immediately that I find that I cannot 
 conscientiously adhere to those rules and act in that 
 spirit, I shall tender my resignation to the Bishop, 
 and feel myself bound, not only as a Christian but 
 as a man of honour, to retire from a situation the 
 duties of which I am unable to discharge. The 
 Church is not infallible ; but as we find her now 
 existing in this country I believe her not to be in 
 error, and my conduct shall always be regulated by 
 her authorised decisions.' After pointing out the 
 value of tradition as elucidating Scripture, and the 
 supremacy of Scripture as the test of tradition, 
 after declaring his intention not to * select one or 
 two doctrines, and representing these as all-sufficient, 
 to overlook in carelessness or reject in rashness all 
 the rest — for if this kind of preaching would suffice, 
 why should the Bible be so thick a book, or rather 
 such a large collection of books } ' — after maintaining 
 that through an unbroken episcopal succession the 
 three Orders in the Church of England could satis-
 
 Tirst Sermon at Leeds. 321 
 
 factorily prove their commission to act as ambassa- 
 dors of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of 
 God, he conchided : * And in asserting this shall I 
 give unnecessary offence to my Dissenting friends, 
 and many such I hope to have ? I say, No. For 
 my part I think better things of the candid, honest, 
 conscientious Dissenter. By vindicating the doc- 
 trine and discipline of the Church of England I do 
 indeed by implication assert that he is in error. 
 But does he not do the same by us ? Does not he 
 imply that we are in error, when he secedes from 
 our communion, or refuses to conform to it ? This 
 he must do if he would justify his secession. And 
 if he does think us in error, he will never find in 
 m.e one who will censure him for explaining to his 
 hearers the ground of his dissent. However erro- 
 neous I may consider those grounds, I shall ever 
 contend that he is more than justified, that he is 
 hound to state them honestly and fairly to his 
 people : only let all things be done in charity, 
 gentleness, and courtesy. What I ask then for 
 myself is no more than what 1 am fully prepared to 
 concede. . . . One of the great blessings of a full 
 and free toleration is this : that we may now all of 
 us contend fully and freely for the truth, and the 
 whole truth. As a lover of truth then I am a friend 
 to toleration. When the law assumed that all men 
 were Churchmen, and on that account compelled all 
 men to attend the service of the Church, the chari- 
 tably disposed would, of course, be ready to sacrifice 
 many portions of truth to satisfy the scruples of 
 weaker brethren. Now we are not required to 
 make any such sacrifices : we may now keep our 
 VOL. I. Y
 
 322 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 
 
 eyes steadily fixed upon the truth, and if any man 
 think that the truth is not with us, he suffers no 
 hardship in withdrawing from us. And as a lover 
 of peace, as well as of truth, I thus openly, fairly, 
 and honourably avow my principles. Depend upon 
 it we promote peace, not by falsifying facts, and 
 telling men that we do agree when we do not agree, 
 for this only leads to endless disputes, but by stating 
 clearly and firmly what our differences are, and by 
 then agreeing to differ thereon. Those persons who 
 thrust themselves into a promiscuous throng are 
 liable to inconveniences and quarrels : but draw a 
 line decidedly between disagreeing parties, and then 
 over that line of demarcation opposite parties may 
 cordially shake hands. With Dissenters, therefore, 
 in religious matters I may not act, but most readily 
 will I number them among my private friends. 
 Never in my almsgiving will I make any distinction 
 of persons : in such cases Samaritan and Jew shall 
 be both alike to me. I will say to them, and I will 
 not take offence if they retort the saying upon me, 
 that I think them in error : but every person who 
 happens to oppose what we hold as the truth is not 
 of necessity a wilful opposer of truth as such. Their 
 lov^e of truth may be as great as ours. Our prin- 
 ciple, therefore, will be the same, though the appli- 
 cation of that principle may be different, and for our 
 common principle we may love and respect, while 
 we may sometimes oppose, each other. We must 
 indeed all of us learn to forbear one another and to 
 forgive one another, even as Christ our blessed 
 Redeemer, who died for our sins and rose again for 
 our justification, hath forgiven us.'
 
 Farewell to Coventry. 323 
 
 I have quoted rather largely from this inaugural 
 sermon, not only as being in itself instructive, but 
 also because this bold and manly declaration of his 
 principles, at the outset of his career, procured for 
 him the respect of adversaries with whom he might 
 otherwise have been brought into unpleasant col- 
 lision. He adhered without wavering to the prin- 
 ciples thus early avowed, and was consequently 
 saved from the misery experienced by amiable but 
 vacillatincf characters who seek to conciliate and 
 please all, and too often end in exasperating all. 
 One of the local papers, referring to the sermon, 
 remarked : ' The Vicar has already made a strong 
 and favourable impression upon his parishioners. 
 He has clearly expounded his doctrines and de- 
 veloped his plans. With regard to the latter there 
 will naturally be a variety of opinions : but it must 
 be universally admitted that he commenced the 
 duties of his office with manly candour, that his 
 abilities are first-rate, and that his demeanour is 
 most kind and conciliating.' 
 
 The month of June was the last of his residence 
 at Coventry. A parting address in May, signed 
 by thirty-three male and thirty-two female teachers 
 of the Sunday school, concluded with these touching 
 words : ' We cannot omit to congratulate you upon 
 the success with which your exertions have been 
 crowned by the great increase in the number of 
 communicants, and the flourishing state of our 
 schools ; and at the same time to express our 
 warmest thanks for the spiritual instruction and 
 consolation we have received from you as our 
 revered pastor and affectionate friend. That tlie 
 
 Y 2
 
 324 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 
 
 blessing of the Lord God Almighty may rest upon 
 you and yours, that the Spirit of Truth may guide 
 you even to the end, and that you and we likewise 
 may be of that happy number who shall be blessed 
 at the coming of our Lord, is the hearty desire and 
 humble prayer of the teachers of Trinity Church 
 Sunday School.' The Vicar ended his reply by 
 saying : ' My parting injunction to you is, Love the 
 Church. You live in evil days, when evil tongues 
 are railing against all that is great and good and 
 holy in the land. May I always hear that the 
 teachers of these schools continue to be what they 
 now are, loyal, dutiful, zealous children of the 
 dear old Church. May you grow in grace as you 
 grow in years. May you increase in faith and all 
 the fruits of faith, and to this end I exhort you to 
 be earnest in prayer, regular in your attendance on 
 the duties of the sanctuary — frequent communicants. 
 Let us all persevere in this course and then our 
 parting will not be an eternal one : we shall all meet 
 before the throne of God and of the Lamb, where 
 those who meet meet to part no more. You have 
 often received my blessing, and you have been 
 taught to regard it as the blessing of one com- 
 missioned by God to bless His people. With my 
 blessing therefore I now conclude. The peace of 
 God,' &c. 
 
 On June 12 he preached his last sermon at 
 Coventry. There were not many dry eyes in the 
 vast congregation when in the well-known voice, 
 unrivalled in sweetness and pathos, to which his 
 feelings on the occasion lent an additional tenderness, 
 he said : ' And now I have finished my ministry in
 
 Farezvell to Coventry. 325 
 
 this parish. My friends — for you are my friends, 
 and, thanks be to God, I know not an enemy in the 
 parish — my friends, who have made so much allow- 
 ance for my many deficiencies, who have received 
 so very kindly the little good of which God in His 
 mercy has used me as the instrument ; my young 
 friends whom I have trained in the way of truth ; 
 teachers of the Sunday school, members of the 
 vestry (may you always continue to be as united a 
 body as you have been during the last nine years) ; 
 you who have assisted me in visiting the sick and 
 needy ; you, with whom in your sorrows I have 
 wept and who in my sorrows have wept with me ; 
 you whom I have been the means of reconciling 
 after disagreements ; my poorer brethren whom I 
 have ever held in honour ; my elderly friends with 
 whom I have taken sweet counsel ; my Christian 
 triends, whose sacrifice of prayer and praise it has 
 been my blessed duty to offer to the throne of grace, 
 whom through my ministry Christ has fed with the 
 bread of life — friends one and all — my prayer to you 
 is, may God deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt 
 kindly with me and mine : my exhortation is, those 
 things which ye have learned and received and 
 heard of me do, and the God of peace shall be with 
 you, for you have heard of me, not my own con- 
 jectures, but the words of truth as the Church has 
 received them.' 
 
 Capacious as is the church of the Holy Trinity 
 it could not contain all the people who thronged to 
 it on that Sunday evening, and hundreds waited 
 outside to give their Vicar a parting shake of the 
 hand, and to exchange a few farewell words. And
 
 326 Life of Walter Farquliar Hook. 
 
 so he departed, full of zeal and energy, full of high 
 aims and aspirations, full of confidence, not in him- 
 self, but in the Master whose he was and whom 
 he served. The Evangelical party in Leeds and 
 throughout the country were dejected and appre- 
 hensive, but the ' Record,' writing more in sorrow 
 than in anger, counselled quiet resignation to the 
 inevitable : they had done all they could to prevent 
 so calamitous an appointment, and now that it was 
 made in spite of them, it only remained for them to 
 pray that it might be overruled by God for the 
 good of His Church and the spiritual welfare of the 
 great community at Leeds. The gratitude of the 
 Church is due to the * Record ' for recommending a 
 prayer to which such an abundant answer has been 
 vouchsafed. 
 
 To his Wife — A Day of Discomfort. 
 
 Coventry : February 23, 1837. 
 
 My dearest Love, — If you were in the dumps when 
 you wrote I shall be able to pay you in kind. I have a 
 cold, which always depresses me. Tom Minster is out, and 
 all those who help me in visiting the sick are ill. Sixteen 
 sick persons demand what I have not physical strength to 
 give, daily visiting. I have just returned, completely wet 
 through, from trudging all over the parish, after having 
 performed services, baptisms, and funerals. At the last 
 the pitiless storm drenched me. I think I should have 
 been in despair, if Russfield had not very kindly offered to 
 visit some of the people for me. I had come home, hoping 
 for two hours' rest before going to deliver my lecture ; but I 
 have come to a fire nearly out, and have letters to answer, 
 not all of them the most agreeable. Here is one from 
 my mother, saying that Georgiana has been seriously ill.
 
 Letters on the Election. 327 
 
 I should certainly go over and see them, but besides my 
 lecture to-night, I have a sermon for to-morrow, and three 
 in prospect for Sunday, for Woodward is engaged, and 
 Sheepshanks is unwell. . . . Here is also a letter from a 
 Mr. Robert Hall, another of the trustees, asking whether if 
 I were appointed, I should consider it ' a call.' I shall 
 answer him much in the manner I answered Dr. Barnes. 
 At my time of life, approaching forty with a constitution of 
 fifty, and nerves shattered with those dreadful fits, it is natural 
 to think twice before I determine to break up entirely 
 new ground. I had never thought of going north. I had 
 always expected to settle either in this neighbourhood or 
 in London. But I now heartily hope that we may obtain 
 Leeds. I foresee that if we remain here, the cares of a 
 straitened income will be fatal to our happiness, ... I do 
 not expect to see you back next week, for I am morally 
 certain that you will soon quite break up. You have 
 undertaken more than you can get through. But I will 
 not go on this melancholy strain. I am worried, over- 
 worked, chilled, and, in short, as you were when you wrote. 
 By the time you receive this I may be better. I am 
 almost sorry I let Minster go. / had not a single holiday 
 the first four years I was in orders. 
 
 To W. P. Wood, Esq. — Self-examination, 
 
 Coventry : March lo, 1837. 
 
 My dearest Friend, — The questions put by his cate- 
 chist to Mr. Hall ' have sent me to the duty of self exami- 
 nation. His catcchist is a right worthy man, such as my 
 heart loves ; he has heard that I am an ungodly wretch, 
 and he wishes to prevent my doing mischief Surely he is 
 justified in this. I have carefully examined myself as to 
 the motives he attributes to me ; I will tell you the result. 
 * Party-spirit ' : now I do confess that I find myself to be 
 a little too much influenced by that ; mine is a falling 
 
 ' See above, p. 309.
 
 328 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 
 
 party, and I feel a little complacent in adhering to it ; and 
 I fear that I might do as the worthy catechist has done, 
 occasionally attribute a wrong motive to another, in the 
 heat of my zeal ; of this I repent, and by God's grace will 
 amend. But certainly party-zeal has not been for sixteen 
 years my motive, in labouring as I have laboured for Christ, 
 and His Church ; for if ever party-feelings are excited, 
 they almost immediately cool, and I feel sorry for any 
 excesses of which I have been guilty. However, the impu- 
 tation of this motive to me, though incorrect, shall make 
 me very watchful for the future. 
 
 Next comes ' restlessness of temperament ' ; here I am 
 certainly not guilty, for indolence is the besetting sin of my 
 natural man. You know not how very loth I am to quit 
 my easy chair, to go about my Father's business in my 
 parish : you cannot conceive the pain it frequently is to 
 me to act the prominent part I do in the clerical affairs of 
 the district. 
 
 * Ambition ' : when I was ambitious, it was of literary 
 fame, which was the only fame I cared for ; to renounce all 
 hopes of literary distinction as I did, when I entered into 
 orders was pain and grief to me, but I had grace to do it. 
 As to professional honours I value them not a rush ; were 
 I desirous of them, I should be much more likely to attain 
 them by staying where I am, than by seeking to go to Leeds, 
 I am not insensible to the advantages of station, but my sole 
 wish for any advancement of that kind would be, not sel- 
 fish, but to extend my usefulness, by giving greater weight 
 to any arguments among those of my younger brethren 
 whom it is my great delight to lead. You cannot imagine a 
 person who cares less for these things than I do, 
 
 * Vanity ' : on this point I have suspected myself, but 
 certainly my vanity would never lead me to any great exer- 
 tions, I rather pique myself on having formed a just estimate 
 of my own powers, and that is a very low one. I fall so in- 
 finitely short of what I intend in all that I do, that I have 
 never done anything without being plunged into despond- 
 ence ; and therefore a little praise instead of puffing me up
 
 Letters on the Election. 329 
 
 encourages me. It makes me feel that while I know 
 that I have failed, yet that I have not failed so entirely as 
 I feared ; I dread disgrace more than I covet praise. Now 
 in whatever degree those faults may influence me, unknown 
 to myself, we may easily find other motives for my sixteen 
 years of labour. You know what my temper was in boy- 
 hood, and you know what it is now ; it seems to me some- 
 times as if a miracle had been wrought in mc, my temper 
 has become so improved. People will not believe me 
 sometimes when I tell them how bad my temper was ; and 
 they see how well I am able to keep it under severe provo- 
 cations. I have had other passions in my time to contend 
 with ; I had a very bad soil to cultivate, but by the grace 
 of God I am what I am, still a sinful, alas ! my dear Wood, 
 a very, very sinful creature, but one who has found grace, 
 and who has grown in grace ; and when I feel and know 
 what great things the Saviour has done for me, I have 
 only to ask you not to consider me as a brute beast, in 
 order to make you certain that I must be actuated by zeal 
 for my dear Master's service. Gratitude alone would in- 
 flame my love, and love inflamed would urge an eager 
 mind on to action. Indeed I think at times that nothing 
 but a regular education and a keen sense of the ridiculous 
 would keep me from fanaticism. Gratitude to my God, the 
 Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, is sufficient to inflame my 
 love for Him, the Holy Trinity, and His Church ; and com- 
 mon feelings of humanity would urge me to endeavour to 
 procure for others the great blessings I have enjoyed and 
 do enjoy myself If Mr. Hall's catechist knew how much 
 more has been done, because needed, for my poor soul than 
 for that of most men, he would not have sought for inferior 
 motives to account for my conduct. To me much has been 
 forgiven, and therefore I love much. Will you pardon all 
 this egotism } you have always been my father confessor, 
 and I think it right to lay the whole case before you now, 
 because, as you have doubtless been sponsor for my piety 
 to Mr. Hall, I wish to let you see whether you can safely 
 stand up for me. But I am still so very conscious of the
 
 330 Life of Walter Farqukar Hook. 
 
 indwelling of sin in this mortal body of mine, that I would 
 not have you say much. I know that many better persons 
 may be obtained for Leeds than I am, but certainly there 
 can be none more desirous of doing his duty to his God, 
 his Saviour, and his Church. 
 
 From Robert Hall, Esq., Congratulatory on His Election to 
 the Vicarage. 
 
 Leeds : March 20, 1837. 
 
 My dear Mr. Vicar, — My father will have informed you 
 how the Almighty has disposed our hearts to confer upon 
 you a station of much responsibility. May He turn it to 
 the everlasting benefit of thousands of immortal souls and 
 your own welfare, both here and hereafter. 
 
 My father relieves me from the necessity of writing to 
 you at any considerable length, though I shall probably do 
 so when my spirits have subsided into their ordinary 
 course. I am still too much agitated to write in a business- 
 like manner. You will be pleased to hear that, notwith- 
 standing the attempt at agitation, the announcement of 
 your election was very favourably received by a numerous 
 assemblage of parishioners who were collected in the chan- 
 cel awaiting the result. My father of course will consult 
 with you as to the proper period of your making your ap- 
 pearance here. One of the churches is to be reopened on 
 the 30th. I have no doubt you will be requested to offi- 
 ciate, but if the time now proposed be too early, I have 
 little doubt it might be postponed for a short time. . . . 
 Wherever we may be, I need hardly assure you that my 
 wife and I shall have the greatest pleasure in being of every 
 possible service to Mrs. Vicaress and yourself. That God 
 may bless you both and make you blessings to others is, 
 I assure you, the reiterated prayer of 
 
 Yours very faithfully, 
 
 Robert IIalu
 
 Letters on the Election. 331 
 
 To W. P. Wood, Esq. 
 
 Coventry : March 21, 1837. 
 
 My dearest William and not less dear Charlotte, — Mr. 
 Hall senior, a man whom I can take to my heart, has just 
 arrived with the presentation to Leeds. I am stupified, 
 and therefore cannot express my feelings. I am really 
 overwhelmed ; the thought of leaving dear Coventry is full 
 of sadness ; the responsibility of my new position alarms 
 me : thus I may be pardoned for not actually feeling joy. 
 Pray for me, pray for us, my dearest friends ; and God 
 Almighty grant that our new promotion may be attended 
 by a corresponding growth in grace. I have, of course, 
 many letters to write, and two services daily during this 
 week, so no more at present from 
 
 Your devoted grateful Friend. 
 
 To Rev. E. Gibson. 
 
 Coventry : March 23, 1837. 
 
 My dear Friend, — Understanding that you were ap- 
 prised of my success by my most kind and zealous friend 
 Sheepshanks, I did not write yesterday, as I had many 
 friends at a distance impatient to hear from me. But did 
 you argue from this that I am ungrateful for all your judi- 
 cious exertions on my behalf.'' No! or you would not be 
 the Edward Gilson I love — and love especially because 
 he always finds out the virtues and is rather blind to the 
 faults of his friends. Believe me that I shall never forget 
 your kindness. 
 
 To my wife and me this is not pleasure without alloy. 
 The thought of leaving dear Coventry, where we have so 
 many friends, where we have spent so many happy years, 
 where we have so many kind parishioners, where one 
 blessed child is buried, is a thought full of grief. But so is 
 everything in this world ; all happiness must be of a mixed 
 nature, or this world would be heaven.
 
 332 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 
 
 Remember me, dear Gibson, in your prayers, and pray 
 that I may bear in mind the verse of Gregory Nazianzen, 
 
 or' evTrXoets \iaKi.<jra \ii\s.vr]<TO fdXTjf. 
 
 Your ever grateful Friend. 
 
 To Rev. T. H. Tragett 
 
 Coventry : March 23, 1837. 
 
 My dear Tragett, .... Be it known to you, that out 
 of twenty-three trustees sixteen voted for me, though there 
 were thirty-five candidates. The ' Evangehcals ' repre- 
 sented me to be a gambler, a drunkard, and a Papist ; at 
 last they found out that I was a Whig ! They were most 
 fierce against the Oxford Tracts, making them speak all 
 sorts of heresies ; but then one of my supporters silenced 
 them by saying that I was not one of the writers of those 
 Tracts, and that therefore I was not to be judged by them : 
 but it was urged, ' he is known to be the friend of Pusey, 
 Keble, and Newman.' ' Yes, and this is one of his testi- 
 monials.' What higher honour can a man have on this 
 earth } Will you thank that apostolic man Keble for 
 writing in my favour, as I am told he did. 
 
 I am, your most affectionate Friend. 
 
 From the Bishop of Ripon. 
 
 40 Devonshire Place : March 23, 1837. 
 
 Dear Sir, — Allow me to offer you my sincere congratu- 
 lations upon your election to the vacant vicarage of Leeds. 
 From the prevalence of Dissent and from the variety of 
 opinions in matters of religion which exist there, it may be 
 considered as the most important cure in the diocese of 
 Ripon ; but from what I hear of your power of conciliating 
 those who differ from you, without surrendering your own 
 principles, I trust that we shall before long see that influ- 
 ence beneficially exerted in your new sphere.
 
 Letters on the Election. 333 
 
 In my Archdeacon, Mr. Musgrave, you will find a 
 person most able and most willing to render you any 
 assistance in his power on your first entry upon your new 
 duties, and I regret that I am not at present in the 
 country to afford you my services also — but be assured 
 that my prayers shall not be wanting for a blessing on 
 your labours. 
 
 Believe me, dear Sir, your faithful friend and servant, 
 
 C. T. RiroN. 
 
 To W. P. Wood, Esq. 
 
 Coventry : March 30, 1837. 
 
 My dearest Friend, .... I cannot but think it very 
 mean and paltry, if not something worse, on the part of 
 your wife, to presume on her merits as being my patroness 
 and as having got me a living for the purpose of indulging 
 in gross personalities. The trustees who came here had 
 indeed received such accounts of my personal appearance 
 that one of them said, ' We expected to see a Saracen's 
 Head get up into the pulpit, whereas we found ratJier a 
 gooa-looking man than otherwise.' So to settle disputes I 
 thought, I'll paint it, and shame the fools. The likeness is 
 considered admirable. An ugly fellow I must confess I am. 
 The artist came to me and asked me to sit, as he wished 
 to publish the engravings. I said, No. He said that if he 
 succeeded it would be a very great thing for him ; and 
 then charity whispered, why should not he as well as I 
 have some of the good things of Leeds } He was to give 
 me the painting ; but as I will not give you what costs me 
 nothing, I shall make him a present of his ten guineas ; 
 what is the use of having money, but to make those around 
 us happy .'' and how pleased Mrs. Rosenburg will be when 
 Mr. Rosenburg goes home and counts out the money he 
 did not expect to receive ; and then who knows but what 
 they will remember their benefactor in their prayers ; and 
 thus I shall have made a righteous use of mammon. Though
 
 334 Life of Walter Farqtihar Hook. 
 
 I write pleasantly, I am very much depressed with the 
 thought of what is awaiting me. Firmness, gentleness, 
 patience, these are the weapons with which I shall have to 
 fight. When my firmness is displayed, then there will be 
 fierce attacks, foes will rage, the crafty will try flattery, 
 friends will frown and call me obstinate ; you will hear all 
 manner of evil against your friend. Then I shall up with 
 the shield of gentleness ; they may rage, but I shall seek 
 for grace to remain calm, firm in principle, courteous in 
 conduct. At last patience will have her perfect work : the 
 good among my opponents, seeing that I will not go round 
 to them, will come round to me, I have confidence in my 
 success, if only I have health and strength for two or three 
 years. My only annoyance is about that dear good man 
 Robert Hall ; he thinks that I have only to go to Leeds 
 and all the Evangelicals will be at my feet. I know them 
 better ; when they find that I do not renounce my prin- 
 ciples and embrace theirs, then their fury will be great ; by 
 gentleness I intend to appease it, but do impress upon 
 dear excellent Hall's mind that I must have time ; per- 
 haps two or three years. 
 
 Yours devotedly. 
 
 To W. P. Wood, Esq. — First Ser 711011 at Leeds. 
 
 Armley House, Leeds: April 19, 1837. 
 
 My dearest Friend, — I send a line because I know that 
 you and your lady will wish to hear of us. Most calami- 
 tously, I was so hoarse on Sunday that, though surrounded 
 by an immense mob, I could not do more than whisper 
 my sermon. To my annoyance, however, there were re- 
 porters present from the three newspapers, and I was 
 strongly urged to print my sermon by Mr. Hall, on behalf 
 of the trustees. As I had not the remotest idea of printing 
 it when I wrote it, this is a bore ; but as it will most likely 
 be misrepresented in the newspapers, I thought I had bet- 
 ter send it to the press, which I have accordingly done.
 
 Letters on the Election. 335 
 
 After so much success and flattery, I look upon this failure 
 (for a complete failure it was) as a merciful Providence ; it 
 is a warning to me not to be too confident in myself ; it 
 tells me on whose strength I must wholly and solely rely. 
 I am happy to say that I did not feel any annoyance 
 whatever from such feelings as might arise from mortified 
 vanity ; I have regarded the failure as a mercy, and not 
 been annoyed at it the least, except so far as I failed in my 
 wish to let my mode of conduct be known. This will be 
 remedied by the publication. I look upon all this with 
 some complacency, as it proves to me that I have grown 
 in grace. Indeed I can conscientiously say that all that has 
 occurred of late has been as yet to my spiritual improve- 
 ment ; I have not so much of youthful enthusiasm and fervour 
 as I once had, but I have more childish reliance. We like 
 everything we see here extremely ; the church has capabi- 
 lities about it, and I hope to turn it inside out. The services 
 of the church cannot now be properly performed in it ; it is 
 like a conventicle built up in a church. I have arranged to 
 keep a third curate, and my curates will cost me 260/. a 
 year, which is a large deduction from my income. 
 
 Advice to his Sister about the Spiritual State of one of her 
 
 Friends. 
 
 Armley House, Leeds: April 19, 1837. 
 
 My dearest Mother, .... Georgiana's poor friend's 
 mind is in a morbid state, and do what she will, she will 
 be unhappy until God's good time arrive for making a 
 change in it. The fault seems to be, both on her part and 
 on Georgiana's, that they are looking for some display of 
 feeling, which must naturally depend on temperament. Let 
 her rather think on her actions ; God has given her grace, 
 through the merits of the Saviour in whom she believes, to 
 lead a good life, and that is an earnest that He will give her, 
 for her Saviour's sake, life everlasting. It is certainly 
 very sinful on her part never to have communicated ; and
 
 33^ Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 
 
 most probably it is on that account that she is now deprived 
 of spiritual comfort. Let her amend on this point, but let 
 her not suppose that she is to find immediately all the com- 
 fort that a regular communicant enjoys, though this does 
 sometimes happen. Georgiana should bear in mind that 
 this is a case for special grace, and that prayer for her friend 
 will be of more avail than reading or talking to her ; but 
 she may read for her comfort the account of our Saviour's 
 agony, and show to her from thence that the withholding 
 of spiritual comfort for a time is not a proof of God's dis- 
 favour.
 
 Lord Hatherley s Letter. 337 
 
 LETTER FROM LORD HATHERLEY 
 TO THE EDITOR. 
 
 My dear Nephew, — I write in fulfilment of my 
 promise to supply you with a brief account of the 
 school and college life of my late dear friend, your 
 father-in-law. Our friendship began in 181 2, soon 
 after I had become a commoner at Winchester, and 
 continued to his death in 1875. It commenced al- 
 most at first sight ; though nothing could be imagined 
 more improbable than that our several ages, disposi- 
 tions, prejudices, and family training should have 
 allowed such a result. 
 
 In the first place when we met each other in 
 18 1 2 at Dr. Gabell's school, which was associated 
 with the ancient foundation of William of Wyke- 
 ham at Winchester by the style of * Commoners,' 
 'Hook Senior ' (for we knew no Christian names) 
 was over fourteen years of age, and I was not yet 
 eleven ; he was tall, strong, and impetuous, I was a 
 short, small, and ordinarily quiet child. He had 
 been imbued from childhood with High Church 
 notions as they were then understood, and with the 
 genuine old Tory doctrines of the political party 
 then in power. I had been brought up in the 
 Church of England, but my political instruction had 
 been in what was then thought to be the radical 
 VOL. I. Z
 
 $^S Life of Walter Farqiihar Hook. 
 
 school, and these impressions had been strengthened 
 by very constant reading, even in childhood, of the 
 ' Morning Chronicle ' and ' Cobbett's Register.' To 
 this it may be added, that the positions in life of 
 our parents were wide apart. His father was a 
 beneficed clergyman, and a Canon or Prebendary (as 
 he was then called) of Winchester Cathedral, and 
 his career, through the influence of his father-in- 
 law. Sir Walter Farquhar, had been attended by the 
 favour and personal notice of the Prince Regent ; 
 whilst my father was engaged in business in the 
 City of London, and was, not long after this time, 
 honoured by the personal confidence of the Princess 
 of Wales, the Regent's ill-used wife. 
 
 Besides these discrepancies, both ' Hook Senior' 
 and his brother Robert had brought with them 
 from Tiverton school but little acquaintance with 
 Latin and Greek, and on the part of my friend I 
 may say but little disposition to acquire it ; whilst 
 I found from an early period perhaps too much plea- 
 sure in entering into competition with others in these 
 studies whenever the opportunity was offered me. 
 
 Notwithstanding the improbability of our form- 
 ing a friendship for life, it was by God's providence 
 so ordered that from December i8i 2, or thereabouts, 
 till October 1875, when he was taken from us, we 
 scarcely passed a fortnight without either meeting or 
 hearing from each other by letter. 
 
 Our friendship began in a most unsentimental 
 manner. His backwardness in study had occasioned 
 him to be still In a low form of the school, and there- 
 fore subject to fagging, and we first foregathered 
 at a large fire in Commoners' Hall, being engaged,
 
 Lord I la i her ley s Letter. 339 
 
 under the system of domestic slavery which then 
 existed, in preparing- the breakfasts of our respec- 
 tive masters. This led to our interchanmno: such 
 thoughts upon the pursuits most agreeable to us as 
 our young minds could suggest, and I soon found 
 that, though backward in the studies of the school, 
 he was very forward and vigorous in mind. 
 
 He was far beyond, not only myself, but most 
 other boys nearer to his own age in the school in his 
 acquaintance with English Literature. He was espe- 
 cially well acquainted with the great works of Shaks- 
 peare and Milton, and with other standard authors 
 of English poetry, whilst he had already begun, under 
 his father's roof, to read some of the then accepted 
 authors in Divinity. At that time, I think, the 
 works of Archbishop Seeker, and Nelson's * Fasts and 
 Festivals ' were most commonly referred to by him. 
 As a proof that T am not antedating, by defect of 
 memory, his early acquaintance with Shakspeare, I 
 may mention that I have since his death been 
 allowed to possess myself of the very edition in 
 which we often read together, and which on the fly 
 leaf bears his name with the date 181 1. 
 
