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JAMES FRASER 

SECOND BISHOP OF MANCHESTER 


BY 

THOMAS HUGHES, O.C. 



"He that would understand England must understand her Church, 
for that is half the whole matter. " 

Carlyle's Journals, FROUDE'S Life 


MACMILLAN AND CO. 

AND NEW YORK 
1889 

The Right of Translation and Reproduction is Reserved 



RICHARD CLAT AND SONS, LIMITED, 
LONDON AND BUNGAY. 



First Edition (Demy 8vo), Printed, February, 1887. 

Reprinted, March, 1887. New Edition (Crown 8vo), i 

Reprinted, 1889. 



PREFACE. 



THE thanks of the readers of this book, and of the Author, 
are due to Mrs. Fraser, and to the friends of the late Bishop 
who have kindly allowed selections from their letters to be 
published, or have furnished memoranda of their intercourse 
with him. 

Nothing else seems to be needed in the way of preface 
to a biography of this class. No one can doubt that this 
time has need of men of faith, simplicity, and courage, and 
of these qualities Bishop Fraser was a bright example. My 
work has been only to let him paint his own picture : " good 
wine needs no bush." 

T. H. 



2067792 



CONTENTS. 

PART I. 

CHAPTER I. 

PACE 

EARLY YEARS. BRIDGEXORTH AND SHREWSBURY SCHOOLS, 

LINCOLN COLLEGE, OXFORD. l8l8 1840 3 

CHAPTER II. 

ORIEL, 1840 1848 24 

CHAPTER III. 

CHOLDERTOX. I. THE NEW CHURCH. 1847 1849 55 

CHAPTER IV. 

CHOLDERTON. II. CHANCELLOR OF SALISBURY THE NEW 
SCHOOLS SUB-COMMISSIONER ON ELEMENTARY EDUCA- 
TION. 1850 1860 83 

CHAPTER V. 

UFTON NERVET. I. l86o 1866 . I IO 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER VI. 

PAGE 
AMERICA. 1865 125 



CHAPTER VII. 

VFTON NERVET AND THE AGRICULTURAL CHILDREN'S COM- 
MISSION. 1866 1870 149 



PART II. 

CHAPTER I. 

THE TRANSITION. 1870 ................. 183 

CHAPTER II. 

BREAKING GROUND IN MANCHESTER. 1870 1871 ..... IQI 



CHAPTER III. 

MANCHESTER ; EXTRA DIOCESAN WORK ; HOUSE OF LORDS ; 

CONVOCATION. 1870 1871 .............. 217 



CHAPTER IV. 

MANCHESTER, 18711875 



CHAPTER V. 

MANCHESTER ; THE LABOUR QUESTION ; TRADES UNIONS ; 

CO-OPERATION, 1874 ................. 246 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER VI. 

PAGE 

MANCHESTER, 1876 i88o 258 



CHAPTER VII. 

MILES PLATTING, 1873 1874 2/9 

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE CONVOCATION OF YORK, iSSl 1882 313 

CHAPTER IX. 

MARRIAGE, l88o ; 18571880 324 

CHAPTER X. 

MANCHESTER, l88o 1884 337 

CHAPTER XI. 

ST. JOHN'S, CHEETHAM HILL, 1884, 1885 360 

CHAPTER XII. 

THE LAST YEAR. 1885 . 373 

APPENDIX 391 

INDEX 401 



"England felt the full heat of the Christianity which fermented 
" Europe, and drew, like the chemistry of fire, a firm line between 
"barbarism and culture. 

"The Church was the mediator, check, and democratic principle in 
"Europe Latimer, Wicliffe, Arundel, Cobham, Anthony Parsons, Sir 
"Harry Vane, George Fox, Penn, Bunyan, are the democrats, as well 
"as the saints, of their times. The Catholic Church, thrown on this 
"toiling, serious people, has made in fourteen centuries a massive 
"system, close fitted to the manners and genius of the country, at once 
"domestical and stately. In the long time it has blended with every- 
"thing in heaven above and the earth beneath." 

EMERSON'S English Trails "Religion."' 



PART I. 

" He who would understand England must understand her 
Church, for that is half of the whole matter." CARLYLE'S 
"Journal," FROUDE'S Life, vol. ii. p. 73. 



LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. 



PART I. 



CHAPTER I. 

" There are who ask not if thine eye 
Be on them ! who in love and truth, 
Where no misgiving is, rely 
Upon the genial sense of youth : 
Glad hearts, without reproach or blot, 
Who do thy work and know it not." 

WORDSWORTH, Ode to Duty. 

EARLY YEARS. BRIDGENORTH AND SHREWSBURY SCHOOLS, 
LINCOLN COLLEGE, OXFORD. l8l8 1840. 

18181832. 

JAMES FRASER was born on the i8th of August, 1818, at 
Oaklands House, in the parish of Prestbury, a Gloucester- 
shire village nestling under the Cotswolds. His father, a 
cadet of the Frasers of Durris, in Kincardineshire, had gone 
to India when very young and been successful as a merchant. 
He was thus able to return home, and settle, at a com- 
paratively early age. He married a daughter of Mr. John 

B 2 



4 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

Willim, a leading Solicitor at Bilston, Staffordshire, and 
James was the eldest of their seven children, the others 
being five boys and one girl. 

For several years after his early childhood he spent most 
of his time at his grandfather's at Bilston, where he soon 
began to show the ability which marked him all his life. His 
early lessons gave him no trouble. " James seems always to 
be whistling about the house," his aunt said to a friend ; " and 
when I ask him if it is not time to begin his lessons, his 
answer is always the same, 'Oh, I finished them long ago.'" 
In 1824, when he was six years old, his parents moved to 

5 Baring Crescent, Heavitree, near Exeter; for the educa- 
tional and economical advantages of that neighbourhood, 
and to be near old Indian friends of his father settled in that 
western city. 

Here James was sent to his first school, at Mount Radford 
(another neighbouring suburb of Exeter). " There I remained 
till I was fourteen. The Rev. C. R. Roper was my master, 
and an excellent one he was." So the Bishop of Manchester 
wrote forty years later, with his usual kindliness, of one who 
may have been a good teacher, but was scarcely fit for his 
post in other respects. One day, for instance, the boy had 
had his head buried in his desk during school hours, after 
the manner of boys, with the heavy lid hanging over him. 
The head master, passing along, tilted it, and let it fall on 
the boy's head, happily with no worse result than a bad 
headache. 

While at Mount Radford, Mr. Willim, his grandfather, 
writes of him to his mother (1825) : " Your pleasing accounts 
of all the dear children, and particularly the progress dear 
James is making in his learning, are most gratifying to us. 
That boy is a blessing to us all, and some day will be our 
pride and boast ; at least I fully anticipate this." 



CHAP. i. BRIDGENORTH SCHOOL. 5 

18301834. 

His father died in 1832, when he was fourteen. Like 
other successful Indians, used to a busy life, and finding 
unemployed leisure unendurable, James Fraser the elder 
embarked the greater part of his property in iron mines, and 
other properties, which his experience did not enable him to 
manage successfully. The consequence was that his widow 
found herself comparatively poor, with six sons to bring up. 
She lived on at. Heavitree, but both she herself and the boys 
now spent much time with her own family at Bewdley, in 
Staffordshire, where her brother, John Willim, was now 
established as a Solicitor. Under his advice James was sent 
to Bridgenorth School, of which Dr. Rowley was then head 
master. The two years he spent there were quiet and profit- 
able, owing mainly to the ability of the doctor, but in part 
to the stimulating society of several school-fellows equally 
able with himself. These were the present Lord Lingen, 
Osborne Gordon, and Pulling, all afterwards with himself 
highly distinguished at Oxford, where Lord Lingen became 
Ireland scholar and a Fellow of Balliol, Osborne Gordon 
censor and tutor of Christ Church, and Pulling, Fellow of 
Brasenose. At Bridgenorth he got the nickname of " peach " 
from his blooming complexion. He left with his school- 
fellows the impression of a good and good-humoured boy, 
whose career was likely to be distinguished. 

The esteem in which Dr. Rowley held him appears by the 
following extract from the doctor's letter to his mother, dated 
May 1 2th, 1834, on his removal to Shrewsbury : " I am happy 
to say that your son is giving me very great satisfaction. 
I deeply regret his removal. Perhaps the master of a classical 
school is exposed to no severer mortification than that ot 
seeing one of his most promising pupils removed to another 



6 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART I. 

school when he expects to reap the just reward of his past 
exertions and solicitude. But I have no reason to complain, 
and I confess the reason you give for placing your son under 
Dr. Butler is, without reference to the high merits of that 
excellent master, a most satisfactory one. I hope James 
will always continue to regard me as his sincere friend, and 
will visit me whenever he feels disposed to do so. Allow 
me in conclusion to say that if you find any difficulty in com- 
pleting his education I should be most happy at any time to 
resume the task, without any other remuneration than the 
pleasure I should derive from instructing a youth for whom 
I have a high' regard." Forty-four years later, in the autumn 
of 1878, Fraser preached the sermon at St. Leonard's Church, 
on the occasion of connecting the doctor's name with a 
painted window put up in the Church by his old scholars. "Dr. 
Rowley," writes Lord Lingen, ' eighty years old, but still 
vigorous, was present, and so were many of his scholars, 
including several, like the Bishop and myself, whose stand- 
ing fell in the last lustrum of half a century. The Bishop 
referred to his own widowed mother, and to Dr. Rowley's 
consideration for her at the time when he first came to the 
school, and generally recalled in his best manner the old 
gentleman's many claims on the affection and gratitude of 
his scholars. Then, recovering himself from mereeulogium, 
'but Dr. Rowley,' he added, 'was a passionate man,' and 
made us all smile at this completion of the portrait in the 
presence of the subject of it, and of so many who could 
appreciate how true it was in no bad sense. The turn of 
mind which dictated this passage, a mixture of simplicity 
and absolute sincerity, and of a disposition to see the funny 
at the same time as the serious side of things, characterizes 
his episcopal charges, each of which he sent me as they 
were published, and I have always thought them the most 



CHAP. i. LIFE AT HEAVITREE. 7 

exact reflex I ever met with 'of a writer in his writings." 
Readers will excuse this anticipatory digression for the valu- 
able light which they will find it throws on the character of 
our subject. 

His own early letters, many of which have been pre- 
served, are those of a bright, docile, vigorous boy, but not 
otherwise remarkable. One specimen will be enough, to 
his mother, temporarily absent from their Heavitree home, 
having left Aunt Lucy, her sister, in charge. 

September gf/i, 1830. "What do you think I want the 
kennel for ? Why, it is for a dog I think you were not a 
good guesser to think a rabbit, for rabbits are always kept in 
hutches, not in kennels Mr. Adams presented it to me on 
-my birthday. We have named it Rover, and it is just three 
months old to-morrow. Aunt Lucy, John, Edward and I 
went out to pick mushrooms yesterday afternoon, it being a 
half-holiday, and took the dog out with us. We picked none 
however, but had a most delightful walk as far as Salmon 
Pool. We set out at half-past three, and came home at six. 
Aunt Lucy has made some raised veal pies which are very 
nice. I am staying at home to-day, having a bad cold, and 
have taken some calomel. Our school is going on very 
well we have ninety-three boys, of whom forty are boarders. 
As we were at the Salmon Pool we met the Bishop (Phil- 
potts) walking alone, and Edward, when we first saw him 
at a distance, said ' Look at that funny old man with an 
apron on,' and, upon his coming nearer, ran up and came 
staring in his face. Aunt Lucy had met him at Colonel Mac- 
donald's. Now I have finished my letter and am going to 
play with my little dog, as John and Edward are gone to 
school. Mr. Tucker thinks it is a mongrel, but I say he is 
very much mistaken." 



8 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART L. 

The letters of this period, of which this is a fair specimen, 
leave the impression that the writer was young of his age. 
Undoubtedly this was so in some respects, and remained so 
all his life ; but, on the other hand, in many ways his character 
was already mature while he was still a young boy. The 
desire to spare and help his mother in every way, above all 
in the care and training of his younger brothers, was the 
cause of this, and developed his remarkable instinct for 
management and business. As soon as the boys had any 
pocket-money " he always used to impress upon us," writes 
General Fraser, the last survivor, "the desirableness ofgrea- 
care with it, and to advise us never to spend all, but to pu 
something aside for rainy days." And again, " He frequentl) 
organised pic-nics for us from Exeter to Star Cross, Powder- 
ham Castle, on the Exe and Ship Canal. We boys used to 
pull a heavy four-oar and our mother would steer, and with 
one or two other ladies, an aunt or cousin, we used to have 
very happy times. James would do the best part of the 
work though as stroke ; and in this, as in most other things, 
we had to keep his time. But we were all rather shy of 
going for a walk in the country with him, as he would stride 
along at such a pace that few cared to keep up with him. 
On the other hand, he didn't always care about walking in 
the town with us, as we were seldom ' got up ' to his satis- 
faction." The walking habit lasted all his life. Forty years 
later, when the General was staying at Bishop's Court, he 
was rash enough to accept his brother's invitation to walk 
into Manchester. At the end of half a mile or so he had 
had enough, and came to a dead stop with, " I say, James, 
I see a 'bus coming down the hill ; I think I'll get into that 
and meet you in the city." 

His passion for horses, though kept sternly in check, was 
very strong. Their house in Heavitree was near the London 



CHAP. I. FAMILY ESTIMATES OF J. F. 9 

Road, and he was fond of taking his younger brothers to 
see the "Quicksilver" mail pass, which did the 176 miles 
within the eighteen hours ; and the General, who generally 
went to see him start for school in later years, remarked 
that he always managed to get the box seat 

There are also signs in the early letters of a taste for 
shooting in the family of boys, which however was probably 
confined to small birds in that thickly inhabited and strictly 
preserved neighbourhood. " By the by," he writes to his 
mother from Shrewsbury, " has Ted taken over the gun to 
Mr. Short's? If not I wish he would do so directly, and 
take it over frequently, say once a fortnight or so, to let him 
see if it is clean or not." ..." The Wonder there's 
a coach for the money came here this day (Saturday) week 
with all our fellows and their luggage on, as full as it could 
hold, in fourteen hours and three-quarters, 159 miles. The 
Antelope was fifteen hours." 

Amongst the sedulously preserved packets of papers of 
this time, tied up and carefully labelled by his mother, are 
specimens of James's exercises, from which the following 
prophetic sentences (1829) may be taken as characteristic: 
" Education is the source of happiness to society. A man 
without education can be but little better than a beast. The 
advantages of it are very evident, since it produces all the 
happiness of which man is possessed," &c., &c. 

From the first Mrs. Fraser heard nothing but praise of her 
eldest boy, a much-needed support in presence of the loss 
of her husband and consequent embarrassments. How his 
reputation grew in the family circle may be gathered from 
an extract or two from the letters of this period. 

Mr.J. Willimto Mrs. Fraser. July igtA, 1829. "I will 
drive them (James and John) to Birmingham, and see them 



io LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

safely off. Probably I may meet with some gentleman on 
the coach under whose care I can place them, but if not I 
am satisfied they are both capable of taking care of them- 
selves. And now, my dear Helen, having thus arranged for 
the departure of my two dear grandsons, it will give you 
heartfelt pleasure to hear what good boy's they have been all 
the time they have been with us. Every one says what fine 
boys they are, and I assure you we are all quite proud of them. 
They are full of spirits, but have not, as you suspected, been 
too noisy for their grandmamma and me, who are well 
pleased to see them agree so well with each other. They 
are clever boys, especially James, who has talents of a very 
superior kind, and will show themselves to great advantage 
in a few years I have not the least doubt. They have 
greatly enjoyed themselves in the excursions to Dudley 
Castle, &c., and it is a great satisfaction to see them in such 
fine health a sound mind in a sound body is the greatest 
blessing on earth." 

Miss Lucy Willim to Mrs. Fraser (same date). " You will 
be pleased to read dear father's account of the boys. They 
really have been very good children. Catherine has been 
quite astonished at James's talent and quickness in French, 
much more so than Anne even, and she was very quick. 
She says he has quite surprised her, he has such a clear 
head, strong memory, and good judgment. They have 
behaved very well indeed, particularly having been so 
confined to the house." 

In January, 1833, Miss Willim writes to her sister, Mrs. 
Fraser : " His grandfather is constantly exclaiming, ' What 
a nice lad James is, and what an excellent character he has 
gained himself ! Do tell poor Helen about him, it will be 



CHAP. I. FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES. II 



so cheering to her. "Write to-day.' " This Aunt Lucy does, 
nothing loath, adding, " Dear James left us yesterday morn- 
ing, and I am happy to say in excellent spirits, nor did they 
flag, I understand, when his uncle parted from him. They 
went in John's gig, James driving. John dined at the 
Rowleys', and had a good deal of conversation with them. 
He first saw Mrs. Rowley, who spoke of dear James in the 
highest terms, and on John's saying how much gratified his 
poor mother was with Mr. Rowley's letter respecting him, 
she replied, ' I am sure he is every way deserving of what 
was said of him, for we never had a pleasanter boy in our 
house ; and Mr. Rowley is equally satisfied with him in his 
studies.' She also said : ' I know that Mr. Rowley, rather 
than part with him, would sooner lower his terms if neces- 
sary.' Mr. Rowley, too, spoke most highly of James, as to 
his talents and industry as well as his general conduct. 
After he had read your letter" [telling of her husband's 
death, and her own reduced circumstances] " he immediately 
said, ' James shall have his single bed as usual ' ; and on 
being paid his bill, returned to John the charge that had 
been made for it for the last half year. He observed, too, 
that for the future he did not think his half-yearly bill would 
amount to more than z6L or zy/." 

Here is a specimen extract from the Bridgenorth letters : 
"February 22nd, 1833. A good many boys have left, and I 
am now in the study by right, but do not sit up there because 
those in the study do not like moving up into the head room, 
and I do not press them as I am very well contented where 
I now am, being head boy of the lower room, and eighteenth 
in the school. I take one penny publication called the Penny 
Cydoptzdia, which is to be completed in seven years, and 
one twopenny one, The Thief ; both of them I think are use- 



12 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PARTI. 

ful and entertaining, and I may as well lay out my money in 
those as in anything else. They are very cheap, and Mr. 
Rowley recommends them strongly. I should think John 
and Edward would like to take them in. As you see I here 
send you a copy of my will, which I have been advised to 
make by Uncle John, who told me I was of age to do so 
and to leave my property in what way I liked, as he said the 
uncertainty of life was so lamentable. As this will meet the 
eye of Aunt Willim, I must tell her that she put me up no 
soap, toothbrush or powder, which I have been obliged to 
buy and am now supplied. With me the time passes very 
quickly now; at first it was just the contrary. If any of you 
like it I will send you every month a part of The Thief an<\ 
Encyclopedia^ I can easily do so. I have covered all my 
books with brown paper and I hope they are in good order : 
they are all right, none missing when I came. We have had 
snow here and a great deal of snowballing, from which I 
caught a cold which I have at present. I beliave this is the 
longest letter and the biggest sheet I ever wrote on, and 
having exhausted my news I must conclude, begging to be 
remembered to all friends, and hoping you are in better 
spirits than when I saw you last, and that John and Edward 
are industrious at school." 

The will, a copy of which was.-enclosed, was as follows : " I, 
James Fraser, late of Baring Crescent, in the County of 
Devon, but now a student at Bridgenorth School, in the 
County of Salop, being in the fifteenth year of my age, do 
hereby give and bequeath all my property of what description 
soever to my dearly beloved mother, Helen Fraser, to be 
made use of by her according to her discretion." Uncle 
John by the same post informs his sister that " dear James 
has drawn it himself without any instructions from any 
of us." 



CHAP. I. DR. BUTLER ON J. F. 13 

18341836. 

In 1834, James, as we have heard already, was removed 
to Shrewsbury, then enjoying a very high reputation under 
Dr. Butler. His mother, who was anxious to give him every 
possible advantage, at any sacrifice to herself, could not have 
chosen better. A neighbouring squire, a friend of Mr. Willim, 
whose son, a year older than James, had been for several 
years at the school, volunteered that the new boy should go 
under this son's wing. The new boy however was at once 
placed a form or two above his protector, and otherwise 
proved himself, from the first, quite able to hold his own. 

For eighteen months Dr. Butler continued head master, 
until the eve of his appointment to the Bishopric of Lichfield. 
Fraser had come under his own hand in the sixth form, and 
had gained his entire approval from the first. " It gives me 
great pleasure," he writes, on March 3oth, 1835, " * continue 
my good reports of Fraser. No boy can be more attentive, 
or conduct himself better than he does. He cannot fail of 
doing well." At the previous Christmas, his mother had 
thought of allowing him at once to go up to Oxford, where 
she would seem to have had some offer of a Bible clerkship, 
or other position of that kind. As to this however Dr. 
Butler writes even peremptorily : " With regard to his admis- 
sion at Oxford, it must not be thought of this year. It is of 
consequence that he should go there with every possible ad- 
vantage, which he will do with much greater prospects of 
success if he stays at school long enough to become an 
accomplished scholar. For he must be capable of offering 
himself for the highest distinctions, and these I flatter myself 
he is likely to attain. I am very anxious for his welfare and 
improvement, and desire to promote it by every means in 
my power." 



I 4 LIFE OF 'BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

In January, 1836, Dr. Butler informed the parents of 
boys at Shrewsbury that he intended to resign at mid- 
summer. In reply, Mrs. Fraser writes, January 26th, 1836, 
thanking the doctor for his " continued liberality in allowing 
James the benefit of private tuition gratis " ; and begs for 
the doctor's influence with his successor, to continue " the 
interest which you have so warmly evinced towards him 
yourself; for, unaided by your influence and intercession, I 
cannot look for it at the hands of a stranger, who is 
totally unacquainted with my peculiar situation and limited 
means." 

Dr. Butler more than satisfied the widow's hopes. His 
successor, Dr. Kennedy, afterwards Professor of Greek at 
Cambridge, continued the private tuition, and even with 
better results than his more widely famous predecessor. 
Fraser declared again and again in later years that his 
three months at Shrewsbury under Kennedy were more 
valuable than any other six, either at school or Oxford, for 
during that time, and under him, he " learnt how to read an 
ancient author." 

His mother's trials, severe as they had been, were des- 
tined to be yet heavier. Almost before the mourning for her 
husband had ceased, she lost her only daughter, a girl of 
three, and Stewart, a boy of five, by scarlet fever. James 
was then at Shrewsbury, whence he wrote a letter which 
his mother always kept by her ; and, showing it to a friend 
in Manchester shortly before her death, spoke of it as having 
been her most precious treasure in all the intervening years. 
The part of it which may be published runs : " I am fully 
aware how you will miss her innocent prattle, her lisping 
tongue, her happy, affectionate looks. I full well know that 
you have drunk the cup of affliction to the dregs; and, 
though one who might have been a prop and solace to an 



CHAP. I. DR. BUTLER'S SPEECH IN SCHOOL. 15 

affectionate mother's declining years has thus been untimely 
snatched away, yet I trust, my fondest mother, it will ever be 
the proudest boast of her six remaining sons to make the 
comfort and happiness of one, to whose maternal solicitude 
they are all so deeply indebted, their first attention and their 
earliest care. And be assured, my dearest mother, that, so 
long as it shall please God to prolong my days upon earth, it 
will be the happiest moment of my life to contribute to the 
comfort and to alleviate the cares of that mother who has 
undergone so many trials, who has denied herself so many 
indulgences, for, and who has bestowed so much attention 
on, her ever dutiful and most affectionate son, James 
Fraser." 

To his Mother. Oct. i6/A, 1834. " Uncle need not fuss 
himself about the Doctor becoming a Bishop, as it is all a fad. 
He came into the school the other day with a new gown, 
and I will relate to you as nearly as possible the speech he 
made on that occasion. ' When Lord Chesterfield,' said he, 
'was Viceroy of Ireland, there was a report that he was 
going to leave, and as he did not know how to contradict the 
report, for he thought writing in the paper would be no 
good, he bethought himself, of the following expedient. 
He called his gardener and told him to plant a whole field 
with asparagus, and as that is three years in coming to 
perfection so the people might know he was not going 
to leave them. In like manner,' said the Doctor, ' I have 
bought a new gown with the like intention ; indeed, I have 
long known who is to be appointed to the Bishopric, but I 
mean to remain master of this school so long as my health 
and strength will permit.' On which the boys with one 
accord gave a tremendous shout of applause. So my dear 
uncle need not trouble himself any further about the matter." 



16 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART I. 

Although his mother was not certain that she should 
be able to send him to the University, his name was entered 
at Balliol when he was seventeen ; and Dr. Butler sent him 
up to compete soon afterwards for a scholarship at Corpus. 
He was not successful, to the great subsequent regret of the 
authorities of that College. In March, 1836, he was again 
sent up, to try for a Lincoln scholarship, worth 387. a year. 
This time he was singularly successful, owing mainly to the 
fact that Richard Michell, the best known and most success- 
ful of all " coaches " of that day, was Dean of Lincoln 
College, and one of the examiners. With him, Fraser's 
first paper settled the question, and he was elected by 
acclamation. The scholarship was an open one, and there 
were twenty-six candidates, of whom twenty were already in 
residence, and there was no limit as to age. The success 
therefore was a very great one. 

Here is his letter to his mother on getting back to Shrews- 
bury : " You were doubtless somewhat surprised, and I hope 
delighted, to hear of my good fortune at Oxford in gaining 
the Lincoln scholarship, for it was rather a sudden thing 
altogether. I will, however, give you the whole history of the 
transaction. On Monday morning the Doctor called me up, 
and asked me if I was entered anywhere, as he thought 
it was time I should be. I answered ' no,' as I forgot at the 
time that I was entered at Balliol, or rather I did not know 
it till Uncle John wrote me word that such was the case. 
The Doctor then told me there were four vacant scholarships 
at Lincoln, which he thought a very good opening, and that 
I must be up there on Thursday next. Now this was 
Monday. But as he did not know their value, whether they 
were worth the expense of going up for, he told me to write 
to Robert Dukes, who was here, and is now a scholar of 
Lincoln, and make all requisite inquiries. I wrote immedi- 



CHAP. I SCHOLARSHIP AT LINCOLN. 17 

ately, and also to Uncle John, and received both their 
answers on Wednesday afternoon, viz. : Uncle John's that I 
should be guided by the Doctor ; and Duke's, that the value 
of them was 387., which was worth 6ol. at any other college, 
as Lincoln is a very cheap one, and that my expenses exclu- 
sive of my scholarship would not exceed 1507. On receipt 
of these I resolved to go, and accordingly the Doctor 
furnished me with 5/. for my expenses, which by the by was 
scarcely sufficient, as I had to stop a week in Oxford, and I 
started per the Nimrod to Birmingham, at five A.M. on 
Thursday, got there in time for the Oxford coach ' the Day,' 
and arrived at my destination at six P.M. Early next morn- 
ing I presented myself to the Sub-Rector and gave in my 
credentials. We then went in for examination, which con- 
tinued till Tuesday evening, when at four o'clock I was 
delightfully surprised to hear that I was elected first scholar 
of Lincoln. Next day I matriculated, and became a member 
of the ancient University of Oxford. I shall be obliged 
to reside in October, which is somewhat sooner than I 
expected." 

Uncle Willim, who had sent the news to his sister, is, 
naturally enough, jubilant over, "James's glorious success," 
the financial difficulty of an Oxford career being now satis- 
factorily settled. "James," as second boy in Shrewsbury 
School, his uncle goes on to say, " is one of the committee 
of three who are getting up the testimonial service of plate 
to Dr. Butler on his resignation. He has been asked to 
Archdeacon Bather's, to meet Mr. Whately, Q.C., leader of 
the circuit, and other barristers, old Shrewsbury boys, who 
are also getting up a separate testimonial." James is quite 
a lion amongst all Shrewsbury boys, past and present, after 
his Lincoln feat ; and Uncle Willim thinks " he ought now 
to add another guinea to his subscription of two guineas to 

c 



iS LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

the school testimonial if it can be done without being 
remarkable, several of the other sixth form boys having 
given three, and even four guineas." 

He went into residence at Lincoln in January, 1837. 
Probably no man's career as an undergraduate at Oxford was 
ever more creditable, or more monotonous, than his. His 
most intimate friend, and old schoolfellow, Sale, by this 
time a demy of Magdalen, who was with him almost daily, 
can recall nothing but their regular walks in the way of 
exercise and diversion. "We were good friends," Lord 
Lingen writes, " but not particularly intimate." He read 
hard from the first day of his residence, without a break. 
He could not afford a private tutor ; but was in this matter 
really at no great disadvantage. For Michell, who from the 
day of his scholarship examination had formed a very high 
estimate of his abilities, gave him constant advice and help 
without fee, for the credit of the college. The great 
" coach's " foresight and liberality were amply rewarded 
in the sequel. 

His rigid economy, as creditable as it was rare in those 
days, is spoken to by all his friends. Even in the matter of 
books, Sale and others agree that his library was most incon- 
veniently small. He never rode at Oxford till after he had 
taken his degree. And it must be remembered that he was 
not one of those who are born students, and who never 
appreciate the yvfivaariK^ in education. On the contrary, 
the testimony of all those contemporaries who knew him 
most intimately agrees that he was never a student in the 
true sense of the word, though he had that most enviable 
power, which Charles Kingsley possessed perhaps in greater 
perfection than any other man of that generation, of drawing 
the heart out of a book on a slight, and apparently cursory 



CHAP. i. SCHOLAR OF LINCOLN. 19 

reading. He was indeed essentially (to use again his 
favourite Aristotelian language) dvrjp TrpaKTtKos rather than 
OetDprjTLKos. He had magnificent thews and sinews, and was 
by no means indifferent to their cultivation ; though he chose 
deliberately to restrict himself, in that department, to the 
regular use of heavy dumb bells ; while for horses, as has 
been already noted, he had something approaching to a 
passion. Then again, he was of an extremely social tempera- 
ment, and made and kept friends with quite unusual ease. 
He was also decidedly fond of good dress as well as good 
company. But, as an undergraduate, he gave no parties, and 
went to none ; and dressed with great economy. No man 
had greater natural taste for enjoyment, or allowed his 
natural taste less play. 

The result was that the stern self-restraint of these three 
years gave him the most perfect self-control through life. 
Liberal and hospitable as he became the moment he felt his 
financial position a safe one, he never permitted himself, or 
would tolerate in others, silly or wasteful expenditure of any 
kind. The Church of which he became so eminent a 
Pastor was said, half jestingly, half approvingly, by 
Emerson, " to believe in a Providence which does not 
treat with levity a pound sterling." Whether true or not 
of the body, the saying was certainly true of him. No 
part of his ministry was more remarkable, or more success- 
ful, as we shall see, than his teaching of thrift, by precept 
and example, to his poor. 

1837- 

In 1837 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the Hertford 
Latin scholarship. 

His first University distinction came in his second year, 
when he went in for the Ireland scholarship. Out of a 

c 2 



20 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

large field, he and one other candidate were selected as un- 
questionably the best. The other was his old Bridgenorth 
schoolfellow, Lingen, now a scholar of Trinity. Additional 
papers were set to these two, and still the result remained 
doubtful. It was said at the time that the event was decided 
by counting the accents in a Greek paper. The recently 
published autobiography of Archdeacon Denison, however, 
has thrown new light on this famous contest, and does not 
confirm the contemporary story. The Archdeacon was one 
of the three examiners, and, it seems, was in favour of 
Lingen ; while the other two inclined to Fraser. They sat 
up till late in the night debating the matter, and the 
Archdeacon names it as a triumph of his powers of persua- 
sion, or of his pertinacity, that he brought his colleagues 
round to his view. However this may be, Lingen was 
elected, but the words "Jacobus Fraser a coll. Line, quam 
proxime accessit " were added to the usual announcement. 
The next year he was "facile princeps" and duly elected 
Ireland scholar. 

1839. 

In the autumn of this year, 1839, the last before his 
degree, Michell took a reading party to Shanklin. Amongst 
them was Fraser, whom he was coaching for love and the 
honour of Lincoln. Mr. J. A. Froude was one of the party, 
and the result was a life-long intimacy between the two 
pupils, though in later years they met but seldom. " He 
was the-lightest-hearted of us all," writes Mr. Froude, " I used 
to think him even boyish ; but Michell told me after the 
examination that he had done enough for ten firsts. When 
he stood for the Oriel Fellowship I recollect observing to 
Church " (then a tutor of Oriel, now Dean of St. Paul's) 
" that, however good a scholar he might be, he had no 



CHAP. i. FIRST-CLASS AND FELLOW OF ORIEL. 21 

original thought. Church told me after the examination 
that his thought was young rather than absent. So it always 
remained." 

1840. 

He came out in the first class in the examination in 
November, 1 839, when he took his bachelor's degree ; and in 
April, 1840, was elected Fellow of Oriel. On this crowning 
triumph, his old schoolfellow and faithful friend, C. J. Sale, 
wrote thus to his mother : " Now that your son has finished 
his ordeal at the University in the most brilliant and exem- 
plary manner, I cannot refrain from offering you my heartfelt 
congratulations at the success of my sincerest friend, in which 
I am confident all his friends, by whom he is equally loved, 
will join. You have indeed reason to be proud of James, as 
it has never been my lot to see any young man bear his 
numerous honours in a manner so humble, and free from 
arrogance. I can only add my sincere prayer for his success 
through life ; and with pleasure anticipate that it will equal, 
as it cannot surpass, that which he has already so nobly 
earned for himself. Your pleasure must have been doubly 
enhanced at hearing of his election, as he informed me you 
had given up nearly all hope, from his account of himself. 
But this event has now confirmed my idea, that the word 
' fail ' is not to be found in his dictionary. I do not fear its 
appearance there." 

The allusion in Sale's letter is to the following letter from 
James to his mother : 

"LINCOLN COLLEGE, OXON., 
"April i$th, 1840. 

" MY DEAREST MOTHER, As in your letter before last 
you said you had been expecting to hear from me, which 
expectation has not yet been gratified, I sit down to write 



22 



LIFE OF BISHOP ERASER. PARTI 



you a few hurried lines, hoping you will, upon due consider- 
ation of my existing circumstances, excuse their brevity and 
conciseness. Let me first ask you if you have had the April 
report from Addiscombe ; if so, let me know the numbers 
and position which Ted occupies. I am reading as hard as 
I can, though I fear with little prospect of success ; not, 
however, so much from the number, as from the quality of 
my rivals, or rather, rival. For though (it being nearly a 
close Fellowship) there are only four competitors for the 
same* honour with myself, yet one of these is as formidable 
a one as could have been selected for me out of the whole 
University. He rejoices in the name of Mountague Bernard, 
and is a B.A. of Exeter College : he certainly only got a 
second class, but as that was nearly three years ago and he 
has been reading with this examination in prospect ever 
since, his acquirements at the present moment may be, and 
probably are, enough to give him a double or treble first in 
the schools, were such an honour attainable. In this interval 
he has gained two English essays (which are considered 
equal to a first class) and beat several superior first-class men 
for them, and as the style of the Oriel examination is toto 
ctelo different from that in the schools which I passed in 
Michaelmas, and consists chiefly in essay writing and meta- 
physics, wishing to make men display powers of deep and 
original thinking, I feel too perceptibly my own weakness 
on those points to entertain the least anticipations of success, 
however 'devoutly to be wished for' such a consumma- 
tion might be ; in fact my reading has not as yet been 
extensive enough to enable me to stand a good chance at 
this, by far the most trying examination in Oxford, so I hope 
you will be no more disappointed than I shall be, in case of 
a failure. As for what John Hughes says, I never heard 
such stuff in my life, nor was any man ever dignified here 



CHAP. I. FELLOW OF ORIEL. 23 

with such flattering appellatives as his imaginative and 
creative brain has invented for my unworthy self. And as 
for its being considered certain that I shall get the Oriel, I 
myself heard two to one laid against such an event at a 
wine-party the other evening. The examination begins on 
Monday and concludes on Thursday ; the result is declared 
on Friday. I was occupied all yesterday in writing Latin 
letters of recommendation to my sixteen future judges at 
Oriel, and you may imagine was tolerably tired at the 
conclusion. Best love to all, and believe me, my dear mother, 
" Your very affectionate son, 

" JAMES FRASER." 

On the eventful Friday the announcement of his success 
was made in Oriel Hall, and he wrote to his mother : 

" MY DEAREST MOTHER, I am delighted to be able to 
inform you that you may congratulate your first-born on 
being this day elected Fellow of Oriel. I have just paid my 
devoirs to the Provost and Fellows on the occasion, and 
shall be formally admitted in chapel at one o'clock, and 
conclude the day with them at dinner at six. The result 
was most unexpected, and consequently the more delightful 
to me. I intend leaving this on my long promised visit to 
Pryse Gordon, Esq., on Monday next, as I cannot do so 
before, having various preliminary duties to discharge : from 
him I shall take a hasty peep at the Bilstonians. I am vain 
enough to believe my success will be the occasioil' of delight 
to many others out of my own immediate circle of acquaint- 
ance, in which comfortable self conceit, being in a great 
hurry and having plenty of other letters to write, I will at 
present only subscribe myself, with best love to all, as your 
delighted and affectionate son, 

"JAMES FRASER. 
" Friday Morning, twelve o'clock." 



CHAPTER II. 

" Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way ? 
Even by ruling himself after thy word." 

Ps. 119. 

ORIEL, 18401848. 
1840. 

ON April 24th, 1840, he was elected Fellow of Oriel with 
Mr. Christie and Canon Cornish. The latter became his 
life-long friend, and followed him thirty years later as rector 
of Ufton. An Oriel Fellowship was in those days the blue 
ribbon of the University. Balliol had indeed lately followed 
the lead of Oriel in this matter, but besides these two there 
was no other college in Oxford the Fellowships of which 
were in those days open. 

Those of Oriel with the exception of five had been so for 
many years, with the result that quite an unusual number of 
the most eminent Oxonians of the early decades of the 
century had been, or still were, Fellows or members of the 
college. Under the government of such provosts and tutors 
as Eveleigh, Coplestone, Whately, Davison, and their col- 
leagues, the picked men of the University, Oriel had carried 
off honours in the schools, prize poems, and essays, much 
in excess of the proportion which its scholars and under- 
graduates bore to those of other colleges. And this lead 
was not confined to the ordinary University curriculum. 



CHAP. ii. ORIEL COLLEGE. 25 

The Oriel common room was for more than a generation 
the centre of intellectual activity, and of religious and 
philosophical thought and speculation. There is scarcely 
one of the modern heresies or orthodoxies which have 
moved England in this century which was not either born 
or nourished within its walls. There Whately's common- 
sense Christianity, Arnold's broad religious and liberal 
sympathies, Blanco White's and Hampden's speculations, 
had found voice ; and, in succession to them, the leaders of 
the High Church revival were now publishing the Tracts for 
the Times, and inaugurating the movement which, when 
Fraser was elected a Fellow, was stirring the college, the 
University, and the Church to their inmost depths. 

Keble had indeed resigned his Fellowship for some years, 
but his influence was strong with his successors. Hurrell 
Froude was lately dead ; but Newman, though residing at 
Littlemore (a chapelry attached to St. Mary's), still held his 
Fellowship, and was often in the common room ; while of 
younger men the late Charles Marriott and the present Dean 
of St. Paul's were tutors of the college, and amongst the 
most zealous and influential of the new school. A man of 
wide sympathies, and the power of guiding and ruling others, 
which so often springs from wide sympathies, might have 
turned such materials to the best account, and have used the 
exceptional zeal and talents of the staff from whom he had 
to select for the maintenance of the high character and 
traditions of the college ; but such a man in those years was 
not forthcoming. Dr. Hawkins, the Provost, was a fine 
scholar and a high-bred gentleman ; but cold of tempera- 
ment, and stiff and punctilious in manners ; a high and dry 
churchman of the old school, very methodical, very conser- 
vative, who looked even on his old friend Arnold with some 
misgiving, and was entirely out of sympathy with those who 



2 6 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART I. 



were now turning the academical and religious world upside 
down. Be the reason what it may, the battle which was 
raging in the Church and University round Tract XC. in- 
terested Erovost and Fellows far more deeply than the 
ordinary routine work of the college, and that work suffered 
accordingly. The old tradition, which had obtained even 
amongst the undergraduates of Oriel who were content with 
the pass schools that the cultivation of the intellect was 
at least one main object of life at the University still 
lingered in the college, but only as a tradition. With the 
exception of Christ Church, there was at this juncture 
probably no college in Oxford less addicted to reading for 
the schools, or indeed to intellectual work of any kind. 

The undergraduates in residence in these years (1840-47) 
were seldom above fifty in number, and of these an average 
of more than one in ten were gentlemen commoners, who, 
in consideration of the payment of double fees and battel 
bills, were arrayed in silk gowns and velvet caps (with gold 
tassels in the case of peers' sons), dined at the Fellows' table, 
and enjoyed considerable immunity as regards lectures. 
These young gentlemen as a rule dressed gorgeously ; 
hunted in the two winter terms ; and, in the summer, drove 
tandem, frequented the Bullingdon and Isis Clubs, and the 
not very respectable premises of Milky Bill, the dog fancier, 
where their bull terriers drew badgers, and they shot pigeons. 
With them naturally consorted the one or two rich men 
amongst the commoners. At the other end of the scale 
were the scholars, seldom more than four in number, the 
college endowments for that class being small, with whom 
consorted the one or two studious men. 

The remaining three-fourths were entirely given over to 
athletics ; and, as regards this important department of 
education, no accomplished young Aristotelian could have 



CHAP. II. CONDITION OF THE COLLEGE. 27 

joined a more distinguished school. In the year in which 
Fraser became full Fellow the Oriel boat went to the head 
of the river, and contained two stroke-oar and No. 5 of 
the famous University crew which in the following year won 
the Henley Challenge Cup with seven oars. There were 
two torpids, both well placed in their respective divisions. 
The eleven played colleges twice the size of Oriel, and won 
three matches out of four. Inter-collegiate football matches 
had not yet been started, but several of the best players in 
Oxford were also of Oriel. But, above all, the college was 
the accepted home of the noble science of self-defence in the 
University. It almost supported a retired prize-fighter, who 
had been known in the ring as " the Flying Tailor " (a first- 
rate teacher of boxing, however moderate his sartorial talents 
might have been), and cordially welcomed any stray pugilist 
who might be training in the neighbourhood and was in need 
of a pound or two. There were regular meetings in some of the 
largest rooms two or three times a week, at which out-college 
men, of all weights from eight stone upwards, might find 
suitable matches ; and occasional public gatherings at the 
Weirs, or Wheat Sheaf, promoted by Oriel men for the 
benefit of one or other of these professionals. In short, 
athletics were accepted as the main object of residence at 
the University, and the other branches of a polite education 
looked upon as subordinate and inferior. 

Upon all the pursuits which thus absorbed the energies of 
their pupils, Provost, Dean, and tutors looked, not only 
without sympathy, but with scarcely veiled dislike. No sub- 
scriptions, however small, ever came to boat club or cricket 
club from any of them ; nor was any one of them ever seen 
on the river bank at the races, or on Cowley Marsh at 
a cricket match. Leave to dine in the middle of the day 
during the races was only granted to the racing crew after 



2 8 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PARTI. 

frequent applications, and at last grudgingly. All the tutors 
were in orders, and none of them, so far as was known, had 
ever used their legs except for a mild constitutional, or their 
arms for anything beyond handling editions of the classics 
and the fathers, and writing elegant prose or verse in the 
dead languages. 

Into a society so disorganized and unsympathetic, the 
young Ireland scholar and first-class man was plunged at the 
early age of twenty-one. At the end of his year of probation 
he was appointed reader of sermon notes, and very soon 
afterwards college tutor. He came from a small and un- 
popular college, which had not at that time even a boat on 
the river. It was not known that he had ever pulled an 
oar, or played in a cricket match ; as indeed very likely he 
never had since he left Shrewsbury, having during his under- 
graduate years been absorbed in the harder and nobler work 
of securing his own independence, and a position in which 
he might help his mother instead of being a drag upon her. 
Had this been known there was manliness and good feeling 
enough amongst the Oriel athletes to have made his reception 
a very different one. 

As it was, the verdict of the majority was at first decidedly 
unfavourable. The captains of the boat and the eleven, and 
the best boxers in the college, looking at the fine setting on 
of his head, the breadth of his shoulders, and the splendid 
muscular development of loin and limb, shook their heads 
reproachfully. Some moral delinquency it was felt must be 
involved in the neglect of such natural gifts. True, he had 
been/art/? princeps for the Ireland ; but, if he had only used 
his talents conscientiously, a man of his build might no 
doubt have brought " the Diamond Sculls " (the blue ribbon 
of oarsmen of those days) from Henley to Oxford, and still 
have won that scholarship. You don't want to be facile 



CHAP. ii. DRESS AT ORIEL. 29 

princeps. If your nose is six inches in front at the winning 
post it is as good as a whole boat's length. Besides, was he 
not a regular dandy ? 

This last criticism had a certain amount of foundation in 
fact. The junior Fellow was beyond all question the best 
dressed man in college. Not but what Oriel contained more 
than a sprinkling of dressy men, particularly amongst the 
gentlemen commoners. But they were of the ornate type 
of those days, with magnificent plush waistcoats, and 
trousers of alarming pattern and audacious cut. Fraser was 
always as neat as if he had just stepped out of a bandbox. 
He habitually wore a blue frock coat of perfect cut, with 
velvet collar ; and waistcoat and trousers of light colours 
not excluding even buff and lavender equally well made. 
Probably he thought as little of his clothes then as in his later 
years ; but it was his principle through life to have none but 
the best things from the best tradesmen, and his instinct to 
put whatever he had to the very best use it was capable of. 
Then he had a fine white skin, which flushed like a girl's in 
answer to any emotion, and roused some suspicion, if not 
contempt, in the minds of young gentlemen who had a sort 
of pride in being tanned, by constant exposure to sun and 
wind, until blushing had become impossible to them. There 
was a slight reaction in his favour when the hunting men 
reported that he owned one of the best hacks which stood at 
Simmonds's, and, whenever the old Berkshire met within 
reach of Oxford, was in the habit of taking his ride in 
that direction. On the whole, however, there was a de- 
cided prejudice against him when he opened his lecture 
room. 

Nor did his early lectures produce a favourable impression. 
He was shy and embarrassed, often blushed when a question 
was asked, and found great difficulty in coming down to the 



LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART I. 



average level of his pupils. An early incident of an unusual 
kind even in those days undoubtedly did something to 
remove the prejudice of the majority. In order to get 
rooms big enough to accommodate his classes comfortably, he 
had taken a first-floor set on the south-west staircase of the 
outer quadrangle, generally inhabited by a gentleman com- 
moner. The presence of a tutor on their staircase was by 
no means agreeable to these young persons, and one of them 
resolved to bring this home to the mind of the intruder, and 
proceeded to carry out his intention in the most ill-bred and 
offensive manner he could think of. He was in the lecture 
on Herodotus, the largest which Fraser had ; and, selecting 
a crowded day, walked into the room amongst the last 
arrivals, in a silk-lined smoking jacket under his nobleman's 
gown, and bright coloured slippers on his feet. Thus clothed 
he sank into a corner of the sofa. There was a curious 
pause to see how Fraser would take it. His face flushed 
scarlet ; but, after looking for a moment or two steadily at 
the intruder, whose eyes were as steadily averted and fixed 
on his Herodotus, he proceeded with his lecture, quietly 
ignoring the presence of the noble mountebank, and 
"jumping" him when it came to his turn to construe. 
" Why didn't he pitch him out neck and heels ? " "Wouldn't 
I have done it for him with a will if he had given the hint ! " 
" I think he got the best of it anyhow," the men commented, 
as they scattered across the quadrangle after lecture. But, 
on the whole, the popular judgment finally inclined to 
the verdict that the studied insolence of the young aristo- 
crat had been best met by simply ignoring him, and the 
young tutor rose a distinct peg in the estimation of the 
college. 

A much more important step was gained when he was 
seen on the bank on several critical nights of the boat races. 



CHAP. ii. TUTOR OF ORIEL. 31 



running by the side of the boat and cheering lustily. It 
was even reported that the club secretary, the most short- 
sighted man, and most zealous oar, in Oxford, had forthwith 
sounded him as to taking a seat at number five in the senior 
torpid, with a view, if found competent, to taking the place of 
the heaviest man in the racing boat, who was just going into 
the schools, and couldn't attend properly to his training; 
and that the overtures, though unsuccessful, had been 
received in a friendly and sympathetic spirit. 

Next term came a rumour that in the long vacation he 
had clubbed horses with a friend and driven tandem round 
North Wales ; a feat regarded with distinct respect, both by 
sporting men and athletes. But it was not till he had been 
in harness for another term or two that the early prejudice 
disappeared, and it was on this wise. After large boating or 
cricketing suppers, when the usual songs had been sung and 
toasts given, it was often the habit of the more strenuous 
revellers to adjourn to the grass-plot in the back quadrangle, 
there to finish their symposia with leap-frog, jumping, or 
whatever high-jinks might be suggested at the moment. 
Upon this grass-plot the windows of the Provost's library 
looked out, and it was well known that he entertained an 
unreasonable objection to these healthy, though perhaps 
somewhat untimely, educational exercises. Long experience 
had established that when the red curtains were suddenly- 
drawn back and a white head appeared at the window, it 
was time to scatter as fast as possible, because even though 
it might be too dark for the Provost to recognize any one 
himself, the night porter might now be looked for at any 
moment, to take down names. Now amongst the Oriel 
athletes at this time was a Scotchman, a scholar of the 
college, James Mackie by name (afterwards M.P. for Kirk- 
cudbrightshire), a man of great strength and stature. He 



3 2 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

had brought with him from Rugby the name of " the Bear," 
from the closeness of his hug in wrestling, in which it was 
believed he had never been worsted. He was one of the 
party at a particularly festive supper, to celebrate the bring- 
ing home of the London and Henley challenge cups to 
Oriel, which had adjourned to the grass-plot, when the usual 
warning signal was seen at the Provost's window. Mackie 
made off at once for his rooms, and, the night being dark, at 
the entrance of the passage between the two quadrangles, 
ran right up against some one whom he took for the under 
porter. Which of the two grappled the other was never 
accurately known, but the collision resulted in a spirited 
wrestling bout between them; and "the Bear" admitted 
that it was all he could do to get rid of his opponent, who 
after all was only left on hand and knee, no " fair fall " 
having been scored on either side. But the tussle had lasted 
long enough for Mackie to have recognized his adversary, 
and no doubt the recognition had been mutual : and grave 
were the fears of those in the secret for some days whether 
an untimely end might not be put to the career of the 
scholar, and so a vacancy hard to fill be created at number 
four in the college boat. But nothing happened : and so 
Fraser who had been peaceably on his way to the library 
for a book got the credit, not only of having held his own 
with the best wrestler in college, but of having kept the 
whole affair quietly to himself, knowing that the collision 
was an accident. From that time he was spoken of as 
" Jemmy," and attained to the equivalent of " the most 
favoured nation clause" in the undergraduates' tutorial 
code. 

As tutor, however, he made no special mark in the 
college, never having attained anything approaching to the 
influence with his pupils, or the success in the schools, of 



CHAP. ii. ORIEL COMMON ROOM. 33 

such educators as Michell or Jowett, Goldwin Smith or 
Stanley. 

It is difficult to account for this except on the ground of 
the great shyness which certainly embarrassed his relations 
with the men who attended his college lectures, and probably 
influenced those more intimate ones with his own pupils. 
One of these, Mr. Park Dickens, a first-class man in 1846, 
takes this view, saying that in his own case he got more 
good from Fraser in his last talk with him, when he was 
going out of college, a few months before his final examina- 
tion, than in all their previous intercourse ; and that what he 
did get then in the shape of advice as to his reading was of 
great value. 

Of his career in the common room the testimony of such 
of his colleagues as still survive bears out the general impres- 
sion, that it gave little promise of the very fruitful and re- 
markable character which he developed aftenvards. In the 
elections which followed his own, Arthur Clough, and G. 
Buckle (now prebendary of Wells and rector of Weston- 
super-Mare), and Matthew Arnold were successful, and 
brought quite new elements into the life of the common 
room. The two former became his colleagues as college 
tutors, and remained so during the rest of his residence in 
college. For the last three years, from January, 1844, he 
was also sub-dean and librarian. 

" Of course we were much together in the way of busi- 
ness," writes Mr. Buckle, " making out the lecture list and 
discussing the qualities and doings of our pupils. But we 
never got very close mentally in those days my closer 
intimacy with him came at a later date. He did not then 
seem to care for the theological and philosophical topics 
which engrossed the rest of us. We regarded him as the 

D 



34 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

finished scholar and cheery companion, and hardly thought 
of him in any other light. Perhaps, too, he was a little 
separated from us by being more acceptable to the elder set, 
with whom we juniors in those days felt a little out of har- 
mony. The Provost paid him the very unusual compliment 
of asking him to join a Club of Heads of Houses, and other 
great dons, who dined together once a week. Eraser's social 
qualities were always high." And again, referring to the re- 
markable mixture of men in the Oriel common room in those 
years, " I remember no single instance of a clash between 
them. We all got on excellently together, but I think our 
intercourse with Fraser never went much below the surface." 
" Fraser rather represented the high-and-dry Church in com- 
mon room," writes M. Arnold, "with an admixture of the 
world so far at least as pleasure in riding and sport may 
be called worldly ; of the ascetic and speculative side, 
nothing." 

" My recollection of him," writes Dr. Chase, now Princi- 
pal of St. Mary's Hall, " is of a genial companion ; and 
I felt, when he left, that the corner stone was taken out 
of the Oriel common room, and no substitute was ever 
found." 

I will add one other witness, an old friend and contem- 
porary, not an Oriel man, as to these years of his residence 
at Oxford : "We all used to have the greatest pleasure in 
his joyous society," writes T. Lonsdale, son of the late 
Bishop of Lichfield, " and well can those who are left re- 
member his bright face and hearty manner his good temper 
and loveable disposition. One of his oldest friends used to 
say that an utter want of affectation was his distinguishing 
characteristic ; another, that it was ' loveableness ; ' another, 



CHAP. ii. SUB-DEAN OF ORIEL. 35 

' transparent sincerity.' He was indeed ' pellucidior vitro.' 
It struck me that all he did was done with wonderful ease, 
as if it all came to him by instinct rather than effort, while 
doing it he always seemed so happy, and ready to turn to 
other things." 

As may readily be supposed, the family at Bilston were 
not a little proud of the success of their young relative, and 
by no means averse to the reflected credit which his acade- 
mical honours shed on the home circle, in their quiet little 
country town and neighbourhood. Mr. Willim, the solicitor, 
and now the head of the family, was in the habit of com- 
municating these things to the local paper, not, it must be 
confessed, without some connivance on the part of his 
sister. His nephew, who always winced under these well- 
meant eulogia, was at last roused to open remonstrance 
by an unusually grandiloquent paragraph on his becoming 
censor of Oriel. 



1844. 

To Mrs. Fraser.Feb. iot/1, 1844. "What a nuisance that 
Uncle John has a mania for spreading that puff far and wide ! 
To complete the thing he should send it to the Oxford 
Herald and the Times ! I think that would drive me mad 
' intirely ! ' What satisfaction there can be to anybody's feel- 
ings to read a puffing paragraph written by themselves, or 
one of themselves, or of themselves, I cannot for the life 
of me imagine but please don't send my letters, this or the 
former one, on to Bilston, as I am sure my uncle would be 
hurt at it, and that is the last thing that I should desire. I 
shall however write a quieter letter to him myself, lest he 
should be tempted to send a copy of the same to the Oxford 
paper. I do admire that youthful ' Jehu ' of a brother of 

D 2 



36 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART :. 

mine, risking his precious neck and spending his precious 
' tin ' with such a harum-scarum companion in a buggy ! It 
would do him more good, and (I should think) cost him less 
money, to take a good ride. Think of the difference in the 
pikes ! My old friend Sale is coming up to take his M.A. 
degree next week, but he is so very connubial that he won't 
stay a single day amongst us, but returns to town, where he 
is taking a fortnight's holiday, the same night. I am very 
angry at this way of treating old friends, whether persons 
or places. I made my debut in my new college office yes- 
terday in presenting a member of my college to the Vice- 
Chancellor and Proctor for his degree. You may perhaps 
have a chance of witnessing my performance of my duty in 
the summer. At present a verbal description of the process 
would, I fear, be unintelligible to you ; nor do I know, as 
the whole is transacted in Latin, that a sight of it will make 
it much clearer." 

Probably, however, the best picture of his life during 
these years may be gathered from one of his long journal 
letters to his mother, which he was in the habit of writing 
regularly whenever absent from her. 

"April ijt/t, 1844. 
"ORIEL COLLEGE, OXFORD. 

" MY DEAREST MOTHER, I came back from town last 
night to be in readiness for a busy day. In my capacity of 
Sub-Dean, I have already officiated in the presentation of 
three members of this college for their M.A. degree : and 
at one o'clock I am to partake of a grand luncheon given 
by the Proctor Elect of this college, who enters upon the 
duties of his office on this, the first day of term, and whom, 
after his lunch, all the resident members of the college will 



CHAP. ii. VACATION RAMBLES. 37 

accompany in formal procession to the Convocation House, 
there to see him sworn in and admitted to his office by the 
Vice-Chancellor, and the choice of the college approved 
and confirmed by the voice of Convocation. I shall then 
have a couple of idle days before the business of term 
recommences. 

" I really had not time while in town to acknowledge the 
receipt of the interesting packet containing dear Edward's 
last letter, which by this time ought to have found its way 
into every hand that is privileged or entitled to receive it, 
and perhaps has even come back to you again. I will 
make at present no further comment upon it than merely to 
remark that your anticipations of the pleasure with which I 
should peruse it were more than realised. And now, I 
suppose, you will expect an account of my recent proceed- 
ings which, for the sake of clearness and convenience, I had 
better throw into the shape of a diary. 

Monday, April ^th. " Started from Oxford a quarter 
before eight, and had a pleasant ride to London, arriving 
there at half-past eleven. Made the best of my way from 
Paddington to Blackwall Railway, and thence to the Bruns- 
wick Wharf, where I found a steamer in readiness to convey 
me to Gravesend, at which place 1^ arrived about half-past 
three. Forthwith mounted a 'bus, and was set down at 
Alex's room in Brompton Barracks at a quarter before five. 
The hero was out himself, having, as I subsequently found, 
ia company with five others of his messmates, gone up the 
river about fifteen miles, with some ladies, to whom these 
gallant sons of Mars gave a fete champetre on the green and 
sunny banks of the Medway. He did not get back till 
nearly eight o'clock. I consoled myself during his absence, 
by strolling out on to " The Lines," where I was just in time 



38 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

to see the fag-end of a review of about 2,500 Infantry, who 
had been manoeuvring there ever since two o'clock. It was 
a spectacle with which I was much gratified, as I do not 
think I had ever seen so many troops massed together 
before. I also lionised the town and neighbourhood of 
Chatham. Upon Alex's return, I dined with him and some 
half-dozen of his comrades, who were also too late for mess, 
in what they call " the ante-room " a kind of second 
edition, or rechauffe or rifacimento (to sport my French and 
Italian) of the mess dinner, and spent a very agreeable 
evening. I was disappointed in Alex's rooms but, from 
his description of them, I had compared them in my imagi- 
nation with a set of college apartments, instead of which 
there is only one room, his bed being merely separated by a 
screen from the rest of the apartment, and his washing- 
stand, dressing-table, &c., &c., standing out in bold relief, 
and scorning concealment. However, the room is large 
and airy and I could make myself very comfortable there 
I only say I had expected to find a suite of rooms, and not 
a single solitary apartment. 

" On Tuesday Alexander got leave of absence for the day, 
and we started for the Cathedral, where we attended the 
service, and it is an interesting edifice, especially the old 
Norman part. It is considerably spoilt, however, by some 
modern additions of a tower and windows. You know our 
Provost is ex-officio a prebendary of Rochester. The service 
there is not to be compared with the style of that at Exeter 
the minor canon reads, instead of chanting which mars 
the effect. 'After lionising the Cathedral, I drew Alexander 
on to Cobham Hall and park, the magnificent old baronial 
seat of the Earl of Darnley, of the very existence of which 
Master Alexander was before ignorant. This was about five 



CHAP. ii. VACATION RAMBLES. 39 

miles from Chatham : so that, as we walked there and back 
and the day was very hot, you may suppose we had sufficient 
exercise. We were however both rewarded for our exertions ; 
though we could not see the interior of the house, which is 
only shown on a Friday, and in which, I understand, there 
are some very fine pictures. We saw a very curious antique 
state carriage, about the date of James, or Elizabeth. 
Alexander stated his intention of lionising the interior on 
some future occasion. This day we dined at mess, where 
certainly those young fellows do live luxuriously : and it is 
no wonder they get dissatisfied with homely fare and family 
dinners. As I had never dined at mess before, I was very 
much gratified and interested with the spectacle it presents. 
I left Chatham on the Wednesday morning at twelve o'clock 
both finding and leaving Alexander in apparently the best 
health, spirits, and enjoyment, and I hope working hard. 
He seems anxious to leave as soon as possible and indeed 
I should think the monotony of the place must get somewhat 
wearisome. Of course he has written to you before this 
about the mistake we all made in reading Plying Lass for 
Flying Sap. But although he said he took particular pains 
to write the word plainly, I assured him, that to our un- 
scientific heads and eyes, who did not know the technical 
existence of the latter term, Flying Lass was the obvious 
reading of the writing that he thought was so plain as to 
preclude the possibility of mistake. I returned to town by 
the same route by which I had come down and got to 22, 
Craven Street, Strand (where I found myself extremely 
comfortable) by four o'clock and after a few moments' 
attention to my ' toilette ' sallied forth to see what was to be 
seen and, as my first sight, found myself looking in upon 
the American dwarf, little Tom Thumb, whose diminutive- 
ness surpasses my powers of description, and who is certainly 



4 o LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

the most ridiculously tiny animal I ever saw or conceived. 
While here, one of the Ojibbeway Indians came in from an 
adjoining Exhibition-room in the Egyptian Hall, and I 
satisfied my curiosity on that score by giving him a good look 
over, without thinking it necessary afterwards to pay another 
shilling to see the whole ' quintette.' I forget how I spent 
the rest of the evening : but I think it was this day that I 
went to the Adelaide Gallery, where I could see nothing in- 
teresting except a pair of electrical eels. I did not however 
try the effects of a shock. 

" On Thursday I rambled through the National Gallery 
(my favourite place of resort) and the British Museum ; 
made sundry calls on friends in the Temple (old Norman 
among the number) and Lincoln's Inn, and in the evening 
went to the opera, where I was much pleased. We had Don 
Pasquale, a capital opera buffa, in which I heard Grisi, 
Lablache, Fornasari, and Corelli. Then the last scene of 
the Cenerentola, where I heard the new/n'/// donna, Mdlle. 
Favanti, only her second appearance in England, of which 
country she is a native, her true name being Miss Edwards. 
She is a very fine woman of about twenty-eight, and has a 
mezzo-contralto voice of great power, but I thought a little 
deficient in sweetness. Then came the new fashionable 
dance, ' The Polka,' danced for the first time in this country 
by Carlotta Grisi and M. Perrot, a pas de deux between 
Mdlle. Louise and M. Montassa, to conclude with the ballet 
La Esmeralda, the scenery of which was magnificent, but I 
don't care a rush for the dancing. I did not think very 
much of the polka, and I don't think it possible that, as a 
whole, it can be introduced in private parties, except as a pas 
de deux, though there is a portion of it, a kind of modification 
of the waltz, produced by the gentleman and the lady alter- 



CHAP. ii. VACATION RAMBLES. 41 

nately changing sides, which may be practicable as a general 
dance. 

" On Friday, I went with a friend to Hampton Court, but 
found to our disgust that we could not see the interior, as 
that was the only day in the week on which it is not shown, 
so I missed the cartoons, though I shall certainly go again. 
I was very much pleased with the exterior and the gardens. 
We walked back, through Bushey Park and Twickenham, to 
Richmond a beautiful walk indeed and thence returned 
to town by 'bus. I should have preferred a steam down the 
river, but there was no boat till half-past five, and I was 
engaged to dine with a friend who is curate of Trinity 
Church, Marylebone, at that hour, where I spent a very 
pleasant evening in the society of some old school and 
college friends. 

" Saturday. Spent the whole of this morning most un- 
satisfactorily in hunting after Mrs. Nicholls, who seems fond 
of changing the place of her abode. After having found out, 
with some difficulty and much weary seeking, 2, Radnor 
Place, Gloucester Square, I found she had left that for 34, 
Sussex Gardens. Thither I repaired accordingly, and then 
found that she had left for Cheltenham about a fortnight 
ago, and would not return till May, so I had all my journey- 
ings for nothing. The afternoon I spent in rambling about 
to the park, some of the clubs, a sale of pictures at Christie 
and Manson's, &c., &c. In the evening I went to the 
Haymarket, where I was much amused ; in fact, you always 
get more to make you laugh there than at any other theatre 
in London, and I never was more electrified in my life than 
by witnessing the gymnastic performances and postures of a 
certain Mr. Risley and his son ' le petit Mercure? 



42 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

" Sunday. Breakfasted at nine with Norman, went with 
him to the Temple Church ; then wandered round the 
Temple Gardens to St. James's Park, till it was time for 
afternoon service, which I attended at Whitehall Chapel- 
Royal, and afterwards dined and spent the evening at Mr. 
Sale's in Surrey Street. 

" Monday. Breakfasted with an old friend near Berkeley 
Square ; went with him to hear the Coldstream band play 
in St. James's Palace courtyard, which they do every morn- 
ing from half-past ten to eleven : a magnificent performance. 
Then proceeded with another friend and fellow collegian to 
the Dulwich picture gallery, with which, as well as the ride 
and walk down, I was delighted. The Murillos and a Guido 
there are splendid ; the pictures number twice as many as in 
the National Gallery, amounting to about 350. The evening 
I passed at the Polytechnic Institution, which contained some 
novelties. 

" Tuesday. Went again to hear the Coldstream band, 
and made one or two calls. Dined at three o'clock and left 
town by the five o'clock train, just as the Queen came up 
from Windsor to hold her drawing-room to-morrow. I saw 
her cortege with its escort pass through the park, and had I 
been ten minutes earlier I should have seen her arrive by 
her special train at the Paddington Station. I should have 
liked to have stayed till Thursday, to have seen the people 
go to the drawing-room. There is another on the 25th, to 
which Alec talks of coming up, as it is a far grander spectacle 
than a levee. I think I managed pretty well, to see every, 
thing I did and pay all my expenses, travelling included, 
for the nine days for 4!. i$s. od. I got enough for my 
money, at any rate. But I must conclude, for it is time to 



CHAP. ii. VACATION RAMBLES. 43 

get ready for luncheon. If you think it would interest them 
send this on to Bilston, for it is a bore to repeat all these 
particulars. I noticed in the park, I think, that the ladies' 
habits seemed made single-breasted, but with broad flaps 
thrown back, and three rows of buttons, and some wore a 
kind of crimson velvet or silk plush waistcoat beneath ; but 
I could not notice very accurately. Hoping this will find 
both you and Bruce quite well, 

" I remain, my dear mother, 

" Very affectionately, 

" JAMES FRASER. 

" As this will probably meet Uncle John's eye let me tell 
him that he owes me 12^., as his share of the subscription to 
the Oxford Herald for the current year. They have raised 
the price by 4*. By the by I had nearly forgotten one 
thing that bill that Edward sent became payable on the 
1 3th inst. I wish you would inquire at your bank whether 
it has been cashed, and let me know. As I do not want the 
money myself now, you can use it if you require it, and pay 
me again in the long vacation, and I will ask you to pay my 
subscription of two guineas to the hospital, which was due 
at Lady Day. I forget the exact amount of the bill, but it 
was rather more than 26!., I think." 

1845. 

To his Mother. Oct. igf/i, 1845. "I am happy to 
say that I am relieved from the duties of the College 
Treasurership, which, together with its salary of ioo/. a 
meagre compensation in my opinion for its anxieties I 
was afraid would have devolved on my shoulders. One of 
the senior Fellows has come up into residence to take it, 
which staves off the evil day from me for the next three 



44 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

years. These late unfortunate secessions to the Church of 
Rome events never to be sufficiently deplored by all well- 
wishers to the English Church have placed me high on 
the Fellows' list. I now stand ninth, having risen halfway 
up the ladder (of eighteen rounds) since my election in 
1840. When a man of Mr. Newman's surpassing intellect, 
and unquestioned holiness, self-denial and piety in which 
respects I have never yet seen any man worthy to be put in 
comparison with him (except perhaps Dr. Pusey) when a 
man whose very presence even his silent presence casts 
a mysterious influence for good on all around him, 1 feels 
what he deems an imperative call to leave that Church in 
which he was baptised, and of which he has been a minister, 
I think that those who feel most satisfied and confident of 
their own position may well suspect that there are some 
serious deficiencies in a system in which the aspirations of 
such a spirit as his could meet with no corresponding voice, 
and find no sympathetic aid. I confess I cannot myself 
understand his feelings, or comprehend the cogency of the 
motives which have actuated him. I find in my own case 
very few things that I should wish altered in the liturgy or 
teaching of our Church though many difficulties in the 
practical working of her system arising from her connection 
with the State. But still I feel that one so far below Mr 

1 His veneration for Cardinal Newman never faltered In his 
Charge for 1876, when he was insisting on good reading to the clergy 
of his diocese, he says, " It is true that it is not every one who can read 
as J. H. Newman used to read the Scriptures in his Church of 
St. Mary's in Oxford, when every word, uttered in simplest fashion, but 
pregnant with scholarly feeling, fell like music on the listener's ear, and 
touched the heart with a strange sense of spiritual power. I am think- 
ing of forty years ago, but I remember the effect as distinctly as if I 
heard the voice yesterday. It is not every one that can achieve this ; but 
every one can say the prayers and read the lessons as if he felt them, 
and as if he wished his hearers should feel them too. There is no part 
of our ministry which it is more worth while to do as well as it can 
possibly be done." 



CHAP. II. DR. NEWMAN'S SECESSION. 45 

Newman in all those spiritual graces and intellectual gifts, 
as I too deeply feel myself to be, is quite incompetent to 
pass judgment on his act. His departure from among us is 
much felt even by those who differed from his views 
where his urbanity and manners, no less than his exalted 
intellect and eminent piety, had much endeared him. 
There may be a few who are foolish, or shortsighted, or 
malicious enough, to rejoice at it, but I am happy to say 
they are but few. The general feeling is one of deep regret, 
not unaccompanied by anxious queries, ' What is to become 
of the Church of England ? ' But I have taken up too much 
of your time with this painful subject, which the business of 
the last week has brought so vividly to our minds. To 
change the subject. Has Jones found me out some hay 
and straw yet ? Remember the price of the former was not 
to exceed 4/. 105-., nor of the latter 2/. los. a ton. Where is 
little Tom stabled ? as I suppose we had nothing ready for 
his reception. I shall be obliged to have my mare clipped, 
as her coat is very rough and long. In other respects she 
looks and is very well. In brewing I should think that the 
addition of another bushel of malt to the same quantity of 
water, as 'compared with the proportions given by Captain 
Thompson, would give a very good beer at about 6d. or ^d. 
a gallon. See that the casks and premises are all properly 
cleaned, which will require one day's preparation, and had 
better be done by the brewer who knows the various con- 
trivances. His name is Ward. You will brew, I take it, 
about half a hogshead, and will put it into two twenty-five 
gallon casks. I hope you have found out another laundress. 
The first one's performances are execrable. I am in the 
full misery of one of her half-starched shirt collars at this 
moment." 



4 6 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

Fraser, as we have already noted, was fond of horses, and 
an excellent rider; and one of his first investments on 
gaining his Fellowship, and so becoming at ease in his 
finances, was a good hack, as noted by the Gentlemen 
Commoners. Four other of the junior Fellows soon fol- 
lowed his example, and the Oriel cavalcade became the 
most numerous in Oxford, much, one may imagine, to the 
astonishment, and not altogether to the liking, of the 
Provost and senior Fellows ; one of whom, given to philo- 
sophising, declared that "he could see in each rider the 
character of each man." 

Undoubtedly the equestrian habits of the staff acted to 
some extent as an encouragement to the hunting men, the 
idlest set in college ; although, with the exception of Fraser, 
none of the Fellows planned their rides with any reference 
to the hunting calendar. But he was a keen sportsman, 
and made no secret of the pleasure it gave him to come 
across the hounds in the afternoon, after his college work 
was done, and in the Christmas vacation he hunted regularly. 

1846. 

It is thoroughly characteristic of the man, that, when he 
had made up his mind to take orders, he resolved to 
abandon his favourite sport once for all, but, before doing 
so, to give himself a short season in "the shire of the 
shires." Accordingly, immediately after Christmas day, 
1846, when he was already a deacon of one week's stand- 
ing, he went down to the Melton country with his two 
horses, and established himself in the sporting hotel at 
Atherstone. Thence he wrote to his brother Bruce : 

" I intend to keep a bit of a journal for your edification." 
From this a few short extracts may here be given : 



CHAP. II. ADIEU TO HUNTING. 47 

Monday, Dec. igth. "Meet Overseal, near Ashby-de-la- 
Zouch thirteen miles to covert. I started at nine A. im- 
precisely, on the mare, after a good breakfast on a slice of 
broiled ham and poached eggs. The hounds overtook me 
about half way in their van, looking very nice. I was up 
however in lots of time at the covert side. We soon found 
in a large wood, name unknown, and had a fair hunting run, 
with however too many checks and too cold a scent, for 
nearly three hours, and finally gave up about three miles 
north-west of Ashby. We trotted back through the old 
town, the scene, as you remember, of Ivanhoe (I got a peep 
of the ruins of the castle en passant], and kept moving on 
in a homeward direction till we came to an ozier-bed two 
miles south-east of Ashby name also unknown and there 
threw the hounds in. We had not to wait five minutes 
before we unkennelled a fox, who went away at a slapping 
pace for fifty minutca without a check, very fast, all the way 
over a glorious country. We then came to a check, and 
though we picked up the scent again three or four times 
could not get on terms with reynard again, and it being past 
four and nearly dusk, we were obliged to call the hounds off 
without blood, but after as pretty a gallop as any man could 
wish to see. This was at Clifton Camville, twelve miles 
from home, so the mare did a good day's work. She car- 
ried me admirably, wonderfully improved since last year 
takes so much more length to her jumps. Almost every 
fence had a ditch one side or the other, but she never made 
a single mistake, and the little timber we had she did in 
good style. I was pleased, too, to find that she was fast 
enough for what all who were out allowed to be a fast thing, 
even in Leicestershire, and such was my maiden day in this 
prince of hunting countries. Riding home I got into con- 
versation with one of the whips (they have three out as well 



4 8 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

as a huntsman) who has offered to lionise me over the 
kennel. They have upwards of sixty couple of hounds and 
forty horses. They sent off eight old ones this morning to 
Birmingham to be sold, I suppose on Thursday, at the 
repository. They passed under my window as I was 
shaving. I shall ride the old horse on Wednesday at 
Ullesthorpe, and the mare will do well again for Friday at 
York Wood. The country was very heavy, especially the 
ploughs, and it was a stiffish white frost when I started. 
We found our second fox in the rain, which wonderfully 
improved the scent. I came home pleased with the country, 
the hounds, the huntsmen, the master, my mare, and 
myself, and so good-night. 

