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Wb dull Bob tn wnmg In conoludlnfr that, in
Hawkev'B opinion, memibeiBhlp of the Ctiarch of England
curled wltii It uembeTBhip of a catholic church, and that
ttieielore Bocession iitaa one brancb to suother seemed to him
to he In no flenso that nossbg of the Knbicon which it ii In
the eyee of a Frateittant.

^l-

^ -r

Mc/

^ .

MEMORIALS

OF THE LATE REV.

ROBERT STEPHEN HAWKER, M.A.

Sometime Vicar of Monvenstow, in the Diocese of Exeter.

COLLECTED, ARRA/fCED, AND EDITED

THE REV. FREDERICK GEORGE LEE, D.CL.

VICAR or ALL SAIN

Stonn, Inllow, whirlwind pji^t,

rktSiUtl Tffwir of Eolln:a«.—'&. S. HaWKSK.

HotiQoii :

CHATTO AND WINDUS, PICCADILLY.

1876.

\AU righlt rtsei-vid.^

i-4 .

/ -r • . .

TO

THE WIDOW AND CHILDREN

OF

THE SUBJECT OF THESE MEMOEIALS

WITU HEARTY SYMPATHY VOR THEIR LOSS, AND

yriTR A PRAYER THAT

GOD THE TRINITY

MAY BE OVER, AND WITH THEM, BOTH IN SUNSHINE AND SHADOW;

AND THAT

THE SAINTS OP THE MOST HIGH

MAY BE EVER ON THEIR SIDE.

•-•>: •■•• *.•■

- ^ : ••. 'r .

«• • •

PREFACE.

Most conscious am I that I have but the
slenderest claims to put together such brief
Memorials of a respected and venerated friend
as were either in my own possession, or have
been kindly supplied by his various relations, in
the pages which follow.

Had the latest event of Mr. Hawker's life
not been commented on in some of the Radical
newspapers with a bitterness, a violence of
words, and a literary rudeness happily not
often experienced, I should probably not have
planned this volume,— the expansion of a sUght
Memoir from my pen, which appeared in the
Morning Post of September 8, 1875.

But, when a Priest has served God for nearly
half a century, quietly ministering, by sacrifice,
intercession and sacrament, to a flock, too long

VI PREFACJE.

neglected ; and this without rebuke, in patience,
hope, and love, — ^the instinct of Churchmen can
hardly be as nobly true and charitably tender
for the departed as in times gone by, if such
epithets as those recently applied to Mr. Hawker,
avowedly from the pens of brother clergymen,
could be read with other than feelings both of
painful amazement and honest disgust.^

I felt one attack upon him so keenly, that
I at once penned the following expostulatory
letter, attaching my name, and sent it to the
Editor of The Guardian^ declining (on grounds
intelligible to any person of right feeling) to
communicate either with the Editors or Pro-
prietor of the paper in which the gross attack
in question had appeared. But my letter, given
below verbatim^ was refused admission — a dis-
agreeable piece of evidence of the presence of a
lower moral tone amongst our leaders of Eccle-

* In the Standard of September 1, 1875, there is a
pleasant and kindly notice of Mr. Hawker in an article
headed " Morwenstow," the writer of which both appre-
ciates and describes his character with taste and impar-
tiality.

PREFACE. Til

siastical opinion (and in quarters least expected)
than I had hoped could have existed.

" Sir, — Charitably grant me the use of your
influential columns to enter my earnest protest
against language which has been used in the
Church Times concerning my friend the late
Rev. R. S. Hawker.

"It is implied of him in two anonymous
letters recently printed, first, that he was •a
blasphemous rogue and a scoundrel' (Church
TimeSy September 3, 1875) — language not often
used in any decent newspaper, least of all in
one which is supposed to represent a religious
party in the Church; and, secondly, that my
deceased friend believed that * there was a
female element in the Trinity' — a statement
(without a shadow of warrant or a half-tittle of
evidence) obviously intended to give an im-
pression to thoughtless and ill-informed readers

that Mr. Hawker was at once a dreaming mad-
man and a formal heretic.

"No one deplores more than myself his

VIU PREFACE,

secession from the English Church. His mo-
tives, whatever they may have been, I am con-
fident were perfectly pure, upright, and disin-
terested. But to throw literary mud from
behind a screen by anonymous hands — and
this at a venerable clergyman, who is loved and
reverenced wherever he was known, but who
being called hence cannot speak in reply — seems
to me even beyond the limits hitherto adopted
by the wire-pullers of cheap Ritualistic news-
papers.

" Knowing that his friends and relations feel
these attacks keenly, and remembering that we
should do to others as we would have others do
to us, I write this my open and indignant
protest.*'

As marking the true temper of these dan-
gerous times, I would here venture to point out
what has been again and again noticed by many
with sadness and surprise. If a public man,
from having been a member of the Church of
England, becomes a servile imitator of German
neological critics, whose ideas he appropriates.

PREFACE. IX

and whose principles he adopts, and eventually
rejects the Christian Religion altogether ; or if
an educated person writes at once dirty and
blasphemous verses, over which other dirty per-
sons are said to go into spasms and paroxysms
of admiration, both in print and conversation,
(and such people unfortunately abound,) no one
follows them with biting sarcasms, gross insinua-
tions, or bitter words. They go their own
way, and take their own crooked and shadowy
course. They are spoken of with tenderness,
and even with respect and apologies. But if an
EngUsh Churchman adds to his faith, by joining
the Roman communion, the floodgates of abuse
on all sides are immediately opened upon him,
and the unclean torrent spreads in force and
fury.

I have only to add, that I am indebted to
Mr. Hawker's widow for several kind and im-
portant communications, as well as for permis-
sion to re-produce his likeness ; to his brother,
Claude C. Hawker, of Penally, Boscastle, Esq.,
for much valuable assistance; as also to the

X PREFACE.

Bishop of Chester, the Rev. W. Valentine, of
Whixley, Yorkshire, to the Rev. J. C. D. Yule,
of Bradford Rectory, North Devon, to Mr.
J. G. Godwin,^ Librarian to the Marquis of
Bute, to Miss Louisa Twining, to William
Maskell, Esq., of Bude Castle, and to Mr. Bar-
tholomew C. Gidley, Town Clerk of Exeter, —
each and all of whom I respectfully and cordially
thank for their courteous and valued replies to
my several and varied inquiries.

All Saints' Vicarage, Lambeth.

■ Mr. Hawker's and my mutual friend, Mr. J. G. Godwin,
possesses a very considerable "number of original letters in
Mr. Hawker's handwriting — which are full of ripe wisdom,
forcible sentiments, and interesting records. He also owns
a very excellent pencil-drawing of Mr. Hawker's side-face,
taken some years ago, and reported to be an admirable
likeness when it was first taken. Mr. Godwin has, like-
wise, gathered an almost perfect and complete set of his
works, bound most sumptuously and in the best of taste, — a
possession, very probably, unique.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

Dedication iii

Peefacb V

CHAPTER I.