 In a few months after our return to school in 
 January 18 13 we became inseparable. I was able 
 to assist him in the ordinary course of school study, 
 which service he more than repaid by forming my 
 mind to an enjoyment of our English authors, and an 
 appreciation of Shakspeare and Milton not common 
 in early boyhood. Besides these, our favourite 
 authors, we read together as years passed on any 
 new works that made their mark. He was plen- 
 tifully supplied with these from home. Amongst 
 
 z 2
 
 340 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 
 
 others I recollect Walter Scott's successive poems, 
 Maturin's * Bertram ' and Milman s * Fazio' ; the latter, 
 however, was, I think, sent to me by Hook after he 
 had gone to Oxford. But whilst thus assisting me 
 in the perusal of our English classics, he did me the 
 yet greater service of forming my mind to a genuine 
 delight in reading for its own sake, whereas the de- 
 sire of excelling rather than a delight in excellence 
 had been my motive to exertion. And even now 
 looking back on our long course of life side by side, 
 I own his moral superiority in this respect. He was 
 singularly free from the low ambition of surpassing 
 others, and though there may at one time have been 
 some degree of self-indulgence in his avoiding the 
 labour of acquiring knowledge through the medium 
 of languages with which he was not familiar, yet 
 even in his schooldays he conscientiously encoun- 
 tered this labour when convinced that it was his 
 duty so to do, irrespective of any competition with 
 others. 
 
 I will not enter into details of the progress of our 
 'friendship from year to year, but may briefly state 
 the course of our school life. I passed him in the 
 school owing to his comparative indifference to 
 competition in the study of Latin and Greek ; but 
 when I had reached the sixth or highest form in the 
 school, I strongly urged on him the desirableness of 
 an effort to reach that form in which we should then 
 pursue our studies together, and at the same time 
 he would have the advantage of being solely under 
 the direct tuition of Dr. Gabell, the Head Master. 
 The regulation established by Dr. Gabell facilitated 
 such an exertion. Any boy who had once attained
 
 Lo7'd Hatherley s Letter. 341 
 
 a place in the form immediately below the sixth was 
 offered promotion at any time to the sixth form on 
 condition that he passed a voluntary examination in 
 a book of Livy and one Greek play. I had myself 
 been thus promoted over the heads of several boys 
 otherwise before me in the school, and I succeeded 
 in directinor Hook's mind to the same course. He 
 had no great difficulty in achieving our object. I 
 went over with him the same book of Livy and the 
 same play, the Medea of Euripides, as I had myself 
 taken up for my examination, and we had the great 
 pleasure of pursuing exactly the same studies together 
 for the residue of his school career, that is till 181 7, 
 or more than half a year. 
 
 Meanwhile our English readings had become 
 more and more frequent, especially during the sum 
 mer evenings, when we used to build ourselves an 
 arbour for the summer in a thick hawthorn tree, 
 and taking our several editions of Shakspeare with 
 us, read out by turns the various parts of each play. 
 Besides his pocket edition, already referred to, he 
 possessed one by Reed in twenty-one volumes, the 
 whole of which (notes and all) we swallowed if we 
 did not digest them. In the year 18 14 (I think) he 
 instituted an * Order of St. Shakspeare and St. 
 Milton;' April 23, Shakspeare's birthday and death- 
 day, being our chief festival. Of this Order we 
 two were styled the Founders and Knights Grand 
 Masters, and to it were admitted a few of our com- 
 mon friends as Knights Grand Crosses, amongst 
 whom was the present Sir W. Heathcote.^ We did 
 
 * The following is the description of the Order copied from the 
 blank page in one of the volumes of the pocket Shakespeare : —
 
 342 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 
 
 not omit to read prose authors, and the * Spectator ' 
 was a book in frequent use. 
 
 From what I have already stated you will readily 
 understand that he obtained but few school distinc- 
 tions. A book prize attended his successful effort 
 to reach the sixth form per saltum, and he gained 
 the silver medal for public speaking, being undoubt- 
 edly the best orator of the school. He was also 
 at the end of his career distinguished as our cham- 
 pion, and was selected to fight any inhabitant of the 
 town (including on one occasion some soldiers of a 
 regiment in the barracks) in case of infringement 
 by them of our privileges. 
 
 Dr. Johnson has said that a debt of gratitude is due 
 to the memory of all schoolmasters by whom men who 
 have distinguished themselves, as did my friend, were 
 trained ; and I cheerfully and gratefully acknowledge 
 the debt we both owed to Dr. Gabell as an instructor. 
 That, indeed, was the only title {informator) that he 
 enjoyed as connected with the foundation: the Warden 
 (at that time Dr. Huntingford, Bishop of Hereford) 
 
 A List of the Knights of the Most Poetical Order ofSS. 
 Shakspeare and Milton. 
 
 llr S' ^?'^^' \ Founders and Knights Grand Masters. 
 
 W. P. Wood, J 
 
 Henry Minchin, \ 
 
 * EDWARD AUSTEN, ^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^ 
 
 William Heathcote, 
 Philip Hevvett, J 
 
 By His Majesty's Command. 
 
 ^J T^" -.,7 * [ Secretaries of State. 
 W. P. Wood, j 
 
 GOD SAVE KING 
 
 SHAKSPEARE. 
 
 * Better known as Austen Leigh, a nephew of Miss Austen the novelist, and 
 author of a memoir of her.
 
 Lo7'd Hatherleys Letter. 343 
 
 being the chief governor of Wykeham's College. But 
 of Commoners ' Gabell was the ' master,' and I 
 always thought him very deficient in the qualifications 
 necessary for that post. His chief deficiency was a 
 total distrust of the boys, which led him never to 
 believe their statements. It was this defect which 
 (subsequently to Hook's leaving the school) led to a 
 rebellion. But as a teacher Dr. Gabell excelled. 
 He possessed the happy art of thoroughly searching 
 out every boy's ability and industry, by methods of 
 his own, with which I ought not to encumber your 
 pages, and further he felt, and therefore conveyed to 
 generous and intelligent young minds, an enthusiastic 
 love of the best classical literature. Learning by 
 heart formed a prominent part of the teaching of 
 the school, and this circumstance probably in a 
 great measure kept Hook back in his progress. His 
 memory was not accurate in details, while the amount 
 of recitations from Latin and Greek poets of which 
 some boys were capable was portentous. A noble 
 lord is yet living ^ who committed to memory the 
 whole (I think) of Virgil's .^neid and several books 
 of Homer. Winchester has always been a hard 
 working school. Accuracy was insisted upon ; work 
 was not slurred over, nor was brilliancy considered 
 to be any compensation for indolence. The school 
 has produced hard workers through life. The 
 Archbishopric of Canterbury and the Speakership 
 of the House of Commons have been each held 
 once, and the Great Seal three times, by Wykeham- 
 ists within my memory, and I have sat in a Cabinet 
 where three out of sixteen members had been 
 educated at Winchester. 
 
 1 Lord Saye and Sele.
 
 344 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 
 
 As boys we all took much interest in politics, 
 though I think out of 200 probably less than one- 
 quarter were Whigs, and I was almost a solitary 
 Radical. Hook established a Parliament which sat 
 in the deserted Palace of the Bishop. I think that 
 of its members only Sir Alexander Maletand myself 
 have survived. Our debates were no doubt highly 
 esteemed by ourselves : they were perhaps none the 
 worse for the absence of reporters, or even a gallery. 
 
 I have not yet noticed the tie which more espe- 
 cially bound my dear friend and myself together 
 from boyhood to age. It so happened that I became 
 a prefect at the early age of fifteen. The prefects 
 were entrusted with the discipline and management 
 of the school. There were eight of them in Com- 
 moners presiding over 142 other boys, and two in 
 each week were responsible for the general order of 
 the school. It had become almost a rule that these 
 eight boys should receive at stated times the Holy 
 Communion. I had not been confirmed, and this 
 led me to think very seriously about the whole 
 subject ; and first whether I ought, as it were com- 
 pulsorily, to take so serious a step at all, and secondly 
 whether I could properly do so before confirmation. 
 This latter point, however, was, shortly before the 
 time for communicating, set at rest by the Warden 
 of the College, Bishop Huntingford, holding a con- 
 firmation in the College Chapel. I submitted my 
 anxieties on this head to my friend, as I did all my 
 other difificulties in matters of religion. I need not 
 dwell more on the subject. Suffice it to say that he 
 consulted his father and some others of the clergy 
 upon it, supplied me with books on the subject of 
 Confirmation and Holy Communion, instructed and
 
 Lord Hatherleys Letter. 345 
 
 encouraged me in every way ; and thus my first 
 Communion was the special cement of our Hfe-en- 
 during- friendship, and a foundation was laid on which, 
 notwithstanding every difference of opinion in matters 
 less grave, we could rest as on a rock. 
 
 During our holidays we used to see each other 
 occasionally only. In the winters of 18 15 and 18 16 
 my father, having been elected Lord Mayor for two 
 successive years, resided at the Mansion House. 
 Hook, when in town, lived in Conduit Street at the 
 house of Sir Walter Farquhar, his grandfather. He 
 contrived a plan of our meeting for an hour or two 
 each day in St. Paul's Cathedral. At that time 
 anyone could be admitted there on payment of two- 
 pence, and was allowed to remain as long as he 
 pleased, and many a time did we pace the aisles 
 together for hours when the service was over. In 
 the summer holidays my family usually resided at 
 Little Strawberry Hill, Twickenham, and at times 
 Hook was in that neighbourhood at Roehampton, 
 staying with his uncle, Mr. Thomas, afterwards Sir 
 Thomas, Farquhar, 
 
 The first letter of a series which continued 
 without interruption for nearly sixty years was 
 written to me by Hook on December 29, 18 16. 
 It is dated from Winchester, where his father was 
 then residing as Prebendary, and addressed to me 
 at the Mansion House. I copy a small part of it. 
 He was still a school-boy, but intended (as ultimately 
 was the case) to leave Winchester School at the 
 end of the long half-year terminating in July. 
 
 I went on Thursday to Southampton to see Mrs. 
 Siddons, whom I heard so much ridiculed here by two of 
 her acquaintances that I scarcely expected to be able to
 
 34^ Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 
 
 tolerate her; but I found her most kind and pleasant. 
 She said she had known me when I was a child, and was 
 happy to renew the acquaintance. In the evening, after 
 dinner, she gave me my choice of what she should read to 
 me, and I chose Macbeth, which she read through, passing 
 over a few uninteresting scenes. She acted Macbeth quite 
 as well as Lady Macbeth, and of course surpassed Kean in 
 every respect. Though she is sixty-two yet she looked 
 most beautiful when she was reading, and I can very well 
 fancy her once being ' with matchless beauty crowned.' But 
 what I liked most to hear, was Satan's speech to the Sun, 
 in Milton, which she read most charmingly : her voice and 
 manner suits entirely with Milton. I took a long walk the 
 next morning, with Miss Siddons, who is a very sensible, 
 agreeable girl, and some people think very handsome. 
 Mrs. Siddons was very condescending, and in talking over 
 several of Shakspeare's plays, showed a great deal of taste, 
 learning, and judgment. She took, however, the part of 
 Lady Macbeth, in which I could not quite agree with her, 
 and her daughter helped me to defend poor Macbeth, 
 against whom Mrs. Siddons was rather spiteful. . . . By 
 the bye, I shall have free access to John Kemble's library, 
 which you know, according to Steeven's account, is the best 
 in England for old books and valuable and scarce editions, 
 not of classics, but of old English authors. 
 
 At the beginning of February 1817 I received 
 another letter from him, of which I give a short 
 extract in order to show the passionate enthusiasm 
 which his affection always evinced towards me. It 
 was poured forth in prose and verse, and from youth 
 to age, and I will only give this specimen of what 
 you and all he loved well know to have been his 
 characteristic : the most unselfish, ardent devotion 
 to his friends. He refers to his returning to school 
 a week before I should be there, owing to his father 
 leaving Winchester, to explain which it may be men-
 
 Lord Hatherleys Letter. 347 
 
 tioned that the school was open for the reception 
 of the foundation boys who returned a week before 
 the commoners were obliged to do so. 
 
 .... I shall not be able to avoid going to Commoners 
 on Sunday night, and thus I shall spend a whole week with- 
 out you ; you may well imagine how miserable I shall be, 
 for I could better spare you in any other place than that 
 in which every turn I take will bring you to my remem- 
 brance ; but stay as long as you can, for you may be 
 assured that I can have no greater pleasure than knowing 
 that you enjoy yourself; and if you could, I would not 
 wish you to hurry back into Commoners on my account 
 as I do not reckon myself at all selfish, but I tJiink and 
 hope that I feel more pleasure in your happiness than in 
 my own, and I only write this that you may take com- 
 passion, and whenever you have a moment to spare and 
 roneniber me, may just send me a line of consolation, even 
 if it is every day, and but a line. I write to you now 
 because I am very dull, too dull to read even our dear 
 Shakspeare, and I want to complain, and so pitch upon 
 you to be the person to be plagued with hearing my com- 
 plaints. I had an offer of going to Oriel this instant, there 
 being a sudden vacancy, and not going back to Winchester, 
 but I much prefer returning : indeed I should be wretched if 
 I did not go back this half-year, for though Oxford may 
 have some greater comforts than Winchester, yet the enjoy- 
 ing your company at the one and not at the other would 
 make the one most delightful, the other most uncomfort- 
 able, and though we shall separate at the end of next half- 
 year, the thought of not spending one more half-year 
 with you, would have made me wretched. Gabell most 
 strongly advised my staying, and I am glad to stay. 
 
 When the end of the long half-year arrived, July 
 1 8 1 7, we underwent our first real parting, and very 
 sad it was. We paced the long galleries at the 
 back of the bedrooms in Commoners for an hour or
 
 34^ Zz/^ of Walter Farqtihar Hook. 
 
 two in great grief. In the holidays he met with 
 some sHght accident, and I went from Twickenham 
 to see him in London, after which he wrote me a 
 letter, of which I have copied a small part to show 
 the extreme warmth of his feelings in return for a 
 very slight service. 
 
 My most beloved Friend, — I cannot possibly wait an 
 instant, without expressing to you my deep and heartfelt 
 gratitude for your conduct towards me during the last two 
 days. Had you not before this had possession of my heart, 
 your late kindness would certainly have given you a just 
 title to my affection. Indeed I do not repent of my 
 foolish action, since by that means I enjoyed so very much 
 of your society, and since owing to that, I spent two of the 
 happiest days that I ever did spend. Again, my dearest 
 Wood, let me express my gratitude to you for foregoing the 
 pleasures of your holidays, and shutting yourself up in the 
 room of a poor sick fellow. 
 
 I returned to Winchester in September 1817, 
 and in November received a letter from him refer- 
 ring to a squib which he had sent to the ' Sun ' 
 newspaper. He had at all times much of the 
 exuberant humour of his Uncle Theodore, subdued 
 as years went on by the graver realities of his life, 
 but always ready to break forth when he was in the 
 company of an intimate friend. I insert the first 
 portion only of this letter. 
 
 I have become an author already. On Sunday last I 
 sent a squib to the ' Sun ' newspaper which it has published 
 in yesterday's edition. The name of it was, ' The Meeting 
 of Jacobins.' I will send you the paper if I can get one. I 
 ought not to send you a copy as there is in it ' The Lord 
 
 M r and Jacobins of the City of London. The Lord 
 
 M r returned thanks.' Tell me directly if you are
 
 Lord Hatherley s Letter. 349 
 
 sulky. I tell you honestly, I am not certain whether it was 
 not an interpolation of the ' Sun,' because it is not in my foul 
 copy, and because they have thought fit to insert a puff at 
 the end of it in favour of their paper, but I plainly tell you 
 that I should have inserted it if I had thought of it, but I 
 rather think I did not. Not that I think your father a 
 Jacobin precisely ; but as I call Lord Grey, under the title of 
 Lord Dapple, a Jacobin, and likewise Mr. Brougham, you 
 will not be angry. ... I shall cut you up some time or 
 other. God bless you. I love you with all my heart and soul. 
 
 I spent the Christmas holidays of 181 7 in Paris, 
 whither my father summoned me and my younger 
 brother from Winchester. Whilst there I received 
 a letter from him dated Winchester, December 30, 
 A.N.A. 5, the latter form being an abbreviation for 
 * Anno nostrse amicitias,' which he adopted to mark 
 the date of our friendship, begun in 181 2. In this 
 letter he affects to treat me, not very consistently, 
 as a Jacobin and as a friend of Napoleon. The 
 following is a short extract : 
 
 I took it most kind in you, my beloved Wood, to write 
 to me so soon after your arrival, when you could so well 
 have pleaded want of time and various other excuses. I 
 do nevertheless earnestly request you not to think that I 
 shall be offended if you do not write often, for it is my 
 wish that you should see everything, and as your stay is 
 but short in Paris, I will wait patiently till you leave it to 
 hear of all the wonders to be seen there ; but you must not 
 humbug us untravelled folk, and you must not return as 
 the monkey that had seen the world, for let me tell you, 
 Mr. Alderman, I will have none of your airs. Your letter 
 was as instructive as it was amusing, as replete with good 
 advice as it was with just observation. I was scarcely 
 ever better pleased with a letter even from you, and 
 all your letters must please your adoring friend. I see 
 that you did not sleep in the diligence, but had your
 
 350 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 
 
 eyes and ears open, and from the beginning I augur well of 
 your excursion. It will enlarge your ideas by letting you 
 have an insight into the ways and customs of foreign 
 nations, and make you, Mr. Jacobin, learn to respect, love, 
 and reverence the sacred establishment of our blessed 
 constitution in Church and State. You seem to have seen 
 a great deal in a short time, and to have been struck, as 
 everybody is, with the magnitude and magnificence in 
 which Royalty lives in France, and the misery of the 
 poorer orders. You will not, I conclude, wish for those 
 sumptuous palaces in England. Let our Prince have his 
 * Thatched Cottages,' and be able to keep up the dignity of 
 his state — we want no more. I would rather see the 
 Louvre and Tuileries in France than in England. With 
 the pictures perhaps you were at first dazzled, but I think 
 your taste will soon reject the false style of French artists, 
 for I understand since the departure of your friend at St. 
 Helena, most of the pictures are of the French school, 
 which, in my humble opinion, is no more to be compared 
 to the English, than I to Hercules. We have undoubtedly 
 more and better pictures in England, but in a free state the 
 sovereign cannot monopolise all the good things. Every 
 nobleman and almost every gentleman in England has at 
 least two or three pictures by first-rate artists. Not so in 
 France, where I believe you will find that almost every 
 picture of worth belongs to the royal family. Were all 
 the first-rate pictures of the English, Italian, and Dutch 
 schools in England to be collected, I doubt not but that 
 we should fill a room much longer than half a mile. Your 
 English indignation is justly roused by the plan of justice 
 in France, and your English heart naturally revolts at the 
 idea of want of liberty of the press ; but I think if you con- 
 sider the present character of the French, and the weak 
 foundation of the French government, you will acknow- 
 ledge that France is not at the present time fit for liberty 
 of the press, which is always so much open to abuse that it 
 is even at times dangerous to our firmly fixed government, 
 and consequently would be replete with danger to the ill- 
 built fabric of the French Constitution.
 
 Lord Hatherleys Letter, 351 
 
 In the next letter, dated from Whippingham 
 January 4, 1818, a.n.a. 6, he tells me that he is to 
 go to Christ Church, Oxford, in about a fortnight. 
 There are some observations I feel impelled to 
 quote from this letter, owing to the happy direction 
 which at this early period it gave to the subsequent 
 correspondence of a life. 
 
 May our affection, which is already gigantic, grow 
 every year till it reaches that heaven where it can never 
 be made twain. Remember, my adored friend, that the 
 first and the most essential part of friendship is to mark 
 the faults, and theti to love the virtues, of the object of 
 our affection. Remember that none but a friend can tell 
 us our faults ; that it would be presumptuous and invidious 
 in anyone else so to do ; and, therefore, I put the marking 
 of our faults before the admiring of our virtues. But the 
 seeing them is not enough ; they must be told. No man 
 can view his own errors ; they must be told to him, and 
 pointed out to him, before he repents. Bear in mind that 
 when Cassius says, ' a friendly eye would never see those 
 faults,' Brutus admirably replies, ' Flatterers would not, 
 though they be as huge as high Olympus,' thus drawing 
 the direct line and denominating him, who, by most men, 
 would be called a friend, to be, in many instances, nothing 
 more than a flatterer. This I do not mean to apply to 
 the morals, habits, and customs, but even to the lowest 
 and least observed faults. When we were together such 
 freedom we always exercised without reserve ; therefore, 
 in our letters let our remarks on one another's train of 
 thought, style of letter-writing, and action be free, open, 
 and more inclined to blame than to praise, for I mean to 
 tell you honestly and truly everything I do, everything I 
 think, everything I feel. Amen. Thus ends my sermon ; 
 and if you are not asleep, I will now be a little merrier. 
 
 My correspondence with Hook after he left 
 school was constant. I missed him and his guidance 
 only too much ; for a growing dissatisfaction with
 
 352 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 
 
 Gabell's mismanagement of the school, especially 
 his want of confidence in the boys, led to a rebellion 
 in May 1818, in which I took part. It is enough 
 to say that although I then thought, and still think, 
 that grave grounds of complaint existed, I have 
 never ceased to regret the pain I gave to our Head 
 Master, with whom personally I was rather a favour- 
 ite, and the greater pain I must have given my 
 parents. Happily no evil consequences resulted 
 from it to the school, nor indeed to my own sub- 
 sequent career. I was deservedly sent away from 
 the school, an opportunity being first offered me of 
 saying that, owing to my youth, I had been over- 
 persuaded. This notion was not true in fact, nor 
 under any circumstances would it have been likely 
 to meet with my assent. But besides this, all the 
 head boys had signed a paper before the rebellion 
 broke out, to the effect that whatever happened to 
 one should happen to all. The Head Master and 
 second master in conclave called up the first and 
 third boys and expelled them, keeping me confined 
 in a separate room till this had been done ; but from 
 the window of this room I saw and conversed with 
 these two boys, and then on being summoned to 
 judgment stated all the facts, and said that my 
 course was clear. I then went home, taking also 
 my younger brother ^ with me, who had signed the 
 same paper. These statements will explain my 
 friend's next letter. 
 
 .... I am heartily sorry for the Rebellion, In the 
 first moment I was so pleased with it that I scarcely 
 considered the merits or demerits of the case ; but now, 
 
 ^ Mr. Western Wood, afterwards M.P. for the City of London.
 
 Lord Hat her ley s Letter. 353 
 
 when I reflect upon the great kindness and affectionate 
 care of Gabell for the school, I cannot but feel sorry when 
 I consider the injury it may do him. But all this would 
 not affect me in any serious manner, as your banishment 
 perhaps will. All my fears have been roused by Heath- 
 cote telling me that Coplestone, the Provost of his college, 
 says that he shall not receive Porcher if he hears that he 
 has been at all active in the Rebellion. Are you, my most 
 beloved Wood, sure of getting in at Cambridge .-* Is there 
 no doubt "i Did you take an active part in the business 
 yourself.? Austen, who saw Ward, tells me that you did. I 
 hope you did not, but, my most dear William, think not 
 that I mean to upbraid you ; I should myself have done the 
 selfsame thing, but I should have repented of it afterwards 
 most likely. I trust that by this time your father has for- 
 given you. Send me word if he has or has not. 
 
 My younger brother was sent back to school, 
 and before the end of May I was travelHng alone 
 through France to Geneva. At Geneva I remained, 
 passing through the usual course of philosophy at 
 the * Auditoire,' for two years. My way was made 
 smooth by the presence of some near relatives at 
 Geneva, who before my arrival had made arrange- 
 ments for my living en pe^ision at M. Duvillard's, 
 the Professor of Belles Lettres. There were, at 
 different times, some six or seven people, English, 
 German, and French, in the same pension ; one of 
 the Englishmen being an old Winchester school- 
 fellow. I alone, however, followed the course of 
 the Auditoire. I wrote a few lines to Hook from 
 Calais, and again from Geneva, where I received 
 my first letter from him, dated Christ Church, May 
 24, 181 8, and during the two years of my residence 
 at Geneva our correspondence never flagged. I 
 VOL. I. A A
 
 354 Z-^/^ of Walter Farquhar Hook. 
 
 will not, however, overload this narrative by further 
 extracts from his letters. Suffice it to say that they 
 indicate much divergence of his thoughts from the 
 work of the place, and contain constant expressions 
 of regret at his disappointing those who were in- 
 terested in his distinction, and who believed (as I 
 ever had) in his powers of mind, if he could once be 
 brought to fix them earnestly upon his work. He 
 wrote once or twice a poem for the Newdegate 
 prize, which he sent to me for criticism, but with the 
 exception of Divinity he read little which could 
 avail him from a University point of view. His 'set' 
 of companions, though always young men of ability 
 and worth, were, owing to his college being Christ 
 Church, men of higher worldly position than himself, 
 and did not encourage him in study. In a letter 
 dated March 6, 1819, he says: 'You asked me in 
 your last whether I study with anybody — no, nor 
 ever will without I can do so with you. You asked 
 with whom I most associate. My acquaintance 
 here is not extensive, and I am not a bit more with 
 one person than another.' His college tutor was 
 Dr. Vowler Short, afterwards Bishop of St. Asaph, 
 to whom he was much attached, and of whom he 
 always spoke with gratitude. 
 
 My letters interested him because we had many 
 interesting persons then living at Geneva, with 
 whom I had such acquaintance as a boy can have 
 with men. Amongst our Professors were De Candolle 
 the botanist, De la Rive, Pictet, and Rossi, after- 
 wards a peer of France, and finally Prime Minister 
 of Pius IX. in his days of zeal for reform, in whose 
 service he was assassinated. He came to Geneva
 
 Lord Hatherley s Letter. 355 
 
 as a refugee from the despotic government of Pius 
 VII., which drove him from Bologna. Dumont, 
 Sismondi, and the late Due de Broglie were also 
 then residing at Geneva. 
 
 On July I, 18 19, Hook wrote me a rapturous 
 account of his first pilgrimage to Stratford-on-Avon. 
 
 In May 1820, just as I was about to pass an 
 examination for the degree of ' Bachelor of Letters ' 
 at Geneva, Queen Caroline happened to pass through 
 that town on her way to England. My father was 
 anxious that I should avail myself of an offer to 
 travel in her suite. We were to meet him and Lady 
 Anne Ham.ilton on the road. This I accordingly 
 did, meeting them at Montbard, and all of us pro- 
 ceeding to St. Omer, where we met Brougham, 
 then the Queen's Attorney General, and Lord 
 Hutchinson. It was then that the offer was made 
 to the queen to receive a large annuity, on condition 
 that she should not take the title of queen, or attempt 
 to land in England. Her answer was her departure 
 that same evening from St. Omer to sleep on board 
 an English packet, whence she despatched a letter 
 addressed to Louis XVIII., stating her desire to 
 free him from her unwelcome presence on French 
 soil, though she had thought that some of the ordi- 
 nary tokens of respect might have been paid to one 
 whose brothers had perished on the field in support- 
 ing the monarchy of France. I pass over, however, 
 this episode of my life, intensely interesting as it 
 was at the time to me ; believing, as I then did, and 
 still do, that the wicked charges against that perse- 
 cuted woman were false. I only mention the mode 
 of my return to England because it occasioned some 
 
 A A 2
 
 35^ Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 
 
 trouble, as I afterwards learned, to my dear friend, 
 whose family were strong Tories, and had been 
 personally favoured by George IV. Hook, how- 
 ever, never wavered even for a moment in his 
 devotion to me ; his mother, also, was aware of his 
 affection for me, and she was uniformly kind in 
 promoting it. 
 
 It so happened that I was laid up with ague, 
 caught whilst travelling by night through the marshes 
 of St. Omer. I could not, therefore, go to him, nor 
 indeed did we meet till late in 1822 ; for as soon as 
 I had recovered from the ague I made a journey, 
 lasting from June to October, with persons employed 
 in getting up the case of Queen Caroline abroad, 
 to whom I acted as a volunteer interpreter for the 
 Italian witnesses, until a regular interpreter could 
 be obtained. In one letter written to me just before 
 I left England he says : ' I forgot in my last to tell 
 you that I called on Gabell as I passed through 
 Winchester, and after having laughed at the like- 
 lihood of your becoming a real rebel, he said, 
 ** Remember me, when you write, most particularly 
 and kindly to him, and tell him that he will always 
 find a welcome in my house." He expressed the 
 greatest regard for you. When I was there I met 
 a young lady who asked me much about our Oxford 
 Commemoration, and I told her how delighted I was 
 to hear the simultaneous hurrah, the magnificent 
 and glorious burst of enthusiasm, the moment the 
 name of Robert Southey was mentioned : that it 
 was also not a little pleasant to see one poet applaud- 
 ing another — Milman cheering his brother bard 
 Southey, and quoth Dr. Gabell, "you have the 
 .honour of speaking to Miss Milman."'
 
 Lord Hatherley s Letter. 357 
 
 I met Gabell myself not long afterwards, when 
 he was most kind to me, and I felt all my penitence 
 for the rebellion renewed. I had to cut short my 
 Italian journey just as I was about to leave Rome 
 for Naples and Sicily. The horses were at the door 
 when I received a letter from my father, enclos- 
 ing one from the Rev. G. Macfarlane, Fellow of 
 Trinity, who was to ^^be my private tutor at Cam- 
 bridge, informing me that if I were not in England 
 by October 21, I should, by the University regula- 
 tions existing at that time, lose a whole year. My 
 friend was now working hard for his degree, and I had 
 to set to work at my Cambridge studies in Trinity. 
 We did not, therefore, meet till late the next year. 
 
 In 1 82 1 he came to town for the coronation of 
 George IV. ; but we did not meet then, as no doubt 
 there was a difficulty in our doing so either at his 
 home or mine, the minds of our relatives being so 
 differently affected as regarded the unhappy position 
 of the queen. 
 
 It was not till the summer of 1822, nine months 
 after his ordination, that Hook and I again met. I 
 was then about to make a short visit at Southamp- 
 ton, and met him by arrangement at Winchester, 
 having a delightful walk with him for a few hours 
 over all our old haunts, especially the meadows in 
 which we used to read. I will not attempt to 
 describe the joy of this happy meeting, at which we 
 agreed that if it were possible we would contrive 
 some meeting for a longer period in the next year. 
 Unhappily for the remainder of my vacation in 
 this year, I suffered from disordered health, chiefly 
 in the form of a most troublesome giddiness, 
 which was afterwards yet more aggravated, and
 
 35B Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 
 
 threw me very much back in my preparation 
 for my degree. Our scheme consequently, which 
 included a visit from him to me at Cambridge, 
 had to be postponed till the next year. I had 
 numerous letters of the kindest sympathy from him 
 during the whole of my illness. In one of these, 
 dated September 17, 1822, he says, *I have read 
 lately nothing — yet I have rea.d the novel of " Eve- 
 lina," and am trudging through " Sir Charles Gran- 
 dison."' I mention this because about the same 
 time I had often talked of Richardson's novels with 
 Macaulay (then an undergraduate), who, when I 
 said that I had got through ' Sir C. Grandison ' after 
 seven attempts, replied, ' You will not enjoy it till 
 you have read it seven times through.' 
 