Wednesday. " Ullesthorpe, a beautiful meet, upwards of 
a hundred. Found at once in front of the Hall, but chopped 
him in covert. There was however a second fox ' at home,' 
though the covert was not two acres, who led us off at a 
rattling pace for a quarter of an hour, when we came across 
the railroad. There we had a check of twenty minutes, 
and though we found the scent again Charley was too far 
ahead of us, and we were obliged to give him up. We then 
trotted away for a fresh find to Churchover, passing through 
Lutterworth, famous in the annals of the English Reforma- 
tion as having been the cure of John Wicliffe, but now 
presenting nothing remarkable. Here we found in three 
minutes, and went away in splendid style, and had a capital 
hunting run over a fine grass country for an hour, when we 
came to a long check, and as I found I had lost a front 
shoe (though I had the old fellow shod only the day before) 
and was twenty miles from home, and raining hard, I thought 
it advisable to turn my horse's nose in that direction. And 
a miserable time we had of it, seven miles before we could 



CHAP. II. ADIEU TO HUNTING. 49 

get a smith, and pelting rain all the way ; neither horse nor 
man however any the worse. The old horse carried me 
nobly. I flatter myself there were not many who were 
nearer the hounds, and at one fence with a yawning ditch 
on the off-side, at which the leading man got a tremendous 
fall, I, being second, got over in gallant style ; but none of 
the field ventured to follow our example. In fact, I am as 
well mounted as a man could wish to be, and don't know 
which of my horses I prefer. It is however a great draw- 
back to the comfort of riding the ' old-un ' that he is such a 
puller. He got me into one or two difficulties by coming 
so quick on the man who was going before. As soon as he 
sees a fence he goes at it at such a. pace, and with such 
resolution, that I'll defy you to stop him, and I was often 
obliged to ask men whom I found riding at my side to let 
me go at the fence before them on this account. 

Friday. . . . " We met this morning at York Wood, two 
miles from Coleshill and seven from Birmingham. A large 
show of ' Brummagem Buttons,' but we shook them off by 
degrees, and had an excellent, though not very fast, hunting 
run of four hours, through a very heavy country. We kept 
running till five o'clock, when darkness compelled us to call 
off the hounds without blood, and I found myself with four- 
teen miles to ride home. It was one of the staunchest foxes 
I ever followed, as you may suppose from the time we were 
hunting him. The mare carried me gallantly, giving me 
however one fall, in which I sustained no damage beyond 
a dirty coat, though on looking up before rising I found 

myself unpleasantly situated, right under her belly 

If you want to see a top-sawyer, you should see Mr. New- 
degate, one of the members for Warwickshire, ride. He is 
a young man, about twenty-four, splendidly mounted, always 





50 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

with two horses out, and he does go. I consider it no 
little credit to myself and my horse to be able to follow in 
his wake. Being obliged, from my ignorance of the country, 
to take some one as a leader, I always choose him, and no 
man can show you a better line." 

1847- 

He returned from Atherstone in the second week of 
January, 1847, and from that day never rode to hounds. 
In the previous autumn he had already bidden adieu to 
another favourite vacation amusement, which may be dis- 
missed with a short extract from a letter to his old friend 
and schoolfellow, Sale : 

Bewdley, August yth, 1846. " I am going to take a tan- 
dem drive with an old Shrewsbury man, Reginald Turner, 
of Balliol, now rector of Churchill in this country, all round 
that part of the country where I suppose you will one day 
become a resident, viz. Holt, Witley, and the Abberley 
Hills. The view from the latter, I am told, is very fine. 
My two horses make a capital team, and as this is the last 
vacation in which I shall ever indulge again in the amuse- 
ment I avail myself readily of the opportunity." 

Within a week of his last day with the hounds the young 
deacon was at work in Oxford, and soon began to preach 
weekly at some church in the city, in addition to his ordinary 
college work. The two horses went back to Bewdley, where 
his younger brother, Bruce, moved no doubt by the Ather- 
stone letters, as the month slipped away, became unwilling 
to allow the mare and the " old-un " to eat their heads off, and 
pine for the music of horn and hound. His suggestions on 
this subject drew from James the following : 



CHAP. II. ORDINATION. 51 

Oriel, January 3O//&, 1 847. f ' DEAREST BRUCE, You are 
perfectly welcome to take the mare to Shrawley, and I dare 
say if you have a woodland run she will carry you pretty 
fairly. But it is impossible she can be in condition to live 
through a fast thing. Take her, but ride her judiciously. 
If she shows any symptoms of distress, leave off and bring 
her home, for nothing is so permanently injurious to man or 
horse as pressure beyond their strength." 

To his Mother. Feb. 4^/1, 1847. "With regard to what 
I said in my last about the subscription for the Irish and 
Scotch, I wish to add a word to Bruce. If he doesn't feel 
himself rich enough to give money, he can do something by 
giving a little of his trouble and time, and could go from 
house to house with a list for the purpose of collecting sub- 
scriptions. He would thus have the satisfaction of as 
effectually promoting the cause as if he could afford ever so 
princely a donation. Ask him to think this over." There 
is a smack of the future Bishop of Manchester, the first to 
be met with, in this suggestion to brother Bruce. 

An extract or two from his letters bearing on his ordina- 
tion may fitly close this chapter. He was ordained deacon 
on the Saturday before Christmas Day, 1846, and priest on 
Trinity Sunday, 1847 : 

To his Mother. Oriel, December io///, 1846. "We are 
just now in the middle of Collections, having begun on 
Friday to end on Tuesday. At ten A.M. on Thursday 
morning I have to present myself with the other candi- 
dates for ordination at the Bishop's Palace, which is at 
the village of Cuddesden, six miles from here. The 
ordination itself I suppose will take place as usual, in the 
cathedral on this day week. And now that the time is so 

E 2 



52 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART I. 

closely drawing on, .one's mind cannot but be filled with 
serious thoughts of one's own weakness and insufficiency, 
when compared with the field of labour in which one's lot 
is to be cast. Great need indeed have I of every aid to 
enable me to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith I shall 
be called. Do not forget me, my dearest mother, in your 
prayers ; indeed I know you will not, and the thought of 
your intercession on my behalf, added to my own imperfect 
petitions, has long been a comfort to my mind." 

To his Aunt Lucy. "As the hour approaches for the 
actual investiture of that sacred function, one becomes more 
and more sensible of one's own utter helplessness and in- 
sufficiency, unless assisted by God's grace to walk worthy of 
so high a calling. I purpose leaving this for Bilston on 
Tuesday, the 22nd. . . Would it be convenient to send the 
pony-carriage to meet me at Birmingham ? If so, let it be 
at the Hen and Chickens by five o'clock. The coach gets 
in about six. Don't hesitate to say no, if it is the least in- 
convenient, as I can pocket my invincible dislike to those 
omnibuses. If you do send the pony-carriage, put in my 
plaid, as I dare say I shall find it acceptable." 

To his Uncle. Jan., 1847. "I underwent the exami- 
nation with not a little nervousness on more accounts than 
one ; but was unexpectedly rewarded at its close by the 
Bishop's telling me he had been much gratified by my 
papers, and paying me the compliment of appointing me to 
read the gospel in the ordination service." 

To his Mother. " I wish you and Aunt Lucy would give 
me your candid opinion about my sermons, at least those that 
you have read, and with reference to the following points : 
Do you think the language plain and intelligible to ordinary 



CHAP. ii. ORDINATION AS PRIEST. 53 

minds, as well as sufficiently definite and practical in their 
teaching? and how far do you think them adapted to 
awaken a hearer, and lead him to apply what is said to him- 
self ? I should really feel it a great kindness to have your 
mature and unbiassed judgment on these points. A young 
writer is very apt to deceive himself, and I want my sermons 
to be useful to others, and not a display of any learning or 
eloquence of my own." 

He lost no time in qualifying himself for priest's orders. 

To his Mother, Whit- Sunday ', 1847. "lam very busy, 
as I have to prepare for the Bishop's examination on 
Thursday next, in addition to my usual amount of college 
work. For, as I told you I probably should do, I have 
made up my mind to be a candidate for priest's orders on 
Trinity Sunday. I have no doubt I shall have the benefit 
of your thoughts and prayers while endeavouring to approve 
myself to the Bishop worthy to be admitted into the sacred 
order of priests, that God may enable me to discharge 
aright its weighty responsibilities to the increase of His 
glory and the benefit of His Church." And then, speaking 
of the college living of Cholderton, just vacant by the 
resignation of Mr. Thos. Mozley (Cardinal Newman's 
brother-in-law, author of the Memoirs), " The Cholderton 
case is still unsettled, as Church's answer has not yet been 
received. The delay is odd ; but I suppose he was wander- 
ing about, and so the letter had to follow him. But I 
suppose after all I shall be rector there, and the more I 
think the subject over the more I think I should promote 
my own happiness (and I flatter myself, yours also, if you 
consent to come and keep house with me) by being so. I 
wrote to Bruce with your letter, among other things recom- 
mending him to discontinue pastry, and everything that 



54 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

consumes flour, except bread. With wheat at 15^. a bushel 
we should have all economy in its consumption. We have 
forbidden pastry in the college, and many others have done 
the same thing. By the by, I was told the other day that 
as a substitute for potatoes, rice and peas done together 
were much superior to either vegetable alone. The receipt 
was from the Bishop of Oxford, who had seen it used at the 
Queen's table. Try it." 

To his Mother. Oriel College, Trinity Monday, 1847. 
" I have just read your interesting budget (and forwarded 
it), for which however I had to pay 2d. more. When you 
run weight so very fine, why not give the revenue the benefit 
of the doubt? Perhaps you think that you do this the 
more effectually by getting an extra penny out of the re- 
cipient of the letter, but you should remember that this in 
some measure diminishes the feeling of satisfaction with 
which it is received. ... I was ordained yesterday priest 
(with twenty-two others) by the Bishop of Oxford, after three 
previous days of examination and exhortation from the 
Bishop, at his palace at Cuddesdon. I cannot but consider 
it to be a great privilege to be ordained by such a Bishop. 
So much solemnity and holy feeling does he impart to every, 
even the slightest, detail of the whole ceremony, that it is 
impossible for even the lightest-hearted (and I feel that my 
heart is sadly too light and frivolous) to be otherwise than 
deeply impressed with the business in which he is engaged. 
I have now a full commission to preach God's Word, to 
dispense His Sacraments, and to declare His pardon. May 
He grant me grace to do them all faithfully, and to His 
glory ! I cannot but feel and know how weak and imperfect 
the instrument ; but it is a comfort to be assured that our 
sufficiency is not of ourselves." 



CHAPTER III. 

"When thou dost purpose ought (within thy power) 
Be sure thou doe it, though it be but small. 
Constancy knits our bones, and makes us stoure, 
When wanton pleasure beckons us to thrawle. 
Who breaks his own bond forfeiteth himself, 
What nature made a ship he makes a shelf. " 

HERBERT, The Church Porch. 

CHOLDERTON. I. THE NEW CHURCH. 1847 1849. 
l8 47 . 

THE little living of Cholderton is one of the poorest in the 
gift of Oriel It passed all down the list of fellows in June, 
1847, but no man was willing to take it at the cost of his 
fellowship. A College meeting was thereupon called, at 
which it was decided, that Cholderton should be " tenable 
with a fellowship." Even in this form it was declined by all 
the senior fellows, and came to Eraser, who accepted it. He 
was inducted early in July, and then, by arrangement with 
the outgoing incumbent, Mr. Mozley, took two months 
holiday on the Continent before going into residence. His 
predecessor, who had, from an occasional contributor, 
become one of the principal writers on the staff of the Times, 
had found the two positions incompatible, unless his parish 
work was to be scamped, and so was migrating to London. 
He and his wife were building a new church, at Cholderton, 
to replace the one in use, which had fallen into hopeless 
decay, and had no architectural or antiquarian interest to 



$6 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

make it worth preserving. In the short visit which Fraser 
paid them before starting for his holiday, he seems to have 
won their entire confidence, and a friendship at once sprung 
up between them, which was only to end with the life of the 
younger man. The zeal and insight with which he entered 
into all their plans as to the new church, and took up the 
threads of the parish work of all kinds, hastened the 
transition from acquaintanceship to friendship. 

Of this continental tour the entry in his small pocket- 
book, " Vita mece (mihi non aliis) memorabilia" runs : 
"July 14 September 17. Tour on the continent with 
Marsh and Powles. Starting from Ramsgate : Ostend, 
Cologne, Coblenz, Frankfort, Heidelberg, Baden, Strasburg, 
Freiburg, Schaffhausen, Zurich, Luzern, the Oberland, 
Interlaken, Thun, Vevay, Berne, Geneva, Mont Blanc, the 
Simplon, Domo d'Ossola, L. Maggiore, Lugano and Como, 
Milan, Venice, Padua, Trent, the Stelvio, Finstermunz, 
Innspruck, Munich, Augsburg, Nuremberg, Wurtzburg, the 
Mayne, Frankfort, down the Rhine, home. Expenses, 
43 /. 155. 6</: 

The tiny hamlet to which Fraser returned from the 
Continent in September, 1847, is nestled away in a dip of 
the great downs which form the northern section of Salisbury 
Plain. They stretch towards the north-west, to Savernake 
Forest and the old borough of Marlborough. At this time 
probably in all Southern England, you could scarcely have 
hit upon a more secluded place than Cholderton. The 
famous Old Bath road, on which Marlborough was one of 
the chief stages, had become an entirely melancholy 
thoroughfare since the opening of the Great Western 
Railway. Instead of the 100 coaches which used to pass 
daily, now one solitary four-horse coach, the " Optimus," 
ran to Reading and back, and the posting traffic had almost 



CHAP. in. DEATH OF HIS BROTHER BRUCE. 57 

disappeared. The great posting houses all along the road 
had been for the most part broken up into tenement houses. 
The Castle Inn at Marlborough, the most famed of them all, 
only escaped that fate by the intervention of the trustees? 
who had taken a lease of it from Lord Ailesbury, and 
converted it into the great public school for south-west 
England. Salisbury, eleven miles away, over the bleak 
downs, is the post town, and was at that time the nearest 
railway station. An altogether unlikely place, one would 
say, for a young man in the prime of life, the foremost 
scholar of his year at Oxford, who for the last seven years 
had been enjoying all that was best in the intellectual and 
social life of that fascinating city, to select deliberately as his 
permanent home. No such thought crossed Eraser's mind. 
His simple and healthy nature could make itself not only 
contented, but happy, anywhere. In the first weeks of his 
settling-in, he writes to Sale : 

" I have a snug little place here a nice parsonage-house, 
and I retain my fellowship. Altogether I congratulate 
myself on my luck. I shall fill up my time with a couple of 
pupils, if I can get them. I want the money too, to build 
a school, which will cost me, I suppose, 3oo/. or 400!" 

His settling-in was not to be without sorrow however. A 
day or two later he writes to Mr. Mozley, from Bewdley, 
September 2otk, 1847 : " I am sorry to say I am come home 
to find my youngest brother " (the Bruce, who had been 
riding his horses in the spring to the Worcestershire hounds) 
' ' confined to his bed by a very serious illness and complete 
prostration of strength. This will keep me at home till our 
October audit " (at Oriel), " after which I shall go into 
immediate residence. I was very much hurried in passing 



58 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART I. 

through London or should have called on you ; as I wanted 
to ask you one or two questions, one of which was the 
following : It appears to me that it would be highly 
desirable, if possible, to effect an exchange of the present 
glebe land for other, lying nearer to the house. From what 
you know of Lady Nelson would she be likely to assent to 
any such arrangement ? From what I learned at Cholderton 
of the convenience of the present glebe to Mr. Tanner's 
farm, I should think an exchange would be beneficial to 
both properties. There can be no doubt of its being 
advantageous to the rectory. I should be glad also if Mrs. 
Mozley or you would furnish me with any parochial 
statistics, which would make me know what families in the 
village most need assistance, and what kind of assistance you 
have found to be of the greatest service to them." 

Bruce having rallied, he returned to Cholderton, but was 
summoned back in haste on 2nd November, and arrived just 
too late to see his brother alive. 

To his brother, Captain A. Fraser. Bewdley, November 
5//;, 1847. "Our mother's letter to you last month must 
have prepared you to look for, if it did not cause you to 
fear, worse tidings of poor dear Bruce. Such, my dear 
Alex, it is now the painful task for us to send. The dear 
sufferer is now relieved from all further worldly cares or 
pains. He drew his last breath on Wednesday evening, the 
3rd of November, about ten minutes past seven o'clock. It 
is hardly true though to call his death a release from suffer- 
ing. It has been one great source of comfort that throughout 
his long illness of nearly three months, he has scarcely known 
what pain was, and at the last it was as though he were 
dropping into a tranquil sleep. Indeed, so imperceptibly 



CHAP. in. DEATH OF HIS BROTHER BRUCE. 59 

did his spirit pass away, that those who were watching by 
his couch could with difficulty tell when it was that he 
ceased to breathe. He is gone, we may well trust, to a 
better, and more abiding home. So pure and innocent was 
he in his life, so guileless in all his ways, so affectionate and 
simple-minded, that we may, I trust without presumption, 
console ourselves with the hope that his gentle spirit is now 
at rest, peacefully awaiting a blessed resurrection at the last 
day. Mother and Aunt Lucy (who have nursed and 
watched over him unaided throughout his long illness) and 
Uncle John, were with him when he died. That melancholy 
satisfaction was denied to me. I had hastily left Cholderton 
(in obedience to a summons from my uncle), the previous 
evening, but could not get here till a brief quarter of an hour 
after all was over. His poor emaciated hand (for you never 
saw any living creature so wasted and fallen away) was still 
warm for me to grasp, but the living spirit had quitted its 
earthly tenement. It would have been a great comfort to 
me had it been permitted to be otherwise, and could I have 
seen the last breath pass away from one I loved so dearly. 
As soon as possible after the funeral, my dear mother will 
make preparations for leaving Bewdley. She could no 
longer live where everything on every side would be recalling 
to her mind the dear one she has lost in the house, in the 
garden, everywhere, are so many little traces of his affectionate 
presence, or of his careful handiwork. She will come to me, 
I hope, at Cholderton, near Marlborough, Wilts. Dear 
Edward " (another brother who had lately gone to India) 
"has not given us his address, and I know not where to 
write to him, but it will save me the pain, and cost him no 
loss of time, if you will send this letter on to him, or break 
this distressing news to him yourself. No doubt it will be 
to you, as it has been to me, a heavy blow, but it may be 



60 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART I. 

turned to blessed consequences, if it leads us to love one 
another more tenderly, and, as we are now the fewer to unite, 
to be the more affectionately united. I pray God that it may 
have this effect, for I have found, dear Alex, that since your 
marriage, your affections have wandered somewhat far away 
from home. We have heard from you but twice, and then 
so hastily that we know but little of what you have been 
doing, or how you are going on. 1 hope your new relations* 
which justly have so chief a claim upon your heart, will still 
leave a part unoccupied to feel an interest in those you have 
left at home, and who watch over your welfare with so much 
solicitude and concern. Indeed, I am sure it will be so. I 
am sure you never intended to give us pain, but you forget 
that such hasty, scanty letters, when we expected you would 
have so much to tell, do give pain, though unintended. We 
shall try to find some little memorial of our dear departed 
one to send out to you, and to dear Edward something 
that he used to wear, or use, himself, which no doubt, how- 
ever trifling in value, would make it precious in your eyes. 
It would be a great comfort if we had some likeness of his 
own loved face and form, but we have none, and he is now 
so changed, so thin and wan, that none could be taken. I 
hope, therefore, the more earnestly that those daguerreotype 
portraits, poor things though they be, will reach you safely. 
They at least will convey some recollection of what he was, 
and may, at some future time, be improved in a copy. You 
will therefore be sure to let us know when this arrives." 

To Sale. Cholderton, January i2t/i, 1848. " You have 
perhaps heard of the sad trial we have undergone in the loss 
of my dearly loved and, I might almost say, only brother, 
Bruce, for I have none other left in England now. He sank 
after a lingering but painless illness of three months into an 



CHAP. in. MEACHER. 61 

early grave ; but none for which, dear boy, he was unpre- 
pared His life had been ever one of purity and innocence, 
and so his end was peace, and indeed, though we have much 
to mourn for ourselves, for him we have, I trust, no cause 
to grieve. We ' sorrow not as others which have no hope.' 
Every retrospect of his short life warrants us in entertaining 
' hopes full of immortality ' ; and this has been our great 
comfort under an affliction that would otherwise have been 
well-nigh insupportable, for he was very dear to us. Ah, it 
has been a sad blow to my poor mother. For the last four 
years he had been her constant, and affectionate, and almost 
only companion. It is a kind Providence that has so 
arranged things as to enable me now to offer her a home. 
She has broken up her establishment at Bewdley, and I am 
looking for her here to-morrow. I have had three months 
of bachelor housekeeping, so you may imagine it will be no 
small relief to have her." 

His strenuous life in these first months, as a country 
parson, will be best illustrated by extracts from the corre- 
spondence. 

1847- 

To Mr. Mozley. Dec. 2nd. " I just write one line to 
say that the tiles " (for the new church) " came yesterday 
evening about five o'clock. By the help of two of Mr. 
Tanner's horses, they got them to the shed in the church- 
yard, where they were carefully deposited for the night. 
This morning Meacher has been superintending their 
removal under cover. I get the painters out of the house 
to-day. By the middle of next week I hope to be a little 
in order, and in condition to welcome you any day that 
you have leisure and inclination to run down." 



62 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART I. 

Dec. yd. " I did not expect there would be a second 
load of tiles when I wrote yesterday, but another waggon- 
ful arrived last night at six o'clock, even heavier than the 
former. I paid the bill, which I enclose. Mr. Tanner 
grumbled, so Meacher tells me, at his horses being again 
required, and said ' they were not to send for them at that 
time of night.' This is not very accommodating, and hardly 
what I should have expected from him ; but I suppose 
he must have been a little out of temper from something 
else at the moment."..." I sent out my tithe claims yester- 
day, but of course can't tell how long it will before they 
will be noticed. I have been (at Meacher's suggestion) 
lopping the sycamores a good deal, which I think has cer- 
tainly improved the appearance of the place. I have, on 
second thoughts, given up the idea of having one of them 
down. I am very well satisfied with Mr. Haverill's work 
with one exception, and that is, the paper in the study. It 
is an imitation of oak, and was to be varnished, in the 
process whereof they managed to pick some dozen holes 
in it, which they have patched in the most villainous 
manner. This, as it can't be mended, except by re-paper- 
ing, is very vexatious. I don't understand about the land- 
tax, but presume a claim is sent to me by some one, and 
that I have not to volunteer the payment." 

He inherited from the Mozleys, amongst other valuables, 
a servant, by name Meacher, the man who superintended 
the unloading of the tiles as we have heard ; one of those 
all-round men combining the functions of groom, gardener, 
and general out-door factotum, who are rarely found any- 
where, but never in such perfection as in country parsonages. 
Meacher remained with him for the rest of his life, and we 
shall get glimpses from time to time of the relations which 



CHAP. in. MR. PAXTON. 63 

existed between them, which must be taken as typical. Once 
a member of his family, and no man or woman seemed able 
voluntarily to break away from it. 

No doubt the soul of Meacher must have burnt within him 
when he took charge of Ajax, and the other horse his young 
master had brought from Oxford. Fraser was as little in- 
clined to part with a good horse as with a good servant, and 
wisely concluded that horses who had carried him with the 
Quorn, in the front rank, would easily master a rector's nag's 
business, and at the same time be a credit to the parish. He 
was very particular about his horses' shoes ; and having heard 
a good report of the village smith, determined to employ 
him, but to take the precaution of being present himself on 
the first occasion. Accordingly, Meacher was directed to 
take the horses to the forge, but not to allow the smith to 
shoe them till his master's arrival. What passed before this 
between groom and smith is not known ; but when the 
rector came up the shoeing was in due course completed, 
quite to his liking, under his own eye. Then the smith, a stout 
Nonconformist, ventured a guess that, " them horses had 
been used to hunting ? " Fraser admitted that they had ; 
whereupon the smith hoped that " their new rector was 
no hunting parson." The new rector assured him that he 
might make his mind easy on that subject. As has been 
already noted, he had seen his last run. He never hunted 
again after his short Leicestershire season. How many 
of us have made such resolutions at one time or another 
of our lives ! How few have kept them ! 

The old church at Cholderton had fallen into a hopeless 
condition, and, as we know, his predecessor had undertaken 
to build a new one, which was nearly finished when Fraser 
came into residence. The superintending the completion 
of the material church, and the holding together and build- 



64 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

ing up of the spiritual church, or congregation of faithful 
parishioners, to occupy and worship therein, formed his 
principal interest and occupation in these first years. The 
former business proved a delicate and difficult one, and 
excellent practice for the great work to which he was in due 
time to be called, of building up his Master's Church in the 
great industrial county of Lancashire. First, as was natural, 
came the great pew question, the. dissentient if not hostile 
column of parishioners being led, as was also natural, by Mr. 
Paxton, the resident squire, who had leased the Manor 
House from Lady Nelson and her son. The tact with which 
the new incumbent handled this controversy, and the happy 
issue to which he managed in the end to bring it, augured 
well for his future success in ruling and guiding the Church 
in the great metropolis of Cotton. In such matters, as in 
all human affairs, troubles and obstacles wholly unlooked for, 
and generally uncalled for, are sure to crop up, and Cholder- 
ton new church was not destined to be an exception to the 
rule. The squire's grievances seem to have been many, and 
(not being of a serious character) to have been treated some- 
what cavalierly by Mr. Mozley, so that his frame of mind 
was none of the most amiable. This will best appear in the 
new rector's reports to his predecessor. 



To Mr. Mozley. December itfh, 1847. "Since I last 
wrote to you I have had two more long conversations with 
Mr. Paxton about the new church, and the pew question. 
On the first occasion he was very violent, and much of what 
he said distressed me a good deal on many accounts, 
indeed I hardly got a wink of sleep for thinking of it. 
Yesterday he was much more reasonable and temperate. I 
regret to say that personal feelings towards yourself seem to 
be at the bottom of the grievance. He is resolved, he said 



CHAP. ill. THE SQUIRE'S PEW. 65 

on Thursday, ' not to accept a pew or anything else at your 
hands,' his pride will not allow him do that. ' He will be 
indebted to no one for the sittings he occupies.' I tried in 
vain to make him see that you do not offer a pew to him 
personally, but a pewed church to the parish, and that his 
particular seats would be assigned by other authorities. 
Yesterday however he did not introduce this topic, but the 
burden of his complaint was that he had ' never been con- 
sulted,' (meaning in private, for he admitted he had been 
at the vestry,) that you had abruptly closed the corre- 
spondence,' and that he had never had any proposition made 
to him at all.' He was ' most anxious that the matter 
should be settled,' and had ' never said he wanted a square 
pew ; ' that ' he had never put forward a claim of prescrip- 
tion,' but ' this was what he wanted, he wanted to know 
what you proposed to do ; what kind of sittings you pro- 
posed to put up, what accommodation there would be for him, 
because, if the sittings beforehand were not such as he was 
satisfied with, neither the churchwardens, nor any one else 
could 'make an assignment with which he would be con- 
tent.' He was 'determined never to give his consent to 
the consecration of the church until he was satisfied.' " 

To the Same. Dec. z\st. " Mr. Paxton has now declared 
his chief objection, to wit, that he will not have any one sit- 
ting behind him who ' could breathe on his back,' and, that 
* he will not be peremptory about a square pew, but a door 
was a sine qud non.' He also hinted that he should be 
shortly obliged to repair his servants' pew (in the old church), 
a merely vexatious proceeding, to embarrass me, for of course 
I should have to protest against his doing so. Nothing would 
grieve me more than that, after all you have done for the 
parish, you should be forced into a lawsuit in which there 



66 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PARTI. 

was even a possibility of your being beaten ; but I confess I 
don't see how it is to be avoided if you adhere to your 
present plan, and Mr. Paxton to his present mind. If 
anything could be devised by which, without making a dis- 
tinction in the seats, or departing too widely from your 
original plan, or putting you to extra expense, Mr. Paxton 
could get his back to the wall according to his wish, I should 

be truly thankful Whether the space on the north 

side, answering to that occupied by the desk and pulpit on 
the south side (if that be your arrangement) could not be 
fitted up with one or two seats, one of which would thus 
have the wall at its back, is a thing perhaps worth con- 
sideration. That is the arrangement at Newton Toney, and I 
do not think it unsightly. I should be really glad if some 
small concession of this sort (within bounds) could be made 
which might avert litigation." 

Next comes a sad relapse on the part of the squire. " He 
says," writes Fraser, " that he shall not be found unreason- 
able in his requirements, but that if he is driven to the law 
4 it will be war to the knife,' he 4 would take nothing less 
than what the law allowed him would take advantage of 
every quibble' 'would remove it from Bishop's court to 
the Court of Chancery ' 4 would file a Bill against the 
churchwarden if he dared to touch his present pew ; ' and if 
the law did not give him at last what he was satisfied with, 
he would never enter the church doors. It was very painful 
to me to hear him running on in this way, though, as I said, 
he was mild as a lamb yesterday, compared with what he 
was on Thursday ; I tried to get him to say what it was he 
actually did require, but I could not get it out of him. 

4< He maintains he has a prescriptive right (but not to a 
part of the chancel, as he finds now that Burn is mistaken on 



CHAP. in. THE SQUIRE'S PEW. 67 

that point, and that the law is that no prescriptive right can 
dispossess the rector of his chancel), and this right he shall 
insist on if driven to law. But it is not the ground he has taken 
hitherto. Now all this appears to me very sad, and all my 
reasoning has had no effect. This seems to be his fixed resolve. 
Can anything then be done ? Almost anything is preferable, 
in my judgment, to a lawsuit, if you do not sacrifice any vital 
principle by the avoidance of it. I do not suppose, from 
what you have told me, that all his opposition would do him 
any good, or you any harm ; but, still, it would involve a 
great waste of money, and on his side, I fear, not a little 
ill blood. Do you feel yourself in a condition or in a humour, 
to make any proposal which is likely to be received ? As I 
have said, I do not think he will insist on a square pew 
(although he admits he prefers them), but a door he seems 
absolutely to require. Should you have an insuperable objec- 
tion to put down the seats at once (Meacher tells me it was 
agreed they should be put in afterwards) if a wish was ex- 
pressed to that effect ? Or would it be of any avail to offer 
to leave the matter to arbitration ? I hardly think he would 
acquiesce in the mediation of the Bishop, as he has unfairly 
concluded (from an expression of his Lordship's that he 
would sanction nothing of which you did not approve) that 
he should find in him a prejudiced judge. I hope you won't 
think that in anything I have said I wish to assume a tone 
of dictation, or even of advice. I have merely ventured a 
suggestion in the hope that something might be done to 
bring this painful business to an amicable adjustment. By 
' amicable ' I mean ' without the intervention of the law,' 
for as to the restoration of amicable feelings between Mr. 
P. and yourself, from his temper I grieve to say that I 
despair of that." 



F 2 



63 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PARTI. 

1848. 

To Mr. Mozley. March 24^, 1848. "I have had a 
most unpleasant interview with Mr. Paxton and his lawyer 
to-day, not that the lawyer took much part in it either way. 
Mr. Paxton did all the talking himself, and a tolerably 
violent exhibition it was. He seems to think the world is 
leagued against him, to defraud or dispossess him of his 
just rights. I told him what your intentions were, to make 
all the seats alike, after the pattern he had seen in the shed. 
This will not satisfy him at all. His ultimatum is as follows, 
which I promised to communicate to you, though without 
much hope (whatever may be my wishes) that you will con- 
cede to it. He does not want or at least press for a 
square seat, but he can't bear people 'breathing on his 
back,' or ' knocking him with their books,' (so he says), and 
therefore he must have the whole or part of the seat parallel 
to the wall, so that he may have no one behind him. In 
fact what he wants is for you to let him know how many 
feet of area you mean to allow him, and for him to fit it up 
in his own way ; and, he says, he should depart ' as little as 
he possibly can ' from the uniformity of the rest of the 
church, consistently with the desire he has to sit without his 
back being exposed to the 'hot breath ' of those behind him. 
Then he is peremptory about a door. This is what he 
demands, and nothing short of this will keep him from 
going to law ' or else,' he added, just on leaving the room, 
' I may think whether it will be best worth my while to 
spend my money in a lawsuit, or in building a place of 
worship for myself, where I can be free from these annoy- 
ances. This,' he said, giving a significant look at me, 
' deserves the consideration of some parties. It has been 
done elsewhere.' Such is his demand, and such as it is, I 



CHAP. in. WAYS AND MEANS. 69 

undertook to lay it before you. I suppose it was your in- 
tention to have all the seats looking eastward ? otherwise if 
the two or three last rows on the north side were placed so 
as to look southward (like the stalls in college chapels) Mr. 
Paxton might get his back to his favourite wall, and avoid 
the annoyance which he considers so insupportable." 

To the Same. March 2gt/i. " I have not a word to say 
against your letter of yesterday. I cannot be surprised at 
your feeling disinclined to make concessions to one who has 
never shown any disposition to concede to you, and which, 
if made to one, might with great fairness be claimed by 
others also. I acknowledge an instinctive dread of lawsuits, 
and an over-desire to compromise matters at almost any 
cost rather than bring them to this issue. But of course 
there are times when it is one's duty to make a stand. If 
Mr. P. attempts to repair his servants' pew (in the old 
church) what do you advise me to do ? Would a simple 
protest against the step be sufficient in the eye of the law ? 
or, must I refuse permission ? or, have I the power to do 
this ? I have told the clerk not to let any one have the 
keys of the church for such a purpose, unless they have my 
leave to repair, if in the chancel ; or Mr. Tanner's, if in the 
body of the church. Do you know if it is essential that 
churchwardens should be elected in Easter week to make 
them legally qualified? Mr. Tanner was elected on Feb- 
ruary 1 5th last, for next year. There was a vestry meeting 
to choose constables, and to save trouble the churchwarden 
was chosen too. With Mr. Paxton to deal with it is desir- 
able to have everything in legal form, as he says he shall 
avail himself of every quirk and quibble (e.g. he even raises 
the question whether the half of the disputed pew is in the 
chancel), so perhaps it will be safe that Mr. Tanner should 



7 o LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PARTI. 

be re-elected on Easter Tuesday. I am more vexed about 
this annoying subject on your account than on my own. It 
does seem so hard upon you after all you have done." 

And so the weary controversy raged yet for many months, 
Eraser's reports on it being happily interspersed with parish 
news, e.g. that " the Hales are both out of work, there having 
been a turn-out of the Wilbury gamekeepers, so that John 
is cashiered there, and Henry is no longer wanted at 
the Knatchbulls ; a serious thing for them, as both have 
families." "Mrs. Hillin can no longer get to church-, 
could Mrs. Mozley find a secondhand bath-chair, from 2/. 
to 3/., which I and my mother would buy for her, and after- 
wards it might be used as an invalid chair for the parish," 
&c., c 

To Mr, Mozley. May \$th, 1848. "Mr. Paxton has at 
last, on the recommendation of his lawyer, consented to 
the proposal I made, to give him up for the present the 
occupation of the disputed pew (though with a distinct 
understanding that it is without prejudice to the rector's 
rights) as long as matters remain in the present state. 
When the new church is finished he will be prepared to 
establish his rights to the fullest extent. He has conse- 
quently returned to church with his family, after an absence 
of more than four months. Meacher and I have taken a 
liberty (the idea was his) with your model benches. The 
chancel was so inconveniently filled that we have placed 
two of them there, and have transferred the children and 
their benches into the aisle. We consequently get about 
eight mere sittings, and greater comfort for the women to 
boot. ... Of course I was sorry to hear that you had mis- 
givings as to your ability to finish Cholderton Church this 
year, but I am sure there is no one, however anxious to see 



CHAP. in. WAYS AND MEANS. 71 

it open for worship, who would wish you to be inconve- 
nienced or hurried. I have long been wishing to be in 
condition to offer you my mite towards the good work but, 
as you know pretty well what my income is from my fellow- 
ship and the living, you may imagine it has been rather 
heavily taxed this year, and besides I have my building [the 
schools] coming on, for which Mr. Crook's contract is i4o/. 
and the exchange of the glebe to complete at Michaelmas, 
which (with the purchase of the timber) will run a long way, 
I fear, into 8oo/. So I do not see my way out of embarrass- 
ment (so to call it) even now. Still I hope I shall be in a 
condition to offer you ioo/., if you will allow me, out of my 
Michaelmas tithe and I only mention it now because I 
thought you might like to know what money you can count 
upon, and when. I only wish it were in my power to double 
that sum, but I must keep myself out of debt ; and further, 
I feel the inconvenience of the present school so much that 
the next money I can put by must go in that direction. . . . 
I have to preach a sermon for the Propagation Society next 
Sunday nothing I dislike so much, or feel such a difficulty 
in, as writing charity sermons. You might as well send me 
an old one that will do." 

To Sale. Sept. igth, 1848. " I consider my stable and 
coach-house to be nearly perfection in a small way. I have 
room for three carriages, two loose boxes for my own horses, 
and two spare stalls, the whole snugly inclosed in a walled 
yard, with entrance gate to lock, and keep all safe at night." 
In his note-book the entry as to this work runs : " Built 
coach-house, enlarged stable, and inclosed the yard, total 
cost lyo/., exclusive of the materials of the old tithe barn, 
which were used." " It was a weakness of his," says Canon 
Cornish, "which has often raised a secret smile amongst his 



72 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

friends, to be profuse in admiration of all that was his own, 
house, furniture, carriages, &c. It sprang, I think, from his 
very contented disposition." 

His new church absorbed much of his thoughts, and in 
the summer of 1848 he had resolved to fill the windows 
himself with painted glass. He proposed to begin with 
the east window, which was to be a memorial to his two 
youngest brothers. This resolution he now confided to 
Mrs. Mozley, at the end of a letter on the case of a crippled 
boy, whom he was thinking of sending up to the Orthopaedic 
Hospital. 

To Mrs. Mozley. Cholderton, November \7ih, 1848. "I 
hope I made myself understood about the windows, though 
I wrote in so great a hurry that I am fearful I did not. I 
have sketched out (mentally) a design for the whole church, 
which I transcribe for your benefit on the other side. I 
reckon that each of the two-light side windows might be 
stained for so/., so that I trust to be able to fill them in 
course of time, at the rate of about two a year. Are you a 
Latin scholar ? If not you will not make out my inscrip- 
tions. In case your husband should be too busy to translate 
for you, I take the liberty of giving you a very rude, but, I 
trust, literal English version, which I made for my mother's 
edification. If Mr. Mozley thinks the design for the memo- 
rial window more suitable to the west end, we should have 
no objection to put it there, only the east window is that one 
naturally desires to see first filled." 

Fraser was no poet, and the English version of his 
memorial verses to his two brothers need not be here given. 
The Latin was as follows > 



CHAP. in. THE PAINTED WINDOWS. 73 

On Side Compartment. On Side Compartment. 

JOANNES WILLIM FRASER ROBERTUS BRUCE FRASER 
Apud Indos Orientates jam Biennio legis studenti vix 

biennium militans, exacto, 

Immatura morte peremptus Immortalitatem cum vita com- 

est. mutav.t, 

die Septembris, A.D. 1840, aeL 20. 3tio die Novembris, A.D. 1847, zt - 20 - 

IN CENTRAL COMPARTMENT.' 
Ambo deflendi dederant si fata tu?ri 

Armis hie patriam noverat, ille toga. 
Amho tirones, totidemque jequaliter annos, 

Officio cecidit junctus uterque suo. 
Jamque jacent (fas sit sperare) ubi nulla manebunt 

Causave consulto, bellave agenda duci. 

I add the general design : 

DESIGN FOR CHURCH WINDOWS. 

4 3 21 

THOMAS JAMES PAUL LUKE 

and and and and 

MATTHIAS. BARTHOLOMEW. BARNABAS. JOHN. 

Four North side 2-light windows, with figures of Evangelists and Apostles. 

1-3 ^'~ ^ <y> 

=r 3 c.=r p* 

C. n n ; 

- = ? 3 r.n ~ 

, -* I 1. 3 S ? 



IK ^ 

3 3 ?. $ r- r 



12 3 4 

MATTHEW ANDREW PHILIP SIMON 

and and and and 

MARK. PETER. JAMES THE LESS. JUDE. 

Four South side 2-light windows, with figures of Evangelists and Apostles. 

' The epitaph in the text was copied from Eraser's original manuscript. The 
present incumbent sends the following as the f jrm of the memorial verses as they now 
stand in the Church : 

Par fratrum concors puros queis Integra m ^res 

Fingebat pietas ingenuusque pudor. 
Ambo tirones, totidemque aequaliter annos, 

Officio cecidit functus uterque suo. 
Otia jam norunt aeterna. ubi nulla manebunt 
Causave consulto, bellave agenda duci. 



74 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

This elaborate plan seems to have startled the Mozleys ; 
and to have drawn a remonstrance and caution from them 
by return of post. They had not then discovered what a 
superb business faculty their young friend possessed. To 
this he replied: "You must not judge me too hastily. I 
never thought of this as one of the things to be done imme- 
diately, but only as a scheme in my head which I one day 
hope to realise. I should not even have attempted the 
memorial window till the church was finished, had not my 
calculations justified me in thinking I could manage my part 
in both at the same time. For you must not suppose that I 
am encountering the expense of these works alone. In the 
memorial window, for instance, my mother, my uncle, and 
my aunt share the expense with me ; which will not make 
our several contingents more than 4o/. Again, for the school- 
house, the most essential need of the parish by far, my 
mother has promised me ioo/., and my uncle something, so 
that I do not think what will have to come out of my own 
pocket will exceed 3oo/. Now, you know, I really have a 
very good income, with my fellowship and the living 
together, and an occasional pupil; not much less than 55o/. 
or 6oo/. a year. My mother pays me aoo/. towards house 
expenses, and these hardly exceed 4oo/. a year, horses and 
all included, so that I have a considerable surplus, and 
though the expenses of furnishing, building, exchanging the 
glebe, &c., will have been rather heavy upon me, and do 
not leave me much to spare now ; and the schoolhouse is a 
prospective drain in the same direction ; yet, when all this 
is done, and all the annual claims of the parish (which do 
not come to 5<D/.) are satisfied, I shall still be able, and I 
think justified, in putting by ioo/. a year towards decorating, 
a work which I am sure deserves it. I am no mere " builder," 
or "decorator" either, while more pressing claims remain 



CHAP. HI. REMONSTRANCES. 75 

unsatisfied, but really I should be at a loss to know what to 
do with my money (unless I went out of the parish) unless I 
laid out some of it in this, which I still think a legitimate 
way. Indeed, considering the peculiar condition of this 
parish that we have no unemployed poor I hardly know 
what scheme I could adopt for bettering their condition ; 
though I should be most thankful for any hints that Mr. 
Mozley and yourself could furnish me with. As I have said, 
the great want is a good school, and this I hope speedily to 
supply. I am now hastening the exchange of the glebe for 
the very purpose of being able to set about it as soon as the 
old church is down. "When the house is built the next thing 
will be to procure, and endow, a mistress. I do not intend 
asking the college to contribute to the building, but I hope 
they will give me 5/. a year for the endowment. In course 
of time I shall hope to add ' Cracherode's charity ' to the 
same purpose, and perhaps may count upon 5/. a year from 
other sources. I think I ought to get a competent mistress, 
considering I should give her furnished apartments, for 2o/. 
or 3o/. a year. So the balance to come out of my own purse 
would not be large. Your good husband need not fear for 
my becoming a book -worm, or a bankrupt. I am sorry to 
say I have a constitution naturally indolent, and do not read 
half as much as I ought to do ; and, as to the other, I have 
such a horror of debt, that I am not likely to fall into it. 
But, after all this explanation, I hope you will neither of you 
think me very extravagant, or very self-willed, or neglectful 
of more paramount calls, if I again say that I shall be 
anxious to fill the side windows by degrees." 

Objections of quite another kind came from his Aunt 
Lucy. The nature of these will be sufficiently indicated by 
the following answer to them : 



7 6 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

To his Aunt. Cholderton, November i6//i, 1848. " Why 
should not dear Bruce's innocence find an adequate 
memorial in the conversation between our Divine Master 
and the young lawyer who had ' kept all the command- 
ments,' as far as unaided human nature could, from his 
youth ? And dear John's affectionate and modest heart in 
the faithful centurion, so warmly interested for the welfare 
of his servant, and yet so sensible of his own unworthiness 
as to feel that he was not worthy to receive our Lord into 
his house ? The design is sufficiently general not to obtrude 
a merely personal remembrance on the minds of others ; 
while it is so far personal as to fully answer our own hopes 
and feelings. 

"As to the inscription (which, I confess is, to my mind 
the most tenable objection), it will be quite subordinate to 
the main design, and being in Latin, will be intelligible but 
to few. It will rarely therefore have the effect of drawing 
down a spectator's mind to earthly things when it should be 
rising elsewhere. It cannot well be a memorial window 
without an inscription, and it would be unmeaning to place 
the inscription elsewhere. Chancel monuments are very 
common, and I can see no real harm, much less ' profana- 
tion,' if, in I trust a legitimate and pious wish to decorate 
God's house, we have wished to associate, and as it were 
inshrine, the memories of those dear to us. It was surely 
intended that we should be actuated, though only in the 
second place, by human motives ; else why were our 
affections given us ? And if we dwell in thought and tender 
reminiscences upon the dead, why should we shrink from 
seeing those thoughts expressed in words, or the mental 
picture embodied to the eye ? I can see no ' mixing up of 
human remembrances with divine imagery ' in any such way 
as can be deemed irreverent or painful to the most religious 



CHAP. in. PREPARATIONS FOR CONSECRATION. 77 

mind ; but simply a giving expression to the outward eye of 
what we all feel in our inward hearts, an elevating and 
sanctifying of the merely human element by bringing it into 
association with what is divine." 

1849. 

To Sale. December j//i, 1849 "The staining of the 
windows I have taken in hand. Having been fortunate 
enough to get a liberal supply of pupils, we shall start with 
four painted windows. The east and west are being exe- 
cuted by O'Connor, and promise to be as handsome glass 
as I ever saw. The two side windows I have intrusted to 
Clutterbuck. If life is spared I hope to fill every window 
in the church by the end of 1851." 

It was still eighteen months before the new church was 
ready for consecration, and, meantime, two of the painted 
windows had been already put in to the great satisfaction of 
the rector. At last in February, 1850, he could write to 
Mrs. Mozley : 

1850. 

Cholderton, February i<)th, 1850. "Your plan of the 
entertainment is pretty nearly the same as we had turned 
over in our own minds. I think I mentioned that it is my 
wish that all my parishioners should have a good dinner on 
that day ; and, if possible, to bring the two parties of rich 
and poor together. By the aid of canvas and rick cloths I 
have thought that sufficient and protected accommodation 
may be provided for all in the rectory meadow. As to what 
you say as to sharing the expense I cannot hear of it. I 
don't consider that that falls within your and your husband's 
province at all. I am sure his pocket has been taxed 



78 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

enough already. In all my calculations of expenditure I 
have always put aside in one corner a snug little 4O/., which 
I thought would cover the expenses of the day and it is 
still there. There is not a particle of reason why the burden 
of the entertainment should not rest, as it ought, on my 
shoulders. So please let me hear no more about this." 

Again to Mrs. Mozley, " I have left Wyatt (the architect) 
to arrange with the Bishop about the consecration day. My 
mother is busying her mind already with all sorts of plans. 
Of course I wish you to bring as many of your friends and 
kindred as we can possibly accommodate with you. I 
shall place three bedrooms at your entire disposal. I dare- 
say Grace [Mr. Mozley 's daughter] would not object to 
sleep in my mother's (your old) room ; and two ladies might 
squeeze into one bed. So you will please to make your 
arrangements accordingly." 

To Mrs. Mozley. March $rd. " The work at the church 
may now be said to be finished. Ringham's men are all 
gone, and Crook has completed his portion of the task [the 
stained glass]. There is little more than the cleaning and 
oiling to be done. I am sorry to say Mr. Paxton would 
not sign the petition for consecration for some trumpery 
reasons, which however he calls conscientious. The prin- 
cipal was, that he would not attest a statement, that, ten 
years ago the old church was in a ' dilapidated state.' In 
his note to me he adds that he shall not be here on the 
1 6th of April, but hopes the day will pass off to the 
gratification of all concerned." 

The day was now fixed for April i6th, a Wednesday, and 
all seemed going smoothly, when a most untoward event 
occurred. Factotum Meacher, having by this time lost his. 



CHAP. in. MEACHER'S ACCIDENT. 79 

respect for Ajax, and, oblivious of the fact that that noble 
beast had in his day led " the cream of the cream in the 
shire of the shires," ventured to put him in a cart and take 
him into Salisbury for a load. The result was a bolt of 
Ajax's in the inn yard. Meacher, in trying to stop him, was 
crushed against the wall, and retired, a sadder and wiser 
man, into Salisbury Infirmary, only some fortnight before 
the great day. Happily it proved that no bones were 
broken, though he had been severely shaken. 

To Mrs. Mozley. April ^th. " My mother and myself 
both regret extremely to hear of Mr. and Mrs. Walter's 
inability to be here on the i6th, especially for its cause. 
Fresh non-acceptances also come dropping in, as from Lady 
Nelson yesterday, who is obliged to return to town (though 
her son will be here), and from the Staggs of Grafton this 
morning. My principal consolation is that it will allow of 
more of our own village people taking part in the ceremony. 
I am happy to tell you that Meacher is going on very 
favourably. He hopes to get out of the Infirmary on 
Saturday, and I shall write to the committee expressing my 
wish to the same effect, as it would be a grievous disap- 
pointment to him, enough to bring on a bad r elapse, if he 
could not be here on Wednesday. By God's mercy his 
accident turns out to be nothing more than a severe shake. 
There are no broken bones, or internal injury. His wife is 
at Cambridge, and is not to know anything about it. His 
son-in-law, Marsh, came here on Monday escorting about 
twenty beehives from Cambridge, and not having heard of 
his father's misadventure. He went in to see him yesterday. 
Can you tell me where Maria Laming (which I think is 
your old servant's name) is to be found ? that I may send 
her word about coming. I do not think that Meacher has 



8o LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART I. 

done so yet. . . We shall expect you (D.V.) on Monday. 
The cold weather has entirely disappeared, but wet has 
come instead. However I never was a croaker and look 
with confidence for a fine day. . . As to Ajax, I perceive 
that if you were in my mother's place I should have to get 
rid of the offender, but really, in spite of his occasional 
tricks, he is a useful and a safe horse. At least he has 
never attempted with me any thing of a dangerous tendency. 
As my mother is not afraid of him I can ill afford to part 
with him, but I must learn Meacher's feelings when he 
comes home." 

After the last letter he appears to have gone over to 
Salisbury, to satisfy himself thoroughly about his servant. 
Next day he writes again to Mrs. Mozley : 

Cholderton, April $fh, 1850. " I had anticipated all your 
feelings by my own about poor Meacher. I was in Salisbury 
yesterday and saw him. He is a sad heap of bruises, but 
really getting on as favourably as I could expect. He 
seemed. doubtful himself about the prudence of coming out 
for the consecration, as he feared it might throw him back, 
and tell upon him all through the summer. So what I 
have settled upon is this, I spoke to the house surgeon 
(telling him the circumstances) and it is agreed that if 
Meacher himself wishes to come, and it is thought safe 
to let him, he should be discharged on Tuesday, and if 
necessary readmitted as an out-patient afterwards. I nhall 
be quite as much disappointed as Grace, if he is not here, 
and you may imagine I find it rather difficult to get on 
without him." 

To the Same. April 8//z. " The allotment of the seats 
in the new church is made ; and, as you might expect, does 



CHAP. HI. THE CONSECRATION. 81 

not escape uncensured. Mr. Paxton of course grumbles, 
though we have given him exactly what he asked for. But, 
after one or two angry notes, he 'will let the matter rest 
where it does for peace and quiet.' And the Miss Knatch- 
bulls consider the offer of the front row of the chancel seats 
as good as telling them to go to some other church ! I find 
it best to listen to no murmurs, and trust that all will subside 
soon. The church has been so full that we have been 
obliged to make the most we could of the room." 

The great day went off most satisfactorily. Meacher 
came back for it, and forgave Ajax. The murmurs, except 
those of the squire, died out ; and the ceremony and 
weather were all that could be wished. The following ex- 
tract may close the story of his first notable exploit as a 
country parson. 

1851. 

To Mr. Mozley. November &t/i, 1851. "The consecra- 
tion of Durington Church (to which I heard you were in- 
vited) went off very nicely, on Saturday (A!! Saints' Day). 
The arrangements were on the model of those at Cholder- 
ton, and, I thought, equally successful, but Meacher, who 
will not allow Cholderton to be beaten in anything, on my 
saying as much as we were driving home, replied, ' Well, sir, 
the Bishop's coachman says, of all the consecrations he ever 
attended there was nothing like Cholderton.' " 

This chapter may conclude with part of a letter to Mr. 
Mozley, six months after the consecration. " I suppose you 
remember little Samuel Crouch, whom at one time you had 
some idea of making your page ? The poor lad has come to 
a sad end. On the igth ult. he had gone with a waggon of 
Mr. Healy's into Salisbury. On their return Wm. Waites, 

G 



82 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

the carter, who was drunk, would not let him drag the wheel 
down Cholderton Hill. In consequence the weight over- 
powered the horses in spite of the poor lad's vain efforts to 
stop them, who broke first into a trot and then into a gallop, 
and ended by jamming the boy against the bank, knocking 
him down and trampling on him, and inflicting such serious 
injuries that there was no hope of recovery from the first, and 
he died after some hours of severe suffering on Sunday even- 
ing the 22nd inst. The coroner's inquest returned a verdict 
of manslaughter against the carter (against the coroner's re- 
commendation, as he did not think it could be sustained), 
and he is now in Salisbury gaol to take his trial at the next 
assizes. The poor boy was buried on Wednesday last, amid 
a large attendance of the parishioners, amongst whom his 
unhappy end had excited general commiseration. His was 
the first corpse that has entered our new church. It has 
been a sad affair from beginning to end. When the verdict 
was given the carter's wife, who had recently been confined, 
was seized with a fainting fit, and remained insensible for 
three hours, and is now thrown with three children destitute 
on the parish." And then after other parochial details, " Mr. 
Paxton sticks his coat collar up when he comes to church as 
vigorously as ever." 



CHAPTER IV. 

" Yet be it less or more, or soon or slow, 

It shall be still in strictest measure even, 
To that same lot, however mean or high, 
Toward which time leads me, and the will of Heaven : 
All is, if I have grace to use it so, 
As ever in my great Taskmaster's eye." 

MILTON'S Sonnets. 

CHOLDERTON. II. CHANCELLOR OF SALISBURY THE 

NEW SCHOOLS SUB-COMMISSIONER ON ELEMENTARY 
EDUCATION. 1850 1860. 

1850. 

WE have already seen how the young rector was warming 
to his work of bringing Cholderton up to his ideal of a per- 
fect parish, so far as all appliances in connection with the 
church were concerned. He had relieved Mr. Mozley of 
the whole charge for the windows, and, with the help of his 
own family, had filled most of them with stained glass, while 
the church was still unfurnished. He was already maturing 
his plans for bringing the school, which in his eyes came 
next to, and not very far behind, the church as the mainstay 
and purifier of parochial life, into the situation best fitted for 
it. " I have a plan in my head, though only in my head at 
present, for a schoolroom upon which I should like to have 
your opinion," he writes to Mr. Mozley as early as June- 
1848. This plan was contingent on an exchange of the 
glebe with Lady Nelson for a field close to the rectory and 

c 2 



84 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

church. Upon a portion of this his new school was to be 
built, and no sooner was the church consecrated than he 
was busy with the new work. In November, 1 849, he com- 
pleted the exchange of the glebe with Lady Nelson. " Cost 
to me i7/.," is the entry in Memorabilia. 

To Sale. Cholderton, May nth, 1850. " I have had too 
much in hand to lay by money lately; indeed, I have not 
put by a sixpence since I left Oxford. And now I have 
just got the drawings for a school, which I hope to begin 
either this autumn or next spring. But this finished, so 
necessary for one's satisfaction in a parish, I shall begin to 
provide for a rainy day." 

The more sanguine estimate as to starting was doomed to 
disappointment. The materials for building the school were 
to come from the old church, and " the law's delays," aided 
by Mr. Paxton's jealous watchfulness, made it necessary to 
postpone the work of pulling down until the expiration of six 
months from the date of the faculty for demolition. 

1851. 

To Mr. Mozley. February ist, 1851. "For the last fort- 
night I have been in hot water (as you foretold) with my 
neighbour the squire about the proposed site for my schools. 
I broached the subject to him in a personal interview, which 
was disagreeable enough : so much so indeed that the sequel 
of the business has been transacted through the medium of 
letters. He had all sorts of objections but the chief one 
was, the nuisance a school would be in such close neighbour- 
hood to his dining-room, when (deaf as he is) he should be 
' continually hearing the children singing and repeating their 
lessons ! ' I was threatened with high walls all round my 
premises a tall vinery to block out the view from my draw- 



CHAP. iv. THE NEW SCHOOL. 85 

ing-room windows and sundry other forms of anti-nuisance. 
He even hinted that he should probably leave Cholderton, 
and wrote to the Provost, Lord Nelson, and every one else 
whom he thought likely or able to hinder me from carrying 
out my plans. 

" I should not however have attached much weight to 
Mr. Paxton's objections, which were simply selfish, had 
they not been to some extent supported by Lady Nelson. 
As she had so kindly allowed the exchange of glebe, I did not 
wish to use her gift for what Mr. Paxton was pleased to call 
a ' nuisance and injury ' to her property. I therefore volun- 
teered a proposal (which by a curious coincidence crossed on 
the road another to the same effect from Lord Nelson) that if 
her ladyship would convey to me, or the College as Trustees, 
an eligible site for the purpose, sufficiently near both the 
parsonage and the church, I should be content, though at 
the sacrifice certainly of my own convenience, to give up 
my own scheme. After some correspondence on the subject, 
Lord Nelson has been here himself to-day, and I may regard 
the matter pretty well as settled. The land they offer is the 
piece on which John Young's cottage (formerly Sally Kilher's) 
stands, with the adjoining garden the cottage itself to come 
down : and I am promised a right of access (when Mr. 
Paxton's tenancy expires) for myself, or the then rector, to 
it, by a path across the Clump meadow. 

" I now write to ask your opinion of the eligibility of this 
site. It certainly is not (in my opinion) so convenient for 
the rector, if he wish to be frequently in the school, particu- 
larly if he establish a night school, as the one I had fixed 
on myself. But no doubt it is convenient for the parish, 
and is both higher and drier. I hope you won't think that 
a schoolhouse in that position will in any way injure the 
effect of the church. I think myself the two buildings may 



86 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

be made to group very prettily together ; and I also think 
that the plan Mr. Wyatt has given me, when the site was to 
have been at my entrance gate, will be equally suitable and 
picturesque here. 

" I obtained a Faculty to pull down the old church on 
the i3th of December (not however without a threat of 
opposition from my kind neighbour), and I shall be anxious 
to put the works in train not later than the first week in 
March. So favour me with your opinion as soon as you 
have formed one." 

In the spring of 1851 he is able to write to Mr. Mozley : 
March i^th. " We are busy in taking down the old church. 
The walls of the nave are capital, but those of the chancel 
in a sadly dilapidated state. There will be a great quantity 
of excellent material for the school. I hope to begin laying 
the foundations next week." 

April ith. "We have got in the foundation of the 
school, and in three months I hope to see it roof high, at 
least if we have a favourable season. This day twelvemonth 
you were on your way to Cholderton ; and we were in a 
little more bustle than we are to-day. It was my wish to 
have marked the dedication of the church by an annual 
festival, but I found that ths day would so continually fall 
in Lent, not unfrequently in Passion week, and occasionally 
in Easter week (when I am obliged to be in Oxford), that I 
was reluctantly forced to give up the scheme. Our popula- 
tion on March 3ist proved to be 183 : 91 males and 92 
females. The morning congregation on the 3oth was 86, 
the afternoon 95, the latter rather below the average." 

From Memorabilia. " Bought my gray horse, Cardinal. 
Poor Ajax went to feed Mr. Asshcton Smith's hounds. An 



CHAP. iv. INNOVATIONS IN RITUAL. 87 

unpleasant interview with Messrs. Paxton, Henly, Wans- 
borough, about (alleged) innovations in church service. To 
remove ' the grievance to their consciences,' of which they 
complained, I consented to discontinue preaching in the 
surplice if the parish thought proper to provide me with a 
gown. This seemed to satisfy them, but their objections 
were all of the most trumpery kind, no doubt emanating 
from the first-named of the party." 

To Mr. Mozley. Nov. 8//;, 1851. "That sad fever is 
still lingering among us, and has carried off two of your old 
parishioners, Ann Hale and Betty Dyles ; the former died a 
month ago, the latter is to be interred to-morrow. I have 
still one, if not two other cases remaining. Crook is a sad 
dawdle with the school. I hoped to open it at Michaelmas, 
and engaged my mistress from that date, but I am afraid 
another fortnight must elapse before I can get into it. The 
effect however is very satisfactory as far as it goes. If 
Mrs. Mozley ever goes to Wandsworth I should be glad if 
she would find time to see the mistress I have engaged, 
whom I only, know myself by letter. She is to be found 
at 6 Edward's Place, Love Lane, in that suburban village. 
I have desired her if she can to take lessons in singing while 
she is unemployed." 

By the time the school was finished and opened, the 
rector's cheery ways, patience, and sagacity, had overcome 
all the little troubles and jealousies and crotchets of the 
parish. Even the squire had ceased to put up his collar 
whenever he came to church, to protect himself from a 
current of air, which, writes the rector, " I cannot feel myself. 
nor does a lighted candle detect it, for this I have tried." 
A parish dinner celebrated the joyful occasion, at which, 



88 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

besides the workmen from outside, every soul in the parish 
seems to have been present, including apparently babies, for 
" 197 sat down to the tables." The squire presided, the 
rector occupying the vice-chair; and, after the guests had 
dispersed, Meacher reported to his master the verdict of the 
parish notables, male and female, that great as had been the 
glories of the consecration of the new church, they had not 
been exceeded. " We shall never have such another day in 
Choldertoa Never no more ! " 

1852. 

The material organisation of the parish was now complete, 
and everything in perfect order, so far as the rector's depart- 
ment was concerned, and his life flowed on quietly and 
happily. " When I have said," he writes to Sale on Feb. 
2ist, 1852, "that I have been parochialising and pupilising, 
you know pretty nearly the extent of my doings. I have 
had more work than usual in both these departments for 
some time past ; having three pupils (one in excess of my 
ordinary limit), and, what is worse, having a succession of 
cases of typhus fever in the parish ever since last July to the 
present moment, and not even yet seeing the last of them, 
which has caused me much labour as well as anxiety. I 
have no idea what can be the cause of the miasma so long 
remaining among us, as the village is in all respects un- 
usually well off in sanitary arrangements. Since I wrote 
you last, I have finished and opened my schoolhouse. I 
think you would like the building and arrangements if you 
saw them and I am thankful that I have secured the 
services of an efficient schoolmistress. The worst of it is 
that I cannot interest my wealthier parishioners in the work, 
and the whole expense, as of building so of supporting the 
school, falls on the shoulders of my mother and myself." 



CHAP. iv. T. MOZLEY'S EXECUTORSHIP. 89 

From Memorabilia. "Eldest son of Sir , Bart., 

came to me as a pupil in January, stayed till June, when he 
took French leave and left us, having got into trouble with 
me about a foolish engagement he had contracted with 
Miss ." 

Mr. Mozley had already learned thoroughly to appreciate 
his successor. In the autumn of this year he wrote to ask 
him to act as his executor. 

To Rev. T. Mozley. Oxford, October 2o//z, 1852. "I 
cannot refuse to undertake the duties which your kind 
opinion would impose upon me, if on further reflection you 
really think that you know enough of me to give you con- 
fidence in my capacity to discharge them. I must tell you 
fairly that I am afraid I am no man of business, and have 
no acquaintance, except merely in generals, with the specific 
duties either of executor or guardian. But if a sincere regard 
both for little Grace and yourself is any guarantee for a con- 
scientious endeavour to fulfil them, of this at least I can 
assure you. I am only here for a couple of days to see a 
young pupil pass his matriculation examination at Christ 
Church." 

From Memorabilia. " Preached my first sermon in St. 
Mary's, Oxford, as Select Preacher. On my return home 
took Southampton in my way, and brought off my mother's 
new carriage." 

To the Same. Cholderton, December 2oth, 1852. "I was 
in Oxford on December i2th (having to preach in St. 
Mary's, on that day) and saw Church. He told me that he 
had consented to be co-executor of your will with me. If 



90 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART I. 

you think it necessary that I should see your will before you 
execute it (tho' I hardly know why) I will make a point of 
coming over to you when I am at Roehampton (probably in 
the week beginning January i8th), and will give you suffi- 
cient notice to allow of your fixing a day. But as far 
as I am concerned myself such a step is not necessary, and 
as it is quite uncertain whether I may live to act, either as 
your executor or Grace's guardian, at all, I think you have 
let me into the secret of your dispositions quite as far as it 
is desirable for me to know. But in this as in all other 
things relating to the same matter, I am absolutely in your 
hands." 

On reading the draft of the will he discovered that a 
legacy was bequeathed to him as executor and guardian. 
This he insisted should be struck out, as a condition of his 
consenting to act, and it was struck out not without 
remonstrance from the testator accordingly. 

1853- 

From Memorabilia. June z6tk. "Preached my third 
sermon at St. Mary's, Oxford. This time I drove myself up 
and down in my gig, with the gray horse Cardinal" 

To Mr. Mozley. Cholderton, November 12th, 1853. " It 
is not my habit to be unpunctual in my correspondence, but 
this summer I seem to have had my hands unusually full. 
In addition to a house full of pupils (among them I had the 
Duke of Newcastle's eldest son, who is now at Christ Church, 
for two months of his long vacation, and found him a very 
nice fellow), my brother Edward has been backwards and 
forwards a good deal prior to his departure for India. He 
sails on the 2oth for Bombay, avoiding Calcutta, as he is 



CHAP. iv. LINGEN AT THE PRIVY COUNCIL. 91 

apprehensive if he landed there he might be picked up and 
sent off to this renewed war in Burmah. As he has the 
promise of an appointment just to his mind, worth i,ooo/. a 
year, he has no wish to be sent off on an expedition to catch 
Dacoits. My other brother Alex was all through the last 
campaign there, he got favourably mentioned in the de- 
spatches, but he gives but a sorry description of the whole 
affair, and seems glad enough to be released from the calls 
of glory." 

1854. 

To Mr. Mozley. March 2o///, 1854. "To your second 
question about a manual of Divinity I can't give a very 
satisfactory answer I had an Old Testament History Lec- 
ture generally on my hands in college, but I never used any ; 
nor do I know what is the best. But I should have thought 
you would have found no difficulty with your present stock 
of knowledge in leading a pupil in three weeks, at the liberal 
rate of three hours a day, over all the ground with which it 
is necessary he should be acquainted. One work, I 
remember, which I found very useful in the Historical 
branches of the subject is an appendix on Scripture 
Chronology in Vol. I of Clinton's Fasti Helleniri, pp. 283 
329. He differs from the received Chronology in many 
points, *?.., the Exodus he places B.C. 1625 instead of 1491 : 
call of Abraham B.C. 2055 instead of 1921, but always, as it 
seems to me, for convincing reasons : and he gives an ex- 
cellent synchronistical table of the Kings of Israel and Judah. 
But I believe the only way to get up the matter satisfactorily, 
is from the text itself. I inclose you what I have just 
found my scheme for a course of lectures (one hour each) 
for two terms ; twenty lectures per term, forty hours in all. 
You are going to devote sixty hours ; so you ought to get 
over the same ground. You will most probably find, as you 



9 2 



LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART I. 



expect yourself, that your young friend's shortcomings were 
not in the Prophets alone. But when men fail, it is always 
on s6me one point that the blame is thrown. We have not 
heard who is to be our new Bishop. Besides Dr. Hook, the 
names of Jacobson, Jeremie, Whewell and Blunt (Margaret 
Professor, Cantab.) are in men's mouths. But it is all 
guessing at present. I trust the Government will send us a 
man of energy, but also a man of moderation and peace. 
To be rough ridden by Whewell, e.g., would not be pleasant. 
I expect a visit on Wednesday from H.M. Inspector of 
Schools for this district, the first time our little establishment 
has submitted to this ordeal. I am applying for a pupil 
teacher : so I am a little nervous about the result. I think 
however that he will find us in tolerable order." 

This application for a pupil teacher brought him (for the 
first time I believe) into communication with the educational 
department of the Privy Council, in which his old school- 
fellow and college friend, Lord Lingen, had now become a 
permanent official. For several years they had not met or 
kept up any correspondence when an accidental meeting in 
the autumn of 1848 renewed the intimacy. " I had gone 
down from London on a Saturday to Salisbury with the 
present Bishop of London," Lord Lingen writes, " and on 
Sunday we had walked to see Stonehenge, from which 
making a circle, we met on the top of the Beacon Hill, 
Fraser, then Rector of Cholderton, and another Fellow of 
Oriel whose name I now forget. The surprise was so great 
that I always look back to it as a new commencement of 
our intimacy. We did not always agree on educational 
matters. Those who have known us both will readily under- 
stand that I was often a good deal the stricter doctrinaire of 
the two, and did not see the many cogent reasons which 



CHAP. iv. THE CRIMEAN WAR. 93 

convinced Fraser that exceptions ought to be made. We 
differed less when he passed into a larger sphere. I mention 
this only as it aids my recollection of his character and 
manner. I recall the irresistible ' Come now ' with 
which, radiantly smiling, he used to return to the charge, and 
I fear oftener got his own way than I care to particularise. 
Both before and after he became a Bishop he not unfre- 
quently stayed at my house, and I really can say, without 
exaggeration, that the very sight of him had the effect of 
sunshine, both on the servants and on ourselves. If ever 
there was a sociable and sympathetic man he was one, 
pleasantly inquisitive, and ready to talk to any one. 
' Which was the maid who cooked that nice dish ? ' said 
he, one morning after he had read prayers, to us all 
referring to something he had praised at dinner the day 
before." 

To Mr. Mozky. April, 1854. " I rather share your 
feelings about the coming struggle with Russia, tho' not 
to quite such an extent of evil foreboding. Still I wish 
there was less crowing; and I thought that dinner at the 
Reform Club " [to Sir Charles Napier on his sailing in com- 
mand of the Baltic Fleet] " most unseemly in every way. I 
don't know when I shall be able to accept your oft-repeated 
invitations. I never manage to have anything to draw me 
to London, but when I do you need not doubt you will be 
one of the first I shall search out. I am curious to see the 
project for University Reform. From a bald abstract of it 
I read in last Saturday's Salisbury paper, it seems of the 
ridiculus mus proportions." 

The new Bishop proved to be Dr. Hamilton, to whom 
he was already known by his Oxford reputation, and from 



94 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

whom, some months later, he received a letter offering him 
the post of chaplain. The Bishop had already appointed 
three : Canon Liddon, Archdeacon Drury, and another. 
Fraser replied, after thanking the Bishop for his offer : 
" While deeply impressed by your kindness, and the con- 
fidence you are willing to place in me, I think it right to 
decline your invitation to be one of your chaplains. You 
have already appointed three chaplains. They are all 
of what is called the High Church party; and, while 
I could sympathise more fully with men of this school of 
thought than with those of the other school, I think it would 
be more conducive to the interests of your diocese, and 
be altogether right, that your other three chaplains should 
represent the evangelical school. You may readily under- 
stand how strongly I feel on this point, as it leads me to 
decline your kind offer." 

The Bishop however urged him to reconsider his deter- 
mination, putting the matter before him in such a form, and 
with such force, that he at last consented, and became one 
of Bishop Hamilton's examining chaplains. The Bishop, 
on a vacancy occurring, appointed him chancellor of the 
cathedral also. " It was one of my many dreams," Bishop 
Hamilton said, " that the chancellor should gather round 
him a band of young men whom he would train by lectures 
in the cathedral, and other modes of instruction, for the 
ministry." 

In Eraser's own judgment his connection with Bishop 
Hamilton was of the greatest value to him ; and he was 
never tired of proclaiming his admiration of the Bishop's 
character, and his own obligations to him. It is one more 
instance, this vmsought-for chancellorship, of how men 
destined for some specially arduous work are trained for it 
by the " Providence that shapes our ends, rough-hew them 



CHAP. iv. IDEAS ON GOVERNMENT. 95 

as we will." Having by this time thoroughly mastered his 
parochial work he gets an insight into diocesan work as 
chancellor ; and, from his constant intercourse with the 
Bishop, has his ideal lifted on to a higher plane. Then 
comes his employment on Commissions connected with 
education, at home and in America, which gives him a 
mastery of, and insight into, the education question, and 
the condition of the poor, such as no man who had not 
gone through a similar training could possibly have gained. 
Step follows step, till, without the least effort by himself, 
entirely through the insight of those who saw and appre- 
ciated his character, he is singled out, and sent to govern 
the Church in the centre of commercial activity of the 
kingdom. But I am anticipating, and must return to the 
beaten track of the narrative. 

From Memorabilia, October 2nd. " Have a parish dinner 
as a thanksgiving for the harvest. News of the battle of 
the Alma arrives before we break up." 

" Parochialising and pupilising " even when performed 
with the thoroughness which Fraser threw into them, and 
supplemented by work in the garden, and farming the glebe 
left him plenty of leisure for reading and correspondence, 
of which he largely availed himself. In these years he 
seems to have taken much pleasure in pouring himself out 
to his more intimate friends on passing events, and to none 
more than to his predecessor. A specimen or two of these 
letters must suffice, and the first shall be taken from those 
written during the long and bitter winter in which the allied 
armies were wasting away before Sebastopol. Those who 
are old enough to remember those terrible months will 
appreciate how vividly and truthfully he represents the feel- 
ings of Englishmen in those dark but glorious days. 



96 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

1855- 

To Rev. T. Mozley. Cholderton, February gth, 1855. " I 
really think we must look to you men of the Times for 
our so-called statesmen seem utterly incompetent to the task 
to recast our home Government, and reform our military 
and naval establishments. Can anything be so sickening 
as the system of appointments to offices of the highest trust 
in both departments, in spite of past warnings, which is at 
this very moment going on? There is just appointed to 
the command-in-chief in Ireland, Lord Seaton, who in the 
next paragraph we are informed is in his eightieth year. 
They have just sent out to command a division in the 
Crimea, Lord Rokeby, who (I was told last week by an 
officer in the Guards who knows him) is as deaf as a post ! 
The seals of the War Office are being offered, it is rumoured, 
to Lord Panmure (who, as far as I remember, never showed 
any great administrative ability), but it is doubtful if his 
health will allow him to accept of them. Sir James Graham, 
whose administration of the Admiralty at any rate does not 
appear to give much satisfaction to Sir Charles Napier, is 
also to give the nation the benefit of as much of his valu- 
able time and services as gout, or whatever else it is that he 
suffers from, will allow. Now here are four men to put into 
four of the most important administrative posts at such a 
crisis as this, a valetudinarian at the War Office ; a gouty 
cripple, his naturally petulant temper probably aggravated 
by his disease, at the Admiralty; a deaf man to lead a 
division, and an octogenarian to stir again into activity the 
dormant military enthusiasm of Ireland. 