Personal History and Ministerial Work.

Birth and Parentage of Mr. Hawker — His cele-
brated Grandfather, the Rev. Dr. Hawker, of
Charles Chapel, Plymouth — Mr. R. S. Haw-
ker maiTies Miss PAns — Matriculates at
Pembroke College, Oxford, but afterwards
migrates to Magdalene Hall — Gains the
Newdigate Prize and takes his degree — Rise
of the Oxford Movement — Mr. Hawker or-
dained Deacon and Priest — Curate of Well-
combe — Presented to Morwenstow by the
Bishop of Exeter — Mr. Hawker's earnest
labours as a Parish Priest — Description of the
Parish of Morwenstow — Mischievous in-
fluence and Dissent — St. Morwenna — The
Church and its Ornaments — The Grin of
Arius — The Vicarage House, its Pictures
and Curiosities — Mr. MaskeU's description
of the Scenery of North Cornwall — Mr.

Xll CONTExVTS.

«(

CHAPTER 11.
Literary Labours.

Poetical First Buds" by Reuben— " Pompeii "
— " Records of the Western Shore," First and
Second Series — " Welcome to the Prince
Albert" — "Ecclesia:" a Volume of Poems —
" Reeds shaken with the Wind " — Rural
Synods " — Diocesan Synodical Action — The
Restoration of the Offertory—" The Field of
Rephidim :" a Visitation Sermon — " Echoes
of Old Cornwall "— " A Voice from the Place
of St. Morwenna" — Aishah-Shechinah —
"The Quest of the Sangraal " — Essay on
" Time and Space " — Account of Morwenstow
in The GentlemarCs Magazine — " Cornish
Ballads and other Poems " — " Footprints of
Former Men in Old Cornwall " — " Poem on
the War between France and Germany" — "On

lAGS

Hawker's criticism of "The Martyrs of
Vienne and Lyons" — The people of Mor-
wenstow — The Wreck of the " Caledonia " —
Morwenstow Churchyard — Mr. Hawker as a
Preacher — Adopts the Eucharistic Vest-
ments—Parochial difficulties— Affection for
his Flock — Mr. Hawker's frank and forcible
Opinion of Wesleyanism-His Love of Animals
— Interest in public events — His Address to
the Queen on her Majesty's Man'iage — His
Poem on the Death of Cardinal Wiseman —
His Prayers on behalf of the Prince of
Wales — Death of Mrs. Hawker . . . 1-63

CONTENTS. XUl

PAGE

Science and Faith " — " Lettei^s to Miss Louisa
Twining " — Symbolism — "A Canticle for
Christmas " — Mr. William MaskelFs Opinion
and Criticism 64-1 1 o

CHAPTER III.

Altered Convictions and Death.

Appointment of Dr. Temple, Editor of Essays and
RevietcSf to the See of Exeter — Triumph of
Liberalism — Dr. Templets Latitudinarianism
— Weakness and timidity of the Bishops —
Archbishop Tait's Erastian Aggressions —
Disobedience of the Ritualists — Disorganiza-
tion of the Establishment — Mr. R. S. Haw-
ker's mental distress — Church of England
Ordinations : their impoiiance and validity —
Mr. Hawker preaches at AH Saints', Lam-
beth, and his judgment of the Service —
Scheme for Restoring the Church of Mor-
wenstow — Mr. Hawker's Visit to London —
Want of sympathy of certain of the London
Clergy — Discussion r^arding Archbishop
Tait's Baptism — The Spn-itual and Temporal
in Government — Disorder, Division, and Dis-
organization of the English Clergy — Letter to
Mr. Godwin — Mr. Hawker's opinion of the
^' Radical Ritualists," and of the Missionaty
operations of the Church of England— Doubts
concerning the Validity of Baptism admi-
nistered by Presbyterians — The case of Arch-
bishop Seeker — Poem of "Aurora," contri-
buted to " Lyrics of Light and Life " — The
Public Worship Regulation Act, and its

XIV CONTENTS.

PACK

influence on the old position of the Clergy —
His determination as to opposing Dr. Temple
— Altered position of the Beneficed Clergy —
His distrust of the Ritualist section and their
Fuglemen — Position and influence of the
Church of Rome in England — His thoughts
turn Romewards — Poem addressed to Car-
dinal Manning on his elevation to the Purple
— "Modern Thought," so-called — Mr. Haw-
ker's Second Marriage — ^Altered convictions
concerning the Reformers and other tra-
ditional opinions — Isolation and despondency
— Increasing physical weakness — He goes to
Plymouth — His severe and last illness — Is
received into the Church of Rome by Canon
Mansfield — Mr. Hawker's death and burial
— The Rev. W. Valentine's testimony —
Mr. Hawker's powers and character — Con-
clusion 116-201

Note-Letter from Rev. J. C. D. Yule . . 202-204

APPENDICES.

No. I. The English Reformation . . . 205-209
No. II. Archbishop Tait's Baptism . . .210-217
No. III. The Public Worship Regulation Act . 218-227
No. IV. At Morwenstow, November 10, 1875.

By John D. Stedding, Architect . 228-234

HA\ VALL

Sherf

joline Hawker,

'rtrHftn"'

UviOff, annuirrii]d»

isn.

Orolino Gsorgo —

Hawker, OMebtrama,
' d daogblsr, geniiemBia.
■" low Uving C. E.

Hflflcer,
tlh daughter.

r

'•

Sisters they were, the fair and holj twain,

Marveena and Morwenna ; and the vales

And mountains of their birth were in wild Wales: —
Thence came they in their youth across the main.

King Breehan was their sire, and his sweet wife

Gladwise, their mother gave them love and life ;
Virgins they lived and died — O not in vain I

One meekly built a solitary cell,

Where still her lingering memory loves to dwell,
In the old arches of Gray Marham's fane ;

The other sought the sea : her pleasant place

The pilgrim of the waters still may ti*ace,
Where rock and headland watch the ocean plain.

Mark how their blended names in music flow.

The Church of Marham and Morwenna's Stowe !
Nor let the dreamer of the past complain,
The saints, the sanctuaries, the Creed, this very day remaiu.

B. S. Hawkeb.

Pedigi'ee of the Family of Hawker. — To face page 1.

ILLUSTRATIONS.

1 . Portrait of the Rev. E. S. Hawker, from a Photojijraph

by J. Hawke, of Plymouth. — To face title page.

2. South Porch, Mor wen stow Church, Cornwall. — To face

page 11.

3. The Vicarage House, Morwenstow. — To face page 18.

4. Ground Plan of St. Morwenna's Church, Morwenstow,

Drawn by John D. Sedding, Architect. — To face
page 230.

Plates Noa. 2, 3, and 4 are engraved by Mr. C. C. Irons.

MEMORIALS

OF THK LATE

REV. R. S. HAWKER, M.A.

CHAPTER I.

PERSONAL HISTORY AND MINISTERIAL WORK.