 In a letter dated June 1822, after some remarks 
 on Scott's last novel, the ' Fortunes of Nigel,' and 
 upon a novel by Lockhart, called ' Adam Blair,' he 
 proceeds : ' By the way, I must not omit to recom- 
 mend to you a book which has entertained me very 
 much, entitled " Pen Owen." It is a new novel, 
 and what pleases me is that it is quite void of that 
 canting and whining sentimentality and that some- 
 times blasphemous saintism and methodism with 
 which so many modern novels abound.' 
 
 Several years after this I discovered that his 
 father was the author of the book. I had often 
 laughed at his vehement 'John Bullism,' which 
 adhered to him through life, and in reference to this 
 he says, writing in December 1822, * I am not quite 
 so national as you think, and if ever you give me a 
 little more of your much desired society, and talk of 
 foreigners as you did and can do, I will promise to
 
 Lord Hatherley s Letter. 359 
 
 be an apt disciple to liberality : to your liberality, 
 not to Leigh Hunt's.' (Leigh Hunt was at that 
 time the editor of ' The Liberal.') 
 
 In January 1823 he writes, after reading Moore's 
 
 * Loves of the Angels,' and the first act of Byron's 
 
 * Heaven and Earth ' in * The Liberal ' : 
 
 I think it (Moore's Poem) a complete failure, and in 
 parts quite wicked ; although I will do him the justice to 
 say that I believe he did not intend to be so. I am very 
 much averse to poets coming into contact with the 
 Almighty, or straying into the infinitely incomprehensible. 
 He is pleased to represent the angels of God, the par- 
 ticipators of infinite happiness, as finding heaven dull, and 
 descending upon earth to gratify, not their love, but their 
 lust. I am indignant and sorry. The fact is that even 
 the sublime and heavenly Milton soared too high, and in 
 his third book he off"ends me much by introducing the 
 reader to the Almighty Himself. But if Milton did not 
 succeed in the regions of heaven what modern poetaster 
 can hope for success .'' Lord Byron's ' Heaven and Earth * 
 in the ' Liberal ' is in parts extremely fine, and throws 
 Tommy Moore quite into the background. There are 
 parts which are almost sublime. . . . But when I praise 
 
 * Heaven and Earth ' I may be influenced by having 
 heard it most beautifully read by my uncle Theodore. 
 
 In May 1823 he wrote a letter, from which I 
 extract the following passage. The playful ideas 
 about our future careers which it contains were in 
 some respects singularly in accordance, in others as 
 singularly contrasted with the actual facts of our 
 subsequent lives. 
 
 I am, at present, in the most melancholy mood — 
 distressingly so. Some evil must be impending, or is it 
 the sudden return of winter after the summer-like autumn 
 we have spent ? I feel that loneliness of heart and
 
 360 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 
 
 mind of which I do often complain. I think after all I 
 must get me a wife ; but where shall I find one to suit 
 my taste and disposition, and if I do find such a one, 
 will she not be worse than a fool if she accepts such a 
 wretch as I am ? How delightful would it be to have a 
 small cottage in some sequestered shady valley, with a wife 
 who could understand all the sentiments of my heart, and 
 enter into all my feelings as you used to do : to have her 
 there equally the friend of my friend, who would find in 
 my house a pleasant retreat from the toils and worries of 
 a lawyer's life. I could fancy you nursing, with almost 
 parental fondness, my second boy, William Wood Hook, 
 taking a delight in his improvement, and urging him by 
 presents in the career of learning, while I should hold you 
 up to him as the model of perfection in virtue and true 
 religion as well as learning. Then we should laugh 
 heartily at all your bachelor peculiarities, and fit up one 
 room peculiarly for you, just according to your taste and 
 ideas of comfort. N.B. When we pay a visit to London 
 we shall always refuse your offer of a room in your house 
 in the most delicate terms we can, dreading the damp 
 beds, and unaired dungeony rooms of a bachelor's house — 
 but we shall be very happy to dine with you. At length 
 a change will take place ; and we shall feel a little awe at 
 your approaching visit, and mount wax candles instead 
 of muttons in our candlesticks, and talk big among our 
 neighbours ; ' because why "i why because ' my Lord Chan- 
 cellor, the Earl of Lignum, and Baron Billy-squad is 
 coming to pay us a visit — and we shall find you just the 
 same good, dear, affectionate, unaffected creature as before ; 
 and your lordship will take my son, William Wood Hook, 
 under your lordship's more immediate protection, and will 
 give my eldest boy a living, and offer to get me a Deanery 
 or a Bishopric, which I of course shall refuse ; and then I 
 shall be proud of having such a friend, and I shall make 
 a memoir of your life, and, a la Jimmy Boswell, take 
 minutes of your conversation and treasure your bon-mots, 
 and make selections from your letters, and leave it to my
 
 Lord Hat her leys Letter, 361 
 
 son to be published v/hen we are both dead and gone ; and 
 then — and then will be an end of our eventful history. 
 
 He was indeed most blessed in the wife to 
 whom six years later he was united, but he did not 
 pass any portion of his married life amid rural or 
 sequestered scenes. I soon followed his example as 
 regarded marriage, and fulfilled his anticipations by 
 presenting my godchild (not, however, bearing my 
 name), his second son, but the eldest surviving, to the 
 first benefice which became vacant after my appoint- 
 ment to the office of Lord Chancellor. Alas ! after 
 a short life of usefulness, he was but a little while 
 since removed from this life, but reunited, as I hope, 
 to his loving and beloved parents. 
 
 I answered his letter with some corresponding 
 wish, common enough to those who have a labo- 
 rious life before them, that we might live in ' some 
 secluded abode, blessed with our own society and 
 that of our wives and children ; ' for in a letter dated 
 June 4, 1823, he quotes this passage and says, ' I 
 do assure you that with the addition of health I 
 should think this dream of yours, if fulfilled, would 
 be happiness complete. Let us labour some twenty 
 years hence to bring it about. But alas ! twenty 
 years ! how awful is it to think of the change which 
 may take place between this and then ! To one or 
 both of us Time will perhaps — nay, will probably 
 be changed into eternity ; or, if permitted to linger 
 yet longer in this world of misery and turmoil, our 
 hopes, our wishes, our ideas may suffer a dismal 
 change : a dismal one, I say, because few persons 
 are bettered by contact with this filthy world. Well, 
 my dearest friend, let us pray for the blessing of the
 
 362 Life of Walter Farqtihar Hook. 
 
 Almighty, and may He grant what I hope and 
 think may really be the case, that our friendship 
 may never, never end.' 
 
 After the six years of friendship during the 
 remainder of our unmarried life which succeeded 
 this letter, we lived to thank God for forty-five years 
 of uninterrupted friendship between ourselves, our 
 wives, and his children — a union broken only by the 
 sad removal of his wife four years before his own 
 decease. But such retirement as I had imagined 
 was not reserved for us : once only did I again, 
 some years after we were both married, refer to the 
 possibility of it, and I was struck with his reply, 
 * When you have no more work to do you will die.' 
 A sense of the privilege of working for his heavenly 
 Master was never absent from his mind. It over- 
 came his strong bias to literary self-indulgence, the 
 strongest temptation that can be offered to men of 
 vigorous powers of thought. 
 
 In January 1824 I took my degree, and in 
 October 1825 I obtained a Fellowship at Trinity; 
 but as I was readino- for the bar in the chambers of 
 an equity draughtsman throughout the year 1824, 
 whilst Hook was occupied in his clerical duty as his 
 father's curate at Whippingham, we seldom met, but 
 our correspondence was constant. When his father 
 was made Dean of Worcester in 1825 my friend 
 frequently resided at the Deanery, but early in the 
 year 1828 his father was unexpectedly seized with a 
 fatal illness and died at Worcester, aged fifty-six. 
 Writing in February 1828 soon after this event, 
 Hook says : * Our circumstances are at present not 
 the most brilliant, but I am philosophical enough
 
 Lord Hatherley's Letter. 363 
 
 not to care about that. Much interest was used 
 with the Lord Chancellor (Lyndhurst) to procure 
 for me my dear father's living of Stone, worth about 
 800/., which had been taken in exchange for Whip- 
 pingham ; but his lordship merely sent me a very 
 kind letter, promising future patronage and offering 
 me a living (which proves not to be vacant) of 300/. 
 a year. He was an old friend and schoolfellow of 
 my father.' In fact, my friend's family was but ill 
 provided for. His younger brother was placed in a 
 way to be provided for in Herries and Farquhar s 
 bank, but his mother and a sister much younger 
 than his brother were left with himself dependent on 
 a very slender fortune. 
 
 In the summer of 1828 his mother took for a 
 time a small house at Leamington, whither he ac- 
 companied her and his sister for a short holiday, 
 and here I paid them a visit. He preached a 
 sermon at Leamington which attracted the attention 
 of Dr. Jebb, the Bishop of Limerick, who was then 
 staying there on account of his health. Bishop Jebb 
 asked him at once to visit him, and they had much 
 happy intercourse, their acquaintance speedily ripen- 
 ing into friendship. He was greatly pleased with 
 this occurrence, having much revered the character 
 of the Bishop, and being in a manner almost ac- 
 quainted with him by perusal of the well-known 
 
 * Correspondence ' between him and Mr. Alexander 
 Knox. Several of the letters that passed between 
 Hook and the Bishop have been printed in the 
 
 * Life of Bishop Jebb,' by his chaplain, the late Rev. 
 Charles Forster. 
 
 During my stay at Leamington the benefice of
 
 364 Life of Walter Farqiihar Hook. 
 
 Holy Trinity at Coventry became vacant. This 
 was a benefice in the gift of the Lord Chancellor, 
 and on talking over his letter before referred to, we 
 resolved to go over to Coventry to make enquiry 
 about the nature and special character of the duties 
 that would be required of an incumbent of that 
 parish. The result was that Hook applied to the 
 Lord Chancellor, and on October 3, 1828, he wrote 
 to me, * I have just heard from the Chancellor. He 
 has, in the most kind and flattering manner, con- 
 ferred upon me the Coventry living. I have no 
 time at this agitating moment for more than most 
 earnestly to request your prayers.' 
 
 We had both been somewhat misled in supposing 
 the income of the benefice to be 500/. a year, but I 
 do not think that the facts, if known, would have 
 altered Hook's wish to undertake the work, for he 
 could not but be conscious that he had powers of 
 usefulness which waited but the opportunity for 
 development. 
 
 On November 29, 1828, he wrote to me to 
 mention the error about the income of the living ; 
 not with any great amount of disappointment, but 
 in that easy temper with which he always took 
 matters of mere worldly consideration. ' The living,* 
 he writes, ' is only 360/., and there is no house. This 
 is a bore on two accounts. First, I cannot do all 
 the good in my parish that I could wish with so 
 small an income : and secondly, I cannot marry.* 
 
 On February 11, 1829, he slept for the first time 
 in his parish and wrote me a letter, from which I 
 transcribe the following passage : 
 
 I write to you at night just before I sleep for the first 
 time in my parish. Think of the overpowering sensations
 
 Lord Hatherhy s Letter. 365 
 
 of thus entering upon a new sphere, where the good that I 
 may be the instrument of doing is great, but where the 
 mischief of which I may be the cause is incalculably- 
 greater. I have been rash and presumptuous in seeking 
 this situation, for which, unless I am strengthened from 
 above, I am utterly unfit. Think of this, and think of poor 
 me when you are praying. You know not half my weak- 
 ness; you know not how much I stand in need of the 
 renovating, the assisting grace of God. There is a com- 
 munion of saints, and one Christian benefits in the prayers 
 of another. It is delightful to reflect on this : it is delightful 
 to think that we may, in some way or other to us unknown, 
 contribute to the welfare of our friends by our prayers — 
 that there is unseen fellowship among true Christians. 
 May the God of heaven, for His blessed Son's sake, shower 
 down upon you, my most dear friend, every blessing, both 
 temporal and spiritual ; and now, while I am praying for 
 strength, now when I am incurring these awful responsi- 
 bilities, let your prayers be united with mine. Pray for me 
 and my flock, that I may be able to do my duty and they 
 theirs. 
 
 Scarcely more than a month after this I received 
 a letter from him dated March 1 1, 1829, full of joy, 
 announcing his engagement to your dear mother- 
 in-law, the commencement of happiness which was 
 never interrupted save by her death ; and in the 
 following August I was enabled to mention my 
 engagement to her with whom I have enjoyed up to 
 the present hour every blessing that a union, un- 
 clouded by aught but that which may at times have 
 overshadowed us from without, could bestow. It 
 pleased God that the marriages thus formed increased 
 our friendship, and more than doubled its brightness 
 by the no less warm attachment of those who had 
 succeeded to the first place in our affections. And 
 here I fitly break off the narrative of our youth,
 
 366 Life of Walter Fm^quhar Hook. 
 
 leaving to you the exposition of his later years ; and 
 only making, In conclusion, a few remarks upon the 
 salient points of his character and career. 
 
 There was In him a rare combination of genius 
 in devising, and industry in carrying into effect, 
 schemes for the full development of the power of the 
 Church ; first, in evangelising those large masses of 
 our population whose hearts so few have been able 
 to reach, and then in building up their faith upon a 
 firm foundation. His special Inspiration In this 
 great work was, as we who knew him best believed, 
 to be found In the unbounded sympathy of his 
 Christian love, first, towards his Saviour, and through 
 Him to all for whom that Saviour died. He was 
 thus delivered from narrow excluslveness on the 
 one hand, and on the other from an unreal, though 
 apparent, breadth of fellowship with any save those 
 who were, like himself, devoted to his Master's 
 cause. For the one great characteristic of his course 
 was In all things reality. Hence In more than one 
 instance he gave support to men from whom. In 
 many serious respects, he differed, if only convinced 
 of their Christian earnestness. I remember espe- 
 cially the period when Mr. Newman published his 
 celebrated Tract XC. After having received a letter 
 from Hook expressing his great regret at the publi- 
 cation, and his disapproval of Its tone, I was surprised 
 by another letter consequent on the part taken by 
 the Oxford authorities against the author, In which 
 he says, * I have nailed my colours to the mast, and 
 intend to stand by Newman.' His firm adherence, 
 however, to his own principles became so well 
 known after a short experience of his parochial
 
 Lord Hathe7'ley s Letter. 367 
 
 ministrations in Coventry and Leeds, that he found 
 ardent helpers ready to support him in any work 
 which he undertook. Hence the extraordinary 
 results of his ministry in increased churches and 
 schools. I remember going with him one evening 
 to a gathering of 600 Sunday school teachers who 
 had 1 2,000 pupils under them. But this energy of 
 feeling, if confined to sympathy only, would have 
 done but little. His industry was unparalleled. 
 He rose before five o'clock, and was at his literary 
 work from six to nine, and after his breakfast at 
 the latter hour he devoted his whole time to his 
 parish, morning and evening, with the exception of 
 a Saturday evening's holiday. He was bold and 
 fearless to a degree which is rarely experienced in 
 one who was also tender and loving as a woman. 
 He was keen in discerning and persevering in up- 
 holding the true interests of the great Anglican 
 branch of the Church Catholic, now extended over 
 the larger portion of the globe. Whatever doubts 
 might be suggested as to the expediency of Bishop 
 Luscombe's appointment, in which he took a leading 
 part, it was the beginning of our largely developed 
 colonial and foreign episcopate. For the Church 
 in the great borough of Leeds he acquired a position 
 which it had never before attained. On all public 
 occasions, such as the opening of the new Town 
 Hall by her Majesty, and the like, he and the other 
 clergy, mainly through his influence, were to be 
 found occupying a prominent official position. His 
 influence was built up on a solid basis of Church 
 principle, and was felt to extend to many of the 
 neighbouring industrial centres of our manufacturing
 
 368 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 
 
 districts. To the present day * T* ould Vicar and 
 f wife ' are household words among the old inhabit- 
 ants of the great parish of Leeds. 
 
 He foresaw the development that education 
 must receive in a free country, and he was one of 
 the earliest to secure for the Church her true position 
 in forwarding that great work, not by the exclusion 
 of others from the field of labour, but by her own 
 superior activity. He was intolerant only of pre- 
 tension and indolence, and in the midst of indefati- 
 gable labours he had no leisure for petty ambitions. 
 The scanty portion of leisure that public duty 
 permitted him to enjoy was devoted to his home, 
 and that devotion was requited by the unbounded 
 affection of his happy household.
 
 i^37 First Six Months at Leeds. 369 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 SETTLEMENT AT LEEDS. 
 JULY TO DECEMBER I 8 3 7. 
 
 In May 1837 the new Vicar took his degree of D.D. 
 at Oxford, and preached twice on Sunday at St. 
 Mary's, the church being thronged with an immense 
 crowd up to the very steps of the pulpit. The 
 beginning of July saw him and his family fairly 
 established in the house in Park Place, Leeds, which 
 was to be their happy home for twenty-two years. 
 There were no buildings at that time on the opposite 
 side of the road ; the situation was airy and plea- 
 sant ; within easy reach of the heart of the town, 
 yet not so near as to be overwhelmed by the smoke 
 of its multitudinous factories and mills. 
 
 And now the gigantic magnitude of the work 
 which lay before him became day by day more 
 clearly visible. It was enough to appal the stoutest 
 heart, and bewilder the steadiest brain. In the 
 character of its inhabitants, and in the condition of 
 their religious life, Leeds was a typical specimen of 
 a West Riding town.^ The common people were 
 
 ' For a very interesting account of the Church in the West Riding 
 during the past century, see the Quarterly Review for April 1878. 
 
 VOL. I. B B
 
 370 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1837 
 
 rough, uncouth, headstrong, and independent in a 
 degree calculated to daunt and repel a stranger, until 
 he discovered that below this rugged surface there 
 often glowed warm hearts, generous feelings, and 
 strong earnestness of purpose. John Wesley owned 
 that at first he had been startled and dismayed by 
 the wildness and rudeness of the inhabitants of 
 the West Riding, but he soon perceived that no- 
 where would a heartier response be made to his 
 awakening appeals ; nowhere was he destined to 
 reap a richer harvest of disciples. The tempera- 
 ment indeed of the people, excitable, impulsive, and 
 emotional, supplied a peculiarly favourable soil for 
 the reception of Wesley's doctrines. While the 
 spirit of the Church was torpid, and her outward 
 development was hampered by causes to which 
 the attention of the reader has been directed in a 
 former chapter,^ Methodism grew and flourished ; 
 Methodism alone kept pace with the rapid and 
 enormous increase of population in the northern 
 manufacturing towns, and struck its roots deeper 
 and deeper year by year into the affections and 
 understandings of the people. The Evangelical 
 pastors of a former generation, such as Henry Venn 
 of Huddersfieldand William Grimshaw of Haworth, 
 had promoted rather than impeded the growth of 
 Dissent, and the religion of pious Churchmen was 
 of a Methodistic type. 
 
 The Church had now just become alive to her 
 responsibilities. The See of Ripon, after much vex- 
 atious opposition in Parliament, had been founded 
 
 ' Chap. iv. page 146.
 
 1837 First Six Months at Leeds. 371 
 
 in 1836, so that Bishop Longley and Vicar Hook 
 almost simultaneously began the labours by which 
 they were destined under God to win back for the 
 Church her long-lost supremacy in that part of the 
 country. 
 
 It was indeed none too soon to begin the work; 
 for there were enormous arrears of duty which 
 nothing but the most persevering and energetic 
 industry could overtake ; there was ignorance on 
 the part of Churchmen which only patient teaching 
 could enlighten ; apathy, which only burning zeal 
 could quicken ; and, on the part of political and 
 religious opponents, there were prejudice and sus- 
 picion which only the most forbearing charity could 
 surmount. 
 
 The conditions then which the Vicar of Leeds 
 was called upon to face at the outset of his minis- 
 try were briefly these. First, a huge and rapidly 
 increasing population ; secondly, ignorance ; and 
 thirdly, active opposition. 
 
 The population had risen from 53,162 in 1801 
 to 123,393 in 1831. The provision on the part of 
 the Church for the spiritual necessities of the place 
 was and had long been miserably inadequate. The 
 parish comprehended the whole of the town and a 
 large portion of the suburbs. In 1825 there were 
 only four churches in the town besides the parish 
 church, and nine in the suburbs. The total number of 
 the clergy was eighteen. Ten years later the town- 
 churches had been increased to eight by the erection 
 at considerable cost of three large and ugly Peel 
 churches, which proved to be total failures. They 
 
 B B 2
 
 ^^2 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1837 
 
 were without endowment, the congregations were 
 very scanty, and the stipend derived from pew rents 
 was next to nothing. The town churches were mere 
 chapels of ease to the parish church ; no districts 
 were assigned to them, the patronage of nearly all 
 was vested in the Vicar, and most of the baptisms, 
 marriages, and funerals were performed at the parish 
 church, the fees for such offices amounting to about 
 600/. a year. 
 
 The Vicar of Leeds in 1837 was patron of the 
 churches of St. Paul, St. James, St. Mary, Christ 
 Church, Armley, Beeston, Bramley, Chapell Aller- 
 ton, Farnley, Headingley, Holbeck, and Hunslet. 
 He had the joint patronage of St. John's with the 
 Mayor and the three senior Aldermen, and of 
 Trinity Church with the minister of St. John's and 
 the Recorder. With the exception of the districts 
 of Woodhouse, Christ Church, and St. Mary's, he 
 was responsible for the entire pastoral charge of the 
 whole township. Yet the clerical staff of the parish 
 church for a long time past had consisted only of 
 the Vicar, one curate, and a clerk in orders. Nearly 
 the whole of their time was occupied in discharging 
 the more mechanical functions of the clerical office. 
 They were at the parish church from eight to half- 
 past eleven every morning for marriages. They 
 baptized twice and churched twice every day, and 
 burials were performed daily ; in winter twice a day, 
 and in summer three times. One of the curates of 
 the late Vicar who remained in charge of the parish 
 during the vacancy, observes in a letter to Dr. Hook 
 that the want of districts to each church in the town
 
 i837 First Six Months at Leeds. 373 
 
 and the inordinate labours consequently heaped on 
 the Vicar and his curates, prevented the successful 
 prosecution of any plans for bringing the Church to 
 bear on the people : the schools were only in the 
 proportion of one in twenty-three of the population. 
 ' Had we ten new churches/ he writes, ' with a cor- 
 responding staff of clergy, and ten new schools, we 
 should not have one too many.' 
 
 Weak, however, as the Church was, the Dissen- 
 ters and Socialists entertained the most implacable 
 animosity against it, and the appointment of a Vicar 
 reputed to be bold and lofty in his aims, and inde- 
 fatigable in energy, provoked them to put forth 
 all their strength. The contest began immediately 
 after his election and before his residence in Leeds. 
 The opposition called loudly upon the people to 
 muster in force at the vestry meeting in April for 
 the election of churchwardens, and to take good care 
 that only such men were appointed as would act on 
 a system of rigid economy and pay deference to the 
 wishes of the vestry. A set of High Church and 
 extravagant churchwardens might be the means of 
 imposing a heavy church-rate on the parishioners 
 against their will, might sanction or introduce 
 strange or distasteful practices, and involve the 
 parish in most vexatious and costly proceedings in 
 the spiritual court. 
 
 The result of this appeal was that a large 
 mob attended the vestry meeting in the parish 
 church. The parishioners chose the seven whom 
 they were entitled to elect. Most of them were 
 Dissenters, or men otherwise unfavourable or in-
 
 374 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1837 
 
 different to the interests of the Church. The Vicar 
 had the right of choosing one for Kirkgate ward ; 
 but the Vicar was not present. Mr. Taylor, the 
 curate in charge, occupied the chair, as his repre- 
 sentative, and nominated Mr. Garland — a good 
 Churchman — for the office of Vicar's churchwarden. 
 A turbulent scene ensued. It was alleged by a 
 large section of the meeting that, in the absence of 
 the Vicar, the right of electing his churchwarden 
 lapsed to the vestry. The curate and a few sup- 
 porters maintained, on the contrary, that it devolved 
 on him who acted as the Vicar's delegate. The 
 chairman acted with spirit and firmness. The 
 opposition proposed a resolution embodying their 
 view, but he refused to put it to the vote. He was 
 bullied for two hours, but held his ground ; and 
 finally, amidst groans and hisses, entered the name 
 of Mr. Garland in the minute-book as having been 
 duly appointed by the Vicar's representative. The 
 opposition appended a protest to this entry, and the 
 meeting Avas dissolved. 
 
 The parish churchwardens proved true to the 
 spirit in which they had been elected. The Vicar 
 on his arrival found the surplices in rags and the 
 service books in tatters, but the churchwardens 
 doggedly refused to expend a farthing upon such 
 things. When they assembled at the church for a 
 vestry meeting, they and others like-minded piled 
 their hats and coats upon the holy table, and some- 
 times even sat upon it ; but the new Vicar with stern 
 resolution quickly put a stop to such profane outrages. 
 He told them that he should take the keys of the
 
 1837 First Six Months at Leeds. 375 
 
 church, and that no meetings would be held there in 
 future. * Eh ! ' said one, ' but how will you prevent 
 it ? We shall get in if we like.' ' You will pass 
 over my dead body, then,' replied the Vicar. Arch- 
 deacon Musgrave also paid a visit to the church, met 
 the churchwardens in the vestry, and told them that 
 unless the necessary things were provided, within a 
 given time, steps would be taken to compel them ; or 
 if they called a vestry and a rate was refused, the 
 vestry would be proceeded against. The church- 
 wardens grumbled excessively at these demands, 
 and complained more especially of the increased 
 expenditure for sacramental wine, owing to the 
 weekly celebration of Holy Communion. It was 
 their custom at this time to remain in the vestry 
 during the administration of that Sacrament, osten- 
 sibly to guard the wine, but the Vicar had reason to 
 suspect that they themselves occasionally con- 
 sumed it. 
 
 The malignant hostility to the Church and the 
 Vicar, of which the seven churchwardens were the 
 official instruments, displayed itself on a large scale 
 at a church-rate meeting held on August 19. The 
 building in which the meeting was convened could 
 not contain the masses who thronged into it, and it 
 was proposed that they should adjourn to a large 
 oblong enclosure, surrounded by the buildings of the 
 Cloth Hall, and commonly called the Old Cloth Hall 
 Yard. Here, on being called to the chair, the Vicar 
 found himself confronted by a mob of nearly 3,000 
 persons. A statement was made of the probable 
 expenses for the coming year. They amounted to
 
 376 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1837 
 
 355/. \\s. 6d. A halfpenny rate was proposed and 
 seconded. A Baptist preacher named Giles then 
 rose and delivered a furious harangue, directed 
 partly against church-rates and partly against the 
 Vicar. At the conclusion of his philippic the Vicar 
 got up and began by observing that the speech of 
 the gentleman who had just sat down might be 
 divided into two parts, one consisting of an attack 
 upon the system of church-rates in general, and 
 the other of abusive language towards himself — the 
 vicar. ' Into the general question of church-rates,' 
 he continued, * I shall not enter upon this occasion.' 
 * Eh ! why won't 'ee ? ' shouted a thousand sturdy 
 Yorkshire voices. * Because, my friends, you 
 wouldn't listen to me if I did (laughter). I will 
 only observe that the settlement of this particular 
 church-rate rests entirely between yourselves and 
 the churchwardens. I personally am not concerned 
 in it. You have elected your own churchwardens. 
 You know they will not do more than the law 
 requires, and that the law will compel them to do 
 what the law requires to be done. Therefore if you 
 do not grant the church-rate the Church itself will 
 sustain no injury, because the money will come 
 out of the churchwardens' pockets (laughter). With 
 regard to the second part of my friend's speech, that 
 which consisted of personal abuse, I would remind 
 you that the most brilliant eloquence without charity 
 may be but as sounding brass'' (the tone of his 
 voice and the twinkle in his eye as he uttered these 
 words are described by an eyewitness of the scene 
 as irresistibly comic), ' and,' he proceeded, * I am 
 glad to have this early opportunity of publicly acting
 
 1837 First Six Mo7iths at Leeds. Zll 
 
 upon a Church principle — a High Church principle — 
 a very High Church principle indeed — ' (a pause, 
 and breathless silence amongst the expectant 
 throng) — ' I forgive him ; * and so saying he stepped 
 up to the astonished Mr. Giles and shook him 
 heartily by the hand, amidst roars of laughter and 
 thunders of applause from the multitude. 
 
 The day was gained. The rate was passed, and 
 a vote of thanks to the chairman was carried with loud 
 acclamation. None could appreciate better than a 
 crowd of Yorkshiremen the mixture of shrewdness, 
 good humour, and real Christian feeling by which 
 he had extricated himself from the difficulties of his 
 position and turned the tables against his opponents. 
 It was the first great public occasion, outside the walls 
 of the church, which enabled the people to see of 
 what stuff he was made, and It did much to procure 
 for him that sympathy and respect from the working 
 people which he continued to enjoy to the end of his 
 career at Leeds. Meanwhile, both by his ministra- 
 tions in the church and by pastoral and social inter- 
 course he was rapidly winning over large numbers in 
 all ranks, not only to himself, but to the principles 
 of the Church. Even before he had taken up his 
 abode In Leeds Mr. Robert Hall had discerned with 
 delight evident symptoms of coming success. 
 
 * So you have made up your mind,' he wrote, * to a 
 three years' martyrdom. Believe me, unless like the 
 ranter in the play you ' love to be p^?rsecuted,' you will 
 either manage very ill or you will be agreeably disap- 
 pointed. At present, let me tell you, you are almost more 
 popular than, as a politician, I could have wished. The 
 rcubon is, in part, that those who condemned you itnnad
 
 37^ Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1837 
 
 are, most of them, compelled to absolve you read ; in part, 
 it is common reaction ; in part, that the Wesleyans of 
 Coventry have sent a high character of you to the Wes- 
 leyans here, so that the Evangelical attempt to awaken 
 the antipathy of that body has signally failed. You really 
 would admire the commendable appetite with which some 
 of them are eating their own words. ... On the other hand 
 I cannot but look upon the late opposition as almost a 
 providential means of awakening the old High Church 
 principles, which had been slumbering in the hearts of 
 the congregation of the parish church, and though even 
 they will require gentle treatment at first, you will find 
 them prepared to listen to you with docility.' 
 
