stood, and less fully appreciated; but, on a nearer view, it was not less striking than the former. There was, in reality, that within him which the Roman poet would have recognised as constituting the

'Justum et tenacem propositi virum.'

"He was deliberate and slow, as men would account it, in taking his ground; he was cautious in surveying it in all its bearings, its strength and its weakness, its advantages and its disadvantages; but when once he had taken it, having fully convinced himself that it was maintainable, and the right position to take, he was not to be easily dislodged from it. It was this firmness of character,'-I quote the words of a public journal, rather than employ my own; for, in bearing witness to points of excellence, the vox populi seldom errs, while, in pointing out defects and errors, it is continually found, by those who are more fully informed of facts and circumstances, to be as chargeable alike with incorrectness and uncharitableness-' it was this firmness of character, united with great perspicacity of judgment, which raised his character year by year; till, latterly, the moral weight and power belonging to this apparently feeble and timid man was quite prodigious. It became fully understood, that the hesitation and timorous shrinking which was seen, gave a very wrong idea of the power of mind and soul which was not seen. So far from being really fearful and backward,' I am quoting still from the same statement, the archbishop was a man of extraordinary courage, when he had gained a clear view of his duty. Never did he hesitate, or hang back, when duty called him to a leading position. In his opposition to the Romish Relief Bill of 1829, to the Reform Bill, and to the Education Scheme of 1839, he showed his independence of statesmen, and his promptitude whenever a necessity for his interference appeared. The last instance,' it is added, showed also the vast power which his character had given him. In a vote of complaint, addressed to the Sovereign, against her ministers, the House of Lords (July 5, 1839) supported the archbishop by the immense majority of 229 against 118.'

"In regard to the first-mentioned of these occasions, the Roman Catholic Emancipation Act, it is to be observed, that the archbishop gave on that occasion the same determined opposition to the Roman Catholic claims, which he had uniformly given, since first he took his seat in the House of Lords as Bishop of London. And it was 'within eight months of his elevation to the chair of St. Austin,' to quote the language of another journalist in his notice of the deceased primate, that he protested against the policy of the minister from whom he had received his appointment; and when the principle of the great government measure of that year (the Roman Catholic Relief Bill of 1829) came under discussion in the House of Lords, he moved that the Bill be read a second time that day six months. Our primate said, that at his consecration he had sworn to stand by the Church of England.' His post as ecclesiastical leader required,' I am still continuing quotation, that he should exalt his mitred front in courts and parliaments,' indifferent to the power of minister

or monarch. Respectful to both, but fearless of either,'-for this is the description truly given of him in regard to both-he would, in the spirit of that true loyalty which Christianity teaches, and which the church of England has ever exhibited, lend, to the utmost of his power, the support of religion to the fabric of civil government but when calumny and suspicion have done their worst, they have failed to prove that Cæsar, or Cæsar's throne, ever obtained from his lips, or at his hands, the homage or the obedience which were God's.

"But not only in opposing various governments, whether Whig or Tory,'-I quote again the language of the statement first referred to, did the archbishop's courage appear: his assent and cooperation was sometimes as bold an act as his opposition could have been. For instance,' it is asked, 'what man of a weak or trembling mind would ever have yielded a ready and entire assent to the Ecclesiastical Commission and its measures? None but a prelate of the most masculine character would ever,' it is added, have consented, at a few weeks' notice, to so vast and momentous a reform.' In regard, however, to this point,-an important one in the public life of the late archbishop,-it must be stated more particularly, that it presents the most prominent instance in which his firmness in maintaining the position which he had once advisedly taken up, was exceeded only by the deliberate-I may say, the resolute-caution which he showed before he would occupy it.