" Meanwhile one does not hear a whisper of any of the 
men whose names are identified with all the great improve- 
ments of the age men who have been accustomed to 



CHAP. iv. IDEAS ON GOVERNMENT. 97 

manage large concerns with success and profit being asked 
to give the country the benefit of their experience and 
counsel in this great crisis. I do wish, dear Mozley, you 
would turn your powerful pen in this direction, and teach 
the men in office what sort of a government the nation will 
expect at their hands. And I do wish you would go on and 
teach the nation too what are their duties and responsi- 
bilities, the duty of every individual Englishman in the 
exercise of his franchise, which in the late violence of 
parties, they have so grievously forgotten. And do try to 
shame the electors of this country out of that wretched 
servility to party cries and demagogical agitation into which 
they have fallen. Just now it is the most miserable party 
cry of all, the cry of religion, that is raised most loudly. 
In half the constituencies of England a man has to pander 
to an ignorant and fanatical Protestantism (as it calls itself) 
of the narrowest and most intolerant kind, to have a chance 
of getting elected. It was nothing else that lost Sir Stafford 
Northcote, a really good man, his seat for South .Devon, 
and brought in a Protectionist Protestant booby, Lawrence 
Palk, in his room. It is this again that has twice made 
Sidney Herbert apprehensive of his seat here. It is this 
that embitters every contest which Gladstone has to en- 
counter at Oxford. The mass of the people want to be 
taught higher political principles, to be taught too the 
solemn nature of the trust they hold. I don't wish to see 
violent articles written against the aristocracy, whom I be- 
lieve to be an integral element in our national prosperity, 
and in whom I believe the fire of patriotism burns as 
brightly as in any other class of the Queen's subjects ; but 
I do wish to see that small clique of great families broken 
up, who seem to consider they have a monopoly of power in 
their hands, and on whom the same eternal changes are 

H 



98 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

rung whenever a new Cabinet has to be formed. Again, 
do persuade some of your staff, or take it in hand yourself, 
to do something more to expose the miserable insufficiency 
of our present military system, and shadow forth the 
elements for constructing a better. The root of the evil 
appears to me to lie in the fact that the military life is taken 
up by nine-tenths of the men who follow it as a pastime, 
and not as a profession. I met three officers of the Guards 
last week, who were all wounded at the Alma, as gallant 
fellows apparently as you could find, but no soldiers in the 
true sense of the word not men looking to their profession 
as their proper and ultimate business in life. One of them 
said to me, ' As soon as this war is over I shall look out for 
a wife, and settle down to a quiet life.' Look again at the 
monstrous abuse of our half-pay system. Of the 7,ooo,ooo/. 
which our army costs the country every year, I believe I 
am not wrong in saying that two and a half millions go to, 
what is pleasantly called, the non-effective service. Take 
my neighbour over the way for a sample of the system. 
He was in the army, I believe, on active service about four 
years ; was at Salamanca, it is true, but (as he never men- 
tions it) I presume escaped without a wound, and has been 
permitted to draw half-pay as a Lieutenant of Dragoons for 
forty years. 

" I would allow no officer to retire on half-pay till he was 
sixty years of age, unless he had been wounded or disabled 
in the service, or had served twenty years on foreign stations 
(not reckoning however in the number the pleasant places 
of the Mediterranean where it is anything but a hardship for 
men to go). Even then I conceive there are plenty of duties 
which the country might fairly expect him to perform, which 
are discharged by military men in France or Austria, but for 
which, at present, this nation pays another class of function- 



CHAP. iv. IDEAS ON ARMY REFORM. 99 

aries. I refer to such departments as the excise, customs, 
collection of rates and taxes, &c. I am aware it will be 
answered that such employments are not fitted for gentle- 
men ! but I wish to see her Majesty's commissions opened 
a little more fully to other than the so-styled class of gentle- 
men. For instance, why might not a certain number of 
commissions every year be open to public competition say 
half of the whole average number of vacancies, the rest being 
distributed either by purchase to those who could afford to 
buy them, or gratuitously to sons of old and distinguished 
officers ? But then I would have another and more strin- 
gent examination afterwards, passing in which should be an 
absolute condition for any officer ever rising beyond the rank 
of captain ; and passing with distinction should be regarded 
as a co-ordinate title with seniority, or even perhaps superior 
to it, for subsequent preferment to lucrative and honourable 
posts. Some such system would produce two good effects. 
It would call into existence some good military schools 
Sandhurst is a mere pretence, there being no enforcement of 
bona fide study and it would make the military life to be 
adopted as a profession, and not as it is now, merely a 
pleasant way of spending eight or ten years." 

Then, after suggesting the concentration of regiments so 
as to form two or three " practising armies " of 10,000, where 
officers might learn their business practically, he goes on. 
" Finally, do speak out more boldly about the recall of Lord 
Raglan. I am one of those who don't see the great merit 
he has shown, even in the battlefield or in the famous flank 
march to Balaclava ; and as the administrator of a campaign 
he evidently has not a single quality. I have no doubt he is 
a gallant soldier, and should be sorry to speak harshly of 
him, but he is no General, and this is no time for dealing 

H a 



ioo LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART 1. 

tenderly with individual feelings. The common voice of the 
camp seems to single out Pennefather who has large Indian 
experience as the best man there. I observe that Sir D. L. 
Evans in his reply to the deputation from Westminster, 
spoke of him ' as his successor, ten or twelve years younger, 
and one of the finest officers in the whole army.' Sir Colin 
Campbell, again, is an Indian campaigner, and I remember 
a letter of an artillery officer, which characterised him as ' the 
best man out here,' adding that ' Pennefather would be as 
good, if his coolness equalled his gallantry.' And now, why 
have I bothered you with all this ? I can hardly tell, except 
that my mind and heart are full of the subject day and 
night, and it is a relief to have disburthened them to some- 
body. Perhaps there is nothing in what I have said which 
is either practical or wise : in which case you have only to 
pitch this letter into the fire." 

From Memorabilia. " Print a small volume of ' Uni- 
versity Sermons,' dedicated to the Provost. Appointed 
Assistant Inspector of Schools for Amesbury Deanery. 
Dear Edward appointed to command of sappers and 
miners." 

Dec. 2ith. "Provost wishes me to take Vicarage of St. 
Mary's, and to be tutor of Oriel again. In reply, leave the 
matter in his hands, but at same time say, as far as my own 
feelings go, would rather remain as I am." 

1856. 

March, 1856. " Bishop Blomfield of London wishes me 
to take his son Alfred as pupil for holy orders. I decline." 

April 2^th. " Basil Wilberforce comes to me as a pupil. 
Had old gray horse Cardinal killed. He was hopelessly 
lame." 



CHAP. iv. MEMORABILIA. 101 

June 2nd. " Buy Monmouth for sixty guineas." 2$th. 
" Part with my three last pupils, Dawson, Kerr, Wilberforce. 
Resolve to give up the trade." 

1857- 

May i6t/i, 1857. " Dear Edward shot at Meerut by his 
men. Receive the news June 3oth." 

To Mr. Mozley. August izth, 1857. "It will give us 
great pleasure to see you here, though only en passant on 
Saturday. Shall I send our carriage to meet you, or will 
you order your Amesbury fly to be there ? You must order 
whatever you want beforehand, as there is no convenience 
of any kind at the station. My mother will be very pleased 
to see what Grace has grown into. What a terrible time for 
all who have friends, and who has not ? in India ! We are 
still in great suspense about my poor brother's wife, who 
had a fearful escape from Delhi, as you would see in a letter 
published in last Thursday's Times, and only got to Meerut 
to find her husband slain. We have had no letters, and all 
our information has been derived from public sources. My 
brother had two children in India, besides the three boys 
whom you will see on Saturday. My sole remaining 
brother, Alexander, also an officer in the Bengal Engineers, 
is at home on special service making inquiries about the 
construction of lighthouses, with a view to the erection of 
one on a dangerous reef on the Burmah coast. He has put 
his services at the disposal of the India House, but we are 
thankful to say the directors have told him that the work on 
which he is engaged is too important to be interrupted. 
What anxiety Mrs. Walter must be in ! The massacre at 
Allahabad has been one of the bloodiest of all. The 
Fowles, I fear, are in great anxiety. They have had a sad 



102 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

letter from Bessie (Mrs. Simpson), who is at Hazarebagh. 
Her husband (with only one European officer at his side) is 
in charge of 200 sepoys having charge of 1,000 prisoners, 
and they go to bed every night not knowing whether they 
shall wake alive." 

To the Same. Sept. isf, 1857. " We had letters yester- 
day from India, from my poor brother's widow, dated 
Meerut, 7th July. They consisted however simply of a 
narrative of her escape from Delhi on May nth, written by 
Lieut. Gambier, one of the party, which appeared in the 
Times of August 6th. She does not say a word about my 
poor brother's end, nor about the surviving child, so I con- 
clude, as she had been six weeks at Meerut at the time of 
writing, she must have despatched previous letters which 
have never come to hand. Though we knew all the facts 
before, it has been a great relief to see her handwriting ; as 
her long silence made us begin to fear that something had 
happened to her. How terrible these last accounts are ! 
Poor Dr. Southby's eldest daughter, only married last 
September, was in the fort at Cawnpore, and there is every 
reason to fear she has shared the fate of our unhappy 
countrymen there. I hear they are in terrible distress about 
it at Bulford : and their agony of suspense during the past 
week must have been well nigh intolerable. Miss Fowle is 
staying with us, and she heard this morning that Mr. Fowle 
has letters from India, all favourable. Stephen was making 
his way, he hoped in safety, from Chuprah to Dinapore. 
Fulwar's district was tranquil, and at Hazarebagh, Bessie's 
station, the panic was past. But till Delhi has fallen all 
must be uncertainty ; and my brother Alex tells me that 
private letters from Madras and Bombay speak of the state 
of public feeling as anything but comfortable in both those 



CHAP. iv. THE INDIAN MUTINY. 103 

Presidencies. I have been in some uncertainty as to my 
future of late. One of our College livings, Swainswick, near 
Bath, which augmented would be worth about 4oo/. a year, 
was offered to me : and though I declined it I thought 
Chretien would have taken it, and then I was told I should 
have to return to Oxford and my old harness, as the College 
would have wanted a Dean and tutor. I should not have 
liked the change at all, but I am happy to say I have 
escaped the trial, as Chretien, too, has refused the living. 
A year ago the idea would have been intolerable to me, but 
the possible charge of my brother's four children has con- 
siderably modified my plans and views of life. And as such 
a change would have enabled my mother to settle in a place 
which offered them the opportunity of a good education, it 
would have been less unacceptable to me, though sorely 
against the grain." 

To the Same. Cholderton, September 2isf, 1857. " One of 
your colleagues shot : (I was sorry to see) a rather unfeeling 
shaft at our good, kind-hearted Bishop last Friday, charging 
him with ' attempting to divert popular thought from its 
natural channel into another totally irrelevant one,' in 
' telling his clergy to make use of this particular time for a 
Missionary Collection for India.' I rather imagined that 
something of this kind might follow from the prominence 
given to the letter of ' a Wiltshire Farmer ' (?) a day or two 
before. But the facts of the case are simply these : The 
Bishop's letter was issued six weeks ago, a fortnight at least 
before anything was said anywhere about an Indian relief 
fund though as you know clergymen are apt not to act on 
suggestions of this kind immediately, and I have not acted 
upon it even yet. There was no attempt therefore 'to 
1 In the Times. 



104 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

divert popular feeling from its natural channel,' as this 
' natural channel ' was not open to it at the time. I do not 
think the two appeals at all incongruous, and certainly I do 
not see that the Bishop has offended against ' the golden 
principle of one thing at a time,' unless his critic meant that 
he ought at once to have withdrawn his letter on the other 
appeal being made known. But one knows it is lawful to 
knock down a Bishop anyhow. The Fowles have been 
relieved, for the time at least, of great anxiety. You saw of 
course in the last telegraphic despatch that a conspiracy had 
been discovered at Japore, which is Fulwar's station, and 
Major and Mrs. Simpson (Bessie Fowle that was) and 
Stephen had to fly for their lives from Hazarebagh in the 
middle of the night. Two companies of the 8th Regiment, 
which had mutinied at Dinapore, were stationed there. 
The telegraph informed them of it, and Major Simpson at 
once sent off his wife, under Sheppard's charge, to Calcutta. 
He himself stayed until next day. He was in his office at 
work when his servant rushed in to say the sepoys were 
coming. He had just time to get his cap, rush to the 
stables, get on his horse and away, when the room he had 
been sitting in was riddled with balls, and the house 
immediately after burnt to the ground. This is the fourth 
escape Stephen has had since he left Fyzabad. The 
Southbys give up all hope of poor Mrs. Shaw." 

His connection with Oxford still continued, and he was 
summoned in most years to take part in some of the 
University work. Thus he writes to Sale from Oxford : 

1858. 

March loth, 1858. " We have twenty-one candidates for 
the Ireland a shady lot. Modern languages and modern 



CHAP. iv. EDUCATION COMMISSIONER. 105 

philosophy do not appear favourable to the cultivation of 
classical scholarship. The prize ought to go to Balliol, as, 
out of twenty-one candidates, eight are their men." 

To the Same. Cholderton, August 23/73?, 1858. "One 
does not wish to attribute to externals more weight than 
they deserve ; but with me there is always a heavy pressure 
on my spirits, quite crushing all attempts to be devotional, 
when I am in a dilapidated, dark-green, square-pewed 
church ; while all seems in harmony, and one's soul can 
soar a little, when one worships in such a church as I have 
got here." 

Fraser had now been parson of Cholderton for ten years 
and, for the last four, examining chaplain to the Bishop, 
and chancellor of the cathedral. The masterly way in 
which his work had been done in each of these characters 
had already established his local reputation, and indicated 
him as one who could be safely called on for any specially 
urgent or difficult professional business. And just at this 
time the nation was at last fairly aroused to the absolute 
necessity of taking in hand that most serious business of 
elementary education. A Royal Commission was appointed 
in 1858. In the autumn of that year her Majesty's " well- 
beloved cousin," the Duke of Newcastle, and his colleagues, 
determined that, in order to enable them to make any use- 
ful suggestions to Crown or Parliament, it was necessary to 
obtain trustworthy information as to the actual state of 
education throughout the whole kingdom. Accordingly, 
Assistant Commissioners were appointed, to each of whom 
a district was assigned to visit and report upon. Fraser was 
named one of these Assistant Commissioners at the sugges- 
tion of the Bishop of Salisbury. The district assigned to 



io6 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PARTI. 

him comprised thirteen poor-law unions, in Dorset, Devon, 
Somerset, Hereford, and Worcester, divided into 409 
parishes covering an area of 1,265 square miles, with a 
population (according to the census of 1851) of 235,456. 
It has happened to me to spend a considerable part of my 
life in the preparation of reports of this kind, and the perusal 
of those prepared by others. I may therefore claim to be 
no bad judge of such documents, and have no hesitation in 
saying that this report of Assistant Commissioner Fraser is a 
superb, I had almost said a unique, piece of work. Even 
now, after thirty years, when almost every suggestion made 
by him has been long since adopted, when the question of 
elementary education has been thoroughly threshed out, 
and Mr. Forster's great Act has been in force for seventeen 
years, this report has lost very little of its interest, and 
remains a model of masterly analysis, and careful, well- 
supported, and well-reasoned suggestion. Space cannot be 
spared here to show upon what grounds he satisfied himself 
" that the problem may be solved, and the knot cut, as far 
as any two people in England will ever agree to cut a knot 
in the same way " (p. 45), but room must be made for the 
following. "There are certain collateral social questions 
such as the state of cottages, the rate and mode of payment 
of wages, the hiring of servants, &c., vitally connected with 
the subject of education ; and it is irrational to expect that 
a single instrument, however powerful, can successfully 
accomplish the moral and intellectual elevation of a class 
whose whole condition, civil, social, domestic, is surrounded 
by so many unfavourable and depressing incidents. Educa- 
tion must still, and ever, be one of many weapons in the 
hands of the philanthropist, by the combined use of which 
he hopes at length to vindicate for every fellow-man his 
rightful position as an intelligent and responsible being, in 



CHAP. iv. REPORT ON EDUCATION. 107 

a land of light, freedom, and civilisation " (p. 99). Here is 
the conclusion : 

" But this report has extended itself far beyond the 
dimensions I had originally marked out for it, and it is 
high time to bring it to a close. In writing it I am not 
conscious of having been under the influence of any pre- 
possessions or any prejudices. I have endeavoured to state, 
dispassionately, and without exaggeration, the condition of 
elementary education in an agricultural district, its helps, 
its hindrances, its state, its prospects, its peculiarities, its 
needs. It must be remembered in what respects the district 
I have examined may be called a ' specimen district.' It 
was a specimen of the conditions under which the work had 
to be done in country parishes, rather than of the success 
with which in many cases it has been done. In the latter 
point of view, my district I believe must be pronounced a 
sample below the average. Even making the comparison 
within the narrow range of my own experience, I should say 
that it was .a backward district, not a forward one. The 
work is more advanced, more general, more fruitful, in 
Wiltshire and Hampshire, than in Dorset and Somerset, in 
Gloucester than in Hereford. I hope that there is no point 
of importance bearing on the subject thus defined and 
limited that I have entirely overlooked, and not many to 
which I have failed to give the prominence that properly 
belongs to them. If I have too often been betrayed into 
the expression of opinions when I was charged simply with 
the collection of facts, I must plead in justification that it is 
almost impossible in a statement of facts to avoid also stating 
the impression one has derived from them, and that feelings 
as well as figures, the moral, even the sentimental, as well 
as the statistical aspects of the question, constitute the basis 



io8 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

of information by which the Commissioners will have to 
guide their judgments and frame their recommendations. I 
have not shrunk from saying, that though there is progress 
steady, hopeful progress yet that the condition of our 
elementary education taken as a whole is not satisfactory, 
because it is incomplete. But I should deeply regret, I 
should have failed utterly to express my meaning if any one 
reading this report should think that I have not made full 
allowance for real difficulties, or had not appreciated the 
self-sacrificing, generous spirit in which in so many places 
the work is being done. There are men who are never 
found on platforms, whose names are unknown in the great 
educational world, who are throwing themselves, body, 
spirit, and purse into this work. There are noble instances 
of the work being still done, and cheerfully done, under 
discouragements enough to break many hearts, as a simple 
duty, for conscience sake, for the love of the brethren, and 
not for the praise of men. That there are faint-hearted 
men, who give up the task as hopeless before they have even 
tried ; and cold-hearted men, who are too indifferent to try 
at all ; and ostentatious men, who will only work when they 
get credit for it ; and bigoted men, who will only work in 
their own way, and would sacrifice the best interests of 
thousands to impracticable and visionary crotchets of their 
own, are facts sad enough when one remembers who are the 
sufferers by all this, and measures the magnitude of the 
social interests involved. But they are facts which one 
would expect beforehand to find, and the energy and 
benevolence rises superior to them. Year by year more 
and more soil is reclaimed from the wastes of ignorance and 
superstition, and brought into cultivation and fruitfulness, 
and though our social conditions are unfavourable -to a high 
state of intelligence existing amongst us as a people, I hope, 



CHAP. iv. REPORT ON EDUCATION. 109 

and I see signs for hoping, that the time is not far distant 
when every English peasant shall find a good school and 
a sound education provided for his children within easy 
reach of his cottage door" (pp. 105-6). 

1859. 

This report was sent in in May, 1859, but not published 
until 1861, with the report of the Commissioners. It was 
placed by those " trusty and well-beloved " noblemen and 
gentlemen in the forefront of their big Blue-book ; and from 
that time Sub-Commissioner Fraser became an acknowledged 
authority with all who were interested in the education of 
the people. 

After sending in his report he took a walk with a knapsack 
round the Isle of Wight and the New Forest, and enjoyed 
the holiday like a school-boy after the yearly examination. 
Before the Commissioners' Report appeared he had left 
Cholderton, resigned his fellowship, and migrated to a college 
living in Berkshire, forty miles east of Cholderton and eight 
miles from Reading. 

NOTE. Amongst other valuable legacies to Cholderton Fraser left to 
his successors a " Parish Diary," or " Log Book," as Mr. Mozley calls 
it, in which are entered, as Mr. Barrow, the present incumbent writes, 
" Many interesting statements bearing on the building of the church and 
schools, contemporary politics, educational and diocesan matters, and 
his own work and mode of life. In that log book," Mr. Mozley writes, 
"may be found a curious discovery which Fraser made. For many 
years I daily passed two large black marble gravestones thickly covered 
with Latin inscriptions. These were so coated with lichens that I had 
not the perseverance to make them out. They seemed simply parish 
records. Fraser cleaned and deciphered the inscriptions, and found that 
one recorded the fact that the deceased owner of the Manor House had 
entertained at Cholderton, 'duo principes AngUse,' on two successive 
days. The two kings, as the words meant, were James II. on his way 
from Salisbury to Andover, and the Prince of Orange in pursuit. Fraser 
sent this to Macaulay, thinking it might be serviceable for a future 
edition, but nothing came of it. At my last visit to Cholderton I was 
quite touched to find that Mr. Paxton reposes under an immense white 
marble monument, exactly covering the site of the pew in the old church 
which was the origin of our unhappy differences." 



CHAPTER V. 

" Seest thou a man diligent in his business ? he shall stand before kings ; 
he shall not stand before mean men." Proverbs xxii. 29. 

UFTON NERVET, l86o 1 866. 

1860. 

AFTER more than twelve years of happy and useful activity 
at Cholderton, during which he had not only obtained a 
thorough mastery of parish work, but, as Bishop's chaplain 
and chancellor, had become well versed in the organisation, 
control, and requirements of a large diocese, Fraser accepted 
the College living of Ufton, and prepared to move from his 
Wiltshire home into the neighbouring county of Berks, and 
the diocese of Oxford. The letter in which he announced 
his intention to Mr. Mozley will best explain his reasons for 
the change : 

November 2nd, 1860.- " You ought not to be one of the 
last to know that I am going to leave Cholderton. I have 
accepted Ufton, the living that poor Christie held, which I 
should think cannot be more than fifteen or eighteen miles 
from your house at Finchampstead. My motive was a very 
simple one I had held my fellowship, and blocked up the 
way for younger men long enough : yet I could not afford 
to resign it and fall back merely upon Cholderton, even if 
augmented to 3oo/. a year. Ufton will bring me in a net 



CHAP. v. RESIGNATION OF FELLOWSHIP. in 

45o/., upon which, with my moderate habits, I can do very 
well. Chretien succeeds me here. He is coming to-morrow 
with his sister to make arrangements. We shall hardly 
change places till Christmas, as the College can't convenient- 
ly spare him in the middle of the term, and I have diocesan 
work on hand which it would be awkward to transfer to a 

stranger before the close of the year I shall leave 

Cholderton and this diocese with deep and sincere regret. 
The Bishop kindly wishes me to continue to act as one of 
his chaplains ; but my other appointments of course I must 
resign. At Ufton I shall become again, what I like best, a 
simple parish priest, as I was the first half of my time here ; 
and there I hope I shall be able to do what I have only once 
done here, and that on a very sad occasion " (the funeral of 
Mrs. Mozley) " catch an occasional sight of you. Old 
Meacher follows me into Berkshire, as indeed does all my 
Cholderton establishment." 

From a professional point of view the move was an un- 
wise one in the opinion of his friends. Dr. Chase (now 
Principal at St. Mary's Hall), one of the Oriel Fellows of his 
own standing, was with him on his first visit, and saw how 
the place attracted him, " Before I left him," Dr. Chase 
writes, " I suggested that he should consider whether, as he 
had no desire to marry, it was wise to leave the diocese of 
Salisbury, in which his prospects of advancement were so 
good. The offer soon after of a stall at Salisbury justified 
the suggestion. He drew himself up, turned to face me and 
said, ' My dear fellow, I tell you what it is I have no ambi- 
tion, and I never had.' " 

To Sale he wrote : " Though I could not afford to give 
my fellowship up, and fall back merely on Cholderton, I 



ii2 LIFE OF BISHOP ERASER. PARTI. 

shall not gain anything, pecuniarily speaking, by the exchange. 
Indeed, I shall be poorer by about 5o/. a year. But I shall 
be more independent, and whether single or married, my in- 
come will remain unaffected, voild, le motif. The rectory 
house is at present not very convenient, and not in a very 
good repair, but I hope that an outlay of 5oo/. will make it, 
and the premises, all that I desire. Its reconstruction will 
be my first work." 

1861. 

He did this: and indeed laid out i,2Oo/. on the house, 
outbuildings, school, and a cottage, suo sutnptu, without any 
loan from Queen Anne's Bounty. When the whole had 
been completed the College gave him 3oo/. in aid. 

The move was made in January, 1861, and his Lares 
and Penates with old Meacher still able to get the horses 
along, riding one and leading the other were transferred 
to the rectory of Ufton, than which a more ideal home for 
a country parson could scarcely be found in all England. 

Ufton Nervet is a purely agricultural hamlet of consider- 
able size, but few inhabitants, lying on the brow of the low 
hills which form the southern boundary of the vale of 
Kennet. The river of that name flows from Newbury to 
Reading, where it joins the Thames (in the large flat meadow 
below the Great Western Station, the point which was seized 
and fortified by the Danes on their first invasion of Wessex) 
through rich water meadows, osier beds, and pastures, a 
distance of eighteen miles. The Old Bath Road runs along 
this vale parallel with the river, with nothing approaching to 
a hill in the whole distance between the two towns. The 
eighteen miles were divided at this time into three short 
stages, along which the Marlborough coach still ran daily. 
The Great Western Railway Company had been defeated for 



CHAP. v. UFTON NERVET. 113 

years by the influence of the squires and lords whose parks 
lined the road from Marlborough to Reading, and compelled 
to carry their line round in a long sweep to the north, along 
the Thames valley, and the Vale of White Horse. They 
had however at last forced their way as far as Newbury, 
and there was a small station at Theale, the next parish 
to Ufton. 

This fact suggests at once the social condition of the 
neighbourhood into which Fraser had now come, and its 
contrast to that he had left, thirty miles to the west. One 
or two great lords owned and ruled in the Cholderton district 
of Wilts ; while round Ufton squires with moderate-sized 
estates literally jostled one another. There is no part of 
England outside the metropolitan counties in which the 
homes of rich people lie more closely together. Fraser 
found himself indeed some three miles from the fine old 
house of his squire, Mr. Benyon, of Englefield Chase (in 
which Queen Elizabeth had been entertained by the then 
squire, on one of her progresses), which lies on the opposite 
or northern side of the vale of Kennet ; but Sulhampstead 
House, the residence of Mr. Thoyts, and Padworth, that of 
Mr. Darby Griffiths, are both on the southern side, and 
within an easy walk of the rectory. 

Both of these houses stand on the brow of the range 
overlooking the vale of Kennet, while Ufton church and 
rectory lie back on the tableland, which stretches away 
behind to the southward, and, within half a mile or so of 
the rectory, changes its rich character for the dark pine- 
woods and picturesque sandy stretches of gorse and heather, 
of the Harford Bridge Flat and Hounslow Heath character. 
Within a few minutes' walk of the rectory, over two or three 
fields, stands a fine old gabled manor-house called Ufton 
Court, with a dilapidated, but still stately, stone terrace 

i 



114 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PARTI. 

running all along the south front. In Queen Anne's days 
it had been the home of Mr. Francis Perkins, the husband 
of the heroine of Pope's Rape of the Lock ; with whom 
doubtless the diminutive poet had often sauntered and 
flirted, on the terrace, and in the garden-walks below. The 
old house passed into the possession of the owners of 
Englefield early in this century, and ceased to be a squire's 
house. In Eraser's time it was divided into several tene- 
ments. Several rooms in the western wing were occupied 
by labourers' families, and the rest of that wing by Mr. 
Benyon's farm bailiff. The hall in the centre had come to 
be used as tool-house, granary, and general receptacle for 
agricultural odds and ends. Since then, Miss Sharp and 
her brother, a retired officer, have become tenants of the 
east end, and have gradually increased their holding till 
they occupy four out of the six tenements into which the 
old house was divided in Eraser's time, till, under their 
auspices, the whole Eastern wing has re-asserted its touch 
with a higher civilisation. They have treated their wing of 
the old mansion sympathetically, cherishing the dim, half- 
effaced splendours of the worm-eaten panels, and allowing 
no profane hand to essay the adaptation of uneven floors, 
rambling passages, and superfluous flights of stairs, to modern 
notions of comfort and gentility. 

There is no village street, or group of more than two or 
three cottages at any one point. The church, a good 
specimen of modern ecclesiastical architecture, was built by 
Mr. Benyon in the early years of Eraser's incumbency. But, 
though without antiquarian interest itself, it stands in a 
churchyard in which are some of the noblest old yews in a 
county celebrated for that semi-sacred tree. The rectory, 
a comfortable, irregular house, fronting south, the work of 
several successive incumbents, stands on the south side of a 



CHAP. v. UFTON NERVET. 115 

delightful flower-garden. This garden is bounded on two 
other sides by high walls ; and, on the third, by an unique 
yew-hedge, at least fourteen feet high, and carefully clipped 
so that it arches out four or five feet over a raised terrace. 
Along the centre of this terrace runs a gravel walk, ending 
at a corner of the garden in a quaint-looking stone arbour. 
This was a characteristic architectural work of the late Bishop, 
and one in which he took much delight. It arose in this 
wise. When the old church was pulled down there were 
several heraldic slabs on the walls, and a Jacobean monu- 
ment, consisting of a family group arranged under a stone 
canopy supported by Corinthian columns. The architect 
retained the family group, but condemned slabs, canopy 
and columns, as pagan, and entirely out of place inside the 
building. They were therefore cast out, and some of them, 
report says, already carted away to repair roads, and for 
other secular purposes, when the rector's attention was 
called to what was going on. He interposed at once, seized 
on the pillars and canopy, and set them up at the end of 
his favourite yew walk, with the heraldic slabs inserted in 
the wall forming the back of the small arbour or temple. 1 
It remains as he left it, a memorial much prized by its 
builder, and by his successor for his sake, but one which 
has at times severely exercised both aesthetic and ecclesiastical 
critics. 

The whole centre of this garden is a well-kept lawn, large 
enough for croquet, of which game Fraser was fond, lawn 
tennis not having then been invented. On the other side 
of the rectory lies the churchyard, and beyond it a large fruit- 
ful kitchen garden, bounded also on two sides by splendid 
yew hedges, and on the third by a large artificial pond. The 

1 The slabs and pillars have now been replaced in the church. 



Ii6 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PARTI. 

rectory and church stand by themselves, with the exception 
of the excellent school with cottage attached, both built by 
Fraser, and the compact farmhouse, for the glebe of sixty 
acres, on the other side of the church. The county town of 
Reading is eight miles due east of Ufton, so that, with a 
station at Theale almost in his own parish, the rector was 
within an easy two hours of London. Such a home, in such 
a situation and amongst such surroundings, would satisfy 
most men, and Fraser was never hard to satisfy. 

It is instructive to mark the contrast of his way of taking 
hold of his work in this his second cure. At Cholderton in 
his early days he is still shy, cautious ; almost at times timid ; 
anxious to consult with his predecessor on the most trifling 
details. At Ufton he lays hold with a firm, masterful hand ; 
and becomes at once, not only pastor in the fullest sense of his 
own parish, but the leading member of the Board of Guard- 
ians. " A remark from him," one of his colleagues testifies, 
"always threw fresh light on the question in hand ; and he 
would always recall us to the point when we were inclined to 
wander." His voice again soon became a power at the ruri- 
decanal meetings, which he attended regularly as a part of 
his proper business. On the other hand he refused to join a 
clerical society which held (and still holds) monthly meetings 
for discussion, giving as his reason that professional debates 
of this kind were likely to turn on " foolish questions, tending 
to strife." 

In the parish this note of a born leader of men was even 
more notable. "You see, sir, he was rather more than a 
parson, he was a little king amongst us," said a poor woman, 
a parishioner, to Mr. Cornish, his successor in the living, 
after an interval of six years. On the occasion of the 
Bishop's first visit to that gentleman another woman came to 
him in indignation, saying, " Have you seen, sir, what dread- 



CHAP. v. PARISH WORK. 117 

ful things the boys have chalked up on the door of the 
school ? " Mr. Cornish went, and read : 



' ' Mr. Fraser is a very good man 
He tries to teach us all that he can, 
Reading, writing, and 'rithmetic, 
And when he thinks right he gives us the stick." 



Over which doggerel the new Bishop and his old friend had 
a hearty laugh. Report says that corporal punishment by 
the rector was not, during Eraser's reign, strictly confined to 
the village school-boys. He was specially severe on any 
word or act which might bring disgrace on the parish. " I've 
a great mind to break this stick over your back," were his 
first words to an elderly man who had been guilty of an act 
of indecency. 

Both in the pulpit and out of it, he was specially strong 
on the duty of thrift, and the evil of imprudent marriages. 
With a view to the encouragement of thrift amongst his poor 
he joined the Reading Savings Bank, and was one of the 
most regular attendants at the weekly meetings. " He always 
struck us," writes Mr. Egginton, then a clerk, afterwards 
manager of the bank, " as being possessed of great business 
power, even to minute details. He was swift, accurate, and 
methodical, with very kind, genial, and encouraging words to 
depositors who came to pay in or withdraw money. He 
aJways brought a large handful of deposit books, belonging 
to his school-children, poor parishioners and servants, and 
made inquiries on their behalf, and smoothed the business 
for them. While the poor generally seek to keep their 
pecuniary affairs secret from their clergy and richer neigh- 
bours, it was noticeable with what confidence his people and 
dependents trusted him in these matters. I noticed that this 
was specially true of him and Canon Kingsley ; and many of 



n8 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PARTI. 

our largest and best accounts were brought to the bank, 
and cared for, by these two clergymen." 

Notable too was the conveyance in which the rector of 
Ufton used to arrive weekly at the Reading Savings Bank. 
" He was the only clergyman in our part of the country who 
drove a two-wheeled dogcart." Nor was this all. It was a 
high one, the highest that came into Reading ; and always 
with a splendid upstanding horse in the shafts. " The 
whole turn-out was the pink of neatness and condition," says 
Mr. Egginton ; " he must have been an excellent judge of 
horses and very fond of them." 

He was not only fond of horses, but of cows, sheep, pigs, 
poultry, and would have none but the best kinds on the 
glebe farm. And in such spare time as he could command 
growing always less as his neighbours and others found 
out what a stalwart helper he was in professional work en- 
joyed lending a hand to any work which was going in gar- 
den or farm. " I remember driving to the rectory one morn- 
ing," Mr. Bushnell, a neighbour, writes, "and seeing a 
barrow of neatly-sawn wood standing at the door, which 
he was much pleased at having sawn up and wheeled in 
with his own hands. He was always kind, genial, and 
sparing neither labour nor time when he thought he could 
do any good, especially to his poorer neighbours, with 
whom he seemed always at home, and to have some bright 
cheery word for them." 

His passion for order and tidiness rather strengthened as 
he grew older, and his eye was keen to note anything amiss, 
or out of order. " In walking round with me on his annual 
visit," Mr. Cornish writes, " no sign of neglect would he 
allow, in garden, stable, house, or cottage." "A little more 
paint, my friend, on this door." " There is a loose tile in 
your roof which you had better have seen to." " The ivy 



CHAP. v. LIFE AT UFTON. 119 



will be growing into your roof unless you have it cut." The 
impress of this quality still seems to remain in the parish, 
which is a model of neatness and order, such as can rarely 
be seen even in this favoured part of England, which looked 
to Mr. Emerson " as if it had all been brushed and combed 
every morning on getting up." 

1862. 

It was his custom on the afternoon of the first Sunday in 
every January, to recapitulate the chief parochial incidents 
of the past year, beginning with the details of the register, 
births, deaths, and marriages whether the congregation 
and number of communicants were increasing or decreas- 
ing whether the parish was better or worse in thrift 
and temperance. " When I was once present," says Mr. 
Cornish, "he had to notice an illegitimate birth. He spoke 
very plainly on such matters, and, where rebuke was needed, 
very sharply." 

But perhaps the most noteworthy side of his Ufton life 
was the relations he managed to establish with laymen who 
could and would give him anything like trustworthy light 
on the attitude of the lay mind on the pressing questions of 
the day, religious, social, and political. On this point Mr. 
Egginton may again be cited. As mentioned above, they had 
already a speaking acquaintance at the savings bank. When 
in the summer of 1863, after an unusually hard week's work, 
Mr. Egginton walked out to morning service at Ufton, " I 
left the church," he writes, " and was just strolling along the 
road, when I heard a voice calling ' Where are you off to, 
Mr. Egginton ? ' Looking back I saw Mr. Eraser, who had 
just turned the corner into the high road. I told him where 
I was going. He said, ' Not till you have had some lunch 
with me, so come back at once.' I did so, and was intro- 



120 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 



duced to his good mother and aunt, and spent the remainder 
of the day at Ufton, a day I shall never forget. It came out 
(how I don't remember now) that a relative of my wife's 
had been a near neighbour of his mother in her early 
widowhood, when her sons were at school. He was well off, 
and, having no child, his heart went out to the lads, and 
they had the run of his house. This greatly interested Mr. 
Fraser's mother and himself; and he never came to the 
savings bank afterwards without bringing me kindly greet- 
ings from her, with the request that I would come and see 
her whenever I could." 

On many subsequent occasions the visit was repeated, 
and Fraser would question his guest closely as to what 
he and others were thinking on the current questions of 
the day. Country parsons, he used to say, were unfavour- 
ably placed in this respect, for "our rich and well-to-do 
parishioners are too kind and courteous to tell us what is 
really in their minds and thoughts, and our poor people 
are unfortunately too afraid of us to speak out their 
minds." 

While he was specially desirous of getting at the real 
thought and mind of the middle class and working people, 
he did not the least neglect those in his own class, and was 
soon on intimate terms, not only with Mr. Benyon and Mr. 
Thoyts, his nearest neighbours, but with all the country 
gentlemen and professional men within reach. These 
relations however will come out more naturally in his 
correspondence, a small selection from which is all that 
there is space for here. 

A word of explanation is needed as to the first. He 
had been offered a stall at Salisbury, which on his declining 
it, had been given to a brother-in-law of Bishop Hamilton. 
Thereupon S.G.O. attacked the appointment in the Times. 



CHAP. v. A TIMES CORRESPONDENCE. 121 



UJton Rectory, August iStA, 1862. " My dear Mozley 
My birthday ! when I attain the ripe and respectable age of 
44 ! I don't fee/ it, and can hardly realise it : I am ashamed 
to think that I am not half so sedate, nor, alas ! half so 
good as I ought to be. Thanks for your frank, friendly 
letter. It was hardly fair to pour my indignation against 
S.G.O. and the Times into your ear ; yet for the sake of the 
answer you sent me, I am glad I did it. The excitement, I 
suppose, has by this time nearly died down. I did get 
admission for one letter in answer to an unwarrantable 
statement of S.G.O.'s, which at least cleared the offer of the 
canonry to myself from the imputation which was endea- 
voured to be fastened on it, of being a mere feint. With 
regard to the whole business, though I am satisfied that 
L - is a fit man to be canon, and will make a good one, 
perhaps the best of all who could have come into com- 
petition with him, I don't defend the wisdom of the ap- 
pointment. Connected as he was with the Bishop and 
Chapter, even though the former stirred neither hand nor 
foot in the matter, and the latter (all except one) voted for 
him on the purest motives, both of which 2 believe to be facts, 
his election was pretty sure to be characterised as it has 
been, as a family job, the last imputation in the world which 
should attach to clerical patrons. As to what you say about 
place-hunting clergy, I subscribe to every word. Nothing is 
more sickening than the attempt of the so-called working 
clergy to obtrude their work and their merits on the notice 
of the world. For my ^^ fallentis semita vitcz always had 
most charms for me. What my destiny may be I know not, 
nor care ; I only know I am contented now ; and for myself 
desire- no change. My church won't be really fit for you to 
see for another month or six weeks ; just at this moment it 
looks at its very untidiest : they have just laid down the 



122 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PARTI. 

boarded floor, and are beginning to set the tiles. The spire 
is still bedded in scaffolding. I will write and tell you when 
we are more presentable and get you to fix a day for driving 
over to an early dinner with us." 

To Sale. Ufton, January 6th, 1862. " To-day is a busy 
time with me. I am opening my day-school in a new room 
under a new mistress ; and to-night I start my night-school 
with three teachers (including myself) and, I hope, with a 
goodly sprinkling of scholars ; and to-night again I in- 
augurate my reading-room, which will be open every night 
in the week from six o'clock till nine, and must be con- 
sidered as an antagonistic influence to the public-house. 
This also has the promise of considerable support ; so I 
begin working my parochial machinery with good hopes. 
Time will show whether I have been over-sanguine or 
not." 

The reading-room, after nine months' existence died. 
The population of Ufton proved to be too scattered. 

To Sale. Ufton, November 6th, 1862. "My new church 
was opened last Sunday with great eclat. The Bishop of 
Oxford preached in the morning, the Provost of Oriel in the 
afternoon, to perfect crowds. It is a delightful church, 
which my liberal squire has built for the parish, and now, 
after nearly two years of discomfort, I begin to be settled 
and at home." 

1863. 

To Mr. Mozley. Ufton, November i-jt/i, 1863. "I too 
have paid a visit to Cholderton, no longer ago than yester- 
day, and heard of your being there, with the contents of 
your party. I went down with my neighbour. Mr. Thoyts, 



CHAP. v. SETTLED AND AT HOME. 123 

to introduce him to Chretien, with whom he wishes to place 
a son after Christmas, and while they were making their 
arrangements I went out and shook hands with all my old 
friends in the parish. There was hardly a face that I did 
not manage to see. I found all that had seen you pleased 
at your remembrance of them ; and you may tell Mrs. 
Mozley that I think she has left pleasant remembrances 

behind her I did not come to Reading last Friday 

because ' I hate, detest, and abhor ' (which, though strong 
language, is as you know almost canonical) all public 
meetings, whether I have to appear on the platform, or 
only listen on the floor. Besides, I had done my duty to 
the Society by preaching one of the sermons for it on the 
previous" Sunday. I heard of your doing penance there for 
your many sins all through the day. And I suppose I have 
read ' in another place ' the impression the meeting left on 
your mind. While quite admitting that ' the issues raised 
by Walter were fair and practical ' (indeed I went along 
with pretty nearly all he said) I think the general feeling is 
(which I also share) that the mixed audience he addressed 
were not quite the sort competent to judge of them, and that 
his speech has done the Society unintentional harm. That 
is one of my chief objections to this class of meeting, that 
one is expected to trim one's honest convictions, and make 
things pleasant." 

1864-65. 

It is one more proof of how little control even the 
strongest men who have any sense of duty have over their 
own lives, that one who felt thus strongly as to public meet- 
ings and charity sermons should in a few years become the 
chairman and chief speaker, at more public meetings than 
any of his time, not excepting (during the years of his 



124 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PT. I. CH. v. 

Bishopric) the late Lord Shafteshury, and the most persistent 
and successful beggar on the Bench of Bishops. 

By this time the measure of the Rector of Ufton had 
been taken by his neighbours, and was beginning to be 
known in other quarters. He was besieged with appli- 
cations for sermons at Reading and elsewhere ; and, though 
he accepted as few as possible, each appearance on new 
ground only tended to increase his reputation, and the 
penalties thereto appertaining. It may be called rather a 
consequence than a penalty, that early in 1865 he was 
offered, and accepted, the post of Commissioner to report 
on the condition of education and of the public schools of 
the United States. 



CHAPTER VI. 

" We ain't so weak and poor, John, 

With twenty million people, 
And close to every door, John, 

A schoolhouse and a steeple. 
Oh Uncle S. , sez he, I guess 

It is a fact, sez he, 
The surest plan to make a man 

Is, think him one, J. B., 
Ez much ez you and me." J. R. LOWELL. 

AMERICA, 1865. 
l86 5 . 

IT was in March, 1865, that Fraser was appointed a 
Commissioner to inquire into and report on the elementary 
and other schools in the United States. The embers of the 
war of secession were just burning out, and the great struggle 
had practically come to an end ; but Lee was still at the 
head of a considerable army. It was an odd time for the 
British Government to select for such a mission, considering 
the relations in which they had managed (with the help no 
doubt of the United States Government) to land the two 
nations. However they could not have chosen a more 
interesting time for their Commissioner, or a man more 
competent for his task, or more likely to call out a better 
state of feeling wherever he might go, than the rector of 
Ufton. 

He sailed on April 23rd, in the Scotia, in company with 



126 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

Bishop Whipple, to whom he had an introduction, but who 
was ill during the greater part of the voyage. The following 
extracts, from a series of the usual journal letters which he 
wrote to his mother whenever absent from her, will best 
give his impressions of America, and at the same time serve 
to illustrate the keenness of his interest in the details of his 
home work and surroundings. The only prefatory remark 
which seems called for is, that his Uncle Henry, his mother's 
brother, had emigrated some sixteen years before with his 
family, who were now settled on farms in the State of Illinois. 

April z$th, The Scotia. " The old Captain undertakes 
the duty of reading prayers, leading the psalms, and deliver- 
ing a printed sermon, and very well he does it, too, I can 
tell you. He had a very large and attentive congregation, 
his crew forming a large portion of it." 

May 2nd, New York. "Our voyage took eight days, 
twenty hc^&x from Queenstown. The whole ship was 
terribly shockt, J to hear the news brought on board by the 
pilot of President Lincoln's assassination, and the attempt 
on Secretary Seward's life on Good Friday. The whole city 
wears the aspect of mourning, most of the houses being 
draped in, black. . . . 

" Gold is now at 142, which makes a dollar worth about 
35. or 3*. id., and really, for many purposes, a dollar doesn't 
go further here than a shilling does in England. All things 
are enormously dear, especially all extras. I had to pay four 
dollars 125. ^d. to get myself and my baggage from the 
custom-house here, a distance of not more than three 
miles. 

" I have quite changed my plans owing to a chance which 
has offered itself to me (through a fellow-passenger on the 



CHAP. vi. NEW YORK. 127 

Scotia) of seeing some of the rural Massachusetts schools. 
A most intelligent American himself once a teacher, now a 
superintendent or manager of the schools of his township 
who lives at Holliston, twenty-five miles from Boston, has 
most kindly invited me to be his guest for five or six days, 
and has promised to show me the whole system at work in 
his district ; a precious opportunity of which I gladly avail 
myself. I shall go to Holliston, thence to Boston, and work 
New England first. Then cross into Canada ; from Canada 
to Ohio ; then try to get a peep at Uncle Harry ; return 
from him through Pennsylvania to Philadelphia, and so 
back to New York. ... I suppose my letter will go the 
round of the family circle, and it must convey my love to 
each and all as it travels. I can't say I am much prepos- 
sessed with New York, though there is a certain kind of 
magnificence about it ; but there is much tawdry flashiness 
too. But New York is a bad type of America, and I dare 
say I shall be more pleased with New England. The 
approach however to the City through the Narrows is very 
fine." 

May i6th, New York. "I have been getting on very 
pleasantly with my work hitherto. Everybody is willing to 
assist me, and full of information, but I am sorry to say 
there is a very bitter feeling prevalent against England ; and 
really, as you hear them tell their grounds of indignation 
you are forced to admit they have some cause, though they 
both distort and exaggerate things. I can see that a mere 
trifle would be enough to kindle this combustible matter into 
a war, a result which Heaven forefend ! There has been 
enough of excitement since I left England. The surrender 
of Lee's army, the assassination of the President, and now 
the capture of Jeff Davis have all occurred in six weeks. 



128 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART I. 

People's heads are almost turned, and I regret to add that 
the present temper of the public mind is very bloodthirsty, 
and nothing less than hanging Jeff Davis, and even General 
Lee, seems likely to content the mass of minds. It appears 
an undoubted fact that northern prisoners have been treated 
with horrible barbarity in southern prisons, particularly at 
Andersonville. I have heard scores of stories of cruelty, 
as though it had been the deliberate intention of their 
captors to starve the men to death or drive them to idiocy, 
and 40,000 seem to have actually perished. This almost 
maddens people even calm people when they talk of 
it. They are an impulsive nation. ... I keep quite well, 
but somehow should be happier if I had a companion. But 
I have met with a number of most kind friends, and, further, 
have so much to do that I have no time to feel dull. I 
spend four, five, or even six hours a day in the schools, 
which are wonderful things, and full of interest. They are 
very large ; in some upwards of 2,000 children under in- 
struction in the different departments. We have nothing in 
England at all like these in size or arrangements. . . . 
Never before were the national benefits of education realised 
so strongly. In the war-time women took the men's places 
in the schools of most of these northern states, and there 
was never a more liberal appropriation for the support of the 
schools voted, either by townships or states. The whole 
system rests on Washington's principle, that there are two 
indispensable safeguards for republican institutions virtue 
and intelligence and these spring from perfect social 
equality, and absolute religious freedom. . . . My laundress 
charges me one and a half dollars (five shillings) a dozen for 
washing, and for a collar or pocket-handkerchief as much as 
for a shirt ! . . . I wait anxiously to hear how the sick I left 
behind are going on; how Annie Dimant" [his school- 



CHAP. vi. BOSTON. 129 

mistress] " is ; and how Mr. Batho gets on. Of course you 
will send my love, and regards, and remembrances, circu- 
lating round, first the family, then the household, then the 
parish, and then the neighbourhood, in due proportions. It 
would be wearisome to specify names, but all constantly 
come into my memory, and you know to whom and by 
whom I should wish to be remembered without my men- 
tioning them. I shall be glad enough when my work is 
done and I am amongst you all again. . . . When you write 
don't trouble to give long accounts of what has happened, 
but just the facts, and leave me to make the reflections. 
. . . Religion is a curious phenomenon in many ways in this 
country. Every one claims a right to think for himself, and 
the number of sects is enormous. There are many hand- 
some churches, indeed the large-heartedness of the people is 
marvellous. If they like to make money they like to spend 
it also." 

i 

June i^th, Boston, Parker House. " On June 5th I came 
here, and have been hard at work ever since. I have made 
a number of very pleasant acquaintances, some of them 
rather distinguished people in the literary and political 
world. Mr. George Ticknor, Governor Andrew, Hon. Ch. 
Sumner, Bishop Eastburn, &c., and feel quite familiar by 
this time with the subject I am come to investigate 

" I had a pretty fright the third night after my arrival. I 
had been invited to accompany a pleasure excursion down 
Boston Harbour, which the town gave in honour of the 
American Medical Association, which was holding its trien- 
nial convention here ; and on returning to my hotel about 
eight o'clock, I was surprised to find the street, in which the 
Parker House stands, on my turning into it, full of people 
and two or three large steam fire-engines pumping and puff- 

K 



130 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

ing vigorously. ' Where is the fire ? ' inquired I of the first 
knot of people. ' At the Parker House.' You may imagine 
how I quickened my steps, and rushed up to my room, for 
all my clothes, money, papers, c., were there, and you may 
imagine also the relief with which I found that the fire was 
confined to the roof, having originated in a chimney flue, 
and in less than half an hour by the vigorous and well- 
directed efforts of the firemen, was extinguished without 
more, than zop/. damage having been done. If it had 
broken out at twelve o'clock instead of at eight the issue 
might have been different, though the organisation of the 
American fire brigade is splendid. . . . Tell Mowbray he 
ought, as every English statesman or politician ought, to 
come and see this country. Nothing but actual observation 
with one's own eyes will satisfy a man what a future lies 
before it. I really believe it is a sober truth, however 
boastfully uttered, that it is the greatest and most powerful 
nation in the world. It is so now, it will undoubtedly be so 
twenty-five years hence. Contrasting the energy, the re- 
sources, the openings, the opportunities here, with the 
torpor, the exhaustion, the repletion, the competition of 
Europe, one feels in more senses than one quite likes to 
own, that ours is the old and this is the new world. I think, 
as far as I can judge, that the angry feeling towards England 
is very much mitigated, or at any rate the exhibition of it 
does not so frequently come up to the surface. But still, 
you may depend, we are not loved here ; and as for the 
Times newspaper, the detestation in which it is held is 
almost universal. There can be no doubt that the letters 
of its New York correspondent and the leaders based 
upon them were fundamentally false in fact, and have 
done more than any other influence to embitter American 
feelings." 



CHAP. vi. GOLDWIN SMITH. 131 

June ibth. "Yankees are no respecters of persons. 
However I get on very well among them. I find them 
hospitable and friendly, and very ready to give me any 
information that I ask for. On Trinity Sunday the Bishop 
of Massachusetts (Eastburn, whose voice is so like Mr. 
Fowle's of Amesbury, that I can almost fancy it is my old 
rural' dean speaking to me and not an American bishop) 
made me preach for him ; and next Sunday afternoon I am 
to accompany him to a confirmation at a church in the 
country. Caswell gave me an introduction to him ; he 
officiated at the marriage of his eldest daughter. Church 
services in America however are very cold things, nothing 
congregational about either prayers or singing. The epis- 
copal community attracts the wealthier people, but does not 
seem to have much hold on the poor. In Boston however 
most intellectual people are Unitarians. It is quite curious 
to notice the mixture of beliefs. An American has no 
notion of fixing himself to anything, and as he practices 
perhaps half-a-dozen trades, so he also professes half-a- 
dozen religions, in the course of his life." 

June i &th. " Gold win Smith has left very pleasant 
memories of himself behind him here. People seem to 
think a good deal more of him than they do of Lord 
Palmerston or Earl Russell. Even housemaids and cooks, 
as I found by a curious anecdote the other day, read his 
Letter to a Whig Member of the Southern Association. He 
was visiting at the house of Mr. Charles Norton, at Cam- 
bridge, near here a most charming place, occupied by a 
delightful man and a delightful lady and the housemaid 
one day asked her mistress ' who this Mr. Smith was ? ' 
When told it was Mr. Goldwin Smith, she said ' What ? he 
who wrote the letter to the Whig Member ? I wish I had 

K 2 



i 3 2 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

known it when I opened the door, that I might have paid 
proper respect to him.' The incident is further interest- 
ing as illustrating the range of reading of American 
domestics." 

His mother's next letter reported the Ufton School 
inspection by Mr. Bellairs, now Vicar of Nuneaton, then an 
Inspector of Schools. 

June 24th, Boston. " I am disappointed rather at the 
results of Mr. Bellairs' inspection, particularly at the poor 
figure the children cut in arithmetic. I must say though, I 
rather expected such would be the case in the lower classes, 
and was continually warning Annie that she must take care 
or we should be disappointed at the result. Allowance must 
be made (and I have told Bellairs so in a letter which I have 
written to him about his son), for poor Annie's weak health 
the last four months ; but she is certainly not equal, as a 
teacher, to what I once hoped she would be, and if she 
were not so good in herself, and were not the children 
so fond of her, I have sometimes thought I really must 
make a change. You need not however tell her more 
than that I am a little disappointed ; that she will remem- 
ber I was always warning her of the probability of the 
large failure in arithmetic which has come to pass, and that 
we must really try and improve our deficiency against next 
year. 

"As to the ventilator in the roof, to which Bellairs 
objects, that is not intended for admission of fresh air, but 
as a supplemental outlet for foul. It is never open in the 
winter ; and fresh air is meant to come in by the win- 
dows, which Annie does not open, particularly in the 
afternoon, so freely as I could wish. And as to the 



CHAP. vi. SERMON IN NEW YORK. 133 

suggestion for removing the gallery, I am at a loss to 
conceive where Bellairs considers there would be a better 
place. But inspectors always like at every visit to recom- 
mend some new thing ; he said nothing about these points 
in 1864." 

An extract may be given here from a sermon preached in 
the Tremont Temple, on Choral Services of the Church of 
the Advent, which will fairly represent his public speech in 
the United States. 

" I have found much to admire, not a little to envy, very 
much to respect, in the eight weeks I have spent upon your 
soil and among your institutions. I admire and envy your 
great system of common schools, and all the machinery that 
is at work for the intellectual elevation of the people. I re- 
spect your noble public spirit, your wide-reach' ng philan- 
thropy, your hospitality to strangers, the energy of your 
character. I stand amazed at the resources of your country, 
which appear almost illimitable ; the stability of your 
institutions, which the fearful struggle, out of which you 
have come more than conquerors, has neither weakened nor 
disturbed ; the vast future that lies before you, surpassing 
even the flights of a poet's fancy, or the visions of an enthu- 
siast's dream. But there is one thing I have not found, 
though I have sought for it, not only within the communion 
to which by conviction and profession I belong, but without 
it also. I have not found my ideal of Christian congrega- 
tional worship. I have gone about, as Paul went about 
Athens, ' beholding your devotions,' and they have seemed 
to me suffer me to speak my mind frankly somewhat 
lifeless and cold. They are different to what I have been 
accustomed to, not only in our great cathedrals, but in our 
little country parish churches at home. I want hearty 



134 



LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART I. 



responses, not decorous silence ; I want congregational 
psalmody, not merely ears open to catch the cadences of a 
well-trained choir. ' Fine prayers addressed to the congrega- 
tion,' as some one among you wittily called them, don't 
meet my notions of Christian worship ; and quartette choirs, 
with fine voices indeed, but who keep the singing all to 
themselves, and, as I have seen in this very city, take up 
their parasols and leave as soon as their part in the perform- 
ance is over, and the sermon about to begin, do not 
satisfy my idea of Christian psalmody. Some things among 
you which, from our different education and our different 
positions, I might look at with different eyes, I should criti- 
cise, if at all, with a diffidence, and with a consciousness that 
you were as likely to be right as I ; but I think I shall carry 
all your feelings with me, when I suggest that there is room 
for improvement here. Anyhow, a heart uplifted, either for 
prayer or praise, is better than an ear merely tickled by 
enticing words. What Paul would have men do everywhere 
was ' pray, lifting up holy hands ' when joining in Christian 
worship, the noblest spiritual exercise in which they could 
engage, ' speaking to one another in psalms and hymns, and 
spiritual songs, and making melody in their hearts to the 
Lord.' " 

After this sermon, which (the New York papers wrote) 
was listened to with the closest attention, the congregation 
joined in singing the hymn in a manner which showed they 
had profited by the words they had heard. 

Burnett House, Cincinnati, July i^th. "On June 25th I> 
went to Beverley Farm, an exquisite sea-side residence of 
Charles Loring, a leading Boston lawyer and intimate friend 
of Goldwin Smith's, to spend three days. If you see Dr/ 



CHAP. vi. A POLITICAL MEETING. 135 

Smith " [Goldwin Smith's father, living near Reading] " you 
can gratify him by telling him in what universal esteem 
Goldwin is held in Boston, and indeed everywhere I have 
been." 

In the week he spent on his work in the " queen city " 
the thermometer was ranging between 90 and 100 in the 
shade. " It made me feel very languid and clammy all day 
long, and at night was hardly cooler, but I found I stood it 
as well as those to the manner born, and I don't think I 
shall take any harm, for they tell me it is not likely to be 
any hotter." 

From Cincinnati he sailed up the Ohio to visit " Uncle 
Harry " at his Kentucky farm near Vanceburg, at which city 
he writes in passing, "I witnessed a characteristic scene. 
The two candidates for that district had come to Vanceburg 
to ' stump the country,' i.e. to make speeches and declare 
their political views. I went to hear them, and was a good 
deal struck by the ability of one of the speakers. The 
occasion however was disgraced by a row. One of the 

candidates told the other that 'he told a d d lie,' upon 

which an uproar ensued beggaring description. Revolvers 
were drawn and oaths sworn, throats seized, shirts torn, and 
I began to think we were in for a regular American row. 
But it happily evaporated before any worse damage was 
done than a few shirts torn to rags, and I was pleased to be 
told for the credit of their institutions that such rows were 
a rare occurrence even in Kentucky." 

" Uncle Harry's place is beautifully situated, but both the 

house and their style of living are of the most primitive kind. 

. . They seem to be doing very fairly well, though I sus- 



136 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

pect they let things slip through their hands a bit, and there 
are not many tokens of tidiness about. The house is merely 
a log house, which my uncle has been talking of rebuilding 
ever since he came here (sixteen years), but it is only talk 
still. The steam-saw has stood still for four years, and looks 
neglected, and can't be run again until it has a new boiler, 
which will cost $1100. The shoemaker's shop is untenanted. 
They sell no lumber now, but occupy themselves with 
farming and bark-peeling, the latter being a profitable trade. 
They own altogether about 4,000 acres. The estate at 
Sulphur Branch is 2,600, of which about 200 are cleared. 
Uncle has also a farm at Clarksbury of 300, which he lets ; 
Jack and Tom have another at Maysville of the same size. 
Edward (who is getting on better than he ever yet has done) 
has another, about ten miles off, of 300. Their stock at 
Sulphur Branch is of this amount : Seven horses, twenty-four 
beasts and cows, fifty sheep, fifty hogs, twenty-five geese, and 
one hundred poultry. My aunt is a wonderful woman for 
activity and industry, always busy, and looks as hard-worked 
as any labourer's wife in Ufton. My uncle does nothing 
now, indeed, Jack says, he has done nothing ever since they 
have been at Sulphur. Nothing could exceed the kindness 
of their reception of me ; and, though neither their way of 
life suited my taste nor their fare my stomach, I could not 
but look with the deepest interest on such a picture of rural 
simplicity and happiness. ... I have taken my homeward 
passage on the Cuba, leaving New York October 4th. . . . 
The country has become calmer, and I meet with less of 
the bitter feeling towards England, but almost every day 
I find tokens that it still exists, and every one feels the 
difficulty of political reconstruction amongst themselves. I 
am very glad I had the opportunity of coming here, I never 
should have understood this country otherwise. English 



CHAP. vi. GENERAL SHERMAN. 137 

journalists, and statesmen too, seem to me utterly in the 
dark about it." 

Toronto, July 27 th, after visiting St, Louis and Chicago. 
" I have now seen the great rivers of the American con- 
tinent, and wonderful they are, and wonderful it was to sje 
seventy or eighty huge steamers, each perhaps capable of 
carrying from 500 to 1000 passengers, lying at one time 
along the levee (or quay) of St. Louis. At St. Louis I saw 
General Sherman, though I was not introduced to him, and 
was much struck with his appearance, looking every inch 
the man who should have done what he has done. At 
Niagara, I never wearied of sitting in the piazza of the 
Clifton House (the hotel on the Canadian side, and one of 
the nicest I have been in) and gazing at the panorama of 
both Falls. If the reality did not surpass my expectation 
neither did it on the other hand fall below it. I was 
satisfied" 

August Sf/i. " The Canadian schools, I am sorry to say, 
are just going into vacation, indeed to-day is breaking-up 
day, and I have been attending an examination of one of 
them for two hours of the forenoon and as many of the 
afternoon, besides making a speech to the children, the 
inevitable penalty, as I find it, of the ' distinguished posi- 
tion ' I have the honour to hold. So I shall occupy myself 
getting up my notes, and there is a teachers' afternoon 
meeting to be held, which I shall be glad to attend and 
compare with the similar one at Cincinnati." 

Sf. Louis Hotel, Quebec, August iqt/i, 1865.- "I arrived 
here by steamer from Montreal this morning and find yours 
(No. 4, with dates up to August 4th) waiting for me. ... So 
dear old Alex " [his brother, the Colonel] " is in England ! 



138 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART I. 

What an unexpected surprise and pleasure ! I hope he 
won't be in any hurry, or under any necessity, to be ' going ' 
again just yet. I had already begun to count the weeks 
that yet remain before my return, and I shall count them 
now with twofold anxiety. On the i4th or isth October I 
expect, all being well, to touch once more dear old 
England's soil. I shall love it none the less for my six 
months' absence; and you may tell the good squire of 
Sulhampstead that, amongst others near and dear, I shall 
be just as glad to see his cheery face again as he says he 
shall be to see mine. In my solitary moments, which are 
not few, I often draw pictures of you all, Sundays and other 
days, and amuse myself by fancying how you are all 
engaged. The great drawback I find to the pleasure of this 
trip of mine is that it has to be made so much alone, and 
though I have heaps of kind acquaintances, and even of 
friends, I yet often feel the want of a genial companion, 
such as Arthur Blair was last summer. Tell Meacher he 
had better get the mare into order for the Colonel's riding, 
though if he has got so fat, and I presume proportionally 
heavy, perhaps he'll find it safer to use old Monmouth for 
his charger, as he scarcely ever stumbles, while the mare is 
apt to be careless. At any rate, let him use the horses and 
carriages as freely as if they were his own ; and add also, 
with my love, that I hope he'll make Ufton Rectory his 
home as long as he stays in England, and that we'll try and 
make him forget some of the grievances and annoyances 
that disturb his peace elsewhere. By the by, don't let that 
champagne spoil in the case, for I know you all like it 
even Aunt Lucy, though she does sometimes look the other 
way when I am filling her glass and it'll never be better 
fit for drinking than it is now. ... I saw James's " [an 
old servant of Mr. Christie, the former rector! " two sons 



CHAP. vi. PARISHIONERS' RELATIVES. 139 

who are stationed in the artillery barracks at Montreal, and 
you may tell him they both looked very well, and the one 
who has had the small-pox is not at all marked by it. They 
told me their brother Jack had enlisted, but that his father 
had bought him out. Tell James I think he might have 
done better in saving his money, and letting that somewhat 
unprofitable youth (I fear) come to his senses and know 
when he was well off by going through a little military 
discipline. Tell Mrs. Pearce also that I saw her brother, 
Samuel Lee, and his wife and their three little children, the 
youngest named Rebecca, after her. He is a very quiet, 
respectable-looking man, living as coachman with a 
Montreal merchant, and earning $14 a month (about 2 
175.) besides board and clothes. His wife is Irish and a 
Roman Catholic. He regrets the latter, but says they live 
very happily together. He is quite comfortable, and says 
Canada is a country in which any one may do well who has 
a mind to try. ... I left Toronto by the steamer for 
Montreal, The run is about 280 miles, and occupies from 
two p.m. one day to six p.m. on the next. Among the 
passengers were Mr. and Mrs. Charles Kean, who are 
starring in America, and whose acquaintance I slightly 
made on the voyage. The route is down Lake Ontario 
and then down the St. Lawrence, the grandest river in the 
world. The points of chief interest are what are called the 
Thousand Islands, just below Kingston ; the rapids, three 
in number, very exciting and not a little dangerous, but 
through which adventurous pilots carry adventurous travel- 
lers two or three times a day without any serious accident 
as yet having ever occurred. To show how little one often 
really knows what danger is, about a mile after we had run 
through the La Chine rapid, the most formidable of them 
all, and were about half a mile from the wonderful Victoria 



140 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

tubular bridge, and within sight of Montreal, our pilot, 

hugging the shore rather too closely, ran the ship on a rock, 

over which however she did manage to scrape heavily, I 

believe without any serious damage, but not without giving 

one or two awkward lurches, and sending one or two ladies 

on board into fainting fits. It was just within an ace of 

being a bad accident; if there had been six inches less 

water in the river the ship would probably have struck hard 

enough to have sunk her. There are such risks in American 

travel from the recklessness of conductors and pilots. . . . 

I was delighted at the result of our Berks election so far as 

our squire (Mr. Benyon) was concerned. Though I am 

much more of a Liberal than a Conservative, I should have 

been sorry indeed if he had not retained his seat. His 

companions in honour I do not know, and care about 

therefore less ; but as I think the Liberal party are strong 

enough, and the country is better governed when there is a 

tolerably powerful opposition, I don't grudge them their 

victory, and though I respect John Walter for many points 

in his character, he really is so puffed up with the conceit 

that he is a sort of walking incarnation of the wisdom of the 

Times, that his defeat didn't draw any tears from my eyes. 

If he wants his conceit lessened he should come to America, 

and hear what the Yankees say and think of his newspaper. 

He would really stand a good chance of being tarred and 

feathered. In the hotel at Montreal I saw Dr. Charles 

Mackay, who for the last three years of the war was the 

Times' correspondent at New York. I looked upon him 

with anything but liking, as the man who, more than any 

one else (except perhaps Lord Russell, and he has done it 

unintentionally, because it is his nature to write irritating 

despatches), has stirred up the bad blood between us and 

the Americans, or rather between the Americans and us. 



CHAP. VI. THE TIMES. 141 

The Americans however have their feelings soon up and 
down, and I think the ill-dispositions towards England are 
already much mitigated. ... By the way, thank Mrs. 
Benyon for her kind interest in me, but nobody need be 
alarmed about me on that head. If I ever marry any one 
you may depend it will be an Englishwoman. I see no 
foreigners to match my own countrywomen, and as to 
American ladies, though there are many fine points in their 
character, there are others that are anything but attractive 
to me, and suggestive of anything but love. 

" Nothing for a long time has interested me more than 
Mr. Whymper's letter in the Times of August 8th, describing 
the late fatal accident on the Matterhorn. You know I was 
at Zermatt last year, and heard all the speculations as to its 
accessibility, and the stories of failure of attempts already 
made. It seems however an accident that might have 
happened anywhere, and when the first panic has subsided 
the Matterhorn will probably submit to be conquered, as 
Mont Blanc and Monte Rosa have been. But I don't think 
the Colonel and I will ever attempt the feat, my own 
ambition not lying that way. The Weiss Thor last year was 
as much as I felt myself equal to. ... I return on the 
25th by steamboat to Montreal. From thence I shall take 
a run to Ottawa, the new capital, to which the seat of 
Government is just going to be moved, where they say the 
new public buildings are the finest on this continent. I 
then return to the States, vzd Lake Champlain, to Albany, 
thence down the Hudson to New York. If I have time I 
may take a run to Philadelphia and Washington, just to see 
those cities." 

Quebec Citadel. "The foolish English people are just 
commencing to spend a million on strengthening and extend- 



142 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

ing the fortification, which, in my opinion, and that of most 
Canadians I have talked with, won't contribute in any appre- 
ciable degree to the strength of Canada. I always thought 
it an absurd waste of money, and now that I see things on 
the spot I am still more convinced of its futility." 

New York, Sept. i2//i, 1865. After speaking of his run 
to Ottawa and journey from Montreal through Vermont : 
"On 3ist I had a beautiful steam down Lakes Champlain 
and George to Caldwell at the head of the latter lake, 
passing Crown Point, Fort Ticonderoga, and other points, 
all with historical names connected with the revolutionary 
war. The scenery is beautiful on these two lakes, lying 
between the Green Mountains of Vermont on one side and 
the Adirondacs of New York State on the other. On 
September ist my day's journey was to Saratoga Springs 
near which place Burgoyne's army surrendered now a place 
of most fashionable resort, famous also for its medicinal 
waters, of which I imbibed a considerable quantity during 
the three days I stayed there, not without benefit, I think. 
I was fortunate in finding all the Minturn family staying at 
the same hotel at which I put up, which made my sojourn 
much more agreeable. 

" On September 4th I left Saratoga for Albany, the capital 
of the New York State, where I stayed a day longer than I 
intended, in order to be present at the marriage of a Mr. 
Pruyn, a gentleman to whom I had introductions, who was 
particularly kind to me, and also particularly anxious that I 
should see him make his second matrimonial experiment. 
It was a very gay and pretty wedding, sdon la mode Anglaise, 
celebrated in a very handsome church by the Bishop of New 
York, the newly-married couple receiving the Sacrament. 
Marriages are not always so solemn an affair in the States. 



CHAP. vi. WEST POINT. 143 

In most of the States people may be married at any place 
and at any time, and by any person ; and in New York 
State two persons may even marry themselves, by simply 
declaring, before any two people, that they intend to live as 
man and wife together. 

" On September 8th I left Albany, steaming down the 
beautiful Hudson River, with its banks studded on both sides 
with villa residences and thriving towns and villages, as far 
as West Point, the famous Military Academy of the United 
States, which educated all the great generals on both sides 
during the late war Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan, as well 
as Lee, Beauregard, and Stonewall Jackson. I had letters 
of introduction to Professor French, the chaplain, who 
would take no denial but that I must take up my quarters 
with him, and preach to the cadets on Sunday in the chapel 
of the academy which, accordingly, I did, and a very 
pleasant three days I spent. West Point possesses some of 
the finest scenery I have seen in America, commanding 
beautiful views up and down the Hudson, and embosomed 
in rich woods. 

" I was quite gratified with that correspondence between 
Thoyts and Mowbray. The honest heart of the former 
showed itself in every line of his letters. I am afraid I get 
day by day less and less of a Conservative myself; but I 
have none the less respect for men of all parties who stick to 
their principles ; and I rejoiced over the result of the Berk- 
shire election, as far as our own good squire was concerned. 

" I do not like Alex's account of himself. I am afraid 
the pain in the back comes from some affection of the 
kidneys, incipient Bright' s disease or diabetes both of them 
generally the results of sedentary habits and over brain work. 
Tell him there is lots of claret in the cellar, which I hope 
he will set to work upon as soon as he pleases. If Aunt 



144 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

Lucy does not remember which it is, I can tell her. It is 
the larger quantity in those shelves on the right side entering 
the cellar, with a green seal, I think, labelled ' Claret-at-es.' 
That's the ordinary claret, the other is much higher priced, 
and only for special occasions." 

New York, Sept. zoth, 1865. "I did not intend writing 
to you again this side of the Atlantic. But, though I am 
going to sail in a good ship (the Australasian], with a good 
captain (Cook), and in one of the best months of the year 
(October), yet there is always a risk in an ocean voyage, and 
there will at any rate be no harm done in mentioning before- 
hand one or two things, in case anything should happen. 

"(i) I have eleven of the London and Westminster 
Bank's io/. circular notes left untouched, nor shall I have 
occasion to cash any more. So that there will be no/, due 
from them to my estate. 

" (2) My will is in my mahogany desk, the key of which 
however I have with me. 

"(3) The Commissioners advanced me soo/. for my 
travelling expenses, which is, or rather will be, as nearly as 
possible exhausted. So that there will be nothing due to 
them or from them. They will hardly pay me my 5o/. a 
month for my work if it all gets buried with myself at the 
bottom of the ocean. 

" I merely mention these points by way of precaution, 
and that you may know how to act in case of anything 
befalling me ; but I anticipate no such mischance, and trust 
that the same kind Providence which has watched over me 
through so many thousand miles of travel thus far, will 
restore me once more to those whom I so dearly love in old 
England ; and who, I know, will remember me where I 
desire to be remembered by them in their prayers. 



CHAP. vi. HOMEWARD BOUND. 145 

" I have now just a week more to spend in this country. 
I hope to sail for England on Wednesday, October 4th, all 
arrangements beyond that day to remain as I have already 
fixed them. I seem as if I should feel like a child when I 
get back to Ufton again, and find myself surrounded by so 
many dear familiar faces, and pleasant scenes. Five months 
solitary travel have been quite enough for me, and I am 
fairly home-sick, and count the days impatiently. There are 
but seven more nights and days, before I shall set my face 
towards the ' East Country ; ' and in a fortnight more I shall 
hope to be an inmate of my old home again. 