 The congregations at the parish church soon 
 became so large that scarcely standing room could 
 be found at the Sunday services. Much space u^as 
 wasted by the large appropriated pev^s and galleries 
 with which the church was encumbered. The poor 
 sometimes went an hour before the time of service, 
 yet were unable to get in. Some of them would go 
 to the afternoon service, which was less numerously 
 attended, and sit on to retain their places for the 
 evening service, when the church was most densely 
 thronged. The old parish church was a very large, 
 and in many respects a very handsome fabric, but 
 singularly 111 adapted for public worship. It was a 
 great cross church of extraordinary breadth in the 
 nave — ninety-seven feet, owing to double aisles — and 
 with a chancel of extraordinary length, which for 
 practical purposes was completely severed from the 
 nave, not only by the bulky piers and arches, which 
 supported a massive central tower, but by a heavy 
 gallery built across the eastern arch. The double 
 rows of columns also which supported the nave and
 
 i837 First Six Months at Leeds. 379 
 
 aisles were such serious obstructions to sight and 
 sound that most unseemly behaviour often occurred 
 in those distant parts to which the eye and even the 
 powerful voice of the Vicar were unable to pene- 
 trate. Early in the autumn of 1837 an address was 
 presented to him, signed by 640 parishioners, 
 praying for the improvement of the parish church, 
 and a subscription list was shordy afterwards opened, 
 headed by the Vicar, Mr. Benjamin Gott, and Mr. 
 Christopher Beckett, with donations of 200/. each. 
 According to the plans first prepared by Mr. 
 Chantrell the architect, it was proposed to take 
 down the tower and rebuild it on the north side, to 
 widen the chancel and fit it for service, to remove 
 the galleries, and great pews from the nave, and 
 generally to repair the whole structure. The esti- 
 mate for carrying these alterations into effect was 
 6,000/. In any case it was necessary to remove the 
 tower, for on examination it was discovered that the 
 piers, two of which were cracked from top to bottom, 
 rested on a rotten foundation of loose stones and 
 rubbish, a very little way below the surface of the 
 ground ; and the safety of the fabric could not be 
 ensured from one day to another. On further con- 
 sideration, also, the inconveniences arising from the 
 great width and obstructive columns of the nave 
 appeared so objectionable, the foundations and walls 
 of the whole building were discovered to be so in- 
 secure, and the cost of restoration seemed likely to 
 be so much greater than was at first expected, that 
 the plan of remodelling was abandoned, and it was 
 determined that a wholly new church should be 
 erected.
 
 380 Life of Walter Farquhar Hooh, 1837 
 
 There can be little or no doubt that in the 
 present day some parts of the old structure, and the 
 general character of the whole, would have been 
 preserved ; and the extreme dislike of the Vicar to 
 the church, which is so strongly expressed in the 
 letters at the close of this chapter, arose from his 
 inability to detect the real beauties which were 
 concealed beneath deformities of modern growth. 
 But he was also convinced, and perhaps rightly, that 
 the construction of the building was very ill adapted 
 for the proper and devout celebration of the services 
 of the Church of England. Any attempt moreover 
 at what is now called * restoration ' would probably, 
 at that time, when the revival of architectural know- 
 ledge and taste was in its infancy, have proved a 
 complete failure ; and the new church, although it 
 doubtless deserves, from a purely architectural and 
 artistic point of view, some of the severe criticisms 
 which have been freely bestowed upon it, possesses 
 several great merits to which attention will be drawn 
 in the proper place. 
 
 Feeling strongly as he did that a due celebration of 
 Divine Service was impracticable in the old church, 
 the Vicar devoted all his energy, and all the means 
 at his command, to promote the successive schemes 
 of alteration and rebuilding. Trade was in a deeply 
 depressed condition, but he knew well that there 
 was wealth more than sufficient for the purpose, and 
 he was determined that the rich men should do 
 their duty. One of the most eloquent and successful 
 speeches which he made in the first year of his 
 appointment was at a great meeting, held November 
 8, to consider the best means of rendering the church
 
 iS37 First Six Months at Leeds. 381 
 
 suitable for public worship. The plan for shifting 
 the position of the tower and remodelling the interior 
 of the church was at that time the only plan which 
 had been brought forward. 
 
 ' The Parish Church of Leeds,' said the Vicar, 
 * has been described by Thoresby as " black but 
 comely." Black, I am sorry to say, it still is, but 
 comely it has ceased to be, because owing to various 
 alterations which have taken place from time to 
 time, not upon any fixed plan, the convenience of 
 individuals rather than the accommodation of the 
 public has been considered. As the church at pre- 
 sent stands it is almost, nay altogether, impossible 
 to perform the services of the sanctuary with that 
 order and decency with which we ought to perform 
 them. Owing to the wide aisles and passages where 
 persons can loiter without taking any part in the 
 service or hearing the sermon, but wait to see where 
 they may get convenient places, great noise and 
 confusion during the early part of the service must 
 necessarily prevail.' After observing that the Com- 
 munion Service could not be performed in the 
 chancel, and that the church was the most difficult 
 for the voice of all the churches in which he had 
 ever officiated, he proceeded to say, 'at present it 
 holds about 1,500 people : by the proposed plan we 
 shall get 1,200 more kneelings. I use the word in 
 preference to the term sittings, that persons may be 
 reminded that they come to church not to sit and 
 hear a sermon, but to kneel before their God in 
 prayer. And of these 1,200 fresh kneelings, 700 
 will be free for the use of the poor. I think I have 
 stated reasons sufficient to convince anyone who
 
 382 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1837 
 
 may be tempted to ask the Judas question, To what 
 purpose is this expense ? I think I have used 
 arguments sufficient to convince the utiHtarian ; but 
 I must remember that I am addressing- Churchmen 
 — men accustomed to take a higher aim, to be in- 
 fluenced by a hoher sentiment and a diviner 
 principle. To them I say go and look at the 
 parish church, and then tell me if that be a church 
 befitting a parish so distinguished for opulence as 
 this. I bid them leave their homes, decorated by 
 every art which elegance, refinement, and taste can 
 suggest, and I tell them to go look on the Church of 
 God, and I think the blush of shame will mantle on 
 their cheeks when they reflect that while they are 
 dwelling in their ceiled houses, the tabernacle of 
 God is dwelling behind curtains. I consider a hand- 
 some church to be a kind of standing sermon, saying 
 to the people. See how Churchmen love and honour 
 their God, oh come hither and worship in the beauty 
 of holiness ! I trust we shall be animated with the 
 spirit of David, who desired to build a house for the 
 Lord exceeding " magnifical, of fame and of glory 
 througrhout all countries." I trust we shall be ani- 
 mated with the spirit of Solomon, who loved the 
 House of God, and the house which he built was 
 great, for he said, " Great is my God above all gods." 
 I trust we shall be animated with a desire that when 
 the children of our people go forth to distant parts 
 of the land, or to foreign countries, they may cast a 
 longing lingering look upon their native town, and 
 speak of the holy and beautiful house where their 
 fathers worshipped. I trust we shall be influenced 
 by the Spirit of that Blessed Being of whom when
 
 1 837 First Six Months at Leeds. Z^ 
 
 o 
 
 He became incarnate and died for our sins it was 
 said, ** The zeal of Thine house hath eaten me up " : 
 and I trust it is under the influence of His Holy- 
 Spirit that I now say to you in the words of the 
 prophet, "Go up to the mountains and fetch wood, 
 and build the house of the Lord, and the Lord will 
 have pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the 
 Lord." ' 
 
 The conclusion of the speech was followed by 
 loud and prolonged cheering ; and Mr. Christopher 
 Beckett in seconding a vote of thanks to the Vicar 
 as chairman, observed that it was impossible to 
 estimate the value to the town of such a man : for 
 the good influence which he had in six months 
 exercised on all classes of the community in Leeds 
 was indescribable. The meeting testified its appro- 
 bation of these remarks by passing a vote of thanks 
 to the trustees for having elected such an excellent 
 Vicar for the town. 
 
 The enthusiasm, kindled at this meeting, for the 
 work of remodelling or rebuilding the parish church 
 was never suffered to flag. A committee of sixteen, 
 with the Vicar as chairman, was formed who 
 carried on their labours with unabating zeal until 
 the completion of the new church in 1841. 
 
 An unusual number of important speeches were 
 made by the Vicar during the first two years of his 
 ministry at Leeds ; and they were probably the most 
 eloquent and effective which he ever delivered. It 
 has commonly been said that he was not a good 
 speaker. This statement, however, must be ac- 
 cepted with great reservations. It is true, if by a 
 good speaker is to be understood one who can be
 
 384 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1837 
 
 depended upon to speak with a certain degree of 
 excellence on all occasions and on any subject, 
 whether he understands it or not. It Is not true 
 If the designation may be extended to those who, 
 though they may be unable to speak well always, 
 everywhere, and on all subjects, nevertheless can 
 at times speak powerfully, and even brilliantly, upon 
 subjects with which they are thoroughly acquainted, 
 and in which they feel a deep interest. 
 
 The Vicar of Leeds was one of this class. There 
 were two conditions under which he could speak emi- 
 nently well. One was when he was thoroughly roused 
 and put upon his mettle by the presence of a multitude 
 either warmly sympathetic or fiercely antagonistic. 
 * Large mobs,' he once remarked to me, ' inspired 
 me to speak : under excitement and before a large 
 multitude, when I got Into a declamatory and rather 
 rhetorical vein, I could go on unceasingly ; but I 
 never could speak much or fluently at small private 
 meetings.' 
 
 The second condition which enabled him to 
 speak effectively was when his interest and feelings 
 were thoroughly enlisted In a subject, and the speech 
 Itself was the outcome of much previous thought and 
 study. The preparation of such speeches cost him 
 much labour, but they were for the most part very 
 telling in delivery. ' I have made three or four 
 great speeches ' he said ' in the course of my life — 
 speeches, I mean, which took more than an hour to 
 deliver, were much applauded at the time, and fre- 
 quently quoted afterwards ; but the effort of mind 
 was very great to me, because I am not naturally a 
 speaker, and my memory is not good. My plan
 
 1 837 First Six Months at Leeds. 385 
 
 was to have a distinct outline in my head, a per- 
 oration, a certain number of points prepared and 
 assigned to particular parts of the speech, and others 
 to be brought in as well as I could.' Speech-making 
 at meetings was a part of his duty which he never 
 relished, and would gladly ofttimes have avoided, 
 had it been possible or right to do so. But as it 
 was an unavoidable necessity, especially at the outset 
 of his career in Leeds, he girded himself to discharge 
 this, like every other duty, with all his might. 
 
 At the time that he became Vicar of Leeds and 
 Dr. Longley Bishop of Ripon, very great ignorance 
 prevailed in the West Riding concerning the true 
 principles, and the deep claims upon Churchmen, of 
 the two venerable Societies for Promoting Christian 
 Knowledge, and Propagating the Gospel in Foreign 
 Parts. One of the Leeds parish churchwardens 
 who had attended morning service at St. John's 
 observed to a friend as he came out : ' We have been 
 having a sermon and collection for a Christian 
 Knowledge Society : can you tell me what the 
 Society is for ? ' A very great increase in the 
 support given in Western Yorkshire to the two so- 
 cieties dates from the zealous and eloquent pleading 
 of their cause by Vicar Hook and Bishop Longley. 
 
 A large meeting on behalf of the Propagation 
 Society was held in the Music Hall at Leeds on 
 October 17, 1837, the Bishop presiding. And this 
 was the first occasion of the kind on which the 
 oratorical powers of the Vicar were manifested. 
 After describing at considerable length the history 
 and the nature of the society in clear and forcible 
 language, he concluded in the following words : 
 
 VOL. I. C C
 
 386 Life of Walter Farqtihar Hook. 1837 
 
 ' If the Society in a great measure confines its 
 exertions to the dependencies of the British Empire, 
 it is to be remembered that on the British Empire 
 the sun never sets, so that everyone will agree that 
 here is " ample room and verge enough " for the 
 most extensive operations. The Society feels that 
 charity ought to begin at home, and it knows that 
 he is worse than an infidel who does not provide for 
 his own household. To her colonies and depen- 
 dencies, indeed, the debt owed by England is great. 
 For those colonies and dependencies have become 
 ours — how ? By right of conquest. Now I can 
 admire and glory in the valour of our army and 
 navy. I can admire and glory in the skill and 
 genius of our generals, our Wolfes, our Clives, our 
 Cornwalllses, our Lakes, and our immortal Welling- 
 ton, who fought his country's batdes on the plains 
 of India, as well as on the fields of Spain and 
 Waterloo. I can admire, I say, the valour of our 
 troops and the skill of our generals, but in vain were 
 that valour and in vain that skill unless our arms 
 had been crowned with success by the God of 
 battles. And who is the God of battles ? It is the 
 Lord strong and mighty ; it is that Blessed Being 
 who, when for our sakes He became incarnate and 
 died upon the cross, gave us that commandment to 
 which I have alluded before, " Go and disciple all 
 nations." And can He have given us the victory 
 merely to pamper our national pride — pride in all its 
 shapes, national and individual, being condemned in 
 His Gospel .■* Did He give us the power to tread 
 down our enemies and to laugh them to scorn, 
 merely to increase the wealth of our merchants that
 
 1837 First Six Mo7itJi5 at Leeds. 387 
 
 they might become, as they have become, the princes 
 of the earth ? Oh no, my friends ! He crowned 
 our arms with victory that a way might be opened 
 to the most religious nation of Europe — that a way 
 might be opened to the piety of England to preach 
 the pure and unadulterated truths of the Gospel, to 
 administer the Christian Sacraments, and to organise 
 the Christian Church. And I hope that it will be 
 the glory of the reign of our beloved youthful 
 sovereign to see this object accomplished. We 
 look back to other reigns for the success of our 
 arms ; may posterity look back to the reign of 
 Victoria as the period in which Christianity was 
 propagated, and the Church established, throughout 
 the vast dominions of the British Empire — 
 
 These be thy trophies, Queen of many isles, 
 
 On these high Heaven shall shed benignant smiles.' 
 
 The Bishop in his speech at the close of the 
 meeting, after commenting on the extraordinary 
 ignorance respecting the nature of the Society which 
 had prevailed in the West Riding, and the very 
 slender support which in consequence had been 
 given to it, observed that, so far as the town of 
 Leeds was concerned, ignorance could no longer be 
 pleaded ; and even if there was a disposition on the 
 part of any to persist in such ignorance, he could 
 not but think that after the eloquent, fervent, and 
 stirring address of their gifted and beloved Vicar 
 they would be ashamed of their ignorance, and 
 would henceforth gladly aid in the diffusion in 
 foreign parts of the everlasting Gospel of the great 
 Captain of their Redemption. 
 
 c c 2
 
 388 Life of Walter FarquJiar Hook. 1837 
 
 The Vicar was equally indefatigable in ex 
 plaining the principles of the Society for Promo 
 ting Christian Knowledge, and in establishing 
 branches va connexion with it, not only in Leeds, 
 but in many of the neighbouring towns. The local 
 papers between 1837 and 1842 contain such very 
 numerous reports of his speeches on these occasions, 
 that out of so many it is difficult to select the best ; 
 but at any rate I think few better specimens could 
 be found than the following, delivered at one of the 
 annual meetings of the Leeds District Committee. 
 
 It illustrates also very well the manner in which 
 fixed principles were blended in him with Christian 
 charity and liberality of sentiment, and the distinction 
 between principles and opinions here made was one 
 which he was very fond of drawing. . . . ' The 
 question may be asked with reference to this society. 
 How do you propose to effect the object which you 
 have in view } And, in the name of the Society, we 
 answer, by the Bible rightly inte7'preted. The Bible 
 contains all things necessary to salvation, and it is 
 from the Bible that we ascertain the will and word 
 of God ; but of course the Bible wrongly Interpreted 
 does not express the mind of the Lord : the whole 
 stress therefore of the question lies on the right in- 
 terpretation of Scripture. The Society consequently 
 in the first place circulates freely the Holy Scriptures, 
 and then it circulates books and tracts by which men 
 may be enabled to understand the Bible rightly. In 
 the first place, books and tracts are supplied for the 
 young that, as reason dawns, and before they pro- 
 ceed to the study of Scripture, their minds may be 
 thoroughly imbued in Church principles : prepared,
 
 ^^37 First Six Mo7iths at Leeds. 389 
 
 prejudiced, if the term is preferred, for understanding 
 the Scriptures in the sense of the Church. And in 
 the next place books and tracts are provided for 
 adults — such books as will instruct them to reduce 
 Scripture principles to practice, and will prevent 
 them from drawing from Scripture heretical con- 
 clusions. Such is the course pursued by this Society 
 to speed Christian knowledge by the Bible rightly 
 interpreted. The responsibility incurred by the 
 Society in so doing is very great, and before we can 
 give it our support we must ascertain the principle 
 under which the Society itself acts in thus seeking 
 to lead men to the right understanding of Scripture. 
 There is scarcely a doctrine of Scripture which has 
 not been controverted by some sect or party : there 
 must be a right sense to be applied to each of these 
 controverted doctrines. The Society undertakes to 
 lead men to the right sense : but how are we to 
 know that the Society itself has acquired the right 
 sense ? What is the guide of the Society ? To 
 this the answer is, the Society is guided by the 
 Church. Now here another question would arise if 
 the claims of the Society were brought under the 
 notice of persons who were not members of the 
 Church. We should then have to show why the 
 Church has authority in controversies of faith, and 
 why the sects by which the Church is surrounded 
 have not such authority. But this is not necessary 
 in addressing Churchmen, for they will accept our 
 twentieth Article, which declares " that the Church 
 hath authority in controversies of faith." According 
 to that authority we act in interpreting Scripture, 
 and so we come to a decision on the fundamental
 
 390 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1837 
 
 doctrines of Christianity which are controverted. 
 But although the principles of the Society are such, 
 when we go to the depository we take up one book 
 or tract and say, *' This is an excellent work : I shall 
 circulate it," and then perhaps we take up another 
 and say, " I do not at all like this tract, and shall 
 not purchase it." How can this be ? will perhaps 
 be asked ; and to answer this question we must 
 consider the difference between a principle and an 
 opinion. By a principle we mean a doctrinal state- 
 ment asserted and defined by the Church. If to 
 this we are perversely opposed, we are heretics. But 
 then consistently with adherence to this principle a 
 variety of subordinate opinions may be held. This 
 may be illustrated by another reference to the twen- 
 tieth Article. In that Article it is said that " the 
 Church hath power to decree rites and ceremonies." 
 To deny this would be heresy. But notwithstanding 
 this, we may hold and express an opinion as to the 
 wisdom, or the contrary, of any particular rite or 
 ceremony so decreed. For instance, the Church 
 appoints that we should kneel at public worship, but 
 some may hold an opinion that kneeling is not the 
 best attitude. Few perhaps would maintain that 
 the usual attitude of sitting or lounging is more 
 reverential than kneeling ; but we know that in the 
 primitive ages some churches, while directing the 
 people to kneel at other times, directed them to stand 
 on Sundays in order to testify that the feast of our 
 Lord's Resurrection is a joyful holiday, and there 
 may be persons who think that it is a better ceremony 
 than that which is adopted by us. Or, take a more 
 solemn subject. The Church teaches us that in the
 
 i^37 First Six ATonths at Leeds. 391 
 
 blessed Eucharist " the body and blood of Christ 
 are verily and indeed taken and received by the 
 faithful." To deny this would be heresy ; but as 
 to the viaimer of His presence, "who is verily and 
 indeed taken and received " — this is an opinion, and 
 in asserting our opinions there may be considerable 
 difference allowed, so long as we do not adopt the 
 opinion transubstantiation, which is by our Church 
 condemned. . . . And now, my Christian friends, I 
 have endeavoured to point out to you the distinction 
 between principle and opinion, that you may see 
 how it is that persons belonging to the same branch 
 of the Catholic Church may hold the same principles, 
 and yet differ in many of their opinions. J. wish 
 you to observe how, in spite of such differences, 
 there may be brotherly love, there may be friendly 
 intercourse, there may be union, except where it is 
 the interest of worldly-minded men to foment 
 differences, lest their occupation should cease ; except 
 where parties are formed and party spirit cherished 
 by the low ambition of individuals who seek through 
 faction an ephemeral distinction, conscious that the 
 mediocrity of their talents is insufficient to secure 
 for them permanent respect. With regard to those 
 who are not members of the Church, union with 
 them is impracticable, for between us and them 
 there is a difference of principle : there is no common 
 stock of principles to which we can appeal. But 
 among spiritually-minded Churchmen there may be 
 union, notwithstanding great differences of opinion ; 
 and where there is not a worldly object in keeping 
 parties separate, I am confident that by mutual 
 explanation it would be found that the differences
 
 39 2 Life of Walter Farqiihar Hook. 1837 
 
 are not so great as they appear to be, and as persons 
 interested in creating or maintaining parties would 
 represent them. As a case in point, I know some 
 persons who refuse to support this very Society, on 
 behalf of which I am now pleading. If I were to 
 say to them. Here is the Society for Promoting 
 Christian Knowledge, and because you refuse to 
 belong to it you are not friends to the promotion of 
 Christian knowledge, I should act most uncharitably : 
 they are as zealous as you or I can be for promoting 
 Christian knowledge, but they are of opinion that 
 this Society is not the best for effecting that object. 
 For my part, my opinion is in favour of this Society, 
 and I call upon you to support it with zeal. But at 
 the same time I protest against that exuberance, that 
 intolerance of zeal, which can induce the advocates 
 of this or any other self-formed Society to anathe- 
 matise those who are conscientiously opposed to it. 
 Such an anathema has been heard, as you are aware. 
 Anglo-Catholics, among whom there are many 
 spiritually-minded men, whose thoughts are more in 
 heaven than on earth, have been denounced, because 
 they are opposed to a self-formed Society,^ as 
 " agents of Satan " : they have been called " serpents 
 who pollute our churches and leave their slime about 
 our altars — serpents who ought to be crushed," 
 whether by bell, book, and candle, whether by the 
 faggots of Smithfield or the racks of the Inquisition, 
 the deponent sayeth not. These are very dreadful 
 words, for they were intended to apply to me and 
 
 ^ The London City Mission which had lately sent an agent to Leeds. 
 The Vicar had been fiercely denounced by a part of the press for 
 declining to co-operate with him.
 
 1837 First Six Months at Leeds. 393 
 
 to the majority of this great assembly. But it is 
 charity to believe that they were not real words — 
 that the Christian brother who uttered them did not 
 think of the awful meaning of these expressions ; 
 but that, forgetful of the solemn account which for 
 every idle word he will one day have to render, he 
 used them as mere rhetorical flourishes, as flowers 
 of oratory to point a period. I only hope that such 
 flowers of rhetoric will not be employed to-day. We 
 are Christian people assembled for a sacred object : 
 let us act on Christian principles, and, above all, in 
 a Christian temper.' 
 
 But it was not only by speeches at large annual 
 meetings of this kind that the vicar promoted the 
 work of the Society. Before the close of the year 
 1837 a scheme had been devised for dividing the 
 whole town into twelve districts, in each of which 
 a branch of the Society was to be established. 
 The committees of these branches were to consist 
 of a chairman, the clergyman of the district, and 
 two visitors for every thousand inhabitants. A 
 depository was to be established in each district, 
 where specimens of the publications of the Society 
 should be kept and exhibited, and notices placed 
 in the window directing the attention of the public 
 to the name, nature, and design of the Society. 
 The duty of the visitors was to call upon persons of 
 all classes, in order to discover who were in want 
 of Bibles and Prayer-books amongst the poor, and 
 amongst the richer people to advocate the claims of 
 the Society upon their support. Once a month they 
 were to report progress to the chairman, and once a 
 quarter the chairmen of the several districts were to
 
 394 Life of Walter Farquhm" Hook. 1837 
 
 meet the general committee for the transaction of 
 business at the Central Depository. The first of 
 these branches was opened in December 1837, in 
 St. Mary's Bank School, which was densely crowded 
 when the Vicar as chairman explained the nature of 
 the work which this and the other branches would 
 have to perform. And from this time forward, as 
 branch after branch was formed in this district and 
 in that, the Vicar was always at his post as president, 
 making his addresses a vehicle of instruction in the 
 primary principles of the Church generally, as well as 
 of the Society, and thus casting the net of the Church's 
 influence further and further into the broad and deep 
 waters in which he had been called to labour. 
 
 But the most direct influence which he exercised 
 upon the minds and hearts of his people was of 
 course through his sermons and pastoral intercourse. 
 Seldom did any preacher so happily blend instruc- 
 tion with exhortation in his sermons. Sunday by 
 Sunday, with great weight of learning and with 
 great force and perspicuity of language, did he un- 
 fold the true nature and principles of the Church of 
 England ; her apostolical succession — her foundation 
 by St. Augustine, her purification by the Reformers 
 of the sixteenth century, her harmony in creed and 
 practice with the Primitive Church. Sunday by 
 Sunday did he, in his sermons and in catechising 
 the school children in church, exhibit the meaning, 
 the beauty, and the value of the Anglican Liturgy. 
 But with the didactic he never forofot to mino^le the 
 hortatory and practical ; he never forgot for a mo- 
 ment that the supreme duty of the pastor is to win 
 men to Christ, and to lead them to cast their sins at
 
 1837 First Six Months at Leeds, 395 
 
 the foot of His Cross ; and all his teaching about the 
 ordinances of the Church was intended to show that 
 they were, when rightly and faithfully used, means 
 to this great end ; that they were the hem of Christ's 
 robe, through which men might touch Him and be 
 healed of whatsoever spiritual disease they had. No 
 Evangelical — no Methodist, ever preached ' Christ 
 crucified ' more fully, freely, fervently, constantly 
 than he did ; he only differed from them in pointing 
 out the rich provision made by Christ in His Church 
 for aiding men in drawing near to Himself, and in 
 exhorting believers to look to a steady course of 
 obedience rather than feelings and frames of mind 
 as tests of spiritual growth. 
 
 The effects of such teaching became visible in 
 the course of even a few months. The whole num- 
 ber of communicants when he entered on his charge 
 at the parish church was little more than fifty, and 
 amongst these there were no young men, and very 
 few men of any age. One who had been the Vicar 
 of St. John's for thirty years declared he had never 
 seen a young man at the Lord's table. A steady 
 and rapid increase set in after Dr. Hook's arrival, 
 and in the course of two or three years we find him 
 speaking of 400 and 500 persons communicating on 
 Easter day. The more frequent confirmations which 
 were instituted after the establishment of the See of 
 Ripon were of course a great assistance in promoting 
 this improvement. Formerly they had taken place 
 once in seven years only, when a vast number of ill- 
 prepared j^oung people were brought together from 
 great distances. The occasion was frequently the 
 scene of scandalous festivities and improprieties, and
 
 39^ Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1837 
 
 many of the candidates returned to their homes ini- 
 tiated in vice, instead of being confirmed in goodness. 
 After the appointment of the Bishop of Ripon the 
 confirmations were at first triennial and ultimately 
 annual. The first confirmation at Leeds after the 
 election of Dr. Hook took place in October 1837, 
 when upwards of 1,000 candidates of various ages 
 were presented by him and the other clergy of the 
 township. 
 
 But the most remarkable result of his teaching 
 this year was the conversion to the Church of three 
 Methodist preachers, with a certain number of 
 their followers. The movement was purely spon- 
 taneous on their part, for it was not the custom of 
 the Vicar to seek or allure proselytes from the ranks 
 of Nonconformity. His business, he conceived, was 
 to proclaim truth rather than to combat error, to 
 build up the Church rather than to attack the sects 
 who had seceded from it. 
 
 The Methodist teachers came to him and informed 
 him that, having become convinced of the truth of 
 Church principles by his sermons and speeches, they 
 wished to be received into the fold ; but there was 
 one difficulty which weighed upon their minds 
 and the minds of their followers. They felt un- 
 willing to abandon the practice of class-meetings : a 
 practice to which they had always been accustomed, 
 and which they considered to be salutary in its 
 effects. * Do not let this be an impediment,' said the 
 Vicar ; ' by all means have your class-meetings, and 
 I shall be delighted to become one of your class- 
 leaders.' To this they readily assented. The first 
 meeting, however, at which he was present, he
 
 1837 First Six Months at Leeds. 397 
 
 attended more in the capacity of a distinguished 
 visitor than of a leader. It was held at the house of 
 one of the principal members of the connexion, who 
 presided at the head of a long table in the middle 
 of the room. The Vicar, and one of his curates who 
 accompanied him, were invited to occupy chairs near 
 the leader, while the members of the class sat round 
 the walls facing the table, until the leader gave out 
 a hymn, when they all turned their faces to the 
 wall. The hymn being ended, the leader read and 
 •expounded a portion of Scripture, after which the 
 members of the class were called upon to ' tell their 
 experiences.' For some time there was no response 
 to the invitation, although it had been made in the 
 most encouraging tones. At length a man got up, 
 and beginning, ' this night I set up my Ebenezer,' 
 proceeded in a declamatory style to inform the 
 meeting how he had formerly believed that he saw 
 the light of truth and followed the path of righteous- 
 ness, but how he had been smitten by 't' Vicar's 
 sermon t'other night,' and now perceived that he had 
 been all the while walking in darkness and ungod- 
 liness. This remarkable experience having been 
 related, and no more being offered on the part of 
 others, the Vicar was invited to ' improve the occa- 
 sion.' He had discerned clearly enough that the in- 
 tention of the speaker had been to gratify him by 
 paying compliments to his persuasive preaching, and 
 to magnify himself in the eyes of all present by get- 
 ting credit for his superior discernment of the Vicar's 
 great powers. The Vicar, therefore, began by 
 observing that his visit to the class-meeting had been 
 most interesting and instructive to him, for he now
 
 39^ Life of Walter Farqiihar Hook. 1837 
 
 saw the full value of the practice of telling expe- 
 riences. Here was a man who had himself believed, 
 and had led others to believe, that he was a pillar of 
 truth and a pattern of godliness, but who now came 
 forward to declare that all this had been a mistake 
 and an imposition. ' So now, brother,' continued the 
 Vicar, * we see what your fault has been — self-deceit, 
 brother, and hypocrisy, too — yes, hypocrisy, brother. 
 Oh ! what a hypocrite you have been, brother ; you 
 must repent of your hypocrisy.' The feelings and 
 countenances of the assembly, especially of the 
 member thus addressed, may be better imagined 
 than described, as the unmerciful Vicar ran on in 
 this strain. To bring matters to a close the leader 
 proposed that the Vicar should ' engage in prayer,' 
 upon which he took out his Prayer Book and said 
 the greater part of the Litany in a tone and manner 
 described by an eyewitness as peculiarly impressive 
 and affecting, after which he shook hands with the 
 leader and departed with his companion, to discuss 
 at the Vicarage the singular scene at which they had 
 assisted. 
 