EoBERT Stephen Hawker, the subject of these
memorials, born at Plymouth, December 3rd,
1804, was the eldest son of the Rev. James
Stephen Hawker, Clerk in Holy Orders, by Jane
Elizabeth, second daughter of Stephen Drewitt,
of Winchester, gent., and was the grandson of the
celebrated Calvinistic Divine, the Rev. Robert
Hawker, D.D., who for fifty years was Minister
of Charles Chapel, Plymouth.^ Dr. Hawker

^ The accompanying Pedigree, though anythmg but
perfect, compiled from family records, will be interesting

B

2 MEMORIALS OF

sprang from an old family of gentle-people long
resident at Exeter, many members of wliich
have served God and their neighbours as cler-
gymen of the National Church.

Mr. R. S. Hawker married early in life, that
is, in November, 1823, Charlotte Eliza Rawleigh
I*Ans (one of the daughters and co-heiresses
of Colonel I'Ans, a country gentleman of
Whitstone House, in Cornwall), who died on
February 2nd, 1863, and was buried in the
churchyard of Morwenstow.

Just before his marriage, it was resolved that
he should enter as a student at Oxford, with a
view to receiving Holy Orders. Accordingly,
at the age of nineteen, he matriculated at
Pembroke College on April 28th, 1823, and is
described in the Matriculation Register as at
that time the " only son '' of his father. His

to many. The Rev. Dr. Hawker's D.D. degree was from
Edinburgh. Id 1792 he published " Sermons on the
Divinity of Chiist ; " in 1794, " Sermons on the Divinity
and Operations of the Holy Ghost." He became a kind of
itinerant preacher, marvellously popular, in order to diffuse
his own peculiar doctrines widely throughout the country.

THE LATE EEV. B. S, HAWKBE, M.A. 6

earnest and distinguished grandfather had been
a member of St. Mary Magdalene Hall, where
he had matriculated on May 27th, 1770, to
which Society the subject of this memoir in
due course migrated ; where, both to the satis-
faction of the college authorities and himself,
he duly and creditably finished his University
course, obtained the Newdigate Prize, which
was recited June 27th, 1827, and took his B.A.
degree upon May 14th, 1828. He was known
to a wide circle of friends for his frankness of
manner, sweetness of temper, ready wit, accu-
rate scholarship, general literary ability, and
remarkable powers of conversation ; and many
friendships, first made by him at Oxford, were
cherished lovingly unto the end. A more con-
sistent or respected character was never borne
by Oxford graduate ; and few who once looked
on the frank and handsome features of the author
of " Pompeii " — ^his Newdigate Prize Poem —
could ever fail to remember him. Troops of
fi:iends were his from all quarters; many of
whom, however, were seldom personally greeted

B 2

4 MEMOKIALS OF

by him after leaving Oxford to enter upon his
work as a clergyman ; for. he at once went to
his native diocese to receive the sacerdotal
commission, and labour in the vineyard of his
Master; and Cornwall was not then so easily
accessible as it is now.

Oxford, at that time, was about to witness
the rise of the great rehgious movement which
has by God's blessing convulsed and changed
considerably the rehgious convictions of the
nation. The trusted men of high principle and
good repute, who set themselves so earnestly to
stem the inroads of Whiggery, Brastianism,
and Misbehef, had not then chosen their motto,
" K the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who
shall prepare himself to the battle?" but their
sound was soon to go forth to many lands, and
their words unto the ends of the world. No one
more cordially fell in with the wise policy
of those earliest Tractarian leaders, or more
thoroughly co-operated with them, according
to his opportunity and ability, than Mr.
Hawker, A Tory by birth and conviction, — a

THE LATE REV. R. S. HAWKER, M.A. &

respectful admirer of More and Fisher, the
noble Laud, the saintly Charles, and the high-
principled Sancroft, a hearty detester of both
the Cromwells, all the German reformers, but
more especially of William of Orange, Tillotson
and Burnet, — he was the very model of an
English clergyman, absolutely untainted by
"Liberalism," so-called, and wholly uncor-
rupted either by Latitudinarian Erastianism,
or the wild and far-fetched historical theories
of recent hterary gymnasts.

Mr. Hawker was ordained Deacon by Dr.
William Carey, Bishop of Exeter (afterwards
Bishop of St. Asaph), in the year 1829, and
Priest in 1831, by Dr. George Henry Law,
Bishop of Bath and Wells.

Late in the year 1830, that distinguished
man and valued champion of true principles,
Dr. Henry Philpotts, was nominated and duly
elected Bishop of Exeter, for which dignity he
was consecrated at Lambeth on January 2nd,
1831, by the then pious and venerable primate,
Dr. William Howley, Lord Archbishop of Can-

6 MZMOBIALS OF

terburjr, and went to occupy his new position.
Bishop Philpotts' eldest son had taken a copy
of Mr. Hawker's Prize Poem, soon after its
delivery in the Sheldonian theatre, to Stanhope,
in Dnrham, where it won the deserved appro-
bation of the fdtnie Bishop of Exeter.

At that period Mr. Hawker was Curate of
Wellcombe, in Devonshire ; but when, in 1834,
the Vicarage of Morwenstow became vacant,
the Bishop of Exeter, who was its patron,
offered it to him in a letter at once paternal
and kindly ; this offer was very gratefully and
respectfully accepted. Such a charge, as the
accepter of it said, was one of great respon-
sibility ; for, without venturing either to blame
or criticize others, the fact that the parish, for
some cause or another, had not known a resi-
dent pastor for more than a century, is a
sufficiently obvious reason for its having been
so regarded by the new vicar. Mr. Hawker
found the clergyman*s residence partly used as
a bam, and in a state of almost utter ruin — so
bad that repair and restoration were impossible.

THE LATE REV. E. S. HAWKER, M.A. 7

The church was sadly dilapidated — a dusty-
desolation ; the churchyard a wilderness, where
weeds overtopped the broken gravestones in
wild and rank abundance. Dissenters, who
called themselves " Bryanites," were alone
active amid the religious indifference which
reigned; and certain emasculated Methodists
(with a few original " views " of their own
selection or invention) divided with the Bryan-
ites what little religious enthusiasm had, under
the circumstances referred to, managed to
exist. The influence of the National Church
was at freezing point, the Catholic faith prac-
tically unknown. Traditions of Christian truth
had not utterly died out, for many devout
practices were still current; but the prospect
for a new vicar was scarcely inviting. But
Mr. Hawker, young and high-principled, full of
zeal and energy, set to work both wisely and
well ; and in due course won his way amongst
people who had been too long neglected by the
authorities of the National Communion. His
own deep beUef in the Catholic religion, his

8 MEMORIALS OF

high sacramental doctrine, his anxious care
and patient watching for those over whom he
was set in the Lord, his daily intercessions,
accompanied with the obvious benedictions of
Almighty God, Who mercifully gave the increase
in abundance, enabled Mr. Hawker's Oxford
friends to reckon up Morwenstow amongst the
many out-of-the-way parishes where the revived
teaching of the Church of England was prac-
tically experienced, and eventually heartily
welcomed.