"It were needless, one might suppose, but I should rather say it is necessary now, since things past are so soon forgotten, to recal to your recollection the innumerable swarm (for no other term will describe it) of schemes of church reform, which followed quickly upon the carrying of reform in Parliament. Plans of every kind, affecting not merely the temporalities, but the formularies, the Liturgy, the doctrines, the discipline of the church, were daily appearing and those who had very vague notions indeed, as to what should be the character or the extent of the reform to be effected, were loud in the expression of the opinion, so common on such occasions, that, at all events, something must be done. In the midst of all this clamour,-amidst the urgency of those who considered themselves the warmest friends of the church, as well as of its bitterest foes, the archbishop would do nothing. In his judgment, it was not a time to take any step, when men's minds were in so great a ferment, and it was too probable, or certain, that, when once changes were in hand, the most rash alterations would be made. He did what in him lay to still the prevailing excitement, by giving reason to believe that he had the whole subject under his careful consideration; and, happily for the church and for the country, there was that general confidence felt in his strict integrity of purpose, his practical experience, his singular wisdom and prudence, and his earnest and strong desire to correct whatever was really faulty, and to supply the things that were wanting, that he prevailed to stave off the crisis; and awaited the time when, in his judgment, these matters might more safely be arranged. When that time arrived, he felt himself called upon to redeem his pledge; and he did it with ro

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ordinary boldness; not shrinking from the foremost post of responsibility in regard to the measures which he thought it right to sanction and recommend. And when, subsequently, a feeling had been successfully awakened, in opposition to the recommendations of the Ecclesiastical Commission, in regard to one point in particular, which, in the first instance, had been allowed to go by default; it appeared, to the surprise of many, that he whose sympathies were presumed to be, more strongly than that of others, on the side of preservation rather than of change, was least willing of all to yield to pressure from without; though it came now in a different direction, and with better signs for the church, and with a zeal in her cause which could not but make it painful, obnoxious, and unpopular, to seem to stand against it.

"His tenacity of purpose, in this instance, was the result of unbending justice and high sense of honour: even for the church's apparent interests, he would not appear to wish, in a moment of somewhat recovered strength, to depart from conditions made in the time of danger. And his high principle was not unrewarded. If the principality of Wales obtained her earnest desire, and that of those throughout the country who felt for her, and for the church in her, in the preservation, in their distinctness and integrity, of her two ancient northern sees, it was purchased by no inconsistency or vacillation in the primate: it was the minister of state who was found willing to concede the point. And the general satisfaction which that concession gave, was qualified by no apprehension, as it would otherwise have been, of a perilous re-opening of questions which might endanger the further strengthening of the episcopate, as well as the maintenance of our cathedral churches.

"And thus the primate never lost for the church that vantageground to which he pointed in his Visitation Charge of 1840, when he expressed his opinion in reference to the Ecclesiastical Duties and Revenues Act,' then recently passed, that, if the views entertained by its promoters' were 'realized, the church, when assailed on future occasions,' would find herself in a strong position. Her defenders,' he said, will appeal to the improvement in the spiritual condition of the people, which has been effected at her expense; they will show that the funds which remain for the sustentation of the magnificent fabrics' of the cathedrals, and the maintenance of the establishments, have been calculated on the lowest scale consistent with the due celebration of the solemn services of religion; and that the rewards of eminent learning and piety have been more largely reduced in number and value, than, under circumstances of less pressing necessity, might have been thought desirable. They will protest against the injustice and impolicy of disturbing an arrangement, prepared after careful inquiry and mature deliberation, and confirmed by the authority of the state. They will call in the aid of the numerous friends of religion and order, to secure the peace of the church, and protect her from factious violence or sacrilegious rapacity. Their arguments will make the greater impression, as being evidently founded in truth; and our means of resistance will

be available in their fullest extent, when we have no vulnerable parts to defend.' To state thus much is due, in simple justice to that unbending integrity and high sense of honour in the archbishop, which would never violate what he regarded as his plighted faith. And assuredly, on the ground resolutely taken by his meek spirit, upon full and deliberate consideration of the whole subject, in concert with the authorities of the state, the invisible strength of injured right would plead mightily on high, in the church's cause, if the measures which he sanctioned as a final arrangement should ever be wrongfully enlisted on the side of the enemy or the oppressor.