" I have received an immense deal of kindness, first and 
last, in America ; I must constitute myself in return a sort of 
general host of all Americans visiting England. I wish the 
two countries understood one another rather better, and were 
more inclined to be friends. As it is the hostile feeling of 
Americans generally towards England seems to me as in- 
tense as ever : indeed, just now, for some reason or other, 
the newspapers in a body seem to be engaged in fanning the 
flame. They have just got hold of a list of about a dozen 
subscribers to the Confederate Loan, among whom is W. E. 
Gladstone, to my surprise, down for 2,ooo/. 1 This, as you 
might expect, is a topic for excited ' editorials,' and the cry 
is that the American Government ought to demand his 
dismissal from the English Ministry. And so they run on ; 
the merest trifle becoming fearfully exaggerated, and adding 
fuel to the flame. It's a great pity ! " 

Ship "Australasian" at Sea, October i$th, 1865. "The 
passengers are a very mixed lot, the bulk of them being men 

1 This was a mistake of the Americans and the Bishop. On the pub- 
lication of this Life Mr. W. E. Gladstone at once wrote to deny that he 
ever had held this or any other sum in Confederate Stock. The holder 
was Mr. W. Gladstone, head of the firm of Thomson, Bonar & Co. 



146 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

in trade at New York, whose talk is chiefly of ' dry goods' 
and 'dollars.' But I get on pretty well in almost all com- 
panies ; and as they are intelligent and well-informed in 
their own departments, I can talk with most of them with 
pleasure and profit. I have a very good berth, nearly amid- 
ships ; and the ' State room ' is twice as large as that which 
held two of us on the Scotia. My companion is an Indian 
Officer (Madras) of the io5th Foot, Captain Bradish a very 
pleasant, accommodating man, with whom I get on, as the 
Americans say, 'first-rate.' 

" We had service on board on Sunday, and I officiated. I 
had a good congregation, including a considerable sprinkling 
Qijews. My sermon, which was on the subject of good-will 
between nations, appeared to give satisfaction, and several 
people expressed their gratification at the service altogether. 
On these occasions only a small proportion perhaps belong 
to, or are familiar with the ritual of, the Church of England. 
Here there were Jews, Presbyterians, Methodists, &c., so 
that I was rather pleased to hear them express themselves 
as being comforted by the service." 



Liverpool, Sunday, October \$th. "Here I am, safe, 
sound, and well. We arrived at our moorings at 8.30 A.M., 
and I landed at the landing stage, to be welcomed by dear 
old Alex, at 10.30. I wished to have been in time for 
church ; but was delayed by the luggage, which had to be 
looked after, and as we leave for Manchester at 2.15, this 
will be a broken Sunday. My heart however is not the less 
thankful to the Gocd Providence which has watched over 
me all these last six months, and has now brought me safely 
to English soil again. 

" Tell Meacher to come to meet us in the dog-cart with 
the mare, and Charles to bring the cart with Monmouth for 



CHAP. vi. REPORT. 147 

the baggage, which will be a little ponderous. As the mare 
will not have been in harness for some time, tell Meacher 
to exercise her well before starting, or she may be trouble- 
some." 

Space cannot be spared for more than a few short extracts 
from the conclusions of his Report on the American Schools. 
Some of these he modified in after years : 

" If people suppose that every American rate-supported 
school is in a state of efficiency they are simply labouring 
under an entire misconception." The subdivision of town- 
ships into school districts he protested against as a most 
mischievous step, as by it the schools fell a prey to 
politicians. 

The system of aid from the rates, " leads by moral and 
logical necessity to pure secular education. There is no 
middle course, unhappily, between purely secular and purely 
denominational education." . . "The result of this inquiry 
would make me less hostile to purely secular education 
(which I am far from thinking the American public school 
education is) than it would have ten years ago. Our religious 
teaching has not produced religious intelligence or stability 
in our people." . . " I have reduced the so-called religious 
instruction in my school to a minimum." . . "Speaking for 
myself I should not shrink from taking what I conceive to be 
my proper place as a clergyman in relation to the school, 
even under a system of secular education. I should neither 
despair of Christianity nor morality. The Sunday school 
would start out of its present lethargy. At any rate religious 
truth in the alone sense in which every one prizes it i.e. in 
his own sense would not have to be compromised, adjusted, 
trimmed, pared down." . . " I share the regret of the super- 

L 2 



148 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART I. 

intendents of education in Pennsylvania and Upper Canada, 
that the clergy as a body stand aloof from the schools. I 
could still with a good conscience co-operate as a clergyman 
with a scheme of education which to many would seem the 
extremest and most lamentable change of all." . . " The 
clergyman, if he cared to teach in a school at all, might find 
that he could establish as cordial and hopeful relations 
between himself and the younger members of his flock 
through the medium of a lesson in arithmetic or grammar, 
as through a lesson occupied with the terms or formulae of 
dogmatic or polemical theology." 

" I hope," the report concludes, "no reader will think I am 
catching at an opportunity of obtruding my own opinions. 
The inquiry I have conducted has helped powerfully, if not 
to form, at any rate to mature them. And, as parts of the 
fruits of that inquiry, I thought I might without arrogance, 
and indeed that in honesty I ought to, lay them before the 
world." 



CHAPTER VII. 

" For better it is that it be said unto thee, Come up hither ; than that 
thou shouldest be put lower in the presence of the prince whom thine 
eyes have seen." PROV. xxv. v. 7. 

UFTON NERVET AND THE AGRICULTURAL CHILDREN'S 
COMMISSION. 1866 1870. 

1866. 

His report on the schools of the United States was sent 
in early in 1866, and from that time it is clear that he was 
marked out for promotion. Not only had he proved him- 
self by his strictly professional work, one who came very 
nearly up to the ideal of a Christian minister a spiritual 
captain, " an enlightener of daily life, one who is bringing 
down daily light from heaven into the life of their people," 
but his reports as an Educational Commissioner had 
gained him an almost unrivalled reputation as a man capable 
of grappling successfully with the many difficult problems of 
the question, which was beginning to exercise, more than 
almost any other, the minds of public men. We shall soon 
see indications of the esteem in which he was now held in 
high quarters. Meantime he was quietly back again in his 
Ufton home with his mother and aunt, engaged in bringing 
up house and garden, stable and glebe, church and schools, 
to the highest standard of order and efficiency, from which 
they had slightly lapsed during his absence in America. 
These, with occasional work as examiner at Oxford, or one 



150 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

and another of the public schools (which indeed he had 
never dropped) made the next year at Ufton pass swiftly 
and happily. 

To Mr. Mozley. July $rd, 1866. "Anything you wish 
me to do in the way of carrying out your benevolent inten- 
tions to Mrs. Marsh " [a poor woman, who, with her children 
had followed him from Cholderton] " I will gladly undertake. 
She had already told me of your extreme liberality towards 
her. I don't see much change in her, poor thing. She has 
her bad and good days, and I don't suppose any medical 
man would guarantee her life for more than from week to 
week. Harriet " [Mrs. Marsh's daughter] " came home 
from Salisbury on Saturday. She did remarkably well at 
the Christmas Examination, and I hear a good account of 
her at the Training School. If anything should happen to 
my present schoolmistress (and she is engaged to be married) 
I should like Harriet to succeed her. I managed to get 
Edgar taken into service as a pupil teacher at Bradfield 
School. He has not yet passed his examination, but will 
have to do so in the course of this month. I have no fears 
of his success. His salary is to be i2/. for the first year, 
increasing i/. a year to the end of his five years' term. I 
have been a good deal away from home lately, examining. 
I spent a week in Oxford, on the Craven Scholarship : the 
next at Macclesfield, and the last at Tiverton. Now I am 
come home, like you, to be quiet. Can't you drive over 
Mrs. Mozley some day towards the end of the month, and 
have an early dinner, and a chat, and a game of croquet ? 
At present I am rather in a litter, for I am putting up a new 
greenhouse, and some heating pits, &c. This finished, I 
shall make no more additions to the premises, but content 
myself with keeping things tidy." 



CHAP. vii. "ECCE HOMO." 151 

To the Same. " I heard of Mr. Jennings " [the Times' 
correspondent] " when I was in America from Bishop 
Whipple " [of Minnesota, who shared his state room on the 
outward voyage] "but did not see him. I saw however 
but only saw his predecessor, Dr. Mackay, at Montreal. 
I was not drawn towards him, because to say the truth, I 
could not but attribute to the vicious tone of his letters 
much of the ill-will towards England, that I found almost 
universally existing in the minds of Americans. Mr. 
Jennings has succeeded in speaking the truth (though, I can 
see, with some little bias) and yet in avoiding unnecessary 
irritation. I can't bear the thought of bad blood in the 
relations between the two countries ; and there is so much 
to admire in the American character, that one can afford 
to overlook t\iQ faucce maculce, which certainly are blemishes 
in the eyes of an Englishman. By the way, I wonder if you 
would care to read, or rather dip into, my report on their 
schools, because if so, I have three or four copies circu- 
lating amongst my friends, and would direct one in the 
course of its travels to call at Finchampstead. By the way, 
I saw a letter the other day from Longmans' head man, in 
which it was stated that opinion in London was generally 
settling down to the belief that Chretien was the author of 
Ecce Homo. Judging from internal evidence I cannot be- 
lieve it. There are passages in the book which I cannot 
conceive as proceeding from Chretien's reverent mind." 

To the Same. " Yes, young Oriel is not quite like what 
it was in your day, or even in my own earlier time. I am 
afraid the college, socially speaking, is sadly disorganised, 
and no two fellows can be got to agree in opinion even as 
to how the fabric, which is getting into a miserable plight, 
shall be repaired. Parker, who is an artist of no mean 



152 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

power, is for restoring in brick I believe, and I am not sure 
but what the advice is good. It is interesting to hear what 
you say about Newman. I should think, as you write, that 
he is changed in nothing but in views. Certainly his heart 
seems as warm towards old friends, and his intellect as keen 
and trenchant as ever. Now I look again at your MS. I 
am not sure that I have deciphered you correctly. Perhaps 
you wrote ' more changed in voice (not views) than anything 
else.' I often fancy some of your hieroglyphics must puzzle 
the gentlemen in Printing House Square. Kind remem- 
brance from all of us to your wife. We have three nephews 
spending their holidays with us, which makes us a house 
full." . . . "Poor old Meacher ! I would offer to pension 
him, but it would break his heart." 

His public work had by this time attracted the attention 
of the dispensers of the highest patronage. He was first 
made aware of the fact by the unlooked-for offer of the 
Bishopric of Calcutta, which came to him on the 7th of 
December, in the following letter from Mr. (now Sir John) 
Movvbray, an old friend and neighbour, then Under 
Secretary at the Foreign Office : 

" MY DEAR FRASER, 

" I am commissioned by Lord Cranbourne to make 
you the offer of the Bishopric of Calcutta. During the 
last ten days he has considered several names, and he 
thinks you the fittest man. I sincerely hope you may 
feel yourself able to accept it. I write with very mixed 
feelings. I have long thought you had such special 
capacities for doing good in your generation, that your 
sphere of action ought not to be limited to a country 
vicarage. I have wished to see you an English Bishop, 
and I told Cranbourne so. I shall be sorry to see you 



CHAP. vil. BISHOPRIC OF CALCUTTA. 153 

leave England ; but this is a great opening. India is a 
noble field for labour, and I fully believe that you would 
in various ways combine important qualifications for the 
post. You are in prime vigour of mind and body. You 
bring scholarship, a varied experience of men, considerable 
knowledge of education in every rank and condition of life, 
great powers of expressing yourself both in the pulpit and 
on the platform, and above all a thorough love of the truth, 
and a genial, hearty, conciliatory spirit. I believe you would 
discharge your duties in a way to reflect credit on your 
appointment, but I don't like the thought of the pang it 
would cause Mrs. Fraser to see you leave England. As 
Mrs. Mowbray observed, we almost appear to be traitors in 
seeking to disturb the repose of your happy home, and I 
cannot tell you how we shall all miss our happy Sundays at 
Ufton, and how little hope I shall have of seeing such a 
man again near us. But this I know is sure to be some 
day in any case. It is only Calcutta, or somewhere else. 
It seems to me a special call, and I am sure you will think 
it well over. I hope to be at home all to-morrow. If you 
like to come over I shall be in until luncheon, or at two I 
will come over to you. I should much like to talk it over 
with you. 

"Yours sincerely, 

"J. MOWBRAY." 

To Mr. Mozley. December, 26^/1, 1866. "Lord Cran- 
bourne, who is a perfect stranger to me, has offered me the 
Bishopric of Calcutta, and after long and serious debate of 
the matter with myself I have declined it. Some of my 
friends think I have done wrong, others approve my choice. 
My main reasons (over and above a strong personal sense 
of insufficiency) were (i) that I thought myself too old at 



154 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

forty-eight to commence such a career ; (2) that I was afraid 
of the climate, which has told seriously on the constitutions 
of all my brothers who have served there ; (3) that I could 
not persuade myself to break up my home, and turn my 
mother and aunt at their age adrift upon the world. Of 
course the work and the position offered many attractions, 
and were all that my zeal or ambition could desire, and I 
was afraid I might be shrinking back from sloth and love 
of ease. But now that I have made up my mind, I think I 
have decided rightly and for the best ; it has however been 
a crisis in my life that such an opportunity was ever placed 
within my reach. I had a letter yesterday from John Walter, 
who I was glad to find has returned home safe, and sound, 
and pleased with what he has seen [in America]. He 
asked me to let him read my report on the American 
schools while his own impressions of them are fresh, and I 
have sent him a copy. I don't know whether you care to 
see it before it comes back to me, if you should you are at 
perfect liberty to borrow it, only as it is my only complete 
copy, I must ask for it again." 

To Sale, on the offer of Calcutta. Ufton, December ijt/t, 
1866. "I felt myself too old, I dreaded the climate, hot 
weather (as I found last year in America) always more or less 
incapacitating me for exertion, mental as well as bodily. I 
had a misgiving of my capacity for the work ; I am a poor 
linguist ; I do not feel sure that I should make a good 
administrator ; I shrink from having to speak with authority 
upon some of the vexed questions on which my own mind is 
still unresolved. And so I calmly, but after anxious deliber- 
ation, put the offer away. It is rather singular that the 
bishopric was previously offered to Kay, who from the work 
he has done in India was clearly entitled to the compliment, 



CHAP. vii. A BISHOP'S REBUKE. 155 

though in his broken health it could hardly be considered 
anything more ; and thus two men who entered college the 
same day have each had the chance of being Metropolitan 
of India, a position proud enough to satisfy the legitimate 
ambitions of any man." 

1867. 

To Mr. Tooke. January znd, 1867, /// answer to questions 
as to his reasons. "My conviction is even stronger than it 
was, that, even if I had been intellectually and spiritually 
equal to the work, my bodily strength would have failed me 
in that climate ; and it would have been inexpressibly painful 
to me to find out, that I had given up work to which I was 
equal for other which was too much for me. ... I fear 
our dear Bishop is heaping up diocesan troubles for himself, 
especially from the laity. It was an unlucky moment when 
he felt moved to rebuke S.G.O. (worthy as he was of 
animadversion) in a public print. Yet, all he does springs 
from such high and simple motives, that if the world were 
only a little more tolerant, and a little fairer in its judgments 
his conduct would not be misconstrued. What I lament 
most is that I fear his mind and convictions are forming 
themselves more and more on a pattern which is not that of 
the thoughts and feelings of his age. If a man is wholly 
out of gear with his time, he cannot influence. And that is 
what I fear for the Bishop, a loss of influence." 

Of the Calcutta offer Dean Church wrote : "I do not 
doubt that you have judged wisely under the circumstances, 
but I cannot help feeling sorry that so promising a combina- 
tion of place and man has not been possible." 

To Mr. Tooke. February 13^, 1867, after congratulations 
on his marriage. "Our homes are peaceful enough, but 



156 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

storms seem brewing in all directions in the outer world, 
in Church and State, and no pilot has yet shown himself 
with capacity to weather them. We seem to be approaching 
the destructive epoch of English history; and revolution 
with no principles of reconstruction is the order of the day. 
I want to see a great effort made to really popularise the 
Church and education. The masses are hostile to the one 
and indifferent to the other. Why is this ? and why are we 
clergy so misrepresented (as by Goldwin Smith who never 
misses a chance of having a shot at us) and so misunder- 
stood ? Here have I, for instance, been working three 
nights a week for fifteen weeks this winter, with twenty-four 
night scholars, not one of whom, I venture to say, feels 
anything like gratitude to me for my trouble, or fancies that 
I have done anything to deserve thanks I don't want 
thanks, but I wish they felt I had really been labouring for 
their good. This is but a type of a thousand other things, 
but I mustn't croak in a letter meant to carry felicitations." 

To Mr. Mozley. July, 1867, " I hope you won't give up 
altogether your connection with Printing House Square. It 
would be like a man who has been a hard drinker, giving up 
wine and spirits all at once and so killing himself. I weighed 
the other day and was frightened to find myself fourteen and 
a half stone, and steadily increasing, I fear, in weight." 

In the early autumn he was appointed a Commissioner 
on the Children's Employment Commission, for the south- 
eastern district. As usual, he wrote journal letters to his 
mother, from which the following are extracts : 

" I was pleased to hear so much better an account of 
Chevithorne " [a new horse]. " I think Brown may as well 
go on with him, and now that he is putting him into double 



CHAP. vn. H.M.'S COMMISSIONER. 157 

harness, I hope he won't have much more difficulty. All 
harness-horses ought to be broken first to double harness, by; 
the side of an old steady horse ; but Chevithorne did so well 
the two days he was out with me, that I hardly thought it 
would have been necessary in his case. The young gentle- 
man however seems to have a will of his own, which I hope 
Brown will be able to subdue by gentleness. How are the 
invalids of the parish ? Kedgeree is a capital thing for 
breakfast. I inclose a receipt to be copied into our book. 

" I find I get on pretty well with my work, and the farmers 
are very civil, and, though I hear some of them have strange 
ideas of his functions, pay great respect to ' Her Majesty's 
Commissioner.' I was told yesterday that some of them 
thought I was come to divert the tithe from the parsons, and 
to double with it the wages of the agricultural labourer." 

Norwich, July i2th, 1867. " I quite agree with you that 
poor Bruno" [an old dog] "would be better put out of his 
misery. Thomas Pearce would shoot him, or Mr. Thoyts's 
keeper, and he could be buried at the root of some tree. 
His life, I am sure, is a burden to him. 

" I am vexed that Brown hasn't come up yet to drive 
Chevithorne. If he delays longer, let Meacher ride down 
after him ; otherwise the horse will forget the little training 
that I gave him. 

" I dare say the bill for the soil from the London seeds- 
man is all right, and you had better pay it, and tell James to 
be careful not to waste either the peat or the cocoa fibre. 

" I hope the tea will turn out good, I have no doubt the 
proper quantities are sent. A 1 2 Ib. canister at 2s., another 
at 2s. 6d. ; 2 Ibs. flowery pekoe, for mixing, at 3^. 6d., and 
31 Ibs. coffee at is. 8</. Try the coffee at once before 
it loses its fragrance. 



158 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PARTI. 

" Did you see what a notability I was in the Times of the 
nth ? Quoted ever so many times in Mr. Bruce's speech, 
noticed again in the leading article, and forming the chief 
burden of the American correspondent's letter. I am writing 
to the Boston Advertiser, begging them not to pre-judge my 
report from the Times' summary, and saying that when they 
read it as a whole I hope they will find it unnecessary to 
cover me with any more of their flowery epithets." 

Horsham, August ist, 1867. " I got a letter from Thoyts 
last night, and am writing to him to-day ; you know he takes 
sombre views sometimes, and I sha'n't despair of Chevithorne 
till I have tried him myself. He says Cooper thinks the 
mare has farcy, which is highly infectious. I can't believe 
it, unless some very different symptoms have manifested 
themselves since I left home from those she showed then. 
But if there is any risk of this, Meacher must be very 
cautious. If Collett will take down Youatt on the Horse, 
and turn to ' farcy,' he and you will be able to judge how 
far her symptoms correspond with those described. But 
these horse topics can keep till I come home. 

" Your letter did not come in time to give me notice of 
your birthday, and those are events which I never can recol- 
lect without notice ; but the wish is none the less sincere, 
though it is expressed the day after, that there may be some 
years of happiness and health both for you and for dear 
Aunt Lucy. 

"This is a pretty little town of about 6,000 people, in a 
charming country. I really think Sussex seems the county 
in England I would pick to live in, if I were perfectly free 
to choose. It presents to the eye just the sort of scenery 
that pleases me : fine spreading landscapes, large tracts of 
woodland, now in all the glory of their autumn tints ; 



CHAP. vn. THOUGHTFUL KINDNESS. 159 

occasional broad sweeps of down like those about Brighton, 
and nestling villages betrayed only by their tapering, shingle- 
covered spires. I don't know that I need be under any 
apprehension about the durability of the shingle on our 
spire at Ufton : the spire here at Horsham, some 150 feet 
high, is covered in the same material, and the vicar tells me 
that it has lasted three or four hundred years. 

" Our Jersey heifer ought to be calving this week. Tell 
James this breed must be kept low at these times, and 
he must take care, as he would say, 'not to be stuffin' 
on 'er.'" 

August i5///. " Don't suppose that I haven't time to read 
your letters, or that any particularity of detail in which you 
may from time to time indulge is wearisome to me. I enjoy 
it all; only don't bother yourself to write long letters. A 
letter divided into short numbered paragraphs, as I am 
presently going to divide this, will tell me the chief of what 
I want to know (though any home news is interesting) and 
perhaps help you to methodize your matter, and so save 
yourself trouble. 

" I am glad to hear that Chevithorne is going on so well 
I should think Brown would soon begin to try him in single 
harness again, as he must have got much steadied down by 
being driven alongside a companion in the double brake. 
I inclose a dog license for Larry, and hope he is better of 
that blow on his head. I hope you have had that leak 
in the pantry roof attended to. 

" By the by, whenever the school feast is, I should like the 
Ufton children who are in the Union to be invited. They 
are the Andersons, the Clarks, and the Greethams about 
six in all. If Collett would write to Mr. Hoare, the 
Governor, he would allow them to come. 



160 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PARTI. 

" I am glad to hear that Mary Lawrence's children have 
been christened, though Luke Johnson is not just the god- 
father I should have chosen. I wonder whether there was 
any humbug in the affair, or whether the woman really could 
not get sponsors? If so, her neighbours were not very 
friendly towards her." 

Lynn, September i$t/i, 1867. " I hope Annie Dimant has 
come back all well, and that the school will commence in 
right earnest on Monday. I am glad that Mr. Rogers 
thinks he will be able to manage the night school." 

After meeting an old pupil : 

Lynn, September igf/t. "P. is becoming an Irvingite, 
apparently ; and I don't know who would like to have him 
as a curate with those views. I should like to know how he 
has satisfied himself that ' Our Lord has restored Apostles 
to the Church,' and who he thinks ' the Restored Apostles ' 
are and shall recommend him to suppress these speculative 
opinions, till he actually comes across one of these ' Apostles ' 
and can be guided by them. 

" I should think your wagonette will be ready by the end 
of the month, and then with the aid of John Wise you will 
be able to be more locomotive. I hope the old man" 
[Meacher, now a chronic invalid] " keeps all right. I have 
heard again from Blair about Chevithorne. You will have 
him over from Bradfield soon." 

Swaffham, September 2g//i, 1857. "Nothing can be 
pleasanter to me to receive than letters written after your 
last methodical pattern, with numbered paragraphs. They 
tell me all I care to know, and you may be sure that all 
such details are full of interest. 



CHAP. vil. AN OLD FRIEND AND TUTOR. 161 

" On Monday I came on to Swaffham, and addressed a 
meeting of the Board of Guardians. I send you the 
Norfolk News (which please keep), containing a tolerably 
correct account of the proceedings." 

The paper referred to contained a report of a large county 
meeting at which he had been the chief speaker on the 
subject of the Commission. 

From H. S. Tremenheere, Chief Commissioner. " As soon 
as you have done with Norfolk I am going to ask you 
to communicate personally with the great agricultural im- 
plement makers, Messrs. Ransome, of Ipswich, and Mr. 
Howard, the manufacturer of steam ploughs (on the L. and 
N.W. line, I forget the place at this moment), in order to 
get some information from them as to some special locality 
where you would find a good deal of their best machinery at 
work with a view to illustrate the necessity and value of 
education in connection with the use of agricultural 
machinery. I have not quite matured my ideas upon 
it, but you shall hear again shortly. 

"I have just read the repoit of your meeting at Norwich, 
and cannot refrain from at once expressing to you the great 
satisfaction I feel regarding it. It will be of the greatest 
service. Nothing could be better than the manner in which 
you put all the points, and it must have been highly gratify- 
ing to you to find they were received so favourably." 

Ipswich, Oct. &th. " I left Norfolk on Friday, and slept 
that night at Ely, for the purpose of seeing the magnificently 
restored Cathedral. Who should I find was the Canon in 
residence but Dr. Kennedy ! As Regius Professor of Greek 
in Cambridge, he has a stall in Ely Cathedral, and he was in 

M 



162 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PARTI. 

residence. He has grown old and gray, but I discovered 
him in church by his voice, which is unmistakable. He 
was kindness itself to me, and I spent some half-dozen 
hours with him and his family, talking about old times 
and old friends. 

" From Ely I went on to Cambridge and spent Sunday 
there. Though it was not full term time, I found some old 
friends and schoolfellows up. 

" To-day I came on here to Ipswich. The Inn at which 
I am staying is the White Horse, immortalised as the scene 
where Mr. Pickwick mistook his bedroom, and witnessed the 
operation of the lady dressing her back hair. 

" I am glad to hear that the cow has calved and is doing 
well. You may give Mrs. Elliott los. from me towards her 
rent. I think the sooner you begin fires the better for your 
comfort; last Thursday and Friday were as cold as two 
winter days. I am glad to hear that there is such a good 
stock of both potatoes and of apples. You don't say 
whether Poulter has put in the new vines. I should think it 
was time. Has Fleming made any sign about the carriage ? 
It ought to be ready to come home. I hope you will like it. 
Meacher must learn how to use the screw-brake properly. 
If I send my tithe claims to Mr. Turner and Mr. Gill, I 
shall direct them to send the cheques to you, and you must 
give a receipt, signing ' For the Rev. James Fraser, Helen 
Fraser.' You can then pay the cheques into my account at 
the Bank." 

Halstead, Oct. Jith. "Much concerned to hear of the 
death of poor Jersey," [one of his cows] " but, as Mr. Fooks 
once said to me, ' they that keep stock must expect to lose 
one sometimes,' and this is the first loss that I have sustained 
in this way, so you must tell James from me to cheer up, and 



CHAP. vii. IPSWICH AND BROME HALL. 163 

though I am sorry that the nice creature is dead, I have no 
doubt that all was done for her that could be. Only I don't 
much believe in poor old Lobb," [the village cow doctor], 
" and in a serious case, I think it would b best to send at 
once for Wallin. Of course I sha'n't want to see Guernsey 
now. The sooner poor Jersey's calf is parted with the 
better. Perhaps Mrs. Boman would like it, she can have it 
for a sovereign. 

" I inclose a letter of Mr. Tremenheere's which I think 
will please you. I am not vain on such points, but it 
certainly is a pleasure to find that one gives satisfaction to 
one's employers. 

" I have been among the bigwigs again since I wrote to 
you. After a pleasant day at Ipswich on Tuesday with 
Mr. Allen Ransome, of the great agricultural machinery- 
making firm (who is one of the shrewdest, wittiest, kindest- 
hearted men I have met for a long time), I went on 
Wednesday to Sir Edward Kerrison's of Brome Hall, near 
Eye, Suffolk, who has done a great deal for the improvement 
of the condition of the labourers on his estate. He received 
me very kindly ; and I met at dinner there Lord and .Lady 
Londesborough, Viscount Newport, Lady Digby, Sir Samuel 
and Lady Baker, and two or three more untitled swells. 
I spent a very pleasant evening, and left next morning for 
this place, where I am in comfortable quarters'at the George 
Hotel. 

"Tell Aunt Lucy with my love that I am much too busy 
to bother myself with any of these railway disputes, and 
Chatham and Dover matters must settle themselves without 
any help from me. 

"You don't say a word about when Fleming is going to 
let you have your carriage. Tell him to send in his bill to 
me, and I shall expect discount for ready money. 

M 2 



164 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 



" Tell Meacher I think it must be getting too cold for 
the old mare at night, and she had better be brought up ; 
but, if he does not put clothing upon her, she can be turned 
out for five or six hours by day." 

Halstead, Oct. \*jth. "Is the house pump all right, and 
the water drinkable again ? and has Poulter put in the six 
new vines ? I saw a beautiful geranium the other day, as 
a bedding plant, called ' Duchess.' Its colour is deeper 
than a Christine. Tell James to see if he can get some 
cuttings of it somewhere ; it will be a pleasing variety." 

Witham, Essex, Oct. 2oth, 1867. "I was a little sur- 
prised to find that Annie Dimant had applied for the school 
at Basingstoke, indicating a wish to change. Of course she is 
at perfect liberty to do so, and I never quarrel with any one 
who tries to better himself or herself: and I shall be always 
pleased to assist her in any way, and give her the character 
she fully deserves. But if she really thinks she can improve 
her condition, she might as well make up her mind to do 
so ; because I dare say that Harriet Marsh would be glad 
to come and take the school at Ufton, and she will be free 
to make a fresh engagement at Christmas. Mind, I don't 
wish Annie to suppose that I should be glad for her to go : 
on the contrary, I would rather things remained as they 
are. I hope the measles won't spread very far, or they will 
interfere, as they once did before, with the results of our 
next examination. You will find materials for garments in 
the bottom drawer of my wardrobe. Give poor little Jane 
Johnson enough to make her tidy and comfortable. I am 
concerned to hear that neither Emma nor Elizabeth Buss 
are yet gone out to service. Their mother ought to insist 
on their going." 



CHAP. vii. THE REPORT. 165 

Hails/tarn, November i5///, 1867. " I hope that Mr. 
Rogers will have made up his mind not to attempt a night- 
school this winter. I sha'n't at all regret the intermission 
for once. 

"Of course you will judge when you would like one of 
the pigs killed. I think that at about twelve score they are 
quite large enough, and at the present price of keep, they 
had better be killed as soon as they have ceased to grow. 
How can Ann Harding have maintained herself all these 
weeks without work, and without relief? 

"I am glad to hear that Arthur Blair continues to like 
his quarters at Bradford, and his horse. I wish I could 
have stayed at home at the breaking in of that young horse, 
as I think I could have made him suit. Meacher has got 
too old and fumbling for that sort of thing." 

The masterly report which Fraser sent in to the Com- 
mission greatly increased his reputation. His method of 
classifying the parishes into a certain number of manageable 
groups, and holding a collective meeting in each group, at 
the most convenient centre, proved eminently successful. 
He held ninety-six of these meetings, and reduced the 
proceedings as they went on into the form of precis, or 
minutes, which he read over to the meeting before it broke 
up, to insure accuracy, and g-ot the chairman to sign. 
These minutes formed he threw them into an appendix to 
his report. The answers to the Commissioners' circular of 
questions, and the results of conversations with sanitary 
officers, school managers, labourers and their wives, were 
also grouped and summarised in another appendix. The 
recommendations which he submitted have been almost all 
adopted since, and incorporated in acts, but need not detain 
us here. In passing however we may cite his views on 



166 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

"Harvest frolics," "largesse," and "game preserving," as 
thoroughly characteristic. After noting the abuse of these 
customs, and the substitution of fixed money payments by 
Lord Leicester and others, " I confess," he writes, " I would 
sooner see the harvest-home purged of its demoralisation 
than changed into a fixed money payment. These old 
English customs, however degraded, point to a time when 
the relations of master and man were ennobled by a higher 
sentiment than the greed of gain ; and in this century any- 
thing that breaks down the distinctions of caste, and gives 
opportunity for the spread of feelings of good fellowship 
and true hospitality, is a link in our social system not 
lightly to be snapped." .... "The remedy" (stern 
discouragement of drunkenness) "cannot come from peers 
or clergymen, it must come from the farmers themselves. 
If they would only unite vigorously for the purpose a thing 
they admit they never do there might soon be an end of 
all the mischief of 'harvest frolics,' and 'statute fairs.' 
And as to 'game,' the question is assuming a curious 
significance, both in a moral and economical point of view. 
The farmer can't cultivate his land with profit now that 
squires seem to think they have had no sport, unless, like 
Samson among the Philistines, they have 'slain heaps on 
heaps.' The over-preservation, so prevalent in Norfolk, 
acts as an irresistible incentive with the peasant, who loves 
his bit of sport as truly as the gentleman, and whose honest 
earnings do not enable him to overcome the temptation 
thus thrown in his way, both to poach and steal." . . . 
" Game preserving carried to this excess I regard as a 
simple evil, and I venture to raise the question whether 
noblemen and gentlemen are morally justified in buying 
their pleasure at this price." ... "As to the housing of 
the poor, ' Vain,' say the clergy, ' are churches and schools 



CHAP. vii. CO-OPERATION. 167 

till the people are provided with better houses.' This 
statement I believe to be simple truth." 

But the most noteworthy part of the report is the con- 
clusion, devoted to a description of the experiment in co- 
operative farming at Assington, at that time the only one 
in England. It was the first time he had come in practical 
contact with the most remarkable social movement of our 
time, and with his usual prompt instinct in such matters, 
had at once appreciated its power for raising the condition 
of the working classes. After giving a clear and short 
history of the foundation of the two farming associations, 
by Mr. Gurdon, the squire of the parish, in 1830 and 1854, 
and of the establishment of the Assington Co-operative 
Store in 1863, and their progress up to the date of the 
report, he comes to the following conclusions : qualifying 
them however with the preface, " I have no faith myself in 
panaceas, nor that any mode of treatment of man's devising 
can cure the complicated evils of modern civilisation : 

"(i) Judging as well as I could from all appearances, 
I have no hesitation in saying that the experiment has been 
an eminent success, and is well worth trying in other 
localities. (2) That no government assistance is required, 
or should be given to such experiments. (3) That it would 
prove of great value as a constant incentive to thrift ; as a 
means of profitable investment of small savings ; as a bond 
of common interest between classes, and a developer of 
business habits, and fosterer of intelligence amongst the 
poor ; and, (4), if all co-operative stores would adopt the 
practice of Assington, and sell wholesome home-brewed 
beer, to be consumed off the premises, at a moderate price, 
a great step in advance would have been made towards the 
extinction of drunkenness." 



168 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

Whatever co-operators may think as to conclusion 4, they 
will all agree as to the insight and sympathy of the report 
generally. He was destined shortly to be brought into 
direct relations with the movement, as Bishop of the Diocese 
in which its centre is established. We shall find in due 
course that he lived to find his first anticipations and 
forecasts more than verified. 

The report brought him into correspondence with several 
inspectors and leaders of the education movement. Amongst 
these was Canon Norris, afterwards one of his chaplains, 
who had written to ask him to the first meeting of the 
National Association in Manchester. 

"Commission on the Employment of Children, Young Persons 
and Women, in Agriculture (1867)." 

"VICTORIA STREET, WESTMINSTER, S.W., 
January ajh, 1868. 

" MY DEAR SIR, 

" I have been unable to find time to reply to your 
interesting letter of December 3 ist till to-day. The heading 
to this page will tell you in what work I am engaged. I 
have been more or less away from home upon it since July, 
and have explored more or less thoroughly the counties of 
Norfolk, Essex, and Sussex. I am now finishing up with 
Gloucestershire ; and at the end of this month expect to be 
at home and to set to work upon my report. 

"This statement of my present employment will sufficient- 
ly explain to you why it will be impossible for me to attend 
the Educational Conference in Manchester on the i5th and 
1 6th in st. 

"Even if I were free to move, I should feel myself 
strangely out of place in a company of theorists, projectors, 



CHAP. vir. LETTER TO CANON NORRIS. 169 



and system-mongers, each engaged in running a particular 
hobby of his own, and not one in ten of whom probably 
has ever put his little finger out to lift the real burden of 
education, or so much perhaps as set his foot, for any real 
purpose of making himself acquainted with its working, 
within the four walls of an elementary school. 

" I have little or no faith in systems, as such ; the only 
thing in which I have faith in this matter of education and 
in that one thing I have infinite, boundless faith is the 
power of personal energy and influence. I see every now 
and then unhappily, too * few and far between ' parishes 
and schools in which everything is as efficient, and of which 
the results are in every way as satisfactory, as if we were 
living under a Prussian system of compulsory education ; 
and when I trace these results to their source, I invariably 
find them to flow from the individual wills, energies, sacri- 
fices, of some one or two men ; generally the parson, some- 
times the squire ; occasionally the two combined. 

" I consider your criticisms on the Manchester and Salford 
scheme to be entirely just and well-founded. It seems to 
me that the result of setting such a scheme at work would 
be merely to set up side by side two rival systems of schools, 
which (as has been found to be the case universally, where 
rival schools exist) would simply endeavour to outbid one 
another in attractiveness and popularity. 

"For though the new system provides a pond, it contains 
no machinery for leading the horse to it (beyond that which 
our present schools possess), much less for compelling him 
to drink. It provides no security against the two main diffi- 
culties with which any system of education in England has 
to deal the demands of the labour market, and the apathy 
or cupidity (the latter, in most cases, resulting from the 
poverty) of parents. 



170 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART !. 

" You make a passing allusion to my own ' scheme,' and 
to what you consider to be its 'weak point.' It was with 
the greatest possible reluctance that I ventured to appear 
before the world as the author of a scheme at all. And 
when I did, it was not so much in the character of an 
originator, as of a modifier of a scheme previously con- 
ceived. The scheme of the Commissioners of 1861 always 
struck me as the most practicable one in conception, and 
to be chiefly deficient in adaptation to things as they are. 
As all parents naturally do, I still retain my affection for my 
own child. That my scheme would work free from all 
difficulties, lam not presumptuous enough to suppose; but 
I venture to think that it is surrounded with fewer real 
difficulties than any other scheme that has been proposed. 
I think if it had been brought under public notice with the 
advantage of a more influential name, it might have com- 
mended itself to men's minds more than it has actually 
done. But as it is, even Mr. Bruce, in noticing it in the 
speech of last session which introduced his own bill, paid 
it the compliment of thinking that it might work well in 
rural districts, though he considered it chiefly, as he sub- 
sequently told me in a private letter, on your ground 
inapplicable to towns. 

" You doubt if the ratepayers would submit to ' open 
their purses and pay whatever a London inspector required 
of them,' or ' be content to be rated, with little or no control 
over the expenditure of the rate.' But they are at present 
content to be rated for all county purposes for police, 
lunatic asylums, county bridges, gaols, &c. and that to 
double or treble the amount which I supposed them to con- 
tribute towards the support of the school, without possessing, 
or even very seriously agitating for, any such control. They 
have not even, practically, any efficient control over the 



CHAP. vii. LETTER TO CANON NORRIS. 171 

expenditure of the very large sum which they pay for the 
maintenance of the poor. 

" Nor would they be subjected in any sense to the arbitrary 
caprices or demands of a ' London inspector. ' The inspector 
was to be brought into relations of subordination (in a certain 
sense) to them and to the County Board of Education, as 
well as to his superiors in London. All they were required 
to pay was so much for every child in average attendance in 
every certified school : and all that the inspector had to do 
was to certify them, after his examination of the registers, 
what that average attendance was. But I must not weary 
you with an elaborate defence of a scheme, which though 
still living in my own mind, is dead and buried as far as the 
world at large is concerned. Perhaps there may be a resur- 
rection of its essential principles, under higher auspices, 
some future day. In that long rambling letter, with which 
Mr. Flint favoured the world in yesterday's Times, many of 
its principles are recognised : payment for results ; a 
modified conscience clause ; inspectors penetrating into 
every pariah ; a rate, where voluntary effort has proved itself 
utterly apathetic or powerless. 

" But you will be tired of me long before you have got 
to this point ; so, with many thanks for your letter, let me 
spare you further trouble and remain, 

" Very truly yours, 

"JAMES FRASER." 

Another quiet two years followed the Commission, in 
which parish, garden, stable, and glebe, filled his time as 
happily as ever. Meacher's failing strength, and the conse- 
quent delicacy of the stable question, where Chevithorne 
and his companion had to be kept in fine condition, and the 
carriages and harness in perfect order without hurting the 



172 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

old man's feelings, was the chief cause of anxiety in those 
tranquil days. The next letter may serve as an illustration 
of his passion for horses, kept resolutely under control, but 
still as strong as in his hunting days. His correspondent, 
the Rev. J. D. Hughes, was an old college friend, now head 
master of Bridgenorth School, where Fraser had examined 
occasionally, and had much impressed the boys by trying a 
horse his friend was in treaty for in front of the school. . He 
had great confidence in this friend's judgment, and when 
in want of a horse generally consulted him. 

1868. 

To the Rev. J. D. Hughes. Ufton, May, 1 868. <; Thanks 
for your second letter about the Strawberry. Remember I 
don't want -to buy unless he really is ^.first-rate horse. You 
say there is 'something about him you don't quite like.' If 
you find out definitely what your objection is, what is the 
unlikeable point, let me know, that I may see what weight I 
attach to it. If the horse has good figure and good action, 
good paces and good temper and sufficient power, I desire 
no more, but I don't want a second-rate animal. Somerset 
is that, and I am content to work him on till I can replace 
him with something really first-rate. What I really do want 
most is a powerful horse. Somerset has neither size, 
strength, nor pace enough for my wagonette, and though a 
showy horse in some respects, is somewhat underbred and 
wanting in mettle. I do like a free horse. I don't want to 
drive twelve miles an hour, in fact I never drive more than 
nine, but I like niy horse, while he is doing nine within 
himself, only to want a hint from me to do the twelve. 
That's pleasure : to get nine miles out of a horse only with 
the aid of chirruping and flicking with the whip is a form of 



CHAP. vii. THE RECTOR'S HORSES. 173 

penance. What are Strawberry's white legs like ? Are they 
the hind legs or the fore, and does the white run high up the 
leg to the knee or hock (which certainly is ugly) or is it 
merely a few inches above the fetlock, which is much 
less disfiguring? My experience is that white legs are a 
sign of weakness, but they would not be a fatal objec- 
tion in an otherwise good horse. I dearly like four clean, 
sinewy, bony, flat legs white legs have too often a tendency 
to rotundity and gumminess. If I buy the horse I must ask 
you to try him fully in harness, and see whether he is 
staunch both up and down hill. Somerset is a little inclined 
to throw up his heels if he feels the carriage unduly pressing 
upon him behind, and I have thought it prudent to drive 
him with a kicking strap. Up hill he is very good, and 
I believe would not leave any amount of weight behind 
him that he could only move. As to other people's opinion, 
you know as much about a horse as any master of harriers 
in England, and I am quite content to trust implicitly 
to your judgment but of course if you can find out 
anything about the horse from any one who knows him 
that would be an advantage." 



June, 1868. "I was chiefly caught in your account of 
Strawberry by his ' magnificent paces,' and thought that with 
those he must surely be worth 4o/. But I should not like to 
have him even at that price if you consider him deficient in 
power; but he seems to have bone and weight, and those 
are the two great elements of strength, so that unless the 
' kicking up ' is very marked and very disfiguring I should 
not mind buying at the price named. I am glad the white 
stockings are behind and not before. I hope he does not 
' cut ' or ' brush ' in his action." 



174 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PARTI. 



The correspondence with friends, Mozley, Cornish, Sale, 
Tooke, and others, flowed in a regular stream, and his 
interest in public affairs continued of course as vivid as 
ever, and his independent sympathy with the Liberal party 
to increase. 

To Mozley, 1868. "I can see a good deal of showy 
work in this diocese " [Oxford] " which I call scamped 
done in a very different style from that in which the Bishop 
of Salisbury, with all his supposed shortcomings, would 
have done it." 

1869. 

To Sale. March 4^/1, 1869. "I don't know what your 
views are about the Irish Church. For myself, come what 
may of it in the shape of consequences to the Church of 
England, I cannot resist the justice of Gladstone's measure; 
while the speech in which he introduced his bill the other 
night has quite rehabilitated him in my eyes, as the states- 
man best qualified of all we now have, to deal with the 
problems of the age." 

The Queen had heard by this time that there was a 
clergyman of mark, almost a country neighbour of her 
own, whom she might do well to hear. In June he 
received an order to preach before her. 

To Mozley. June, 1869. "I got safely to Windsor, and 
found myself in very pleasant quarters at the Deanery. 
The Dean is a delightful man a nephew of the late Duke 
of Wellington perhaps the most intimate male friend that 
the Queen has married to a very pretty wife, twenty-five 
years younger than himself, and blessed with one little boy 
just 'rising four years old.' Nothing could be kinder than 



CHAP. vii. PREACHES AT WINDSOR. 175 

he was to me, and he put me up to all sorts of hints that I 
might make no mistake in my somewhat nervous undertaking 
on Sunday. 

' ; All went off very well. I had a congregation of about 
sixty, including the Queen, Prince and Princess Christian, 
Princesses Louise and Beatrice, and Princes Arthur and 
Leopold. This was the party occupying the royal gallery, 
just opposite the pulpit. On the floor of the chapel were 
the Royal Household, the Lords and Ladies in Waiting, a 
few visitors at the Castle (including Lord Lyons, our 
Ambassador at Paris) and the domestics, male and female, 
including John Brown in all the glories of Highland 
costume. I did not feel particularly nervous, and got 
through my task to the Dean's satisfaction. After service 
he took me a long walk all over the slopes of the Home 
Park, and showed me everything that there was to see, 
besides being very chatty and communicative. At half-past 
four I attended service at St. George's Chapel, Windsor, at 
which the princes and princesses were again present, and at 
half-past eight I accompanied the Dean and Mrs. Wellesley 
to the Castle. 

" This morning, just as I left, the Dean told me that the 
Queen had asked him a lot of questions about me, and 
expressed herself as pleased with my sermon. All this only 
for your and Aunt Lucy's ear. Happily I am quite content 
with my present position, so that where other men might 
fancy they were going to be made bishops or deans, I 
trouble myself with no dreams or anticipations of the kind. 
I am simply pleased at having satisfied those who asked me 
to occupy the royal pulpit, and altogether my Windsor visit 
will be a bright spot in my memory. I hardly looked at 
the Queen while preaching, beyond observing she was there. 
My preaching from a manuscript evidently did not disquiet 



176 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

her, and she asked the Dean where my quotations came 
from, which seemed to have made an impression upon her, 
one of them being Edward Irvirig's conception of heaven, 
the other being Newman's beautiful poem. Whatever she 
may think of my sermon, I felt she could not help being 
pleased with these." 

Tiverton, June 24^/1, 1869. "The stupid people at Oxford 
who put up that parcel of examination papers for me sent it 
in inclosed wrapper with fifteen stamps, and it was charged 
as much more on being forwarded to me here. If you had 
thought of opening it, you would have seen what its contents 
were, and that by book-post it would have come for a penny ; 
never mind, the national exchequer is the richer by two-and 
fourpence by the oversight." 

In August, 1869, Bishop Hamilton died, and Fraser, 
who was still one of his chaplains, went to the funeral at 
Salisbury. 

To Mr. Tooke, August Sf/i, 1869. " I too saw you at that 
noble, gladdening spectacle of yesterday, but could not get 
near at the time, and knew it was too late to look for you 
when all was over. It was a funeral worthy of him whose 
body we followed to the grave. I share your every feeling, 
and echo your every word about it. He did not care for 
' opinions,' it was the faith his faith made his by living 
up to it that he prized, and struggled for, and it may 
almost be said died for; the faith which I believe to be 
the same in essence in all Christian hearts, however different 
the outward form in which it clothes itself. . . . Mrs. Glad- 
stone brought down word that the bishopric had been 
offered to and accepted by Moberly. Edward Hamilton, 



CHAP. vil. BISHOP HAMILTON'S FUNERAL. 177 

the Dean, and Sanctuary (all I talked to on the subject) 
regretted the choice, thinking him too old a man. But I 
should think he would generally recommend himself to the 
diocese if they will take his Bampton Lectures as evidence 
of the man. I found, happily without knowing anything 
about it before, that Edward Hamilton and the Dean had 
been interesting themselves for me ! ! ! and Edward Hamil- 
ton said Gladstone had told him that, if Moberly had 
refused, it would probably have been offered to me. For- 
tunately I have been spared having to decide on so grave 
an issue. Utterly unworthy, as I feel myself on the highest 
grounds of such a post, I should have felt special cause for 
anxiety on many accounts, into which you will enter, if I 
had been called to succeed him. But I am spared the trial, 
and I came home with a light heart." 

1870. 

The light heart was not destined to last for many months. 
On the 4th of January, 1870, he received the offer of the 
bishopric of Manchester from Mr. Gladstone. The corre- 
spondence is the starting-point of a new life, and will best 
introduce Part II. of this Memoir. 



APPENDIX. 

The following extracts are from a paper kindly furnished 
after this chapter had gone to press by Mr. H. S. Tremen- 
heere, C.B., the head of the Commission referred to in the 
last chapter : 

"When in May, 1867, I was in search of a good staff of 
Assistant Commissioners to serve on the recently appointed 
Commission on Employment in Agriculture, I asked the Home 

N 



' 



i;8 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART i. 

Secretary, Mr. Bruce (now Lord Aberdare), if he could point 
out to me any men well qualified for the work. His prompt 
answer was, ' The first thing you do try to secure that cheery, 
admirable fellow, Fraser.' 

" The Rev. James Fraser was then enjoying rest and retire- 
ment in his much-beloved little Rectory of Ufton, Berks, after 
some laborious work done for the Government in two Com- 
missions of Inquiry relating to Elementary Education. 

" I wrote to him and told him of the cordial manner in which 
the Home Secretary had spoken of him, and begged him to give 
the Commission the benefit of his services. 

"To my great satisfaction he consented. His intercourse 
with me as the head of the Commission was frequent, and gave 
me opportunities of admiring the energy, straightforwardness, 
and penetration with which he entered into every branch of his 
duties. 

" The districts I assigned to him comprised the counties of 
Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Sussex, and Gloucester. His own con- 
ception of his duties cannot be better given than in his own 
words in the concluding paragraph of his valuable Report, dated 
June ist, 1868: 'I venture to think that Her Majesty never 
appointed a Commission of Inquiry upon a more important 
subject, and I trust that my own share in the labour of that 
inquiry may be instrumental to the public good.' 

" It cannot be doubted that many will recognise in this report 
some of the guiding principles of his life in the high career that 
awaited him. 

" Soon after that Report was presented he told me, to my 
great regret, that 'his dear people in his little country home 
wanted him back again ' ; and that as he thought that his first 
duty was to them, he felt obliged, though with much reluctance, 
to forego the great sources of interest, satisfaction, and informa- 
tion that the inquiries of the Commission opened for him. 

" To myself the gain of that one year of his services was also 
the gain of a friendship that lasted his life. 

" Nothing struck me more during our subsequent opportunities 
of intercourse than the touching simplicity with which, with all 
his great powers, and his marvellous successes in his Diocese, 
he expressed his doubts as to whether he really was equal to his 
task. ' I want to resign and go back to my people at Ufton,' 
was often said with a look and a feeling that came straight from 
the heart. ' There are many who could do what I am doing 
better than I can.' But so did not think those who had the best 
opportunities of observing him. His largeness of heart, his 
genial manners, his ever ready sympathies, his strong sense, his 
highly cultivated intellect, his calm wisdom and unbiassed and 



CHAP. vn. APPENDIX. 179 

firm judgment, won from them the greatest tribute ever offered 
to the memory of a Bishop in this country. Manufacturing Man- 
chester, and the busy towns and villages and rural portions of 
his diocese have combined to erect a statue to him in the open 
air, and a recumbent monument to him in their cathedral, in a 
chapel that is to be added to it for the purpose by his widow, 
' his best assistant,' as he often said, ' in his daily labours, 
and the greatest blessing of his life.'" HUGH SEYMOUR 
TREMENHEERE, C.B. 



N 2 



PART II. 

" It is not possible to love and hope for that which one does 
not believe." F. D. MAURICE, Medicrval Philosophy > p. 101. 



" At all times a man who would do faithfully must believe 
firmly." CARLYLE. 



PART II. 

CHAPTER I. 

" Who is the happy warrior ? who is he 

Whom every inan-at-arms would wish to be? 
It is the generous spirit, who, when brought 
Among the tasks of real life, hath wrought 
Upon the plan that pleased his childish thought." 

WORDSWORTH. 

THE TRANSITION. 

1870. 

THE document which was to alter the whole course and 
character of the life of this contented and happy country 
parson ran as follows : 

" Hawarden Castle, January $rd, 1870. DEAR MR. 
FRASER, I write to place the See of Manchester at your 
disposal. I will not enumerate the long list of qualifications 
over and above entire devotedness to the sacred calling, 
for which I earnestly seek in the selection of any name to 
submit to Her Majesty with reference to any vacant 
bishopric. But I must say with perfect truth that it is 
with reference to qualifications only that I make the 
present overture. As respects the particular See, it is your 
interest in and mastery of the question of public education 
which has led me to believe you might perform at Man- 
chester, wilh reference to that question, a most important 
work for the Church and for the country. Manchester is 



184 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

the centre of the modern life of the country. I cannot 
exaggerate the importance of the See, or the weight and 
force of the demands it will make on the energies of a 
bishop, and on his spirit of self-sacrifice. You will, I hope 
not recoil from them, and I trust that strength to meet them 
all will be given you in abundance. 

" Believe me faithfully yours, 

" W. E. G." 

It is not easy to see how a great charge could be offered 
more honourably, or at the same time with less of gilding. 
No wonder that it should have staggered the recipient for 
the moment, bringing him as it did thus suddenly face 
to face with the " demands " so tersely indicated in the 
Premier's offer. He replied : 

" Ufton, January $th, 1870. DEAR SIR, Your letter, and 
the utterly unexpected offer it contains, has profoundly 
moved me. Am I making an unreasonable request in 
asking to be allowed a week to consider the answer I 
ought to give to it? My first impulse was, from a most 
real and unaffected consciousness of unworthiness, to decline. 
But probably every one to whom such an offer was made 
would have the same feeling at first ; and my life, as I read 
it, seems to have been such a succession of providences that 
my second thought was, that by refusing to enter on a wider 
sphere of usefulness I might be drawing back from a call. 
Happily I have no desire for either wealth or rank, nor any 
ambition beyond that of wishing to be as useful a citizen 
both of the realm of England, and of the kingdom of our 
Lord, as I have power to be. I quite feel all that you so 
justly say about the noble opportunities offered by such a 
diocese as Manchester. All I mistrust is my own adequacy 



CHAP. I. HESITATION. 185 

to them. I should wish therefore for time to take counsel 
with some of my friends who have known me longest, and 
by whose judgment I should like to be guided in a matter 
of this kind my Provost, Dr. Hawkins, Church, Liddon, 
Edward Hamilton, etc. ; for time also to think over so 
important a step important not only to my own happiness, 
but to the highest interests of an imperilled Church at an 
anxious time calmly with my own family, and earnestly as 
in the sight of God. I humbly trust I shall be guided aright. 
At present I need say no more than that I will not allow 
any merely personal consideration of ease, or comfort, or 
ambition to determine my resolve. With a deep sense not 
only of what is implied in your offer, but of the manner in 
which it has been conveyed, 

" I beg to remain, my dear Sir, 

" Yours most faithfully, 

"JAMES FRASER." 

" Hawarden, January it/i, 1870. MY DEAR SIR, I 
have received your letter, which does you so much honour 
in every sense, and I accede of course to your request, only 
adding that I am sure you will render the interval as short 
as you possibly can. 

" I am, etc., etc., 

"W. E. GLADSTONE." 

Anticipating the Premier's reply, Eraser had already, with 
his usual promptness, written to nine of his friends for their 
counsel. 

That to Mr. Tooke, the only one apparently which has 
been preserved, was as follows : 

" Private. UJton, January 6t/i, 1870. I am in a grave 
perplexity, and want the honest counsel of sincere friends. 



186 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

Gladstone, in a most touching and generous way, has offered 
me the bishopric of Manchester. On all personal grounds 
I should at once shrink from such a perilous responsibility ; 
but second thoughts tell me that, in doing so, I might be 
shrinking from a call, and that personal considerations ought 
to be overbalanced by the claims of public duty. So I have 
asked for a week to consider the matter calmly, as before 
God, and to take -counsel with my friends. Without any 
undue or affected depreciation of my own powers, I am 
profoundly sensible of my inadequacy to the work of a 
bishop at the present time. The perfect conception of a 
bishop is of one who can lead men, inspire and sustain 
work, repair breaches, reconcile differences, mitigate bitter- 
nesses, help men to the solution of the problems that hold 
the reason and even the conscience sometimes, in suspense. 
No one can be more aware of my unfitness for the more 
difficult parts of such work than I am myself. But who is 
sufficient ? At any rate, if you know any cause or just 
impediment and you know me intus et in cute don't let 
me take a step which must be irrevocable, and which may 
be full of the gravest consequences, not to myself merely, 
but to the Church of Christ don't let me take the step 
unwarned. We have known one another long enough to 
speak the truth face to face, and I have no such hankering 
after rank, or wealth, or a more conspicuous station, as to 
desire to be placed in a post, the duties of which I should 
be found unequal to discharge. Keep this communication 
in confidence, till I have made up my mind, help me with 
your counsel, and pray for me that I may be guided to a 
right conclusion." 

Besides writing to his distant friends he went over to 
consult Sir John Mowbray. " He came directly after break- 



CHAP. I. ACCEPTANCE. 187 

fast with Mr. Gladstone's letter in his hand," Sir John writes, 
" looking as pale as a sheet. I read it and said, ' You are 
the very man for the place.' He expressed in very strong 
terms his unfitness. I replied, ' Mr. Gladstone and I seldom 
agree on any subject, but our coincidence on this is remark- 
able. If you will come into the drawing-room and see my 
wife, she will tell you that I said, years ago, " if I were Prime 
Minister I would make Fraser a Bishop, and send him to 
Lancashire or the Black Country, as I think he is 
eminently qualified to influence such a population." ' And 
when in 1867, Lord Derby made George Selwyn Bishop of 
Lichfield, I said to my wife, ' there is Manchester still left 
for Fraser.' I pressed him most strongly to accept, and he 
said he would take a week to consult Church, Liddon, and 
others." 

Before the end of the week he had asked for he had made 
up his mind to accept the Premier's offer. 

" Ufton, January 8///, 1870. MY DEAR SIR, There is 
no advantage in prolonging unnecessarily a period of 
suspense, and it will be even a relief to me, as well as an act 
of due consideration to yourself, to apprise you of my 
resolve as soon as formed. I consulted nine of my most 
valued friends upon the soundness of whose judgment I 
thought I could rely with reference to this solemn trust you 
have offered me, and I have yesterday and to-day received 
answers from them all. Though men of very different views 
and positions they unite in telling me that I ought not to 
shrink from the responsibilities even of such a bishopric as 
Manchester; and encourage me to believe that, with the 
good hand of my God upon me. I may be found not unequal 
to its charge. And so, though I cannot quell the throbs 



iSS LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

and misgivings of my own heart, I seem to have no alterna- 
tive but to accept the trust you are willing to commit to me. 
It will be my desire, if called upon to administer this great 
diocese, to do so in a firm and independent, but at the same 
time generous and sympathising, spirit. I never was, and 
never could be, a partisan. Even when seeing my way most 
clearly I am always inclined to give credit to others whose 
views may be different from my own for equal clearness of 
vision, certainly for equal honesty of purpose. As little of a 
dogmatist as it is possible to be, I yet see the use, and 
indeed the necessity, of dogma ; but I have always wished 
to narrow, rather than to extend, its field, because the less 
peremptorily articles of faith are imposed or defined the 
more hope there is of eliciting agreements rather than 
differences. Especially have I been anxious to see the 
Church adapt herself more genially and trustfully to the 
intellectual aspirations of the age, not standing aloof in a 
timorous or hostile attitude from the spirit of scientific 
inquiry, but rather endeavouring (as is her function) to 
temper its ardour with the spirit of reverence and godly fear. 
And, finally, my great desire will be, without disguising my 
own opinions, or wishing one set of minds to understand me 
in one sense and another k in the opposite, to throw myself 
on the heart of the whole diocese, of the laity as well as of 
the clergy, of those who differ from the Church as well as 
those who conform to her. I have a high ideal of what a 
bishop of the Church of England ought to be an ideal 
which for fifteen years of my life it was my happy privilege 
to see very nearly realised, and though I am never likely to 
attain to it, I can at least keep it steadily before my eyes 
and reach after it. If, after this frank statement of what I 
desire to be, you still think me qualified for the administra- 
tion of such a diocese, and as the adviser of the Crown to 



CHAP. i. APPOINTMENT. 189 

recommend me to Her Majesty, I shall be prepared, though 
not without deep anxiety, to undertake the office, and will 
endeavour, by the help of God, to do my duty. In the 
event of my promotion the next presentation to the living 
which I now hold (which is in the patronage of Oriel 
College) will of course pass to the Crown. I shall be glad 
to communicate any particulars respecting it which may be 
desired. I may briefly say here that few livings can unite in 
themselves greater advantages. With a deep sense of the 
motives which you say have led you to single me out for this 
appointment, and a humble hope that I may not disappoint 
your expectations, 

" I remain, yours most faithfully, 

"JAMES FRASER." 



" Hawarden, January lo/A, 1870. DEAR MR. FRASER, 
I have received your letter, and read it with sympathy 
and admiration. Your appointment is settled as far as Her 
Majesty is concerned, and the steps will now be taken Tr^r 
the conge tTelire. Should you be in town after the 2oth or 
2ist I shall be happy to see you, although the transaction 
between us as one of mere business is concluded. 

" Believe me, sincerely yours, 

"W. E.G." 

To Mr. Tooke. Uf ton, January lof/i, 1870. "All my 
friends' advice, I almost regret to say, went one way, and 
left me no loophole of escape. I, therefore, wrote to 
Gladstone on Saturday, though still with a heavy heart, 
CKWV acKovrt ye 6vp.<a, to say that, if he still thought fit to 
recommend me to the Queen, I would endeavour to under- 
take the administration of the diocese of Manchester. I pre- 
viously stated what the principles are on which I should wish 



IQO LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

to act as bishop. Whether I have done right or not the 
event will show. All I can answer for is that I have not 
been swayed by vulgar personal motives, the thirst for rank, 
or wealth, or even of power : but I have accepted my friends' 
measure of my qualifications rather than my own, and, 
hoping that in my perplexity I might interpret this unsought- 
for offer as a call, I have followed where it seemed to lead. 
God grant that I have not mistaken some lower earthly 
voice for His. Your affectionate letter was a great comfort 
to me. I have always reckoned you amongst my staunchest 
friends, and you may depend that I shall never resent I 
hope not even misunderstand anything that you say to me 
in the way of counsel. I know what need I have to be on 
my guard. My nature is impetuous, and my thoughts soon 
catch fire. But my very position will impose caution on me, 
and I hope I shall be able to keep my impulses within the 
bounds of prudence. Can't you come and see me here and 
let us talk over some things face to face before I leave ? 

" P.S. Liddon, dear fellow, was very earnest that I should 
take this bishopric." 

And so he girt himself to his new work, resolved to face 
it in the only spirit in which it could be effectually done. 
" At all times," writes Mr. Carlyle, " a man who would do 
faithfully must believe firmly." This qualification no man 
possessed in fuller measure, and in no less measure that 
which is scarcely second to it, humility. " I hope I shall 
be always straightforward," were his farewell words on 
starting for his new work, to the oldest of his friends. 



CHAPTER II. 

' ' There be plenty of clerks and bishops who, out of their gowns, 
would turn their backs on no man." FULLER'S Worthies. 

BREAKING GROUND IN MANCHESTER. 1 870 1871. 
1870. 

THE life of Bishop Fraser divides itself naturally into two 
distinct parts much more sharply than is the case with most 
men. By this time one may hope that readers have a fairly 
distinct notion of what manner of man he was one rarely 
gifted intellectually and physically, a first-rate classical 
scholar, but with the keenest interest in all the problems, 
social, religious, and scientific, of his own time ; and yet 
without ambition, unless the passion to do whatever work 
came to his hand thoroughly as well as it could be done 
may be called ambition ; as no doubt, rightly or wrongly, it 
often gets that name. 

No man knew himself that rarest, and all but most 
precious of all knowledge better; and being singularly 
matter-of-fact and free from illusions, he had chosen his 
work, that of a country parson, with deliberation. He had 
not been ordained till he had spent seven years in Oxford, 
as resident fellow and tutor ; but, having once chosen, there 
was never a glance backward or sideways. He was not only 
content, but delighted with his life, and had brought its 



192 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

surroundings pretty well up to his own standard and ideal. 
He had the most orderly as well as one of the prettiest 
parishes in that favoured Archdeaconry, in which no one in 
his time needed ever to be out of work or in distress. He 
knew every soul in his parish intimately, and they knew 
him. His schools were models, and he himself an authority 
and power at the Education Office. He was as popular as 
man could be with the neighbouring gentry, squires and 
parsons alike. His flower garden, kitchen garden, glebe, 
and stables, were an unfailing source of interest and plea- 
sure to him ; and he gloried in the belief that of their kind 
they were the best in the royal county of Berks, if not in the 
kingdom. He was fifty years old, and weighed fourteen 
stone and a half : but his natural walking pace was still over 
four miles an hour, and he drove the highest and best 
turned-out dog-cart which appeared in Reading, on market 
days, or at quarter sessions. On the other hand, the only 
two professional duties which he heartily disliked charity 
sermons and public meetings pressed very lightly on the 
rector of Ufton. To such a man, with his rare power of 
enjoying every moment of his life, and of appreciating the 
surroundings which he had chosen, and moulded by long 
thought and vigilance to his own mind, to enter public life 
at fifty as Bishop of Manchester, was as genuine obedience 
to a call as any we have seen in our time. Nolo episcopari, 
which, spite of sneers, I believe to be the honest instinct of 
many of those who nevertheless have to bear rule in our 
Church, was never truer of any man than of him. He had 
already refused the Primacy of India, which had been made 
illustrious by the names of Heber and Cotton, and opened 
to an ambitious man the most dazzling position, and most 
pressing and vital work, which the Church of England has 
to offer. 



CHAP. ii. CONGRATULATIONS. 193 



No doubt, however, though unambitious in the ordinary 
sense, by this time he had also made the discovery that he 
was a born governor of men, with a splendid faculty for 
organising and directing work, and of getting the most that 
was in them out of himself and others. To such men the 
opening of new and larger fields must always bring a stern sort 
of joy, and pro tauto this must have been some compensa- 
tion to him for throwing up the quiet home, and the orderly 
life he loved, as finally and unreservedly as he had thrown 
up sport on his ordination, and plunging into the turbid and 
exhausting atmosphere, both physically and morally, of the 
workshop of England. "It is beautiful to see," Mr. Carlyle 
writes of Abbot Sampson in many respects a striking 
thirteenth-century forerunner of Bishop Eraser " how the 
chrysalis-governing soul, shaking off its dusty slough and 
prison, starts forth winged, a true, royal soul." There was 
no slough and prison to shake off in this case, but an aban- 
donment rather of a post in the line where he was already 
victorious, for one where the smoke was thickest, and the 
issue most doubtful, at the call of the Great Captain. 

The following letters to Archdeacon Norris, who had 
written to congratulate him, show the temper and spirit in 
which he approached his new work : 

" UFTON RECTORY, READING, 
"Jan. \a,th, 1870. 

" MY DEAR CANOX NORRIS, Many thanks for your kind 
words and good wishes. I answer my friends' congratula- 
tions as quickly as I can ; but sixty-four letters yesterday, 
and eighty-three again to-day make it a hard task. I confess 
I go to this work neither of my seeking nor desiring with 
a misgiving heart. All I can promise is that I will try to do 
my duty in a generous, sympathising, conciliatory spirit. 

o 



194 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART II. 

Whether I shall be able to do anything to bind up the breach 
that is widening day by day between the two great parties 
who have taken up education for their battle-cry, I know 
not. I sympathise much more with the Union than with 
the League ; but I feel with you that they have taken up 
their position timidly and half-heartedly. They have asked 
me to attend and address a meeting at Manchester Free 
Trade Hall on the 24th, but I can't be there. And I am 
not very sorry, for I don't wish to commit myself to a course, 
till I feel more sure of my ground. O that people, as you 
say, would be satisfied with a Churchmanship that would 
have satisfied St. Paul, and that in this strife for religious 
education, they would realise the fitness for their several 
purposes of ' milk ' and ' strong meat.' 

" Very truly yours, 

"JAMES FRASER." 

" UFTON RECTORY, READING. 

11 Jan. 2$th, 1870. 

" MY DEAR CANON NORRIS, Would you do me the 
extreme kindness of helping me to bear my heavy burthen 
at Manchester, by consenting to undertake the duty of one 
of my Examining Chaplains? My old college friend, James 
Lonsdale, has promised to act for me as a representative 
of the University of Oxford, and I am anxious to have a 
Cambridge man of mark, in the moderation of whose 
character and opinions people would have confidence, on 
my staff also. 

" Archdeacon Durnford is willing to assist me so far, that 
he will take part in the oversight of papers, though he begs 
to be excused from setting them. The late Bishop held 
three ordinations in the year, at Lent, Trinity, and Michael- 
mas. But my secretary tells me that he thinks two would be 



CHAP. ii. THE BISHOP'S CHAPLAINS. 195 

sufficient, at the first and last of those seasons. There are 
special reasons arising out of the way in which Whitsun week 
is spent at Manchester that make an ordination on Trinity 
Sunday extremely undesirable. 

" I do not yet know when I shall be consecrated, and it 
may be necessary to postpone for a few weeks the Lent 
Ordination which the late Bishop had fixed for i3th March. 
But of the date, as soon as fixed, I would send you the 
earliest notice. You know enough probably of the general 
'set' of my opinions and sympathies, to render it unneces- 
sary for me to enter into particulars about them. My great 
aim as a Bishop will be to administer my diocese in no spirit 
of party, but in a readiness to recognise every earnest work- 
man, and to set forward every good Christian work. 
" Hoping to receive a favourable reply, I remain, 
" Very truly yours, 

"JAMES FRA^ER." 

"UFTON RECTORY, READING, 
"/a*. 29///, 1870. 

" MY DEAR CANON, If you can see no other reasons than 
those stated in your most kind and cordial letter, why you 
should not accede to my request, and become one of my 
Examining Chaplains, I shall still venture to press you to 
do so. 

" I think we can get over the difficulty about your canonical 
residence, which only interferes with one ordination, that 
viz. in Lent. 

" I have only selected four chaplains at present, Arch- 
deacon Durnford, James Lonsdale, Hugh Pearson and your- 
self. I shall wait and see my way more clearly in the 
diocese, before appointing any others. But I shall try to 
induce all my chaplains (say by twos at a time) to assist me 

o 2 



I 9 6 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

in the ordination examinations : so that if I have six chap- 
lains, and three ordinations in the year, the work will not be 
overwhelming. 

" This at least is my present idea, based upon what was 
Bishop Hamilton's practice in the diocese of Salisbury. 
Even if you could not attend to examine, you might set 
some papers, which the Archdeacon has said he would 
look over. 

" So I sincerely hope that I may count upon associating 
you with me in my work. I do not believe that I have ever 
been found a difficult man to work with, even by those who 
might differ from me widely in 'opinions. 

"Very sincerely yours, 

"JAMES FRASER." 

The move from Ufton was made in April, 1870. The 
Bishop had been to Manchester to find a house, having made 
it a condition of his acceptance of the See that he should 
be relieved of the Episcopal Palace of Mauldeth Hall, a 
large country house eleven miles from the city and his work. 
He had taken the best house available at the moment, the 
Rectory of St. Luke's, Cheetham, to which his family were 
now to be transferred. The following latter may serve as 
an example of his mastery of detail, and of the infinite 
trouble (said to be the true test of genius) which he was in 
the habit of taking in whatever he had to do. It is to his 
mother, from London, where he was detained on business 
connected with his consecration, which had taken place on 
25th March. He had already made an arrangement with 
the railway company for a through carriage from Alder- 
maston, his little country station, to Manchester. 

Pall Mall, April 2nd, 1870. " Few should go on Tues- 
day ; Sarah and Mrs. Hodson on Wednesday ; you and the 



CHAP. II. MIGRATION TO MANCHESTER. 197 

rest on Thursday or Friday. Sam must take the 'twa dogs' 
under his charge. They must both have chains. I should 
think Sam, Caroline Cox (to whom you must write or send 
when you have fixed your day) and Henrietta might travel 
third class. If they have much heavy luggage, it can go 
with the other things. The through carriage I spoke of 
has a first, second, and third class compartment ; but per- 
haps they do not book third class from London by that 
train, which is express, in which case the servants must go 
by the second class. 

" Don't forget to label the keys you take, and to leave 
behind all that ought to be left behind. 

" With regard to the bedrooms at St. Luke's Rectory, 
Sarah, Henrietta, and Caroline Cox must occupy the large 
attic bedroom, putting into it the bed they now sleep on, 
and the bedstead out of Sam's room. 

" Sam will sleep in the small room opposite theirs, putting 
into it the bedstead out of my dressing-room. 

" Coming from the bath-room towards the body of the 
first-floor rooms, the room on the left would be Few's room, 
putting into it the bedstead in our north room ; and the 
room on the right would be Mrs. Hodson's, putting into it 
Miss Spreadbury's present bedstead. 

"The room adjoining Mrs. Hodson's would be your 
room, with the dressing room next to it for Aunt Lucy; and 
the room next to that, over the drawing room, would be my 
room. 

" The spare room (with dressing room) would be over the 
study, in which must be set up the mahogany four-poster ; 
and there is another small bedroom, for which I must provide 
a bed." 

On the 25th of March, then, he was consecrated in 



198 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

Manchester Cathedral, and on his return from a short visit 
to London on business, stepped out at once into the glare 
and whirlwind of publicity, in which the rest of his life was 
destined to be passed. 1 

The announcement of his appointment to the Bishopric 
was no surprise to any one connected officially with the 
education movement, now fast ripening for settlement ; but, 
to the swarming centres of industrial life at high-pressure in 
Lancashire it came as "a bolt out of the blue." His name 
seems to have been absolutely unknown outside of the small 
circle whose interest in educational and social questions had 
extended to the reading of Blue Books. The local papers, 
however, were not many days in laying before their readers 
everything that could be known about him, and the record 
was allowed to be a promising one, both by Churchmen and 
Nonconformists. The latter, indeed, appear to have been 
the better pleased of the two, holding the appointment to 
imply an intimation from the Premier to the clergy of 
Lancashire and their congregations of how grievously they 
needed educating. 

It would be quite incompatible with the limits which have 
been fixed for this book to attempt anything like a detailed 
account of the work of Bishop Fraser in his diocese. The 
mere routine of consecrating churches, ordaining priests and 

1 One who was present at the consecration writes " I was near the 
bishop, having been asked to assist in the preparations and in preserving 
order at the time. I shall never forget seeing the tears run down the 
childlike face of that strong man as he knelt to receive his commission. 
And on the next Sunday, when he preached his first sermon as bishop 
in his cathedral, I was near him in the north gallery. His message was 
delivered with authority and Christian manliness, but, ere he closed, his 
reference to himself seemed to bring such a consciousness ot inherent 
weakness that he trembled in every limb, his voice quavered, he almost 
broke down, and the effect on the immense congregation will never be 
forgotten. Among not a few sincere folk, lay and cleric, he was (and is 
still) affectionately known as ' our James.' :> 



CHAP. II. START IN LANCASHIRE. 199 

deacons, and confirming candidates, supplemented by an 
occasional sermon or speech on strictly Church questions, 
might well have been enough to satisfy ordinary men, as it 
had satisfied his predecessor, the first Bishop ; but of this 
routine work almost no notice can be taken here. Our space 
will bi all too small for even a compressed narrative of what 
we may call the Bishop's works of supererogation. It is on 
these that his fame rests, and his claim to an almost unique 
place on the roll of great English Churchmen. 