Here a brief account of the church and
parish may be fittingly recorded. Morwenstow
is situated on the sea-coast of the upper and
northern nook of the county of Cornwall. It
lies between Hartland Point and Bude; its
nearest town being Stratton. It is shut in
and bounded on the one side by the Severn
Sea, and on the other by the offspring of its
own bosom, the Tamar River, which gushes,
with its sister-stream, the Torridge, from a
rushy knoll on the eastern side of the village.
Below lies a breadth of wild and rocky land.

THE LATE REV. R. S. HAWKER, M.A. 5>

" Barrows curve above the dead ; a stony cross
stands by a mossed and licliened well.'* A
beautiful spot here eventually became the
" stow " or " station " of St. Morwenna.
Tradition tells that she was the saintly
daughter of Breachan, a Keltic king of the
ninth century, who, as Leland declares, had
no less than twenty-four children. Of these
Morwenna was pious, wise, and discreet above
her years and generation. The chief desire of
her soul was to send messengers of God to lead
the pagans and barbarians of the wild coasts of
Cornwall to the font of regeneration. Ethel-
wolf, the Saxon king, then lived. He it was
who laid the endowment of his realm on the
altar of the Apostles Peter and Paul at Eome.
Of his many children he entrusted his sons to
the care of St. Swithun, Bishop of Winchester;
and having obtained her father's royal ^auction,
secured the services of holy Morwenna as a
teacher of the Saxon Princess Edith and other
daughters of his house. So patiently and
efficiently did she labour in imparting a know-

10 • MEMORIALS OF

ledge of God and of His goodness, that lie was
ready to give her whatever she might demand.
Then said Morwenna, — " Sir, there is a stem
and stately headland of thine appanage in the
Tamar-land, with a boundary rugged and tall,
and it looks along the Severn Sea. They call
it the Raven's Crag, because for long ages the
birds of Elias have made it their home. Give
me there, I beseech thee, my lord king, a
station for a priest, that so the Name of God
may be for ever worshipped and adored." Her
voice was heard, her request granted. And so
there came in dark times those who marked out
the ground with holy rite, and scared away the
demons with sacramental power, and set up the
light of Christ. Rude font, with carved cable
coiled around it, was erected to lave the unre-
generate. Pillar and arch, deep foundation
and moulded stone, stately wall and curving
roof closed in the altar-throne of the Most
High and the Sacred Presence. There, where
the Christian Sacrifice was offered, and the
Sacraments of Holy Church shed, they linked

[r-^«^Bj«ii.

THE LATE REV. R. S. HAWKER, M.A. 11

the name of Morwenna to fane, and sleeping-
place, and sacred well ; and so these holy spots
^are held to belong to an almost undated era^
A document of the year 1296, having reference
to the endowment of the church, exists in the
Registry of the Diocese of Exeter, in which
the structural building is there termed " a very
ancient and well-known sanctuary." Such is
the " Stowe " or " Station " of Morwenna.

The church itself consists of nave, chancel,
north and south aisles, and a lofty embattled
tower at the west end, surmounted with
pinnacles. The external walls, and in parts
the roof, are covered with the maiden-hair fern,
which grows profusely. The southern porch
is of Norman work, as are also some of the
westernmost pillars and arches of the north
side of the nave. These are as curious and
interesting to the archaBologist as the well-
known Norman work in IflSley Church, near
Oxford, and quite as fresh and beautiful. As
Mr. Hawker himself wrote: — "There is one
very graphic ^ sermon in stone ' twice repeated

12 MEMORIALS OF

on the curve and on the shoulder of the arch.
Our forefathers called it (and our people inherit
their phraseology) ^ The Grin of Arius.' The
origin of the name is this : — It is said that the
final development of every strong and baleful
passion in the human countenance is an angry
laugh. In a picture of the Council of Mcasa,
which is said still to exist, the baflSled Arius is
shown among the doctors with his features
convulsed into a strong and demoniac spasm of
malignant mirth. Hence it became one of the
usages, among the graphic imagery of internal
decoration, to depict the heretic as mocking
the mysteries with that glare of derision and
gesture of disdain which admonish and instruct
by the very name of ^ The Grin of Arius.'
Thence were derived the lolling tongue and the
mocking mouth which are still preserved on the
two corbels of stone in this early Norman
work." The other north side arches are of
first Pointed work. The arches on the south
side, imiform in character, are supported on
early third Pointed clustered pillars, with

THE LATE REV. R. S. HAWKER, M.A. 13

double capitals exquisitely carved, of marked
character and great beauty. The western arch
is an exact semicircle of dun-stone from the
shore, utterly unadorned, severe and simple in
its design. The original open seats are very
interesting specimens of second Pointed work
in oak, as also is the screen which separates the
chancel from the nave ; and, with the exception
of the old gallery-loft, is perfect. The font,
near the chief entrance, is of rude and simple
Norman work, irregular in shape, very plain,
with a cable represented in stone round the
middle^ The lower portion has certain incised
figures on it; and the whole stands on a
broad and solid, step, one side of which is
rudely carved. The wooden pulpit is placed
against a pillar on the north side of the
nave, the lectern on the south, just outside the
chancel. The chancel screen is surmoimted by
a rood; and the altar is dignified, stately,
and duly furnished with cross and lights. The
east window, of second Pointed tracery, is filled
with stained glass ; and the chancel is in

14 MEMORIALS OF

excellent order. The window itself, of tliree
lights, was the pious and dutiful oblation to
God of " Rudolph, Baron Clinton, and Georgiana
Elizabeth, his wife," as the legend within it
proclaims. The central figure represents St.
Morwenna, who stands in the attitude of the
teacher of the Princess Edith, daughter of
Ethelwolf, the royal founder of the church;
and on either side are representations of St.
Peter and St. Paul. The Piscina on the south
side of the altar-sanctuary is of Norman work,
simple but undoubted. It stands under a
semicircular arch in the wall, which had been
blocked up and plastered over, until it was
opened and restored by Mr. Hawker. The
nave requires considerable restoration, for the
mullions in many of the windows are either
seriously damaged, or altogether gone, and
certain of the windows are half blocked up with
bricks. The roofs are covered with oaken
shingles. In the churchyard the southern por-
tion only contains graves, the north part being
untenanted ; as the Cornish believe (following old

THE LATE EEV. B. S. HAWKER, M.A. 15

traditions) that the north is the region of
demons. In some parishes of Cornwall, even
to the present day, when a baptism occm*s, the
north door of the nave opposite the font is
always thrown open, so that, as is beheved, the
devil cast out may retire to his own place, "the
region of the north." An efficient restoration,
such as the late vicar desired to see carried out,
would be a good work bestowed upon one of
the most ancient and interesting churches of
North Cornwall.