"In illustration, however, of the point of character which we are now considering, the moral courage, and, let me add, the physical courage also, which distinguished the late archbishop,-I would refer to the language of his Primary Charge, as delivered at Canterbury in August, 1832; reminding you only, that it was on the night before its delivery, that, in the streets of his own metropolitical city, the archbishop was exposed to a tumultuous and violent attack, which was unhappily but too characteristic of the spirit then abroad. Under such circumstances, however, he did not shrink from the avowal of the principles on which he intended to act for the preservation and strengthening of our ecclesiastical institutions. Our forefathers,' he said, though they well understood the nature and value of a simple and spiritual worship, were of this opinion,'-that our cathedral corporations added much, not only to the dignity,' but also 'to the usefulness of our national establishment;'-' and while they abolished useless foundations, and expelled from their churches the gaudy decorations and ceremonial pageantry, which diverted the attention of the people from the proper objects of devotion, they deemed it conducive to the honour of God, to preserve many cathedral and collegiate churches, with ample endowments, under the keeping of bodies of clergy, to whom, from their qualifications and circumstances, the due performance of the service, and the care of the fabric, might safely be trusted. Regardless of the opposition which they had to encounter on this head, the monarchs and statesmen of those days,' he continued, were not to be moved from their purpose. In a later age, when these sacred edifices had been profaned and defaced, the clergy dispersed, and the property alienated, by fanatical fury and rapacity, the government, though under strong temptations of avarice, and having little to fear from resistance, continued to act on the same principle. It would, indeed, have been little to the credit,' he went on to say, 'of a nation so highly favoured by Providence with temporal blessings, to have seized on revenues, which had been appropriated to the service of God by the piety of less opulent ages. And,' he added, 'I trust the time will never arrive, when either religious prejudice, or philosophical theory, or avidity concealing its baseness under pretences of public good, will be suffered to triumph in the destruction of these establishments.' And then, speaking of the ' venerable pile' of his own metropolitical church, and of the testimony' which it bore to the liberality and piety of those who, regardless of personal interests,' had then planned and conducted the work

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of restoring it to its original beauty,'* he offered the heartfelt prayer, May the hymn and the anthem never cease to resound through its clustering columns and vaulted roofs, whilst its lofty towers proclaim to the stranger who visits the land, that the present generation are no less sincere than their fathers in their veneration for the national religion! May it never again be polluted by the invasion of sacrilege, nor yield up to the spoiler the treasures which afford the means of its preservation !'

"In a subsequent part of his Charge, in enforcing the importance of a good example to be exhibited in the lives of the clergy, the archbishop thus addressed you, in language which bears closely upon the points of character, and principles of conduct, which we have been contemplating as exemplified in himself. In regard,' he said, 'to one description of Christian virtues, humility, meekness, and patience, the charity that suffereth long, and is not easily provoked, we are now more especially under trial. Contempt, insult, and contumely have been unsparingly heaped on our order and persons: with what justice, it becomes those to consider who, from the impulse of political feeling, or in their zeal against abuses of which they assume the reality, have thought themselves justified in conduct as directly at variance with Christian charity, as with the rules of civilized society. But be their motives better or worse, the Spirit, to which we look for direction, hath expressly commanded us not to return railing for railing, or cursing for cursing, but, contrary wise, blessing. Our ever blessed Master and Lord, when he was reviled, reviled not again; and his example is a law to his disciples.. have hitherto acted on the principle of forbearance, and, if not overcome by provocation, we may hope in the end to reap the advantage in the gradual abatement of violence, and the revival of a better feeling'-anticipations, it may be added, which were happily realized.

We

"At the same time,' after some further remarks, the archbishop went on to say, 'I am far from insensible to the dangers which threaten our establishment, nor can I view the position in which we are placed without serious concern and apprehension. In the Sister Island a plan has been organized'-it will be recollected that the date of the charge was 1832- for the subversion of the Irish branch of our church by the general spoliation of its property; and, humanly speaking, nothing short of determined support on the part of the government, can preserve it from utter ruin. That support has been given, and will, I trust, be continued, for the sake of the Protestant faith, for the sake of a clergy pre-eminent in learning and piety, for the sake of the population of Ireland, who are benefited, without distinction of creeds, by the light of their example and the aid of

"The archbishop subjoined in a note,-"The amount of expenditure on the repairs and decorations of the cathedral, since the year 1822, when the larger works were begun, exceeds 29,000l. To this must be added the expense of rebuilding the Arundel Tower, for which purpose the chapter is empowered by Act of Parliament to raise 25,000l. by way of loan. Of this sum 20,000/. has already been borrowed, and the remainder will probably be required for the completion of the work.' It should be added that the whole amount was eventually borrowed.