In the first month after his consecration he laid down at a 
meeting of the Church Building Society the position of the 
national Church as he understood it, and the lines upon 
which it needed to be working : " Our Church must show 
that in her wide and tolerant bosom every legitimate form of 
Protestant Christianity can find a home. We are a privi- 
leged class, secured as no other religious denominations are 
secured. But why? That we may do a great work for the 
whole nation. I see already that we want four Church 
organisations in this diocese ; (i) a society for building 
churches ; (2) a society which will look into church edu- 
cation ; (3) a society to provide curates in populous parishes ; 
(4) a society for the augmentation of small benefices." In 
passing we may note that on his death, fourteen years later, 
he left all these thoroughly organised and efficient. 

The moment of his entrance on public life could not have 
been more happily chosen, for the great crisis on the edu- 
cation question had arrived, and the battle was arrayed and 
raging round the proposals of the Government. Let us first 
glance at our Bishop's plunge into this fray. It was character- 
istic of the man never to spend his strength on the outskirts, 
but to push straight in for the heart of the battle, and when 
there to wield his mace with entire freedom and fearless- 
ness, even if soldiers who thought they were on his side 



200 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n 

occasionally came in for a back stroke of that doughty 
weapon. The question of compulsion was at this time the 
critical one, and Mr. Forster was watching and weighing in 
his quiet sagacious way, the swaying of the fight, backwards 
and forwards, all over England. One can well imagine the 
grim smile which must have lighted up his honest face on 
reading such reports as those following. 

A mass meeting in Manchester on the education question 
was held shortly after the Bishop's consecration, at which he 
was received with special enthusiasm, in consequence perhaps 
of a little incident, which he might have planned himself if 
he had been fishing for popularity amongst his Lancashire 
people. Striding along one morning on his way to his 
Registry he became aware of excitement and shouting be- 
hind him ; and, turning round, saw a tradesman's cart 
coming rattling down the road without a driver. The boy 
had got out to deliver a parcel, and the horse had seized 
the opportunity of making off at a canter for his stable. The 
Bishop being a man of order, and thoroughly familiar with 
horses, resented this proceeding, which might prove danger- 
ous further on in a crowded thoroughfare. So he stepped 
into the street, made the horse swerve, ran by his side for a 
few paces, caught the rein, brought horse and cart to a halt, 
and handed them over to the boy who came up panting. 

The story of course flew round, and probably accounted 
for the embarrassing applause with which he was at once 
received. With the cheers ringing in his ears, he listened to 
the reading of the report, and then rose to speak, and, after 
a protest against all excitement on this great question, said : 
"I want to speak plainly, and if you really disagree I would 
sooner hear you say ' no, no ' than ' hear, hear.' I heard 
you applaud the paragraph of the repot t recommending 
compulsory attendance. This I know, that, if the majority 



CHAP. II. THE EDUCATION QUESTION. 201 

of the English people really want compulsion, the Govern- 
ment will be only too happy to give it. If it is mere clap- 
trap sentiment it is worse than useless. I want you work- 
ing men to lay this question seriously to heart, and see 
whether you are so alive to the real interests of your children 
as to submit to a stringent law of compulsion, which will 
secure them the inestimable blessing of a good, sound 
education." One other sentence from a later part of the 
speech must be quoted, when he had passed on to the other 
burning question of religious education. " I tell you work- 
ing men, you will find many difficulties in the "brain, but 
none in the heart. If you will only set your minds on 
knowing what God will have you to do, God's Spirit will 
keep you right." 

Again, a day or two afterwards, at a meeting of the 
Education Aid Society, he recurred to the subject, and said : 
"Compulsion represents a power most hateful to English- 
men, as it involves domiciliary visits from the police, or 
other official persons. It is said that you working people 
desire compulsion, and if so the problem is solved. I still 
hold to the opinion for which I have been, I see, severely 
taken to task, that a compulsory law, not loyally obeyed but 
systematically trampled under foot, is about the most 
demoralizing which a nation can have on its statute book. 
Unless compulsion is to be thoroughly effective we shall be 
far better without it." And a little further on, speaking of 
his own experience as to the wish for education amongst the 
poor : " When I left my Berkshire parish the other day with 
only 370 people living in it, how did I leave it in respect of 
education ? I left it with seventy children in the day 
school, and an average daily attendance of over sixty. I had 
twenty-five agricultural clodhoppers, as they are called, 
coming to me three nights a week ; making themselves 



202 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

smart and tidy, and walking perhaps two miles to the school 
after a hard day's work, following the plough over miry fields. 
If that is not some proof of zeal for education I don't know 
what is." 

From a Sermon in the Cathedral. " Practically if you go 
about the world and try to find a spot where this religious 
difficulty exists, it is so microscopic and of such tenuity that 
I defy any man to put his finger on it and say, Here it is in 
all its formidable dimensions." 

On this question of religious education he spoke, at the 
Free Trade Hall, a few days later. 

April 20//J, 1870. "I was laying the foundation stone of 
a new school at Blackburn this morning, and was asked to 
address 2000 or 3000 mostly working people, who were 
standing round. I put it quite frankly to them, as I do to 
you now, whether they had ever come across this miserable 
proselytising influence which is so freely alleged against 
denominational schools : and whether they found their 
children so dutiful and tractable, such models of obedience 
and every virtue, that they could fairly dispense with 
religious motives in their training. I asked them whether 
they wished a purely secular education for their children, 
and not a voice was raised amongst those 2000 or 3000 
people. . . But now we are met by the cry of sectarianism 
I don't know how old that word is, or when it came into the 
language, but so far as I know its meaning, it is the name of 
a thing for which I have as little love as any Englishman. . . 
I don't know what shape the Government Bill will finally 
assume when it has passed tbe crucible of parliamentary dis- 
cussion. I don't envy our legislators who have to fit in the 
thousand and one amendments into the original text. But 



CHAP. II. SPEECHES ON EDUCATION. 203 

I do hope this, I hope it for the Church of England, and for 
the diocese of Manchester, that we shall all submit, whether 
with good grace or not to the national will expressed by our 
supreme representative assembly. I desire to remember, 
and wish to remind you, that the interests of the nation are 
paramount, above the interest of any sect or religious com- 
munity in the nation. And if we who believe in the 
vitalizing influence of religion are not allowed by the national 
legislature to bring that influence to bear in our elementary 
day schools, we must try to bring it to bear in some other 
way with less hopes, it may be, but with good heart still." 

Again, on April 26th, 1870, in the Free Trade Hall, at a 
meeting of the National Education Union. " The painful 
fact in the present agitation is, that what is essentially a 
practical matter, to be determined by common sense and 
experience, is being discussed on abstract, theoretical 
grounds ; and has passed into the hands of those who for 
this purpose are, in my judgment, the worst set of people in 
the world, the philosophers, doctrinaires, system-framers, 
who, at least half of them, have never set foot in an ele- 
mentary school in their lives. From my own experience I 
tell you that parents prefer that education should be religious. 
The religious difficulty, as it is called, has been raised, not 
by them, but for them. . . . Now take for instance the cry 
against the Catechism. In teaching religion some formulary 
must of necessity be used ; and if a better or simpler one 
than the Church Catechism can be found, I am prepared to 
accept it. It was invidiously said, at a recent meeting of 
the Education League in this room, that parents don't want 
(perhaps the speaker meant he didn't want) children taught 
the Church Catechism and the Athanasian Creed. Who 
ever heard of the Athanasian Creed beimr taught in an 



204 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

elementary school ? But with reference to the Church Cate- 
chism, I should not be sorry to get rid of that time-honoured 
but obsolete institution of Godfathers and Godmothers, and 
therefore I think the first part of the Catechism might be 
got rid of with little loss. And I do not desire that young 
children in elementary schools should be perplexed by the 
appendix to the Catechism, which touches on the mysterious 
doctrine of the Sacraments. But, putting that aside for a 
later age, I don't believe that either Baptists, Wesleyans, 
Congregationalists any more than Church people, would 
object to have their children taught what was the vow by 
which they were bound at their baptism ; or the fundamental 
doctrines of the Christian faith as contained in the Apostles, 
Creed ; or to learn their duty to their God and their neigh- 
bour, by being taught that admirable exposition of the 
prayer of our Blessed Lord." 

This last address proved too much for the Secular Society, 
who probably began to think that if they did not make head 
in some special manner against this outspoken and incom- 
prehensible Bishop, he would be doing real mischief. They 
accordingly sent him a challenge to a public discussion, 
complaining of the terms he had used in speaking of the 
secularists in his recent addresses. They had mistaken 
their man, however, if they thought he was to be taken by 
such a lure. This was his answer : 

" There is no novelty in the arguments of modern secu- 
larists. They have been advanced, and to my mind satisfac- 
torily answered, a hundred times in the course of the his- 
tory of human thought, and the religion which has survived 
the attacks of Hume, Voltaire, Tom Paine, will I venture 
to say outlive those of Mr. A. Holyoake, Mr. C. Watts, 
and Mr. Bradlaugh. You must not put it down to 



CHAP. ii. THE SECULARISTS. 205 

timidity on my part that I must decline your challenge. 
I cannot conceive a subject more unfitted for public 
debate before a miscellaneous and, on such subjects, 
untrained audience. I have looked into the matter as pro- 
foundly as my faculties have allowed me for myself. I do 
not say that all difficulties are cleared away. The revelation 
in which I believe doesn't lead me to expect that they would 
be. If in my address at the Free Trade Hall I used 
language which could justly wound the feelings of any 
secularists, I deeply regret doing so." 



1871. 

We must pass now from the education question to another 
which was also a burning one in the Manchester diocese as 
elsewhere. The Protestant ring in his early sermons and 
speeches soon encouraged the many foes of ritualism to seek 
his aid. In January, 1871, a deputation from the congre- 
gation of St. John Baptist, Hulme, waited on him to com- 
plain of the ritualistic practices of their rector, who had 
allowed candlesticks on the altar, processions in church, in 
which a crucifix and banners were carried, bowing to the 
altar, and the use of wafer bread. The Bishop had already 
remonstrated with the rector, who had voluntarily submitted 
to be guided by him. Mr. Andrew, the churchwarden of 
the parishioners, opened their grievances, but was cut short 
by the Bishop with " Mr. Marshall has submitted in the 
fairest way to anything I order, so I beg you will not press 
me to order anything unreasonable." 

The churchwarden then proceeded to complain of postur- 
ings and genuflexions. The Bishop : " Do you bow to the 
cross, Mr. Andrew ? " Mr. Andrew : " No." Bishop : " Why 
then need you trouble about it, if other people think 



206 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

it does them good ? You are a stickler it seems for all the 
rubric orders. Do you kneel when you are saying your 
prayers ? " Upon this Mr. Nesbitt, the rector's church- 
warden, interposed with " I never saw him kneel since he 
came to the church. He sits." Bishop : " That would 
give offence to some people. That's why I ask you to give 
and take. I don't like bowing, but if people think it helps 
them, I can't object to it." 

Solvuntur risu tabula. After some further skirmishing 
between the two wings, the deputation retired, and the 
Bishop was not further troubled from St. John the Baptist's, 
Hulme, for a period of nearly four years. 

1870. 

At the Church Institute, Oldham. April, 1870. " Libera- 
tionists say we owe our creed to an act of Parliament. The 
origin of our creed, the Apostles', is lost in antiquity. The 
Nicene creed came from the Council of Nice long before 
the English Parliament was born or thought of. That the 
prayer book was scheduled to an act of Parliament is a 
guarantee for the liberty and fixity of our faith. We don't 
want to be shifted about by every ebb and flow of popular 
opinion. Why is it possible to caricature Christianity? 
Because our Christianity is so far below the point to which 
it ought to rise, because there is so much unreality, hypo- 
crisy, cant in it. I think I may defy any one to caricature 
the life, or work, or character of our Lord ; or to caricature 
St. Paul, or to read St. John's Epistle and try to caricature 
that." 

Manchester City Mission, annual meeting, May i5th, 
1870, at which he had consented to preside, to the con- 
sternation of Manchester orthodoxy : " Since I consented 
to take the chair I have had many representations that I 



CHAP. II. THE LICENSING QUESTION. 207 



should be in my wrong place as a Bishop, this being a 
'sectarian institution.' If I believed that, I shouldn't be 
here. But this Mission Society seems to me by what I have 
read of their publications, and by the report, to be loyal to 
the principles we all profess. The feeling deepens in me 
every day that these principles of Christ's gospel are few, 
simple, broad. Christians have been wrangling over their 
petty shibboleths, and have let the devil get an advantage 
over them, while they piled arms to discuss petty questions 
of theology, and, instead of presenting a serried front, 
turned their arms against each other, as the poor French are 
doing." 

But perhaps the most characteristic of all his early utter- 
ances was at what is described in the reports as " a stormy 
meeting" on the question of licensing public houses on 
April 9th, which he attended at the request of the Temper- 
ance League. One can picture the consternation of his 
friends not unlike that of the Princes of Moab on Mount 
Peor when the Bishop suddenly broke out in the middle 
of his speech with, "Yesterday I preached in a very full 
church. My voice was a little out of order, and I was a 
little exhausted. At lunch the clergyman said, ' I think a 
glass of bitter beer after that sermon would do you good. 1 
I thought so too, and I drank the bitter beer, and felt the 
better for it. So you see I'm not one of those who as the 
old ditty runs ' would rob a poor man of his beer ' provided 
it is good and wholesome, and he knows when he has had 
enough. You might as well try to sweep away all your 
town-halls, or co-operative stores, as all your public-houses." 

At a Meeting to consider proposals for reform of the 
Grammar School. " Hugh Oldham, if he could rise from 
his grave, would wish his foundation to be used for the 



2o8 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

utmost possible good of the people of Manchester. There- 
fore the ' Cy-pres ' rule ought to be applied in this case 
freely. I have seen what comes of holding strictly to the 
terms of a founder's will in my old neighbourhood. Before 
the reform of the Reading Free School, in 1865, there was 
only one pupil left in it, and he was a French boy." 

Dec. 2&t/t t 1870. At a meeting of the Church Missionary 
Society at Ashton-under-Lyne. " I never feel more lost 
than when I am in the chair or speaking at a missionary 
meeting, because all my knowledge is derived from books 
and reports. My difficulty is not from lack of interest in 
the cause, but simply from a sense of unreality, which I 
suppose every one must feel when he has to speak on a 
difficult question on which he has no personal experience. 
So my remarks to-night will be very few and general." 
Amongst these one may profitably cite the following: 
" Haven't these poor heathens thousands of miles away a 
special claim on you Lancashire people ? Since I have 
been here I have visited several large mills weaving calico 
for India. You are doing them a good turn perhaps in 
sending them cheap calico, but at the same time you are 
doing yourselves a good turn. Now, I want to know if 
cheap calico is all you can put into their hands? Now, 
don't you think you should try to improve them in other 
respects besides clothing ? Can't you try to help them clothe 
themselves with Christ's righteousness as well as cheap 
Lancashire calico ? I say then that India ought to have a 
special interest and claim on you." 

1871. 

Jan. 5///, 1871. At a meeting of the Boys' Refuge, and 
Industrial Brigade. " This is one of the most difficult and 



CHAP. ii. THE ACT OF UNIFORMITY. 209 

delicate problems of modern society. How can your work 
be done without encouraging professional vagrancy or inter- 
fering with the rightful duty of parents? It was said by 
Archbishop Whately, a strict political economist, but at 
heart a very benevolent man, that he had given away 40,0007. 
in charities, but never a sixpence to a street beggar. On 
the other hand there was a gentleman whose mortal remains 
are being lowered about this very moment into their last 
resting place, who played no unconspicuous or inconsistent 
part in the public life of Manchester, of whom it was stated 
in biographical notices I have been reading of him, that no 
beggar ever asked of him for aid and went away unrelieved. 
These men may seem inconsistent the one with the other, 
but we are not living in Utopia but in England, where we 
must all allow there is far too abundant room for the 
practical development of all benevolent sentiments. Till 
these great subjects are taken up with a broader spirit, and 
firmer grasp, I don't know how we can help ' tinkering ' 
with questions which need a more prompt and decided 
treatment. I confess I should be glad to see the day, when 
our legislature, instead of fighting the battles of political 
parties, shall really gird up its loins to ascertain what practical 
solution can be given to the infinite and diversified social 
problems which meet any one who walks about the streets 
of such a city as Manchester." 

Jan. gth, 1871. As chairman of a meeting of the Society 
for the aid of the Deaf and Dumb. " I have had the greatest 
possible satisfaction in admitting Mr. Downing the superin- 
tendent of the Society to Deacons' orders. I got over 
Archbishop Laud's rule ' that no man was to be ordained 
a Deacon unless he had a specific nomination and title,' by 
Mr. Bardsley's help, who has nominated him assistant curate 

p 



210 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

of St. Ann's, while I have given him a sort of roving cure, 
to attend to the spiritual wants of all the deaf and dumb 
poor he can find in the district." 

Jan. i<)th, 1871. " I think there is a general sense of dis- 
comfort to use the mildest term in the minds of Church- 
men under the Act of Uniformity. What we want is to 
enable our clergy to go forth with the Bible and Prayer Book 
in their hands, and use them as they find best for the edifi- 
cation of those they are seeking to serve." 

He accepted the post of President of the Manchester 
Savings Bank for 1871, and in his opening speech from the 
chair said, "With me social questions have always taken 
rank, not only far above political but even far above 
ecclesiastical questions. By this remember I mean for I 
don't wish to be misunderstood that without relaxing my 
hold on what I believe to be the great truths of Christianity, 
I still feel that the great function of Christianity is to elevate 
man in his social condition. Therefore I think my business 
as a Bishop is to do all I can to diffuse its great principles 
for the guidance of human conduct, by example and precept, 
taking my chance whether my own Communion gains or 
loses thereby. I care little for the dominance of this or that 
ecclesiastical party, my prayer for all who try to hold and 
spread the truth being that they may prosper as they deserve. 
I think an institution like the Savings Bank is animated by a 
Christian spirit, embodies a Christian principle, and ought to 
command the sympathy of every Christian man;" and 
then proceeding to comment on Mr. Gladstone's proposal 
in his budget speech to reduce the rate of interest in 
Savings Banks " I am but a young and inexperienced legis- 
lator, and in the present fluctuating state of public opinion 
don't know how long I may remain a legislator at all, so at 



CHAP. II. ADDRESS TO WORKING MEN. 211 



present I don't see my way to doing more for you than 
attend a deputation. Excellent as our Chancellor of the 
Exchequer is in lucid statement and exposition, I must say 
that in a good many matters he seems to me rather sharp in 
his practice. I presume that the motive for reducing the 
rate of interest is to bring the old established Savings Banks 
down to the level of Government Savings Banks. But it 
seems to me there ought to be no competition between 
them ; each has a distinct reason for its existence and a 
distinct position to occupy. The Post-Office Banks are for 
our migratory population who want to move their invest- 
ments from Manchester to Liverpool or London, as their 
occupation carries them. On the other hand the old banks 
are for our stationary people, and I confess in the interests 
of society I think the stationary people are the branch of 
our fellow citizens that ought to be encouraged, and there- 
fore if by a small premium of 10 per cent, we can give an 
advantage to the stationary over the locomotive population 
it should be done. I haven't been here long enough to pay 
minute attention to the state of things here, but my experi- 
ence in life tells me we are all living too fast. We don't leave 
margin enough between income and expenditure. I take this 
institution to be a visible witness in a great commercial 
community of the value of thrift, and am not only gratified 
but proud, to be elected its President." 

Address tj Working Men, Trinity Church, Salford. " I 
am glad to see you here to-night just as you have left your 
mills and workshops. I regret bitterly that churches, not 
only in Manchester but all over England, and I fear chapels 
also, are too much in the possession of the well-dressed, the 
comfortable, and the well-to-do." . . "If you will take a 
little more pains to ask God to give you grace to get rid of 

p 2 



212 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 



lust, intemperance, all that keeps you down, I am sure there 
is no country in the world (and I have seen many) in which 
the honest, sober, industrious, thrifty workman has so good 
a chance of raising himself to a position of independence as 

in England." 

1870. 

These specimens of the Bishop's utterances during the 
first year of his episcopate may be closed by the following 
speech on the occasion of laying the foundation-stone of 
Owens College on Sept. 24th, 1870, when he responded to 
the toast "the Clergy of all denominations." The founder 
(in 1845) had made a condition of his gift that "nothing 
should be mentioned in the matter or modes of education 
or instruction in reference to any religious or theological 
subject, which should be reasonably offensive to the 
conscience of any student, or of his relations or friends ; " 
and, being unable to put any working construction on these 
words, the governing body had cut the knot by excluding 
all religious instruction from their curriculum. " There 
might have been a time," he said, " and not so long ago, 
when a Bishop would have felt uncomfortable in being called 
upon to respond to this toast in this company, but I do not 
think now there is any man on the Bench of Bishops who 
would feel so, and if there is I am not that man. I do not 
claim to be more liberal than my neighbours there is 
nothing more distasteful to me than quasi-liberality. But I 
claim this, that I love my fellow-men, and further that I take 
a large and broad view of what is understood by ' truth.' I 
believe that every man who is earnestly trying to spread 
the truth which he knows, is labouring in the cause of 
Him who is first of all a God of holiness, but secondly (if 
it can be called second) a God of truth. I never have 
believed that true science can be contrary to true religion, 



CHAP. II. A NEW CRUSADE. 213 



or that true religion ought to be afraid of any of the 
legitimate conclusions of science. I know that I am in 
the presence of men who have established their right to 
be interpreters of the laws and phenomena of the material 
world. I read their speculations with the deepest interest, 
with much more interest than they would bestow on any 
speculations of mine. I can listen with interest while a 
learned professor speculates whether we who live in Man- 
chester are deteriorated angels or developed savages. I 
only ask to be their fellow-worker in building up the great 
temple of truth. But I would ask them whether these 
material or intellectual theories can solve the moral and 
spiritual phenomena by which they are surrounded, and 
whether there is not a place for poor parsons as well as for 
philosophers ? If they would only believe that parsons are 
not sceptics in disguise, trying to palm off on the world 
something that has failed ; that they are trying calmly, and 
step by step, to tread the path of truth ; I can hope that 
the disputed boundaries between religion and science may 
be settled, so that we may both alike minister in and help 
to build up the great temple of truth." 

Later in the evening Professor Huxley in replying to the 
toast of the President of the British Association said, " I 
shall not soon forget the spirit-stirring speech of the noble 
prelate, a speech I welcome and shall remember as long as 
I live, as imbued with a spirit, which, if it had always been 
exhibited, would have prevented the difficulties and mis- 
understandings which I myself deprecate." 

It was not only by his absolute frankness and fearlessness 
of speech that the Bishop startled his great diocese in these 
first months of his episcopate. His work more than kept 
pace with his talk. Besides carefully overhauling, and 
inspiring with new life and energy, the excellent Church 



214 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

machinery which he found ready to his hand, establishing 
in addition a Diocesan Board of Education, and enlarging 
and inspiring with new life the Diocesan Church Building 
Society, he undertook a new crusade of a kind, and in 
quarters, which had been hitherto quite neglected. It took 
him only a few weeks to make up his mind that the Church 
in Lancashire, if she was ever to fulfil her mission as he 
understood it, must take quite new ground with the two 
most numerous sections of the people, the factory operatives 
and skilled mechanics, and the mass of unskilled labour 
and destitution below, which is commonly known as " the 
residuum." Accordingly, always with the consent, and 
generally with the hearty approval, of the great employers 
of labour, whom he approached through the local clergy, 
he attended at such establishments as the St. John's Car- 
riage Works, the Atlas Iron Works, and the Gorton Railway 
Works in the dinner hour, and gave addresses, prefaced by 
two or three collects and the Lord's Prayer, to such of the 
mechanics and labourers as chose to attend. In the same 
way, and for like purposes, he gathered the boatmen on the 
canals, the scavengers, and the night-soil men, in any 
suitable room which could be borrowed or hired in the 
neighbourhood of their work. 

Further on we shall meet with samples of the topics he 
selected, and his method of handling them before such 
audiences. In the present somewhat unwieldy chapter 
room must still be found for some short notice of how 
this strange phenomenon of a Bishop striding about his 
diocese on foot, carrying his own blue bag containing his 
robes, stopping runaway carts, and talking familiarly with 
every one he met, gentle or simple, with a cheerful and 
healthy curiosity as to all they were thinking about or 
interested in struck the Lancashire folk. 



CHAP. II. THE CLASSES. 215 

The factory hands, and working people generally, were 
taken as it were by storm, and had installed him long before 
the end of the year in a place in their hearts which he never 
lost. The following, which could be multiplied to any extent, 
may be taken as fair instances of their attitude. A sturdy dis- 
senting operative waited for him at the bottom of the stairs 
after one of his earliest meetings, and seized him by the hand 
with the remark, "Ah, Bishop, thou'dst mak' a foine Methody 
preacher." Another, waiting for him outside church after a 
charity sermon, forced a sovereign into his hand with, " Bishop, 
here's a pound for thee." Bishop : "Thanks, my friend ; 
for the charity ? " Operative : " Nay, nay, for thyself. " 

"The classes," as represented by the press, were by no 
means so unanimous, as indeed how should they be, scarcely 
a day passing in which he did not run sharply counter to 
some of their cherished beliefs or prejudices. Nevertheless, 
they were all eager to hear whatever he had to say ; and so 
he proved a perfect Godsend to the local papers, as their 
subscribers seemed to be never tired of reading about him. 
Reporters from all the leading papers followed him about 
mercilessly, reporting all he said verbatim; and editors, 
while ruthlessly printing it, would have been more than 
human if they had not taken revenge now and then by more 
or less sarcastic comment for such a crowding of their space. 

After the first chorus of applause, which may be summed 
up in the words, " If not a Manchester man he is the man 
for Manchester," " He is the most candid public man we 
have ever had in Lancashire," came uncertain notes, " He 
may be candid enough, but he always has the gloves on. He 
is always giving somebody a good dressing." " You never 
saw a man with that coloured hair and complexion who 
wasn't hot-tempered," wrote another. A third struck in, 
" He is like a chestnut horse, and never wants whip or spur. 



216 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART 1 1. 



He seems to enjoy as a luxury bursting the trammels which 
should hedge a Bishop." " lie is anyhow," wrote a fourth, 
" a man of real genius, the genius of common-sense." Then 
after a month or two began the chorus of reaction. " His 
forte," wrote one facetious scribe, " is omnipresence, his 
foible omniscience." "At any rate," laughed the Bishop, 
" if omnipresence is my forte it is the fault of Lancashire, 
which drags me about to many more places than I want to 
go to." Another broke out, " It is no uncommon thing to 
find him within the space of twenty-four hours speaking half- 
a-dozen times in as many different places ; and ranging, 
apart from a somewhat scanty theology, over a field embrac- 
ing such subjects as the evils of drunkenness, the statistics 
of crime, mischievous agitators, working hours, church col- 
lections, the evils of ignorance, young men's means of saving 
money, the effects of the licensing Act, and costly funerals. 
This is no exaggeration." 

Of all of which the Bishop took little heed, or replied now 
and then with a laugh ; as for instance, in a speech as chair- 
man of a meeting of the Education Aid Society in his first 
autumn, " The newspapers tell you, I see, that the Bishop 
of Manchester is beginning to be a bore; that his name 
comes before the public oftener than any one wants to see 
it. I should be very glad if these gentlemen would help me 
to decline invitations, or at any rate wouldn't report me. The 
fact is I never have a Sunday, or half a Sunday, to myself. 
But I do feel that when a clergyman comes to me and says he 
is labouring in a poor parish with a heavy balance against him, 
and that if I will go and preach it will be worth 307. or 4O/. 
to him, I can only answer, ' If I am disengaged, I'll go.' " 

And so the editors kept on reporting him, and as a rule 
ceased to scoff. Those gentlemen are keen persons, and not 
apt to waste the lash where it only draws chaff instead of blood. 



CHAPTER III. 

" He thought the less men's consciences were entangled, and the less 
the communion of the Church was clogged with disputable opinions or 
practices, the world would be the happier, consciences the freer, and the 
Church the quieter." ARCHBISHOP TILLOTSO.N, Preface to Sermons, 
1693- 

MANCHESTER : EXTRA DIOCESAN WORK : HOUSE OF LORDS : 
CONVOCATION. 1 870 1 87 I. 

1870. 

BEFORE turning to some of his extra-Diocesan utterances, 
we must linger for a moment or two on the somewhat path- 
etic side of his transition from private to public life. Up to 
this time no man had ever been more diligent in preserving 
the threads of his early life unbroken, and few have had 
more threads to preserve. His punctuality in keeping up 
correspondence with his relations, and old school and college 
friends, was simply amazing : and the friends of his man- 
hood had been equally well treated. For instance, his 
correspondence with Mr. Mozley, whom he succeeded at 
Cholderton, never flagged for twenty years. (It has been 
preserved, by the way, almost intact, and few editors can 
have had more genuine pleasure than I have had in reading 
it through more than once.) The same may be said of that 
with Mr. Tooke, Canon Norris, and others, though begun 
much later in life. 



2i3 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART II. 



All this was now at an end. It was vain to struggle 
against the inevitable. The enormous correspondence of 
his diocese the greater part of it entirely unnecessary and 
often silly which he patiently kept down day by day, with- 
out the aid of a secretary, made it simply out of the question 
to attempt the maintenance of his old habits. His private 
correspondence fell at once into arrears, and became inter- 
mittent and irregular. In this he had to acquiesce, not 
without occasional repining. Thus to Mr. Mozley he 
writes : 

1871. 

Manchester, January io//i, 1871. "I am utterly ashamed 
of myself for never having yet answered your kind letter 
from Rome, in which you congratulated me on my elevation 
to the bishopric of Manchester. My simple, and I hope 
my sufficient excuse is, that really my necessary correspond- 
ence has been so enormous, that letters which could be 
written at any time have been postponed again and again, 
till month after month has slipped away. I am terribly 
afraid that one of the worst consequences of my new position 
will be, that I shall lose the intercourse, one after another, 
with my best and dearest friends. I have wished myself a. 
thousand times back at my quiet parsonage at Ufton, and 
that some one else had been sent to govern this great and 
difficult diocese of Manchester. 

" Nothing can be more interesting than the work, nothing 
kinder or more enc'ouraging than the people, but the dignity 
of the situation is quite alien from all my tastes, and the 
work is above my strength. But here I am, and I must try 
to do my best. I dare say I shall make lots of mistakes, 
but I think also I have some friends, and the people appraise 
what work I am able to do, even at more than it is worth ; 



CHAP. in. DEATH OF MEACHER. 219 



and if I could only feel myself more equal to what is re- 
quired of me I should be less discontented than I am. If, 
after such treatment as you have already received, you will 
ever write to me again I should like to hear something of 
how you have settled down in your new home, how you like 
Devonshire and its peasants, how the Bishop gets on (I see 
he was nearly burnt in his lawn sleeves), &c., &c. I dare 
say that Mrs. Mozley and you together have made the house 
very nice, and I suppose you have by this time got some 
habitable rooms on the ground floor. Poor old Meacher 
died November i4th, at Littlemore Asylum, and was buried 
in the churchyard there. His mind was quite gone, and his 
death cannot be considered other than a happy release. I 
am not occupying the episcopal residence " [Mauldeth 
Hall]. " It is quite unsuitable in more ways than one, and 
in the hope of selling it I have rented a parsonage house 
in Manchester for two years from March 25th last. But I 
have had no offers yet, and times are not very prosperous. 
My mother and aunt are living with me." 

To Mr. Tooke. Sept. 1871. "I don't much like my 
work as Bishop. Happily I never sought it, or I should 
reproach myself; but having seen what a bishop should be 
in Bishop Hamilton, I feel myself so far below that level 
that I am ashamed of my own unworthiness. Nothing, to 
be sure, can exceed the kindness of the Lancashire people 
towards me ; and though of course I make many mistakes, 
and no doubt say things with which even old friends like 
yourself cannot agree, I hope that on the whole I have 
their confidence and good opinion." 

To the Rev.J. Sale. November 2^/1, 187 1. " Do, for old 
friendship's sake, drop the ' Lord ' out of your mode ot 



220 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

addressing me, and simply call me ' Dear Bishop.' I wish 
to think and to be reminded of the lordly part of my title 
as little as possible. I have quite given up horse exercise 
here, I have no time, and there is no motive. The roads 
are all paved, and a strip of turf is nowhere to be found. 
Oh, how gladly I would return to my old bucolic life if duty 
allowed me ! Happily I did not come here of my own 
choice ; and if God sent me He will give me strength and 
wisdom for the work, but when a few years are gone, if 
my life is spared, I shall hand over the office to a younger 
and a better man." And a little further on : "I am quite 
ashamed of the way in which under the pressure of new 
duties, old friends fall, I will not say out of remembrance, 
but out of the ranks of correspondents. I hardly ever can 
find time for those letters which still hold together ancient 
friendships even when personal intercourse has become 
impossible." 

1872. 

To the Same. Manchester, January 22nd, 1872. " I fear 
I shall fall into disgrace with all my friends, for I find it 
almost impossible to keep up as I should wish to do my 
private correspondence. Oh, Sale, I would give half I pos- 
sess to be back again in my quiet country parsonage ! I 
can't think how I let my friends persuade me that I was fit 
to be a Bishop. I don't say that I am unhappy, but I am 
dissatisfied with myself; the work is above my power, and 
I feel myself not half good or holy enough for such an office 
as I have to fill. I am going to London on Wednesday to 
attend the first meeting of the governing body of Shrewsbury 
School ; and then I go to Coventry to preach a sermon ; 
and then to Oxford for Sunday; and then to Chester to 
preach one of the opening sermons at the cathedral ; and 



CHAP. ill. BACK IN BERKSHIRE. 221 

then on the 3olh home again. That is a sample of the 
world I am obliged to live in. Just contrast that with my 
former quietude." 

Thus after upwards of a year's experience he is still by no 
means reconciled, and the longing for country and quiet, 
and work of which he could feel himself master, was often 
forcing itself up. 

Here is the first gleam of genuine enjoyment of the old 
kind. He is on a short holiday, and back for the first time 
in his old Berkshire home : 

1871. 

To Mr. Mozhy. Sul/iamstead, Reading, September 26th, 
1871. "I preached twice yesterday at Ufton to crowded 
congregations. I should think I spoke to and shook hands 
with every man, woman, and child in Ufton. Annie 
Dimant had gone back the night before, and played the 
organ. The school children mustered in good force and 
seemed in nice order. The Rectory and grounds looked 
well, but hardly in such good order to my eyes as it was in 
my time, and the meadows were very full of weeds. The 
churchyard also has not been much cared for." 

And now, turning again to his public life, perhaps the 
most noteworthy point in it is the thoroughness and 
simplicity which he threw still into every act and word. It 
never would seem to have crossed his mind that the Bishop 
of Manchester must take more heed to his ways, be more 
cautious, reticent, circumspect, than the Rector of Ufton. 
He had always spoken his exact mind up to now, and meant 
to do it to the end. Thus on his first appearance in Con- 
vocation he at once showed his quality in that body in the 



222 LIFE OF BISriOP FRASER. PART n. 

most unequivocal, but not wholly acceptable, manner. On 
a motion of his friend, Dean Hovvson, for the disuse of the 
Athanasian Creed in the Church services, he warmly sup- 
ported him. The speech is so thoroughly characteristic that 
I give it almost at length. 

He said : " The Creed may be ancient may be authentic 
may be true may be proved by most certain warrants of 
Holy Scripture, and yet may be unsuitable for use in the 
public service of the Church. 

''To prove its suitableness for the instruction of the 
ignorant and unlearned, certain verses of it are selected, 
which, it is maintained, the youngest children in our schools 
can take in and accept. But these same verses produce an 
effect upon the mind when they are taken out from their 
setting in the document quite different from that which they 
produce when taken in connection with a number of other 
propositions, which every one must allow to be simply unin- 
telligible to the ignorant and unlearned. Taken as a whole, 
I can hardly conceive any one considering this Creed as 
ministering to the instruction and edification of the poor, or 
of the unlearned. It is certain that it is not so regarded in 
the Church of Rome, for it is only used by them at the ser- 
vice of prime, which is almost exclusively a service for the 
clergy. 

"And if, as the Bishop of Peterborough said in the 
Southern Convocation, ' words mean nothing more and 
nothing less than what logic and grammar make them mean,' 
I believe that the Archbishop of Canterbury said neither 
more nor less than the truth when he expressed the opinion 
that nobody in the Church of England takes the monitory 
clauses in their plain and literal sense ; because that plain 
literal sense is that whoever does not hold the Catholic faith 



CHAP. ill. FIRST SPEECH IN CONVOCATION. 223 

as set forth in the dogmatic statements of the Athanasian 
Creed, without doubt shall perish everlastingly. If Abraham, 
Isaac, and Jacob, are to sit down in the kingdom of God, 
some who have never been able to comprehend the length, 
and height, and breadth and depth, of this formulary, may 
possibly sit down there too ! 

" Is it pretended that the Athanasian Creed is rj a.ira.% 
Trapa8o6eL(ra rots dyt'ois 7rurris, of which St. Jude speaks ? or 
that Gospel which Paul preached to the Corinthians, which 
they had received, and by which also they were saved, un- 
less they had believed in vain ? a Creed of uncertain date, 
doubtful authorship, precarious interpretation, not publicly 
used as \ve use it in any other Church in Christendom, 
which has never received the sanction of an (Ecumenical 
Council. 

"There is a clause in the Creed declaring 'every Person 
by himself to be God and Lord,' which does not seem to be 
much modified in the proposed new translation ' every 
Person severally is God and Lord,' which Canon Liddon 
himself admits can only be received ' with considerable intel- 
lectual caution.' Indeed, all through this part of the Creed, 
one is trying to steady one's mind to keep to that narrow 
line which separates what the Church has condemned as 
Sabellianism on the one hand, from Tritheism on the other. 
When a Creed contains doctrine of such subtle intricacy, 
and matters which even theologically educated minds are 
warned to receive with caution, I cannot think, with the 
speaker who immediately preceded me, that it is a document 
as a whole for recitation in mixed congregations. In fact, 
this Creed illustrates in a remarkable way the manner in 
which the wit of man, aiming at a noble end, trying to pierce 
the cloud of darkness in which we feel we are enveloped, 
and through which we naturally desire to' grope our way to 



224 LIFE OF BISHOP ERASER. PART II. 

higher, and further, and clearer truth this Creed, I say, 
illustrates in a remarkable way the manner in which the wit 
of men has endeavoured to give, out of its own resources, a 
definiteness beyond what is given in Holy Scripture to 
religious ideas, by putting them into theological terms. 

" For thirteen years of my ministerial life I had charge of 
a rural parish of 200 souls. The one intelligent man in my 
congregation was the squire. Whenever I stood up to 
recite the Athanasian Creed in his presence he did what 
Archdeacon Churton has told us George III. used to do 
he sat down at once, closing his prayer-book with an angry 
slam. And the pain this used to give me was poorly com- 
pensated by hearing the clerk, and some fifty or sixty 
agricultural labourers, reciting their alternate verses, from 
which, I doubt if they received as much edification as they 
would have done from the more familiar language of the 
Apostles' Creed. 

" The amendment which has been moved by an old and 
valued friend of mine, with whom it was once my great 
advantage to be associated in the discipline and instruction 
of the same college in Oxford " [Rev. C. P. Eden], " pleads 
for delay. Though of a somewhat impetuous nature, I do 
feel that in solemn matters like this, we must not risk the 
perils of precipitancy. I should be very glad if his Grace 
the Archbishop, amid his multifarious engagements, could 
find us a little more time to discuss the weighty and serious 
problems that lie before us. But in this particular instance, 
I do not see what is to be gained by delay. The Church 
of England has been belated more than once in her eccle- 
siastical history. She has done things, and attempted to 
do them, when the time for doing them wisely and well had 
passed away. I can see nothing that can be gained by delay 
but an increase of strife. I can hardly believe that there 



CHAP. in. UNIVERSITY TESTS BILL. 225 

will be any one in the Church of England I was going to 
say, so disloyal, I will say, so unwise, as to forsake the com- 
munion of his Baptism, it might be the communion of his 
Ordination, because the Church in the exercise of a wise 
discretion, while still recognising the value of the Athanasian 
Creed as a document of her faith, declined any longer to 
disturb thinking minds, or weak consciences, by making its 
use compulsory in her public service." 

The speech was salutary, but did not prevail. The motion 
was carried in the Upper House, but lost in the Lower. 

Equally characteristic was his maiden speech in the 
House of Lords, of which a few sentences must suffice 
here. 

1872. 

On the University Tests Bill, May io///, 1872. " We 
are living in an age when it is not wise to tie the tongue 
of any teacher on any subject. I believe the truth of 
Christianity will stand examination. I have no fear for 
Christianity, but the greatest fear for the interests of religion 
if subjected to these objectionable tests. I venture to 
think that our colleges will be very much improved by the 
admission of Nonconformists ; and that such admission 
will be a gain to the nation, to the Nonconformists, and to 
the Church of England, which has suffered by the exclusive 
possession of these privileges and prerogatives. I do not 
believe the Nonconformist will be one whit behind the 
most earnest members of the Church in making the colleges 
places of sound education and religion." 

These deliverances, so direct, so unexpected, so un- 
compromising ; while they delighted and put heart into 
many who were losing hope of ever seeing a Bishop who 
could understand and speak out their minds, greatly scan- 

Q 



226 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

dalized orthodox Churchmen generally, and in particular 
a number of his old Oxford friends. While Dean Stanley 
broke out into the delighted exclamation, " Well ! you do 
verge on the imprudent more than any man I know ! " others, 
and notably Mr. Burgon (formerly a fellow of Oriel, but 
now a Dean), fell upon him in the press with an insolent 
assumption of superiority and a loss of temper, which 
would have roused most men to angry retort. But neither 
disturbed his equanimity, nor drew from him a word of 
reply. He went on his way, giving out constantly, and 
without stint, the best that was in him. This was the 
business, as he understood it, of a Father in the Church. 
It was not his business to make things pleasant, or conceal 
any of his own convictions. " I hope," as he wrote to Sale, 
" I shall be always straightforward." 

1871. 

Speech at Annual Meeting of the Sanitary Association, 
May, 1871. "There are four requisites to healthy, decent 
life which every Englishman should be able to command 
in our times good food, wholesome air, pure water, com- 
plete drainage. The foremost heathen nations seem to 
have understood their duty in these matters better than we 
do, even now. The main hindrance to my mind to the 
work of this excellent association is likely to be crotchets. 
You do not seem sufficiently inclined to believe in experts 
fcr this work. 'Cuique in sua arte credendum/ is my 
motto. Don't go in for crotchets, is my advice. I have 
had very striking experience in these matters. My first 
country living was near Salisbury, to which my duty often 
called me, and I knew it well. It was a city of 14,000 
inhabitants, and was at that time almost the most unhealthy 
of any English city. Now I see by the last official returns 



CHAP. in. THE LIBERAL CLERGY. 227 

it is all but at the top of the list. This shows what may 
be done by wise sanitary measures. . . . Since I have 
been a Vice-President I have been deluged with pamphlets 
on the Contagious Diseases Act. For the present I must 
reserve my judgment on the whole subject, as I have not 
been able to come to any definite conclusion. This how- 
ever I am quite sure of, that the moral and physical questions 
should be kept quite distinct." 

1871. 

Sermon in Westminster Abbey, July, 1871. "To live on 
the verge of mystery is the very condition of our human 
life. If the phenomena of natural life are most mysterious, 
what must be the case as to spiritual life ? No revelation 
can be asked to unveil more than it is necessary for man 
to know. This Christianity does for the spiritual life. The 
readiest and best explanation of the whole mystery is, that 
a loving God is restoring the creation by His Son and His 
Spirit. We have lost the note of unity, but we need not 
lose the note of love. That one strong cable is enough. 
Without it there must be the unstable mind, the dragging 
anchor which wrecks faith, and is as bad for souls as for 
ships. The true attitude of man's will is humility." 

Dean Stanley, and all the Liberal clergy of London, Mr. 
Llewelyn Davies, S. Hansard, and others, were always on 
the look-out for him on the occasions of his rare attendances 
at the House of Lords, so that even when in London he 
got little rest on Sundays. As to that assembly, "when I 
go to the House," he said jokingly, " I always feel as if the 
officials kept an eye on me lest I should be come for some 
of the coats. If it were not for my apron and knee breeches 
I believe they would beckon for the police." 

Q 2 



228 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

1870. 

Prize Day at Rossall School, June, 1870. This gathering 
consisted mainly of Lancashire manufacturers and business 
men. " Listen to me ! Don't put your boys to business 
till you have given them a thorough, sound, liberal education. 
This is made up of three elements, povo-iK-r), ypafifiariK^, 
yvpvafrriKri, as the wise old heathens taught ; and that old 
system which England has adopted in her old Universities 
and schools has produced, and will continue to produce the 
best specimens of men and citizens. I am bound perhaps, 
however, to admit that of late the yvfivaa-nK-rj has been a 
little overdone." 

Consecration of Bacup Cemetery, August, 1870. At the 
consecration service in the morning the Bishop had said, 
"St. Paul calls the resurrection of the body a great mystery, 
and I hope you won't ask or expect me to explain it ... 
but the only thing which will keep you from the resurrection 
of the body, whatever that may be, will be obstinacy, 
hardness of heart, continuance in the devil's ways." 

At the dinner which followed, the chairman in proposing 
his health admitted that he had been watching him now 
for six months, and thought they had got the right man in 
the right place. In reply the Bishop said, he knew that 
most of those present were not of his communion, but by 
the constitution of his mind he couldn't be a partisan. He 
was something of a Laodicean, and admitted (as he had 
been warned in the papers) that impatience was his danger. 
However, anyhow he was glad to work with all of them 
whenever he could, though he felt that his system was much 
better than theirs. 

At a great Sunday School Demonstration in the Corpora- 
tion Park at Blackburn, at which 16,000 children and their 



CHAP. in. WORKING MEN'S MISSION. 229 

teachers were present. "Our National Church cannot 
afford to be the church of the privileged classes. It must 
be by its constitution the Church of the whole people, 
tolerant, catholic, evangelical, comprehensive, conciliatory 
.... I am surprised myself to find the loyalty to the 
National Church in this diocese and great county of 
Lancashire. In fifty years some of you children may 
remember my words, and I tell you that then you will be 
living in a country more happy, better educated, more 
civilised, more united, and more religious, than we are who 
are now treading this English soil." 

It is time to pass on from this first year, to which more 
space has been given than can be spared to any of those 
which follow. The chapter may close with two more 
abbreviated speeches, and a note from his old schoolfellow 
Lord Lingen. 

June, 1870. At a meeting of the " Working Men's Evan- 
gelistic Mission," to raise funds for building a tabernacle, he 
said he was aware that he was not standing on a Church 
platform, but if he thought the dissenting platform more 
solid and broader than that of the Church he should be a 
Dissenter and not a Churchman. . . . This he understood 
to be a special effort to meet a Society for the Propagation 
of Anti-Christian Atheism which had been established 
amongst them. The powers of evil were being arrayed 
more actively than ever, and he could wish Godspeed, and 
give all the help in his power, to any effort which seemed 
like to extend or strengthen his Master's Kingdom. He 
must give them one warning, however. As he understood 
it, the congregation which would gather in this tabernacle 
was to be what he might call a transitional one. It was 
meant for birds of passage, not for a local congregation. 



230 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

This was well. But he must warn them not to drift into 
any attempt to found a new sect. That they must avoid 
as a rock on which they might strike, and probably founder. 
For himself, he rejoiced to be there. In two months he 
had already confirmed upwards of 4,000 young folk, but 
they were almost all of what were called the respectable 
classes. The Church ought not to be content with that." 

July, 1870. At a meeting of The Evening Visitors 
Society " He always felt most satisfaction when working 
on his old lines as a country parson teaching boys to love 
God and their schoolfellows going from cottage to cottage 
and hearing simple tales of sorrow and suffering. This was 
their work, and he said now again, as he had said before, it 
ought to be organised. He saw in the papers, ' Oh, the 
Bishop wants a convent or a monastery.' That was, he sup- 
posed, because he had said that the Roman Catholic methods 
were better for great towns than those of our Church ; and 
he thought so still. The Bishop ought to be the chief 
minister in a diocese like this, with a special staff which he 
could send about where they were most wanted. He him- 
self ought to have at least half a do/en church houses, with 
three clergy in each of them, for such work as this. An 
idea of this kind had been slumbering in his mind these 
fourteen years, and he should like to see his way to making 
it a reality." 

1871. 

" If ever there was a sociable and sympathetic man he 
was one," Lord Lingen, his old friend, writes in reference 
to this period, " pleasantly inquisitive and ready to talk to 
any one. I remember the night when the great repository 
in Belgravia was burnt down, he and I had walked across 
Hyde Park to my house, and, having seen there was a great 
fire in that direction had started after dinner to look for it. 



CHAP. in. BISHOP OF ALL DENOMINATIONS. 231 

Fraser said to a casual bystander, ' There is a great deal of 
property being destroyed, how much do you think it is 
worth ? ' The man answered, ' About five millions I should 
say.' Whereupon Fraser said, in the gentlest way, 'Oh, 
hardly so much as that,' and proceeded to state why he 
thought the estimate excessive. I can quite understand 
how his heart, always showing itself good in contact, how- 
ever slight, with his fellowmen, won for him that character 
in his diocese which made the Manchester people, with the 
truest instinct, desire to have a statue of him out of doors. 
in some place of public resort. His readiness to talk to 
every one always reminded me of what Thirlwall says of 
Socrates, ' He became one of the most conspicuous and 
notorious persons at Athens. There perhaps was hardly 
a mechanic who had not, at some time or other, been 
puzzled or diverted by his questions.' " 

After reading the above extracts from, and condensations 
of, his utterances in this first year, which could be easily 
multiplied tenfold, readers will probably have no difficulty in 
understanding how it came to pass that by the end of that 
time he had already earned the title of " the Bishop of all 
Denominations." 

As this chapter commenced, so it may well end, with 
words spoken of the great Archbishop of the seventeenth 
century, which might well have been written of Bishop 
Fraser : " A decent but grave cheerfulness, made his con- 
versation as lively and agreeable as it was useful and in- 
structing. He was ever in good humour : always the same ; 
both accessible and affable. He heard everything patiently ; 
was apt neither to mistake nor suspect; his own great 
candour disposing him to put the best construction, and to 
judge most favourably of all persons and things." 



CHAPTER IV. 

" If any existing society or church is to be the nucleus of a new system 
it can only be by the sloughing off much that is old. But I hope this 
will be done rather by the impulse of new life from within than by any 
wrench from without. The quantity of inwardness, faithfulness, and 
power which has come before me in my own generation, cannot, I think, 
pass away without helping towards some great outward revolution." 
J. STERLING to JULIUS HARE, Life, p. 79. 

MANCHESTER, 1871 1875. 
1871. 

THE next years of his episcopate must be passed over 
rapidly. It will be only possible to indicate generally the 
lines on which he carried out the work he had laid down for 
himself, which will be best done by short extracts from 
speeches and letters, with the least possible comment. It is 
within the mark to say that, except in the short holidays he 
allowed himself, and the very rare occasions on which he 
was kept at home by illness, scarcely a day passed in which 
he did not do some public work. Most men whose sense 
of duty might compel them to live such a life in which 
evenings were nearly as much occupied as the day 
would have fallen into mere mechanical drudges, doggedly 
getting through their daily tale of talk, consultation, ad- 
monition, encouragement, but losing their hold day by day 
on current politics and literature, and on all social questions 
outside their routine work. Nothing of the kind happened 
to him. The order and method which had become a 



CHAP. iv. A RECOGNISED LEADER. 233 

second nature to him, helped him here ; and, either in his 
odds and ends of time at home, or in his journeys about his 
diocese, when he always carried some book he wanted to 
read, he managed to keep abreast of the best thought and 
literature of his time. " Man's first word is Yes ; his second 
No ; his third and last, Yes ; and while the bulk of men 
stop short at the first, very few attain to the third," says 
Julius Hare, and the saying holds true of most of us. But 
there are men, and the Bishop was one of them, who reach 
the final Yes without having had to pass through the second 
or negative stage. He made himself acquainted with all our 
modern speculations, agnostic, atheistic, positive, but more 
because he found that he wanted such knowledge to do his 
own work of "ministering" thoroughly than because his 
faith in the Gospel the good news of God he had learnt at 
his mother's knee ever faltered. The negative tendency 
which must have been in him as in every man, was held in 
check, and defeated by the purity and practical activity of 
his life. He who is in earnest daily conflict with the false- 
hood and disorder which he finds in himself and all around 
him, is of all men least likely to be troubled by the universal 
" No." Such men learnt as by tuition, what comes to most of 
us only as the result of long and painful effort and experience 
that there are depths in human hearts, and regions in 
human lives, which no plummet of man's intellect or reason 
can sound, and so will neither wander out into the wilder- 
ness, nor beat their heads against stone walls. 

It may be taken then that, by the autumn of 1871 the 
bishop's position was thoroughly established and recognised. 
He had been tested by all manner of persons, in all kinds of 
positions and circumstances, and had proved himself a strong 
man all round, who must be reckoned with by every one who, 
whether for public or personal reasons, wanted to influence 



234 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART ir. 

the spiritual or social life of any corner of Lancashire. He 
had become already a power, which employers of labour and 
trades' unionists, newspaper editors and politicians, as well 
as clergy and their flocks, had to take account of, whether 
they liked it or not a man, too, with no weak side without 
vanity and without crotchets of whom it might be truly 
said, as Carlyle wrote of Schiller, " Abstracted from the con- 
templation of himself, his eye was turned upon the objects 
of his labour, and he pursued them with the eagerness, the 
entireness, the spontaneous sincerity, of a boy pursuing sport." 

He had, in short, been placed by acclaim at the head of 
the religious and social life of his diocese. From scavengers 
and night-soil men up to the old county families, the hearty 
Northern folk had learnt to accept him on his own terms, 
and were ready with cordial act and word to second and 
sustain him. 

One anecdote may serve to show how he had brought the 
diocese round. In his first visitation to North Lancashire 
some of his outspoken utterances on matters which old- 
fashioned people held to be outside a bishop's province, had 
annoyed and alarmed one of the principal landowners and 
Churchmen Mr. Townley Parker who expressed himself 
strongly in this sense in the presence of his rector's wife. 
She, fresh from the bishop's address to their candidates for 
Confirmation, protested that her squire was entirely mistaken, 
and would have to change his mind. Mr. Parker replied that 
there was so little chance of that that he would give her ioo/. 
for any purpose she liked to name if ever this bishop entered 
his doors. Some months later he came again to North 
Lancashire, and Mr. Parker met him at a neighbour's house 
at dinner. 1 A week later the rector's wife got a note from 

1 The Rev. II. Hawkins, Vicar of Lytham, who was present, writes 
to correct the statement in the text, " It was not at the dinner, at 



CHAP. IV. NO PARTY POLITICIAN. 235 

her squire asking her and her husband to meet their bishop, 
and adding that the ioo/. would be paid to her order by his 
bankers. It was invested by the triumphant lady in a 
portrait of her husband by Roll. 

Now we may turn to his sayings and doings. 

Sept. St/i, 1871. "Those Orangemen at John the Baptist's 
have, I see, been open-mouthed at me again. I don't think 
their barking will do me any harm ; certainly it will not make 
me alter my course." This parish was amongst the most 
troublesome in the diocese, and occupied as much of his 
attention as militant churchwardens and parishioners could 
manage to monopolise. Amongst the latter was a Mr. 
Chapman, a journalist, who became a friend and corre- 
spondent, but whose first appeal drew forth only, 

Nov. 27/7*, 1871. "Pray let me draw your attention to 
the difference between Christian morality and the morality 
of Christians." 

1872. 

Feb. 2f//i, 1872. To Mr. Chapman, acknowledging report 
of indignation meeting at Hulme upon his refusal as bishop 
to interfere authoritatively : " If my general character will 
not sustain me I must take my chance with other people 
who are misrepresented. I have no sympathy with the 
ecclesiastical practices alleged to be in use in Hulme, but I 
will not help to throw a hard-working (if mistaken) clergyman 
into the power of a pack of fanatical Orangemen, whose 
political creed seems to be their religion." 

Lytham Hall, on the eve of the consecration of St. Anne's Church, that 
Mr. Townley Parker's conversation took place. To the end of the 
evening he would not speak to the bishop, or go near him ; and he 
expressed himself to me most strongly, when I wished him good-night. 
It was the bishop's sermon next morning at St. Anne's Church which 
brought Mr. Townley Parker over. Very touching it was, the way the 
old man broke down in the Communion service." 



236 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

Feb. 2<)t/i, 1872. To the Same. "Politics in the proper 
sense of the word, are a noble department of human activity, 
and in this sense not only may, but ought, to be governed by 
religious principles. But mere partisanship, the wretched 
questions which gender so much strife and bitterness, with- 
out having any tendency to increase the sum of human 
happiness or human virtue, is a very different thing. I am 
no politician beyond wishing to see good government estab- 
lished, equal laws prevailing, and intelligence universally 
diffused." 

April $oth, 1872. To the Same. " I am sorry that I can- 
not see my way to interfering, or any hope of my interfering 
with success. These broils in parishes, partly the offspring 
of folly, partly of obstinacy, fill me with anxiety and distress, 
and make me wish again and again that I had never left my 
quiet little village in Berks, where such anxieties were utterly 
unknown." 

May. To the editor of Punch, who had written to com- 
plain of a published remark of the bishop's which seemed to 
reflect on that journal. " I have often admired the skill and 
right feeling with which your artists touch delicate ground." 
On which the editor commented, " We can hardly regret an 
accident which has afforded the bishop an opportunity of 
showing how an act of justice can be done gracefully." 

Diocesan Synod. "I was not at first favourable to it, but 
the wish of the clergy as reported by the rural deans being 
unanimous, gladly adopt their view. As to the objection 
that it is 'not legal,' it is allowed to all classes of Her 
Majesty's subjects to meet for conference so long as they do 
not break the peace." At the synod which followed, the 



CHAP. iv. NO SENTIMENTALIST. 237 

question of ritualism being under discussion, he said : " The 
symbolism of Eucharistic vestments, lighted candles, the 
eastward position, indicate the doctrine that the minister is. 
offering a propitiatory sacrifice, and this is not the doctrine 
of our Church. . . The whole congregation is a royal 
priesthood, and not a single place can be found in the Bible 
where a minister of the New Testament is called ' Upevs.' ;> 

1873- 

1873. On Church Party Organisations.- In answer to 
the Council of the Church Association asking him to modify 
or withdraw remarks he had made as to that body : 

" I am sorry that my language at Stockport ' that the 
Church Union and your Church Association have become 
instruments of party, lending themselves to persecutions,' has 
given offence. I cannot, however, retract or modify it. The 
temper of such associations seems to me to be essentially 
intolerant and persecuting," and in a letter some weeks later 
to the same : " I never read the report of a meeting of 'the 
Church Union or Church Association in which I cannot dis- 
cern traces of the same spirit, indicating to my mind that 
these two great antagonisms, by intensifying points of differ- 
ence, and ignoring those on which they are agreed, are 
rendering the prospects of union and brotherhood in the 
Church of England on the basis of the Book of Common 
Prayer more distant and hopeless than ever." 

At a Clerical Meeting. " Let those dream dreams who 
please. The simple truth-seeking student of St. Paul's 
letters knows that the Churches of Rome, Corinth, Galatia, 
Colossse, were beset with as many difficulties doctrinal, 
ritualistic, disciplinary some of them touching the founda- 
tions of the faith, as the Church of England is now. Easy 



238 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART ii. 

times are for lifeless Churches like Sardis, for lukewarm 
Churches like Laodicea. ... It was an evil hour when the 
Church thought herself obliged to add to or develop the 
simple articles of the Apostles' Creed." 

Upon fancy pictures of heaven, and sentimental talk 
about longing to meet God face to face, " I venture to say 
there is not one person here who wishes ' to put on immor- 
tality.' Let people not talk such stuff, and be a little more 
real about their religion. The sentimentalism of our day 
is one of the subtlest of our religious perils." ..." Modern 
hymns are for the most part strangely namby-pamby, many 
of them grossly materialistic, those addressed to our Lord 
generally unctuous and sentimental." 

To Meeting of Working Men's Wives. " You must win 
your children early if you would win them at all. Above 
all you must not allow any child of nine or ten, when he 
brings you home his wages, to see that you spend them all 
on yourselves, and let him go half-starved. This I know is 
done in numberless cases." 

At a Public Meeting, Bradford." The Church with all 
her faults is labouring for Christ, and as one of her Bishops 
I call on all you Nonconformists to have a little more charity 
in your words and conduct towards her." 

1874. 

April, 1874. Presiding at a lecture on " Cookery for the 
Sick Room," at the request of the Manchester School of 
Cookery : " You have elected me your president and so I 
ought to preside, though I do so with much diffidence, for I 
know nothing of the subject. Perhaps this may be looked 



CHAP. iv. A CHURCHMAN'S LIBERTY. 239 

on as a mission of gastronomic philanthropy. I expected 
only to have a female audience, but I see that there are 
some men here, led by the irrepressible curiosity of their 
sex ; also my inevitable friends the reporters, but for whom 
I should not enjoy the bad character I have got throughout 
England." After which preface he proceeds to urge the 
duty of greater economy in giving dinners. 

In Dec., 1874, he was again in correspondence with the 
Churchwardens of St. John's, Hulme, Mr. Andrew and his 
supporters being still troubled at the rector's practices. " I 
mark my letters private," the Bishop writes, " because I 
object to your practice of handing them over to the anony- 
mous secretaries of a local organisation for comment in the 
press. It is a proceeding to which I am not accustomed 
and to which I have a right to object." The outcome of 
the correspondence was that the Bishop objected to one 
hymn in use in the Church but refused to interfere, and 
Churchwarden Andrew retired from the encounter " with 
unfeigned dismay." 



Jan., 1875. " Mr. Bright in a recent speech has been 
drawing a picture of the Church of England in which, with 
his usual power, he has represented her ministers as ' flying 
at each other's throats,' 'in fetters,' 'tongue-tied.' I have to 
rub my eyes, on reading this, and ask myself if I am asleep. 
I find I can move pretty freely in the limits allowed by the 
Church ...... A good deal of what passes as religion 

nowadays seems fond of parading behind bands and flags 
through the streets, but is seldom found in a place of 
worship. I don't care the snap of my finger for that kind 
of religion. The Church of England doesn't want it." We 



240 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

shall see that he to some extent modified this opinion in 
later years. 

Oct. isf." I am surprised and sorry to hear that the 
bells of the Cathedral and of the parish Church at Black- 
burn were set ringing to celebrate an election triumph. 
The Church of England has no right, and no business, to 
mix herself up with party politics." 

To the clergy, at a meeting of the British and Foreign 
Bible Society : " When you are asked questions about the 
meaning of isolated texts have the courage to say ' I don't 
know.' People are, or fancy they are, troubled about 
fantastic questions, such as whether it is a necessary part of 
a saving faith to believe in a devil. A man can be saved 
without believing in a devil. But what we have to teach is, 
that no devil or evil spirit can bind even a child until it 
surrenders its will." 

He was fond in his speeches of getting off a joke at his 
own expense. Thus : " A lady, he was told, when asked 
what she had brought away after a service at which he had 
lately preached, replied that ' the Bishop's sleeves wanted 
washing.' That was very likely, as he always carried them 
in his bag." 

Here are a few of the sayings which brought on him 
angry comment. " Habitual confession and absolution is a 
practice fraught with every conceivable mischief ; not so 
public congregational confession." 

" It was an evil day when the Church added to the 
Apostles' Creed ' curious reticulations of faith.' As soon 
as she began to multiply dogmas she had to fulminate 
anathemas. One great secret of Christ's influence was 
that He turned men's thoughts away from the discussions 
of the Rabbis." 



CHAP. iv. WORKING MEN'S CLUBS. 241 

"The difference of opinion which she allows to her 
children is the glory of our National Church." 

" Christians must always be growing, but nowadays we 
are trying to grow by taking drugs instead of food." 

To Working Men. " If your education doesn't teach 
you to say, ' As long as I can help myself I will ask no 
other man to help me,' it is a bad education." 

To Bellringers : "If their hands were required .to be 
clean who bore the vessels of the Sanctuary, their hearts 
should be pure who ring the bells of the Lord." 

At meetings at or for Working Men's Clubs, of which he 
was at first a warm advocate. " When in London, but for 
the restraint of my apron and gaiters, I might have to 
spend my evenings at a public-house, if I had not been 
made a member of the Athen^un when I was made a 
Bishop." 

Manchester. " I approve specially of the breadth of your 
membership, that you propose to include members of all 
political and ecclesiastical parties. I hope you will stick to 
this. If you do, and remain open to all Churchmen, when 
I am detained in town after 5 at my somewhat gloomy den 
in St. James's Square, I shall hope often to spend an hour 
or two here over a tender mutton chop, and see what The 
Rock, and The Church Times, and The Manchester Courier 
papers I don't very often see at home are saying about 
me." 

Rochdale. " I see your Club is founded on a non- 
religious basis, which is quite right. You also allow your 
members to be supplied with drink, the profit going to the 
Club funds. That is quite right also, if kept within proper 
limits, as it seems to be here, for I see that the con- 

R 



242 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PARTII. 

sumption of your members for the year averages i/. a 
head, whereas the average of the whole country is 7/. a 
head." 

It is sad for one who, like the Bishop, has been a sup- 
porter of Working Men's Clubs since Mr. Hodgson Pratt, 
their chief advocate and promoter, started on his crusade, to 
have to record his latest views on the subject. In April, 
1885, only six months before his death he was present at a 
gathering at Owens College, at which Mr. Goschen delivered 
an address on the University extension movement, urging the 
importance of sending thoroughly trained lecturers into all 
the great centres of industrial life, and suggesting that the 
Clubs should be invited to work with the Universities. The 
Bishop said, " that he had been an early and hopeful well- 
wisher to the Club movement, but, going about as he did 
amongst all the Lancashire towns, he was sorry to say he had 
found these Clubs doing anything but aiding and raising the 
social and intellectual life and habits of the working men. 
Perhaps well-systematised courses of lectures, if they could 
be established at the Clubs as centres, might bring them 
back to a higher ideal. He heartily wished success at any 
rate to any effort in this direction." 



Jan. lyt/i, 1875. The Churchwardens of his Cathedral 
follow him to London, where he has gone for a few days, 
with a complaint that " Canon Woodward has been preach- 
ing the doctrine of the Mass." From the Athenaeum the 
Bishop replies, " Of course I can't refuse to comply with 
the request of yourself and your colleagues, and will write to 
Canon Woodward for his sermon ; I can only hope that on 
a subject so mysterious, and on which considerable latitude 
has always been allowed in the Church of England, his lan- 
guage may have been misunderstood." 



CHAP. iv. EXAMINATION OF CANDIDATES. 243 

1875. Presiding at first Diocesan Conference. "I have 
never been able to ascertain what is the exact kind of Court 
it is which the Church Union would consider to be spiritual ; 
why a Chancellor appointed by the Bishop should be more 
a spiritual judge than the same man appointed by the 
Queen. Why Sir Robert Phillimore should be a seculai 
judge in the Admiralty and a spiritual judge in the Court 
of Arches. If the law requires me to wear a cope, though I 
don't like the notion of making a guy of myself, I will wear it." 

The diocese was by this time in thorough working order, 
so here it may be well to show how the most important of 
the Bishop's functions, the ordaining of priests and dea- 
cons, was conducted. Archdeacon Norris, his senior ex- 
amining chaplain, writes : 

" The arrangements for the Ember weeks were as follows 
" The candidates came up on the Wednesday evening. As 
" many as the Bishop's house would hold were received by 
" him ; for the rest he found beds at friends' houses in the 
" neighbourhood. On Thursday morning we all received 
" the Holy Communion together in the private chapel. 
"Then followed a three hours paper on the Greek Tcsta- 
" ment, and a three hours paper on Doctrine and Practice ; 
" at 6.30 P.M. evensong with a charge from the Bishop. On 
" Friday, after morning service in the chapel, papers on the 
" Old Testament in the forenoon, and on Evidences and 
" Church History in the afternoon ; then evensong with a 
"second charge. On Saturday morning prayer in the 
" chapel, Latin Composition, and a sermon ; evensong with 
"a third charge." 

" Each candidate was examined individually and orally by 
" the chaplains ; and the Bishop had a private interview 



244 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

" with each. In the evenings there was supper and music 
" for all who liked to come. 

" In his later years all who sought ordination came up 
" some weeks before the Ember week for a preliminary 
" examination, the deacons in Holy Scripture, the priests in 
" the text books mentioned above. This not only relieved 
" the work of the Ember week, but also enabled the Bishop 
" to caution backward candidates privately that they would 
" do well to delay their ordination some few months, when 
" needed. His chaplains would have been glad if a larger 
li portion of the examination could have been taken at the 
" earlier date, so as to relieve the Ember week yet further, 
",and enable us to spend some hours of each day devotion- 
" ally. But the Bishop feared that the majority of the men 
" would not appreciate this, or turn the devotional hours to 
" good account. And anything like unreality, or a forcing 
" of devotion, was abhorrent to him. Laborare est orare 
" was his maxim, and hard work was never irksome to him, 
" nor unfitted him for prayer and devotion ; and he was 
" apt to make scant allowance for the infirmities of others 
" in these respects. I am sure that he often failed to realise 
" how intellectual weariness, and anxiety about the result, 
' unfitted many of the men to approach their ordination in 
" a really devotional spirit. But, on the other side, it was 
" one of the strong points in the Bishop's character, that he 
" was always natural. The men *could not fail to see this 
" and to appreciate it. Speaking to them in the chapel after 
" evensong from the few notes that he had put together in 
" his study, his earnest warnings, his pathetic appeals, his 
" ever fresh applications of Holy Scripture to the duties and 
' inner life of the clergyman, came, and were felt to come, 
" from his lips and heart as naturally as afterwards the 
" pleasant anecdote and playful conversation in the drawing- 



CHAP. iv. ORDINATIONS. 245 

" room. To have endeavoured to sustain the higher tone 
" of the chapel during the hour or two of relaxation that 
" followed, would have been alien to his nature. 

" Talking of the ' retreats ' and ' quiet days ' in which 
" many of the clergy have come to find great comfort, he 
" used to say to me : ' I can entirely believe that such 
" days are profitable to others ; but hearty, earnest work is 
" ' my best offering to God. And here in Manchester I 
" ' could not well spare more than an hour or two for such 
" ' devotional exercises.' " 

Dec. 24//<, 1875. To Archdeacon Norris. "lam afraid 
you have been thinking all manner of evil of me for my 
apparent neglect of your letters and suggestions concerning 
the conduct of future ordinations. But it is the exceeding 
difficulty of the subject which makes me hesitate, and even 
now I can't see my way at all clear. I still think that 
something not very different from our present manner of 
spending the time is best and healthiest for the mass of 
men, I don't believe that the intellectual exercises alack ! 
for the little intellect that is generally shown in working 
them are a hindrance to a spiritual frame of mind, and I 
think it quite possible to attempt to force this latter into an 
exaggerated, abnormal, and therefore unhealthy, tempera- 
ture. But I shall be glad to do anything that can be done 
to bring the more direct influence of prayer and meditation 
and godly counsel, to bear on the candidates individually, 
and if any practical scheme can be suggested, I will thank- 
fully fall into it. Can you come and help me in Lent, and 
then we will have a good deliberation upon the matter with 
the Dean, Anson, and Birley? But I assure you I have 
had frequent testimony from the best men that they haye 
been, I won't say satisfied with, but benefited by, things as 
they are. Still, I don't deny that improvement is possible." 



CHAPTER V. 

" Surely that wiser time shall come 
When this fine overplus of mi^ht, 
No longer sullen, slow and dumb, 
Shall leap to music and to light. 

" In that new childhood of the earth 
Life of itself shall dance and play, 
Fresh blood in Time's old veins make mirth, 
And Labour meet Delight half way." 

J. K. LOWELL, lleawr Brook. 

MANCHESTER. 
THE LABOUR QUESTION. TRADES UNIONS CO-OPERATION. 

I8 74 . 

IN the Diocese of Manchester, the centre of England's 
industrial life, it was of course impossible that a Bishop 
should not be confronted at once with the problems of the 
labour question ; and equally impossible for a Bishop of 
Eraser's temper and principles to stand aloof from them on 
the plea that the Church had no concern with such, being 
only responsible for the spiritual life of the nation. In his 
quiet country parish he had only been a distant spectator of 
the struggle, but, as was his wont, had formed a very decided 
opinion upon the central and critical question round which 
the battle was in those days raging most fiercely. This 
opinion was soon drawn from him in Manchester, and he 
gave it concisely, precisely, and once for all, in the words, 
" I am no lover of the principles of trades unionism, but 



CHAP. v. UMPIRE. 247 

they have been forced on the working classes by the 
inequitable use of the power of capital." 

This emphatic utterance, putting, I think, truly the con- 
clusion to which the independent judgment of the nation 
was already leaning, drew on him the fire of both sides : the 
employers taking care that he should be informed of all 
high-handed or tyrannical doings of the unions, and the 
working men returning the compliment with equal vigilance. 
The Bishop, as usual, went his own way, promptly answer- 
ing all appeals, and never mincing or paring down his 
honest opinion to suit the prejudices or views of either side. 
Of course the result was, that he was constantly bdng 
taken to task by the organs of both, while at the same time 
the faith of both sides in his fairness and sympathy was 
steadily growing. The first public proof of this occurred 
in the spring of 1874, when, in a dispute between the 
master painters of Manchester and Salford and their men, 
the arbitrators being unable to agree, both sides appealed to 
him to act as umpire, under their " working rules, agreed to 
between the employers and operative painters of Manchester 
and Salford, on January 6th, 1871." 

The Bishop accepted the office, and went into all the 
questions at issue with his usual zeal and thoroughness. He 
delivered his award in writing on the 27th of March, pre- 
facing it with " As I think it will be more satisfactory to 
both parties if I give not only my decision, but (as briefly as 
may be) the reasons which have led me to it in each case, 
it will be the simplest and clearest course to deal with each 
rule in order." This he then proceeds to do. 

Those who have had experience in these references, will, 
I think, demur to the Bishop's conclusion. Giving reasons 
for the decision arrived at by an umpire in a trade dispute 
will be found as a rule merely to exasperate the parties, and 



248 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

to prolong the war of words and arguments. In the case in 
question, however, no harm seems to have come of it, and 
the Bishop's award insured peace in the trade for two years. 
It dealt with three points, and decided " (i) that the 
minimum rate of wage per hour shall be 7|d. (2) That 
overtime on full working days shall not be paid for at the 
rate of " time and half" before the hour of 9 P.M. : but that 
on Saturdays, whether a job is being finished or not, over- 
time shall be reckoned and paid for at the usual rate. (3) 
That is. per week extra shall be allowed to men employed 
on country jobs who are required to stay away from home 
on Sunday." 