This Mr. Hawker knew full well, for he was
an excellent archaeologist, and a sound and
trustworthy antiquarian. But he was chiefly a
Christian poet. Into verse, therefore, he put a
description of his church — ^verse so graphic, so
forcible in its expressions, so religious in its
tone and thought, and so perfect a poem
taken as a whole, that it is here quoted at
length : —

My Saxon shrine I the only ground
Wherein this weary heart hath rest :

What years ih» birds of God have found,
Along thy walls their sacred nest :

16 MEMORIALS OF

The storm — the blast — the tempest shock
Have beat upon those walls in vain ;

She stands — a daughter of the rock —
The changeless God's eternal fane.

Firm was then* faith, the ancient bands,

The wise of heart in wood and stone,
Who rear'd with stem and trusting hands.

These dark grey towers of days unknown :
They fill'd these aisles with many a thought.

They bade each nook some truth reveal ;
The pillar'd arch its legend brought,

A doctrine came with roof and wall.

Huge, mighty, massive, hard, and strong,

Were the choice stones they lifted then :
The vision of their hope was long,

They knew their God, those faithful men
They pitched no tent for change or death.

No home to last man's shadowy day;
There ! there ! the everlasting breath

Would breathe whole centuries away.

See now, along the pillar'd aisle

The graven arches, firm and fair :
They bend their shoulders to the toil.

And lift the hollow roof in air.
A sign ! beneath the ship we stand.

The inverted vessel's arching side ;
Forsaken — when the fisher ba^d

Went forth to sweep a mightier tide.

THE LATE EEV. B. S. HAWKER, M.A. 17

Pace we the ground ! our footsteps tread,

A Cross — the builder's holiest form :
That awful couch, where once was shed

The Blood, with man's forgiveness warm.
And here, just where His miglity breast

Throbb'd the last agony away.
They • ade the voice of worship rest.

And white-robed Levites pause and pray.

Mark ! the rich rose of Sharon's b')wers

Curves in the paten's mystic mould :
The lily, lady of the flowers.

Her shape must yonder chalice hold :
Types of the Mother and the Son,

The twain in this dim chancel stand :
The badge of Norman banners, one.

And one a crest of English land.

How all things glow with life and thought.

Where'er our faithful fathers trod !
The very ground with speech is fraught.

The air is eloquent of God.
In vain would doubt or mockery hide

The buried echoes of the past ;
A voice of strength, a voice of pride.

Here dwells amid the storm and blast.

Still points the tower, and pleads the bell^
The solemn arches breathe in stone :

Window and wall have lips to tell
The mighty faith of days unknown.

18 MEMORIALS OF

Yea, flood and breeze, and battle shock,
Shall beat upon this church in vain ;

She stands, a daughter of the rock.
The changeless God's eternal fane.

The Yicarage-house, built under Mr. Hawker's
personal superintendence, is a picturesque,
comfortable, and good-looking building near
tlie church, standing on the glebe, and close to
the sea. It is in the style of old Elizabethan
houses, but with several peculiarities : the
chimneys are singular, and were meant to re-
present certain church-towers at Oxford. The
chief gable is stepped and surmounted with a
cross ; underneath a bay-window projects of six
lights. All the windows have dripstones over
them; and they^contain geometrical glass. A
porch of two stories placed in an angle, serves
to protect the chief rooms from the wind ; over
the porch stood — for, since its author's death,
it has recently been removed — the following
verse from the Yicar's pen ; —

A house, a glebe, and a pound a day,

A pleasant place to watch and pray :

Be true to the Church, and kind to the poor,

O Minister, for evermore.

THE LATE EBV. U. S. HAWKER, M.A. 19

He owned some curious pictures ; amongst
others portraits of Killigrew and Black John,
the Cornish jesters; another of Tim Bobbin,
the Lancashire ostler and famous jester; a
view of Hartland Abbey ; an old picture, on
panel, of Bude ; and several interesting and rare
engravings.

The house contained a large amount of an-
tique oak furniture: mantelpieces, bedsteads,
chests, cabinets, sofas, sideboards, mirrors ;
carved oak chairs from Stowe (certain of
which had been sometime the property of Sir
Beville Granville of Stowe), and other pieces of
furniture at once curious and valuable. His
collection of English, Delft and Oriental china
was likewise considerable. Perhaps the most
curious piece was a waeshael bowl with cover :
on the top being carved morrice-dancers sur-
rounding a fiddler. It was dated 1687, and
was much valued by its owner.

" The coast is ironbound," writes a kindly
chronicler of Mr. Hawker's words and works in
the Standard; " strangely-contorted schists and

2

20 MEMOBIALS OF

sandstones stretch away northward in an
almost unbroken line of rocky wall to the point
of Hartland ; and to the south-west a bulwark
of cliffs of a very similar character, extends to
and beyond Tintagel, whose rude walls are
sometimes seen projected against the sunset in
the far distance. The coast scenery is of the
grandest description, with its spires of splin-
tered rock, its ledges of green turf inaccessible
but tempting, from the rare plants which nestle
in the crevices of its seal-haunted caverns, its
wild birds (amongst which the red-legged
chough can hardly be reckoned any longer, so
much has it, of late years, lessened in numbers),
the miles of sparkling blue sea over which the
eye ranges from the summits, ablaze and
fragrant with furze and heather; and here
and there the little cover of yellow sand,
bound in by towering blackened walls, haunts
which seem specially designed for the sea-elves."^
" Nothing," writes Mr. Maskell in his de-
scription of the country near Morwenstow,

• Standard, September 1, 1875.

THE LATE EEV. R. S. HAWKER, M.A. 21

adding vividly to one's ideas of its beautiful
scenery — "can exceed the delight of a walk
along these downs and cliffs. The glorious
expanse of sea, the broken headlands, the
glittering surf below, and the hollow murmur
filling the ear from the breaking waves ; a few
white sails near land or far out upon the dim
horizon ; a sweeping gull or soaring hawk upon
the wing ; the purple thyme with which the turf
abounds, crushed under the tread and filling the
whole air with perfume; or yellow fragrant
blossoms of the farze winding in large patches
here and there, and gilding the more distant
slopes ; the spread of country often visible far
inland with waving corn growing here and
there to the very edge of the precipice, and a
farm-house or church-tower of some neighbour-
ing village just showing above a cluster of low
trees : all these bathed in an autumn sunshine,
in the purest air, form a picture which I do not
hesitate to say is unequalled upon any other
part of the coast of England." *

» " Odds and Ends." By W. Maskell. RSI. London :
J. Toovey, 1872.

22 MEMORIALS OP

When, in the year 1854, I had the good for-
tune to obtain the Newdigate Prize at Oxford —
after two previous attempts, and two failures —
my friend Mr. Hawker, from his Cornish home,
was the first to send me his own valued con-
gratulations, and to do me the honour of
asking for an early copy of the verses. This
act of unlooked-for kindness made an indelible
impression upon me. On receipt of the printed
exercise he sent me the following interesting
letter — to myself most interesting, for there
was no poet whose good opinion I would more
thankfully have received than his ; and no one
whose criticism could have been more true,
pointed, and practical. I trust its publication
now, more than twenty years after it was
penned, may not lay me open to the charge of
undue egotism : —

"Morwenstow, July 12, 1854.