 The result of his deliberations was, a resolution 
 that while willing to allow class-meetings, under the 
 superintendence of himself or one of his curates, 
 the * telling of experiences ' should be absolutely 
 forbidden, as likely to minister to spiritual pride 
 and presumption. Many of the Wesleyans, however, 
 were not content to enter the Church on this condi- 
 tion, and only a few of the more sober kind actually 
 came over. The Church ' class-meeting,' which had 
 its origin in this occurrence, became a weekly 
 meeting of communicants and church workers for
 
 1 837 First Six Months at Leeds. 399 
 
 instruction and counsel under the Vicar, and has 
 been carried on from that time to this. 
 
 The following is a copy of rules for the class, 
 which I have found in the handwriting of Dr. Hook. 
 
 1. This class consists of persons who are communi- 
 cants, or preparing to become so, and is to be regarded 
 as a private meeting of my friends : as private as if we 
 were to assemble at the Vicarage. 
 
 2. Strangers, therefore, can only attend when introduced 
 by a member, and any person becoming a member will 
 be considered as such for half a year at least. 
 
 3. Those members of the class who are willing to take 
 or distribute tracts will signify their desire to do so to 
 me, and will pay a penny a week to the treasurer of the 
 fund. But it remains optional to any member of the 
 class to become a tract distributor or not. 
 
 4. For those who undertake to distribute tracts I shall 
 provide a fresh tract every week. They will lend the tract 
 among their neighbours as they shall see fit, and then 
 they may keep the tract to form part of a library for the 
 use of their servants. 
 
 5. Covers are provided for those who wish to lend their 
 tracts. 
 
 6. Many of the tracts will be of a superior description, 
 for sending, not merely to the poor, but to better educated 
 classes of society, who maybe prejudiced at present against 
 the principles of the Church, or who may require con- 
 firmation in the principles which they profess. 
 
 The meeting was in fact a w^eekly instruction by 
 the Vicar in some book of Holy Scripture, or some 
 portion of the Liturgy. It was one of the principal 
 means by which he rallied round him a body of 
 earnest and intelligent workers, so that it became 
 a centre in which religious light and warmth were
 
 400 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1837 
 
 gendered, and from which they were diffused to 
 others. 
 
 The following letters will complete the sketch 
 which I have attempted to draw of his jfirst half-year 
 at Leeds, a period which, being of an eventful and 
 exceptional character, seemed to demand a chapter 
 for itself. 
 
 To his Sister — First Impressions of Leeds. 
 
 The Vicarage, Leeds : July 5, 1837. 
 
 My dearest Georgiana, — We this night sleep for the 
 first time in the Vicarage, and as you have been a good 
 girl, and written to me (for you) very well of late, I will 
 indulge you with a letter. Things are now beginning to 
 be very comfortable : the house is a delightful one, just 
 the kind of house I particularly like — lofty rooms but not 
 too large. I have a delightful study, which is the only 
 room completely furnished, besides our bedroom. Pratt 
 is like a brother, and seems highly pleased with every- 
 thing. He manages to understand the Yorkshire lingo 
 better than I can. To Yorkshire manners I am becoming 
 a little reconciled. I am beginning with the greatest 
 delicacy to hint to the people that this house is not quite 
 public property. Hitherto everybody seems to have thought 
 himself justified in entering it, and in criticising all that 
 the Vicar has been doing ; while sturdy beggars, men out 
 of work, meet me at every turn, and almost demand relief. 
 I am now in full work ; the poor curates, sexton, clerk, 
 &c., are surprised : they evidently thought that I should 
 let them go on in their own slovenly way, while I should 
 be employed in some grand undertakings, such as building 
 new churches and schools ; whereas the learned doctor 
 (they doctor me here, ' Yes, Doctor, No, Doctor,' at almost 
 every second word), says, * fair and softly,' one thing at a 
 time. They heard nothing of me the first week. I first set 
 my study in order, and next the parish church must be
 
 iS37 Letters, 1837. 401 
 
 put in order ; so to show how things shall and must be 
 done, I am taking all the full curate's duty ; I have this 
 day offered the prayers three times, besides burying, bap- 
 tizing, and churching. The stated services in this church 
 are prayers three times a day; and instead of seeking for 
 a congregation, the curates, sexton, clerk, &c., have endea- 
 voured to prevent one being formed, and then used that as 
 an excuse for having no service. I have ordered the sexton 
 whenever there is no congregation, to go into the street 
 and to give two old women sixpence a-piece to come in 
 and form one ; so that no sham excuse can be tolerated. 
 The curates have now but little to do, though I make 
 them attend ; for when I have ordered the funerals to be 
 properly performed, they have urged that it was impossible, 
 so with baptisms &c. ; and, therefore, in order to refute 
 them, I have taken the duty myself, just to prove that 
 * what is impossible can sometimes come to pass.' The 
 black looks with which I am regarded, notwithstanding 
 the soft words used, are rather amusing ; but the services 
 of the Church shall be performed as they ought to be, 
 before anything else is done. I am also busily employed 
 with an architect, devising some plan to make decent my 
 nasty, dirty, ugly old church. I am determined to get 
 that into something like order, if possible. The difficulties 
 are tremendous, but I am in good heart. 
 
 To the Rev. J. IV. Clarke — Nature of the Work to be done 
 at Leeds, 
 
 Vicarage, Leeds : July 7, 1837. 
 
 My dear Clarke, — I write to you again to say that now 
 you are appointed lecturer, you may entirely suit your 
 own convenience, and what you think to be due to your 
 two parishes, about the time of your coming here. The 
 curate and clerk in orders make not a little fuss about the 
 work they have to do, which, nevertheless, is but little ; and 
 your absence does not add to their labours though your 
 
 VOL. I, D D
 
 402 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1837 
 
 coming will diminish them. My system is to do one thing 
 at a time, and not to have too many irons in the fire ; and 
 my business now is to get the ministerial work at the 
 parish church properly performed ; I am therefore myself 
 undertaking full curate's duty. Nothing could have been 
 more slovenly than the proceedings at the parish church — 
 baptisms, marriages, funerals, all slurred over ; this I am 
 resolutely reforming in spite of the curates, clerk, sexton, 
 &c. Their system has been, not to consult the convenience 
 of the public, but to save themselves trouble. My system 
 is, not to care for the trouble of the clergy, but to consult 
 the convenience of the public, and to enamour them of 
 our services by having them solemnly and devoutly per- 
 formed. In this good work I shall look forward to your 
 kind and cordial co-operation. If you and I show that we 
 attach importance to the solemn performance of even the 
 slightest duty connected with our dear Master's service ; 
 that we consider even the office of a doorkeeper in His 
 house an office of honour ; that, convinced of His presence, 
 we are as devout in offering the prayers when only two or 
 three are present, as when there are two or three hundred ; 
 we shall find His blessing attending us, and we shall be 
 the means of converting others. I confess I attach the 
 very greatest importance to the solemn performance of 
 the occasional duties. As in this respect you will have to 
 act as my strict ally, I wish, if you have time, you would 
 read again and attentively Wheatley on the Common 
 Prayer, and any other similar work. I prefer Wheatley 
 to Shepherd, because the 7]0o^ of Wheatley 's teaching is 
 more Catholic, more in accordance with the Church spirit. 
 It might be well also to read over the Oxford Tracts ; not 
 that I care whether you agree with them or not, but 
 because the people here are all reading them, and it would 
 be expedient to know something of them, and because, 
 however you may differ on particular points, you cannot 
 but be delighted with the fine, noble, and truly Christian 
 spirit with which they are written. 
 
 Your affectionate Friend.
 
 1 837 Letters, 1837. 4^3 
 
 To the Rev. Saimiel Wilbcrforce — Clerical meetings — 
 Character of Churchnianship in Leeds. 
 
 Vicarage, Leeds : July 1837. 
 
 My dear Friend, .... My next object in writing is to 
 request you to give me a few hints as to the rules of youi 
 clerical society, with a copy of the prayer you use at meet- 
 ing. There are altogether twenty-two clergymen in this 
 parish, who are somewhat under my jurisdiction, and I 
 propose giving them a breakfast once a month at my 
 house, where we shall form a kind of club. There are three 
 * Evangelicals ' of the old school, about four or five high 
 Establishment men, beginning to understand a little about 
 the Church, and the rest are 'orthodox-men' of the old 
 school ; all steady, quiet, but (except the four or five I 
 have alluded to) illiterate men. These are my materials : 
 my wish is to infuse into them a Church spirit. Any 
 advice will be gratefully received from you, who have 
 succeeded so well in the Isle of Wight, The announcement 
 of my intention to give these breakfasts has given much 
 satisfaction, I prefer breakfasts, not only because it will 
 be most convenient to all parties concerned, but because in 
 a town great clerical dinners would give rise to evil report. 
 I do not find my position here an easy one. The town you 
 know, and therefore I need not tell you that it is more 
 smoky than any town in England ; the vicarage is, I am 
 thankful to say, a comfortable, airy house, or I should fear 
 for the health of my children. We meet with much civility 
 and kindness from the people ; but the lower orders are 
 disagreeably uncouth in their manners. The church is 
 the most horrid hole you ever saw ; dirty, and so arranged 
 that it is impossible to perform the Communion service in 
 the chancel ; and moreover it is situated in the very worst 
 part of the town, the very sink of iniquity, the abode of 
 Irish papists. Part of this evil I hope to remedy by raising 
 a sum of m.oney for re-edifying the church. I could do 
 
 D D 2
 
 404 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1837 
 
 much for about 3,000/., but trade is now so bad that I do 
 not venture to commence the subscription hst. As to 
 Church feeling, to Cathohcism, the thing is utterly un- 
 known to clergy and laity. The de facto established 
 religion is Methodism, and the best of our churchpeople, I 
 mean the most pious, talk the language of Methodism ; the 
 traditional religion is Methodism. An Independent teacher 
 of some celebrity remarked to me the other day, that his 
 sect is affected by this fact just as we are, so that I have to 
 begin and lay a new foundation. I intend, please God, to 
 begin soon a course of sermons on the Liturgy, and I fancy 
 some persons who think themselves good Churchmen will 
 rather stare when I speak of the Liturgy as absolutely 
 good, their mode of defence having hitherto been that it 
 is not absolutely bad ; that it needs great reforms, but still 
 it is not so bad as to force them to desert the Establish- 
 ment ; which is here the all in all of Churchism. 
 
 You see I have no easy course before me ; but I shall 
 hope that God has called me to this post to be the instru- 
 ment of a great change, and I shall expect the prayers of 
 all true friends of Catholicism. I am proceeding by de- 
 grees. I am now labouring to effect a reform in the mode 
 of administering the occasional services of the Church, 
 which have been sadly neglected. Believe me to be, 
 
 Your obliged and affectionate Friend. 
 
 To W, P. Wood, Esq. — First Impressions of Leeds. 
 
 Vicarage, Leeds: July 1837. 
 
 My dearest Friend, — I am in your debt for two letters, 
 and perhaps they will long remain unanswered if I do not 
 avail myself of the present half-hour to write to you ; not 
 that I can answer for having so much time at my own dis- 
 posal, the interruptions here being incessant. Trade is so 
 very bad that half the population are begging; such sturdy 
 beggars as the Yorkshire beggars it has never been my
 
 i837 Letters, 1837. 405 
 
 fortune to meet ; in Coventry, in the worst of times I never 
 saw the like. But let me begin at the beginning, and tell 
 you first how I like Leeds, that parish in which you, under 
 Providence, have placed me. On the whole I am well 
 pleased, though the labour which I anticipate is great. The 
 house is airy and pleasant, and this is with me a great 
 point ; I really think that if I had had a good airy study 
 at Coventry, I should never have left it. I am disappointed 
 in the country round ; indeed one can hardly get into the 
 country till a horseman, not of the first order, is prepared 
 to return to the town, for the suburbs are very extensive. 
 But oh ! my dear Wood, such a church as I have ! I 
 really loathe it; I cannot preach comfortably in it, I can 
 scarcely make myself heard ; and the dirt, the indecorum, 
 &c., &c., quite distress me. You know my system as I 
 learnt it from Bishop Jebb. I do not oppose Dissenters by 
 disputations and wrangling, but I seek to exhibit to the 
 world the Church in her beauty ; let the services of the 
 Church be properly performed, and right-minded people 
 will soon learn to love her. But here, all that is thought of 
 is preaching ; partly, without doubt, because the church is 
 so arranged that to perform the services well and properly 
 is almost impossible ; tlien among the curates, sexton, 
 clerk, &c., there has been a system of doing as little as 
 possible. Here I have been obliged to act contrary to my 
 nature, and to be a stern reformer ; though, as my wish 
 always is to give as little offence as possible, I think I have 
 not made enemies. The morning and evening services 
 have been neglected on the week day, i.e. the curates 
 have attended, but finding no congregation, have declined 
 what they call 'reading prayers.' This I have met by 
 ordering the sexton to make a congregation, even if he 
 have to pay people for attending, so that now there can be 
 no shuffling ; and to bring the thing into repute, I have 
 not only attended daily, which is a blessing and comfort, 
 but performed the service myself. So likewise baptisms, 
 funerals, have all been most slovenly performed ; I have 
 laid it down as a rule that the convenience, not of the
 
 4o6 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1837 
 
 clergy, but of the public, shall be considered in every 
 instance. I am much annoyed on Sundays by persons 
 coming to hear me preach ; but they will soon find out that 
 I am not that most detestable of all characters, a popular 
 preacher. And then I shall get my regular flock around 
 me, and I am longing to preach a course of sermons on 
 the Liturgy, which will, I think, surprise the Leedites, as 
 they imagine that there can be only two subjects for 
 sermons. Justification and Sanctification. The real fact is, 
 that the established religion in Leeds is Methodism, and 
 it is Methodism that all the most pious among the Church- 
 men unconsciously talk. If you ask a poor person the 
 ground of his hope, he will immediately say that he feels 
 that he is saved, however great a sinner he may be ; so 
 that you see I have much to contend with. Last night, 
 the teachers of the Sunday schools (Sabbath schools, as 
 they rejoice to call them) met together to deliver to me 
 a congratulatory address. Delicia and Mrs. Johnstone 
 went with me, and we were all highly disgusted (the ladies 
 more than myself, for they are more unused to it) at the 
 presumption and spiritual pride, as well as impertinence of 
 the leading teachers, not the whole body. Meek and gentle 
 Mrs. Johnstone seems quite roused about it. They pro- 
 posed forming themselves into a society, to meet every 
 month ; to begin every meeting with prayer and praise ; 
 upon which, being up to their tricks, I immediately said 
 that I highly approved of their design, and that, as they 
 were Churchmen, I would give them the greatest of all 
 possible pleasures ; they should come to church, attend 
 evening service at seven o'clock, when I would preach 
 to them, and they should afterwards meet in the vestry. 
 It then came out that they had been accustomed to as- 
 semble for extempore prayer, which they wished to be 
 continued ; upon which I suggested that those who wished 
 to be Churchmen would of course prefer the privilege of 
 the Church prayers. When they begged me to pray, out I 
 brought my praycrbook, and went through the Litany, 
 which seemed deeply to impress the majority, and having
 
 i837 Letters, 1837. 407 
 
 begun with one of Wesley's hymns, they ended with the 
 hundredth psalm, I having evidently succeeded in raising 
 a Church spirit among the majority, Mrs. Johnstone was 
 present at the address of the Coventry teachers, and was 
 much struck with the difference of the spirit between the 
 two parties ; however, I hope by God's blessing to remedy 
 all this. I shall begin to catechise in church (D.v.) the 
 first Sunday in August. I have been much worked lately 
 with committees and public meetings ; on Monday I had 
 to make two eloquent speeches ; one on an address to the 
 Queen, when I applied to her the words of Shakspeare 
 (Archbishop Cranmer) to Queen Elizabeth, 'Truth shall 
 nurse, holy and heavenly thoughts still counsel her,' &c.; 
 the other on raising a subscription for the poor. I make 
 a point of going everywhere and doing everything, as it is 
 important at first to show what one can do ; afterwards we 
 may rest on our oars. On Wednesday I am to preside at 
 a floral show. The worst of it is, that I cannot preach 
 here ; I know that there is no one in church who can have 
 a thought in sympathy, that even my very expressions are 
 not understood, and I do not 5nd the spirit in me ; this is 
 a fault, and must be remedied by prayer. Love to your 
 wife, to great E. and little E. ; my lady is very busy 
 a-furnishing. 
 
 Your devoted Friend. 
 
 To W. P. Wood, Esq. — Cathedral Choirs — Accession of 
 MctJiodists. 
 
 Leeds: August 1837. 
 
 .... I perfectly agree with you in your regrets at the 
 carelessness of our English choirs. The fact is, that chant- 
 ing and all old Catholic practices have only been tolerated 
 in England, the majority of our people being ultra-Protes- 
 tants. I have always wished that a body of the laity 
 would come forward with a remonstrance to the ecclesias- 
 tical commissioners, reminding them that the interest of
 
 4o8 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1837 
 
 the laity ought to be attended to in their arrangements ; 
 and since they will re-arrange the cathedrals, that the 
 income of one stall at least should be appropriated in each 
 cathedral to increase the efficiency of the choirs. . . . You 
 will be delighted to hear that my success here already 
 exceeds my most sanguine expectations. Churchmen have 
 hitherto been accustomed to think the Church bad enough, 
 but not too bad for them as Tories to belong to it. They 
 seem quite delighted to hear me prove that the Church 
 is absolutely excellent. My course of sermons on the 
 Church and Liturgy is received enthusiastically; and — glory 
 be to God ! — my most earnest prayer, it seems, is likely to 
 be granted, for this morning I received an intimation that 
 some of the leading Methodists, convinced by what I have 
 said, are desirous of leaving their society and of acting 
 under me on Church principles. If I can but enlist their 
 Methodism, their godly enthusiasm, in the right cause ! 
 I have offered to meet them with rapture. It is a great 
 advantage to be so thoroughly grounded in my principles 
 as I am, for I know exactly how far to concede and where 
 to stop. I have thorough confidence in myself on these 
 points. 
 
 To the Rev. T. H. Tragett — Settling at Leeds. 
 
 August 21, 1837. 
 
 My dear Tragett, . I . . We have here a large, airy, 
 comfortable, delightful house. I could not wish for a better ; 
 it is situated in the best part of the town, and will reconcile 
 us, if anything can, to a town residence. Furnishing goes 
 on very slowly. You can easily imagine the higgling and 
 haggling and bargaining which is constantly going on. Mrs. 
 Hook and Mrs. Johnstone have found out all the cheap 
 shops, and if in the morning they manage to have saved a 
 penny, you cannot imagine what pleasant companions they 
 are in the evening. As to religion, the traditional or 
 established religion in Leeds is Methodism ; and conse-
 
 iS37 Letters, 1837. 409 
 
 quently, as is natural, since we breathe a Methodistic 
 atmosphere, everything has a Methodistic tendency. A 
 pious Churchman here means a person who Hkes an estab- 
 lishment, and consequently supports the Church ; but 
 then the Church is not sufficient to supply his wants ; so 
 that he probably institutes two or three prayer-meetings in 
 some large house or warehouse on the week-days, where 
 he can indulge in extemporaneous prayer and Methodistic 
 rant. Nor do the people venture to entertain a notion that 
 the Church is right; their mode of defence is to show that 
 it is not so very wrong that it is sinful to belong to it ; they 
 do therefore belong to it, looking forward to the day when 
 it will be reformed, i.e. brought down to the state of some 
 Methodistic sect. Even many of the clergy, without know- 
 ing it, shape their doctrines and style of preaching accord- 
 ing to the Methodistic system ; and those who are not 
 humdrum, labour not to instruct, but to excite. Then I 
 have, to meet all this, a dirty, ugly hole of a church, in 
 which it is impossible to perform divine service properly ; 
 the chancel for example, being formed into an almost dis- 
 tinct church, and the body of the church being arranged to 
 look as near as possible like a conventicle ; which same 
 ugly old church is located in the very St, Giles's of Leeds, 
 I am now preparing a plan for pulling the church half 
 down, and rebuilding it ; but this will cost between three 
 and four thousand pounds, and I fear to start the subscrip- 
 tion now while trade is so bad. I am stirring up the clergy 
 by insisting upon the strictest rubrical observance in all 
 the occasional services — baptisms, marriages, and funerals. 
 Nobody here seems to have a notion that baptism is any- 
 thing more than a form of registration ; I think it my duty 
 therefore to have it always administered with peculiar 
 solemnity. They do stare sometimes when I tell them that 
 before administering the Sacrament, I require them to 
 attend the prayers of the Church, and pray with me : they 
 think by the Sacrament I must needs mean the Lord's 
 Supper.
 
 4IO Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1837 
 
 Visit to the Archbishop of York {Harcourf). 
 
 Bishopthorpe Palace : October 27, 1837. 
 
 My dearest Mother, — Although I am but a naughty- 
 boy touching our correspondence when I am, as I generally 
 am, overwhelmed with business, yet you must do me the jus- 
 tice to admit that whenever I have leisure I am accustomed 
 to bestow my tediousness upon you. I have now nothing 
 very particular to say, further than to tell you that the kind- 
 ness I experience in this house is beyond all description 
 great. The condescension and kindness of the dear Arch- 
 bishop is to me an honour and a pleasure ; he talks with 
 me every morning from breakfast to luncheon, and I sit 
 by him on the sofa all the evening. He asked me yester- 
 day whether I had ever a relation at Westminster, and 
 when I told him of my father, he said that when he was 
 Subdean of Christ Church, and went as an examiner to 
 Westminster, he remembered seeing some funny figures 
 painted on the wall, and they said, ' Those are some of 
 Hook's doings.' This is a most extraordinary memory. He 
 must mean my father, because he said afterwards, he must 
 have been contemporary with Greville Howard. The only 
 persons staying here besides the family have been Lord 
 
 and Lady D . Lady D begged to be introduced 
 
 to me, and is coming here with Lord to-day. Miss 
 
 Harcourt says Lady is very anxious to see some- 
 thing of me, and I have been asked to remain here the 
 rest of the week ; but I have declined, as I have much to 
 do at home. The odd thing is, that whenever I come here 
 I am always treated as the great man, and am directed to 
 hand out the great lady, next to the Archbishop. This, as 
 you may imagine, is very different from what I have been 
 accustomed to, and I feci terribly shy ; I can get on with 
 the Archbishop admirably, but the ladies make me shock- 
 ingly nervous. Lady Wenlock asked to be introduced to 
 me yesterday, and Lord Ashley (whom I do not know, and
 
 1837 Letters, 1837. 411 
 
 who, I should think, was much opposed to me) asked Miss 
 Harcourt immediately whether they had seen anything of 
 Bishop Hook. ' I always call him Bishop Hook,' he said, 
 ' and I hope he will be such soon.' He left a message for 
 me, stating that he should have spent a day with me at 
 Leeds, if he could have delayed his journey. You will be 
 amused with this gossip, and therefore I write it ; but you 
 must not think it will make mc worldly. I never enjoy my- 
 self as I do when engaged in my parish duties ; and, on the 
 other side, the detestation with which I am regarded by 
 the Peculiars, is not to be described ; wherever I go they 
 preach to their people, and warn them, at the peril of their 
 souls, not to come near me. 
 
 To IV. P. Wood, Esq.— Hard Work— The Oxford School. 
 
 Leeds: November 13, 1837. 
 
 My dearest Friend, — Although every moment of my 
 time is occupied, I must write a line to thank you for your 
 letter, and to thank you also for having thought of me 
 when you were in foreign parts. I cannot tell you how 
 much I miss the advantage of that correspondence with 
 you, which has been the blessing of my life ; from which I 
 have perhaps derived more of benefit than from any other 
 thing whatever. But I now have to preach four times a 
 week : twice on Sundays, once on Wednesdays at Mr. R. 
 Hall's school, which I have had licensed, and on Friday 
 evenings at church. This, with constant interruptions— 
 everybody exhorting me not to overwork myself, but 
 everybody thinking that his own particular business ought 
 to be made an exception to the general rule he would lay 
 down — gives me much occupation. I have sent you an 
 ' Intelligencer,' which will gladden your heart ; but you 
 must not suppose that all things are going on smoothly. 
 As to the success which seems to have attended me 
 hitherto, it humbles me to the dust ; it seems as if God 
 intended to use me as an instrument of good, while I am
 
 412 Life of Walter Farqtthar Hook. 1837 
 
 horribly afraid that I may be a Balaam, that my heart is 
 not so completely converted as it ought to be. This feeling 
 has depressed me ever since the meeting, but I had much 
 profitable prayer yesterday, and was in tears during the 
 greater part of the morning service. I certainly do not 
 find my progress what I wish, and T am dreadfully afraid 
 of being myself a castaway ; and yet on one grand point — 
 temper — the progress of grace has been such as to make 
 me humbly hope that the great work is going on in me. 
 I agree with much that you say about my Oxford friends ; 
 they are certainly the most injudicious of mortal men. 
 Palmer, you know, has long cut the connexion with them. 
 I am afraid they will upset the coach, they are such very 
 Jehus. What you say about ceremonies meets my view, 
 only that I should wish to see many ceremonies gradually 
 and imperceptibly restored. The Oxford school system is 
 decidedly bad, but you have only looked on one side of 
 the question, and do not perceive their principle, which 
 must be taken into consideration when forming a judgment. 
 We are on the eve of a new controversy with the papists, 
 who are breaking up new ground ; they do not now insist 
 on image worship, worship of saints, &c., &c., as necessary 
 doctrines ; they say it is only a part of the discipline of 
 the Church to which individuals are at liberty to object if 
 they will. This system of explaining away the obnoxious 
 parts of Romanism was invented by Bossuet, and is carried 
 out by Wiseman. They then say their worship, their 
 mode of propounding doctrines, their ecclesiastical lan- 
 guage, and their ceremonies are much nearer to what we 
 read of in the primitive times as the practice of the 
 Universal Church than those of the English Church. Surely 
 then, they argue, you had better be with us ; we will not 
 compel you to believe more than you now do, but you will 
 be nearer the primitive model. You are not aware how 
 great a weight this has with many people. I know it, 
 because I have now under my tuition two of the daughters 
 of my neighbour, Mr. Newton, the celebrated Methodist 
 preacher, who are resolute to go over to Popery ; their
 
 iS37 Letters, 1837. 413 
 
 feeling is what I have described, and it is the case with 
 others. Now the Oxford school say (and I agree with 
 them) that all this is owing to our having, ev^er since Crom- 
 well's time, endeavoured to assimilate both our mode of 
 stating our doctrines and our forms with tJie conventicle, 
 with ultra-Protestants. Work the Church of England, they 
 say, as she ought to be worked, attend to her real instruc- 
 tions as to ceremonies, state your doctrines, e.g. Regenera- 
 tion, as she states them in her formularies, and you rob 
 the papist of this argument Where I disagree with them 
 is in the abruptness of their proceedings, and their dis- 
 regard of weaker brethren ; they act really from a dread 
 of Popery, but seeing all its strong points, against which 
 ultra-Protestants rather declaim than argue. It is time 
 for a committee, and I must conclude. Our love to your 
 good wife. 
 
 Yours devotedly. 
 
 From the Rev. Hugh James Rose. 
 
 Addington Park : December i8, 1837. 
 
 My dear Friend, .... I cannot say how much your 
 account of Leeds and your own proceedings interested me, 
 nor how thankful I am that it has pleased God's Providence 
 to raise up such a powerful instrument of good in so im- 
 portant a place. I have long maintained that if the richer 
 manufacturing laity are taught their duty to the souls of 
 those whose bodies they use as machines for making money, 
 and in consequence (for I believe fully that it would be a 
 consequence) they build churches, and the clergy then use 
 the opportunity, the manufacturing districts may become 
 towers of strength for the Church. Till quite lately, no 
 attempts have been made to ascertain these its great points ; 
 you will go far to have them ascertained, for it is not 
 merely directly that you will operate ; the impression made 
 at Leeds will be carried far and wide. May it please God 
 to preserve and prosper you ! The principles on which you 
 go will at first gain attention by their entire novelty, and
 
 414 L^f^ of Walter FarqiLhar Hook. 1837 
 
 then, we may believe and trust, will hold it by their truth. 
 Within the last ten years they have revived wonderfully, 
 and have made their way. I deeply regret that some of 
 their most powerful and valued advocates will put weapons 
 into their opponents' hands, and thus render the progress 
 less sure and less rapid : for example, they, in that most 
 learned and useful tract on the Breviary, give a service for 
 Bishop Ken ; it could not be a matter of principle to do 
 so, for at best it is an illustration of what had been said ; 
 and of course the cry at once was, ' Oh, here is canonisation ! ' 
 &c., &c. This is really building up walls on purpose to 
 knock one's head against, and I am really often inclined to 
 believe that Newman goes on Luther's principle about his 
 marriage : ' I did not wish to marry ; I was not in love, but 
 I wished to drive the papists mad.' Again, the handling 
 matters of detail as to uniformity of practice just now, is 
 another most inexpedient way of proceeding. We have 
 certain great notions to inculcate — the Church, the Sacra- 
 ments, the Apostolical Succession. Let us be content with 
 attending to these now ; when these are generally accepted, 
 they will bring forward their fruits in due season of humble, 
 docile, obedient minds, anxious to be guided and directed, 
 and then a sufficient uniformity will follow ; to dwell on it 
 now is only to give the adversary occasion, and thereby to 
 endanger the acceptance of those vital principles and 
 doctrines to which I allude. This our friends will not see, 
 but to all such representations they only answer that this 
 is expediency, humbug, and is the natural and necessary 
 result of living in London, a soil in which they hold that 
 all principle perishes. Indeed, I have my doubts whether 
 they do not think that all commerce with mankind (i.e. 
 reducing principles to practice) is destructive, and that the 
 article cannot be had genuine except in a college (.? whether 
 even a college at Cambridge would do). I grieve for this, 
 knowing the value of the men, and their power, their zeal, 
 their excellence. 
 
 Believe me, affectionately yours, 
 
 H. J. Rose.
 
 1838 Conservative Banquet. 415 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 PART I. : PUBLIC LIFE FROM 1 838 TO 184O. 
 
 It is proposed in the first part of this chapter to 
 sketch what may be termed the pubHc Hfe of the 
 Vicar during the first three years of his ministry, 
 including under this head his speeches, pubHshed 
 sermons, and pamphlets. The second part will 
 contain an account of his parochial w^ork during the 
 same period. 
 