The rules were altered in accordance with this decision, 
and the Bishop heard no more of the painters till March, 
1876, when the court of arbitration again appealed to him 
to act as umpire, and he again consented, and went once 
more through the usual drudgery of weighing and comparing 
the contradictory statements and figures of two sets of dis- 
putants, neither of whom will frankly put their umpire in 
possession of the whole of the facts. Again the Bishop in 
his award gave the reasons for his decision, an extract from 
which may be given here. 

The men were applying for an increase of id. an hour on 
the rate of i\d. fixed by him two years before. " It was in- 
deed asserted," writes the Bishop, " that the men could not 
'live in comfort' on this wage, and their condition was even 
represented as ' little better than paupers.' But it was re- 
plied that a wage which (exclusive of overtime) amounts to 
ji 14$. o\d. per week, and, allowing for three months lost 
time in the year, gives an average weekly income for the fifty- 
two weeks of i 6s. zd., was considerably above the earnings 
of large classes of men in Manchester carters, gardeners, 
&c. who certainly would not consent to be characterised 



CHAP. v. TRADE DISPUTES. 249 

as paupers. ' Living in comfort ' is a phrase depending for 
its meaning on the ideas of him who uses it. I heartily 
wish that every working man in England were in possession 
of every comfort which his station will reasonably allow him 
to procure, and with the cultivation of frugal and temperate 
habits, much more might be done in this desirable direction 
than is done ; but I venture to think that in determining the 
rate of wages I must not be led away by a somewhat vague 
phrase, but must be guided in my judgment by other and 
more relevant considerations. My own observation of the 
condition of this country, in which many great branches of 
industry are lying almost prostrate, and none of the staple 
trades of this district can be called flourishing, would lead 
me to the conclusion at which the masters have arrived, 
viz., that the public generally can ill afford to meet enhanced 
prices, which would necessarily follow a higher wage rate ; 
and that if pi ices are enhanced trade would probably be in 
the same proportion contracted. The demand, therefore, 
for an immediate advance of wages would seem to be in- 
opportune." And then, after commenting on the rates of 
twenty-four towns in the north, some higher, some lower, 
than the Manchester rate, he goes on, " It must not be 
forgotten also that the wage rate fixed by the rules is a 
minimum rate, and that good men can and do earn higher 
wages, so that a man has only to improve his skill as a 
tradesman to improve his position as a wage-earner. Upon 
these considerations which I have thought it well to state 
fully, my original conclusion was, not to disturb the arrange- 
ment of 1874. But upon reflection that it was admitted 
that there has been a slight increase in house rent, and, 
following the usual method of compromise to halve the 
amount in dispute, I have finally decided* that *}\d. per hour 
the mean between the id. offered by the masters and the 



250 . LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART 11. 

%\d. demanded by the men will not be an inequitable 
solution of a problem, all the elements of which are with 
difficulty apprehended by one outside the trade, and I award 
accordingly. I am afraid that the decision will not give 
satisfaction to either party, but I hope I shall have credit for 
having attempted to decide it fairly and without favour." 

His experience with the painters made him rather shy of 
the office of umpire in trades disputes for the future. To 
spend three or four days hard at work on detailed statements 
of accounts, which you feel all the time are, not exactly 
cooked, but so arranged and manipulated, both as to what 
is disclosed and what concealed, that you never can feel 
sure of your premisses, is an occupation which to a busy and 
accurate man can never seem profitable. And the usual 
conclusion, arrived at by the Bishop in this instance as 
happens, let us add, in nine such cases out of ten with 
other than episcopal umpires to split the difference be- 
tween the parties is, it must be owned, not otherwise than a 
humiliating one. 

Nevertheless he was still ready to come forward as a 
peacemaker, and never lost an opportunity of protesting 
against the folly and the waste of strikes and lock-outs. 
Thus, when the Agricultural Union in 1874 first began to 
show that it was becoming a power which might have to be 
reckoned with in the future, and the employers endeavoured 
to crush it before the mischief was done, a letter of the 
Bishop's went the round of the papers which sorely tried the 
public, and drew on him a perfect storm of letters, abusive, 
sympathetic, critical. "Are the farmers of England mad?" 
the peccant sentences ran. " Fair wages will have to be 
paid to the labourer. If farmers can't afford fair wages 
at present, rents must come down an unpleasant thing 
no doubt for those who will spend the rent of a 300 aero 



CHAP. v. STRIKES. 251 

farm on a single ball, or a pair of high-stepping horses, but 
nevertheless inevitable." 

1878. 

When the great cotton strike in North-East Lancashire 
in the summer of 1878, on the question of 10 per cent, 
reduction of wages, had lasted for seven weeks, the opera- 
tives proposed to refer the points in dispute to him (no 
doubt as an escape from the humiliation of an unconditional 
surrender). This the employers, now sure of their ground, 
refused, but it gave the Bishop the chance of making an 
appeal, and reading both sides a lesson. " I appeal to you 
as your Bishop," he wrote, " bound by my orifice to promote 
peace in this county : as a resident amongst you witnessing 
the fearful distress and misery which this dispute is causing : 
as an Englishman interested in the prosperity of my country 
which these trade disputes are threatening to destroy, to put 
an end to this mad war. This is the seventh week of idle- 
ness, and the loss to the workpeople has already mounted 
up to 525,0007. in wages alone. What next? The extra- 
ordinary growth and prosperity of this business in past 
years would seem to have blinded all connected with it. 
The prosperity of fools shall destroy them ! " The Bishop 
exhorted in vain. In a week or two the operatives had to 
surrender unconditionally and go back to work on the 10 
per cent, reduction. No bridge or even plank for retreat 
was allowed by the triumphant employers, who were resolved 
that the workpeople should drink the cup of humiliation 
to the dregs. They drank, and the taste remains in their 
mouths to this day. 

Three years later another wide-spread strike occurred in 
Bolton and the neighbourhood. A local relief fund for the 
families of the operatives was opened to which the Bishop 



252 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

sent 20/. This was acknowledged by Mr. Broadhurst, the 
Secretary of the Parliamentary Committee of the Trade 
Unions, who took the occasion to forward copies of the 
reports. In acknowledging them the Bishop took care to 
show that he had not changed his mind as to the Unions 
and their policy. " It surely indicates," he wrote, " that 
something is needed, when at Bolton it has required a strike 
of nine weeks, involving a loss of 9o,ooo/. in wages, to 
arrive at a settlement which might just as easily have been 
arrived at without any strike at all." It was in connection 
with this strike that he commented on the luxury and 
extravagance which was growing in several districts, in- 
stancing the case which had come to his knowledge of a 
factory girl giving three guineas for feathers. " Wherever 
luxury marches a waste is left behind as if an hostile army 
had passed." Again, " He was told, forsooth ! that luxury 
was good for trade ! if good trade means bankruptcy both 
to tradesman and customer, perhaps it is." 

He continued to the end to make his protest whenever 
occasion offered against the folly of strikes and the fearful 
responsibility of those who promoted them. One of the last 
and most powerful of these was a sermon on the subject at 
Blackburn on January 27th, 1884. 

We may now turn, with a sense of relief, to his relations 
with the other and hopeful side of the labour movement, 
co-operation. Of this, even more than of trades-unionism, 
he found himself in the very centre. The offices of the 
Central Board were in Manchester, and the publishing office 
of "The Co-operative News." The wholesale society, or 
federation of the associations throughout the country for 
purchasing, also had its warehouses there, and in many of 
the Lancashire towns and villages a large and constantly 
increasing portion of the trade was already in the hands of 



CHAP. v. CO-OPERATION. 253 

the associations. Now the Bishop had been the first person 
of any influence outside the co-operative body to draw 
public attention to the movement. So far as the public 
were concerned he had been the discoverer of the Assington 
Agricultural Association ; and, as readers may remember, 
in his report as a sub-commissioner had expressed warm 
approval of the principles of the association, and a wish for 
their extension. It was a cause therefore of much rejoicing 
to the Co-operative Union when his appointment was an- 
nounced, for at that time outside help was still valuable, 
both in Parliament and the country. The Union, however, 
much to their credit, abstained from seeking to parade him 
as an ally. Great jealousy of the movement prevailed 
amongst the trading classes throughout the country, which 
was even shared to some extent by the Trades Unionists ; 
and it was felt that it might seriously jeopardise his influence 
for good generally if he were to be pushed to the front as 
an advocate and supporter of co-operation. It was only, 
therefore, on rare and special occasions that he was asked to 
take any active part in public. Nevertheless it was impossible 
that the fact of his sympathy should not become known, and 
equally impossible that it should not become the subject of 
warning and comment in the press. To this he paid no heed, 
going his own way, and never out of his own way ; but taking 
care also never to conceal or pare away any conviction 
which he held when the occasion for speaking came. Thus, 
when at length taken seriously to task by the Grocers' 
Defence Association, and warned that "a dignified neu- 
trality" upon this question was the proper attitude for a 
Bishop, he replied promptly, " a dignified neutrality is not 
my attitude on any question I think important." 

It was not till 1878, when his position had become too 
secure to be damaged by friend or foe, that he was called on 



254 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART IT. 

tu identify himself publicly with co-operation. In that 
year the annual Congress was held in Manchester. The 
Bishop was of course invited. He came on the platform 
on the first day to support Lord Ripon, and on the second 
himself presided. His address was thoroughly characteristic 
of the man, whose special function as an orator was 
always not to say soft things which his audience would like 
to hear. He had not been on his feet two minutes before 
he had assured the meeting that though an old believer in 
the principle he had never spent sixpence in a co-operative 
store, and didn't mean to do so as long as his tradesmen 
served him well. Then, passing over the statistics of in- 
creasing numbers and trade, so tempting a subject for the 
ordinary chairman, he put his finger at once upon what 
probably three-fourths of his hearers knew to be the tender 
place. He was afraid, he said, as an interested watcher 
of the movement, that serious disaster must be in store for 
many of the mills which had of late been, and still were 
being, started by the working men, both as registered in- 
dustrial societies and as joint stock companies, at Oldham 
and elsewhere. The recent years of great prosperity seemed 
to have turned their heads, and made them reckless, and 
ready to fall into the bad paths which it was the main object 
of their movement to avoid and protest against. And then 
followed one of those humorous scenes which not seldom 
occurred at his public meetings. He was speaking as usual 
without a note, and following wherever his subject might 
lead him. Something had been said on the first day as to 
the narrowness of the clergy, and their want of sympathy 
with co-operation. Referring to this the Bishop went on, 
" I am more of a Liberal than a Conservative myself, but 
it may be true that the great body of the clergy are Con- 
servative. Haven't they got a good thing to conserve?" 



CHAP. v. THE CO-OPERATIVE CONGRESS. 255 

At once, ye'Acos a<r/3coros opwpet. There was something in 
the words and manner of the speaker which touched the 
risible nerve in the delegates, and for some seconds the hall 
rang with laughter. The laughter was followed by hearty 
cheers, when the Bishop after looking round, completely 
unconscious of what had caused the explosion, fell into the 
humour of the situation and laughed as heartily as any of 
them. As soon as he could be heard again he went on, 
" I hope you will pardon anything I may have said. I 
know I shall hear enough of it to-morrow morninsr; but 

o o y 

I am used to that sort of thing, and it doesn't hurt me." 
Then, having his audience entirely in hand, he went on to 
give his experience at Assington, and to say that it would 
be an excellent thing if the clergy would let their glebes to 
their steadiest labourers. He had meant to do it with his 
own sixty acre glebe if his tenant had given them up in his 
lime. 

He kept the chair during the day, listening carefully to the 
business discussions, and at the close, in answer to a vote of 
thanks, said, " He did not know when he had been more in- 
terested than by what he had seen in those two days. No 
one could despair of his country, however gloomy the look- 
out might seem to be in many directions, when he saw the 
stuff which was left to make citizens and Englishmen of." 
From this time he was hand and glove with the co-operators ; 
coming whenever he could to all great gatherings, and always 
telling them of any weak spot in their armour, or backslidings 
in their doings. Behind their backs he could scarcely speak 
too well of them. Thus at the Church Congress at New- 
castle, in October, 1881 (on which occasion the Ritualists 
took occasion to absent themselves in a body from the open- 
ing service at which he preached), he urged with great 
earnestness that the Church could not, and ought not to 



256 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 



stand apart from the co-operative movement, an exhortation 
which has borne noble fruit in these later years. In passing 
it should be noted that it was at the working men's meeting 
at the end of this Congress that he spoke to the strong north 
countrymen of family purity as the foundation of all noble 
life, till he brought them all to their feet with the shout, 
"We will! We will!" 

1884. 

In the last year of his life he presided (Dec., 1884) at a 
meeting of the Union, where a presentation was made in 
connection with the foundation of a scholarship at Oriel, 
which was not only his college, but that of Mr. Vansittart 
Neale, the devoted general secretary of the Union, and of 
the present writer, both of whom had been connected with 
the Christian Socialist movement of 1848. In referring to 
this coincidence, and to Christian Socialism as in great 
measure the parent as well as precursor of the present move- 
ment, and welcoming the Oriel scholarship as an honour to 
that distinguished college, he added that what was wanted 
now was not so much " to Christianise our Socialism as to 
Socialise our Christianity." 

1875- 

His last appearance was at the Annual Congress at Whit- 
suntide in 1885, at Derby, when he preached by special 
invitation to the assembled delegates. His presence amongst 
them once more was hailed with joy, not unmixed with fore- 
bodings. Not a few amongst those who knew him best 
could help feeling that there was some truth in the words of 
warning which had lately appeared in a leading Lancashire 
paper : " Work and worry are making their ravages even on 
his Herculean frame; without and within, like Paul and 



CHAP. v. LAST APPEARANCE AT CONGRESS. 257 

Job, he has had many tribulations. The breadth of his 
Christianity has not found the echo he might have looked 
for in this north country." True enough no doubt. But the 
writer had missed the secret of this Bishop. He had not 
come there to expect faith and nobleness from these north 
countrymen, but to give them of his own faith and nobleness, 
which he did with open heart and full hands. And not only 
of his faith and nobleness, but of his joy and wisdom, which 
were mirrored back to him by miners and cabmen, and 
scavengers and ragged children. " Where sympathy is, it 
needs but one man in a company and all are wise." It must 
in fairness be added as it perhaps, if possible, adds some- 
thing to the worth of Bishop Eraser's advocacy of co-opera- 
tion that he never could rise to the enthusiasm which in 
its early days possessed, and still to some extent possesses, 
the leading men of the movement. 'Whether from deficiency 
in imagination, or sturdy common sense, he opposed a steady 
non possumus to exhortations to believe in the final extinc- 
tion of competition, and a world of buyers and sellers 
reorganised on the principle of "bearing one another's 
burdens." 

Happily, the loss of no one man can now seriously arrest 
the great reform. The spirit of the gospel is marching to its 
sure triumph, in the trade world as in all others, without 
taking much account of the men who range themselves on 
either side in " the valley of decision." But we may cor- 
dially admit that few have fought more bravely on the 
right side, or will be more missed in the ranks, than James 
Fraser. 



CHAPTER VI. 

" The more sides a man has to his mind the more sure he may be of 
receiving blows on all of them from one party or other." JOHN STIR- 
LING, Hare's Life, vol. ii. p. 158. 

MANCHESTER, 1876 l88o. 



1876. 

WE must bear in mind the condition of the Bishop's 
household in these years in order to form any trustworthy 
estimate for ourselves of the man. Of the two old ladies 
who lived with him at Bishop's Court, his mother was now a 
confirmed invalid, and confined to her own room, while his 
aunt, though bright in mind and still able to move about the 
house, was becoming very infirm. On December 23rd, 1876, 
he writes to Mr. Fletcher (one of his oldest Manchester 
friends and supporters, who had retired from business and 
settled at Bath) : " I am happy to be able to report fairly 
well of my two invalids to-day, and I hope fully that my 
aunt will be permitted to see another Christmas Day and to 
enter on her eighty-eighth year. A special kiss by special 
request from my dear mother. I often joke her on the fond- 
ness she has for kissing gentlemen. She kissed dear old 
Canon Gibson the other day at a visit, apparently to their 
mutual satisfaction. Poor thing ! one is only too glad when 
she is in a sufficiently cheerful temper to be amused by 



CHAP. vi. HOME LIFE. 259 

innocent levities of this kind. I feel that she is slowly pass- 
ing away, and I can't expect to keep my dear aunt long after 
her. The world will seem a lonely place when they are gone. 
These thoughts prevent my Christmas from being a very 
cheerful one." A year later, Christmas, 1877, to the same : 
" My two dear ones are wonderfully well. My dear aunt 
" entered her eighty-ninth year,' as she likes to speak of the 
event, with more than her usual spirits and strength. Of 
course a change may come very suddenly, but at present I 
have nothing to make me anxious about either of them." 

"Very often," writes Dr. Crompton, his physician, "he 
came into his mother's bedroom, when I have been visiting 
her during her long illness and confinement to her room, 
and it was delightful to see her look of affection on his ap- 
pearing, and the loving way he went up to her the chuck 
under the chin the kiss the kind and cheery words and 
then the merry laugh. One day he came in and said, 
' Mother, I've finished all my letters, and have nothing to 
do. Have you no linen that wants marking ? ' and then the 
room rang with his merry laugh." 

"While his aged mother lived," Canon Norris writes, 
" however pressed for time he was, he never failed to be by 
" her side in her accustomed evening prayers : and his 
" guests might overhear his strong musical voice singing in 
" her ear (for she was very deaf) one of her favourite hymns. 
" So in his own bedroom the little desk by his bedside, 
" with the well worn book of devotion upon it, showed 
" how through a most active life he had maintained the very 
" simple habits of devotion which his mother had formed in 
"his boyhood." 

" However natural and unconstrained his conversation, 
" however gay his temper, a serious word would never have 
" seemed out of season had it been called for. In all his 

s 2 



260 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

''gaiety, he never failed at once by look or word to check 
" anything approaching to frivolity. 

" In society he was delightfully cheerful, and even playful ; 
" but any one who watched him at a dinner table might see 
"that he had not only his own mirth, but the mirth of others 
" round the table, well in hand, so to speak ; and that any 
"low-toned or ill-natured remark would not pass without all 
"being reminded that their Bishop was among them. 

"It was this blending of seriousness with cheerfulness 
" and naturalness that gave him such an influence among the 
" Lancashire people. He seemed to carry about with him 
"an atmosphere of sunshine, and he seemed never to forget 
" that it was God's gift." 

Oct. i2th, 1876. To Archdeacon Norris. " I am getting 
anxious about my charge, for which as yet I have made 
hardly any preparation. There is no lack of stirring topics ; 
the difficulty is to select the most suitable, and to say what 
is wise and profitable about them. All men just now have 
not the faculty for saying wise things, have they ? I am 
glad you liked what I said about the forthcoming mission. 
I look forward to it with considerable anxiety, as I doubt 
my own power to direct an enterprise lying wholly outside 
my sphere of experience. The results of other missions 
have been described to me as so very mixed. Venables 
was describing the Lincoln mission in this way to me last 
Saturday, when I met him at Crewe Hall. But I am not 
very sanguine." 

Dec. 2of/i, 1876. To Sale. "I am glad you liked my 
charge. I got such a kind letter from dear old Newman 
about it, apparently pleased that I had remembered and 
noticed him." In this charge he commented on the new 



CHAP. vi. RITUALIST TROUBLES. 261 

theory put forward in some quarters, that the tribunals of 
the nation have no authority in matters ecclesiastical. 
" Such a church as ycu dream of, " he said, " an imperium in 
tinperio, never has existed in England. Such talk is the 
mere rant of fanaticism." "There are two enemies the 
clergy have specially to fight against, indifference and 
intemperance. I should like to see in every parish a band 
of young men bound to lead temperate and pure lives, and 
entertaining high and honourable feelings to women." . . . 
" Such a diocese as this is not a field in which a Bishop 
with decaying powers has any right to stay I have already 
passed half my allotted term." 

1877. 

Speech as Chairman of Meeting of Poor Clergy Relief 
Association. " He had been called a hard-hearted Bishop, 
because in his first charge he had said he would never con- 
sider it a claim for the promotion of a clergyman that he had 
a wife and six children. He must have men who could and 
would work. But where he found such men he was always 
ready and glad to say, ' Because you have done your duty I 
will forgive your recklessness.' " 

In August the endless ritualist controversy came upon 
him again in the shape of one of the churchwardens of St. 
Paul's, Pendleton, heading a deputation representing 172 
parishioners, and asking for a faculty to remove two candle- 
sticks which had been placed on the Communion Table, 
and to lower the table itself by two steps. The Bishop, 
after warning the Churchwarden that he had no official 
locus standi, the two churchwardens being a corporation 
at law, so that one could not act without the other in such a 
matter, allowed him to proceed. After his speech, the 
Bishop asked, " What is the ground of your application? " 



262 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

CHURCHWARDEN : " Raising the table is unscriptural. Exod. 
xx. 26." BISHOP: "Your construction is foolish. The 
Communion is the highest act of Christian worship. The 
table is necessary, and has been proved to be too low. I 
can't see how raising it can turn it into an altar." As usual 
the deputation retired, bootless, but protesting still. 

On August 27th he received a deputation headed by Mr. 
Holt, M.P., to protest against the practice of confession in 
certain churches in the diocese. In his speech Mr. Holt 
said that many Bishops used strong language, but when it 
came to action they had failed. He could point out several 
instances. The Bishop, interrupting, " You are at liberty here 
to bring any charges you like against me, but not against 
my brethren." In his reply, he said, " There are only four 
out of 460 churches in this diocese where confession is 
taught by the clergy." 

To the British Medical Association in Manchester Cathedral. 
" Grant me a right to believe in a personal God, in a 
living Christ ; in an indwelling Spirit ; in a life of the world 
to come ; and like that ship of Adria, upon which ' no 
small tempest lay,' I shall have, as it were, my four 
anchors cast out of the stern, while I ' wait for the day.' " 

At the consecration of Rawtenstall Cemetery, on which 
occasion Mr. Fielden and others of the resident gentry 
refused to attend or to bear any part of the expenses. " It 
is God who makes the earth holy and not the Bishop. I 
hope that none of you here present to-day will go away 
with the idea that anything I can do will make this ground 
one whit more holy than it was before I came here. . . I 
think that people are beginning to look Christianity more 
fairly in the face. At any rate the Church stands in the midst 
of you to remind you that there is a higher life ahvays about 



CHAP. VI. LAYING THE FIRST STONE. 263 

you, of which you should be partakers, that while you are in 
the world you are not of the world." 

At the laying of the first stone of the church of St. 
Andrew's at Eccles, a rich and fashionable suburb, he re- 
quested that he might have an iron trowel, and that the 
value of the silver one, which it had been proposed to use, 
might go to the consecration fund. 



1878. 

In March forty-three colliers were lost in an explosion at 
Unity Brook Colliery, Kersal Moor. The Bishop at once 
sent 2o/. to the relief fund, and although in the middle of 
his ordination, responded to the appeal of the rector to 
come over to say a word of comfort and sympathy. " I will 
try," he wrote, "to drive over to your evening service. You 
may expect me at 6.30." He came and preached, specially 
dwelling on the gallantry of the volunteers who, headed by 
the Queen's Inspector, went down the pit at the peril of 
their own lives to rescue, if it might be, any comrade still 
alive. These men have realised the power and the lesson of 
Christ's grace. " Though many who had volunteered may 
not be professors of Christianity, they have at any rate 
learnt some of Christ's deepest and sweetest lessons, for He 
was ready to lay down His life for His brethren." 

It is impossible within the limits of this book to do more 
than indicate his intense sympathy with individual joy and 
sorrow which drew out the hearty personal affection with 
which he was regarded. One instance must suffice. Re- 
ferring to a letter which the Bishop sent him when in deep 
family affliction, Mr. Alfred Steinthal, the well-known 
Unitarian minister, writes : " It was in the middle of his 
trouble about the Miles Platting case, while he was taking a 



264 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

well-earned rest, that he sent me the inclosed letter. I am, as 
you may perhaps remember, a Unitarian minister, but he knew 
how much pleasure his kindly word would give me, and he 
sent it. I could multiply instances of similar personal 
thoughtful generosity to many persons, who, like myself, 
had no claim upon him, except just this, that he saw that he 
could increase their happiness, or help them to bear their 
sorrow. I wish it were possible to show in any way how his 
memory is cherished by some of us, who, as Noncon- 
formists, have learned to love and revere the man, quite 
apart from his official position." 

Then, in the autumn, came the cloud of the approaching 
war with Afghanistan. The Bishop was strongly moved. 
Those who agreed with him begged him to act. He wrote a 
letter to the Mayor as to a public meeting. " It may be too 
late to demand that Parliament should be summoned, but 
not too late to protest against a war on such flimsy pretexts. 
No man in his conscience can think that the rectification of 
our frontier, or the insult to our envoy (if ever offered, which 
seems at least doubtful), could justify the horrors of a war." 
The publication of this letter drew a protest from the then 
Lord Wilton, who, "while entertaining a strong personal 
regard for his Bishop, wished he would confine himself to 
his ecclesiastical duties." 

Some of the Lancashire editors followed in Lord Wilton's 
wake ; others as strenuously defended the Bishop, to one of 
whom (who had also written privately to him) he replied : 

" To the Editor of the Leigh Chronicle. SIR, I beg to 
thank you for the remarks in your leading article on my 
sermon at Leigh Parish Church last Sunday. 

" Nothing but (as you say) ' sophistical and prejudiced 
reasoning ' could have given the semblance of a political 



CHAP. vi. TORRENTS OF ABUSE. 265 

bias in the narrow sense of the word ' political ' to what I 
then said. I merely endeavoured to temper the violence of 
the war-spirit which is rising in the country with an ignorance 
of facts and a recklessness of consequences which constitute 
one of the most alarming signs of the times. The torrents 
of abuse to which I have been exposed in the correspondence 
columns of the Manchester Courier would be things to laugh 
at, if rather, when one reflects upon the spirit from which 
they proceed, they were not things to weep over, as indicat- 
ing the political temper of a large mass of people in the 
country. Yours faithfully, J. MANCHESTER." 

At the Consecration of Chorley Church : " What are called 
the six points in this controversy " (ritualism) " are, incense, 
lighted candles, eucharistic vestments, the eastward position, 
the mixed chalice, and wafer bread. To make such things 
vital is the height of human folly." 

At the Opening of the Art Treasures Exhibition : " I have 
no wish, like Mr. Ruskin, to retire into the solitude of a 
Westmoreland valley. I like to hear the thud of the steam- 
hammer and the whistle of the locomotive. I like to live 
in the midst of men and women who are dependent on 
their industry for their daily bread. Where I find content 
and good relations subsisting between men, that is my bit of 
blue sky, of which I want to see more and more." 

In Nov. at a public meeting in connection with the 
Oxford Local Examinations the question of "woman's 
sphere " was introduced, and an eloquent appeal made to 
him by Miss Vernon to modify some remarks on the subject 
which he had made from the chair. " I cannot modify 
what I have said," the Bishop replied. " The cases you cite 
are exceptional woman's sphere is the home. If a woman 



266 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

has no home, then in God's name let her go out and fight 
the world, the flesh, and the devil, in any place to which 
God in His providence sees fit to call her." 

It is common enough to hear Bishops and other public 
men saying these kind of things ; but they are seldom said 
with perfect directness, and without qualification, to the 
persons, and on the occasions when they would be most 
useful. It was precisely his straightforwardness and courage 
which gave Bishop Fraser his unique position and influence. 
This woman's question is an excellent example. It came up 
again a few months later at a prize distribution at Southport. 
The Committee had arranged that the girls should not come 
on the platform to receive their prizes. The Mayor who 
was to preside objected to this. The Bishop supported the 
Committee. "It might be old-fashioned," he said, "and 
unpopular, but he held strongly that men and women had 
each their proper places. 430 B.C. a wise Athenian states- 
man had said, ' That woman discharges her duty best who 
is least talked about for good or evil amongst men,' and 
with that he cordially agreed." 

Oct., 1878. On Theatres at the Church Congress. In the 
discussion on this subject, at which it had been maintained 
that " The Theatre must be abandoned or Christ would be 
lost," the Bishop's summing up came in, as one of his 
audience wrote, " like a breezy day by the sea-side." "'The 
Church," he urged, "must, recognise the instincts and 
appetites of human beings. You, the people who form the 
audiences, have the remedy in your own hands. If the plays 
are bad, stay away. It is only a question of demand and 
supply; you demand and the actors supply. As for the 
actors and theatrical people generally, I have found them 
much like other people ; no better, no worse. I know the 



CHAP. vi. THE THEATRE. 267 

premiere danseuse at Manchester, a good Christian girl, and 
the scene-painter there has sent me a nice water-colour 
drawing of my cathedral. Do you want to revive a practice 
of some early Churches in which actors were refused the 
Communion? At a mission which was held in Manchester 
last year I gave an address to the actors in the theatre at 
their request. It was the Theatre Royal, and I reminded 
them that they were the King's servants ; and I told them 
that when an Education Commissioner in 1858, visiting the 
towns in Dorsetshire, I had found Macready maintaining, 
and himself teaching, one of the best ragged schools in the 
country. Shortly afterwards a fire occurred in the house of 
a Mr. Hazzopulo, a Greek merchant, while his servants 
were at the theatre, and my friends of the Rock newspaper 
urged that I should be made personally responsible for the 
damage." 

1879. 

1879. As a noteworthy instance of his habit of saying 
what he believed, without the least regard to the probable 
convictions or prejudices of his audience, we may take the 
annual meeting of the National Society, which he attended 
this year on special pressure. Lord Carnarvon had moved 
and strongly supported a resolution in favour of "dis- 
tinctively" religious teaching in schools. The Bishop, 
following, said he should have been better able to support 
the resolution cordially if it had been worded " distinctly " 
instead of " distinctively," at which remark arose at once 
strong expressions of disagreement from all sides. When 
these subsided, the Bishop went on smilingly " to tell the 
country clergy who refused to admit dissenters' children to 
their Sunday schools unless they attended the religious 
teaching on week days, that they were to be condemned. 



268 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

If only they would confine their teaching to the outline of 
the Church Catechism, he hardly knew an orthodox dis- 
senter who would not accept it, and be glad that his 
children should get it." 

Jan.) 1879. Presiding at the Savings Bank Meeting: 
" We English are the slowest nation in the world to learn 
by experience. We are actually now building new mills 
all through this district, and the banks are helping, even 
encouraging this. The facilities they are giving are, in 
my judgment, very mischievous, morally, socially, and 
industrially There has been a great failure in Scot- 
land, that of the City of Glasgow Bank, and, if we can 
believe the papers, a scheme is on foot to compensate the 
bank's customers and shareholders by a great system of 
lotteries ! Who would have suspected sedate and religious 
Scotland of starting a gigantic gambling scheme to relieve a 
banking catastrophe ? The aspects of the present distress, 
and the ways of meeting it, fairly frighten me." 

Feb. Oxford University Sermon. "A friend, as we 
were walking round the parks yesterday, said to me that our 
nineteenth century has left off bearing that we have 
reached a period of barrenness on all stocks that there are 
no more avSpes iripvrroi that, as Tacitus said of the Rome 
of his day, 'we can neither bear our vices nor their 
remedies.' What was the most loudly vaunted remedy for 
this state of things ? An elaborate ceremonial ! You might 
as well try to persuade me (as silly people, I hear, are trying 
to prove) that the coat Paul left at Troas was a chasuble. 
It may be hard for one in the heat of the fray to look fairly 
at these things, but I can't see that they are making any one 
better, purer, stronger. However, I, like Robertson, can 



CHAP. vi. THE ELBERFELD SYSTEM. 269 

sympathise with men in earnest, whatever their beliefs may 
be, but not with the epicurean cynicism now so common 
cruelly mocking at life, itself secure ; abjuring every high 
aim in pursuit of personal comfort ; checked by no moral 
considerations on the path of selfishness ; wrecking woman's 
honour ; shattering simple faith ; discussing the most solemn 
truths at any rate the most solemn subjects over wine 
and olives ; the unhappy, but too legitimate offspring of an 
age which has resolved religion into phrases, and God's 
service into a gorgeous ceremonial with this I will hold no 
truce, make no terms." 

1879. An effort at Pendleton to establish a voluntary 
society for investigating and aiding cases of distress in that 
district, met with his warmest commendation. It seemed, he 
said, as though his dream of old standing was about to be 
realised. He had corresponded at that time with the curate 
of Elberfeld, where the system had been just established. 
He had learnt from him how satisfactorily the system 
worked in a population where one-fifth were Roman 
Catholics. 

He recurred to this subject on presiding at a meeting of 
the Salford Relief Commictee. " It was a question still 
with us whether such efforts did more good than harm. 
Here were scandalous disclosures within the last few days. 
One man taking potted salmon for his relief ticket ; another, 
who had been earning thirty-five shillings a week for months, 
on the rates. The Elberfeld system of inspection had made 
all such scandals impossible. It had superseded the poor- 
law and abolished pauperism. Were there no young men 
in Manchester who didn't want a stable of hunters, or a 
yacht in the Menai Straits, and would take hold of this 
work ? " 

On the other hand, at the Social Science Congress which 



270 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART IT. 

sat this year at Manchester under his presidency, when the 
subject, "The best means of encouraging thrift and dimin- 
ishing mendicancy " came up, he criticised Canon Blackley's 
proposal for compulsory insurance, as " ingenious, perhaps 
logical, and popular with sanguine men." This " damning 
with faint praise " brought up the excellent and enthusiastic 
Canon, and a little liveliness was infused into the proceedings 
which no one enjoyed more than the presiding Bishop. 
Some one had called the proposal " Blackley's baby," which 
phrase the Canon frankly adopted ; and then, turning to 
the chair, declared that their Bishop " may be, probably is, 
the best of Bishops and presidents, but he sha'n't bang my 
baby about without the parent saying everything he can in 
its defence." What he did say considerably modified the 
Bishop's opinion, which became decidedly favourable to the 
Canon's principle. 

1879. The bitterness which surrounded the Miles Plat- 
ting controversy during these years, though raging in the 
rival church societies and the religious newspapers, and 
raising its baleful head in Convocation, had no voice within 
the diocese, where Bishop and clergy were all the time 
working together in great harmony, and with most satis- 
factory results. .Thus the reports of the diocesan conference 
of this year show that the most burning questions of the 
time, the Act of Uniformity, Church Courts, the Ornaments 
Rubric, were all discussed fully and gravely as by sensible 
Christian men, desirous of understanding each other and 
coming to the wisest conclusion for the Church and nation. 
The Bishop as president expressed his own views with his 
usual frankness, and no doubt was as pleased, as he had 
good reason to be, with the result. For before separating, he 
spoke on the one subject more hazardous in such a gathering 
than even the Act of Uniformity or the Ornaments Rubric, 



CHAP. vi. COMPETITION ENGLAND'S CURSE. 271 

the relations of the clergy with Nonconformists, in support 
of two resolutions, (i) " That this conference desires to 
promote a friendly recognition of those of our Dissenting 
brethren who will consent to meet us on the ground of our 
common Christianity, and expresses an earnest wish to 
cultivate friendly relations with them, and to co-operate 
with them on any posible platform of Christian work ; (2) 
That in the opinion of this conference it is desirable that 
Convocation should consider the question of comprehension 
of Nonconformists, with a view of devising the best means 
of terminating our dissensions, and establishing essential 
unity and working harmony between all sections of Christian 
people in the land." These resolutions were carried unani- 
mously, to the delight, and probably to the astonishment, of 
the Bishop, who thereupon declared that he hoped to see 
practical effect given to them, and he himself as Bishop 
would lead the way, adding, " I am one of those who wish to 
see the principle of the Act of Uniformity Amendment Act 
carried much further." 

March 2$th, 1879. Meeting of Church Missionary 
Society. " I see, that some of my friends in the press have 
been calling me a ' latitudinarian ' and ' indifferentist.' Well, 
I want to see less partisanship. For instance, I don't like 
to see in advertisements for or by curates, such phrases as 
C.M.S. or S.P.G. men." 

April. The incumbency of Rivington fell vacant, to 
which the parishioners elect under a statute of Elizabeth. A 
public meeting was held in the parish at which the following 
resolution was passed without a division : " That under ex- 
isting circumstances it is expedient to accept as incumbent 
of this parish a person to be nominated by the Bishop of the 



272 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

diocese, and this meeting desires that this decision may be 
unanimous and uncontested." 

August. We may note in passing several sayings, which 
in this autumn brought down on him mora even than his 
usual share of angry and patronising comment in the press. 
"Competition run wild is the curse of our day and may 
bring England down yet. 'Shoddy ' is ruining her." " Yes, 
I did see men carrying crops last Sunday. I don't blame 
them. It has been bad harvest weather." " I am not pre- 
pared to join this agitation for the abolition of flogging in 
the army." 

November io//i. To a Temperance Meeting at Blackburn. 
" This is a great gathering no doubt, but the people we 
want to get at are not here. You have just been singing 
that spirited hymn, ' The Battle is the Lord's.' No doubt. It 
is His battle, but you mustn't be sitting with folded hands. 
You ought to be working parochially to mend matters. Why 
I see that one in every thirty-three houses in Blackburn is a 
public house ! " 

As Patron of the County Penitentiary Presiding. "Pros- 
titution is called a ' social evil ' by those inclined to jest on 
it. I call it a social crime." And, after speaking of the 
hardness of our social laws in this matter, the poorest and 
weakest being made to suffer, while the rich and strong 
escaped " If it is to be dealt with at all, the ' embarrassing 
element ' as it is called, of religion, must come in the 
simple, tender, healthy, sympathising, and generous applica- 
tion of the teaching of Christ's Gospel. And remember, this 
tells us not to point to the. terrible tract which lies behind, 
but to the hopeful one in front." 

From Mr. Cremerto Bishop of Manchester. " May I take 



CHAP. vi. ON HOLY COMMUNION. 273 

the liberty of asking from yon whether I may join in the 
celebration of the Holy Communion, although I have not 
been confirmed ; and whether I may consider myself a 
member of the National Church? I was brought up a 
Scotch Dissenter, and have spent twelve years up country 
in the Cape Colony, where I was admitted to all their 
Church privileges by the Dutch Reformed Church, but was 
in a manner outside all Churches. For my own and my 
children's sake I would like to belong to some body of 
Christians, but my views on many points are at variance 
with those of any voluntary associations of Christians that I 
am acquainted with." 

To Mr. Cremer, Nov. 5^/1, 1879." DEAR SIR, There 
is no question that the law of the Church of England is 
(strictly interpreted) that no one shall receive the Holy 
Communion in her churches 'until such time as he be 
confirmed, or is ready and desirous to be confirmed.' 

" It is a rule that is most proper and defensible in a 
Church wherj infant baptism is the custom ; and where 
persons may reasonably be called upon to make a. public 
profession of their Christian faith, before being admitted to 
the highest act of Christian worship. 

" I cannot see what there is that need cause you any diffi- 
culty in complying with the rule ; and of course I, as a 
bishop, have no authority to relax it. If you choose to pre- 
sent yourself for the Holy Communion, without saying any- 
thing about the question, I don't suppose that you would be 
refused, or that any inquiry would be made ; but if I were 
in your place, I should feel it much more satisfactory to 
comply with the rule of a Church of which I desired to be 
a member. There must be some general rules of order, 
and if these do not really hurt the conscience, individuals 

T 



274 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

do wisely in submitting to them. Yours faithfully, J. 
MANCHESTER." 

The end of this year (1879) was marked by a curious 
episode. In the December number of the Contemporary 
Review a letter appeared from Mr. Ruskin which contained 
the words, " On myself personally and publicly challenging 
the Bishops of England generally, and by name the Bishop 
of Manchester, to say whether usury was or was not accord- 
ing to the will of God, I have received no answer from any 
of them." The Bishop replied at once (Dec. 8th), and the 
reply with a long rejoinder by Mr. Ruskin was published in 
the same review in February, 1880. " I confess for myself," 
the Bishop writes, " that until I saw this passage in print a 
few days ago I was unaware of the existence of such chal- 
lenge, and therefore could not answer it. ... I have no 
idea why I had the honour of being specially mentioned by 
name, but I beg to assure you that my silence did not arise 
from any discourtesy towards my challenger, nor from that 
discretion which, some people may think, is the better part 
of episcopal valour, and which consists of ignoring incon- 
venient questions from a sense of inability to answer them, 
but simply from the fact that I was not conscious that your 
lance had touched my shield." He goes on to argue that 
all depends on the sense in which the word is used. 
" Covetousness," 7rA.eoveto, is no doubt denounced by 
our Lord and St. Paul, but the TrAeove'/cnys is the man 
who claims more than his share, and the words cannot be 
twisted into a general law, determining for ever and in all 
cases the legitimate use of capital. And again in the 
parable of the talents, ' Thou oughtest,' says the master 
addressing the unprofitable servant, ' thou oughtest eSa ae 
to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my 



CHAP. vi. USURY. 275 

coming, I should have received my own with usury,' thus 
recognising and impliedly sanctioning, the practice of lend- 
ing money at interest." And then he proceeds with his 
usual candour and naivete, " Let me take two or three 
instances by way of illustration. The following has hap- 
pened to myself. All my life through, when my income 
was not a tenth of what it is now, i have felt it a duty, while 
endeavouring to discharge all proper claims, to live within 
that income, and so to adjust my expenditure to it that there 
should be a margin on the right side. That margin of 
course accumulated, and reached, in time, say, ^i,oco. 
Just then, say, the London and North Western Railway 
Company proposed to issue debenture stock bearing 4 per 
cent, interest, for the purpose of extending their lines, and 
so increasing the wealth by facilitating the intercommunica- 
tions of the country. Whom in the world am I injuring 
where or how am I thwarting the will of God if I let the 
Company have my ^,"1,000, and have been receiving from 
them ^40 a year for the use of it ever since ? Unless the 
money had been forthcoming from some quarter or other a 
work which was absolutely necessary for the prosperity cf 
the nation, and which finds remunerative employment for an 
immense number of Englishmen, enabling them to bring up 
their families in respectability and comfort, would never have 
been accomplished. Will you tell me that this method of 
carrying out great commercial enterprises, sanctioned by 
experience as the most, if net the only, practicable one, is 
' not according to the will of God ' ? " The Bishop goes 
on to give two more examples, of working men associating 
to start a mill, and borrowing a portion of the necessary 
capital; and a farmer paying interest on the outlay for 
draining; asking in each case how such a transaction is 
contrary to the will of God ; and then defends big cities, 

T 2 



276 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

which Mr. Ruskin had called " loathsome centres of forni- 
cation and covetousness, the smoke of their sin going up into 
the face of heaven like the furnace of Sodom," maintaining 
from his own experience, that " a great city even with the 
smoke of its sin going up to heaven, is the noblest field of 
the noblest virtues, because it gives the amplest scope for 
the most varied exercise of them." He concludes, "if you 
will teach us clergy how better to discharge our office as 
ministers of a kingdom of Truth and Righteousness, we 
shall all owe you a deep debt of gratitude, which no one 
will be more forward to acknowledge, than, my dear sir, 
yours faithfully and with much respect, J. MANCHESTER." 

This answer, so thoroughly frank and characteristic as 
well as respectful and friendly, drew from Mr. Ruskin by 
way of rejoinder twelve pages of "notes attached to special 
passages," after the manner of Fors Clavigera. The tone 
must be gathered from the following, "note B," on the 
words "I have no idea why I had the honour of being 
specially mentioned by name." "By diocese, my Lord, not 
name, please observe ; " [the challenge had been addressed, 
" to the Bishops of England generally, and by name to the 
Bishop of Manchester"] "and for this very simple reason, 
that I had already fairly accurate knowledge of the divinity 
of the old schools of Canterbury, York and Oxford, but I 
looked to your Lordship as the authoritative exponent of 
the more advanced divinity of the school of Manchester, 
with which I am not yet familiar." And again, "note G," 
"Your Lordship's frankness in referring me to the instances 
of your own practice in the disposal of your income must 
plead my excuse for what might have otherwise seemed 
impertinent." .... "It may be matter of private opinion 
how far the lucre derived by your Lordship from com- 



CHAP. vi. FINANCIAL MATTERS. 277 

mission on the fares and refreshments of the passengers by 
the North Western may be odoriferous and precious, in the 
same sense as the ointment on the head of Aaron ; or how 
far that received by the Primate of England in royalties on 
the circulation of improving literature (see the articles of 
association of the East Surrey Hall Museum and Library, 
Fors Clavigera, Letter LXX.) may enrich as with perfume 
out of broken alabaster the empyreal air of Addington. 
But the higher class of labourers in the Lord's vineyard 
might surely, with true grace, receive, from the last unto the 
first, the reflected instruction so often given by the first 
unto the last, ' Bo content with your wages.' " The bitter 
tone of the rejoinder, sprinkled over profusely as it was with 
"my Lord" and "your Lordship," after the manner of 
Junius, made any prolongation of the argument impossible 
so far as the Bishop was concerned. He had no notion of 
quarrelling with Mr. Ruskin under any provocation, and 
so, with a shrug of the shoulders, went his way about 
his work. 

1880. 

It may be well in this place to add something on financial 
matters. Certainly it would be hard to find a more remark- 
able illustration of the text, "There is that scattereth but 
yet increaseth " than this Bishop. It has been already noted 
that at Cholderton and Ufton there were no destitute poor. 
At the former he built the schools, spending on them and 
the site upwards of 3oo/., and as much more on the painted 
windows. At Ufton he rebuilt the school and a cottage, 
and added to the rectory and outbuildings at a cost of 
i,2oo/., no charge whatever being left on future incumbents. 
He also gave a reredos to the Church; and a permanent 
benefaction to the parish of 2o/. a year at a cost of 62o/. 



278 LIFE OF BISHCP FRASER. PART n. 

His accounts were all kept so accurately that I am able 
to give a precise statement of his charitable expenditure 
during his episcopate. It was as follows : 

t. d. 

1870 942 9 6 

1871 866 8 o 

1872 1,047 ii o 

iS73 i, 608 5 6 

1874 1,525 13 6 

1875 1,769 7 6 

1876 : . . . 1,962 i o 

1877 2,076 9 o 

1878 1,778 16 o 

1879 r,6c9 i o 

1880 2,946 7 6 

l8 ,Si .... 1,959 5 o 

1882 2,339 1 7 

1883 2,460 19 o 

'f** 3,556 3 o 

io5 m 1,927 6 o 

Promises in 1885 made good by his widow . . 1,100 6 o 

31,535 19 6 



He was always hospitable, though a strict economist, 
::nd, like Abbot Sampson, though "much condemning 
persons who were given to murmur at their victuals, es- 
pecially monks " [clergymen], " was strict in his injunctions 
and practice that there be no shabbiness in the matter of 
meat and drink." 



CHAPTER VII. 

" He looked on men's contending about lesser matters, or about 
subtleties relating to those that are greater, as one of the chief practices 
of the powers ot darkness t j defeat the true ends for which the Son of 
God came into the world." ARCHBISHOP TlLLOTSON, Preface to 
Sermons, 1693. 

MILES PLATTING. 
1873 1884. 

J873. 

WE must now break the continuity of this narrative to 
put on record, as shortly and plainly as may be, the history 
of the Miles Platting case. The legal proceedings stretched 
over more tkan five years ; but, if the merits are to be 
understood, the facts must be grouped together, and this 
seems to be the best place to do it. 

It may be well to preface the narrative with a notice of 
his attitude towards the Public Worship Regulation Act. 
In his charge for 1876 he had expressed his thankfulness 
that the spirit of fairness and calmness seemed increasing 
amongst them, and went on, referring to the Act. " Though 
I have never regretted that statute, I feel that if it were 
rigorously interpreted or severely applied, a tram would be 
laid to which any foolish or ill-disposed person might place 
a match ; and if an explosion occurred, it is difficult to say 
v,'hat mischief may not be done. Happily amongst our- 



280 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

selves even men with strong party feelings have had patience 
to wait and charity to forbear : and from all I know of the 
diocese, and I think I know it pretty thoroughly, that 
patience and forbearance are reaping their reward. We 
might have been all in a blaze, we are in a singularly happy 
condition of quietness and peace. There are very few of 
the extreme men, and I speak of extreme men in both 
directions, whom I as their Bishop cannot esteem and 
honour for their work's sake." It has been fortunate for 
the Church that the match was applied and the explosion 
took place in his diocese. 

The parish of St. John's, Miles Platting, is one of the 
poorest districts in the southern suburbs of Manchester, 
densely inhabited, grimy, and, so far as externals go, 
altogether unlovely. The one group of buildings which 
break the depressing monotony are, the church, the schools, 
and clergy-house. These had been built and endowed by 
Sir Thomas Heywood, whose son, Sir Percival, the then 
patron, had presented the rectory to the Rev. S. F. Green, 
in June, 1869, the year before Bishop Fraser came to 
Manchester. 

Mr. Green proved himself at once a zealous and able, 
rector, and his good work in the parish was fully recognised 
by his bishop ; who, though not in sympathy with, or 
approving, the ritual used in the church, was on cordial 
terms with the rector, and content in this, as in all other 
cases within his jurisdiction, to assume in the absence of 
proof to the contrary for which he held it to be no business 
of his to search -that nothing was being done contrary to 
law. It was not long, however, before his attention was 
called to the fact that Mr. Green was in the habit of mixing 
water with the sacramental wine, lighting candles, burning 
incense, and otherwise conducting his services in a manner 



CHAP. vii. ANONYMOUS COMPLAINTS. 281 

which a portion of the parishioners strongly resented. These 
complaints were formulated in a letter from a parishioner, 
which the Bishop inclosed to Mr. Green, accompanying it 
with a friendly note of warning, that the mixed chalice had 
been declared illegal, and that he must forbid its use; adding, 
with reference to the other points, how painful it was to him 
to see the Sacrament "obscured under such questionable 
subtleties." To this Mr. Green replied at once, frankly 
acknowledging that he had used the mixed chalice, and say- 
ing that he would discontinue its use. This he did till 1873, 
but began again to use it in that year without communicating 
the fact to the Bishop. 

1878. 

During the next five years several anonymous complaints 
reached the Bishop from time to time ; but of these he took 
no notice, relying on Mr. Green's promise, and the friendly 
relations which existed between them. At length, however, 
on the i yth of May, 1878, he received a petition purporting 
to be signed by 320 parishioners, complaining of Mr. Green's 
practices, and praying " that your lordship will use your great 
power to irradicate " (sic] " this abominable idolatry, so that 
God's blessings may freely descend upon us." This petition 
was forwarded by one George McDonagh, and was obviously 
the work of illiterate people. It is written in an execrable 
hand, on coarse sheets of paper, over which the signatures 
are irregularly scrawled ; the specific charges, such as they 
are, being added on the last of several blank sheets, at the 
end. 

The Bishop wrote by the next post to Mr. Green, inform- 
ing him of the petition, and warning him that, if the charges 
were true, and the parishioners claimed their remedy under 
the Public Worship Regulation Act, he could not refuse to 



282 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

aliow them to proceed. To this Mr. Green replied at once 
that he was " obliged to plead guilty " ; and, after explaining 
that he had " sought to press into the service of the Church 
everything which adds cheerfulness and beauty to it," ended 
his letter : " But pardon me, my dear lord, that I presume to 
write to you in this way. Your letter is so very kind and 
considerate, speaking of what I clearly see is an inevitable 
necessity, so far as you are concerned. I must bow to my 
fate. There seems no alternative ; but I shall always 
remember that during the time of what has been the heaviest 
trial and affliction of my life so far, I have received nothing 
but kindness and consideration at your hands." 

There was some dispute subsequently as to what was 
referred to in the words " the heaviest trial and affliction of 
my life," but there is no need to discuss the point. It is 
only the general tone of the letter that is of any importance. 

To Mr. McDonagh the Bishop wrote : 

"Manchester, May 2oth, 1878. SIR, I beg to acknow- 
ledge the receipt of a petition signed (you inform me) 'by 
320 parishioners of St. John the Evangelist, Miles Platting,' 
in which the petitioners 'publicly testify to the propagation 
of false doctrine and deadly error by the Rev. S. F. Green,' 
the rector of the said parish, and call upon me to ; use the 
power committed to me to eradicate this abominable 
idolatry.' 

" I respectfully submit to the petitioners, that as no par- 
ticulars either of the ' idolatry ' or of the ' false doctrine and 
deadly error ' alleged are given, I can take no steps, either 
by way of remonstrance or otherwise, against the inculpated 
clergyman, 

" 1 have not counted the signatures to the petition, but I 
observe, upon a cursory examination of it, that whole families 



CHAP. vii. PETITION OF PARISHIONERS. 283 

of five, six, and in one instance, seven persons, have signed 
it at once, and that whole groups of signatures are evidently 
in one handwriting, and are not therefore the signatures of 
the persons whose names they profess to give. This fact 
very much weakens the value of the petition in my eyes. I 
remain, sir, your obedient servant, J. MANCHESTER. 

"MR. GEORGE McDoNAGH, 
" 522, OLihaiii Road." 



On May 22nd McDonagh replied, referring to "the 
margin " of the petition for the specific charges, and chal- 
lenging an inquiry as to the names and residences of the 
signatories. 

On May 23rd the Bishop writes : " You must excuse me 
from taking any further notice of charges against a clergy- 
man, which are alleged in so vague a way without dates or 
particulars of any kind that no action can possibly be taken 
upon them. What you call ' the margin of the petition,' I 
confess entirely escaped my observation. It is no ' margin ' 
at all, but the last of a number of otherwise blank pages, 
which I did not look through because I had no idea that I 
should find any handwriting upon them. I must take leave 
to say that in making and publishing serious charges of this 
kind against a clergyman, a little more precision of language 
and accuracy in the statement of facts would be desirable. 

" You are of course aware of the remedy which has been 
provided for breaches of the law in matterj of ecclesiastical 
ritual. While I regret that such breaches should be com- 
mitted, I look for their correction rather to the gradual in- 
fluence of public opinion and feeling than to any stern or 
peremptory enforcement of the law. But if legal proceedings 
are ever taken, they must rest upon much clearer and more 



284 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

distinct allegations than are contained in the representations 
\\hich you have made in this case to me." 

On May a;th McDonagh wrote to remonstrate, ending, 
" As we are but a body of working men, without the means 
of putting the Public Worship Regulation Act in force, there 
remains but the alternative of placing the case in the hands 
of the Church Association." 

Here the matter rested, until on the and December, the 
" presentation " required by the Act reached the Bishop 
The case had been taken up by the Church Association, and 
was now virtually in their hands. On the same day the 
Bishop wrote as follows to Mr. Green : 

"Manchester, December 2nd, 1878. MY DEAR MR. 
GREEN, I am sorry to have to inform you that a 'presenta- 
tion' by three parishioners, complaining of certain practices 
of yours in the conduct of Divine service, has been made 
to me under the provisions of the Public Worship Regula- 
tion Act. The Act empowers me to stay proceedings ' after 
considering the whole circumstances of the case,' if I think 
it expedient so to do ; and nothing certainly can be farther 
from my wishes than ecclesiastical litigation in this diocese. 
It was the unanimous opinion of the bishops assembled in the 
Lambeth Conference, this summer, that no change in accus- 
tomed ritual ought to be made in a church against the 
admonition of the Bishop; and, whatever may be your 
opinion of the authority of the courts which decide ecclesias- 
tical suits in this country, I hardly think you could refuse 
submission to a principle, so reasonable in itself, thus laid 
down. If you will call at the registry to-morrow, you can 
see the 'presentation' and the matters complained of; and 
I hope myself to be there at one o'clock, when I shall be glad 
to see you. It ought not to be difficult to you, as a point of 



:HAP. vii. THE MEMORIAL. 285 

principle, to submit to the direction ot your Bishop under 
protest, if you please in a matter of this kind ; but if you 
refuse to do so it seems to me that I have no choice but to 
allow the proceedings to go on. I should do so with infinite 
regret, but I have no alternative." 

On the next day the proposed interview took place, at 
which Mr. Green declined to place himself in the Bishop's 
hands, or to abandon his practices ; pleading that " in giving 
up the mixed chalice I should deny my Lord and imperil 
my own salvation." Ha was warned that after twenty-one 
days the Bishop's right of intervention would expire. " Will 
you not exercise your discretion and stay the proceedings ? " 
Mr. Green then asked. " How can I suspend an Act of 
Parliament in my diocese, meo mero motu? That's not 
what my discretion means," was the Bishop's answer. After 
this no further communication came from him, or from any 
one on his behalf, except a letter of December 2Oth, con- 
taining an elaborate defence of the mixed chalice; but no 
hint that he was prepared to abandon its use, or to alter the 
ritual in his church in any of the matters complained of. 
In this condition of things, on Christmas Eve, the twenty- 
one days expired. 

The Church Association lost no time in commencing 
proceedings, and now, when too late, the congregation of 
Miles Platting began to bestir themselves. A memorial, 
signed by 208 persons, of whom, however, only one-fourth 
were parishioners, was sent to the Bishop on December 
3oth, inclosed in a letter from the churchwardens, contain- 
ing an appeal for intervention. He answered : 

" I have the honour to acknowledge your letter of the 
3oth instant, together with the memorial that accompanied 
it. I have already informed you that, through no fault or 



2 86 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

precipitancy of mine, the period allowed by the law for the 
Bishop to exercise his discretionary power in staying liti- 
gation has some time since elapsed; and that, as Mr. 
Green refused to make any concession upon the points com- 
plained of, I had no alternative but to let the proceedings 
take their course ; " and then, after commenting on the 
form of the memorial, as he had done on the previous 
petition, he goes on : 

" It is true that I have frequently expressed the hope that 
in this diocese the Act would never be used as a weapon of 
partisan persecution, because I had hoped that few, if any, , 
ritual excesses would be perpetrated ; or that, if they were, 
the offending clergymen would be willing to yield to the 
admonition or entreaty of their Bishop, and so peace and 
order might be maintained. But when the excesses are just 
in those points which have been most signally declared to be 
illegal, and the Bishop's counsel and entreaty alike are dis- 
regarded, I am at a loss to know, unless absolute anarchy 
is to prevail, how a Bishop is to act, except to take the 
course marked out for him by the law. If I do not like the 
law I am justified in using every effort to get it repealed : 
but as long as it is the law, I am bound by all the obli- 
gations of a good citizen and a loyal churchman to obey it. 
I may save my conscience, by protesting while I obey, but I 
must obey." 

1879-1881. 

The proceedings ran their melancholy course, accom- 
panied by the usual scandals and outrages. St. John's 
Church was broken into in April, 1879, and a cross, a 
number of robes, books, and other property were partially 
destroyed by fire. The Bishop immediately wrote to express 
sympathy and denounce the outrage. The letter was couched 



CHAP. vii. MR. GREEN IMPRISONED. 287 

in the old friendly terms, though Mr. Green's attitude to- 
wards him was no longer the same. Fierce and intemperate 
language and wild accusations were interchanged in the 
partisan press, and at public meetings. In June, 1879, the 
cause came on before Lord Penzance, and resulted in a 
finding that the allegations were proved, and the issue of a 
monition prohibiting the practices complained of. The 
monition was entirely disregarded, the case having now 
become the battle-ground between the Church Association 
and the Church Union ; and so, in due course, in June, 
1881, Mr. Green found himself, to the great regret of the 
Bishop, a prisoner in Lancaster Gaol for contempt of Court. 
The scandal thus brought on the Church roused a strong 
feeling throughout the country, and especially amongst the 
clergy. The trouble was, however, to find out what could 
be done. The clergy of the diocese, in the belief that some- 
thing at any rate should be tried, presented a memorial to 
their Bishop by a deputation at a personal interview. The 
contents of the-, memorial will sufficiently appear by the 
Bishop's reply, which, condensed, was as follows: "The 
memorial proposes a 'readjustment on the lines of the con- 
stitution.' No words could be more vague. The ' disloca- 
tion ' it speaks of seems to refer to the constitution of the 
Court of Final Appeal. I cannot see the grounds for 
quarrelling with it. It is in accordance with the Royal 
supremacy, which has been the principle governing the 
relations of Church and State since the Reformation. How- 
ever, if the Royal Commission can bring about any more 
satisfactory relations no one will rejoice more than I. But 
what do you mean by ' the lines of the constitution ' ? The 
preamble of 24 Henry VI., or that of 25 Henry VIIL, or 
the Act of Uniformity of Elizabeth, or the Act of Uniformity 
of Charles II. ? It was said that the approval of the Crown 



2 88 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART 1 1. 

being necessary made the judge of the Court of Arches a 
secular judge. I can't see how any one can hold that 
and yet accept the Thirty-seventh Article. It was suggested 
by some of them that they would be quite content with a 
Court of Appeal consisting of Bishops. But Mr. Littledale 
(a representative ritualist) had declared such a court to be 
totally incompetent, as not half the Bishops knew the rudi- 
ments of theology, and not six were acquainted with Canon 
Law. I myself moved in Convocation for the removal of the 
Ornaments Rubric from the Prayer-Book and the substi- 
tution of a clearer one. At the same time I must tell you 
that there are no questions which seem to me so utterly 
insignificant as these." Nothing, as may be supposed, came 
of this memorial. 

Next came an effort by the two Archbishops. After con- 
sulting together, the Archbishop of York, as Metropolitan 
of the Northern Province, having first obtained Bishop 
Fraser's ready consent, wrote to Mr. Green offering his good 
offices to obtain his release if he would make a submission, 
under protest, to his Diocesan. Mr. Green answered that 
he had read the Archbishop's letter three times, and con- 
sidered it carefully, and had come to the conclusion that it 
" only recommends the course which as I believe on good 
grounds I rejected two and a half years ago." The Arch- 
bishops then drafted a Bill to make the consent of his 
Bishop necessary to any proceedings against a clerk under 
the Public Worship Act, and introduced it in the House of 
Lords. But the release of Mr. Green having, as we shall 
see, been effected aliunde, on the application of Bishop 
Fraser, the Bill was dropped. 

Baffled in their first efforts, the Archbishops were yet too 
much in earnest to throw up the game. They met again to 
consider whether, even yet, a way might not be found. 



CKAP. vii. THE ARCHBISHOPS' INTERVENTION 289 

The result was a suggestion that, if Bishop Fraser could 
find and put in a man, as curate-in-charge, firm enough to 
refuse to allow Mr. Green to take any part in the Miles 
Platting services, his discharge may be safely arranged. 
For "in that case," urges the Archbishop of York, "he 
could not commit any breach of ecclesiastical law without 
in the first place committing a breach of the peace, which 
the ordinary courts will deal with." The only objection to 
this plan might be that (as the Archbishops hear) the present 
curate-in-charge, who continues the illegal practices, holds 
Bishop Fraser's licence. Of course, in that case, the prose- 
cutors could not be approached. Will Bishop Fraser advise 
on this suggestion ? 

The reply comes promptly. No [.September 4th, 1881] ; 
Bishop Fraser can see no hope of success in the plan sug- 
gested ; but their Graces are in error in supposing that the 
curate-in-charge (Mr. Cowgill) holds his licence. " I have 
allowed him to remain, or rather I have taken no steps to 
remove him, at the risk of being thought inconsistent, rather 
than occasion a scene of rioting such as was lately witnessed 
at Hatcham, and does not seem to have come to an end 
there. The congregation is largely one of non -parishioners, 
and would resist almost to a man any change, and the 
parishioners have been estranged and would not easily 
gather round a new man. As two years of inhibition 
expired on August Qth, and at the end of three years the 
living becomes ipso facto void, I think it best to wait for 
what seems a natural termination to the embarrassment. 
At the same time I devoutly hope that Mr. Green may be 
brought to a reasonable obedience, so that this penal con- 
sequence may be avoided. After what has passed between 
us I don't think he will listen to anything from me." Will 
not their Graces make some proposal to him ? Even then, 

u 



290 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART 11. 

" I do not think he will give way even the breadth of a hair. 
I do not think however that his fate excites much sympathy 
or commiseration amongst the laity, in Lancashire or 
elsewhere." 

After this the Archbishops gave up their proposal of a 
" courageous curate-in-charge," but were still desirous that 
the Bishop should make another effort. Accordingly, at the 
suggestion of his Metropolitan, on September i4th, he 
wrote : 

" MY DEAR MR. GREEN, You will, I trust, have no 
difficulty in believing me when I say that I have regarded 
the whole course of proceedings which have resulted in your 
present imprisonment, and separation from your parish and 
people, with the gravest anxiety and regret. I could not but 
foresee the issue from the very first ; the law was certain in 
the end to assert its superior strength over the individual 
who contested it." 

Then, after a careful re-statement of the case, and a 
reminder that Dr. Pusey, " not a fortnight ago," has admitted 
the mixed chalice to be non-essential, the letter goes on : 
" As for the Bishop's right to interfere in a matter of this 
kind, it rests on the simple and direct language of the pre- 
face to the Prayer-Book concerning the service of the 
Church. It was with this knowledge, that, at the inter- 
view which I had with you before these proceedings com- 
menced, I so earnestly endeavoured to persuade you to 
bring your ceremonial practices within those limits which 
the law allowed, and which you yourself recognised, or 
at any rate did not exceed, in the earlier years of youi 
ministry. 

" I said that you might throw all the responsibility upon 
me, and that, in any explanation you might offer to your 
people, you could tell them that you made the concessions 



CHAP. vii. THE BISHOP'S APPEAL. 291 

solely and entirely because your Bishop desired you to do 
so. My efforts were ineffectual ; and as, in my view of my 
office, I did not feel myself justified in interfering to protect 
a clergyman, however zealous and conscientious, who was 
openly and unquestionably breaking the law of the Church, 
as that law had been interpreted by tribunals whose consti- 
tutional authority both he and I had recognised when we 
were ordained at least, which were in existence then, and 
whose jurisdiction we had tacitly accepted I was obliged, 
though with the greatest possible reluctance, to let the pro- 
ceedings take their course. I have had no opportunity of 
interfering since ; and if I had attempted to do so, my 
interference probably would have been as ineffectual as it 
was at first. 

" But now that every appeal to reverse or stay the pro- 
ceedings under which you have suffered has failed, it has 
been suggested to me by those whose authority I am bound 
to regard the Archbishops of both Provinces that I not 
only might, but that I ought to make one more effort to 
bring this painful state of things to an end. 

"As for the Bishop's right to interfere in a matter of this 
kind, it rests upon the simple and direct language of the 
preface to the Prayer-Book, ' Concerning the Service of the 
Church.' 'Forasmuch,' says that document, 'as nothing 
can be so plainly set forth, but doubts may arise in the use 
and practice of the same ; to appease all such diversity (if 
any arise), and for the resolution of all doubts, concerning 
the matter how to understand, do, and execute, the things 
contained in this book, the parties that so doubt, or diversely 
take anything, shall alvvay resort to the Bishop of the diocese, 
who by his discretion shall take order for the quieting and 
appeasing of the same ; so that the same order be not con- 
trary to anything contained in this book. And if the Bishop 

u 2 



292 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

of the diocese be in doubt, then he may send for the 
resolution thereof to the Archbishop.' 

" I must call upon you, therefore, as your Bishop, to put 
an end to a grave scandal, which is causing grief to 
Churchmen of all parties ; which is separating you from the 
parishioners whose souls were committed to your cure and 
government ; which is imposing hardships, which no one 
desires to see imposed, upon yourself and your family ; and 
which, I am afraid, is likely, if prolonged, to lead to yet 
further distress and embarrassment, ending finally in your 
deprivation by adopting the course so plainly indicated to 
you by an authority the spiritual character of which you can 
hardly dispute. 

" I would readily, if you preferred it, leave ' the resolution 
thereof,' to our common Metropolitan. He can have no 
prejudice in the case, and may be trusted to decide the isinie 
on the broad grounds of judicial impartiality. 

" The whole responsibility of any concessions you might 
be required to make, would be thrown upon me, or upon 
him. 

" I most earnestly pray that you may be guided to a right 
mind in a matter vitally affecting, not your own personal 
interests alone, but those of the Church to which you 
belong." 

Mr. Green's reply need not be given here. The Bishop 
showed it to his chaplain, Archdeacon Norris, who happened 
to be staying with him, saying, " I see no opening for further 
correspondence in this letter. Do you ? " The Archdeacon 
read the letter carefully, and advised that, in a sentence 
alluding to his canonical obedience to his Diocesan there 
was an element of hope, and begged to be allowed to go 
next morning to Lancaster Gaol, with one more appeal from 
the Bishop to Mr. Green. The Bishop at first demurred, 



CHAP. VII. THE BISHOP'S LETTER. 293 



and they parted for the night ; but later he came to his 
chaplain's room with the draft of a letter in his hand, and 
said, " I have thought it over, and will accept your judgment 
rather than my own. Will this letter do ? " The Arch- 
deacon thought it might, and accordingly carried it next 
morning to Lancaster Gaol, where he delivered it to Mr. 
Green. It was as follows : 

"September 2 is.', 1881. 

" DEAR MR. GREEN, 

" I have read your letter carefully. There is a 
bitter tone in it, and bitter words, and what I cannot but 
regard as ungenerous interpretations which I deeply regret. 
But I excuse, and more than excuse, all this, when I 
remember the place from which you write, and your six 
months ' imprisonment there. But I will neither justify my 
own conduct in this painful case, though you have very 
seriously misrepresented it, nor will I further discuss any 
of the issues you have raised." 

Then, referring to his chaplain's report, he asks, " May I 
interpret the expression, ' I require no reminder of my duty 
in respect to obedience to episcopal authority,' as Archdea- 
con Norris thinks I may, to mean, ' (i) that you hold your 
promise of canonical obedience to me as your Bishop as 
binding on your conscience as ever ; and that you are 
willing, to return to your cure of souls at Miles Platting 
under the solemn obligation to me as your ordinary which 
your oath of canonical obedience imposes ? ' and if so, would 
you consent (2) if at any time your judgment should differ 
from your Bishop's as to what ' canonical obedience ' re- 
quires, to accept the joint determination of the Archbishop 
of the Province, and his suffragans ? If this is accepted," 



294 



LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 



the Bishop concludes, " I will do all I can to restore to you 
your liberty." 

The Archdeacon spent three hours with Mr. Green, and 
brought back the following : 

"Lancaster Gaol, September 22nd, 1881. MY LORD, 
I am at a loss to know why I should be required to assert 
that I hold my promise of canonical obedience as binding 
as ever. I certainly do say so ex animo, and have never, 
since my ordination, held otherwise. I fear there must be 
some misunderstanding between us as to the above, other- 
wise I should be able to see the motives for your offering 
the concession number 2. I think it very kind and generous 
to put it in that way, but I am quite content with my 
original obligation to my Bishop. 

" I am, my Lord, your faithful servant in Christ, 

"S. F. GREEN." 

It must be allowed that this document is not easy to con- 
strue. However, the Bishop, with the Archdeacon's help, 
managed to read into it a relenting on the part of his sturdy 
subordinate, and accordingly, without losing an hour, for- 
warded it to Mr. Gladstone, then Prime Minister, with a 
copy of his own letter. These, he submitted, justified him 
in asking whether the Royal prerogative of pardon might now 
be exercised, and Mr. Green released from gaol. " I do not 
know whether I am asking a thing which can be done, but 
I am sure I am asking what, if it can be done, would be a 
relief to many minds, and my own amongst the rest, at the 
present time." 

Mr. Gladstone replied by return of post : 

* Downing Street, Ssptembcr zyd, 1881. MY DEAR 
BISHOP CF MANCHESTER, I have received your lordship's 



CHAP. vii. CANONICAL OBEDIENCE. 295 

letter, with its inclosures, copies of which I keep, returning 
the originals. 

" As I understand the matter, the exercise of the preroga- 
tive of mercy is a matter uniformly reserved to the initiation 
of the Secretary of State for the Home Department. The 
case of Mr. Green is manifestly an unusual one ; but I 
imagine it must fall under this head. My duty therefore is 
to transmit the whole contents of your lordship's cover to 
Sir W. Harcourt, and I shall add a copy of this letter. I 
have no doubt that, if he sees occasion, he will consult the 
Lord Chancellor, and their joint opinion would probably 
embody whatever means of authoritative judgment the 
Cabinet may possess. Should he think that considerations 
of general policy require him not only to do this, but to ask 
my opinion, I will give any aid in my power, but I think 
myself, from a variety of circumstances, very ill qualified to 
render assistance. 

" I feel sure that my colleagues, with myself, will be glad 
should it be found practicable for them, or for the Home 
Secretary, consistently with the general rules of his duty, to 
put an end to the painful state of things that has evidently 
caused your lordship much anxiety." 

It was now in the middle of the long vacation, when the 
Home Secretary and law officers of the Crown are not so 
easily accessible as usual. Their deliberations were still 
pending at the date of the Manchester Diocesan Conference 
(October i3th), at which a resolution as to vestments, moved 
but not pressed to a division by the Dean, brought the ques- 
tion of the imprisonment of Mr. Green forward. The Bishop 
in summing up the debate stated that, having lately received 
a letter from Mr. Green, which gave him some hope that he 
accepted canonical obedience and would act loyally, he had 



29 6 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART ir. 

applied to the Prime Minister, who was at that very time in 
communication with the Lord Chancellor and Home Secre- 
tary, with a view to putting an end in some legal fashion to 
Mr. Green's imprisonment. 

The report reached Mr. Green in Lancaster Gaol, elicit- 
ing from him promptly a letter to the Bishop for the purpose 
of explaining that he had never made " any concession of 
the principles for which he had been contending," and went 
on, " To prevent all possibility of misconception, I beg leave 
to add, that by ' canonical obedience ' I understand obedi- 
ence to the rules or laws of the Church, and that it is a part 
of the office of a Bishop to see that such rules are observed ; 
(f) that my obligation to obey the rules of the Church is, 
like the obligation to obey the moral law, entirely indepen- 
dent of whether the Bishop thinks it his duty to require 
obedience to them or no ; (d) that should the Bishop order 
what is inconsistent with a rule of the Church in the name 
of some other power, we must obey the Church and take 
the consequences ; (e) that as there is a rule of the Church 
(the Ornaments Rubric) which orders lights, vestments, 
incense, and the mixed chalice, there is no possibility of 
canonical obedience except in conformity to that rule ; (/) 
that with regard to things as to which there is no itdvtov, or 
rule, Bishops can hardly expect obedience in deference to 
complaints made by outsiders, and which are purely vexa- 
tious. I write thus fully for the purpose of enabling your 
lordship at once to cancel any intervention you may have 
exercised on my behalf, if such intervention be based upon 
a misconception." 

Here was a bombshell thrown into the midst of the great 
folk ! The position, in spite of its gravity, has undoubtedly 
its comic side. The highest officials in the realm, in Church 
and State Premier, Lord Chancellor, Home Secretary, and 



CHAP vii. AN INTERVIEW. 297 

two Archbishops utterly foiled in the endeavour to get a 
contumacious clerk out of Lancaster Gaol. 

The laymen (and the Archbishop of York) at once 
agreed that there was nothing for it but to leave the matter 
there, scandal or no scandal. Not so Archbishop Tait. 
The scandal was still weighing heavily on him. He now 
opened negotiations with the prosecutors, the Church 
Association, and, at an interview with four deputed mem- 
bers of their Council, on the loth of January, 1882, obtained 
from them a promise themselves to apply to the Court for 
Mr. Green's release " if they can obtain any guarantee that 
the law will not be allowed to be violated." So the Arch- 
bishop writes, and asks, " Can the Bishop see his way to 
giving any such guarantee ! " 

" No," answers the Bishop. " I may order him to keep 
away from his church, but he certainly would not heed my 
order. In July his deprivation will take place, by the action 
of law. Better wait till then. We shall no doubt have a crop 
of new difficulties even after that. Besides, I don't like the 
interference of the Church Association. What have they to 
do with the case ? " Upon this Archbishop Tait also retires, 
leaving a clear field for the Church Association and Church 
Union, and the religious newspapers, in which, " to make 
those sad whom God has not made sad," and " to carry on 
their baneful and slanderous strife." 