" Alli3w me to express my earnest thanks to
you for the pleasure which you have enabled
me to enjoy in the perusal of your beautiful
Poem. Said I, as an old Prizeman, when I

THE LATE REV. B. S. HAWKEE, M.A. 23

read it : * The ancient spirit is not dead ; old
times, methinks, are breathing here.'

"But why in rhymeless verses? you, too,
who can rule the sound so well. It may be
that I rather eschew the metre * from horror at
the false fame of that double-dyed thief of
other men's brains — John MUton, the Puritan,
— one-half of whose lauded passages are, from
my own knowledge, felonies committed in the
course of his reading on the property of others;
and who was never so rightly appreciated, as
by the publisher, who gave him fifteen pounds
for the copyright of his huge larcenies, and was
a natural loser by the bargain.

" You ask me for my criticism. Well, the
diflficult part, the beginning from * Quivering
his golden shafts,' to * the dark blue vault of
Heaven,' is a fine pictorial passage: a land-
scape by Guido, if he ever painted one.

* It will be noticed that in his grand Poem, " The Quest
of the Sangraal," 1864, Mr. Hawker adopted this same
metre, and with a success regarding which there can be
scarcely two opinions.

24 MEMORIALS OF

Quivering his golden shafts, the Sun reposed
On clouds of purple. Slowly from the East
Mantled in sable garb — upon her brow
A silver crescent caught the sun's last gleam, —
Evening came up ; while stars and planets bright,
Like scattered jasmine flowers upon a stream.
Were clustering in the dark blue vault of Heaven.

" Again : * Levell'd the billows of Gen-
nesareth/ is a majestic line. It called up in
my mind a vision of Him, the Master, with His
lifted hand, when He said to the storm,
* Hash ! be mute/

"But—

Angel forms y leaving their courts on high.
Came down, at His behest, to strengthen her,
And on their rainbow-pinions, bear her soul ;

— this troubles me. Angels have no wings : not
a single feather. Whensoever in the Old
Testament or the New Testament they actually
appear, they are expressly said to be * young
men in white garments : * not to be distin-
guished by the patriarchs from other youthful
guests, and so entertained at unawares. Are
you not instructed that the alb of the Primal

THE LATE REV. R. S. HAWKER, M.A. 25

Church, girdled, was an exact copy of the usual
garments worn by angels when they comxuned
with men ?

" Did you never hear the legend of the man
who died, and whose soul came back after his
wife had besought St. Stephen, and who re-
lated his journey to a place where a concourse
of persons assembled all in white, and a young
man, in a deacon's alb, came to him and
announced that he might return, and he did so ?
Gretser De Sancta Cruce tells the tale. Read it
in the Bodleian.

"Wings, moreover, are to me destructive of all
poetry of motion from place to place. They
imply effort. The p,ngels glide on the chariots
and horses of their own desires. One in Syria
is fain to be in Egypt, and immediately is
there ; just as we think in one scene of a dis-
tant spot and at once our minds behold it
without consciousness of the space between.

. " No, no, angels have not one feather.
Michael Angelo, the inspired, neither carved
nor drew a single wing; save once, when he

26 MEMOEIALS OF

portrayed the Annunciation in the Blessed
Virgin's Room, and then as an obvious
delicacy of design. True, the prophetic ima-
gery is abundant in feathers — symbolic every
one. But the actual angels are real existing
people, who walk and live and move in calm
unalterable youth; who speak in their un-
earthly language, although their voices do not
move the air; who pass among us and the
grass bends not where they tread.

"The portraiture of the Church is very
graphic, me judice, and very good : * and I con-

• So to the end. But still methought the Church,
In power divine and majesty supreme,
Walked forth through lands, and nations heard her

voice.
Owning Her sway.

Then, sign'd with Jesu's sign.
Ten thousand forms flock'd to Her lowly ranks, —
Kings, nobles, poets, princes, senators.
Swelling Her triumph, as She walk'd erect
Across the desert of this sinful world ;
And upward tuneful rose through starry space
Her songs of praise to God. The courts of Heaven
Swell'd with the anthem, and the white-robed choirs.
Tuning their harps in unison, sang forth —

THE LATE REV. B. S. HAWKEB, M.A. 27

gratulate you, as a brother Prizeman, on tliat
indelible * white stone ' in a man's career —
your Oxford prize.

Back-echoing sweetly to the Church on earth —
Unceasing praises to the Crucified.
Onward, upon the margin of Time's stream,
Grazing, She saw the empires of the earth —
Dynasties old — fall, like rock-fragments hurl'd
Into the mighty chaos of the past.
Firm as eternal mountains still She stood.
Gazing serenely o'er the troubled world.
Her footsteps moved, while broader grew Her ranks.
Even as a river widening to the sea.
Kings bow'd before Her, and Her altars bright
Shone with rich jewels, as the ocean- waves
Gleam with a thousand glistening gems at night;
Her shrines were circled round with costly stones,
Sapphire and pearl, and violet amethyst.
Looms of the East, and cedars from the North,
Balm from the forest, incense from the groves.
And sweet flowers clustering on the breast of Earth,
Adorn'd the temples of the Saviour's Bride.
Her silver voice, resounding o'er the waves,
Westward and southward, call'd the nations home ;
And they, responding, own'd Her Queen, until
Climes that on Earth's far edge courted the sun,
Welcomed Her saving step, and echoing sent
Eternal alleluias up to God.

The Martyrs of Vienne and Lyons : an Oxford
Prize Poem, 1854.

28 MEMORIALS OF

" My * Pompeii ' was carried by Mr. Pliilpotts
to Stanhope in Durham, and to his father the
Eector there; who, when he came down to
Exeter as Bishop, asked for me ; and finding
me at work hard as a curate, gave me at an
early period, two years after I was ordained
Priest, this Vicarage. You have my earnest
wishes that a similar fruit, or a like advantage
may follow from your own success.

"At any time it will give me pleasure to
receive your remembrance, in letter or other way.

" My race is well-nigh run. Except a wife
who is and has been, the sole solace of my
worn existence, I have no companion. A son
and daughter I have none. .... I am
twenty-five miles fi:om a town or bookseller,
with neither mail, road, nor train ; nor even
carrier nearer than that ; and only fastened to
the far world by the fibre of a Daily Post,
granted by Lord Lonsdale as a special com-
passion to my loneliness. But then I have the
Severn Sea for my lawn ; and cliffs, the height
of the Great Pyramid, build me in."