 In April of the year 1838 a Conservative banquet 
 on a very large scale was held in Leeds. The short- 
 lived administration of Sir Robert Peel in 1835 had 
 been beaten on a resolution moved by Lord John 
 Russell, ' That the House should resolve itself into a 
 committee of the whole House to consider the state 
 of the Established Church in Ireland, with the view 
 of applying any of its surplus revenues, not required 
 for the spiritual care of its members, to the general 
 education of all classes of the people, without dis- 
 tinction of religious persuasion.' The majority, 
 however, against Sir Robert Peel's Government on 
 this motion had not been more than thirty-three in 
 a very full house. The Melbourne administration 
 was weak, and was forced to purchase stability by 
 a closer alliance than many of its supporters relished 
 with the Irish Roman Catholic leader O'Connell 
 and his party — 'O'Connell and his tail,' as they were
 
 4i6 Life of Walter Fm^qtihar Hook. 1838- 
 
 vulgarly called. Churchmen were filled with appre- 
 hension also lest the Government should be tempted 
 to buy the support of the Socialists in England, by 
 taking away some of the property of the Church for 
 the purposes of national education on secular 
 principles. 
 
 On all accounts, therefore, the Conservative 
 party deemed it of the utmost importance to rally 
 their forces with energy and promptness. On the 
 one hand there was a reasonable prospect of their 
 succeeding, by a determined and united effort, in 
 overthrowing the Liberal Government ; on the other 
 the continuance of that administration in power was, 
 in their judgment, fraught with peculiar perils to the 
 Constitution both in Church and State. The hopes 
 of their party centred in Sir Robert Peel. They 
 trusted that he might succeed in uniting the more 
 moderate reformers with those members of the Tory 
 party who, like himself, were prepared, however 
 reluctantly, to concede changes which the spirit of 
 the age seemed to demand ; to soften and conciliate 
 adversaries by a timely surrender, short of sacrificing 
 principle, instead of exasperating them by a stub- 
 born and ineffectual resistance. 
 
 The Vicar of Leeds was one of those who con- 
 sidered that the best chance of averting calamity 
 from the Church at this crisis lay in the return of 
 Sir Robert Peel to power. He therefore departed 
 for once from his general rule of holding aloof 
 from all political demonstrations. He attended the 
 banquet in Leeds, and made one of the most 
 eloquent and effective speeches, lasting nearly an 
 hour, which he ever delivered.
 
 -1840 Conservative Banquet. 417 
 
 Rarely has a larger festival of the kind taken 
 place in any of the great provincial towns of 
 England. A special pavilion, designed by Mr. 
 Chantrell, was erected for the occasion on a plot of 
 ground near Park Row. The dining saloon was 
 120 feet long, by 80 broad. Nine tables, each 99 
 feet long, in the body of the hall, and a cross table 
 65 feet long at the top, accommodated 1,200 guests, 
 whilst 500 ladies in the gallery, and 200 servants, 
 made up a total of nearly 2,000 persons present. 
 
 The Chairman was Mr. William Beckett ; and 
 among the principal speakers were Sir George 
 Sinclair, Lord Wharncliffe, Lord Maidstone, and 
 Sir Francis Burdett, who indeed was honoured as 
 the most distinguished guest of the evening, occupy- 
 ing a place on the right of the Chairman, next to 
 Lord Wharncliffe. Immediately below Sir Francis 
 sat Sir George Sinclair, and next to him the Vicar. 
 
 The health of the Vicar and clergy of Leeds was 
 proposed, about the middle of the evening, by the 
 Hon. Philip Savile, and was drunk with four times 
 four amidst tremendous cheering, which was renewed 
 and lasted for a long time when the Vicar rose to 
 return thanks. * Gentlemen,' he began, ' I rejoice 
 to hear those shouts, for they have been raised not 
 as an idle compliment to the clergy of Leeds — they 
 are not intended as a compliment to me individually 
 — they are intended — are they not ? — to attest your 
 zeal, your loyalty, your devotion to the cause of the 
 Church. I see before me many familiar faces, many 
 who are accustomed to attend my ministry. To 
 them I have had other opportunities of stating the 
 spiritual claims of the Church, the spiritual advan- 
 voL. I. E E
 
 4 1 8 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1838- 
 
 tages, the spiritual privileges of belonging to the 
 Church. But I stand before you this day not as 
 your pastor, but as one of your fellow subjects come 
 here to declare my adhesion to the Conservative 
 cause — my determination to unite with you, by 
 every lawful means and measure, to uphold and 
 maintain those rights and privileges to which as 
 an Englishman I am entitled. To the rights and 
 privileges of an Englishman, to the blessing of 
 living under a limited monarchy, of living under 
 the most glorious constitution ever devised by the 
 wisdom of man (blessed be the providence and 
 grace of God) — to those rights and privileges I was 
 born. And when I was ordained to the ministry 
 by the hands of the Bishop, those rights and privi- 
 leges I did not renounce ; and not having renounced 
 them, I am justified in coming forward to state that 
 I will defend them by every lawful means, when I 
 think they are in danger, as I now think they are 
 in danger. To the rights and privileges of a Roman 
 citizen St. Paul was born, and he did not think it 
 inconsistent with his duty as an Apostle of Christ 
 to defend them upon fitting occasions. Therefore 
 I am not to be daunted by that clamour which is 
 sometimes raised against the clergy when they dare 
 to meet their lay brethren for a political object. I 
 have never been a busy politician because I had 
 neither time nor inclination. Once and only once 
 in my life before this have I attended a political 
 dinner ; but I have abstained, not because I had no 
 right to be present, but because I thought my at- 
 tendance might interfere with my ministerial useful- 
 ness — a regard for which is my first and primary
 
 -1840 speech of the Vicar. 419 
 
 duty. And, gentlemen, I am present this day at 
 this glorious, this splendid festival, because I verily 
 believe that my absence would have interfered with 
 my ministerial usefulness. I think that you would 
 have considered your Vicar as wanting in his duty, 
 if in this cause he had shown himself afraid to come 
 before you from any dread of the pitiless pelting of 
 a profligate Whig press — a press which seems to act 
 upon the assumption that a Popish priest can do 
 no wrong, and a Protestant clergyman can do no 
 good.' 
 
 He then proceeded to dilate upon the danger 
 that a Government which had depressed the 
 Church and favoured the Roman Catholics in 
 Ireland would depress the Church in England, not 
 indeed of deliberate purpose, but from the exigencies 
 of their situation, by weakly yielding to the counsels 
 of the Secularists and the Dissenters on the subject 
 of education. 
 
 ' The attempt ' he said * to establish Infidelity in 
 this country is proceeding thus. The patrons and 
 propagators of Infidelity are going throughout the 
 length and breadth of the land. They are exciting, 
 not, observe me, the pious Dissenters, for the pious 
 Dissenters on this question are with the Churchmen, 
 but the political Dissenters — they are stirring them 
 up by their speeches, by their penny cyclopaedias, 
 by their twopenny trash, by their semi-official publi- 
 cations, to demand the establishment of some system 
 of secular education to be paid for by the country, 
 to be conducted by commissioners appointed by the 
 Government. Now, gentlemen, the education of 
 the people of this country is, at the present time, 
 
 £ £ 2
 
 420 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 183S- 
 
 -conducted thus. In the first place the Church 
 undertakes the education of the people. This in 
 remote villages and country places is done almost 
 entirely by the Church. Of course the system of 
 education conducted by the Church is based upon 
 religion — that religion being the religion of the 
 Bible, the Prayer Book, and the Catechism. In our 
 larger towns, however, a very respectable body of 
 men object to the education we give, because they 
 object to our religion. They, therefore, set up 
 rival schools and conduct the education of a part of 
 the people themselves. They think we are wrong, 
 and we think they are wrong, but still we are 
 united. The pious Churchman and the pious Dis- 
 senter are united in considering that the education 
 of an immortal being — a being who is to be educated 
 not merely for time but for eternity — must be based 
 upon religion ; and happy am I to know that the 
 religious feeling of this religious community has 
 been roused upon the subject. The advocates for 
 the secular system of education say "No, there shall 
 be a system of secular education, not based upon 
 religion, and then, after that, the people may send 
 their children for religious instruction where they 
 please." I should like to know what time the 
 children of the poor would have to give to this 
 double system of education, as every person who 
 has been at all employed in education is well aware 
 that two-thirds of the children sent to our schools 
 are sent there not for the sake of reliofious instruction 
 but for the sake of the general information we give, 
 the price we demand being that they shall also re- 
 ceive religious instruction. So that if this secular
 
 -i84o Speech of the Vicar. 421 
 
 system be established, two-thirds of the children will 
 be brought up without any religious instruction, with- 
 out any knowledge of their Saviour and their God. 
 
 * I say I rejoice to find that attention has been 
 called to this subject, and that ministers have said 
 that they will not give their sanction to any education 
 that is not based upon religion. But judging of 
 their past conduct, we have a right to ask : What do 
 you mean by religious instruction } Do they mean 
 scriptural education ? Yes, some of them reply. 
 Well, but we may ask what kind of scriptural educa- 
 tion ? Do you mean such as that which is given in 
 Ireland ? Now the scriptural education given in 
 Ireland is not the whole Bible, but selections from 
 the Bible. It is very true that good selections may 
 be made from the Bible, containing every leading 
 doctrine of our religion, but if we go to Ireland we 
 find that the leading doctrines are excluded from 
 their extracts, so that their system of religious 
 teaching is very much like an orange with the juice 
 squeezed out of it. But let that pass ; and the 
 question may again be asked. What do you mean by 
 religion ? Is it the religion of the Church of England ? 
 No ; because, if that were so, the present system 
 would require no alteration, and that would exclude 
 the Dissenters. Is it the religion based upon 
 Protestantism ? No ; because that would exclude 
 the Papists. Well then, let us ask, do you mean 
 Christian principles ? No ; that would exclude the 
 Deists. So then their exclusive system of educa- 
 tion would include no religion at all' After observ- 
 ing that the Government had been deterred from 
 brincrinsf forward a scheme of education based on
 
 42 2 Life of Walter Fa^'quhar Hook. 1838- 
 
 the Prussian plan, on account of the large sum of 
 money, about 300,000/., for which they would have 
 to ask Parliament, he proceeded, * The Government, 
 then, not finding themselves strong enough to ask 
 for such a sum, have laid aside their project for the 
 present, and their friends, in their writings and cheap 
 publications, are pointing out a species of property 
 which they think may be made available for their 
 object ; that is, the Church property. They ask for 
 a portion of the Church's property for the purposes 
 of their secular education. They reason thus : they 
 say they intend the education of the people — for the 
 education of the people, indeed, in part they do 
 intend ; but, as we all know, only in part. The 
 Church, we know, was established for the sanctifica- 
 tion of the people, and education is only one branch of 
 that work. But they shirk that part of the question ; 
 and they say that the whole of the people will not 
 be educated by the Church, and therefore they must 
 take a part of the property of the Church, as they 
 will compel the people to be educated in their way. 
 And they say that the State may at any time take 
 away the property of the Church, because it was 
 originally given to her by the State. Now if I were 
 to meet a man in the street to-day, and were to give 
 him half-a-crown, am I, if I meet him to-morrow, to 
 take it back, and say I have found some one more 
 worthy ? But I deny their premisses altogether. 
 When did the State give property to the Church ? 
 Where is the Act of Parliament by which it was 
 given ? * 
 
 He then proceeded very lucidly to demonstrate 
 by reference to facts, well known to every student
 
 -1840 speech of the Vicar. 423 
 
 of history, the origin of ecclesiastical endowments in 
 the gifts of individual benefactors, and also to expose 
 the fallacy, more common then than it is now, of 
 supposing that at the time of the Reformation this 
 property was taken from one Church and handed 
 over to another. 
 
 He concluded his speech as he had begun, by 
 warning his hearers against such a system of secular 
 education as must lead to Infidelity. * But, gentle- 
 men,' he said, ' I have not much fear : I had not 
 much fear when I came into the room, and after the 
 able speeches we have heard this evening from our 
 senators, my fears are fewer. ... It cannot be very 
 long before he is called to the head of affairs — the 
 pilot admitted by all persons to be the pilot best 
 qualified to weather the storm — Sir Robert Peel. 
 He is our leader : he must be our leader : and he is 
 worthy to be our leader. Of his learning the schools 
 of Oxford are witness ; his piety is attested by his 
 unimpeachable morality and his regular attendance 
 on the ordinances of religion. By his wisdom, his 
 statesman-like qualities, his grasp of mind, all 
 Europe has been astonished. He is too wealthy to 
 desire office for the mere coming of Quarter Day. 
 He is too great a patriot to desire it for anything 
 but for his country's welfare. He was great as a 
 minister, and in my humble judgment he has been 
 greater still in the ranks of the Opposition. When 
 he joins the ranks of the Opposition he seems to 
 have determined never, for any party purpose, to 
 violate a single constitutional principle, or to forget 
 his loyalty to his sovereign ; and from this position 
 he has not been driven by the jeers of taunting foes
 
 424 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1838- 
 
 or the exhortation of enthusiastic friends. He has 
 scorned to be the leader of a faction, that he might 
 become, as he will become, the leader of his country. 
 Under his guidance, supported as he will be by 
 Wellington, the hero of the age : by Stanley, second 
 only to himself; by the manly Graham, by our own 
 Beckett, by Lord Wharncliffe and all the Wortleys, 
 — by Lord Maidstone and all the youthful senators ; 
 and though last, not least in our estimation, by the 
 worthy baronet who has honoured us this day by 
 his company — under Sir Robert Peel's guidance, I 
 say, assisted by these, we cannot greatly fall : but 
 the Church and State will be upheld — which may 
 God Almighty of His mercy grant' 
 
 All the newspapers in their comments on this 
 festival concur in pronouncing the Vicar's speech 
 to have been the most striking of all which were 
 made that evening. None were comparable to it 
 in weightlness of matter, in sustained eloquence, and 
 in the musical voice and dignified manner of the 
 speaker. None elicited more frequent and enthu- 
 siastic applause from the assembly. I have made 
 rather copious extracts from it, not merely as illus- 
 trations of his powers of oratory, but as expressions 
 of his views on the subject of national education : 
 views from which he never departed in principle, 
 although the scheme proposed in his celebrated 
 pamphlet hereafter to be noticed, * How to Render 
 more Efficient the Education of the People,' was 
 erroneously Imagined by many to be inconsistent 
 with them. 
 
 The eulogy on Sir Robert Peel is a remarkable 
 expression of the admiration and respect which he
 
 -1840 ^ Hear the Church!* 425 
 
 entertained for that eminent statesman : an admira- 
 tion and respect greater than that which he ever 
 entertained for any pohtician, save for one of a yet 
 loftier and more comprehensive genius — WilHam 
 Ewart Gladstone. 
 
 In June of this year (1838) he preached at the 
 Chapel Royal, before the young Queen and her court, 
 the memorable sermon, 'Hear the Church!' It 
 deserves the epithet which I have applied to it, 
 because it excited much commotion at the time 
 in the political and fashionable world, and ran 
 through twenty-eight editions, in which about one 
 hundred thousand copies were sold. But in the 
 present day it is difficult to comprehend the sensation 
 which it produced (a proof how much the doctrine 
 it set forth has gained ground) ; and even then it 
 was astonishing to those who thoroughly understood 
 the sermon — to no one more than the author him- 
 self. It was an old sermon, originally composed 
 at Coventry as one of a series on the Gospel of 
 St. Matthew, and subsequently delivered at Leeds 
 and other places. A few alterations only were intro- 
 duced to adapt it to the occasion, and the sermon 
 itself was selected because he thought it would 
 answer the aim which he had in view as well as if 
 he had written a new one. That aim simply was 
 to lay before the young sovereign the claims, the 
 character, and the privileges of the Church of which, 
 in the providence of God, she had been called to be 
 the temporal Head. Surrounded as she was at that 
 time by ministers whose ignorance of the history of 
 the Church, and misconceptions of its true principles 
 and constitution might, as he feared, prejudice her
 
 426 Life of Walter Farqtchar Hook. 1838- 
 
 mind with fatal errors on the subject, he conceived 
 it to be his duty, so far as in him lay, to prejudice 
 her mind in favour of the truth. 
 
 He began by stating that he was going to speak 
 of the Church not as a mere National Establishment, 
 but in itself — as a religious community — intrinsically 
 independent of the State : in other words, that he 
 was about to treat of the Church not in its political, 
 but purely in its religious aspect. After pointing 
 out that the mere fact of establishment by civil 
 government could not in itself constitute the claim 
 of any form of religion to our obedience, since on 
 that principle we should have to become Presby- 
 terians in Scotland and Holland, Papists in Italy 
 and France, and Mohammedans in Turkey ; after 
 demonstratinor on the other hand that the dissolution 
 of the tie between the Church and State, though it 
 would be highly injurious to the State, and probably 
 destructive of the monarchy, could not vitally impair 
 the energies of the Church — a fact of which the 
 Church in America was a standing witness — he 
 proceeded to indicate the real claims of the Church 
 to the allegiance of Englishmen, by answering the 
 question. When and by whom was this Society which 
 we call the Church instituted ? 
 
 It would be needless in the present day, even 
 if the sermon were not accessible to all who may 
 choose to refer to it, to follow the preacher over 
 well-known ground. That the Church of England 
 was not founded but reformed in the sixteenth 
 century ; that the Roman Catholics in England are 
 descended from a party who, in the reign of Eliza- 
 beth, quitted the Church because they thought it was
 
 -1840 ^ Hear tJu Church!' 427 
 
 reformed too far, just as the Protestant Dissenters 
 quitted it because they thought it was not reformed 
 far enough ; that the Bishops of the English Church 
 trace their origin by a continuous succession back 
 to the Apostles, and hence claim to derive their 
 authority from Christ Himself — these are historical 
 facts which are now familiar to most well-educated 
 persons, facts which no one who pretends to a 
 moderate acquaintance with history can venture to 
 dispute, whatever his opinion respecting their doc- 
 trinal significance may be. They were, however, 
 startlincr to some who heard them for the first time 
 as they were announced by the preacher in the 
 Chapel Royal. They were disbelieved or mis- 
 understood ; by many they were misrepresented 
 as defiant assertions, by an ecclesiatical bigot, of 
 exacting and overweening claims on the part of the 
 Church ; claims which, if pushed to extremity, might 
 be dangerous to the civil constitution. The conse- 
 quence was that the sermon became invested with 
 an exaggerated importance never expected, still less 
 intended, by the preacher. The unnecessary agita- 
 tion, however, respecting it had the good effect of 
 leading thousands to read the sermon who otherwise 
 would never have even heard of it, and thus helped 
 to spread far and wide the truths which the writer 
 so earnestly desired to propagate. There are many 
 who can date from the perusal of that sermon an 
 increase in their attachment to the Church, or the 
 creation of an attachment never felt before. There 
 are many who can remember how, for the first time, 
 they perceived the bearing on personal religion of 
 right knowledge respecting the origin of the Church,
 
 428 Life of Walter'- Farquhar Hook. 1838- 
 
 when they read the words, * Let us ever remember 
 that the primary object for which the Church was 
 instituted by Christ, its Author and Finisher, and 
 for which the ApostoHcal succession of its ministers 
 was estabh'shed ; that the primary object for which, 
 through ages of persecution and ages of prosperity, 
 and ages of darkness and ages of corruption, and 
 ages of reformation and ages of latitudinarianism, 
 and now in an age of rebuke and blasphemy, now 
 when we have fallen on evil days and evil tongues 
 ■ — the primary object for which the Church has still 
 been preserved by a providential care, marvellous, if 
 not miraculous, in our eyes, was and is to convey 
 supernaturally the saving merits of the atoning blood 
 of the Lamb of God, and the sanctifying graces of 
 His Holy Spirit, to the believer's soul. In the 
 Church it is that the appointed means are to be 
 found by which that mysterious union with Christ is 
 promoted wherein our spiritual life consists : in Her 
 it is that the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity 
 abideth for ever, gradually to change the heart of 
 sinful man, and to make that flesh which He finds 
 stone ; gradually to prepare us for heaven while 
 our ascended Saviour is preparing heaven for us.' 
 
 Many, too, can remember how a spirit of zeal 
 was kindled within them as they read the burning 
 words with which the sermon ends. * Against the 
 Church the world seems at this time to be set in 
 array. To be a true and faithful member of the 
 Church requires no little moral courage. Basely to 
 pretend to belong to her, while designing mischief 
 against her In the heart — this is easy enough ; but 
 manfully to contend for her, because she is the
 
 -1840 * Hear the Church!'' 429 
 
 Church, a true Church, a pure Church, a holy 
 Church, this is difficult to those who court the praise 
 of men or fear the censure of the world. May the 
 great God of Heaven, may Christ, the great Bishop 
 and Shepherd of souls, who is over all things in the 
 Church, put it, my brethren, into your hearts and 
 minds to say and feel as I do, " As for me and my 
 house we will live in the Church, we will die in the 
 Church, and if need shall be, like our martyred 
 forefathers we will diey^r the Church." ' 
 
 Earnest and decided Churchmen of course re- 
 joiced in this clear and courageous vindication in 
 high places of the character of the Church. Letters 
 of congratulation and gratitude poured in from 
 all directions. Dr. Doane, the American Bishop of 
 New Jersey, wrote that he had long been following 
 the author with his eye and heart as the able and 
 fearless advocate of the principles to which his life 
 was pledged, that he secured with eagerness all his 
 publications as they came out, and he had been 
 so deeply impressed with this sermon that he had 
 printed it, and presented a copy to every clergyman 
 in his diocese, and to most of the leading laymen.' 
 
 Henry, Bishop of Exeter, said he had read it 
 with unmixed gratification, and ' I heartily thank 
 you,' he writes, ' for the fidelity as well as the ability 
 with which you have placed the important subject 
 before the mind of Her to whom of all others it is 
 of the highest consequence that the mighty truth 
 should be familiar.' He proceeds to say that he 
 had at first understood that her Majesty was dis- 
 pleased with the sermon, but had since learned, from 
 a quarter which could hardly be misinformed, that
 
 430 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1838- 
 
 this was not the case, but that she expressed herself 
 interested in the subject, and " seemed to feel it to 
 be 7iew as well as moinentous!^ * 
 
 The following letter to his wife shows how 
 completely unprepared the writer was for the com- 
 motion caused by his sermon. 
 
 10 Dean's Yard : June 20, 1838. 
 My dearest Love, .... It is quite astonishing what 
 a noise my poor sermon at the Chapel Royal has made ; 
 there were some thirty or forty peers unable to get in, and 
 there were all kinds of reports about what I said. Robert 
 heard someone say yesterday at Lady Wemyss's party, 
 that nothing is talked about but the duel (Lord C.'s about 
 Grisi) and the sermon. The Bishop of London, who was 
 present, was very kind ; he told me at the levee, (from which 
 I have just returned) that some persons about the Queen 
 wished to make out that it was political, and he had just 
 been sent for to give his opinion. He asserted that there 
 was not the slightest allusion to politics, unless it were 
 political to speak of the Church of England as a true 
 Church. The Duke of Wellington spoke to me at the 
 levee, and said he heard that I had preached a very fine 
 sermon last Sunday. The Archbishop of Canterbury 
 apologised for not having written to thank me for my Life 
 of Hobart, the preface to which he particularly liked. Sir 
 John Beckett is kindness itself; he introduced me to the 
 Duke. All this seems to me very strange, for I only 
 preached that old Leeds sermon which you remember. 
 They say at the Carlton, that the Queen was much affected, 
 and on returning home retired for about an hour ; if this 
 be true, one may hope that good has been done. 
 
 It will be seen also from this letter that the writer 
 was led to believe that no offence had been taken, 
 where certainly no offence was intended to be given. 
 Nevertheless a report got about that he had been
 
 -1840 Visit atio7i Sermon, 431 
 
 forbidden to preach in the Chapel Royal again. He 
 wrote to the ' Times ' to contradict the truth of the 
 report, adding- that he had not any reason to suppose 
 that her Majesty was otherwise than pleased with 
 the sermon. 
 
 In August 1838 he preached at the primary 
 visitation of Bishop Longley, held in Leeds ; taking 
 as his text Acts vii. 26, ' Sirs, ye are brethren : why 
 do ye wrong one to another ? ' The sermon was 
 entitled ' A Call to Union on the Principles of the 
 English Reformation.'^ Some of the leading Evan- 
 gelicals in Leeds and elsewhere, as well as those 
 journals which were the organs of the Evangelical 
 school, persisted in identifying him with the writers 
 of the Oxford Tracts, and further accused him and 
 them in common of being untrue to the principles 
 of the Reformation. Taking their stand upon the 
 celebrated, but obscure and much abused, saying of 
 Chillingworth, ' The Bible and the Bible only — the 
 religion of Protestants ' as the cardinal principle of 
 the Reformed Church, the assailants vehemently 
 denounced the Tract writers and the Vicar of Leeds, 
 on account of the deference which they paid to the 
 voice of the Church, as expressed in the writings 
 of the primitive Fathers, in the decrees of General 
 Councils, and in her ancient liturgies and creeds. 
 The aim of the Vicar in his ' Call to Union' was to 
 demonstrate that this appeal to antiquity was the 
 very principle upon which the English Reformation 
 was conducted, and that consequently a departure 
 from that principle was chargeable, not upon himself 
 or upon the Tract writers, but upon their opponents 
 
 ^ Printed in vol. i. of ' The Church and her Ordinances,' p. 90.
 
 432 Life of Walter Farqttliai' Hook. 183S- 
 
 He supported this argument by a great mass of his- 
 torical evidence, partly woven into the body of the 
 discourse, partly introduced into notes appended to 
 it, proving point by point how careful our Reformers 
 were, alike in doctrine, ritual, and formularies, to base 
 every part upon primitive models ; how earnestly 
 they deprecated on all occasions the supposition that 
 they were devising, or wished to devise, novelties — 
 or that they trusted to their private judgment. He 
 contended, therefore, that, however much members 
 of the Church might differ in opinions about 
 details, they ought to find a principle of union in 
 the Ritual, Liturgy, and Articles of the Church, 
 because in deferring to them respect would be 
 paid, not to the judgment merely of individuals 
 such as Cranmer, Ridley, or Parker, but to the 
 traditional doctrine of the Universal Church as 
 it existed in those days when the Church was sub- 
 stantially one, and a strict correspondence on all 
 vital matters was maintained between the several 
 branches of it. He earnestly exhorted all to bear 
 in mind that nothing could excuse the introduc- 
 tion of faction and discord into the Church. The 
 duty of every clergyman at least was plain ; if he 
 could not conscientiously conform to the teaching 
 and practice of the Church, he was free to withdraw ; 
 and, as an honest and honourable man, he was 
 bound to withdraw from her communion. * Every 
 conscientious English clergyman,' he said, * acts on 
 the principle that while Scripture, and Scripture 
 only, is his rule of faith, he is, in the interpretation 
 of Scripture, to defer to the Ritual, Liturgy, Articles, 
 and formularies of the Church of England ; he is to
 
 -1840 A Call to Union. 
 
 i-jj 
 
 promote the glory of God, peace upon earth, and 
 goodwill among men ; but to do so, not in the way 
 which he may imagine to be the wisest, but according 
 to the regulations, canons, rubrics, customs of his 
 Church. To these he is bound by vows the most 
 solemn to conform' — if he could not conform, let 
 him depart. * And where are we to look,' he con- 
 tinued, * for unity, if we find it not here ? And what 
 terms of reprobation can be sufficiently strong to 
 designate the conduct of those who, by causing 
 discord among brethren, in principle united, would 
 thereby make music for our enemies ? * The con- 
 cluding part of the sermon is pitched in the same 
 strain. * Remember that if the propagation of evan- 
 gelical truth be one portion of our duty, it is no less 
 our duty, by the sacrifice of all personal considera- 
 tions. ... to preserve " the unity of the Spirit in the 
 bond of peace." Remember that our enemies are 
 many and mighty ; the two extremes of Romanism 
 and ultra- Protestantism are banded together with 
 infidelity against us ; and if, like Samson's foxes, 
 they are pulling different ways, the brands which are 
 attached have one and the selfsame object — our 
 destruction. And is this a time to divide our house, 
 and to form parties and factions ? ' 
 
 An extract from one of the notes to this sermon 
 will present to the reader a clear view of his attitude 
 at that time towards the Tract writers. Havino- 
 pointed out that when Mr. Wilberforce, in his later 
 years, and some of the more moderate leaders of the 
 Evangelicals, encouraged a spirit of deference to the 
 authoritative decisions of the Church of Eneland. the 
 question then arose, What are Church principles f 
 VOL. I. F F
 
 434 ^if^ ^f Walter Farquhar Hook. 183S- 
 
 Is any party consistently acting upon them ? * At 
 such a time,' he proceeds, 'the celebrated Oxford 
 Tracts made their appearance. The reputed writers 
 of the Tracts were men of ardent piety, who had 
 been attached to the Evangelical school, and it 
 was among the younger men who had been educated 
 in that school that they created a strong sensation. 
 Hence, perhaps, the bitterness with which they are 
 assailed by some of the older partisans of that sec- 
 tion of the Church. To those who, like the present 
 writer, had been educated strictly on the principles 
 of the English Reformation, and belonged to the 
 old orthodox school, they brought forward nothing 
 new ; and though we may have demurred to some of 
 their opinions, and have thought that in some things 
 they were in an extreme, we rejoiced to see right 
 principles advocated in a manner so decided, and in a 
 spirit so truly Christian. Against some of the pious 
 opinions supported in these Tracts objections may oc- 
 casionally be raised, for perfect coincidence oi opinion 
 is not to be expected. I do not myself accord with all 
 the opinions expressed in them, or always admit the 
 deduction attempted to be drawn from the principles 
 on which we are agreed, I think, too, that while 
 manfully vindicating the principles of the English 
 Reformation, in their fear lest they should appear to 
 respect persons too highly, they did not appreciate 
 highly enough the character of some of our leading 
 Reformers, or make due allowance for the difficulties 
 in which they were placed.' At the same time he 
 expressed his conviction that the object of the 
 writers was * to imbue the public mind with those 
 Catholic principles by the maintenance of which the
 
 -1840 The Oxford Tracts. 435 
 
 English Reformation was gloriously distinguished. 
 This cannot be done unless on those principles 
 opinions are formed, and from them conclusions 
 drawn ; and at the very time that we may combat 
 a particular opinion, if we admit the truth of the 
 principle on which it is based we only confirm the prin- 
 ciple, and impress it more deeply on men's minds. 
 I am not one of those who would say, " Read the 
 Oxford Tracts, and take for granted every opinion 
 there expressed ; " but I am one of those who would 
 say, " Read and digest these Tracts well, and you 
 will have imbibed principles which will enable you 
 to judge of opinions." Their popularity will increase, 
 since their arguments are not answered or their 
 statements confuted : they are opposed simply by 
 railing. And those who judge of such things only 
 by second-hand reports and garbled quotations, and 
 anonymous misrepresentations in newspapers, will of 
 course rail on. May the day come when they may 
 be awakened to a sense of the danger of thus vio- 
 lating the golden rule of charity. In the meantime 
 the wise, the candid, those who are not the mere 
 partisans of religion, but really religious, will them- 
 selves read the Tracts ; and if they do read they will 
 commend. They may censure particular opinions, 
 but they will commend the whole.' 
 