Meanwhile the Bishop goes sturdily on his own way, the 
only man, except the prisoner himself, who sees his path 
clearly, and means to keep it. In January, 1882, Mr. Green 
applies for extra help for Mr. Cowgill, his curate-in-charge, 
and the Bishop consents. 

In April he has to visit Lancaster for a confirmation, and, 
still anxious to appease strife, if it may be done without 
injury to reverence for law, writes : 



298 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 



1882. 

" The Vicarage, Lancaster, April i6t/t, 1882. MY DEAR 
MR. GREEN, I do not like to leave Lancaster without 
offering to come and see you, in case you may wish for a 
conference, or that any advantage may be likely to issue 
from one. I should wish it to be conducted in a kindly 
spirit, and with a sincere wish that we might be able to 
find a door of escape from present and future difficulties. 
Surely, in the prospect of a possible reconstitution or re- 
adjustment of the ecclesiastical courts, you might consent 
to be guided by your Bishop in matters merely ceremonial, 
in which your temporary submission to his authority under 
protest, if you saw fit to make one need not be con- 
strued into abandonment of any principle for which you 
have been contending. I do not see, in spite of what is 
past, that such a submission should be considered, either 
by yourself or others, impossible. I need not say how 
seriously the high interests of the peace and unity of the 
Church are concerned in it. 

<! A conference upon this basis might be an opportunity 
of which I should be glad to think you would not be un- 
willing to avail yourself; but if this is hopeless, I have no 
wish to intrude myself, unwelcome, upon you. It may be 
more difficult for me to interpose myself effectively now 
than before these proceedings began, but at least I make 
the proposal with the same sincere and earnest desire." 

Mr. Green replies : 

" Low Sunday, 1882. MY LORD, I beg to acknowledge 
the receipt of your letter of this evening. 

" It can hardly have escaped your notice that I can at any 
time obtain my release from prison by what your lordship 



CHAP vn. MR. GREEN'S REPLY. 299 

calls submission to the Bishop without troubling the Bishop 
at all. Surely, then, it would be inexcusable in me to waste 
your valuable time in calling upon you to do for me what I 
am quite able to do for myself. I also beg respectfully to 
direct your attention to the fact that there is no connection 
between suffering wrong (my present position) and doing 
wrong under protest. ' I feared the people and obeyed 
their voice' 'Pilate washing his hands,' have not gene- 
rally been held as valid excuses. Your letter further 
remarks that these matters are ' merely ceremonial ' (to me 
they are far otherwise), but were it so, would that not be an 
excellent reason why you should have protested against this 
imprisonment ? Instead of which you have constituted your- 
self its apologist, and done your utmost to prolong it. The 
law De hceretico coinburendo was only repealed in the latter 
part of the seventeenth century. Had that law been un- 
repealed, people are asking with some interest at what point 
of such proceedings your lordship would be prepared to 
say, 'Hold! enoi^h.' I certainly do not see any 'basis' 
for a conference in your lordship's letter, and beg to remain 
your obedient servant, 

' : S. F. GREEN." 

On July 2nd, or as there seems to have been some ques- 
tion as to the exact date at latest on August i6th, the 
three years expired, the " deprivation " followed, and the 
benefice became vacant, but no action was taken, and Mr. 
Green remained in Lancaster Gaol. The matter had, how- 
ever, been referred to the Lord Chancellor, who though 
foiled once, was not the man to allow a scandal of this 
kind to go on, which was bringing disrepute on the law and 
its administration. Lord Selborne accordingly prepared 
and submitted to the Cabinet a confidential memorandum, 



3 oo LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

of which he forwarded a copy to the Bishop, requesting 
him, with Mr. Gladstone's concurrence, "to consider the 
suggestions it contained as to any action which it may be 
open to yourself to take." 

The conclusions and suggestions of the memorandum are. 
shortly (i) that the Court of Arches has the power, after 
"deprivation," to declare a sentence for contempt at an 
end, although unaccompanied by a voluntary submission 
the "deprivation " being, in fact, equivalent to "satisfaction" 
(2) that if Mr. Green would apply all difficulty would be 
at an end, but as he will not, " the law must not be made 
the instrument of keeping any man in prison only because 
he will not ask to come out " (3) that as the promoters of 
the suit (the Church Association) had not applied in the 
three months that had elapsed, and probably would not do 
so, therefore some other person whom the Court would re- 
cognise as having a locus standi should make the applica- 
tion. The memorandum goes on to state, that the law 
officers had advised that it would not be constitutionally 
proper for the Crown to interfere in this case with a formal 
pardon. The Home Secretary had suggested that as the 
writ De contutnace capiendo had been issued out of Chancery, 
it was within his (the Lord Chancellor's) jurisdiction : but 
he was clearly of opinion that he had no such jurisdiction. 
He thinks, however, that the necessary locus standi would 
not be refused by the Court of Arches to the Bishop of 
Manchester, if he should think proper to take on himself 
the responsibility of making the application. 

The Bishop replied that, as he had been distinctly told 
that Mr. Green would be guided by the English Church 
Union, and as the Union had proclaimed by the mouth of 
its President that it would treat the " deprivation " with the 
same contempt as it had treated the "monition" and 



CHAP. vii. MR. GREEN'S DISCHARGE. 301 

"inhibition"; and as Sir P. Heywood, the patron, had 
publicly declared that he would not recognise the depriva- 
tion, but would assist Mr. Green with all his power to 
maintain his rights as rector of the parish, he (the Bishop) 
was not prepared to take on himself the responsibility of 
applying for Mr. Green's release. 

This resolution, however, was modified by further cor- 
respondence with the Chancellor, who suggested that, pend- 
ing the accruer of the Bishop's right to fill the vacancy, 
which would not arise till February i6th, 1883, notice 
should be given to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners not to 
pay the stipend to Mr. Green, and that a curate-in-charge 
should be appointed. And so, while holding to his own 
opinion, that an unconditional release would only lead to 
new troubles, the Bishop in the end consented to make 
this application. 

It was not his practice to dawdle over any work, pleasant 
or unpleasant ; and accordingly on October 3oth, all neces- 
sary preliminaries having been taken, a notice of motion 
was formally given to the promoters of the suit, that on 
November 4th the Bishop would apply to Lord Penzance 
for the discharge of Mr. Green from custody. At the same 
time he appointed the Rev. W. R. Pym, Curate of Lytham, 
a young priest of two years' standing, on whose courage 
and temper he could rely, to take charge of the living. 
He had already given Sir P. Heywood, the patron, notice 
that the living was vacant ; and that, unless he made a new 
appointment within six months from September 27, 1882, 
it would lapse, and remain in the Bishop's gift. On 
December 4th the motion came on, and resulted in an 
order that the seal of the Court should be attached to the 
writ of deliverance. The Bishop refused all contributions, 
and paid all the costs himself. 



3 o2 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

So ended one issue of the controversy, but at the same 
time his presentiment " that there would be a crop of new 
difficulties," was at once fulfilled. Mr. Green in a loyal 
wish to free his patron from the rash pledge he had given 
not to recognise the deprivation, which would involve the 
abandonment of his right as patron to present another 
incumbent resigned the living. 

Sir P. Heywood, after some demur, accepted the resig- 
nation, and at once notified the Bishop that he appointed 
Mr. Cowgill, Mr. Green's curate, to succeed him. This 
gentleman the Bishop had already refused to license, as he 
had carried on all the disputed practices. Without any 
remonstrance or protest, which he knew by this time would 
be useless, the Bishop examined Mr. Cowgill ; and, finding 
that he admitted having committed the illegal acts charged, 
and would not undertake not to continue them, refused to 
institute him. 1 The refusal was made on December i8th, 
and was answered by the institution of a suit by Sir P. 
Heywood to enforce his supposed right of nomination. 

During these same weeks Archbishop Tait lay on his 
deathbed, from whence, as one of his last acts, he appealed 
to Mr. Mackonochie to resign the living of St. Al ban's, that 
the scandal of the imprisonment of a second contumacious 
clerk might be avoided. Mr. Mackonochie, after some 
hesitation, complied with the dying Archbishop's suggestions, 
and resigned St. Alban's. He was appointed shortly after- 

1 At first the Bishop would seem to have doubted as to carrying the 
contest further. Mr. Stagg, M.P. for Burnley, who saw him constantly 
on this subject, remembers vividly a conversation just after Sir P. Hey- 
wood had presented Mr. Cowgill. After they had talked over the 
situation for some time the Bishop broke out, " I can't stand this horror 
over again, all the annoyance and scandal of it. I know the man avows 
his intention to do just as Green did." Mr. Stagg : " Refuse to institute 
him." Bishop :" Can't. It's all too legal ;" then after a pause. " but 
I'll try. Knot I'll go." 



CHAP. vn. THE LEGACY OF PEACE. 303 

wards to another cure by the Bishop of London. No sooner 
was this made public than a chorus of applause broke out 
in the press, and on platforms. " The legacy of peace," as 
it was called, was held up as an example, and pressed upon 
Bishop Fraser with extraordinary persistence, by persons of 
all classes, from Bishops (of the Scotch Church) to working 
men. One may say that no argument or device was left 
untried, and that not a few of the methods used reflected 
little credit on their authors. The most common exhortation 
ran, "Will you be the only Bishop to refuse the dying 
Archbishop's legacy of peace ? " With more subtlety it was 
urged, "Should you fail in your defence, you will have 
established by legal decision that the clergy are, in matters 
of ritual, beyond the control of their Bishops." One 
vehement partisan even pledged his word that the Arch- 
bishop had approved, and sanctioned, lights and the mixed 
chalice, and other forbidden practices. He was, however, 
promptly obliged to swallow the statement, with apologies, 
when brought to book. Want of space forbids the telling 
at any length of a story which might be profitable as an 
illustration of the flabbiness and nervelessness of public 
opinion in the days we live in. One example must suffice 
to indicate the nature of the pressure, and it shall be the 
one which exercised him most, an address from the Dean 
of his Cathedral and five clergy of the diocese, four being 
rural deans. The nature of the appeal will sufficiently 
appear from his answer. 

"Mv DEAR MR. DEAN, The address which you have 
forwarded to me and which I observe has already found 
its way into the papers without waiting for my reply has 
received, as it deserved, my most careful consideration. If 
it has failed to convince me that the course which, as a 



3 o4 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

Bishop placed in a most unwelcome situation, I have felt it 
my duty to pursue is a wrong course, this has not arisen 
from any want of attention to its arguments, or want of 
respect towards those who have signed it. You ' earnestly 
entreat me to consider the desirableness of peace ; and you 
press on me the obligation to recognise the respect due to 
the earnest desire of the late Archbishop, whose last Christian 
and statesmanlike effort for peace was made by a spirit 
illuminated by the approach of death.' Nothing would 
distress me more than to be thought wanting in respect for 
the memory of a prelate whom I always held in the most 
affectionate reverence ; but that reverence must not be 
allowed to pass into servile approval of everything that he 
said or did ; much less into a surrender of my own inde- 
pendent judgment, involving grave personal responsibility, 
before there has been time for the mind either of the nation 
or of the Church to be made up whether the policy pursued 
in the case of Mr. Mackonochie will really make for peace 
or no. No doubt peace is desirable. As Cicero says, 
1 The name of peace is sweet, and the thing itself salutary. 
But between peace and bondage there is the widest differ- 
ence. Peace is tranquil freedom, bondage the worst of all 
evils.' And there is no bondage so great as that of men 
living in a state of anarchy. I am afraid you give me credit 
for wider sympathies than I ever possessed. I am a Church- 
man of the school and type of Richard Hooker ; I accept 
loyally, and heartily, the principles of the Reformation, and 
have no sympathy with the persons who deny those principles, 
and would undo that work. There is much in the teaching 
of the extreme party amongst us as to the Sacrament of 
the Lord's Supper, the invocation of the blessed Virgin and 
the Saints, and the power of the priest in Absolution that 
I for one cannot distinguish from the teaching of the 



CHAP. vil. THE BISHOP AT BAY. 305 

Church of Rome. I cannot bid that teaching welcome in 
the Church of England. I yearn as earnestly as you can 
do for that better and brighter future for our mother Church 
which you foresee if the policy you recommend were adopted. 
I deeply regret that I cannot share those anticipations. 
Unless men will come back within the lines of the Prayer- 
Book, as these were understood and accepted till recent 
innovations blurred them, I can discern nothing for the 
Church but continued disquiet in the present, and disaster, 
possibly destruction, in a future only too threatening and 
imminent." 

On the other hand, specimens must be given of his replies 
to those who approved his conduct. 

Manchester, December 3o///, 1882. "Yours is one of a 
number of letters which I daily receive, assuring me that the 
course which I have felt it my painful duty to take in refer- 
ence to the benefice of St. John's, Miles Platting, meets with 
the approval and sympathy of the great body of moderate and 
whole-hearted churchmen. 

" I feel strengthened by this expression of support. Sub- 
stantial aid has also been offered by one gentleman to the 
extent of five hundred pounds towards the costs of litigation, 
which I fear must be the next stage of the proceedings ; but 
this, while feeling most grateful for the offer, I must decline. 
I do not think I shall need it, and certainly till I need it I 
am too proud to accept it. But the spontaneousness and 
generosity of the offers have much delighted me. 

" I do not see how I could have acted otherwise. My one 
aim has been to put on record a protest, which I hope may 
not be ineffectual, against the spread of that spirit of lawless- 
ness which in its principle strikes at the life of all organised 

x 



306 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n 

society. If the law chooses to stultify itself, or going on 
some narrow technical line tells me that I have not suffi- 
cient legal grounds to justify my action, I shall simply 
submit, and hope that the good sense of English public 
opinion will then arrive at the conclusion that it is time for 
such a state of the law giving facility to the practice of 
illegalities to be altered. 

" Meanwhile, perhaps the best course will be to remain 
quiet, and let matters take their course. I am not actuated 
by any partisan, still less by any intolerant, motives ; and 
I am sure you, who know me well, will give me credit for 
this." 

In acknowledgment of resolutions passed at a meeting of 
the congregation of St. Edmund's Church, Alexandra Park, 
Manchester, he wrote to the Rev. H. Woods Tindall as 
follows : 

" I thank you for your letter and the copy of the resolutions 
passed at the meeting of your parishioners last night which 
it communicated to me. In reply to them, perhaps it will 
be best for me, in the present conjuncture of affairs, simply 
to define, as clearly as I am able, the position which I have 
taken up. There is a constitution of this church and realm 
which has existed for the last forty years, and which is prac- 
tically and in principle identical with the constitution devised 
at the time of the Reformation, which places the supreme 
and final appeal in causes ecclesiastical in the Judicial Com- 
mittee of the Privy Council of the Sovereign. Under this 
constitution I was myself ordained ; and so were Mr. Green 
and Mr. CowgilL It is a constitution against which the 
church has never protested by any organised or authorised 
voice. The High Church party themselves appealed to it, 
when it suited their purpose, in the case ' Liddell v. 



CHAP. vii. THE BISHOP'S POSITION. 307 

Westerton.' The Commission on Ecclesiastical Courts now 
sitting may introduce some readjustments in the working of 
this constitution ; but it is hardly likely that they will seriously 
modify its essential principle, which places the supreme 'rule 
of all estates and degrees, whether they be ecclesiastical or 
temporal,' in the Crown ; nor will the recommendations of 
such a Commission, however wise and proper, be of any force 
or validity till they have been ratified by the Legislature and 
embodied in an Act of Parliament. 

" Meanwhile, is it to be seriously maintained that all 
ecclesiastical order and authority have ceased in the land, 
and that every clergyman and congregation, despising the 
rights of minorities, and sometimes of majorities also, are to 
do just what they please ? People are, of course, at liberty 
to say that they do not like the present constitution of the 
Courts, or that their decisions do not carry conviction to 
their minds ; but this only means that people are at liberty, 
by lawful means,. to reconstitute the Tribunals, and to get the 
unpalatable decisions reversed. It cannot mean, unless 
anarchy is to be substituted for order, that the Courts them- 
selves, as existing, are to be ignored, and their most solemn 
decisions trampled under foot. The President of the 
English Church Union has indeed proclaimed that the 
party with which he acts will not be satisfied till they have 
destroyed the Appellate Jurisdiction of the Privy Council in 
matters ecclesiastical ; but till he has destroyed it by substi- 
tuting for it a more perfect system, he must bear the present 
burden with as much patience as he can command. The 
Church of England cannot afford to be deprived at once of 
the protection and authority of all law ; for if you destroy 
the authority you destroy at the same time the protection. 

" If there is to be 'a truce ' at all, the only ground on 
which it can be reasonably offered, or accepted, is that both 

X 2 



3o8 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART 11. 

parties should keep within the limits of defined law as it 
stands, existing provocations being withdrawn, and no fresh 
ones introduced. Is it an unnatural or improper thing to 
ask ' Till the law is altered keep within the limits of the 
law ' ? 

" I neither am, nor ever was, a party man. I am not 
seeking now popularity with a party, or to win a triumph for 
one ; and I deeply deplore that I have been forced into a 
position which is unwelcome to all my natural inclinations 
and impulses. But there are principles which I feel bound, by 
every sentiment of fealty to my church and to my office, to 
endeavour to maintain ; and the time may be coming rapidly 
on when it will behove churchmen, if they would save 
Scriptural truth, to declare that, while desiring to be true to 
the principles of all really Primitive and Catholic Christianity, 
they will be true also to the principles of their own sober and 
well-considered Reformation." 

To Canon Stowell, who had forwarded an address of 
sympathy from the clergy of the diocese, he wrote : 

1883. 

February i2t/i, 1883. "I am grateful to you and the 
other clergy of the diocese who have signed it, for the address 
expressing sympathy and confidence in the difficult and un- 
welcome position in which the action of the patron of the 
benefice of St. John's, Miles Platting, has placed me. There 
are times in the lives of most men, when they have simply 
to do what they feel to be their duty and to take the conse- 
quences. As the matter has entered on the legal stage it is 
perhaps better that I should say no more. Those who know 
me will at least acquit me of having had any party aims in 
the course which I have taken." 



CHAP. vii. LAST OFFERS TO THE PATRON. 309 

On the 27th January, while the case was preparing for 
trial, the Bishop informed the plaintiff, through the Rev. 
H. Heywood, his brother, that, though the patron's right of 
presentation had lapsed, he had no wish to avail himself of 
the lapse, and would much rather accept a presentation from 
the patron "if he will only nominate a clerk who will 
conform to the law of the land." 

In March he renewed his offer to Sir P. Heywood, that if 
he won his cause he would not take advantage of the lapse, 
but would allow Sir Percival to present, provided only that 
the appointee would undertake to obey the law. To Mr. 
Oliver Heywood, the plaintiff's younger brother, he made a 
similar offer, " in the event of the presentation passing Sir 
Percival." Both offers were declined. 

Having now done all he could, or felt that he ought to 
do, for peace, the Bishop was not the man to sit down and 
allow himself to be beaten if he could help it. The battle 
was to be fought out, but fought out on lines marked out by 
him. He employed the best counsel he could get, Lord 
Herschell, and Mr. Jeune, and, while putting himself frankly 
in their hands, stipulated in a paper of memoranda prepared 
for them, " that the case should be argued on the broadest 
possible grounds of obvious legality and common-sense, 
and not entangled in the smallest measure with mere techni- 
calities viz., that what is sufficient ground for deprivation 
is sufficient for refusal to institute as the Bishop wishes 
the importance of the issue to be intelligible to every one." 

It was not until December that the cause came on for 
hearing. In the long months which intervened, the suit, 
and the parish, which, however, was being served with 
admirable temper and discretion by Mr. Pym and Mr. 
Williamson, were a constant cause of anxiety, all the harder 
to bear with patience from his sense of the pettiness of the 



3 io LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

questions at issue. Probably no living churchman of any 
eminence cared less about the ritual of the second year of 
Edward VI., or what robes were worn, or positions or 
gestures used, if only the law were obeyed. " I am terribly 
weary," he writes to Mr. Sale, "of the utter unprofitableness 
of all this strife. What a different thing from preaching the 
Gospel, the work Paul felt himself sent to do." 

To Canon Stowell. Nov. 2<)th, 1883. " My horrible trial 
was fixed for December 5th, and I had made all my arrange- 
ments accordingly. To my disgust I hear this afternoon it 
is postponed till the loth. Of course I must be present, 
and therefore I give you the earliest notice I can of my pro- 
bable inability to fufil my engagement with you for that 
evening. I hear it said that the opposite party or some 
of them are eagerly hoping for some terms of compromise. 
There was a time when such a thing might have been pos- 
sible, but not now. I shall be satisfied with nothing but the 
legal decision of an authorised tribunal. Did you see in 
the Guardian this morning, the intimation that, under 
certain circumstances, Mr. Mackonochie might be presented 
to a benefice in this diocese? There would be a pretty 
kettle of fish to fry." 

1884. 

At last, the hearing came on before Baron Pollock. 
The argument lasted over two days, the ioth and nth of 
December, and judgment was reserved. It was not delivered 
until January 22nd, 1884, when verdict and judgment were 
given for the defendant, with costs. 

To Archdeacon Norris. Jan. 2 6th, 1884. " I cannot affect 
to be otherwise than satisfied with the judgment of Baron 



CHAP. vii. THE JUDGMENT. 311 

Pollock, though I never sought the controversy. It was a 
cruel (as it seems to me) and quite unnecessary act, on the 
part of Sir P. Heywood to force me to set my back against 
the wall and fight ; and I can't profess to be sorry that he 
is beaten. His time for presentation has lapsed, but even 
now if he would nominate to me a clerk who would not 
exceed the limits of ritual allowed by law and I am sure 
these are wide enough for any honest English churchman 
I would accept him. And so I have signified to him through 
his brother Oliver ; and this perhaps would be the best 
solution of the difficulty. I feel no elation whatever at my 
success. If the judgment has increased a Bishop's authority 
and made it real, it has also largely increased his responsi- 
bility ; and I have two churches in the diocese in which 
illegality in ritual is carried to its highest extent, the clergy 
of which have utterly despised my admonition, which are 
not unlikely to be vacant at an early date, when I may find 
myself face to face with this difficulty again. All this makes 
me weary, and, like the Psalmist, I long to flee away to some 
more sequestered spot, not beaten upon by the fierce glare 
of controversy, and be at rest. You say that the Bishops 
instructing their clergy, should make no reference to the 
decisions of the courts. I hardly see why, as at any rate 
these decisions constitute the working ecclesiastical law, 
which alone has coercive force. But you know that in my 
admonition of November 25th, 1881, I most carefully 
avoided all reference to these decisions, and based my 
direction on principles that should have commended them- 
selves to all churchmen, but I only drew forth a strong 
protest from Knox-Little and others, who will accept no 
rule but their own tastes and likings." 

On the 4th of February the Bishop instituted Mr. Taylor 
Evans, a young man whom he had ordained in 1878, and 



3 i2 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

who had been doing excellent work in Burnley, and St. 
Matthew's, Campfield. The induction took place 23rd of 
February, when the Day School was closed by Sir P. Hey- 
wood's orders (the building being his property), and the 
choir resigned in a body. The new incumbent opened the 
Sunday School in the church for want of any other building. 
Seventeen voluntary teachers at once offered their services, 
and eighty children presented themselves on the first Sun- 
day, while an efficient choir was at at once extemporised 
from a number of volunteers. 

But the subject need be pursued no further here. It was 
with reluctance that it has been allowed to occupy so much 
space, but, on going through the whole of the documents, I 
was myself astonished to find how mistaken I had been on 
more than one point in the controversy. It is probable that 
most readers will be in the same position, so that it became 
clearly my duty as editor to give up whatever space a full, 
though I hope succinct, narrative of the whole of the facts 
might require. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

" I doubt not but a very good man may upon several occasions almost 
unavoidably be engaged in controversies of religion ; and, if he have a 
head clear and good enough, so as to be master of his own notions ; and 
temper enough in that hot kind of service, he may therein do consider- 
able advantage to the truth : tho' a man that hath once drawn blood in 
controversy is seldom known ever perfectly to recover his temper after- 
wards." TILLOTSU.N, Preface to Sermons, 1693. 

THE CONVOCATION OF YORK. 
1881-1882. 

1881. 

IT is with some misgiving that I approach the subject of 
this chapter the dealings of the Convocation of York with 
the Miles Platting case, so far, at least as the storm which 
raged in that assembly affected the Bishop. There is some- 
thing unsatisfactory in the debatings and doings of all purely 
professional conclaves, and those of the clergy are no excep- 
tions. Moreover, it is exceedingly difficult for an outsider 
to understand, or appreciate at its right value, much that 
happens, from want of familiarity with technicalities, and 
professional habits and methods. But the task must be 
undertaken, for there can be no question that the course 
which the Bishop felt constrained to adopt, and to which he 
adhered with unswerving patience and firmness, was, and 
still is, grievously misunderstood, not only by many of his 



3H LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

professional brethren, and by personal friends, and this in 
consequence mainly of the reports of the proceedings and 
debates in the Convocation of the Province of York. 

We need not concern ourselves here with the part which 
the Bishop had taken in the debates and business of the 
House during the eleven previous years of his membership. 
He was a man who could not fail to make his mark in any 
assembly ; and his speeches and action on the use of the 
Athanasian Creed already given and other important 
ecclesiastical subjects, had given him a strong position as 
the representative in Covocation of a frankly liberal and 
tolerant, though orthodox churchmanship. It was probably 
indeed the strength of his position in this regard, and 
the consciousness of his hold on the highest kind of 
popularity, both in the Church and outside it, which em- 
bittered and turned into a personal attack, a discussion 
which for the sake of all parties concerned, as well as of 
the Church and the country should have been allowed 
before all things to remain impersonal. 



1882. 

Ever since its commencement the Miles Platting case 
had naturally attracted the attention of Covocation, but 
it was not till 1881 that any formal action was taken upon 
it. In that year the Dean of York proposed a resolution, 
the effect of which, whatever its intention, would have been 
to throw the whole blame of prosecutions under the Public 
Worship Regulation Act on the Bishop of the diocese in 
which the proceedings arose. This resolution, though out 
of order (the Lower House having only the power in such a 
case of proceeding by gravamen), was not opposed by the 
Bishops ; the President of their house merely pointing out 



CHAP. viii. THE GRAVAMEN. 515 

that, if carried, it would be somewhat unfair on them. It 
was put and only defeated by a majority of one. Its pro- 
poser and his immediate supporters thereupon, in the 
interval between the sittings of 1881 and 1882, circulated 
a gravamen on the same subject amongst the members of 
the Lower House, for which, before the next meeting of 
Convocation they had already obtained thirty-six promises of 
support. It does not seem at all clear that this was not 
as illegal as it certainly was unusual. The point was noticed 
by the President in his opening remarks, but without com- 
ment ; and no action was taken by him or his colleagues to 
hinder this gravamen from being brought forward. Con- 
vocation had scarcely met, in February, 1882, before it 
became clear that the intention of its supporters was, that it 
should be moved, not in full Synod, but in the Lower 
House sitting apart. 

For eighteen years there had been no separation of the 
two Houses. The custom of separate sittings had obtained 
at first after the revival of Convocation, and had lasted till 
1865. But, shortly after his succession to the Archbishopric, 
the present President, with the zealous assistance of the 
then Prolocutor, had procured that the two Houses should 
sit together ; an arrangement which, while it obviously 
facilitated business, gave the Lower House the advantage of 
at once knowing, and taking part in the consideration of, all 
questions which might be introduced in the Upper. It had 
worked perfectly well, and apparently to the satisfaction of 
all concerned, until the discussion and division in 1881, 
already referred to. Now, however, after a short discussion 
during which the President pointed out that there was a 
motion on the paper for discussion in the united Houses 
which would raise the whole question, but that nevertheless 
it was within their right the Lower House voted to retire 



316 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART 11. 

for the discussion of this gravamen by thirty to twenty-six. 
In the separate sitting which followed, the Prolocutor, 
having stated his reasons for the course which he and his 
immediate supporters were taking, called upon the Dean of 
York, who proceeded to move that the gravamen in its 
amended form, " That the continued imprisonment of the 
Rev. S. F. Green, a clergyman of this province, is a per- 
plexity and scandal to this House and to the Church at 
large," should be adopted as an articulous deri. 

The opening sentence of the mover's speech was ominous. 
" It was his honest and conscientious intention," he began, 
" to promote peace " ; but he confessed that his experience 
of efforts to promote peace in that House was that of every 
one who had the same object, viz., that he was almost cer- 
tain to be misunderstood and misrepresented. However 
with this view of promoting peace, he had felt that they 
ought to discuss this question amongst themselves, which 
they could do more freely than in the presence of the other 
House. As to the merits of the gravamen before them, all 
of them broke the law, which it was simply impossible to 
obey. " Let him who was without sin amongst them cast the 
first stone." As to Mr. Green, it was asked why he didn't 
do what he was required to do, and he would be at once 
released. Mr. Green had told them why. He had said, 
" As an honest and conscientious man I cannot do what I 
am required to do." To detain a man in prison and tell 
him that he must either do something which his conscience 
forbade him to do, or stay there till the penalty had worked 
a change in his mind, was an act of cruelty, an act of persecu- 
tion, and a downright disgrace to the day and the country 
in which we live. 

The seconder, the Rev. Canon Owen, relied on the same 
arguments as the mover ; adding " that it was urged that Mr. 



CHAP. vili. THE REFORMANDUM. 317 

Green and his friends would not attend to the voice of their 
spiritual father. But how if the father's voice came with 
the predominant accents of the Privy Council ? There ought 
to be a stop put to this state of things." 

In the long debate which followed, the main argument 
was met by Canon Eden with the remark, " that no Govern- 
ment could in such a case admit this plea of conscience ; 
for a man picking his neighbour's pocket might say that it 
was a matter of conscience with him to attempt thus to 
obtain a more equal distribution of wealth." But this very 
obvious reductio ad absurdum, and the common-sense argu- 
ment of the Dean of Chester " that, if there was nothing 
in the background, they were going in solemn assembly to 
vote what nobody doubted, as the whole country felt already 
that the punishment was utterly unsuitable to the offence ; 
but why should they bring all their learning and experience 
to the passing of a truism, and a truism which was certain 
to be misunderstood " were equally urged in vain. On a 
division the gravamen was carried by thirty-eight to eighteen 
votes. 

So far the debate had turned on general principles, and 
had been free from personalities, but, now that the gravamen 
had been carried, the atmosphere changed. No one can 
have listened to the speeches in Parliament, or in any large 
gatherings of laymen where great issues are at stake and 
men are keenly interested, without having learned sorrow- 
fully to admit the truth of the Psalmist's bitter cry, " Their 
words are smoother than oil and yet be they very swords." 
If the Lower House of Convocation of the northern province 
may be taken as a fair specimen of ecclesiastical bodies they 
form no exception to this rule. The Dean of Durham now 
rose to move the reformandum founded on this gravamen, 
" That the Lower House therefore humbly requests of the 



318 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

Upper House to take some united action, by address to the 
Crown or otherwise as they may be advised, which may lead 
to the removal of this scandal by the release of the Rev. 
S. F. Green." Possibly the intimation already thrown out 
by the President, that a reformandum in this form could not 
be admitted, the Convocation of York having no locus standi 
for approaching the Crown directly, may have accounted for 
the line now taken by Uean Lake, as it had by anticipation 
rendered the whole discussion useless for any practical pur- 
pose. " The imprisonment," he urged, " was a fatal mis- 
take, and a mistake for which the Bishop of Manchester 
was responsible by allowing the proceedings to be taken in 
the first instance. As to concessions, if Mr. Green had 
made those demanded of him, he could scarcely have held 
up his head as' a gentleman afterwards. Then as to the 
means used to induce Mr. Green to submit himself to his 
Bishop, he (Dean Lake) was astonished recently when read- 
ing a pastoral address of the Bishop's, in which, after 
referring to the leading features of Mr. Green's case, he 
went on to say, ' I don't like this posing as a martyr when 
you are only playing the part of an anarchist and bad 
citizen.' He put it to that House with much sorrow, 
whether that was quite the way to induce a clergyman to 
submit to his fatherly admonitions." Such, in an abbrevi- 
ated and expurgated form, is the gist of this inexplicably 
bitter attack. It is needless to quote further a speech of 
which one of the most moderate of those who heard it has 
written : " I well remember the feelings of pain, I may 
almost say of indignation, awakened in the minds of most 
of us. It was an outbreak in every respect unseemly and 
unjustifiable." 

The motion was seconded by Canon Trevor, in a similar 
though milder strain, on the ground that " it seemed to be 



CHAP. vni. THE GRAVAMEN. 319 

eminently judicious " ! This epithet cannot at any rate be 
applied to his own only original suggestion. " If," he said, 
"the Bishops were not prepared to go to the Crown, let 
them follow apostolic precedent and go themselves to Lan- 
caster gaol and fetch the prisoner out. Nothing, he was 
sure, would be more grateful to the generous hearts of the 
Most Reverend the President and the Bishop of Manches- 
ter. He would take upon himself to promise that the whole 
Lower House would be proud to attend their Lordships on 
their pilgrimage " ! 

No good, as may well be supposed, was likely to result 
from a debate opened in this temper and spirit. As a fact, 
less harm came of it than might have been looked for. 
Sobered somewhat, it may be, by such comments as those of 
Canon Blackley, who expressed himself as deeply pained 
by some of the remarks which had been made, adding " that 
people outside would be greatly scandalised at their publica- 
tion," Dean Lake and his friends accepted an insertion in 
their reformandum of the words " while it does not feel called 
upon to express as a House any opinion of Mr. Green's 
conduct," which made it perfectly innocuous. In this form 
it was passed without a division. 

In due course the gravamen and reformandum were re- 
ported to Convocation in full synod. The President, on 
behalf of the Bishops, answered at once by reading an 
extract from a letter of the Home Secretary as follows : " Sir 
William Harcourt is advised by the law officers of the Crown 
that the powers of the Crown to discharge persons from 
custody could not be rightly, or even constitutionally, exer- 
cised in the case of a person imprisoned for contempt of 
Court, and committed for persistent disobedience to the 
lawful commands of a competent tribunal." He further 
assured them, that in answer to an application he had him- 



320 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

self forwarded early in his archiepiscopacy, he as President 
had been informed officially that the Convocation of York 
had no right of access to the Crown. They could not there- 
fore do as the reformandum proposed ; while if the Bishops 
were asked " to lead a forlorn hope to the foot of the throne 
to get Mr. Green out of prison, though they knew that the 
law officers had given an adverse opinion, and that the 
Government had refused to act after receiving that opinion, 
that they would not do." He concluded: "As I said 
before, and I repeat it emphatically, we are as anxious as 
any one possibly can be to embrace any feasible mode of 
securing the release of Mr. Green ; but, with the knowledge 
that the Crown has been advised not to grant it, and with 
Sir William Harcourt's assurance that it will not grant it, to 
tell the Bishops that it is part of their duty to go to the 
Crown and say it is the Sovereign's duty to release Mr 
Green, would not be seemly conduct on the part of this 
Convocation." 

Up to the last day of the sittings the Bishop of Manches- 
ter had no opportunity of reply, so on the morning of the 
i6th of February, the President asked the indulgence of the 
House, that Bishop Fraser might refer to the quotations 
made in the Lower House from a charge of his. Dean 
Lake at once intervened, claiming in fairness that he should 
be allowed to repeat what he had said below, which he pro- 
ceeded to do, " with bland but scorching words of professed 
friendship, which added bitterness to the attack," to quote 
again from the same member of Convocation. 

The Bishop of Manchester then rose; and without a 
word of recrimination, stated the facts of the case, which are 
already before the reader. In answer to Dean Lake's 
charge he simply said, " I can honestly say, that when I 
wrote the passage in question Mr. Green's case as an indi- 



CHAP. vin. REGRETTING THE PROSECUTIONS. 321 

vidual was not before my mind." He then gave the whole 
of the passage of which the Dean had quoted a part, and 
which ran : " No one, I repeat, regrets these prosecutions 
more than I do, but what I regret most is that there should 
be a justifiable ground for them. No one likes less than I 
the policy and proceedings of the Church Association. I 
refer to the way in which the prosecutions have ordinarily 
been got up, notably so in the case of St. John's, Miles 
Platting ; but both their policy and proceedings would be 
frustrated unless, there were men who provoked their action 
by ostentatiously defying the law of the land. I do not 
like this posing as a martyr when you are only playing the 
part of an anarchist and bad citizen." He ended thus : " I 
have now laid the whole case before Convocation, and ask 
you frankly I ask you as fair-minded Englishmen, whether 
you are* not willing to make allowances for the difficulties in 
which a Bishop is placed by a clergyman, who will neither 
acknowledge the law of the land, nor submit to his Bishop's 
decision or advice. Without inviting any comment, speak- 
ing to you only by your indulgence, and by favour of his 
Grace, I thought it right to lay my case plainly before you, 
for I am not afraid to trust it to the fair and equitable 
consideration of the clergy of this province." 
This appeal is now made to a wider audience. 



" A man that hath once drawn blood in controversy is 
seldom known ever perfectly to recover his temper after- 
wards," are words of the sagacious English prelate quoted 
at the head of this chapter, than whom few men have had 
better opportunities of watching the working of the odium 
theologicum. They were verified in Dean Lake's case, who 
returned to the charge more than once, and notably on the 
occasion of the notorious "legacy of peace." I add here 

Y 



322 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART II. 

the Bishop's answer to a letter in The Times of Dean Lake 
on this subject. The passage quoted by the Bishop is all 
that need be given of this document 

" To the Editor of ' The Times: Sir, The Dean of 
Durham indulges in a latitude both of statement and com- 
ment, which is not unusual with him, in the letter which 
appeared in your columns of last week. 

" There is, however, only one passage in that letter which 
I feel disposed to notice. He says, ' The case assumes a 
more painful character when the Bishop of Manchester 
asserts, as he is well known to do, that he is acting by the 
advice of his Metropolitan. . . . For surely it is hardly in 
accordance with any ideas of authority, or even of propriety, 
in our Church, that two Bishops should thus combine, 
immediately after the death of so great a Prelate as the late 
Archbishop, to thwart his last attempt to give peace to the 
Church.' 

"A few dates will dispose of this not very generous 
attempt to give an invidious character to the action which a 
sense of duty led me to pursue. The Archbishop of York 
paid me a visit, on November i, on the occasion of the first 
degree day of the Victoria University, and I naturally con- 
sulted him upon the difficulty in which I foresaw I was 
likely to be placed, in regard to the vacant benefice of St. 
John's, Miles Platting. He concurred with me in thinking 
that I had no alternative but to refuse institution to any 
clergyman who might be presented to me by the Patron, of 
whom I had good reason to believe that he was likely to 
continue the same illegal practices for which Mr. Green had 
been deprived. 

" It was not unnatural, nor, I hope, improper for a 
Suffragan Bishop, in a matter of great difficulty and respon- 



CHAP. vni. HIS REPLY TO DEAN LAKE. 323 

sibility, to consult his Metropolitan. One or two of my 
friends are aware that I did consult the Archbishop ; but 
for obvious reasons, not wishing to draw another into my 
own quarrel, I have not been in the habit of ' asserting ' the 
fact, in the way the Dean of Durham's words imply. On 
the loth November, Sir P. Heywood announced to me his 
intention of nominating Mr. Cowgill ; and on December 
2nd, I first saw that gentleman with reference to his institu- 
tion. On December 3rd, Archbishop Tait died ; and it was 
not till a full week after that date that the public became 
aware of what had been done with reference to Mr. 
Mackonochie. 

" The Dean of Durham could, of course, have authenti- 
cated his statement before making it, if he had been so 
disposed ; but this would not have answered his purpose of 
putting the most invidious construction that he could on the 
conduct of the Archbishop of York and myself. 

k< But I submit to your readers that my consulting my 
Metropolitan on November ist on a matter of serious 
difficulty rwhich I maintain was a perfectly proper proceed- 
ing on my part could never have been tortured by a fair 
mind into ' a combination between two Bishops, immediately 
after the death of so great a prelate as the late Archbishop, 
to thwart his last attempt to give peace to the Church.' " 



Y 2 



CHAPTER IX. 

" Sae sweet his voice, sae smooth his tongue, 

His breath like caller air ; 
His very foot has music in't 

As he comes up the stair." MICKLE. 

1857 1880. 
MARRIAGE. 

l88o. 

BY this time readers must be aware that Fraser was a man 
to whom " home " meant more than it usually does to men 
of his energy and ability. Without ambition, in the ordinary 
sense of the word, his strong sense of duty and delight in 
thoroughness had made him a splendid worker in his parish, 
and on Royal Commissions ; and no man could be more 
keenly interested in all that was going on in the nation and 
the world. But his life that in which his heart lay was, 
before all things, a home life. He stood aloof as long as he 
could from clerical gatherings and political meetings, even 
when social questions on which he felt deeply were to be 
discussed. He scarcely ever went to London, and never 
belonged to a club until, as bishop, he became a member of 
the Athenaeum virtute offidi. Bright and frank as he was in 
all companies, he was never so bright, or seen to such 
advantage, as in his own home. It may seem strange that 
such a man should not have married early in life, and indeed is 



CHAP. ix. LEAVING ORIEL. 325 

strange, when one remembers his chivalrous feelings for 
women and delight in their society. But the reasons are not 
far to seek. During the years when young people fall in 
love he was too poor to allow himself the luxury voluntarily, 
and too much master of himself to fall into it involuntarily. 
Within a few months of his leaving Oriel for a home of his 
own, at Cholderton, his mother was left without one by the 
death of her youngest son. She came to him at once, and 
became the mistress of his house, and identified herself so 
thoroughly with all his interests and hopes that the idea of 
displacing her became a painful thought to him. Then, 
until his removal to Ufton, he would have forfeited the 
income of his Fellowship by marriage, an important con- 
sideration when the orphan children of his brother Edward, 
who was killed in the Mutiny, came home from India, and 
were to a large extent dependent on him, as he writes to his 
friend Sale. 

1857- 

August izt/i, 1857. "Dear Edward's three eldest boys, 
aged eleven, eight, and seven, are with us. The care of their 
education will mainly devolve on me and becomes a great 
responsibility. For the first time I am thankful to find 
myself unmarried that I may the better discharge it." 

Again, the arrival of the aunt, to whom he was deeply 
attached, and who had been almost a second mother to him 
and his brothers in their early years of comparative poverty, 
to share his home with his mother, placed yet another 
obstacle in the way of such a change. To these, no doubt, 
may be added the one reason of itself sufficient, that since 
his mature manhood he had not happened to meet the 
right person. That the persons specially interested in this 



326 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

part of their neighbours' lives were not wanting in solicitude 
on his behalf may be taken for granted. One specimen only 
of such fruitless industry will be quite sufficient for our 
purposes. 

1872. 

To Rev.J. Lonsdale. Dec. igth, 1872." The gossips of 
Manchester have been engaging me to a young lady said to 
be worth a quarter of a million of money, and the idle 
rumour even got into the London papers. You may judge 
of its credibility when I tell you that I have never seen the 
lady in question." 

18681876. 

At last, however, to the bishop, as to all men who deserve 
and wait for it, came the right opportunity. When in 
Norfolk in 1868, as an assistant commissioner, he had 
stayed with a Mr. Parker, the rector of Saham Tony, 
formerly a Fellow of Ne\v College, to whom he had been 
introduced by his chief, Mr. Tremenheere. An intimacy 
sprang up between them, one result of which was that Mr. 
Parker set aside a fund for the education of the sons of poor 
clergy in the diocese of Manchester, of which he named the 
Bishop trustee. In 1876 Mr. Parker, now an old man, was 
compelled to give up active duty, and went to live near his 
sister-in-law, Mrs. Duncan, who, with an only daughter, 
Agnes, was settled in Weston, a suburb of Bath. Here the 
Bishop came to visit his old friend on business connected 
with the trust, and became acquainted with the lady who was 
destined to be his wife. Miss Duncan came of a family 
entirely congenial to the Bishop. John Shute Duncan, her 
father, and Philip Duncan, her uncle, had both been Fellows 
of New College, and residents at Oxford, in the early 
decades of this century. They had taken active part in the 



CHAP. IX. THE DUNCANS. 327 

life of the University, and had been friends of Copleston, 
Whately, Sydney Smith, Howley, and Buckland, with the 
last of whom they were in special sympathy, as they were 
amongst the earliest and most zealous promoters of the study 
of natural science at Oxford. In 1829 Philip was appointed 
Curator of the Ashmolean Museum, of which both brothers 
were munificent benefactors. They were also the founders 
of the first savings bank in Oxford. On his marriage Mr. 
John Duncan left Oxford for Bath, where he became one of 
the foremost promoters of the Royal Literary and Scientific 
Institution, and of the savings bank, and an active supporter 
of all the local charities until his death in 1844. It would 
seem that, at the date of the following letter, the engage- 
ment was of some years' standing, but had not been 
acknowledged in consequence of the state of Mrs. Duncan's 
health. She was quite blind, and her daughter could not 
entertain any proposal for leaving her. She died in the 
autumn of 1878. 

1878. 

To Archdeacon N orris. Dec. 24^/1, 1878. "They have 
been anxious times with me of late. I have been laid up 
myself for a month with bronchitis, and even now only get 
out of the house when the weather is propitious. To-day I 
am a close prisoner. My two dear old ladies, too, have 
been a cause of much anxiety, and three weeks ago I did 
not think I should have had either of them with me now. 
But they have rallied wonderfully the last few days, and my 
dear aunt looks almost at her best and brightest for her 
eighty-ninth birthday, which is to-morrow. You see in the 
papers accounts of the distress which prevails amongst us. 
I hope, however, we shall be able to bear it. My chief 
grief is that I can only send my money, and in the present 



328 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

state of the weather (with my bronchitis) cannot take any 
active part in the relief-organisations, which are wisely 
planned, and are becoming very effective. 

" And now, to whom can one tell a secret if not to a friend ? 
I am going to tell you a secret, which has been disclosed to a 
lew mutual friends, but which for obvious reasons I wish to 
be kept as a secret from the gossiping world. There is a lady 
Miss Duncan staying at the St. Vincent's Rock Hotel, 
Clifton, in whom I have a special interest. I wish you 
would take Mrs. Norris to call on her. I have told her I 
should ask you. She lives at Bath, and about five weeks ago 
lost her mother at the age of eighty-seven. She comes to 
Clifton for a change and stays there till the 3ist. She is 
daughter of John Duncan, and niece of Philip Duncan, both 
formerly Fellows of New College. Well, I won't say to you 
what I think of her. You and Mrs. Norris shall form an 
independent judgment. We have been attached to each 
other for two years, but hitherto the circumstances of each 
of us have compelled us to wait, and that is why we have 
wished our engagement to be known only to a few friends 
who could be trusted not to divulge it. Even now we can't 
see our way clearly yet. I should like your wife to know her. 
Now, keep my secret, and don't write to me till you have 
seen the lady, and then tell me if you don't think I have the 
right to consider myself entitled to look for that happiness 
which you have found." 

1879. 

The secret was well kept by all his friends for two years. 
In the autumn of 1879 the suspense was over and the time 
fixed for the marriage, so that the reasons for any further 
reticence had disappeared. 



CHAP. IX. OUR MARRIAGE. 329 

To Mr. Cornish (uiho had been appointed Honorary Canon 
of Chester Cathedral). Oct. 22nd. " I am very glad you have 
told the dear Bishop of Chester. He has always been most 
affectionate to me, and I think the news would give him 
pleasure, particularly if you added how happy I was in my 
choice. I think I told you that our marriage will probably 
take place early in January, though you know for what con- 
tingencies we have to make allowance, and that we cannot 
therefore fix dates with absolute certainty. I have had a 
letter from Gould and his wife this morning, congratulating 
me ; so I suppose the secret is a pretty open one in your 
neighbourhood by this time. I find too that it is spreading 
in Lancashire, but people are very kind, and do not annoy 
me with impertinent questions and gossip." 

" I have just got through my diocesan conference. There 
was an attendance of about 350 (200 layman and 150 
clergy), and though we touched burning questions, it was 
done with much good temper, and the net result was most 
encouraging. I have received several testimonies from lay- 
members to that effect." 

To the Rev. Canon Cornish. December 22nd, 1879. 
" Well ! you are getting your name up in the agricultural 
world ! I shall expect next year to hear of your exhibiting, 
and perhaps carrying off a prize, at Smithfield; but did you 
really breed as well as feed ? or is this a pardonable exag- 
geration of Comber ? who (as dissenters are apt sometimes 
to be) is not as scrupulous in the use of words as he might 
be. 

" My bronchitis has not yet assumed any serious symp- 
toms. I laid up for a week, from motives of prudence, and 
to get ready for my journey to Monckton Farley, where I 
enjoyed myself to my heart's content, but I am at work as 



330 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

usual again ; till to-day, which is bright, the weather here 
has been villainous, a succession of fogs, which have made 
it specially difficult to throw off a catarrhal ailment. 

" I may tell you as a secret to be communicated only to 
your wife, that, if all goes on well with my two dear old 
ladies, the event will take place in London on the I5th 
January. It will be as quiet as it can be, and we propose to 
spend three or four weeks at Torquay which we hope to 
find pretty warm and pleasant even in January. The Ufton 
rates have of a truth come down ! If no hardship is being 
inflicted on the really deserving poor in the process, it is a 
matter to rejoice over. I shall venture to send you a cheque 
for I5/., to distribute in the parish, according to your dis- 
cretion, on the celebration of my marriage, and as a token 
to the people that I do not forget them. I would suggest 
that it should be laid out in clothing. I must remember the 
dear old Cholderton people in the same way. I hear that 
the new rector is a very good man. I am sorry to hear 
' the missus ' is ailing : I hope it is only a passing attack." 

1880. 

To Canon Cornishwith Cheque for ^15. Jan, $th, 1880. 
" When you distribute it, tell the people that I am sure I 
shall have their good wishes and prayers for my happiness. 
I think you might, without impropriety, give rather a larger 
amount to the people who lived in the parish in my time ; 
though I shouM not like to leave out any household. But I 
leave the matter entirely to your discretion. 

"Stanley is to marry me, and Hugh Pearson of Sonningis 
to be my best man. I see he has just lost his old and valued 
parishioner, Miss Caroline Palmer ; but I hope that will not 
interfere with his promise to me. I have just had sent me 
this morning almost the handsomest wedding present I ever 



CHAP. ix. PRELIMINARIES. 331 

saw in my life, from dear old Canon Gibson, accompanied 
by a most affectionate letter. The clergy of the diocese, I 
hear, are also going to join in a handsome piece of plate. 
I am almost sorry, as I need none of these things, but, of 
course, the spirit is gratifying. But I absolutely forbid you 
and Mrs. Cornish doing anything of the kind : I know I 
shall have your best wishes, and I want no more. Really, 
I do not know what to do with some of the things that 
between us we have received." 

Besides the gifts to Ufton and Cholderton, the Bishop 
sent cheques for 2507. and 5o/. to the secretaries of the 
.Manchester and Salford District Provident Society, and 
the Young Men's Christian Association, with the following 
notes : 

"Bishops Court, Jan. itf/i, 1880. Dear Mr. Smith, To- 
morrow, all being well, will be my wedding-day, and in the 
midst of my own happiness I should like to mark the day 
by some little effort to promote the comfort of others in the 
midst of whom I live. I know of no organisation which 
will carry out my wishes so effectually as your society, and 
if you as its agent will kindly undertake to distribute for me 
the sum of 2507., for which I inclose cheque, amongst the 
deserving and necessitous poor in those parishes of Man- 
chester and Salford in which at the present time there seems 
to be most distress, you will lay me under an obligation. 
After much reflection I could think of no better way of 
showing my appreciation of the kind interest which people 
of all classes in Manchester have taken in an event so 
materially affecting my happiness, for which I am deeply 
grateful to them. I remain, dear Mr. Smith, yours faithfully, 
J. MANCHESTER." 

^ Bishop's Court, January itffi, 1880. Dear Mr. Newett, 



332 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

You have, I believe, a fund in connection with the Y.M.C. 
Association, out of which you make from time to time helpful 
gifts to persons who have seen better days, but who are 
suffering very acutely from the present depression of trade. 
To-morrow, all being well, will be my wedding-day ; and I 
wish at such a moment to think of others who are less 
happily circumstanced than myself. Will you accept the 
inclosed cheque for $o/. for your fund? I can entirely rely 
that in your hands a wise and good use will be made of it. 
Believe me to be yaurs very truly J. MANCHESTER." 

" We have been enabled by your gift," reports Mr, Smith, 
" to get at a class of the most respectable poor, who never 
received anything in the shape of charity, and would shudder 
to receive anything in that form, but are proud and honoured 
to receive the Bishop's wedding gift." Five hundred thick 
Scotch shawls and fifty boys' suits were distributed by Mr. 
Smith, the warehousemen supplying the best class of goods 
at cost price. Mr. Newett was enabled to supply thirty-two 
families of poor clerks with joints on the Sunday following 
the wedding, and to prevent the break up of fifty-two house- 
holds by payment of arrears of rent. While careful inquiries 
were made as to the fitness of the recipients, no question 
was asked as to Church membership or religious beliefs. 

A service of plate was piesented which he (with the con- 
sent but somewhat against the wish of the donors) made an 
heirloom to the diocese. 

The wedding was celebrated at St. Peter's Church, Cranley 
Gardens, by the Dean of Westminster, Hugh Pearson 
acting as best man, as privately as is possible under like 
circumstances. 

To Canon Cornish. Torquay, January 2O/7*. "The 
newspapers have told you that on Thursday last ' I been 



CHAP. ix. THE WEDDING. 333 

and done it ' and never did mortal man do a wiser, better, 
happier thing. All was ordered just as we wished perfect 
quietness and simplicity the dear Dean of Westminster 
most affecting in his benediction of us, and his kindly 
address (about which I observe some senseless lover of 
decency and order in the Standard raises the question, 
whether it was quite legal, even at the marriage of a Bishop ! 
really, I can't conceive how people can find delight in 
such contemptible quibbles). We travelled as far as Exeter 
on the wedding-day, staying at a very fine and comfortable 
new hotel, the Rougemont ; and on Friday we came on 
here, where we are equally well housed in a private hotel 
near the station, commanding beautiful views of the bay and 
town. We shall probably stay here all the time, or nearly 
all, that we can allow ourselves, merely breaking the home- 
journey at Clifton to avoid fatigue. 

" The bulletins from Manchester are most cheering, and 
a general contentment seems to pervade the minds of the 
good people there that their Bishop has at last taken to him- 
self a wife. When they know what sort of a woman that 
wife is, their satisfaction will be immensely enhanced. She 
is just the woman to delight them all. Oh, my dear friend, 
I cannot tell you how my heart overflows with joy and 
thankfulness at the thought of God's great goodness to me 
in this matter. No man can have a wife of whom he is 
more justly proud. I shall be so glad when you and that 
good Christian wife of yours will come and brighten up my 
home ; she knows all about you, and is quite prepared to 
give you the welcome that she is ready to extend to all her 
husband's old friends. 

" The three daughters of Jane Tigvvell in London sent me 
such a nice tea-cosey, and a charming letter, which deeply 
touched me." 



334 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

To Canon Cornish. Torquay, January 2"jf/i. "Your 
letter gave us immense pleasure and amusement at our 
happy breakfast-table this morning. Dear me ! I wish I 
had known that the Tigwell girls were in the little knot of 
people gathered round us as we took our departure from 
ii Cromwell Place just a week ago to-day. I should have 
so liked to shake them by the hand. Their pluck and per- 
severance deserved a reward, and I do hope they got into 
the Church, and saw the ceremony. Their description of 
what took place was true to the smallest particular, and they 
must be gifted with quite remarkable powers of observation. 
Please give the inclosed photograph to little Annie Tigwell, 
and tell her I was very much pleased with her kind little 
note and very pretty New Year's card. I send you a 
Manchester paper (addressed by rny wife), which you may 
like to read, and lend about in the parish. I am glad the 
money I sent went round nicely, and entirely approve of 
what you are doing with the surplus. Will you divide the 
inclosed twenty shillings among the ringers ? I doubt if we 
shall be able to accomplish the journey to Torcross which 
you suggest. The days are bright but the air is too cold for 
long expeditions. We are going over to Berry Head on 
Monday to take luncheon with my old friend Mrs. Hogg, 
H. F. Lyte's daughter, now widowed, but still living in the 
hospitable house, which so often opened its doors to me and 
my pupils when I had a reading party at Paignton in 1840, 
my first long vacation after the election to Oriel. We are 
as happy as the day is long, and are in very choice and 
comfortable quarters. The place, however, seems very 
empty, and the streets have none of that appearance of a 
throng of fashionables in them which I had expected to see. 
This, however, is not unwelcome to us, who like to go 
about quietly and unobserved." 



CHAP. IX. DEATH OF HIS MOTHER. 335 

To Archdeacon Norn's. Torquay, January 30^, 1880. 
" If the Contemporary Review of this month comes in your 
way you will see a letter of mine therCj published by Ruskin, 
upon usury, with his comments, which seem to me more 
like the ravings of a lunatic than anything else. There is a 
most absurd misprint in my letter. I had spoken of the 
North-Western Railway Company raising money 'for the 
purpose of extending their line,' this is turned into 'for 
the purpose of excommunication ' ! We are having most 
glorious weather here, and are thoroughly enjoying our- 
selves, as happy as the day is long. The time only flies too 
quickly. But perhaps there is as much (if not more) 
happiness to be got out of work as out of holiday." 

To Canon Cornish. Manchester, March 6th. "The 
service of plate is very handsome, though it is a serious 
anxiety to have the custody of a service which cost 5oo/. 

" My wife and I are going to double the amount collected 
for the lay presentation noo/. and with the united sum a 
scholarship in classical literature will be founded in Owens 
College, of 4o/. a year for two years. As I had wanted 
nothing personal, I thought this was the best we could do. 

" My dear mother and aunt are wonderfully well, and we 
are quite free from anxiety on their account. It seems as 
though they might continue in their present condition for 
years. Agnes is the greatest possible comfort to me, in 
regard to them, and she delights in watching over them. 
We are as happy as the day is long." 

His mother only lived to witness and share her son's new 
happiness for three months. She died on the 24th of April, 
1880, at the age of 84, and was buried in a small tomb 
which he had built on the west side of Ufton Church. The 
tomb will hold four coffins, three of which are already there. 



336 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

This chapter may well be closed by an anonymous note 
accompanying the wedding gift referred to, which gave the 
Bishop and his wife probably more real pleasure than the 
SOD/, service of plate from the clergy, or eveji than the lay 
subscription of noo/. 

" DEAR MADAM, Will you please accept a dozen knitted 
dish-cloths? They are such as we use for a many years, and 
prefer them to any other kind. I know it is a poor gift, but 
in a large house the useful are as necessary as the orna- 
mental, and are sent as a small token of my esteem and 
admiration of the Bishop's straightforward manliness in the 
work he is called to do. May you both be long spared to 
work for the Master is the prayer, dear Madam, of yours 
very respectfully, 

"A LANCASHIRE WOMAN." 



CHAPTER X. 

" Arouse ! let thy soul break in music thunder, 

Let loose the ocean that is in thee pent 
Pour forth thy hope, thy fear, thy love, thy wonder, 

And tell the age what all its signs have meant. 
Where'er a wildered crowd of brethren jostles, 
Where'er there lingers but a shade of wrong, 
There still is need of martyrs and apostles, 
There still are texts for never-dying song." 

J. R. LOWELL. 

MANCHESTER, l88o 1884. 
1880. 

BISHOP FRASER, as the administrator of a great diocese, 
will be judged by his conduct in the Miles Platting case, 
which brought him so prominently before the public, and 
as to the merits of which both professional and lay opinion 
were so sharply divided. I have endeavoured to state the 
facts fairly, and without comment, but am glad before re- 
turning to the narrative of his ordinary work to put on 
record the following testimony of his senior chaplain as 
to the temper of his intercourse with his clergy, and the dis- 
tinctness of his theology. I wrote to his senior chaplain, 
Archdeacon Norris, on these points. From his reply I 
extract what follows : 

" Sherlock said of Tillotson that ' he had a clear, bright 
" ' intellect, a sound judgment, an easy and happy way of 



338 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

" ' expressing himself, and that he was a true and hearty 
" ' friend : ' and he added, that 4 though he could not easily 
"'part with a friend, he could easily forgive an enemy.' 
" The words might well serve as a description of the late 
" Bishop of Manchester. 

" That Bishop Fraser ' could not easily part with a friend,' 
" none can testify better than I ; for I much fear that, 
" during the sixteen years of my chaplaincy, I must again 
" and again have tried the patience of his friendship, so 
" different were our judgments on many points. And yet 
" never did these differences interrupt our friendship. 
" Never once did I arrive at Bishop's Court without the 
" same hearty, affectionate welcome in the hall, my hand 
" grasped in both of his, and not released until he had 
" drawn me into the room where others might share the 
" pleasure of our greeting. 

" That he could most easily and gladly forgive an enemy, 
" many besides me can bear witness. He has come into 
" my room sometimes with a letter in his hand that could 
" only be described as insolent. And when, perhaps, I 
" have said that it deserved no answer, he has said, ' there 
" ' must be a soft place somewhere in the man's heart, and 
" I want you to help me to find it,' or words to that effect. 
" He was a disciplinarian, no doubt ; but of this I am sure, 
" that he never administered reproof until pathetic expostu- 
" lation had failed, nor then without positive distress to 
" himself. ' I have told that poor man that I cannot ordain 
" ' him ; I must not see him again myself, lest I should 
" 'relent; but, my dear Norris, I wish you would go and 
" 'say something to comfort him before he leaves the 
" 'house.' 

" There was one famous case in which many outside his 
" diocese thought he dealt harshly. Coming fresh to it, 



CHAP. X. HIS CHAPLAIN'S ESTIMATE. 



339 



" I told the Bishop that one more chance of peace seemed 
" to me to remain open. The Bishop brought me a file of 
" letters, and said, if after reading that file I still thought 
" so, he would give his best consideration to my suggestion. 
" The bitterness of the letters dismayed me ; but still I 
u thought there was an opening, and told the Bishop so. 
" He came to me that night at bedtime, saying he would 
" take my judgment instead of his own, and asked me to 
" read what he had written one of the most touching 
" appeals a bishop ever penned, as it seemed to me ; I 
" was to be the bearer of it the next morning. But it 
" failed. 

" There was another case of discipline which occurred 
" about the same time, and which I will mention in this 
" same connexion, for it cost the Bishop no less pain, 
" though less perplexity. It was a case that few outside 
" Manchester ever heard of. He was asked to institute 
' ; to a benefice a curate of blameless life, but whom he 
" knew by careful examination to be unsound in faith ; 
" the pressure brought to bear by the curate's very numerous 
" friends, and by the patron of the living, was so great that 
" I am persuaded the Bishop might, without blame from the 
" world, in this case also have accepted the more indulgent 
" judgment of others ; but at the risk of litigation he refused 
" to institute. I am not quite sure that Tillotson would 
" have been equally firm. I am the more glad to mention 
" this incident of his episcopate, because some of us 
" wished at times that his sermons had contained more 
" of doctrine. 

" But of this I am certain, that few of those who have 
" risen to eminence in the Church in these latter days have 
" with a more entire submission held, or rather been held 
" by, the fundamental verities of the Christian Creed than 

z 2 



340 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

" Bishop Fraser. If he was less apt to insist upon them in 
" his sermons than some might have desired, what Bishop 
" Burnet said of Archbishop Tillotson in his funeral sermon 
" whether sufficient or not was the true explanation : 

" ' He was in great doubt, whether the surest way to 
" ' persuade the world to the belief of the sublime truths 
" ' that are contained in the Scriptures concerning God the 
" ' Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and concerning the 
" ' Person of Christ, was to enter much into the discussing 
" ' of those mysteries. He feared that an indiscreet dwelling 
" ' and descanting upon these things might do more hurt 
" ' than good. He thought the maintaining these doctrines 
" ' as they are proposed in the Scriptures, without entering 
" ' too much into explanations or controversies, would be 
" 'the most effectual way to preserve the reverence that 
" ' was due to them, and to fix them in men's belief. But 
" ' when he was desired by some, and provoked by others, 
" ' and saw just occasions moving him to it, he asserted 
" 'these great mysteries with that strength and clearness 
" ' that was his peculiar talent.' 

" All who knew him, as his chaplains knew him, will 
" bear witness to the applicableness of this last sentence to 
" Bishop Fraser. But they will no less bear me out in 
" saying that the passage which follows in Burnet's sermon 
" is still more characteristic of his habitual tendency of 
" thought : 

" ' He judged that the great design of Christianity was 
" ' the reforming men's natures, and governing their actions, 
" ' the restraining their appetites and passions, the softening 
" ' their tempers and sweetening their humours, the com- 
" ' posing their affections, and the raising their minds above 
" ' the interests and follies of this present world, to the hope 
" ' and pursuit of endless blessedness : and he considered 



CHAP. x. THE BISHOP ON CIRCUIT. 341 

" 'the whole Christian doctrine as a system of principles 
' 'all tending to this.' 

" He never professed to be a theologian ; but, as examin- 
" ing chaplain to Bishop Hamilton, he had kept up his 
" knowledge of the usual text-books Hooker, Pearson, and 
" Butler ; to which he added, in his own Ember week 
" examinations, Davison on Prophecy and Mozley on 
" Miracles. His high estimate of the value of these books 
" made him strict in requiring a careful study of them on 
" the part of all who came up for priest's orders. Ordina- 
" tion to the priesthood was usually delayed when the 
" candidates failed in this part of their examination or in 
" knowledge of the Greek Testament." 

In this connection Lord Lingen's testimony is also 
valuable. He writes : " Gentle and genial as Fraser was, 
in the path of duty he feared absolutely nothing. He was 
essentially a man of action : not a literary man, further than 
present practical purposes required him to write. But his 
writings, for that very reason, like the despatches of generals, 
or the correspondence of statesmen, have a life in them such 
as is not often found in merely literary productions. His 
Charges seem to me to deserve fully similar praise, and 
to sum up his character and his work. Such compositions 
are perhaps in their nature ephemeral, and so far the men 
of letters may, as a class, be longer remembered individually 
than the men of action. Certainly each class has its place 
in the world's history, and it is neither easy, nor necessary, 
to decide their relative merit." 

About this time I was appointed judge of a circuit which 
included a portion of his diocese, and our first meeting was 
very characteristic. I was waiting for a train at Staley 
Bridge -when I heard a cheery voice calling out my name, 
and turning saw the Bishop approaching, and waving the 



342 



LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 



blue bag in which he carried his robes. I also was carrying 
my wig and gown in an old bag much the worse for wear. 
We got into a carriage together, and after a few minutes' 
cordial talk of old times the prospect of frequent meetings 
on circuit, or at our homes now that we had become neigh- 
bours the joke that we should always recognise one another 
at any distance by our bags I could see that his eye was 
fixed on mine with a sort of look which he used to cast on 
my sermon notes or Latin verses forty years before. Next 
moment he broke out with, " Look here, I won't have you 
going about my diocese with that bag. It would disgrace 
an old-clothes man." I had really nothing to say in ex- 
tenuation. Next minute he had promised to give me one of 
his, as he had two, if I would come over and dine and sleep, 
which I did shortly afterwards. 

1880. 

Presiding at a meeting of St. John's Ambulance Society ; 
after warmly approving the object " Indeed I am inclined 
to become a member of the class myself. It is discreditable 
to a Bishop not to know how to restore life to a body 
dragged out of the water." 

Speaking to a mission meeting at Ashbury's carriage 
works : " It is difficult for a Bishop to drop in in this way 
and talk to working men, but at any rate you are like other 
men in this, that you have bodies and souls. No doubt you 
think that what parsons have to say has no bearing on your 
daily lives. Well, at any rate carry away this from me. If 
you don't scamp your work, you are walking by faith and 
not by sight." 

On the discussion between W. R. Greg and Goldwin 
Smith whether luxury is good for trade. " My brain may be 



CHAP. x. HOSPITAL SUNDAY. 343 

bewildered in the mazes of the argument, but my conscience 
tells me that Goldwin Smith is right." 

Hospital Sunday. "A hospital is as truly a sacred 
building as a church, and doctors as much ministers of God 
as parsons. It is a Christian institution, one which was 
absolutely unknown in the heathen world. Speaking as a 
layman, I hold hospitals for special diseases to be a mistake. 
Founding these has an inevitable tendency to unwise mul- 
tiplication for the benefit of officers, not of patients." 

He was a cordial admirer of the medical profession, 
and always made friends of his doctors. Of these Dr. 
Crompton, who was practising in Manchester at the time oi 
his consecration and for some years afterwards, and Dr. 
Boutflower, who succeeded him, were probably the most 
intimate. Several characteristic reminiscences of the latter 
may find a place here. He had been present at the evening 
service in the cathedral, where the Bishop, preaching as 
usual extempore, had said, " It is generally agreed amongst 
medical men that the simplest remedies are as a rule the 
best." Shortly afterwards the doctor was writing a pre- 
scription in the study at Bishop's Court when the Bishop 
suddenly asked in his blunt but pleasant manner, " What 
are you ordering me?" "Something very simple," I answered, 
"which reminds me of what you said in the cathedral the 
other night, ' that doctors found that the simplest remedies 
answered best.' Where did you pick that up? I don't 
believe I ever said anything of the kind." " I wasn't even 
aware of it," said the Bishop, laughing. 

He was always ready to visit patients on the suggestion of 
doctor or parson. On one occasion a poor girl was dying 
in Canon Knox-Little's parish, at whose request the Bishop 



344 



LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 



went to her cottage to confirm her. When he had performed 
the rite, in full canonicals and was putting his lawn sleeves 
back into his bag, he said, smilingly, " I suppose you don't 
believe in these vestments, Canon ? " "I believe in the 
vestments of the Catholic Church, my lord," the Canon 
replied. " I think the Canon got cleverly out of that," was 
the Bishop's comment, when repeating the story to his 
doctor. 

"One Sunday," writes Dr. Boutflower, "in his bachelor 
days he had to go a journey to preach, which would keep 
him till late in the evening, when his housemaid was lying 
dangerously ill. On reaching home he went at once to her 
room, where I was sitting, and heard to his great relief that 
she was better. As he went out h*e said, ' I had a strong 
presentiment that I should come home and find that girl 
lying dead : so much so that I have been quite unable to 
attend to the services all day.' " 

Another day, just after the Midlothian campaign, on 
returning after an absence of some days, he heard that his 
groom was ill, and went up with the doctor to the patient's 
bedside. "There he sat down with his jovial look, and 
said, ' Well, Charles, have you heard the news ? ' ' No, my 
lord.' ' Not heard the news ! Haven't you heard that Mr. 
Gladstone has got in for Midlothian ? ' ' Oh, yes, I've heard 
that, my lord.' ' Well, isn't that news? ' Very bad news, I 
thought to myself," adds the doctor, "but said nothing, not 
wishing to spoil the Bishop's delight. About two years ago " 
(November, 1883) "I urged him to lessen his work, more 
than once. ' What do you suggest ? ' he asked. I said, 
' Don't preach more than once a day, and limit your 
sermons to ten minutes.' He always answered, ' I must do 
my work in my own way, or else give it up altogether.' I 
suggested a coadjutor or suffragan bishop, but he wouldn't 



CHAP. x. VALUE OF LAY HELPERS. 345 

hear of it. He was kind-hearted to a fault, exquisitely 
sensitive, and a thorough friend." So concludes the doctor. 

His often expressed wish for lay helpers in clerical work 
led to correspondence with several young manufacturers 
and others on the subject. His views at this time will best 
appear from the following extracts from letters to Mr. George 
Harwood, a manufacturer of Bolton, and an active member of 
the Church Reform Union, who had expressed a wish to 
take orders : 

April 2jt/i, 1880. "I don't know that I can add much 
to the advice I have already given you. I really should be 
sorry to see you take orders because I feel you could do so 
much more good as a layman. A clergyman is supposed to 
be bound to speak and act in a particular way ; the freedom 
of a layman gives a tenfold value to whatever he does in 
Christ's service. I cannot legalise your doing as a layman 
anything you could not do without my specific authority ; 
but if a license from me to preach in the Diocese not in 
Churches, which I fear would not be lawful, but in any other 
place where your ministry would do good- would be 
acceptable to you, I would grant such a document with 
pleasure, and it would at least show you were ministering 
with your Bish'op's sanction. There are a hundred ways of 
doing good that would present themselves to you, such as 
addresses to bodies of workmen, which I myself find so 
useful. Do believe that my entire sympathy is with you, 
and that if I thought you would be a more useful man in 
your generation by becoming a clergyman, I would not 
hesitate to advise you to take the step, but my decided 
opinion is the other way." 

To the Same. Nov. \^th. " You will have ( seen perhaps 



346 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

what I have said about the National Church Reform Union 
in my Charge. I cannot accept the whole programme. A 
Church without a creed would not I think long cohere. 
Define what you mean by abolition of clerical subscription 
clearly when you go ' upon the stump,' please. Still I think 
much of the programme excellent." 

To the Same. Dec. -\st. " I really do not think you are 
consulting your own happiness or your usefulness, by allowing 
this desire to enter the ministry of the Church to continue to 
keep possession of your mind. You can do almost as much 
now as you could then in the way of preaching, in the fullest 
sense of that term, and with more freedom. I cannot see my 
way to encourage you, and I know that this is the opinion 
of such friends as T. Hughes and others. I think as a 
layman you may do an infinity of good, if only you do not let 
your enthusiasm carry you too far. As a clergyman I am 
sure you would chafe and fret at the restraints you would 
find put upon yourfreedom. Preaching may be done elsewhere 
than in pulpits, and I am not sure you would find the 
pastoral and didactic office of the clergy to your taste. I 
speak frankly, but with all goodwill." 

1880. "If a conscience clause had been introduced in 
1839 into National Education it would have met the whole 
difficulty, and the present crisis and all these recent disputes 
would never have occurred." 

In Convocation. On the Burials Bill. July 6th. In the 
discussion the Bishop argued, that the amended Bill 
contained all that churchmen could reasonably stand out 
for, and then, referring to the passage of the Bill through the 
House of Lords, he added apologetically, that he feared he 
had been the greatest offender in the Upper House, for he 



CHAP. x. LAY HELP. 347 

had voted for the 'general principle, and on the second read- 
ing, against all three amendments, two of which had been 
proposed by their President (the Archbishop of York). 

On the Remedies for the Diseases of Modern Society. - 
" Archimedes had said, Give me a fulcrum and I will move 
the world, but there was no fulcrum from which to attack 
these social diseases outside revelation. It would be found 
that every popular panacea involved some kind of Socialism. 
But it would be found as surely that Christianity would beat 
Socialism, and that all that was sound in Socialism was 
Christian. It went to his heart to think of his own happy 
sheltered lot, and of that of the thousands of whom he read 
and heard daily. But there were great difficulties in the 
way of wise benevolence." 

1881. 