THE LATE REV. B. S. HAWKER, M.A. 29

In such a spot of course the ocean with all
its beauties and unfailing attractions must have
afforded the subject of these Memorials vast
and permanent interest. So stern and pitiless
is that iron-bound coast of North Cornwall,
that within the memory of one man, upwards of
eighty wrecks have been counted within a range
of fifteen miles, with only here and there the
rescue of a single living person. The people of
Morwenstow, when the Vicar was first in-
stituted, were a mixed multitude of smugglers,
wreckers, and dissenters of various hues. " A
few simple-hearted farmers," as Mr. Hawker
himself declared, "had clung to the grey old
sanctuary of the church and the tower that
looked along the sea; but the bulk of the
people had become the followers of the great
Preacher of the last century who came down
into Cornwall and persuaded the people to
alter their sins." With some of the cruel and
covetous natives of the strand, it was at one
time a pastime to lure a vessel ashore by a
treacherous light, or to withhold succour from

30 MEMORIALS OF

the seamen struggling with the sea. Some of
his parishioners could tell tales of wild adven-
ture, which would have made the foot of an
exciseman falter, and his cheek turn pale; of
some of these, as regards shipwrecks, Mr.
Hawker was a witness, and in the recovery and
preservation of the crew ever first and fore-
most. The wreck of the "Caledonia'* has
been told with graphic power by Mr. Hawker
himself, in his published " Reminiscences," and
most touching the account is : " We rounded
the Land's End all well," said the only survivor,
Le Daine, a Jersey man, to the Vicar, "and
came up channel with a fair wind. The captain
turned in. It was my watch. All at once,
about nine at night, it began to blow in one
moment as if the storm burst out by signal:
the wind went mad ; our canvas burst in bits.
"We reeved fresh sails: they went also. The
captain had turned out when the storm began;
he sent me forward to look out for Limdy
Light. I saw your cliff [at Morwenstow]. I
sung out * Land ! ' I had hardly done so, when

THE LATE REV. R. S. HAWKER, M.A. 31

she struck with a blow, and stuck fast. Then
the captain sung out, ' AM hands to the main-
top/ and we all went up. The captain folded
his arms and stood by silent. . . At last
there came on a dreadfiil wave, mast-top high,
and away went the mast with the board, and
we with it into the sea. I gave myself up. I
was the only man on the ship that could not
swim ; so when I fell in the water there I lay.
I felt the waves beat me and send me on. At
last there was a rock under my hand. Just
then 1 saw Alick Kant, one of our crew,
swimming past. I saw him lay his hand on a
rock, and I sung out *Hold on, Alick!' but a
wave rolled and swept him away, and I never
saw his face more. I was beaten onward and
onward among the rocks and the tide, and
at last I felt the ground with my feet. I
scrambled on ; I saw the cliff dark and steep
above my head. I chmbed up until I reached
a kind of platform with grass, and then I fell
down flat upon my face, either I fainted away
or I fell asleep. There I lay a long time, and

32 MEMOBIALS OP

when I awoke it was just the break of day. . .
I could see no house nor sign of people, and
the country looked to me like some wild and
desert island. At last I felt thirsty, and tried
to get down towards a valley where I thought
I should find water. But before I could reach
it I fell and grew faint again, and there, thank
God, Sir, you found me."

When the bodies of the dead were found,
" wrecked and cast ashore " was the verdict,
usual, common, and ordinary; and such ver-
dicts were constantly being recorded, and then
the funerals took place. Nothing could have
been more solemn, sad, or impressive. With
cross and song the corpses were born to the
southern side of the sacred churchyard, and
laid in peace until the general resurrection,
when both grave and sea shall give up their
dead. To the ordinary service of the Enghsh
Church Mr. Hawker added some special prayers,
singularly appropriate, for a blessing on the
departed, and for a warning to the living.
Over the grave of the captain of the vessel,

THE LATE EEV. E. S. HAWKEE, M.A. 33

its figure-head — the form of Caledonia-^-was
placed, and the Vicar sang of the dread occur-
rence as a bard with Christian hope : —

We laid them in their lonely rest,
The strangers of a distant shore :

We smooth'd the green turf on their breast,
'Mid baffled Ocean's angry roar !

And there — the relique of the storm —

We fix'd fair Scotland's figured form.

She watches by her bold — her brave —
Her shield towards the fatal sea :

Their cherish'd Lady of the wave,
Is guardian of their memory !

Stern is her look, but calm, for there

No gale can rend, or billow bear.

Stand, silent image, stately stand !

Where sighs shall breathe and tears be shed;
And many a heart of Cornish land

Will soften for the stranger-dead.
They came in paths of stoim — they fotind
This quiet home in Christian ground."

When shipwrecks took place, or ships were
in danger, nothing could exceed the interest
Mr. Hawker took in rendering all the help

D

34 MEMORIALS OF

possible to their crews. He was often the first
to go to the rocks, and the last to leave them.
His tried and trusted friends amongst the
Morwenstow people were always ready to aid
him. And his name is remembered by many
for his practical charity, Christian care, and
kindly forethought. He was fii'equently touched
to the heart's core by the sufferings of the
sailors ; and always relieved them, and helped
them onward to their homes. Nor were the
lessons of shipwrecks either unnoticed or
unforgotten. He often dwelt on them deeply,
and for a long time. In the case of the
" Caledonia " as regards the warning for him-
self and the living, he likewise penned the
following : —

THE CREW OF THE BRIG "CALEDONIA."
DIED SEPTEMBER 8, 1842.

THE NIGHT COMETH.

When darkness fills the western sky,
And Sleep, the twin of Death, is nigh,
What soothes the soul at set of sun ?
The pleasant thought of duty done !

THE LATE REV. R. S. HAWKER, M.A.

Yet must the pastoral slumbers be
The shepherd's — by the Eastern tree —
Broken and brief, with dreams that tell
Of ravaged flock and poison'd well.

Be stilly my soul ! Fast wears the night,
Soon shall day dawn in holier light :
Old faces, ancient hearts be there,
And well-known voices thrill the air !

35

Concerning the frequent wrecks, these are
bis own words : — " The events of the last
twenty years have added fresh interest to
God's acre — for such is the exact measure of
the grave-ground of St. Morwenna. Along
and beneath the southern trees, side by side,
are the graves of between thirty and forty
seamen, hurled by the sea in shipwreck, on the
neighbouring rocks, and gathered up and
buried there by the present Vicar and his
people. The crews of three lost vessels, cast
away upon the rocks of the glebe and else-
where, are laid at rest in this safe and silent
ground."

The first line of the sweet and musical verses
which follow, called " A Dirge," are said by Mr.

D 2

36 MEMORIALS OF

Hawker to have haunted the memory and lips
of a good and blameless farmer of Morwenstow,
Richard Cann, who died there some years ago.
This Hne—

Sing from the chamber to the grave,

which commemorates a very common Cornish
custom, was evidently the fi^gment of some
forgotten dirge, of which the sick man could
remember no more. But it was his strong
desire that the words should be graven on his
memorial head-stone, and that the Vicar should
"write other words to match, and make it
complete." Mr. Hawker fulfilled his entreaty,
and wrote the following, which may be read
on Cann's tombstone in Morwenstow church-
yard : —

* Sing! from the chamber to the grave!'
Thus did the dead man say, —
A sound of melody I crave
Upon my burial-day.