 These remarks may have been partly due to a long 
 letter received from Dr. Pusey a short time before, in 
 which, after showing how seriously the intentions of 
 the Tract writers were misunderstood and maligned, 
 he entreated the Vicar to befriend them, as oppor- 
 tunities of so doing might occur. He had pointed 
 out in this letter that the Tracts did not profess to be 
 
 F F 1
 
 43 6 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1838- 
 
 tests of Catholicity, but only guides to It ; and as such 
 he hoped that the Vicar would be able to give them a 
 general support. * As for your being a disciple of us,' 
 he continued, * the thing is absurd. Newman said 
 that you had formed your views long before many 
 of the writers — long before myself, upon many points.' 
 But what more especially provoked him to make 
 this defence of the Tract writers was the indig- 
 nation which he felt at the violent denunciation which 
 had been lately flung at their productions (more 
 especially the Remains of Mr. Hurrell Froude) from 
 the university pulpit by Dr. Faussett, Margaret Pro- 
 fessor of Divinity, Oxford. He himself also was 
 suffering from similar treatment at the hands of 
 Evangelical preachers in Leeds and other parts 
 of the country. He pointed out in his sermon that 
 such conduct was a violation of the fifty-third Canon, 
 which directs * that if any preacher shall in the pulpit 
 purposely impugn or confute any doctrine delivered 
 by any other preacher, in the same church or In any 
 church near adjoining, without permission from the 
 Bishop, a complaint shall be made to the Bishop 
 by the aggrieved party, and the said preacher shall 
 not be allowed any more to occupy that place 
 which he hath once abused except he faithfully 
 promise to forbear all such matter of contention in 
 the Church, until the Bishop hath taken further 
 order therein.' And in a note he remarks : ' Of all 
 the glaring violations of this Canon none Is of 
 course so conspicuous as that which has been lately 
 exhibited by Dr. Faussett. . . . The present dis- 
 course is sufficient to show that I am not any 
 more than Dr. Faussett inclined to approve of Mr.
 
 -1840 Dr. Faussett^s Sermon. 437 
 
 Froude's Remains. I deeply, indeed, regret the 
 publication of that work without a protest on the 
 part of the editor against the author's many para- 
 doxical positions. With a kind heart, and glowing 
 sensibilities, Mr. Froude united a mind saturated 
 with learning, but from its very luxuriance pro- 
 ductive of weeds together with many flowers. 
 Though he always took an original, he sometimes 
 took a morbid, view of things, and while from his 
 writings all must derive much food for thought, 
 from many of his opinions the majority of his readers 
 will, like myself, dissent. But if, in contemplating 
 the evils inseparable from a great movement, he does 
 not sufficiently appreciate (and I think he does not) 
 the wisdom of our Reformation or the virtues of 
 many of our Reformers ; if, while condemning the 
 Romish, he censures the English, Church, we may 
 think him to be in error in these particulars without 
 condemning him wholesale. Still less ought those 
 persons to condemn him for not fully appreciating 
 our Reformation who consider the work of the 
 Reformers in retaining our present Baptismal Service 
 " a burthen hard to bear," and the service " an ab- 
 surdity which they do not believe in their hearts." 
 Had Dr. Faussett contented himself with writing 
 a pamphlet or a review, while we might have con- 
 sidered him incompetent to sit in judgment on such 
 a mind as Mr. Froude's, we should have had no 
 cause of complaint. But cause of complaint the 
 Church has when he makes one work a pretext for 
 attacking certain of his clerical brethren whose 
 learning he may be unable to appreciate, but whose 
 piety and zeal he would do well to imitate. ... If
 
 438 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1838- 
 
 Dr. Faussett has a right on one Sunday to attack 
 his brethren in the ministry, than whom he is not 
 himself one whit more infallible, the brethren thus 
 attacked might Sunday after Sunday ascend the 
 pulpit and assail Dr. Faussett and his projected new 
 Oxford school of Divinity. If, with equal indis- 
 cretion and no greater regard for the regulations of 
 the Church, they had done so — if, deducing their own 
 conclusions from Dr. Faussett's manifest opposition 
 to fastings and mortifications of the flesh, they had 
 headed their discourses with the taking title " Re- 
 vival of Sensualism " just as he has charged them 
 with "The Revival of Popery,"^ Dr. Faussett, indeed, 
 would have had no ground for complaint, but the 
 Church would have had to deplore an exhibition the 
 most disgraceful, though the natural consequence of 
 Dr. Faussett's conduct' 
 
 After this note had gone to the press the charge 
 of the Bishop of Oxford (Dr. Bagot) was published ; 
 and the Vicar added some remarks upon it, con- 
 trasting its sober judgments, wise counsels, and 
 affectionate fatherly tone with the coarse, indlscri- 
 minating invectives of Dr. Faussett. * The Bishop,' 
 he observed, ' had a right to do what Dr. Faussett 
 had no right to do ; his lordship had a right to 
 pronounce sentence ex cathedra, after examination, 
 on the conduct and doctrines of his clergy, among 
 whom are the writers of the Oxford Tracts.' And 
 he then gives some extracts from the charge, in 
 which the Bishop declares that, after diligent inquiry, 
 he had been unable to find anything in the conduct 
 or writings of the persons alluded to which could 
 
 1 The title of Dr. Faussett's sermon.
 
 -1840 Bishop Bagot's Charge. 439 
 
 fairly be interpreted as breaches of the doctrine or 
 discipline of the Church of England. ' Generally 
 speaking,' said the Bishop, ' I may say that in these 
 days of lax and spurious liberality anything which 
 tends to recall forgotten truth is valuable ; and when 
 these publications have directed men's minds to such 
 important subjects as the union, the discipline, and 
 the authority of the Church, I think they have done 
 good service ; but there may be some points in 
 which, from ambiguity of expression or similar causes, 
 it is not impossible but that evil, rather than the in- 
 tended good, may be produced on minds of a peculiar 
 temperament. I have more fear of the disciples 
 than of the teachers.' At the same time the Bishop 
 continued, ' I would implore them by the purity of 
 their intentions to be cautious, both in their writings 
 and actions, to take heed lest " their good be evil 
 spoken of;" lest, in their exertions to re-establish 
 unity, they unhappily create fresh schism ; lest, in 
 their admiration of antiquity, they revert to practices 
 which heretofore have ended in superstition.' 
 
 The Bishop, in the difficult and delicate situation 
 which he then occupied in relation to the Tract 
 writers, was particularly grateful to the Vicar of 
 Leeds for the line adopted in his sermon, and more 
 particularly for the support given to the Charge, 
 which, notwithstanding the gentleness of its tone, 
 some of the Tract writers were disposed to think 
 implied so much disapproval of the Tracts, that the 
 publication of them ought to be discontinued. 
 
 ' I have read your sermon,' wrote the Bishop, ' with the 
 greatest pleasure and satisfaction, agreeing entirely with 
 all you say throughout, and I feel much indebted to you
 
 440 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1838-- 
 
 for the note respecting my late Charge. It will do more 
 than anything else could have done to quiet and satisfy the 
 minds of those excellent men (some I may call friends) 
 whose high principles of obedience to authority, but whose 
 over-sensitiveness made them apprehensive that my Charge 
 might be construed (but surely only by perversion) into a 
 cens2ire upon the Tracts, and make them liable to a charge 
 of inconsistency if they did not discontinue the publication. 
 By a private correspondence with Dr. Pusey and Mr. 
 Newman I sufficiently satisfied their minds to induce them 
 not to adopt such a course, and that nothing could be 
 further from my wish than to cast a general censure upon 
 the work. I merely state this to prove to you how very 
 valuable to them such a note as you have kindly added 
 with reference to my Charge was, and how peculiarly well- 
 timed. 
 
 The sermon gave great satisfaction not only to 
 the Bishop of Oxford and the Tract writers but also 
 to a large body of moderate Churchmen. 
 
 On the other hand the ultra- Protestant section 
 of the Church could not forgive him for having 
 demonstrated that they, and not the high Churchmen, 
 M^ere unfaithful to the spirit of the Reformation ; and 
 their journals and reviews discharged a volley of 
 attacks upon the sermon, more distinguished for acri- 
 mony of tone and vehemence of language than for 
 weight of learning or strength of argument. ' Eraser's 
 Magazine,' among others, took up the cudgels, and 
 produced an article in January 1839 which was 
 exceedingly applauded by a large portion of the 
 press, but of which it may suffice to observe here 
 that the flippancy and vulgarity of the style in 
 which it is written arc only equalled by the strange 
 misconceptions displayed of the main positions of 
 the writer whom it attacks.
 
 -1840 Hurricane at Leeds. 441 
 
 From those storms of controversy which are the 
 products of human infirmity and passion, it is rather 
 a relief to turn for a moment to an account of one of 
 those convulsions of nature for which man is not 
 responsible. One night in the month of January 
 1839, a tempest of extraordinary fury raged over 
 the North of England. The Rev. H. W. Bellairs 
 was on a visit to the Vicar of Leeds, and has kindly 
 supplied me with his reminiscences of the storm. 
 Early in the morning, above the roaring and raving 
 of the wind, he heard a terrific crash, and on open- 
 ing his bedroom door discovered that a part of the 
 roof was blown away ; and the strange creaking 
 and crackin^f sounds throucjhout the house led 
 him at first to imao-ine that the hurricane was ac- 
 companied by an earthquake. * I went downstairs,' 
 he writes, ' and, hearing voices, followed them to a 
 room on the basement where I found the Vicar 
 with a child on either knee, his servants, and a 
 captain of artillery, who was staying in the house, 
 standing round him. The Vicar was perfectly un- 
 moved ; calming, comforting, and reassuring all with 
 those words of faith, hope, and love which none 
 knew better than himself how to use. Whilst we 
 were there another fearful crash came, breaking 
 through the roaring of the wind, which even in the 
 house was overpowering. In a few minutes some 
 one came in, I think from the next house, saying 
 that a chimney there had fallen through the roof, 
 burying two female servants in its ruins, and that 
 the master of the house was in the street utterly 
 beside himself. The Vicar put down the children, 
 went to the window, and saw the poor fellow cling-
 
 442 Life of Walter FarqiLhar Hook, 1S3S- 
 
 ing to some iron railings opposite the Vicarage. 
 The storm was raging with such violence that it 
 was almost impossible for anyone to stand unaided. 
 The Vicar, however, struggled across the road, got 
 hold of the man and brought him into the Vicarage, 
 and calmed him until he was able to return to his 
 house. The quiet courage, strong faith, and affec- 
 tionate bearing of the Vicar in that hour of fear and 
 peril, no one who witnessed it can ever forget.* 
 
 The following letter from him to Mr. Wood is a 
 vivid description of the hurricane. 
 
 January 17, 1839. 
 
 My dearest Friend, — You have not I hope been visited 
 with that dreadful hurricane which alarmed us here in these 
 northern regions. Never did I hear wind blow as the 
 wind blew on the morning of last Monday se'nnight. The 
 beds rocked under us, and a tremendous crash was heard ; 
 when Delicia begged me to go upstairs, and bring the 
 children down to our own room. Imagine my horror, 
 when, as I approached the stairs I heard screams ; and 
 imagine my joy when I counted my children and found 
 none wanting, at the time when the wind pierced me to 
 the very bones, blowing upon me from the open sky, for 
 the roof of the day-nursery had fallen in with a terrific 
 crash. No one in that room could have escaped with life. 
 In the very next room our dear little Jemmy was asleep ; 
 and the darling girls in the room adjoining that. Two 
 hours later, for the downfall happened at six o'clock, they 
 would have been dressing in the day-nursery, and must 
 have perished. Three stacks of chimneys were blown 
 down in our house. We have been obliged to send the 
 children away, and Delicia and I have been confined to 
 two rooms, the only two in which fires could be lighted, 
 and have been driven from one to another. In the midst 
 of all this, a cold from which Delicia had long suffered
 
 -1840 National Edtication. 443 
 
 became worse. Inflammation and fever have ensued, and 
 she has been confined to her bed. God be praised she is 
 much better now .... These things come to tell us what 
 ungrateful wretches we are. How little we value the 
 blessings which appear to be common blessings — health 
 and peace — till we lose them. How applicable to the 
 circumstances of the storm is the twenty-ninth Psalm. I 
 read it afterwards at my family prayers, and preached on it 
 last Sunday. It was indeed merciful that in all Leeds only 
 one life was lost. 
 
 The year 1839 was a critical one for the Church 
 in respect to the question of National Education. 
 The ' Central Society of Education ' was pressing its 
 demands for a secular system, under which religious 
 instruction of any kind should be absolutely forbid- 
 den, while the Government in February proposed its 
 scheme for the establishment of a Board of Educa- 
 tion, and of a model or normal school, with teachers 
 of divers religious persuasions, and a Rector of no 
 religion in particular. The Board, which was to 
 consist of the President of the Council and five other 
 privy councillors, did not need any Act to call it 
 into being ; and thus that remarkable dynasty known 
 by the title of ' my lords,' whose wonderful and in- 
 scrutable decrees are a source of annual amusement, 
 or vexation, to school managers, came into existence 
 at once — fully armed, like Athene from the head of 
 Zeus. The remainder of the measure passed the 
 House of Commons by a majority of two in the 
 month of June, but in the House of Lords a series 
 of resolutions, to be embodied in an address to the 
 Crown against the Bill, was moved by Archbishop 
 Howley, supported by Bishop Blomficld in one of
 
 444 ^if^ ^f ^^^^^'^ Farquhar Hook. 1838- 
 
 the ablest speeches he ever delivered, and carried by 
 a large majority. 
 
 The interval between the first proposal of the 
 scheme in February and the debates in June, was 
 occupied by Churchmen in great efforts, both to 
 convince the public mind of the work which the 
 Church had already accomplished in the cause of 
 national education, and to devise plans for enabling 
 her to strengthen and extend her operations. The 
 Vicar threw himself into this work with immense 
 energy. He foresaw indeed that the day was not 
 far distant when the State would be compelled to 
 undertake the education of the people, and he also 
 perceived that in a country where the forms of 
 religious belief were so manifold as in England, the 
 only education which the State could provide, con- 
 sistently with discharging its duty towards the whole 
 population, must be of a purely secular kind. But 
 at present he did not very frequently or publicly 
 enlarge upon this topic. Meanwhile there were 
 two calamities which he exceedingly dreaded, and 
 laboured most sedulously, as far as in him lay, to 
 avert. One was the appropriation by the State of 
 ecclesiastical property, at the instigation of Socialists, 
 to the purposes of secular education. This, as has 
 been seen, was the topic on which he more especially 
 dilated in his speech at the Conservative banquet in 
 1838. The other was the acceptance by the Church 
 of any specious offer from the State of some diluted 
 form of religious education, which he was convinced 
 would be a mere counterfeit — a system under which 
 children would receive only vague and indistinct 
 ideas about religious truths, and consequently grow
 
 -1840 National Education. 445 
 
 up into ' nothingarians.' The honesty and thorough- 
 ness of his nature, and his firm persuasion that clear 
 dogmatic teaching was the only guarantee for sound 
 morality, the only solid platform upon which it could 
 be built up, revolted against the notion of any com- 
 promises and cheats in connexion with this matter. 
 As an escape from such evils he had already con- 
 ceived in his mind the germ of that bold and original 
 scheme, which, eight years afterwards, he formally 
 propounded in his celebrated letter to the Bishop of 
 St, David's. The outlines of it are sketched in the 
 following letters, written at the close of 1838, to Mr. 
 Wood. Let the State undertake the secular part of 
 education, which is all that it can honestly and con- 
 sistently undertake, and let the Church and the sects 
 undertake the religious part, the State taking care 
 that all have a fair field. Such were the ideas 
 already working in his mind, which were afterwards 
 developed in the pamphlet to which allusion has just 
 been made. 
 
 Education Scheme. 
 
 I am still sadly in want of some one to manage the 
 educational affairs of this parish ; if you hear of any en- 
 thusiast, pray tell me of him. All I should require would 
 be, his having Church principles. On the subject of educa- 
 tion, I have been thinking more of late, and am in corre- 
 spondence on the subject with some influential people. My 
 advice is, to find from all parties what concessions can be 
 made without sacrifice of principle. I propose a measure, 
 which is this ; that a board of education be formed in every 
 parish ; the Incumbent chairman, his curates ex-officio 
 members, and a certain number of ratepayers to complete 
 the board. If pressed, I would concede that Dissenting 
 ministers, resident in the parish three years, should also be
 
 44^ Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1838- 
 
 members. The board to have power to lay a rate, and to 
 decide on the books to be used ; no direct religious instruc- 
 tion to be given ; but no child to be admitted who cannot 
 bring a certificate of being a member of some Sunday- 
 school, where religious instruction is given. Absence for 
 three Sundays from Sunday-school without leave, to be 
 punished by three months' expulsion from National school. 
 Each clergyman, or Dissenting minister, to be permitted to 
 attend on Fridays to instruct his own children ; a separate 
 room to be provided for the purpose. A normal school to 
 be established in London for training masters by Govern- 
 ment, under directors ; the two Archbishops, and Bishops 
 of London, Durham, and Winton, directors always ; the 
 rest to be appointed by Government, provided that they 
 appoint five Dissenting ministers. You see we here provide 
 for general education, and yet assert the necessity of 
 religious education. Probably we shall have to define 
 religious education to be Biblical, or the Socialists may so 
 denominate their system. I should like to know your 
 opinion of this scheme. It is rather liberal, but while it 
 concedes much to Dissenters, it gives the Church the lead ; 
 and this point Dissenters ought to concede. I shall feel 
 extremely obliged to you not to mention this plan till you 
 hear from me again. I have particular reasons for particu- 
 larly wishing this. I am so accustomed to tell you all 
 things, that I cannot help mentioning my plan to you, but 
 it is for the present a secret. 
 
 Education Scheme — A New Magazine — Parochial 
 Reading Rooms. 
 
 Vicarage, Leeds: November 28, 1838. 
 
 My dearest Friend, .... Anything like a semi-religious 
 education, I deprecate, but I have no objection to let the 
 State train children to receive the religious education we 
 are prepared to give ; the State at the same time insisting 
 on their coming to us for the purpose. But of course, on 
 consideration, I shall not propound my plan to anyone ;
 
 -1840 National Education. 447 
 
 being not a little surprised to find that I am more liberal 
 than that odious Whig fellow, William Wood. I cannot 
 help suspecting that evil communications with you cor- 
 rupted my good manners. I am, however, delighted to 
 find that our sentiments so entirely accord with respect to 
 education : our principle is, I see, precisely the same ; only I, 
 in despair, was prepared to make a larger sacrifice than 
 you think quite necessary. I rejoice to know this. Only 
 let us have anything rather than a mutilated Bible, a semi- 
 religion, which is worse than an avowedly Infidel education ; 
 worse because it leads to the same end without causing 
 that alarm which the avowal of Infidelity would excite. 
 As to my plans here, I have heard of a man from Sam. 
 Wood, who, he thinks would suit us ; perhaps, if you could 
 call on Mr. Wood, your knowledge of the Leeds localities 
 might assist him further in forming his judgment. He seems 
 to me to be just the kind of person ; but then he cannot 
 afford to come, I suspect, under 100/., or 150/., a year, but 
 this sum I cannot (so says my woman of business) at 
 present spare ; I have, however, written to my good lord 
 Bishop, and asked him to form a board of education in 
 this town ; if he will do this in the course of two or three 
 months, as a paid secretary will be wanted, I think I shall 
 send for this gentleman and run the risk of his being 
 appointed, engaging him at the lowest salary at which he 
 will come. I have never found Providence to fail me, and 
 I think that this is a kind of thing in which I may be a 
 little bold. 
 
 At present, his School Board scheme was only 
 whispered to intimate and confidential friends as a 
 kind of esoteric doctrine. The disclosure of it 
 would have been too rude a shock to the feelings of 
 those who still clung to the belief that the Church, 
 being called the National Church, was not only bound 
 to educate the whole people but was competent to 
 discharge the task. The immediate duty of Church-
 
 448 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1838- 
 
 men he considered at that time was obvious : namely, 
 to make the most of their opportunities, to show- 
 that they could at least take the lead in the work of 
 national education, and so to deepen the claim of the 
 Church upon the gratitude of the nation. The es- 
 tablishment of local boards of education in populous 
 places would, he thought, assist in the consolidation 
 and extension of the Church's educational work, and 
 he was therefore anxious, as mentioned in the letter 
 transcribed above, to form one with as little delay 
 as possible for the parish of Leeds. 
 
 Accordingly on March 14, 1839, a large meeting 
 was held in the Music Hall, the Bishop of Ripon 
 being in the chair, to take steps for the purpose. 
 The Vicar made a long and elaborate speech on the 
 occasion, and as it contains some very interesting 
 information respecting the state of national education 
 at that time, I shall not hesitate to present to the 
 reader some rather full transcripts and paraphrases 
 of his remarks. 
 
 He began by observing that, as he was address- 
 ing an assembly of Churchmen, he should assume as 
 a fact indisputable among themselves that no edu- 
 cation could deserve the name which was not based 
 upon religion. If education consisted in training up 
 a child in the way he ought to go, no Christian man 
 could venture to suppose that this end would be ac- 
 complished unless religious principles were brought, 
 indirectly at least, to bear upon all the instruction 
 given. If this were acknowledged, it clearly behoved 
 Churchmen at that crisis to bestir themselves. * We 
 must offer to the country the best possible education, 
 or the State will take the duty of education upon
 
 •-1840 speech on Echtcation. 449 
 
 itself, and if the State does this it must eventually 
 adopt a purely secular education — an education not 
 based upon religion. The only country in which a 
 State education is consistently conducted is Holland, 
 and there religion is avowedly excluded. In Prussia 
 religion is assumed as the basis, but there the 
 Government cannot act consistently on the prin- 
 ciples it asserts. It must be obvious that when 
 a State undertakes the education of the people it 
 cannot make religion its basis. It may pretend to 
 do so at first, but the State religion will be found on 
 investigation to be no religion. Let us suppose the 
 State were at the present time to undertake the 
 education of the people — let us suppose it to concede 
 the principle that education must be based on reli- 
 gion — the question immediately occurs on what 
 religion is it to be based ? Shall it be the religion 
 of the Church of England ? If so, no change is 
 necessary. But a change is demanded to meet the 
 views of those who dissent from the Church. The 
 State, it will be said, is to provide for the education 
 of all the people. Well, then, let us now ask, is the 
 education to be exclusively Protestant ? No, not 
 if the principle is adhered to, for that would exclude 
 the Romanists. Carry on the principle, and we may 
 ask, again, is the education to be Christian ? If 
 Infidelity prevails (and, alas ! it does prevail to a 
 fearful extent), Jews, Turks, and Infidels will all 
 demand that the education of the country shall be 
 so conducted as not to exclude them. And the7i 
 what is the religion on which the State education is 
 based ? It certainly looks as much like no religion 
 as possible. I do not say that this will be the im- 
 VOL. I. G G
 
 450 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1838- 
 
 mediate consequence of a State education, but it is 
 its direct tendency. The objection to Church edu- 
 cation is its exclusiveness. If the State forms a 
 new system of rehgion less exclusive, still, since 
 it must exclude some parties, the argument against 
 exclusiveness may be brought to bear against that 
 State sect also, and so on until at length it is 
 found that every religion must be exclusive, and 
 that nothing is really liberal but Atheism. As soon 
 as the State undertakes to control religion, religion 
 must be corrupted, for it will then cease to be busied 
 with God's truth and will be dabbling with expe- 
 diency. The question will be, not what does the all 
 pure and all perfect God command, but what will 
 man — fallen, corrupted, wicked man — consent to 
 receive.' 
 
 After showing that one of the purposes for which 
 the Church was endowed was to educate the people, 
 except such as dissented from her teaching; that 
 this work had been much neglected during the middle 
 ages, revived during the sixteenth century by the 
 establishment of Grammar Schools, but in abeyance 
 during the depression of the Church in the days of 
 the Commonwealth, he proceeded to sketch the work 
 accomplished by the Church on behalf of national 
 education, from the foundation of the Society for 
 Promoting Christian Knowledge in the reign of 
 William III. * One of the first objects,' he said, 'of 
 that Society was to found and endow public charity 
 schools ' ; and such was the success of its labours that 
 in the year 1741 we find it had established more 
 than 2,000 schools in different parts of the country. 
 After observing that this was the first Society which
 
 --1S40 speech on Edtication. 451 
 
 had advocated and supported the general education 
 of the people, and that it was essentially and entirely 
 an offspring of the Church, he continued : ' Nor may 
 it be forgotten that in thus advocating the cause of 
 education the Church was, for a long time, rowing 
 against the stream. It is easy now to call meetings 
 and urge upon society the duty of educating the 
 poor, because the topic is a popular one. But the 
 Church during the last century had to fight against 
 a prejudice, many great and good men of all parties 
 being prejudiced against the education of the people. 
 I myself remember twenty years ago that in our 
 chanty sermons all we attempted to prove was that 
 there could be no harm in educating the people — 
 that there was no probability of that injury resulting 
 from it to society which some persons seemed to 
 fear ; that the danger was not from over-educating, 
 but from under-educating the poor. And is the 
 Church now to be upbraided, as if her increased zeal 
 for the education of the people was the result of a 
 pressure from without ? By whom is the accusation 
 made ? By the representatives of those who, during 
 the past century, did nothing for education. Is not 
 the doinof somethinq' better than the doinof nothincr, 
 and has not the Church done much if she has 
 preached down the prejudice which for a time existed 
 against the education of the poor ? Until that 
 prejudice was annihilated it was impossible to do 
 great things. The Government was unwilling to 
 aid because the Government was unwilling to do an 
 act which might be unpopular among those classes 
 of society to which it looked for support. Thanks 
 
 be to God that prejudice has been overcome, and 
 
 G G 2
 
 452 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1838- 
 
 Christians are now prepared to admit that our 
 Creator would not have given to man a reasonable 
 mind to distinguish him from the brute unless He 
 had intended the intellect to be cultivated, and that 
 it is the duty of the rich to assist the poor in the 
 cultivation of their minds. The better educated the 
 poor man is, the more ready will he be to listen to 
 the dictates of his reason and his conscience — the 
 less likely to be led astray by the inflammatory sophis- 
 try of the demagogue, the more likely will he be to 
 become loyal to his Queen and true to his Church.' 
 
 He then entered into some statistics to prove 
 the extent to which, at that time, the Church was 
 discharging her duty in respect of national education, 
 especially as compared with the various nonconform- 
 ing communities. 
 
 Of daily scholars above the age of seven 
 
 there were in Dissenting Schools . 47,287 
 Of Sunday scholars in the same . . 550,107 
 
 Total of all ranks and descrip- 
 tions in Dissenting Schools . 597,394 
 
 In schools connected with the Church there were ; — 
 
 Of daily scholars in Grammar Schools 
 
 and Colleges .... 603,428 
 
 In elementary schools connected with 
 the National Society, which was esta- 
 blished by Churchmen in 1811 . . 514,450 
 
 Total of daily scholars , .1,117,878 
 
 Sunday scholars only, in Church Schools 435,550 
 Total of all ranks and descriptions in 
 
 Church Schools .... 1,553,428 
 
 * We may, then,' he said, * fairly assert that we
 
 -1840 
 
 speech on Education. 
 
 453 
 
 have the education of the people in our hands ; and 
 why should it be taken away from us ? We have 
 received no favour from Government; whatever 
 money has been voted by Parliament for educational 
 purposes has been offered to the Dissenters equally 
 with ourselves. But the people flock to our schools. 
 . . . Five years ago it was proposed by Lord Al- 
 thorp that 20,000/. should be voted for the purposes 
 of education, and this sum has been annually voted 
 ever since. And the two Societies, the National 
 Society on the part of the Church, the British and 
 Foreign Society on the part of the Dissenters, were 
 selected as the administrators of the fund. The 
 grant was to be distributed to these two societies, 
 on a principle of perfect fairness, each Society taking 
 a share proportionate to the sum which it raised by 
 voluntary contributions. This was hailed as a boon 
 by the British and Foreign School Society, and 
 seemed likely to operate in favour of Dissent ; 
 yet it has turned out that the National Society has 
 been able to avail itself of the grant to nearly double 
 the amount of the British and Foreign School Society. 
 The returns are as follow of the applications made 
 by the two Societies : — 
 
 
 1S34 
 
 183s 
 
 1836 
 
 1837 
 
 1838 
 
 Total 
 
 National Society 
 British and Foreign . 
 
 11,081 
 9,796 
 
 13,002 
 7,168 
 
 17,130 
 5, 28 1 
 
 11,456 
 5,810 
 
 17,041 
 6,090 
 
 69,710 
 35,285 
 
 He then advocated the adoption of some plan of 
 compulsory education. ' It is said that there are 
 112,035 children above the age of seven utterly 
 destitute of any kind of education whatever. How
 
 454 Z^/^ of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1838- 
 
 can the Church help that ? We open schools in all 
 places, but we cannot compel the parents to send 
 their children to them. There is no lack of means of 
 education ; the misfortune is that there are 100,000 
 wicked parents who will not avail themselves of the 
 means provided. How is this to be remedied ? It 
 is said, by schools supported by Government. But 
 why should those schools be more likely to be at- 
 tended than the existing schools ? Is the attendance 
 to be compulsory ? There is no need to establish 
 Government Schools on that account, for the chil- 
 dren may be as well compelled to attend existing 
 schools as any other newly devised schools, I do 
 not mean that they should be compelled to attend 
 Church Schools. Let the parents have the choice 
 of the schools, but let there be some law which will 
 empower the magistrates to insist on all children 
 being sent to soine school. If a parent neglects to 
 educate his child, he is doing an injury not only to 
 the child but to the community itself, which suffers 
 from that child's ignorance and vice. If the State 
 may interfere for the punishment of crime it may 
 surely interfere for the prevention of crime ; it may 
 surely take the part of the poor neglected child 
 when it exclaims, " Save me from my wicked 
 parents. Compel them to give me that which I 
 have a right to demand at their hands — the means 
 of becoming a good man and a good Christian." 
 This is virtually the utterance of every neglected 
 child who is ci;;ying in our streets.' He advocated 
 some such plan as that suggested by Mr. Horner, 
 that ' the enjoyment of certain privileges and civil 
 rights, the admission to certain offices and employ-
 
 -»84o Speech on Education. 455 
 
 ments, should depend upon the possession of a 
 certain amount of education ; and I beheve,' he 
 added in conclusion, ' that it will be found that what 
 the people are opposed to is, not the act of compel- 
 ling men to educate their children, but that of 
 compelling them to educate in those particular 
 schools which the Civil Government may appoint.' 
 