/// Convocation. April 2o///, 1881. The Bishop moved : 
" That the present Ornaments Rubric be expunged, and 
that, by Rubric or Canon, a clear rule be established in con- 
formity with the usage which has prevailed for two hundred 
years in the Church of England." This motion was carried 
unanimously in the Upper House, but defeated in the Lower 
by two votes, twenty-eight to twenty-six. 

At the Diocesan Conference in this year, the subject of 
the lawlessness of the Clergy was brought up, eliciting from 
the Bishop "that the theory now acted upon was, that 
the Bishop had no authority inside churches, but this 
was not the Church theory." 

At Staley Bridge Mechanics' Institute. "He knew he 
should hear from his friends in the press ' here's that political 



348 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

Bishop again.' However, what he had come to tell them 
was that he should have nothing to do with political clubs 
whether of working men or others. He wanted all his 
capital in his own business, and couldn't go into a new line 
which was likely to prove extensive. Besides, he disliked 
political clubs, for he thought people fools to be led by the 
nose, which was what such clubs were meant for." 

Meeting for Ragged Schools. " I was never brought in 
contact with ragged schools in my ministry, and hope to 
see the time when there will be no need of them." 

On Confession, " Nothing can be worse than to see a 
young priestling of twenty-five, with no experience, airing his 
priestly prerogatives. Not the best or godliest man can 
release any human being from the real weight of sin." 

To Archdeacon Norris. Aug. loth, 1881. "Itwasamost 
unexpected kindness in Gladstone to o.Ter me Westminster, 
but it did not require ten minutes' thought to put it aside. 
The place would not have suited me, nor I the place. The 
Queen wished for Pearson (she has made him Deputy Clerk 
of the Closet in place of A.P.S.), but he told her it was 
impossible, ' he was in no sense a public man.' My wife 
laughed at your last appeal to her. In sooth she does all 
she can to keep me within limits, and I am really very 
tractable." 

In answer to an Enquiry by an Old/tarn Gentleman. 
Sept. ijt/i, 1881. "Sir, You are quite at liberty to contra- 
dict in any way you please the statement that I ever expressed 
approval of cards, or other games 'with a small stake attached,' 
being introduced into working men's clubs. Many strange 
utterances have been attributed to me, but this is almost the 



CHAP. x. PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 349 

strangest and most absurd of them all. I am yours faithfully, 
J. MANCHESTER." 

President GarfieltTs Murder. Sept. 2$th. The Bishop 
preached on the Good Shepherd. After telling the story of 
the President's life, he referred thankfully to the Queen's 
order that the Court should go into mourning, an unprece- 
dented mark of respect for any but a crowned head, and he 
went on "President Garfield died, as all true men would 
wish to die, at the post of duty. Men like him are those who 
keep the ideas of faith and virtue, duty and self-sacrifice, alive 
in the world. The Kingdom of God, as Christ was wont to 
speak of it, is not the home of sickly namby-pamby senti- 
ment, but of resolute endeavour, of steadfast principle, of 
high and worthy aim. Ill will it fare with the land where 
earnestness and devotion to duty, purity of principle, and 
nobleness of aim count for nothing in our estimate of public 
men. Thank God cynicism is not yet canonised as a Chris- 
tian virtue." 

To Hon. Col. Shaw, U.S. Consul, Manchester. Sept. 2-jt/i, 
1881. " The character of General Garfield has deeply im- 
pressed the hearts of the people of England. No public 
man, in my memory, was ever followed to his grave with a 
more universal tribute of respect and admiration." 

At the Diocesan Synod. JV<yv.,i88i. The Bishop delivered 
an admonition to the clergy of the diocese ; laying down 
the rule, " that they do not exceed the limits of ritual 
practised in the cathedral. If in conformity with this the 
present ritual has to be reduced, no alteration is to be made 
which has not been sanctioned by the Bishop." 

To Archdeacon Norris. Nov. $th, 1881. "I am sorry you 
think my ' Cathedral Standard ' untenable. I confess I can 



350 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART II. 



think of no better. I want to avoid the necessity of entering 
into detail. If I do I may get into difficulty. I inclose 
the rough draft of my proposed 'pastoral,' which please 
return. I have tried to guard myself on every point. I 
don't feel the objection that thus the Dean becomes the 
ru-ler of the Ritual of the Diocese. I add the words 
' allowed, or which may be hereafter allowed,' to the word 
' practised,' and Deans are not, I think, likely to run into 
extravagance. I was talking the matter over yesterday 
with Anson, Tonge and Gibson, who happened to be here 
at the presentation of my portrait, and I read your letter to 
them. They saw the point ; but on reflection could not 
suggest anything better than my ' Cathedral Standard.' " 

To Mrs. Besant (October i8///, 1881), who had challenged 
his statement in a speech, that secularism was endangering 
the sacredness of English family life : " I say advisedly, on 
the authority of clergy and laymen who mix with the poor 
and know their thoughts, that the sanctities of domestic life 
are not valued by men who adopt the secularist hypothesis. 
If men are taught that they are only to follow nature they 
will interpret ' nature ' to mean their own low bestial nature, 
and will act accordingly. A book which has been condemned 
for its immoral teaching, The Fruits cf Philosophy, for which 
I believe you are responsible, is still publicly sold in the 
streets of Manchester." 

1882. 

To Archdeacon Norn's. April izth, 1882. " Dear Hugh 
Pearson's death has, as you surmised it would be, been a 
great sorrow to me. How the circle of one's old friends 
narrows year by year ! The last time I saw him was in the 
drawing-room of the Deanery, Westminster, on the morning 



CHAP. x. NO CONCESSIONS. 351 

after Stanley's death. We had much solemn talk together 
over him that was gone, and the fortunes of the Church, and 
of religion in the land. Vaughan was a third in our con- 
versation. I dare say you saw the notice of him in the 
Times. I thought the extent of his influence was perhaps a 
little over-rated, but none too much justice was done to the 
beauty and sweetness of his character. I think I never 
knew a more popular man, and that (which is a rare 
thing to say) on the very best and highest grounds ; 
for there were no concessions in him to fashion, or 
frivolity, or vice. Everything in and about him was noble 
and pure." 

iSSr. 

The Archdeacon, to whom I owe this letter, sends me 
his own recollection of that same sad morning in July, 1881 : 
" We were assembling as usual for Convocation in the 
Deanery Yard, when a notice on the door of the Jeru- 
salem chamber told us of the Dean's death in the course of 
the night, and that we were to meet in the chapter-room. 
We met there, but only to adjourn so profound was the 
sensation, and so affecting the broken words in which two or 
three of our elder members tried to give expression to it. I 
made my way into the familiar drawing-room of the Deanery, 
and there in the darkened chamber I found Bishop Fraser 
and Hugh Pearson ; they gave me their hands in silence, 
and drew for me a third chair. And there we sate, the 
Bishop and his two chaplains, little thinking how soon two 
of the three were to follow him whom we were mourning. 
When I think now of those three friends, thus associated in 
my memory, I seem to see plainly what they had in common 
an affectionateness and a truthfulness of character which 
the world's flatteries and tyrannies had never been able to 



352 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

subdue. And yet how clearly each was distinguished ; the 
Bishop by his robust simplicity, the Dean by his brilliant 
playfulness, Hugh Pearson by his exquisite courtesy and 
gentleness. While our Church can draw men of such 
fine nature into the ranks of her ministry, she need not 
fear any decay of confidence between her clergy and her 
laity." 

Preaching at Peel Church, having found that remarkable 
friendliness and unanimity prevailed amongst all religious 
bodies in that parish. "If I could I would make every 
Roman Catholic and Nonconformist a full member of the 
Church of England to-morrow." 

1882. 

Sermon in Cathedral. Jan. ist, 1882. "As faith in God 
weakens the ' world pain,' as the Germans call it, must grow 
stronger. The old year was what you made it, each of you, 
and so will this new year be. It is the silliest of delusions 
to fancy you could do better in any position than that God 
has put you in. The throne of Antichrist is in unbelieving 
hearts." 

At Levenshulme. " Happy is the parish of which the 
Bishop hears nothing." 

Manchester Meeting on the Opium Question. " People 
said truly that it is a question surrounded with difficulties. 
Yes, and so is every questicn worth thinking about. We 
are bound to give the Chinese Government credit for sin- 
cerity in their protests. Suppose they were to board our 
vessels and throw the opium into the sea, as the tea was 
thrown into Boston Harbour. What then ? " On which Sir 



CHAP. x. SEEING LIFE. 353 

Wilfrid Lawson, who followed, remarked that if this Bishop 
was not on the side of the angels he was next thing 
to it. 

Royal Academy of Music. " Sir F. Leighton had said that 
music had no direct connection with morality or religion. He 
was very sorry to hear it, but couldn't agree. At any rate 
it had a refining effect on men and women. In one part of 
his diocese he found forty pianos in colliers' cottages. He 
hoped the bad times hadn't obliged them to part with their 
pianos." 

Nov., 1882. The new Mayor consulted the Bishop how 
he could best vary the usual municipal hospitalities, and on 
the Bishop's suggestion gave a reception to 800 clergy, dis- 
trict visitors, and others engaged in philanthropic work 
amongst the poor. 

To Y.M.C.A. " ' Seeing life ' is a somewhat dangerous 
experiment, and a misleading and mischievous phrase. It 
only means seeing the low side of life, the vicious side, and 
losing sight of all those qualities which make men really 
noble and life worth living for at all." 

Blue Ribbon Army. " I should be sorry to say a word 
in disparagement of the movement ; but if the two great 
devastators, drunkenness and licentiousness, are to be con- 
quered, the assault on them must be calm, temperate, 
unwavering." 

1883. 

To Canon Stowell. Dec. i^th, 1883." I have read with 
much interest the passage " (in a report) " to which you have 
called my attention. The details are most interesting and 
encouraging. I am sure that the large employment of lay 

A A 



354 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

people (who I believe are willing and waiting to be em- 
ployed), with earnest and wise clergy to lead and direct, is 
the most if not the only effectual way of working our large 
town parishes." 

A little holiday story must find a place here. The Bishop 
while Rector of Ufton had made it a rule to give a Bible to 
every boy whom he took to be confirmed, if he could read 
it, but was strict as to this condition. In early Ufton days 
a boy named Champion was the only one of a batch of can- 
didates taken up by the Bishop who did not get his Bible. 
This year (1883) the Bishop was making his short visit to 
his old neighbours the Thoyts, at Sulhamstead, and, having 
heard from the squire that he was using a new kind of shoe 
for his horses, went round to examine them. The groom 
was Champion, who had enlisted, and learned to read while 
in the service. As soon as the Bishop heaid the name he 
remembered all the circumstances ; and, learning that 
Champion could now read, sent him a handsome Bible on 
his return home. 

1884. 

To Archdeacon Norris. Jan. 14^, 1884. " Your friend 
is making a stir. He has published a distinct 



notice that, after Christmas, he 'will not give Christian 
burial,' i.e., I suppose, use the burial office, over any one 
who die having lived as non-communicants. This is a new 
version, I suppose, of the rubric about ' persons dying ex- 
communicate.' It is a strange proceeding (though one can 
understand the motive) which he will find himself unable to 
carry through." 

Jan. 2$rd, 1884 (the day after the delivery of judgment in 
his favour in Heywood v. Bishop of Manchester), opening 



CHAP. x. CLEVERNESS v. CHRISTIANITY. 355 

a course of Lectures on Christian Evidences. " No one is 
brought to belief by mere argument. The eighteenth cen- 
tury ought to be a warning against precipitancy in conclud- 
ing that the clever persons have disposed of Christianity. 
No doubt you have been reading, many of you, Mr. Frederic 
Harrison's and Mr. Herbert Spencer's writings on these sub- 
jects. Well, their conclusions are no doubt cleverer than 
the Gospel story of God's providence, if cleverness is what 
you need." 

Address to Y.M.C.A., on the Young Man in Business Life. 
" Bishops had to do daring things. He had no experience 
of business life on which they had asked him to talk. He 
was quite safe however in warning them against the snob- 
bishness of worshipping wealth, probably their most serious 
temptation." 

To the Scripture Readers' Society, Liverpool. " Don't talk 
goody-goody to people. Don't let your work take an 
eleemosynary character. Help to find people work by all 
means." 

Band of Hope Union. March itf/i. " I ought to tell 
you that I have grave doubts about one part of your system, 
binding young children by vows. I believe the large 
majority of you are Nonconformists, but standing on my 
own ground I can hold out the right hand of fellowship to 
you." 

To the St. George's Association. " There was one dan- 
gerous illusion which he must always denounce, that society 
as it became less gross became more pure. This had been 
countenanced by the saying of a great man, Edmund Burke, 
that ' vice in losing its coarseness lost half its evil.' The devil 

A A 2 



356 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

of impurity is the foulest, strongest, most subtle that comes 
out of the gates of Hell." 

In Convocation this year he took part in the discussion on 
"evangelization of the masses," urging the extension of the 
diaconate, and of lay helpers, but declaring that he must 
withhold his judgment as to the Church Army, but must 
protest against a tendency to lawlessness in their work. 
Later in the year, at a large meeting of its members and 
supporters, he repeated his doubts. Their object, " to bring 
back the Church in fire and zeal to what it was in Apostolic 
days," as it had been presented, had his full sympathy. He 
was a Bishop of the older time himself; but he owned that 
a new and well-tempered weapon might be needed in this 
new time. He preferred to stand outside, and give advice 
and help when asked. Some of their doings seemed strange 
to him, but he always bore in mind the word, " he that is 
not against me is for me," and there are many ways of cast- 
ing out devils. On the same subject he spoke again in 
July : " I do not yet know the method by which we are to 
reach what is called ' the residuum.' I am inclined to think 
that our systematic theology has itself been one of the hin- 
drances in our way. The poor cannot find their way about 
our Prayer Book. For that I think the true remedy would 
be, a little systematic instruction in our Sunday Schools in 
the use of the Prayer Book. I look forward with hope to 
the time when we can use the Prayer Book freely. And 
then as to our services, I should turn out the choristers, or 
at any rate take off their surplices, or the people will think 
they are there to sing in their places. Again, I think the 
rich have still far too much influence in parochial arrange- 
ments. I want to see agricultural labourers and artizans 
appointed as sidesmen in parishes. This is done in a parish 



CHAP. x. THE DANGEROUS CLASSES. 357 

where I was preaching the other day when there was to be 
a collection for a new organ. It is a poor place for Lanca- 
shire, and when I got into the pulpit and ran my eye over 
the congregation while the hymn was being sung, I thought, 
' If I get 5o/. out of you I shall do very well indeed.' 
They are mostly colliers, and the collection was ^128 
V. id." 

At a Meeting of the Yorkshire College. June. "Though 
not a pessimist, I cannot shut my eyes to the increase of 
the dangerous, that is to say the idle, classes, at both ends 
of the social scale." This was a thought which was pressing 
on him in these last years. He seldom missed an oppor- 
tunity of exhorting young men to look upon this as one of 
their chief dangers, and to put their hands regularly and 
systematically to some work. The most notable instance 
perhaps was his University sermon at Cambridge on October 
i gth, when, to a great crowd of undergraduates, he preached 
a sermon of remarkable force on the need for men in the 
highest work to which men can devote themselves " in ' the 
noble army of martyrs ' there is yet room even in this nine- 
teenth century." 

About this time he was often the guest of the late Canon 
Birch, then Vicar of Blackburn, and Archdeacon of that 
important district. " It was generally my pleasant ' duty,' " 
Mr. Herbert Birch writes, "to pilot the Bishop to the church 
where he was to preach he usually walked. On one occa- 
sion, on our way to St. Michael's, in crossing the market- 
place we met Bishop Vaughan, of Salford, on his way to the 
Roman Catholic Church. A stop, and cordial shake of the 
hand followed ; and then Bishop Fraser said, ' What ! two 
Bishops in one town ! Both of us here to-day. Something 



358 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

wrong here ! ' On one occasion he preached on the text, 
1 All things are become new,' to a dense crowd of working 
people, at the opening of a mission-school; in a large room 
which had been used up to that time as a ' dancing hall and 
strawberry gardens,' with anything but good influence on the 
morals of the neighbourhood. The Bishop fixed the atten- 
tion of the crowd standing all round the sides and back of 
the hall by his first words : " No more strawberries and 
cream ! no more dancing ! ' " 

In December he presided at the Wycliffe Quincentenary, 
and expressed surprise at the apathy shown in England for 
the memory of their countryman, " the morning star of the 
Reformation," who had maintained his forty years' struggle 
almost alone, as compared with the enthusiasm of Germany 
over the four hundredth anniversary of Luther's birth. 

In the same month he carried out the plan he had advocated 
in Convocation by ordaining several lay deacons. The only 
requirements he insisted on (apart from competent know- 
ledge and zeal) were, that candidates should not be in trade, 
and should show that they had sufficient means, and were 
able to maintain themselves. 

This chapter may fitly close with a letter on the death from 
overwork of an old friend, who had been a curate in his 
diocese in the first year of his episcopate. 

To the Churchwarden of Esk, Durham, on the death of 
Dr. Lee, late Rector. " Some months ago I met him in this 
his old diocese, where he had come to preach. I found he 
was still working with the intense ardour he used to show 
as curate of Preston, and I said, ' Dr. Lee, remember you 
are not so young as you were, and you must learn to econo- 
mise your strength.' But he was one upon whom, from his 



CHAP. x. THE TRUE VALUE OF LIFE. 359 

very nature, such words of caution were thrown away, and 
he has preferred to die in his Master's service, working up 
to his full power. Who shall say he has done unwisely? 
Measuring life by what constitutes its true value, I at least 
cannot say so." 



CHAPTER XL 

"Yet at bottom, after all the talk there is and has been about it, 
what is tolerance? Tolerance has to be noble ; measured ; just, where 
it can tolerate no longer. But on the whole we are not here to tolerate ! 
we are here to resist, to control, and vanquish withal." CARLYLE, 
The Hero as Priest. 

ST. JOHN'S, CHEETHAM HILL. 1884, 1885. 



1884. 

THE end was now drawing near. The Christmas of 1884 
was the last which the Bishop was to see. The sense of 
failing power was beginning to weigh on him, though 
apparent to no one else. The resolve, formed in the first 
year of his episcopate, to resign as soon as he became 
conscious that he could no longer do full justice to his work 
and his diocese, had come back upon him ; and he had been 
inquiring for some home in the south, in which he might 
spend his last days, in the retirement for which he longed, 
and in the congenial country pursuits to which he had been 
now for fourteen years a stranger. This longing was not to 
be satisfied. He was destined, like his friend Dr. Lee, to 
die at his post. The least hint in sermon or letter of his 
wish and intention brought in remonstrances and protests 
from all parts of Lancashire, from people who only saw how 
thoroughly every duty was still performed, and knew nothing 
of the cost in wear and tear at which this was done. 



CHAP. xi. MEMORIAL FROM THE PARISH. 361 

The most joyous festival of the Christian year came 
round to him at the end of 1884 with every prospect of 
peace and goodwill. The Miles Platting cloud had cleared 
away. There was no sign of any other in the sky, and the 
diocese was never more loyal ; when suddenly the atmo- 
sphere again became dark, and he was face to face with 
what, to use his own words, proved to be "the most 
difficult matter I have ever had to deal with as a Bishop." 



1885. 

It arose thus. The benefice of St. John's, Cheetham 
Hill, one of the most important in the Bishop's gift, became 
vacant by the resignation of Mr. Lund, who had held it for 
thirteen years, during the last nine of which a young Mr. 
Gunton had been his curate. The excellent order which 
prevailed in the parish, and notably the good terms upon 
which Churchmen and Nonconformists were living, were 
acknowledged by rector and people alike to be largely due 
to the curate's zeal and energy. Accordingly when Mr. 
Lund sent in his own resignation, it was accompanied by a 
memorial signed by upwards of 1,800 parishioners and 
members of the congregation, reminding the Bishop of his 
oft-repeated opinion that the wishes of parishioners should 
be consulted in the appointment of incumbents, and praying 
that he would appoint Mr. Gunton " as successor to their 
dear rector." Mr. Lund himself warmly supported the 
prayer of this memorial. 

A considerable number of the signatories were Noncon- 
formists and some Roman Catholics, and it was a document 
which would probably have decided the matter with the 
Bishop but for communications which he received at the 
same time from other quarters. The first was from a lady 



362 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

parishioner, who in 1881 had written to Mr. Gunton as to 
his teaching on the humanity of Christ, whom, as she alleged, 
" you make such an one as yourself and myself." To this 
he had replied in a letter of which the material sentences 
are, " There are not two Gods, and whatever was of God in 
Jesus Christ was certainly equal to the Father : just as in 
you and me, if there be any of God in us, it is most certainly 
God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God. . . . 
Jesus Christ is now as He ever was, one with the Father in 
the same sense that you and I are one with the Father 
whenever we are good." This letter the lady now forwarded 
to the Bishop. 

The second was a paper or essay on the subject " Who is 
the Son of Man ? " read before the Clergy Society, a printed 
copy of which was forwarded by one of those present at the 
discussion which had followed their meeting. It need not 
be quoted here, being only a repetition with comment and 
illustration of the doctrinal position summed up in the 
words quoted above. 

The third document was an address delivered on the eve 
of Lady Day, in St. John's Church, and printed for private 
circulation at the request of a lady member of the congrega- 
tion. The material part of it is as follows ; " In Mary, 
mother of Jesus, we have a type of that character of which 
the Christ is for ever to be born. She was pure and gentle, 
and when she became a mother the influence of her nature 
and character was transmitted to her Child. The Holy 
Spirit which overshadowed her acted on her Son, and He 
has become, through the power of that same Spirit, the 
Saviour of all who know Him. But the miracle of the in- 
carnation of a true son of man may take place continuously 
it ought to take place each time a child is born into the 
world, and it would do so more frequently if more women 



CHAP. XI. THE PROBLEM. 363 

were true to the type of womanhood, pure and gentle in 
thought and life for of such ' the Christ ' is born. To all 
women who love faithful purity of soul, and practise gentle 
charity of life, the Holy Spirit comes ; the power of the 
Highest overshadows them, and of such are saviours born to 
mankind. Well has a wise man said, ' Blessed is that man 
whose mother has made all women sacred to him.' May 
we not say to-night, ' Blessed is that woman whose purity of 
heart has enabled her to see God, and to know Him and 
love Him ; and who looks on her children as God's children, 
intrusted to her to nurse and to train for their Father's 
business ' ? " 

The MS. of this address was sent to the Bishop a day or 
two later, and the matter was brought to a crisis on the 2yth 
of December by a deputation from the parish, who saw him 
and pressed upon him the immediate appointment of Mr. 
Gunton. The Bishop replied that his wish was to comply 
with the prayer of the memorial, and that he would not pro- 
nounce any opinion on Mr. Gunton's teaching on hearsay, 
but that he could say nothing till he had satisfied himself on 
some of his views. Within the next few days he had an in- 
terview with Mr. Gunton, which left him, to use his own 
words, " in grave perplexity." This he admitted frankly to 
Mr. Gunton, informing him at the same time that he should 
take no decision until he had consulted his Metropolitan, as 
he deemed it his duty to do under the circumstances. 

Accordingly, reserving for himself all responsibility, he 
submitted to the Archbishop of York what the lawyers call 
an A B case, inclosing the MS. of the paper, " Who is the 
Son of Man ? " The answer came back promptly. " This 
essay," wrote the Archbishop, " is one of two things : it is 
the production of one who strives to startle by a paradox a 
number of those who hold and teach the old belief, which 



364 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

he too holds, into a suspicion that he does not : or else he 
is prepared to bring down the conception of Christ to a 
Socinian level. I think that the latter is the true supposi- 
tion ; but either is fatal to his qualities as an incumbent 
appointed by the Bishop to take charge of a large parish. 
One idea runs through the whole, that the teaching of Christ 
is the operative part of the Gospel, and that the personal 
acts and power of Christ are not. Could you after reading 
this essay feel sure that he does not mean to lower the 
conception of Christ below the standard of the Nicene 
Creed ? In my own opinion I feel sure that he does." 

This judgment of the Archbishop's was forwarded at once 
to Mr. Gunton, the Bishop adding : 

" This is the impression left by your paper upon the mind 
of one of the clearest thinkers of the present day, utterly 
untainted by prejudice, and who cannot possibly have any 
animus against you. 

" Such too, as I told you, was the impression produced 
upon me by what I described as 'a most unbalanced essay,' 
which unaccompanied, as I understand it was, by any hint 
that, over and above the partial, purely human views there 
elaborated, you distinctly held and taught the higher views 
which the Church Catholic has ever held and taught in the 
Nicene Creed, and our Church in her Second Article 
could only leave a most painful feeling in the minds of those 
who heard it, and is quite sufficient to account for the 
rumours that are in the air with regard to the unsoundness 
of your teaching. 

" How could I, even in deference to the most strongly- 
expressed desire of an almost unanimous parish having, too, 
good and earnest and faithful men to choose from, many of 
them of longer service in the diocese than yourself, however 



CHAP. XT. THE BISHOP'S APPEAL. 365 

much I might esteem you for your personal qualities and even 
for your zealous work how could I appoint to a parish of 
which I am patron, as Bishop, one of whom it would be 
alleged with any show of probability that he held Socinian 
opinions of the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
and argued that almost anything that the Bible says of Him 
' to whom all power is given in the heavens and in the earth,' 
can be applied, not figuratively, but in the same sense, to any 
other son of man ? 

" The people of St. John's can no doubt fully appreciate, 
and have evidently appreciated, your personal character, and 
your devotion to your work ; but they would probably be the 
first to allow that solemn and serious questions of theological 
truth like these ; which yet most vitally affect the character 
of the religious teaching, were not present to their thoughts 
when they drew up and signed the very remarkable memorial 
to me in your favour. And yet it cannot be denied that the 
teaching which postulates Christ as man, ' differing only in 
degree from ourselves,' and the teaching which regards Him 
as St. John regards Him in the first chapter of his Gospel, 
or St. Paul in Colossians i. 12-18, or the author of the 
Epistle to the Hebrews, i. 1-14, are essentially diverse in 
tone and character, and must produce essentially different 
effects. 

" If, therefore, I am asked to appoint you to the incum- 
bency of St. John's, in addition to the evidence of fitness and 
desert which your nine years' honest work in the parish 
supply, I have a right to ask to be satisfied upon these 
momentous points. A Bishop's appointment, especially to 
one of the best livings in his gift, is scrutinised with very 
other eyes than those which scrutinise the appointment of an 
ordinary patron. In his hands is placed to a certain extent 
the guardianship of the faith as the Church receives it ; and, 



366 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

if he appears indifferent to the trust, men have a right to 
resent that indifference, and to call the Bishop to account 
for it. 

" No one can pretend that the Socinian explanation of the 
mysteries of Christ's being is the explanation either of the 
Nicene Creed which indeed was expressly framed as the 
Church's protest against similar tenets of an earlier date or 
of the Church of England ; and if I supposed it possible that 
you held the Socinian explanation, or one scarcely distin- 
guishable from it, I could not, retaining any sense of duty 
towards the truth as it is held in the Church of England, 
appoint you to the rectory of St. John's. This is not a 
secondary and subordinate dogma, framed in a theological 
school and bearing its stamp, where, as upon many theolo- 
gical dogmas, a wide variation of opinion may be allowed, 
and it would be inquisitorial to require every man to pro- 
nounce ' Shibboleth ' in the same way. It is a foundation 
doctrine of the Christian faith. Jesus Christ is either a mere 
man ' differing from ourselves only in degree,' or He is, as St. 
Paul calls Him, ' the great God and our Saviour, who gave 
Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity ' 
(Titus ii. 13, 14), the owner of the ' name that is above 
every name ' (Phil. ii. 2-11). 

" You have laid yourself open, by a lamentably incautious 
way of utterance, partly also perhaps from a desire to make 
plain to human reason things that from their very nature 
must lie beyond it, and which, though we may see analogies 
to them, we only receive because they have been revealed 
you have laid yourself open to these misconstructions. The 
misconstruction was almost inevitable, when, at the close of 
reading your paper before the Clergy Society you were asked 
' Does Mr. Gunton then believe in the Divinity of Christ ? ' 
and you declined to answer the question ; and the feeling of 



CHAP. xi. THE BISHOP'S APPEAL. 367 

misgiving which the paper, as you see, created in so calm and 
competent a critic as the Archbishop of York, was of course 
intensified by this refusal. 

" I am bound therefore, not out of a mere timid regard to 
my own reputation, but under the influence of a solemn sense 
of responsibility, both to the parish and to the diocese to 
the clergy and to the laity also to call upon you to repudiate 
these inferences which have been drawn, not unnaturally, 
from your words. Frankness is, I know, an essential part of 
your character. You are incapable, from any motive, of 
simulating what are not, or of dissimulating what are, your 
real sentiments. You will tell me frankly, and without arriere 
pensee, 

"(i) Whether you accept the statements of the Nicene 
Creed about our Lord Jesus Christ that lie is ' God of 
God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten not 
made being of one substance with the Father' as only 
applicable to Him, and as teaching His true and essential 
divinity, and, 

" (2) Whether you can ex animo subscribe to the Second 
and Third Articles of the Church of England. 

" If you have been misunderstood upon these points, you 
ought to be the first to wish to clear away the misunderstand- 
ing : and, on the other hand, if you cannot honestly say, 
' This is the foundation of my teaching about Him who is at 
once the Son of God and the Son of man,' you should feel 
how impossible it would be for me, as a Bishop with any 
sense of duty, to nominate you to ' the cure and government 
of souls,' in a Church of which this doctrine is one of the 
chief corner-stones. 

" An unusual and even an excessive pressure has been 
put upon me. But if, unhappily, you should be unable to 
give me the assurance that I ask for, no amount of pressure 



368 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

would make me shrink from doing what, in that case, I should 
regard as my simple duty. I could not comply with the 
memorial of the parishioners and congregation of St. John's. 
" May He whom Jesus said He would send to guide His 
people into all truth, in this solemn issue direct both you 
and me." 

It would serve no good purpose to detail the further 
negotiations. By the second week in January,' 1885, the 
Bishop's resolution was finally taken, and the churchwardens 
received a letter from him. " I have had before me Mr. 
Gunton's own statement of his own doctrines, both written 
and printed, and I cannot consider them as the doctrines of 
the Church of England, or the Nicene Creed, on the vital 
point of the Divinity of our Lord. I would not brand them 
for a moment with so harsh a name as infidelity, but I say 
they are perilously unbalanced, and very likely to mislead, and 
this throws on me a very grave responsibility. As a Bishop 
of the Church, charged to maintain her standards of doctrine, 
I must not flinch from this responsibility, at whatsoever cost 
of personal pain, though I know my conduct and motives 
will be grievously misrepresented. A Bishop's patronage is 
no ordinary trust. He is bound to do the best he can for the 
people over whom he sets a minister. I may even say he 
ought as far as possible to consider their known or expressed 
desires. But when the question of soundness of doctrine is 
raised an entirely new responsibility arises, which the Bishop 
cannot devolve on any other shoulders than his own. While 
deeply regretting that I cannot appoint Mr. Gunton to St. 
John's, I mean, God guiding me, to send them the very best 
and fittest clergyman I can find." 

The storm arose at once, as the Bishop had foretold. It 
raged in the newspapers and at public meetings, where, as 



CHAP. XI. "PRIVILEGE." 369 

usual, partisan resolutions were passed on both sides. Un- 
happily, but not unnaturally, Mr. Gunton himself for a 
moment lost his head, and in a sermon in St. John's pulpit, 
he being still curate-in-charge, claimed that the three docu- 
ments in question were private and privileged. The meeting 
of the Clergy Society was " distinctly private, and the mem- 
bers of the society had always understood that nothing said 
at its meetings was to be carried beyond the walls of the 
room." " The second document was equally privileged, par- 
tial, and private. A lady of the congregation wrote to ask 
his opinion on the humanity of Christ. He gave his opinion 
in a private letter which was sent to the Bishop unknown to 
him." " The third was an address given in the church ; he 
had nothing to say against the Bishop for taking up that, but 
it was printed for private circulation only." " His contention 
with the Bishop and he had a contention with him was, 
that he had listened to clerical slander, and had been deceived 
by a woman's cunning treachery." " No one believes more 
firmly in the Divinity of Christ than I." 

This strange assertion of " privilege " and outbreak against 
the Bishop, no doubt startled some of the liberal clergy who 
had taken sides with Mr. Gunton. Of these, Mr. Healey 
protested at a public meeting : " I had a conversation of an 
hour with the Bishop, and was touched beyond all utterance 
by his evident perplexity of mind and distress of heart. . , 
Do not allow one error of judgment, however unrighteous in 
our eyes, to outweigh all that has gone before. I feel as 
certain as I stand here that the Bishop believed he was bound 
to do what he has done, and I am as sure that the day will 
come when he will as certainly feel his mistake." Mr. Lund, 
the late rector of St. John's, speaking later, said, " I also feel 
deep sympathy for the Bishop. He has been placed in 
circumstances of the utmost difficulty and perplexity. I 

B B 



370 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

don't think he has acted wisely, but I do think he has 
acted conscientiously." 

Deeply pained, but silent and unmoved, the Bishop pur- 
sued his usual round of unceasing work through this trying 
month. One instance only of the quality of that work shall 
be given here. Almost contemporaneously with a public 
meeting, which was " emphatically protesting " against his 
action at St. John's, Cheetham Hill, he was presiding in the 
Guildhall, Preston, over a great meeting of men held under 
the auspices of the Church of England Purity Society. In one 
of his noblest speeches, on the connection of purity with 
temperance, he urged that " strong passions mean weak wills, 
and when men plead the strength of their passions, as an 
excuse for yielding to temptation, it merely means that they 
have not endeavoured to cultivate their wills under the 
direction of their conscience." And, speaking of the in- 
decency attributed by infidel lecturers to the Old Testament, 
" No honest man ever read the coarsest page of the Old Tes- 
tament and thence gathered that God was giving him a licence 
to sin. Vice described with the plainness of an Old Testa- 
ment writer is hideous : vice disguised by the skill of a 
French playwright or novelist becomes attractive. I hold 
that there never was a more false or misleading maxim than 
that of the great Edmund Burke, that vice loses half its evil 
when its loses its grossness. ' Keep thyself pure,' was not a 
precept of Socrates to Alcibiades, but of Paul to Timothy." 
In replying to the vote of thanks proposed by the Mayor, 
who alluded to the possibility of the diocese being deprived of 
his services, there being a rumour in the air that he was to be 
transferred to the Bishopric of London, then vacant, he said, 
" It was possible that the diocese might lose his services, 
such as they were, because when he came to them in 1870 
he did not consider he had strength for more than twelve 



CHAP. XI. ROSSALL MISSION. 371 

years' work, and he had now completed the fifteenth year of 
his episcopate. He felt that his strength was not what it had 
been, and began to feel that he ought to make way for a 
younger and abler man. But, as to the rumours to which 
the Mayor had alluded, he would only repeat words he had 
used in a letter to a friend, ' This is my first, my only, my 
beloved diocese.' " 

In the first week in February he appointed Mr. Beechey, 
who had been rector of Newton Heath an old Rossall man 
whom he had ordained priest in 1870, and who had founded 
the " Rossall Mission " at Newton Heath, which had had 
great success amongst the working people to the living of 
St. John's, Cheetham Hill. And now the question arose as 
to the charge of the parish pending the new rector's in- 
stallation. Mr. Gunton was still in charge, and the Bishop 
was inclined to inhibit him, having come to the conclusion 
that " his continuance at St. John's was unadvisable." 
Upon this Mr. Gunton addressed to him a letter of im- 
passioned remonstance. " Why should you wish me nay, 
try to compel me," he pleaded, " to seek work in another 
diocese ? How can you give me a satisfactory character to 
another Bishop when you condemn me as unworthy to act in 
your own diocese ? My lord, this is as inconsistent as it is 
cruel. You it was who by your words of appeal first drew 
me, twelve years ago, to the diocese of Manchester. You 
ordained me, you declared yourself as my father in God. 
Under you for eleven years, as you have given me fully to 
understand with your approval, I have laboured in the 
ministry, and now you cast me off! Have I been a bad son 
to you ? Have I been false to my vows ? Have I neglected 
my oath ? Have I scattered the flock ? I ask you, my Lord 
Bishop, before it is too late, to reconsider your judgment, and 
to do me justice. In a worldly sense I am powerless and you 

B c 2 



372 ' LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

all powerful, but we both shall one day stand before the 
judgment-seat of Christ." 

The answer came promptly. The Bishop wrote : " The 
last thing in the world that I should wish to do is to act 
cruelly, or to do you wrong, or to blight your prospects. 
You have asked me to reconsider my judgment. I have 
done so. I will trust you." 

Within a few weeks Mr. Gunton was presented to the 
living of Farlam near Carlisle. The storm in Manchester 
sank to rest, and the most painful episode in Bishop Eraser's 
career came to an end. 



CHAPTER XII. 

" Life, we have been long together, 
Tn pleasant and in cloudy weather, 
'Tis hard to part when friends are dear 
Will cost perhaps a sigh, a tear. 
Then steal away, give little warning, 
Choose thine own time. 

Say not good-night, but in some brighter clime 
Bid me good-morning." BARBAULD. 



THE LAST YEAR, 1885. 

THE year 1885, the last he was to see, opened with some- 
what better prospects than its immediate forerunners. It 
had needed all the Bishop's constitutional buoyancy and 
courage to hold an even course steadfast, and when needed 
stern, to friend and foe alike during the long strain of the 
Miles Platting litigations. 

Happily for the National Church, it was the diocese of 
the firmest as well as the most liberal of her Bishops which 
had been now for years the battle-ground of the turbulent 
and narrow factions, which the so-called religious newspapers 
hound on, thereout reaping doubtless to their proprietors no 
small advantage. The Bishop had stood for law and order, 
like a rock against which the waves had beaten furiously but 
fruitlessly. They were now subsiding. At Miles Platting 
the new rector was holding his own quietly ; and confuting 
the dismal and confident prophecies of the destruction of all 
Church life in that long-suffering parish, which had been 



374 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

freely poured out at his induction in February, 1884. 
Already 500 children attended the new Sunday School, and 
the regular communicants numbered upwards of 260. The 
crisis was past at Cheetham Hill, and in the early days of 
1885 the late curate, as we have seen, found work else- 
where. The ritualist storm had spent itself for the time in 
Lancashire ; and, so far as outward appearances could be 
trusted, had done the Bishop no harm, either in body or 
spirit. There was no visible falling off either in the amount 
of his work, or in the thoroughness or vigour with which it 
was done. 

Nevertheless, there can be no doubt that in his own mind 
the time had come when he needed the rest he had so nobly 
earned ; and his longing for it, though scarcely acknow- 
ledged to himself, or formulated as yet in any way, was 
known amongst his intimate friends, and suspected in the 
diocese. A sort of vague feeling was abroad in Lancashire, 
that they were about to lose him in some way, and at this 
time a rumour grew that it was to be by his translation to 
the diocese of London, vacant by the death of Bishop 
Jackson. To this the Mayor referred in proposing the health 
of the Bishop on January i6th, drawing from him the prompt 
and emphatic declaration that Manchester will be " my first, 
my only, my beloved diocese." 

Meantime as long as he was there, there should be no 
shirking or scamping of work, and the New Year opened 
with the usual flood of it. I think, in reading through the 
speeches and sermons of these months, after the event, that. 
1 can detect some slight flagging and weariness now and then, 
but not the slightest faltering or uncertainty in the note 
which is struck. That rings as truly as ever. A rapid 
glance, all that we can take, at the current work will show 
all the old directness, faithfulness, and even playfulness. 



CHAP. xii. A PROTEST. 375 

Speech to the Young Men's Christian Association, Jan. ist. 
" I know of no other source of strength for young men 
no other hope of victory than being led by that personal 
' Word of God,' who is the way, the truth, and the life to all. 
If you young men can find a higher, purer, nobler life than 
that of Jesus Christ, follow that : meantime follow Him ! " 

From a speech to a parish gathering at Eccles, a rich and 
aristocratic suburb of Manchester. -"There is your 'Ap- 
paritor ' who conducts me yearly to the pulpit with such 
dignified stateliness. I promise your Apparitor that I shall 
not easily forget him .... The exclusiveness of Eccles is 
enough to make any one calling himself a Christian a little 
anxious." 

At Meeting of Pastoral Aid Society. " I protest against 
the constant tendency which I see to treat our churches 
rather as the homes of congregations than of parishioners." 

As President of Savings Bank Meeting. " The days of 
accumulating great fortunes are said to have passed away. 
I for one shall not regret it, if the class which has had too 
little in past times shall have more in the times that are 
coming." 

In this same month we may note that he consecrated the 
Church of St. Paul, at Adlington, the i2Oth which he had 
consecrated in his episcopate. Their cost had exceeded 
9i6,ooo/. In February he had to notice Irish and Egyptian 
affairs, the former from the platform, the latter from the 
pulpit. " Why do not the leaders of the Irish party express 
their hatred of these dastardly attempts to create a reign of 
terror? " was the burthen of his speech on the former, "this 



376 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

age has special need of high types," on the latter occasion, 
referring to General Gordon, on which he read out Words- 
worth's "Ode to Duty" and "Who is the Happy Warrior?" 

April 22nd and 2$rd. In the Convocation of 1885, the 
last at which Bishop Fraser was present, the two Houses 
sat separately. The Archbishop of York in his opening 
address touched cautiously on the severance inevitable as 
he deemed it, if Convocation was " to disengage itself from 
the personal attacks which were never heard in their debates 
before 1880," and on his hope that " as his own time must 
be short, the two Houses might again find it possible to 
assemble in peace under some future President." 

The Houses then separated, and the question of "the 
paternal authority of the Bishop " was debated in the Upper 
House. The proposed canon " that the Bishop should sit 
with a Council to hear disputed cases," found no support, 
and was met by Fraser with his usual directness. Such a 
canon, he argued, would be in direct contradiction to the 
Prayer Book, " which is, I suppose, part of an Act of Parlia- 
ment. The Prayer Book directs that if a Bishop is in 
doubt he is to apply to the Archbishop, and not to a 
Council. Even if a canon could modify an Act of Parlia- 
ment, how would this canon mend matters ? So far as I 
can see, we should be setting up a new diocesan court, which 
would have no power to enforce its decisions. I don't see 
how this scheme mends the present state of things." 

Later on he moved a resolution on a subject on which he 
had himself grave doubts, " That it is desirable to consider 
and if possible to define, what should be the relations be- 
tween the Bishop and any branch of the Church Army in his 
diocese." No conclusion was reached on this matter. 



CHAP. xii. CO-OPERATIVE CONGRESS. 377 

The subject of Mr. Mackonochie's resignation and the so- 
called Policy of Peace was again raised, upon which he said : 
"I do not think there was anything beyond a suggestion 
from the Archbishop that Mr. Mackonochie should be per- 
suaded to resign. So far as I remember, the subsequent 
action of the Bishop of London was entirely independent of 
any recommendation of the Archbishop of Canterbury. To 
call such a simple act ' a policy of peace,' and endeavour to 
interpret it that Bishops are in recognition of it to tolerate 
ritualistic practices, which the proper courts have declared to 
be illegal, and contrary to the formularies of the Church of 
England, is a very serious matter. I have said publicly, and 
I repeat it now, that such an idea of a truce has never 
entered my head. I could not, with a due sense of my 
responsibility as a Bishop, accept such an idea. . . and I 
must add that such a demand on the part of the clergy 
whether a small or a large body, that the Bishops shall con- 
nive at their attempted violations of the law, at a time when 
respect for law and obedience to authority is not too 
common in England, is a matter of the worst example, and 
calculated to increase the elements of anarchy and confusion 
both in Church and State, which exist already too abun- 
dantly on every side." 

In May (as already noted) he preached the annual sermon 
to the Co-operative Congress at Derby ; and another on the 
Free Schools Question in one of his short visits to London, 
in Westminster Abbey. During the same visit he attended a 
meeting for securing the better protection of women, and 
made a thoroughly characteristic speech in following the 
Bishop of Gloucester. That prelate had urged with much 
eloquence the duty of making sexual vice criminal by statute. 
" You can't turn vice into crime by Act of Parliament," com- 
mented Bishop Eraser. " The Puritans tried that, and 



3/8 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

brought back Charles II., with such an outbreak of profligacy 
as England has never seen before or since." 

On the loth of August he went up to vote in the House of 
Lords on the " Criminal Law Amendment Bill," returning to 
Manchester next day. And now again his short holiday 
time had come round. On the ipth he started with his 
wife for a ten days' tour in Wales, and reached his dear old 
home at Ufton on the last day of the month. There he 
enjoyed himself once more, with the zest of a boy in his 
holidays, looking up all old friends, from the squires to the 
ploughboys, and their wives, and equally welcome wher- 
ever he went. 

It was his last visit to the spot he loved best on earth, 
and it was well that his last days of health should be spent, 
and his last sermon preached there. Dr. Chase was also a 
guest of Canon Cornish at the Rectory, and there was much 
talk between the three ex-fellows over the past and future of 
their college. On the last day of his visit they dined at the 
house of his old friend, Mr. B. Garland, meeting there his 
still older friends Sir John and Lady Mowbray. In the 
retrospect it seems like a general leave-taking. " We left 
Ufton together," Dr. Chase writes, " and travelled to Oxford, 
where I saw the last of him at the station. As the train 
moved northwards, 'Remember,' he said, 'you and your wife 
are coming to us for Christmas.' No one who had seen him 
at Ufton could have thought it possible that he was already 
struck by fatal illness. Signs of age and perhaps traces of 
past anxieties might be found I suppose, but only if you 
looked for them. His walk was firm and elastic, and his 
interest in his old parishioners unabated." 

With another old friend, Major Thoyts, the Squire of 
Sulhamstead, he drove in a gig to Bradfield on one of the 
last days of his stay. A sharp east wind was blowing, and 



CHAP. xii. HIS LAST HOLIDAY. 379 

on his return he confessed to some stiffness in the neck. He 
seemed so strong and well in other respects that his wife 
was not alarmed, and after their week in Berkshire they 
turned homewards, sleeping on the night of the yth at a 
friend's house near Stow-on-the-Wold. Next morning, his 
wife writes to Mr. Cornish, " he came into my room and 
showed me a swelling under the collar-bone, the left hand and 
arm greatly swelled and somewhat discoloured." The local 
doctor prescribed rubbing from the fingers upwards, and a 
pad steeped in liniment, adding that absolute rest was 
essential. " He said," Mrs. Fraser goes on, " the symptoms 
were somewhat obscure, but anyhow any sort of excitement 
or over-fatigue must be avoided. He does not feel ill, looks 
just as he did, sleeps well, but there is the swelling, which, 
until it is subdued, shows there is something wrong. I am 
not wholly surprised. I have long urged him to do less, 
but you know what his energetic nature is. . . We return 
home on Thursday, and happy shall I be to call in at once 
the best advice Manchester can furnish. The doctor here 
talks of an overtaxed system, which is only too likely to be 
true. The future is dim, but the way will be cleared I 
doubt not. I only wish in all things to face matters calmly, 
not to be in too great haste, and yet not to lose time un- 
necessarily. I know I shall have your full sympathy. I 
don't wish the dear Bishop to be made depressed about 
himself, though to be sufficiently conscious that great care 
will be needed. We reach home, all being well, at 5.28 on 
Thursday, via Oxford and Bletchley. The remembrance of 
our happy Ufton visit will long linger with us." 

They reached home as proposed, and the Manchester 
doctors confirmed the view of their Gloucestershire brother. 
Next day, Sept. i2th, Mrs. Fraser writes to the anxious 
friends at Ufton, " You will like to hear at once that the 



380 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

dear Bishop is none the worse for the journey. Yesterday, 
Dr. Roberts made a careful examination, and assures me 
there is no disease whatever. He says it was a congested 
condition of the veins of the arm and neck, probably 
occasioned by a chill when the system was somewhat 
lowered and overtaxed : that absolute rest is required for 
the next two months, ' mind and body to lie fallow,' every 
engagement for preaching and meetings to be abandoned. 
He expects by that time the system will completely recover 
itself, though it ought to be a warning that work should be 
remodelled, and not so much undertaken. He must never 
walk up hill quickly, or do anything to quicken the circula- 
tion. When recovered, he says, a certain amount of work 
will be absolutely necessary to keep body and mind in a 
healthy condition, but the difficulty with him is to take 
engagements moderately. He still thinks he shall be able 
to ordain on Sunday after next, but all the fatigues of 
the previous week will be taken by Archdeacon Norris 
and the chaplains, and I hope he will consent to let 
some other Bishop take the Manchester and Salford con- 
firmations." 

In answer to Mr. Cornish's anxious inquiries as to the 
ordination work, Mrs. Fraser can reply on Sept. 22nd: 
" He was not even tired, had a good night, and hau indeed 
slept well ever since our return. The arm and hand are all 
right again. There is just a little enlargement under the 
collar-bone, which shows the clot has not quite dispersed 
itself yet, but he really looks well, and is as cheery as 
possible. He has just had an hour at the Registry, but saw 
only three people, and had no trouble, and I took him 
down in the carriage and brought him back. On Monday 
we shall have to go to Bolton for a Church consecration, 
but there again he will not preach but only read the 



CHAP. xii. WORKING AT HALF POWER. 381 

necessary prayers, and return at once afterwards. All is 
going on well. We have just ordered a gong to be sent 
to Ufton as our little offering, to summon you to dinner. 
Please send for it to Theale station." 

On the same day the Bishop wrote himself to Archdeacon 
Rawstorne : 

Sept. 22nd, 1885. "I am putting off every engagement 
that is not a matter of necessity. I took my ordination on 
Sunday being lightened by the kindness of others of all but 
the necessary part of the service and seem none the worse 
for it. I think the swelling near the collar-bone is less and 
the arm is less stiff, but I must wait for the two months' rest 
to do their work before daring to think of the future ! But I 
cannot but regard what has happened as a sign and warning 
that the active work of my life is done. You know as well 
as any one that this diocese cannot be administered with 
half-man power. Remember when and where at such times 
one wishes to be remembered by one's friends." 

To Mr. Tooke. Oct. $rd, 1885. " I think I am making 
good steady progress. Four doctors have overhauled me, 
and they all agree in their view of the case, and I shall form 
no plans for the future till the period prescribed for rest has 
expired. If I do not recover my former strength it will be 
vain to attempt to administer the diocese any longer; and I 
shall gladly make way for a younger and stronger man. 
Your Bishop sounded no uncertain note at his Diocesan 
Conference the other day. I think such utterances are 
required, and the Liberal party need to be told plainly that 
Churchmen do not mean to be robbed of their inheritance 
without a struggle. At the same time, every effort should be 



382 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART IT. 

made to remove abuses, and make the Church national 
in the fullest sense of the word." 

To F. Munby, who as a young man living in the diocese 
had helped in diocesan work, and had kept up correspond- 
ence with the Bishop after leaving it : 

Oct. I4//&. "The only thing I fear is that, with extended 
' Local Government ' in the air, we shall have all these, or at 
least most of them, and similar institutions " (Industrial 
Schools) " handed over to local control, and their connec- 
tion with ' the State ' so far weakened. 

" But it is impossible to say to what result these incohe- 
rent cries which are rending the air, and about which it 
is difficult to discern from what side they come for it's all 
a Babel will ultimately tend. At present my head is 
hardly strong enough to distinguish the wheat from the 
chaff. All I seem to see is that our leaders on both 



sides seem to cease to lead, and content themselves with 
saying to the people, ' You show us the way you wish us to 
go, and we will take it.' What would Plato have said to the 
chances of such a republic ? 

" I hope I am making progress slowly in the right direc- 
tion ; but it must be a matter of time, and for my own part 
I think I have had a warning that the active work of my 
life is done." 

No harm would seem to have come of this working at 
half power, to which, to the great relief of his wife and 
doctors, he seems to have consented cheerfully, with a little 
playful remonstrance. That he had, however, quite realised 
how grave the crisis was, his last interview with his senior 
chaplain puts beyond a doubt. Archdeacon Norris, having 
taken the labouring oar in the Ordination examination and 



CHAP. XII. HIS ILLNESS. 383 

services, came to take his leave. " Never," he writes, " did 
I see his natural happiness find expression more delightfully. 
I was sitting on his bedside, and he had been explaining to 
me how the clot of blood might, if it approached the heart, 
prove serious, and how he looked on it as the ayycAos TOV 
ov, and then he added, ' And yet I hope it isn't wrong 
I never felt happier in all my life than I do at this moment.' 
Just then his wife came in, and he bade me farewell and 
gave me his blessing, adding cheerful messages to my wife, 
and some playful remark to his own. The squeeze he gave 
my hand under the coverlet told me how conscious he was 
that we might never meet again. Again and again he had 
told me his dearest wish was to retire to Ufton, and end his 
days in the old home. Had he survived that illness all was 
arranged for his resignation." 

Still for some weeks all went well. On 5th October Mrs. 
Fraser writes to Mr. Cornish, as to his promised visit : " We 
shall be delighted to see you yhenever you like to come. 
The 'rest time' is to extend till the end of the year, when 
I think the dear Bishop will rise up a new man, and I hope 
will begin a more moderate amount of work, and yet having 
enough to do to give interest and occupation. Our doctor 
is delighted with his progress, and he is as happy and cheery 
as possible. The Ryles were with us yesterday, as he had 
to preach two sermons at Kersal for the re-opening of the 
chancel, and our dear Bishop took the Communion service 
without any fatigue. They left us this morning after a 
pleasant visit. The weather is wild and stormy, but the 
Bishop gets out most days on our pleasant dry terrace. So 
glad the gong has arrived at last. The Bishop thought a 
stand for it could easily be made by Bryant." 

From his sick room he was planning for his retirement. 
At Ufton, which would have been his own choice, no suit- 



384 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

able home was to be had, the foremost of his requirements 
being a library capable of holding from 4,000 to 5,000 books. 
Failing Ufton his thoughts turned to Bath, his wife's old 
home, where his old Manchester friend Mr. Fletcher, now 
living there, was looking round for a suitable house. To 
him the Bishop writes, October i6th, " Many thanks for the 
trouble you have taken. It is quite evident that 23, Royal 
Crescent, will not do. The description in the advertisement 
was most misleading. Montebello would not be large 
enough, I fear; we would rather also rent than buy, and 
Montebello, I take it, is to be sold. At the same time, if it 
is not out of your way just to take a look at Montebello 
(some people, of whom I am one myself, rather like looking 
at houses), you can tell us whether it seems at all suitable, 
or by additions could be made so. ... I am still, I hope, 
moving on in the right direction, at any rcte I am not in the 
least pain, and everybody tells me I look very well. As 
you may imagine, I have the very best nursing, and begin 
to give myself all the airs of an invalid." 

Five days later he wrote to Mr. Cornish, who had been 
up at Oxford, staying at Oriel, their old college : 

"Manchester, Oct. 2\st 1885. My dear Cornish, Your 
letter entertained us much, specially your account of your 
visit to Oxford. I am very sorry to hear of the continued 
agricultural depression. When will the lowest depths be 
reached, I wonder? It can't be very pleasant with the 
growing luxury of the place to find one's income reduced 
50 per cent. Do come to us as you propose on November 
2nd. We will try and not let you catch a cold this time. 
The next week we shall probably go to London, where I 
have one or two engagements to fulfil, not requiring any . 
great physical exertion at the Bounty, the Ecclesiastical 



CHAP. xii. MAKING PROGRESS. 385 

Commission, and a meeting of the Governors of Shrewsbury 
School. I may also perhaps take the opportunity of con- 
sulting some eminent surgeon Sir Joseph Lister is 
recommended about myself. 

"I am making progress, I think, slowly in the right 
direction. I shall take the full time of rest ordered, but I 
don't at all expect that I shall find myself equal to the 
longer administration of this great diocese. 

"The dear Dean of Chester is very ill Bright's disease, 
I hear and is leaving home for the winter. People say he 
is not likely to return alive. Poor fellow, he cannot keep 
himself quiet. I told him plainly at York last spring, 
that if he did not he would never live to see another 
Convocation. 

" How did your political meeting go off? I can fancy 
Miss Sharp bursting with zeal. I hope the gong is busy, and 
proves sufficient for its purpose. I think Catherine will not 
be at home when this reaches you. The wife sends all kind 
regards. 

" Ever yours affectionately. 

"J. MANCHESTER." 

This was the last letter the Bishop wrote. In the after- 
noon he walked to visit an invalid curate, who has since 
followed him, and came home full of satisfaction at finding 
him better. After his return he showed no sign of weakness 
or relapse, but rather, if anything, more than usual buoyancy 
and playfulness. This was remarked both by his wife, and 
by Mrs. Stone, the old and faithful servant who had nursed 
her from her infancy, and was now performing the same 
good offices for her husband. " I feel myself a great hum- 
bug, knocking off work when I feel so well." he said to 
Dr. Roberts, on one of his last visits. In the evening his 

c c 



386 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART 11. 

wife read aloud parts of Kenilworth. Since his attack the 
Waverley Novels had been their evening's amusement as 
they sat together over the fire. He much preferred them 
to any modern novels. On going to bed he said to his wife, 
"What a happy day we have had." An excellent night 
followed, and as joyous waking. 

In the morning of the next day he breakfasted in bed. 
When Mrs. Stone brought it in he said, " Am I not a great 
idle fellow lying in bed this fine morning. I declare you 
are spoiling me." His wife came into his room at ten o'clock 
for their morning prayers, and found him looking radiantly 
happy. " Stone has been excellent company," he said, " and 
has been talking to me about your childhood. I seem to 
know more about you, dear, and your good father and 
mother, than I ever did before. These idle days are so 
pleasant. I know how delightful my own home is. I never 
had time to enjoy it before. Now let us have our little 
office together." The psalm for the day was the loyth, 
which they read alternately, verse 30, "Then are they glad 
because they are at rest, and so he bringeth them to the 
haven where they would be," falling to Mrs. Fraser. When 
it was over he said, " How I enjoy our little offices to- 
gether. Now, dear, go down and write those letters for the 
early post. I will be with you in half an hour." Mrs. Stone 
prepared his bath, and he went into his dressing-room, say- 
ing he must lose no time, as he expected two clergymen on 
business at 11.30. There was no shade of suspicion either 
in his wife's or nurse's mind of any change in his symptoms. 
In a few minutes his bell rang. A servant came to Mrs. 
Fraser in the library, where she was expecting him, and said 
she was wanted up stairs. So little did she expect what 
was coming that she asked if her aunt was ill. The answer, 
" No, it is in your own room," alarmed her, and she ran up 



CHAP. XII. 



THE END. 387 



and found him in bed, half dressed, and complaining of sick- 
ness and giddiness, which had come on while he was dress- 
ing. He was already scarcely conscious. The doctor was 
by his side in a few minutes, but he never rallied, and died 
in a few hours. 

So ended one of the brightest, as well as one of the 
bravest, lives of our England in this century the brightest 
without qualification this editor might have written so far as 
his own experience goes, and he has lived long and known 
many men in many walks of life. But, without indulging 
in any such generalisation, this at any rate can be safely said 
of Janus Fraser and of how few besides ! That in his 
whole correspondence, and in the memories of his most 
intimate friends, there lingers no trace of those periods of 
depression, of hardness, of despondency, which cast their 
shadow across the paths of most of us, even of the most 
earnest and faithful. Do you say that the outward condi- 
tions of his life may v/ell account for this that they were 
happy and prosperous from beginning to end ? But we 
know well enough that college rooms, and quiet country 
parsonages, are no surer homes of happiness and peace than 
palaces, or camps, or cottages ; while, for the last fifteen 
years of his life, few men have borne a heavier burthen, or 
one more likely to take hope, and joy, and faith, out of the 
heart of him on whom it was laid. What then was his 
secret ? for it must have been one which it concerns us all 
to know. If this memoir has been at all a faithful one, 
readers will not have far to seek. It may be given in half 
a dozen words. James Fraser kept his child's heart 
to the end. Dr. Martineau, in one of the finest and 
deepest of his studies, [that of St. Paul, uses words which 
put this in the clearest light, and may fitly close these 
pages : 

c c 2 



38S LIFE OF BISHOP ERASER. PART n. 

" We too often, in putting away childish things, part with 
the wrong elements : losing the heavenly insight, keeping the 
earthly darkness. We put away the guileless mind, the pure 
vision, the simple trust, the tender conscience ; and' reserve 
the petty scale of thought, the hasty will, the love of toils 
and strife. Paul put away only the ignorance and littleness 
of childhood, bearing with him its freshness, its truth, its 
God, into the grand work of his full age. And hence, while 
our religion lies somewhere near our cradle, and is a kind of 
sacred memory, his lived on, to speak for itself, instead of 
being talked about. It fought all his conflicts ; it took all 
the weight out of his chains ; it condensed the lightning 
of his pen ; and kindled the whole furnace of his glorious 
nature." 

It is of course a comparsion of small things with great to 
set the diocese of Manchester of our day by the side of " all 
the Gentile churches " under Tiberius and Nero ; and St. 
Paul towers high above every Christian bishop since the days 
of the Apostles. But the spell which can alone reach the 
saddest depths of the World's sad heart remains for ever the 
same. And they who wield it this secret of the Lord 
with the most perfect mastery, will be found, in the last 
century as in the first, to have entered the kingdom of God 
as little children. 

It is Paul and Luther the apostles of hope, not of 
asceticism who can bring out the bright side of the Lord's 
kingdom, and teach "the wayfaring men though fools" to 
walk therein. It is this Gospel this good news of trust 
and joy which wells forth from the lives and speech of such as 
he the few who have seen the beatific vision which is more 
than ever needed for our land, in these days, when its last 
great preacher of our generation has been called to his rest 



CHAP. xil. FUNERAL. 389 

" Blessed," says our Master, " are the pure in heart, for they 
shall see God." 

He was buried at Ufton, in the tomb in which he had 
laid his mother, on the 27th of October, in the presence of a 
remarkable gathering of friends from all parts of England. 
His old friend and successor performed the service and 
preached the funeral sermon. A volume might easily be 
filled with the tributes to his memory. One only can be 
given here, which I believe he would have specially prized. 
At his last visitation, some months, before his death, he had 
said in his Charge : " A friend has lately been good enough 
to send me a newspaper correspondence which I should not 
otherwise have seen, in which a good deal of pent-up in- 
dignation against me seems to have exploded. I am charged 
amongst other grievous sins, of thinking not unkindly, and 
speaking not unfavourably of Dissenters. I don't profess to 
love dissent, but I have received innumerable kindnesses 
from Dissenters. Why should I abuse them ? Why should I 
call them hard names ? Remembering how non-conformity 
was made no doubt sometimes by self-will, and pride, and 
prejudice and ignorance, but far more often by the Church's 
supineness, neglect, and intolerance in days long gone by, 
of which we have not yet paid the full penalty -though, 
as I have said, I love not the thing, I cannot speak harshly 
of it." 

On the Sunday after his death Dr. MacLaren, the chief 
minister of the Baptists in Manchester, spoke for all the Non- 
conformists of the north of England when he said, " All 
parties in religion and politics are one to day. We all ad- 
mired him. We all mourn him. Some of us differed pro- 
foundly from him on matters which both he and we felt to be 
important, but all the more do we reverence the goodness 
and great qualities of the man. We all feel that the public 



390 LIFE OF BISHOP FRASER. PART n. 

life of this city is sadly impoverished by the removal of an 
unique personality, which was the centre of union for many 
a good cause." I do not know where to look for a tribute of 
more worth to the memory of any Prelate of the Church of 
this nation. Equally emphatic is the testimony of Church- 
men to the same effect, which may be well summed up in 
the words of Mr. Houldsworth, M.P. for North West Man- 
chester : " I am quite sure he has knit together the various 
bodies of Christians in Lancashire in a way which will never 
be entirely lost." 



[PROFESSOR BRYCE, who had succeeded to the Bishop's 
Fellowship at Oriel, and had been an intimate friend for many 
years contributed the letter which forms this Appendix, 
as it came too late for use in the body of the work.] 



APPENDIX. 

" MY DEAR HUGHES, 

"Although I succeeded to Bishop Eraser's Fellow- 
ship at Oriel, he had then been for a good many years 
non-resident, so that his pupils ha.d all quitted the College, 
and few of his former co-tutors were left in Oxford. I can- 
not, therefore, tell you anything beyond what you are sure 
to know already regarding his life in Oriel ; my own ac- 
quaintance with him arose later, om of our both serving as 
Assistant Commissioners to the Schools' Inquiry Commis- 
sion. It was, his friends have generally understood, the 
excellence of his Report on the Common School System of 
the United States prepared for that Commission, an excel- 
lence which has been warmly recognised by the Americans 
(although he freely criticised that system), which led to his 
being offered the bishopric of Manchester in 1870. The 
late Lord Lyltelton was one of the Commissioners, and 
had been extremely struck by the great breadth of view, 
clearness of statement, and sympathetic insight of the 
Report, which remains to this day the best general picture 
of American schools. Neither can I tell you anything of 
his life at Ufton. But as I had means of knowing the 
diocese of Manchester before he went there, and of watching 
the effect he produced, I will venture, as you desire it, to 
send you some impressions regarding his public career and 
the illustrations it supplies of what an Anglican bishop may 
accomplish. 

" Few changes in our modern England have been more 
remarkable than that in the character of the Bishops of the 
Anglican Church and the way they are regarded. Forty or 



392 



APPENDIX. 



fifty years ago they were usually rich, dignified, and rather 
indolent magnates, aristocratic in their tastes and habits, 
moderate in their theology, sometimes to the verge of in- 
differentism, quite as much men of the world as pastors of 
souls. Now and then eminence in learning or literature 
raised a man to the bench ; there were the ' Greek Play ' 
bishops, such as Monk of Gloucester, and the Quarterly 
Review bishops, like Copleston of Llandaff, whose powerful 
pen as well as his wise administration of Oriel marked him 
for promotion. But on the whole the prelates of those days 
were more remarkable for their tact, their adroitness and 
suppleness, than for intellectual or moral eminence among 
the clergy so far as they were respected. They were re- 
spected as a part of the solid fabric of English society, more 
than for personal merits. But they were often a mark for 
political invective and literary sneers. The revival within 
the Church of England which has gone on all through the 
century began from below, and reached the bishops last. 
Palmerston's choice generally fell on men of earnestness, 
though they may have been sometimes narrow or unlearned. 
When the High Churchmen began to find their way to the 
bench under Lord Derby and Mr. Gladstone, they showed 
as much religious zeal as the Evangelicals, and more gift for 
administration. The popular idea of what may be expected 
from a bishop rose, and the bishops rose with it. Whatever 
criticisms may be passed on Bishop Wilberforce every one 
will admit that he made himself a wonderful force in his 
diocese ; his example told on his brethren, and Prime 
Ministers became more anxious to select energetic men. 
There is no denying that the Bishops are now among the 
foremost men in the Established Church ; we see among 
them at least one brilliant orator, one profound scholar, 
several admirable administrators. Nobody now thinks of 
sneering at them as a class, nobody charges them with any 
fault save a certain episcopal conventionality, a readiness to 
seek to please all round by the use of vague professional 
language, a tendency to think too much about the Church of 
England as an establishment, and to yield to clerical opinon 
when they ought to speak and act with independence in 
fact, a sort of ecclesiasticism of mind and exclusiveness of 



APPENDIX. 393 

spirit, which, however regrettable, are natural enough when 
one considers their position as the general officers, so to 
speak, of a sacerdotal army exposed to attacks from many 
sides. 

"It was the rare and splendid merit of our departed 
friend that he had shaken himself completely free from these 
faults. With the sincerest loyalty to his own Church, with 
an untiring activity in the discharge of his episcopal duties, 
he seemed an Englishman rather than an Anglican, a Chris- 
tian rather than a priest. You never felt in talking with him 
that his position either tinged his opinions, or prevented you 
from expressing your own with the utmost frankness. He 
created a new and admirable type of English bishop, and 
why should we not admit that originality may be shown in 
the conception and discharge of an office as well as in the 
sphere of pure thought or literary creation ? 

" I knew the diocese of Manchester very well in the days 
when it was ruled by Bishop Lee. Though an able and 
learned man, who could make himself very agreeable to 
those whom he liked, he was personally unpopular, and 
accustomed to do little beyond his formal duties. He lived 
in a large and handsome country house some miles from 
the city, and was known by sight to very few of its 
inhabitants. You might travel, as I did when Assistant- 
Commissioner, up and down through Lancashire, and meet 
no traces of his presence. Fraser had not been three 
months in the county before everything was changed. He 
got the country mansion sold, and established himself in a 
modest house on Cheetham Hill, one of the less fashionable 
suburbs of the city. He preached twice every Sunday, 
usually in some parish church, and spent the week in travel- 
ling hither and thither through his diocese, so that the days 
were few in which he was not on the railway. He stretched 
out the hand of friendship to the Dissenters (numerous and 
powerful in the manufacturing districts), who had hitherto 
regarded a bishop as a natural enemy, gained their con- 
fidence, and soon became as popular with them as with the 
laity of his own Church. He associated himself with all the 
works of benevolence or public utility which were in pro- 
gress, subscribed to all so far as his means allowed, and was 



394 APPENDIX. 



always ready to speak at a meeting on behalf of any good 
enterprise. He dealt in his sermons with the topics of the 
day, avoiding party politics, but speaking his mind on all 
social and moral questions with a freedom which sometimes 
involved him in passing difficulties, but stimulated the 
minds of his hearers, and gave the impression of his own 
perfect candour and perfect courage. He used to say that 
as he had to speak without preparation, he often got into 
hot water, that he knew it must be so, but that it was better 
to run the risk of making mistakes and suffering for them 
than to refuse out of self-regarding caution to do the best he 
could. He had that best kind of modesty which, when it 
thinks anything ought to be done, is willing to do it even 
imperfectly, because not over-careful of intellectual reputa- 
tion. He lost no opportunity of meeting the working men, 
would go and talk to them at the mills, or in the evening 
gatherings of the mechanics' institutes ; and when any mis- 
fortune befell, such as a colliery accident, he was often 
among the first to reach the spot, to help the survivors, and 
comfort the widows. He made no difference between rich 
and poor, showed no wish to stay at the houses of the great, 
and treated the poorest curate with as much courtesy as the 
most pompous county magnate. 

"Such a simple, earnest, active course of conduct soon 
told upon the feelings of the pe.ople. After 1870, wherever 
one went in Lancashire, one heard of what the bishop had 
been doing and saying. He was much criticised, but 
(except by extreme ecclesiastical partisans) always in a 
friendly and appreciative way. One used to be especially 
struck by the impression his personal presence made on 
those whom he went among. He was a tall, well-built man, 
very erect in figure, with a quick eye, a firm step, an expres- 
sion of singular heartiness and geniality. He seemed always 
cheerful, and, in spite of his endless labours, always fresh 
and strong. His smile and the grasp of his hand put you 
into good humour with yourself and the world ; if you were 
dispirited, they led you at once out of shadow into sun- 
light. He was not profoundly learned, and he had no time 
for sustained and searching thought ; yet he seemed always 
abreast of what was passing in the world, and to know what 



APPENDIX. 395 



the books and articles and speeches of the day contained, 
although he could not have read them. With strong 
opinions of his own, he was anxious to hear yours ; a ready 
and eager talker, yet a willing listener. His oratory was 
plain, with few flights of rhetoric, but it was direct and 
vigorous, free from conventional phrases, always charged 
with solid thinking and genuine feeling. He had a strong 
sense of humour, the best proof of which was that he 
thoroughly relished a joke against himself. I remember his 
telling me with glee of an instance in which a clergyman 
whom he had reprimanded had turned the tables on him so 
wittily that he conceived a warm liking for the offender. 
However, the greatest charm, both of his public and private 
talk, was the transparent sincerity and honesty that shone 
through it. His mind was like a crystal pool of water in a 
mountain stream : you saw everything that was in it : you 
saw nothing that was mean or unworthy. It was this purity 
and freshness that made his character not only manly, but 
lovable and beautiful beautiful in its tenderness, its loyalty 
to friendship, its love of truth. Among the public men of 
our time it would be hard to point to any more simple or 
noble soul. 

" It was no wonder that such a character, set in a con- 
spicuous place, and joined to extraordinary activity and zeal, 
should have produced an immense effect on the people of 
his city and diocese. No bishop in our time has been so 
popular or so useful as he ; none certainly has been so much 
lamented by the masses of the people. But it is a significant 
fact that he was more popular with the laity than with the 
clergy. Not that any one ever accused him of want of 
orthodoxy. His theology, so far as it appeared in his 
University sermons, seemed, to us of a much younger gene- 
ration, to be the old-fashioned Aristotelian High Churchism 
of 1840. Indeed he usually struck one as a moderate High 
Churchman of the older and distinctly non-Roman type, a 
High Church man unconsciously verging towards what would 
be called a Broad Church position ; with no great taste either 
for scientific theology or for ecclesiastical history; always 
maintaining the claim of the Anglican Church to undertake 
the education of the people, and upholding her status as an 



396 APPENDIX. 



Establishment, but dwelling very little on minor points of 
doctrinal difference, and seeming to care still less for ex- 
ternal observances or matters of ritual. This displeased 
the Ritualist party, and even among other sections of the 
clergy there was a kind of feeling that the Bishop was not 
sufficiently clerical, did not set full store by the sacerdotal 
side of his office, and did not think enough a.bout purely 
clerical questions. Even his friendliness to the Dissenters 
was ill-regarded by those clergymen who deny to Dissenters 
the title of Christian ministers. He used to be called in 
Lancashire the Bishop of the Laity, sometimes the Bishop 
of the Dissenters. 

" I do not know what you may have said in the text 
regarding the cases of Mr. Green and Mr. Cowgill which he 
had to deal with, but I remember well the way in which 
he spoke of these cases, and especially the latter. He 
deeply regretted the necessity which he deemed to be laid 
upon him of refusing to institute Mr. Cowgill. He held 
that for him to do so would be to connive at an evasion of 
the law and suffer it to be made sport of. I think he dis- 
approved of what was done in the way of evading it as 
regards Mr. Mackonochie, for his view was that a bishop is 
bound to carry out the law ex animo, because it is the de- 
clared will of the Legislature, whether he personally approves 
of it or not, and he never gave me any reason to believe that 
he did approve of the Public Worship Regulation Act. He 
spoke of the recalcitrant clergymen and of the party who 
were attacking him so angrily with no tinge of personal re- 
sentment. He could afford to be calm, because he felt no 
animosity and was governed only by a sense of his official 
duty. At no time indeed have I ever heard him, decided 
as his opinions were, speak harshly of antagonists. 

"Like some of the great bishops of early Christian cen- 
turies he was the first citizen of his diocese, more influential 
than its political leaders or territorial magnates, not by his 
official dignity, but because the active duties of his post 
gave occasion for the display in a large sphere of the civic 
virtues he possessed, inexhaustible public spirit, untiring 
energy, perfect candour and honesty, quick and generous 
sympathy with every form of goodness. The association of 



APPENDIX. 397 



zeal and fervour with narrowness and even bitterness is so 
frequent that it is pleasant to dwell on so noble an example 
as he presented of a truly catholic spirit combined with 
intense feelings and active benevolence. In this spirit he 
resembled Dean Stanley. Unlike as they were in many re- 
sp~cts, Stanley had the warmest admiration for Fraser, and 
used to speak of him as having created a new type of epis- 
copal excellence ; they deserve to be remembered together 
as among the brightest lights of their Church and generation. 

" Sincerely yours, 

" T- BRYCE."