 The point in which he considered the work of 
 education at that time to be most deficient, and to 
 which he earnestly exhorted in his speech that more 
 attention should be paid, especially by the National 
 Society, was the training of masters. * The fault,' 
 he said, ' of the National Society has been, not in 
 adhering to Dr. Bell's system, but in making the 
 observance of that system the primary object of 
 attention. The Society recognises the duty of 
 training masters, but it does not see that this is the 
 first and grand object. We want not systems but 
 masters ; ' and here he cited the opinion of men who 
 had studied the subject in Prussia, that it was the 
 master and not the system which made the school, 
 and that attention should be chiefly directed to the 
 formation of training schools, in which good masters 
 might be prepared for their important and respon- 
 sible duty. 
 
 The last needs upon which he touched were 
 Infant Schools, and good Middle Class Schools in 
 connexion with the Church. It had been calculated, 
 he said, that the infant population between three 
 and seven years of age amounted at that time to 
 a million and a half. And although many Infant 
 Schools had been established the number compared 
 with what was required was next to nothing. With
 
 45 6 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1838- 
 
 regard to commercial or middle class schools he 
 thouo^ht it would be highly advantageous if the 
 Board, at the request of the masters, were to 
 conduct periodical examinations, and award prizes 
 to the best scholars, publishing their names. The 
 terms of connexion with the Board for such schools 
 should be that the respective schools should be 
 conducted on truly religious principles, in accordance 
 with the doctrine and discipline of the Church of 
 England, and that no religious instruction incon- 
 sistent with the same should be given or be per- 
 mitted to be given in the schools. 
 
 The resolution which he moved at the conclusion 
 of his speech was that a Local Board of Education, 
 embracing all the townships of the parish of Leeds, 
 should be established. The other resolutions passed 
 at the meeting were — 
 
 That the Board consist of all the clergy officiating in 
 the parish of Leeds ; of a committee of laymen to be 
 appointed by the Bishop ; and of a secretary. 
 
 That the Board be requested to take immediate steps : 
 
 1. To raise fresh subscriptions for the purpose of educa- 
 tion. 
 
 2. To promote the building of new National, Sunday, 
 and Infant Schools. 
 
 3. To unite with the Board existing Schools or Acade- 
 mies conducted by members of the Church. 
 
 4. To ascertain the educational statistics of the parish. 
 
 5. To adopt measures for the formation of a Training 
 School for Masters. 
 
 6. To institute a commercial school which may serve 
 as a model school. 
 
 The Board of Education thus founded was the germ 
 of the Diocesan Board, which has been for nearly
 
 -1840 Letter to National Society. 457 
 
 forty years the principal instrument of elementary 
 and middle class education throughout the Diocese 
 of Ripon. 
 
 The following letter to the secretary of the 
 National Society, about a year after the formation of 
 the Leeds Educational Board, shows how appre- 
 hensive he was lest the Society should be tempted 
 to surrender the least particle of its principles for 
 the sake of some supposed advantage. The Factory 
 Act alluded to in this letter was passed in the year 
 1833, under the guidance of Lord Althorp : it limited 
 the hours for the employment of children in factories, 
 and provided that part of the time when they were 
 not engaged in labour should be spent in school. 
 
 Letter to the Secretary of the National Society. 
 
 Reverend Sir, — I have the honour to acknowledge the 
 receipt of your letter, dated the nth instant, in which you 
 desire me to give my opinion with regard to the working 
 of the Factory Act, so far as those provisions are concerned 
 which respect the education of the poor. 
 
 You inform me that ' it has been urgently represented 
 to you from various quarters that a special provision should 
 be made by the National Society for the case of the factory 
 children, whose education is made compulsory ; and that 
 some measure should, if possible, be taken to remove the 
 difficulties which, under present circumstances, prevent 
 them from attending schools which are either now in union 
 with the Society, or might hereafter be united.' Now here 
 I may be permitted to remark that although the factory 
 children are compelled to attend some school, they are not 
 compelled to attend any particular school ; and that there 
 exists at present no difficulty whatever to prevent their 
 attending schools in union with the National Society, 
 except in places where the school hours arc not made to
 
 458 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1838- 
 
 correspond with the arrangements of the factory. In a 
 large school in my own parish we order the business of the 
 school so as to meet the factory hours, and the majority of 
 the children come to us for instruction. It does not seem 
 to me necessary, under existing circumstances, for the 
 National Society to do more than recommend a similar 
 arrangement in all manufacturing districts. To the in- 
 struction we are prepared to give, some parents or guardians 
 will object ; but they suffer no hardship, because schools 
 will be always open for their children, which, conducted by 
 Dissenters, are many of them equal, some of them superior, 
 to the schools in union with the National Society, with 
 the single important exception that in them the Church 
 Catechism is not made the basis of education. 
 
 You inform me further that it has been recommended, 
 in order to remove a difficulty, which does not at present 
 exist, that ' so far as concerns any child whose parents or 
 guardians specially request that it should not be taught 
 the Church Catechism, the managers of schools should not 
 be required to enforce instruction in that formulary.' 
 
 I presume that no circumstances can arise which will 
 justify the National Society in acting upon this recommen- 
 dation. If I understand rightly the object of the National 
 Society, it is not to provide for the general education of 
 the people, but to provide a particular kind of education. 
 If the National Society, ambitious to conduct the education 
 of the people generally, is willing to renounce the peculiar 
 features of a Church education, and to adopt some unde- 
 fined principles of religion as the basis of the instruction 
 to be given in the Society's schools, it seems to me that the 
 committee of the National Society ought to coalesce with 
 the committee of the Privy Council ; or if it refuse to do 
 this, I apprehend that a vast number of the clergy will 
 prefer to receive their directions from the Privy Council. 
 The question of inspection is, in the minds of many, one of 
 very minor importance ; and, indeed, under the proposed 
 alteration, the inspection of persons appointed by Govern- 
 ment will be preferable to that of persons appointed by
 
 -1S40 Letter to National Society. 459 
 
 the Society, as ccstcris paribus the superintendence of a 
 committee of Her Majesty's Privy Council is preferable to 
 that of a voluntary association, which, notwithstanding its 
 charter, the National Society to a certain extent still is. 
 
 But if, on the other hand, the National Society professes 
 to be a Church Society, and to conduct the education of 
 the people on the principles of the Church, it is utterly 
 impossible for it to accede to the measure proposed without 
 ceasing to be what it professes to be. We might just as 
 well entertain a proposition for filling our churches by 
 suspending the use of the forms of morning and evening 
 prayer, as accede to a proposal that we should abandon 
 the Catechism when instructing the young. The same 
 Church which has imposed upon us a formulary for morning 
 and evening prayer, has appointed a formulary to be used 
 by us when instructing the youth of our flock ; we are as 
 much bound by that formulary as we are bound to observe 
 the Liturgy when conducting the morning sacrifice of prayer 
 and praise. It ought to be clearly understood that the 
 Society is recommended to give up a fundamental principle, 
 for if the use of the Catechism may under any circum- 
 stances be suspended, we have only to make out a strong 
 case of expediency, and it may be suspended under all 
 circumstances. And if the Society thus concedes a principle, 
 it will not only offend the conscience of many pious Church- 
 men, but convert into its most decided opponents some 
 persons who are now its warm supporters. 
 
 You observe in conclusion that ' the chief question to 
 be considered is, whether the Society, by refusing the con- 
 cession called for, would, as is confidently asserted, forego 
 the opportunity to give full instruction on Church principles 
 to many thousand children whose parents and guardians 
 are willing they should receive it.' 
 
 On this passage I remark that it is not to the words 
 but to the doctrine of the Catechism, that is, to the doctrine 
 of the Church, as briefly stated in the Catechism, that the 
 parents and guardians are supposed to be hostile. 
 
 If, then, the concession be made, the Society will be
 
 460 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1838- 
 
 virtually pledged, and in honour bound to abstain from 
 giving to the children of such parents or guardians any 
 instruction in Church principles ; the Society will therefore 
 be pledged to educate them in the principles of Dissent, 
 (for you teach error, if you abstain from teaching truth) or 
 else in principles disconnected with religion of any kind. 
 And in the West Riding of Yorkshire, where the Dissenters 
 are very numerous, and where a vast number of professing 
 Churchmen, who are willing for political purposes to up- 
 hold an Establishment, are vehemently opposed to the use 
 of the Catechism, especially to that part of it which asserts 
 with such peculiar force the doctrine of the Sacraments, I 
 have no hesitation in giving it as my opinion that more 
 than three-fourths of the parents and guardians will apply 
 for the exemption, so that the Society will be doing, in fact, 
 what in theory it condemns : — it will be giving a non- 
 religious education. 
 
 It is, I am well aware, stated that an attempt is to be 
 made to compel the masters of factories to provide schools, 
 as well as to afford time for the education of the children 
 employed in their factories. Until this be the law of the 
 land, there can be no reason why the National Society 
 should legislate on the subject. But even if it were the law 
 of the land, I would rather propose to the manufacturer 
 to erect his schoolrooms so as to admit of two departments, 
 one for the education of Churchmen, in which a master 
 might be provided by the National Society ; another for 
 the education of Dissenters, than recommend the Society 
 to give up one of its fundamental principles. 
 
 On these grounds I hope that before you make the 
 concession, you will very seriously consider the whole 
 subject. The facts of the case are not precisely as they 
 have been represented to you. If you give up the im- 
 portant principle which you are recommended to concede, 
 you actually gain nothing while you lose much. You may, 
 it is true, have a greater number of names on the books of 
 the Society, but you will educate fewer than you now do 
 on sound religious principles, for many will now send their
 
 --1840 Presbyterian Rights asserted. 461 
 
 children to our schools, ijt spite of \k\t obnoxious Catechism, 
 who (professing Churchmen as well as conscientious Dis- 
 senters) will reject it if they have the option. And if you 
 conciliate for a time those political Churchmen who uphold 
 the Church merely or chiefly because it is Established, and 
 forms part of the Constitution of the country, but whose 
 views may change with the changing circumstances of 
 political warfare, you will at the same time alienate from 
 the society that large and increasing body of persons who, 
 caring little or nothing for the political importance or 
 dignity of the Establishment, belong to the Church of 
 England because they believe it to be the Holy Catholic 
 and Apostolic Church in this country, and support the 
 National Society because it is regarded by them as an 
 institution through the instrumentality of which they can 
 carry out the principles of the Church in the education of 
 the people. — I have the honour to be, Reverend Sir, 
 
 Your faithful and obedient servant. 
 
 In the autumn of this year (1839) he published a 
 pamphlet entitled ' Presbyterian Rights Asserted.' It 
 is a vindication of the claims of the second order in 
 the hierarchy to their due share in the administra- 
 tion of the Church, against a too prevalent tendency, 
 as he conceived, to the assumption of arbitrary 
 power on the part of many of the Bishops. Even 
 his own diocesan, mild and amiable as he was, 
 seemed to him occasionally to err in this respect. 
 The pamphlet was, I believe, the only production 
 which he ever published anonymously ; the reasons 
 for withholding his name in such a case being 
 weighty and obvious. In concentration of evidence, 
 in force of reasoning, and in touches of humour, it 
 has been surpassed by few, if any, of his writings. 
 The subject was one on which he had thought much
 
 462 Life of Walter Fai'qiLhar Hook. 1S38- 
 
 and felt deeply, and it is remarkable what a clear 
 view he had of some points in connexion with it 
 which are only just beginning to be generally 
 acknowledged in the Church. 
 
 * The present circumstances,' he began, * of the 
 Church of England, and her future prospects, render 
 it highly important for the clergy of the second 
 order in the ministry to understand their real posi- 
 tion in the Church : their duties and obligations to 
 the first order on the one hand, and their own rights 
 and privileges on the other.' 
 
 That a very general ignorance prevails on this 
 subject it is impossible for anyone to doubt. By 
 the generality of our legislators it is unknown that 
 we possess any peculiar rights and privileges ; they 
 regard us as mere servants of the State, and they 
 look upon the Bishops as magistrates to keep us in 
 order. This, too, is perhaps the view generally taken 
 by those of the clergy who are designated Low 
 Churchmen. . . . Someof those who are styled High 
 Churchmen are apt to err in the opposite extreme. 
 Being deeply impressed with the divine right of 
 Episcopacy, they forget that the right of the Presby- 
 tery is equally divine, and draw the hasty conclusion 
 that Episcopacy is a despotism, and that to the 
 caprice of their diocesan all the clergy of a diocese 
 are bound without questioning to submit. ... I 
 believe that, with very few exceptions, there has 
 never existed a body of men more desirous of doing 
 their duty than the existing Bishops of the Church 
 of England. But their notion of Episcopal duty 
 varies considerably. Some appear among us as 
 spiritual peers, associating with the other clergy as
 
 Presbyterian RigJits asserted, ' 463 
 
 the Lord- Lieutenant of the county with the inferior 
 magistrates. These are generally the best, though 
 not apparently the most active, Bishops in the Church. 
 They never needlessly interfere with the parochial 
 clergy, but are always willing to assist them ; they 
 are great patrons of learning and piety. Other pre- 
 lates seem to regard themselves as schoolmasters ; 
 indeed, I have heard it said of a high Establishment 
 prelate that his notion of a Bishop is, that he is an 
 examining master plus a p7'octor. Others, again, 
 consider the whole diocese as one parish, and every 
 parish priest as their curate ; thus reducing the 
 clergy in point of fact to two orders, bishop and 
 deacon. These are the most busy prelates ; but 
 their activity, as we shall see, is not always advanta- 
 geous to the Church. They seem most of them to 
 have forgotten the authority, rights, and privileges 
 of the second order of the ministry, which possesses 
 authority, rights, and privileges scarcely inferior to 
 their own. . . . 
 
 ' Now the present writer was a zealous sup- 
 porter of Episcopacy at a period when to speak of 
 the Apostolical succession was looked upon as a 
 sign of dementation by many who are now the most 
 able advocates of the doctrine . . . But he did this 
 not from any exclusive regard to the honours of 
 Episcopacy. He was influenced only by his love 
 for the Church of Christ. " Pro ecclesia Dei— pro 
 ecclesia Dei " was his motto then as it is now — the 
 motto which he hopes will cling to his parched lips as 
 he breathes his last breath. The well-being of the 
 Church requires that due honour should be paid to 
 the Episcopate ; but the well-being of the Church
 
 464 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1838- 
 
 requlres that more honour than is due to it should 
 not be rendered.* 
 
 He then proceeds to show that most evils arose 
 in the body ecclesiastical as in the body physical, or 
 in the moral system, from a disproportion between 
 the parts. Lay influence had undoubtedly of late 
 been too great in the Church. Laymen had thrust 
 themselves into the places of the clergy — sent forth 
 missionaries, done ministerial acts, and in turns were 
 securing to themselves by means of the five-trustee 
 churches the powers exercised by the lay Dissenters, 
 of whose tyranny the most vehement advocates 
 of schism among Dissenting preachers loudly com- 
 plained. To counteract this usurpation the clergy 
 had been zealous in pointing out the rights of Epis- 
 copacy, until there was a risk of violating proportion 
 in that direction. It should be remembered that all 
 members of the Church of Christ, lay as well as 
 clerical, were consecrated ; the laity at baptism to 
 preach the Gospel by a holy example. As heads of 
 families they inherited patriarchal rights ; they were 
 to instruct their households in the Gospel and minister 
 at the domestic altar. The Presbyter was ordained 
 to preside over an assembly of families, the Bishop 
 over an assembly of parishes, the Metropolitan over 
 an assembly of dioceses. If the Presbyter unduly 
 interfered with the family arrangements, confusion 
 ensued : — a confusion also ensued if the Bishop 
 unduly interfered with the parochial arrangements. 
 
 The Bishop was a 7rarr)p Traripcov, an episcopus 
 episcoporum (a father of fathers, an overseer of 
 overseers). These were their titles In the early ages 
 of the Church : high titles, but titles which recog-
 
 -1840 Presbytei'ian Rights Asserted. 465 
 
 nised the authority of the Presbytery. * If the 
 Bishop be spiritual overseer to us let him not forget 
 that we are spiritual overseers to the laity : if he be 
 a spiritual father to us we are spiritual fathers to our 
 people.' Did the Bishop in the existing- Church 
 thus respect the authority of presbyters ? The 
 question was more easily asked than satisfactorily 
 answered. Straws showed which way the wind 
 blew. At most visitations the Bishop was to be 
 seen sitting within the chancel while the presbyters 
 humbly stood outside. Yet by the fourth council of 
 Carthage it was decreed that, whenever the Bishop 
 took his seat, the presbyters should not be allowed 
 to stand ; and one of their titles in the primitive 
 Church was * the clergy of the second throne,' be- 
 cause they were accustomed to sit with the Bishop, 
 though on less elevated seats, within the rails of the 
 sanctuar}'-, the deacons standing round. 
 
 So again the episcopal charges of the day, though 
 courteous and kind in style, were rather the addresses 
 of a magistrate to his subjects than of a supreme 
 ruler to his ^^-rulers. And he proceeds to prove, by 
 reference to a great number of authorities, that in the 
 ancient Church the presbyters were regarded, not as 
 the servants, but as the councillors and coadjutors, of 
 the Bishop. 'If we are to do nothing without the 
 Bishop, the Bishop is to do nothing without us,' 
 
 Yet in recent times this principle had been 
 strangely forgotten alike by Bishops, presbyters, 
 and laity. Take, for instance, the composition of 
 the Ecclesiastical Commission appointed under Sir 
 Robert Peel. How was it constituted .-* The laity 
 of the Church were represented ; the first order of 
 VOL. I. H H
 
 466 Life of Waltei' Farqithar Hook. 1838- 
 
 the clergy were represented ; but of the second 
 order not one was called to the council : they were 
 utterly disregarded. If the laity and the Bishops 
 agreed, the second order — the presbyters — were to 
 be compelled to submit. 
 
 So again with the Church Discipline Bill. ' Fa- 
 cilities were introduced for correcting delinquent 
 clerks of the second order, but not a word is said 
 of facilitating actions against delinquent clerks of 
 the first order. Let it not startle the high Church- 
 man that I thus speak : he is not really a high 
 Churchman who maintains the divine right of the 
 Episcopate, and forgets the divine right of the Pres- 
 byterate. In the primitive ages Bishops were (not 
 frequently, but as occasion required) deposed.' 
 
 So again it was said that the Dean and Chapter 
 of a diocese formed the ecclesiastical senate which 
 the Bishop ought to consult.^ Yet ' we never hear 
 a Bishop stating in his charge that, having consulted 
 with his Dean and Chapter, he has decided on this 
 or that line of conduct in the government of his 
 diocese.' But, granting this to be a point which 
 might require further consideration, one thing at 
 least was certain, that if a Bishop ever consulted 
 his presbyters he was bound to do so when he 
 entered their parishes for the discharge of Episcopal 
 offices. Yet there were some prelates who did not 
 hesitate to head a faction against the incumbent of 
 the parish. ' Let us suppose a hard-working painful 
 parish priest to have matured all his plans for the 
 management of the parish over which the Holy 
 Ghost has made him overseer ; let us suppose him 
 
 * Blackstone, bk. i. c. ii.
 
 -1840 Presbyterian RigJUs Asserted. 467 
 
 to have united the Churchmen, always excepting a 
 factious few ; to have shown from Scripture and the 
 teaching of the Church the principle upon which he 
 gives his support to some and withholds it from 
 other religious societies ; to have been proceeding 
 cautiously, introducing first one institution then 
 another — we can easily understand his feelings if 
 all of a sudden he shall hear that the Dissenters, 
 having united with the factious few of the Church 
 who happen to be opposed to him, have determined 
 to hold a meeting of the Bible Society, or the 
 Religious Tract Society, or the Lancasterian School 
 Society, or some similar institution, and that the 
 Bishop, without deigning to consult him or even to 
 apprise him of his intentions, will preside at it. 
 The spiritual peer attends, accompanied perhaps by 
 one or two temporal peers and other great men 
 desirous to conciliate the Dissenters before the next 
 election ; and thus he who ought to be the centre of 
 unity becomes the rallying point of schism. The 
 liberal sentiments of the spiritual peer are applauded 
 the more loudly because they are contrasted with 
 the exclusive Church principles of the pastor of the 
 parish ; and, as his lordship passes through the 
 street, his condescension on the platform to his 
 reverend brethren of the Baptist, Independent, and 
 Unitarian "Churches" is compared with the cold 
 distant bow with which, in the embarrassment 
 occasioned by some undeveloped consciousness of 
 having done wrong, he meets the minister of the 
 Established Church, that is, of the Church which, 
 in common with his Independent and Unitarian 
 brethren, he does not regard as tJie Church of the 
 
 H H 2
 
 468 Life of Walter Fai'quliar Hook. 1838- 
 
 parlsh, but only as that one Church out of many 
 which happens to be established by law. And so 
 all parties separate : the Dissenters to laugh at 
 ** the humbug of the Bishop's apron ; " the factious 
 Churchmen to eulogise the spirituality of the Epis- 
 copal leader of their schism ; the spiritual peer to 
 declaim to the temporal peers on the extreme want 
 of judgment in the incumbent of the parish, who 
 ought to concede something to the Dissenters, while 
 his lordship is in turn congratulated on the popu- 
 larity he is by his liberality securing for " the Esta- 
 blishment;" the profane to laugh at the flooring of 
 their pastor ; the worldly-minded to express their 
 indignation at the idea of an incumbent with only 
 1 50/. a year thinking that the Church and her prin- 
 ciples are dearer to him than they are to a Bishop 
 with 4,000/. a year ; the poor to lament the insult 
 offered to their best friend ; the presbyter himself 
 to weep in private and to pray ; and of prayer he 
 will have ample need lest he should be disgusted 
 into inactivity. The true Churchmen also will 
 grieve in private and ask what ought to be done ? 
 .... Now, it is one of the objects of this pam- 
 phlet to let people see what ought to be done. 
 They ought to remonstrate. The presbyter should 
 protest against the invasion of his rights. He may 
 even appeal to the Metropolitan. I contend that he 
 may do, that he ought to do, this on high Church 
 principles. ... It becomes us to assert the principle 
 that the Bishop has no right to enter into our parish, 
 or to hold a meeting there, without having first con- 
 sulted the incumbent and the other clergy of the 
 parish. If he do so he commits an act of schism.
 
 -1840 Presbyterian Rights Asserted. 469 
 
 Let no fear of being deemed unfilial deter us. If 
 the Bishop be our father the Church is our mother ; 
 and if our father injure our mother we must protect 
 her even against him. I once heard of a man of 
 rank who was about to strike his wife. His son 
 interposed, bound his arms, and carried him out of 
 the room, and then he immediately loosed him and 
 let him go. The father instantly raised his hand to 
 strike his son. The pious son put his hands behind 
 him and said, " You may strike me if you will, I will 
 bear it all ; but you shall not strike my mother." 
 And so we must deal by our Bishop, when he 
 would damage the Church by violating her prin- 
 ciples. I do not say that the Bishop may not sup- 
 port the Bible Society, or any similar institution, if 
 he will. He may be able to explain away all the 
 texts which command us to keep the unity of the 
 body — that is, the visible Church — as well as of the 
 spirit. . . . All I contend for is that in the principles 
 shown to be those of the Church in this pamphlet, 
 he has no right to enter a parish to support the 
 Society where the presbyters are opposed to it.* 
 
 Having illustrated a similar contempt for the 
 rights of presbyters by a reference to the Church 
 Building Acts, armed with which a faction opposed 
 to an incumbent frequently planted a church in his 
 parish without his consent and to his great annoy- 
 ance, the Bishop abetting them in his ignorance of 
 the locality and the circumstances, he concludes the 
 pamphlet by affirming that in all which he had said 
 he had not the least intention or desire to depress 
 the Episcopate. He would ever value a Bishop's 
 blessing, ever maintain the honour of the order ; but
 
 470 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1838- 
 
 when Bishops were tempted to assume authority 
 which did not pertain to them, and to apply to Par- 
 liament for the power of the sword, he would not 
 hesitate to apply to them the words of St. Jerome, 
 ' Contenti sint honore suo ; patres se sciant esse, non 
 dominos, amari debent, non timeri.' 
 
 In November of this year (1839) he attended 
 a great meeting at Manchester on behalf of the 
 Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, The local 
 papers state that such a large gathering for a re- 
 ligious purpose had seldom if ever been witnessed 
 in Manchester. The principal speakers were the 
 Rev. Richard Durnford, now Bishop of Chichester, 
 the Rev. Hugh Stowell, and the Vicar of Leeds. 
 
 The Vicar's speech occupied more than an hour, 
 and the glowing eulogies upon it with which the 
 newspapers abounded for more than a week after- 
 wards seem to prove that it was regarded as the 
 speech of the evening. The most powerful and 
 telling part of the speech was that in which he 
 justified the Society's principle of attending first to 
 the colonies and dependencies of the English Empire. 
 * The Crown of England,' he said, ' has seventy-five 
 millions of heathen and Mohammedan subjects : 
 until we have converted them we have certainly 
 enough to do. If our objectors will enable us to 
 convert the seventy-five millions of our heathen and 
 Mohammedan fellow- subjects, we shall be happy to 
 go elsewhere. The colonies indeed have a very 
 solemn claim upon us. We have heard allusion 
 made to the condition of the pious colonist who goes 
 out, we will suppose, to the backwoods of America, 
 and sometimes an appeal is made to our feelings, and
 
 -1840 speech at Manchester. 471 
 
 we are told to think what his feelings must be as the 
 Lord's day dawns upon him, when he hears no chime 
 of the village church bell calling him to the sanc- 
 tuary of the Lord. This is indeed a subject which 
 may move our hearts, but we are to remember that, 
 of those who go out of our country, the majority, I 
 greatly fear — No ! I dare not judge, for our Lord says 
 "Judge not" — have very little regard for religion. 
 They go to a place where there is no pastor to 
 remind them of their duty, to attend them in ad- 
 versity and sickness, to preach to them the doctrines 
 of repentance, and to lay before them the glories 
 of redemption. Their little stock of religion soon 
 diminishes, their children are unbaptized, they never 
 hear their Saviour's name, unless perhaps it lingers 
 in some traditionary curse. And so England — 
 Christian England — is engaged in establishing the 
 empire of Infidelity. We have heard allusions 
 made to Australia : let us come to a few facts. To 
 Australia we have transported one hundred thousand 
 of our fellow-subjects for the selfish purpose of pro- 
 tecting our property and our lives. We have made 
 no provision of any kind, till very lately, for preaching 
 to them the doctrine of repentance and of the cross. 
 There were 900 persons last year transported from 
 London, and between 2,000 and 3,000 from England 
 and Wales, and you may judge of the condition of 
 that colony when I tell you that in Sydney with a 
 population of 16,300 there are 219 beershops. The 
 police magistrate could not reckon the number of 
 spirit shops, but he knew that the average consump- 
 tion of spirits was four gallons per man per annum, 
 and that every kind of vice was there prevalent.
 
 472 Life of Walter Farquhar Hook. 1838- 
 
 ' However, I will pass from the colonies, because 
 it is in India that we already begin to see how the 
 application of our principle works. We find that 
 ever since the Church has presented in India an im- 
 posing front, ever since we have had Bishops there, 
 and a regularly organised clergy, the natives are 
 beginning to think that the English are a people 
 who have some religion. They know that we are 
 a wise and understanding people, and they are 
 beginning to enquire what is the religion that we 
 profess. What more do we want ? We know that 
 we have God's truth, and we know that if the spirit 
 of enquiry be excited, God's truth will ultimately 
 prevail.' 
 
 He then glanced at some of the most cruel and 
 revolting superstitions of India as constituting an 
 appeal to common humanity, and ended with an 
 appeal to the feelings of those who knew and valued 
 the blessings of Christian faith. * In His name, 
 whose you are and whom you are bound to serve ; 
 in His name who has bought you with a price, even 
 the price of His own most precious blood, that He 
 might make you a peculiar people, zealous of this very 
 thing, zealous of good works; in His name whom, 
 if you really believe in Him, you must love and 
 adore ; in His name for whom, if you really believe in 
 Him, you must be prepared to spend and be spent, 
 to labour, to suffer and to die ; in His name, His 
 sacred name (in humble reverence I pronounce it), 
 the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we call upon 
 men to listen to that voice which sounds from the 
 East and from the West, saying, " Come over and 
 help us ! " * This conclusion of the speech was greeted
 
 -1840 speech at Leeds. 473 
 
 with a loud burst of cheering which lasted for 
 several minutes. 
 
 The propagation of Christianity in India, boldly 
 and honestly, was a duty on which he most earnestly 
 insisted, maintaining also that the matter was one 
 in which duty and interest coincided : for he had 
 the sagacity to foresee that the false and timid 
 policy adopted by the Indian Government, of en- 
 deavouring to conciliate the goodwill of the people 
 by patronising their heathenism, and dissembling if 
 not repudiating our own Christianity, was fraught with 
 peril to the stability of our tenure; a presentiment 
 which was indeed fearfully verified by the outbreak 
 of the Indian mutiny. He spoke with eloquent 
 indignation on the subject at a meeting for the 
 Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge held in 
 Leeds in the spring of 1840. 'Till very lately,' he 
 said, ' no native convert could be employed by the 
 British Government, though the native idolater 
 could. Is this the way to support religion ? Look 
 to the island of Ceylon. When the Dutch were in 
 possession they built churches and schools ; but 
 when England came into possession we thought that 
 bad policy. The churches were neglected, the 
 schools were suffered to decline, the former system 
 of idolatry was re-established, and its priests had 
 increased salaries awarded. Those who would con- 
 demn a religious establishment in England, who 
 would diminish the income of the Christian clergy, 
 were found to advocate an idolatrous establishment 
 in Ceylon. And this was considered good policy. 
 It is well indeed that we no longer profit by the 
 pilgrim tax, but we still pay 6,000/. a year to support
 
 474 -^C/^ ^f W'alter Fa7'qukar Hook. 1838-40 
 
 the old idol of Juggernaut. Look at what was 
 done last year. Nineteen of our soldiers refused to 
 take part in some Hindoo idolatrous ceremony : of 
 these nineteen one was a Mohammedan, the rest 
 were Christians. They were all put under arrest. 
 The Mohammedan pleaded conscience, and he was 
 suffered to go free. The Englishmen pleaded con- 
 science, too, but they were put in prison : that is to 
 say, those who were in authority feared the Moham- 
 medan population, but they did not fear the Christians' 
 God, who though unseen will surely punish. And 
 His punishment seems even now impending. Al- 
 ready our enemies are intriguing, and the Burmese 
 are in a state of insubordination. Let the Church in 
 England implore a merciful God to avert the im- 
 pending calamity. Let us bestir ourselves to make 
 the Church in India more efficient, so that, if our 
 nation shall be cast out, the Church of Christ may 
 still exist there — I trust under native bishops.' 
 
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