Bring forth some tuneful instrument

And let your voices rise :
My spirit llsten'd as it went

To music of the skies !

THE LATE EEV. E. S. HAWKER, M.A. 37

Sing sweetly while you travel on,

And keep the funeral slow :
The angels sing where I am gone ;

And you should sing helow !

Sing from the threshold U> the porch.

Until you hear the bell;
And sing you loudly in the church

The Psalms I love so well.

Then bear me gently to my grave :

And as you pass along,
Remember, 'twas my wish to have

A pleasant funeral song !

So earth to earth — and dust to dust —

And though my bones decay,
My soul shall sing among the just,

Until the Judgment-day !

In the same churcliyard there is another
touching inscription in verse, from the same
graceful pen, in memory of a young child. It
stands thus : —

Those whom God loves die young ;

They see no evil days ;
No falsehood taints their tongue,

No wickedness their ways.

38 MEMORIALS OF

Baptized — and so made sure

To win their safe abode ;
What could we pray for more ?

They die, and are with God.

As a preacher, Mr. Hawker, who had a most
prepossessing and commanding appearance,
always spoke wifh authority. He was at once
luminous and lucid in his expositions of Holy
Writ, and both simple and forcible in applying
the lessons he endeavoured to teach. He was
a " divine *' in the highest sense of the word,
penetrated with a beUef in the distinctive
doctrines of Christianity, and most able in
enunciating its truths. In some respects he
was like the late Dr. Neale in his grasp of
Catholic dogma, only his manner was far more
winning and less shy, while his matter was free
from that wild straining after mysticism which,
with all their beauties, sometimes disfigured
Dr. Neale' s writings. Unlike many pulpit
orators, who, if they make a plain and obvious
dogmatic assertion one moment, begin at once
to weaken it, or carefully explain it away

THE LATE EEV. B. S. UAWKEB, M.A. 39

immediately afterwards, Mr. Hawker set forth
the Faith with marked power and yet with
eminent simplicity. His meaning was unmis-
takeable. Early in life he preached from a MS.,
as at one time all " orthodox divines " did ;
but, in later years, he declined to depend upon
notes or written sermons, and always preached
extemporarily. His sermons were of high
Kterary merit ; theological in tone, effective and
appropriate in illustration ; hearty and forcible
in practical application, and warm in hortatory
wisdom and Christian teaching. At the same
time they were so simple in their language,
that a child might comprehend their truly
beautiful lessons. Such was that preached at
All Saints', Lambeth.

That he was a great student of the Holy Scrip-
tures was evident as well by his conversation as
bv his sermons. The Fathers of the Catholic
Church, too, both East and West, were very
familiar to him ; and he read constantly the lofty,
deep, and exhaustive writings of that great
saint and teacher, Thomas of Aquin ; by the

40 MEMORIALS OP

light of whose almost inspired words he
grasped the mysteries both of nature and
grace.

Mr. Hawker was very careful and neat
(some might say " original ") in his dress and
appearance, but every inch a clergyman. He
commonly wore a brown cassock with red
buttons (disliking black exceedingly), and a
broad-brimmed dark-brown velvet hat. The
cassock was girded with a cincture; and this
dress was at once canonical, becoming, and
picturesque.^

Soon after his institution to Morwenstow, in
accordance with the directions of the Prayer
Book, he adopted certain distinctively sacer-
dotal vestments for his pubUc ministrations at
the altar; the alb of fine white linen, the

• Haviog been commented upon by some of the clergy
for adopting the flowing cassock at a ruri-decanal meeting,
he replied promptly and warmly, — **At all events, brethren,
you will allow me to remark that I don't make myself look
like a waiter out-of-place, or an unemployed undertaker ;
and, secondly, that I do scrupulously abide by the injunctions
of the seventy-fourth Canon of 1603/'

THE LATE REV. R. S. HAWKER, M.A. 41

chief sacrificial garment of silk, and tlie stole.
These he wore regularly for many years, but
latterly discontinued their use. In the year
1853 he was kind enough to give me a detailed
written account of them, which I then read at
a meeting of the Oxford Architectural Society,
which account has since been mislaid by me.
Of his obliging commimication I accurately
remember thus much, viz. that in shape the
chief vestment was more like a cope than a
chasuble ; and, if I remember' rightly, it was
of rich purple and yellow silk, adorned with
symbolical embroidery. I am told that in later
years he became possessed of some ancient
vestments and ecclesiastical hangings, reputed
to have been part of the ornamenta of Hartland
Abbey; and that a chasuble from an old
Cornish church near Bude, was sometimes
used by him at God's altar in the Chm*ch of
St. Morwenna.

The Vicar of Morwenstow worked on steadily
and steadfastly for years, undismayed by oppo-
sition, unmoved by want of sympathy in some

42 MEMORIALS OP

quarters, but ever firm and resolute in what he
undertook ; for very few influenced him a hair's-
breadth. He preached by deed as well as word :
and his almsgiving was even more considerable
than, for prudence sake, it ought to have been.
" Mine," he wrote, " was a perilous warfare. If
I had not, like the Apostle, to * fight with wild
beasts at Bphesus,' I had to soothe the wrecker,
to persuade the smuggler, and to 'handle
serpents ' in my intercourse with adversaries of
many a kind." He daily interceded for all his
flock : for the faithful in the first instance, and
then for the disaffected and dissenters. Always
regarding it the truest charity to warn his
people against heresy and schism, he ever spoke
out so plainly, in language the complete reverse
of ambiguous, that none could miss his point or
mistake his meaning. Thus he showed his
true, large-hearted, and eminently Christian
charity. He never used language to obscure his
ideas (as is the case with some, and successfully),
but always to lucidly e2:pound them and plainly
set them forth. The pitfalls of dissent and

THE LATE REV. E. S. HAWKER, M.A. 43

«

error are numerous and deep. As a divine
guide he plainly pointed them out. And though,
in this feeble namby-pamby age, there were
many who hated his plain-speaking ; yet, never-
theless, there are several who now bless his
memory for having been so true and faithful to
his Master's cause.

He was patient and silent under misrepresen-
tation, and frequently remarked that he would
most likely be better understood later on. The
position of a parish priest in a diocese of vast
extent, where in former times the influence of
the National Chiu^ch had been steadily circum-
scribed, he always held to be one of grave
practical difficulty.^ The fathers had eaten sour
grapes, and, as a consequence, their children's
teeth were set on edge. Just as the EstabKshed
Church, guided by crafty and designing politi-

* "Thaok God!" he wrote, "the promises which the
Clergy inherit from their Founder cannot fail to be fulfilled.
It was never prophesied that thej should be popular or
wealthy, or successful among men ; but only that they
* should endure unto the end,' that * their generation should
never pass away.' Well has this word been kept."

44 MEMORIALS OF

cians under Queen Elizabetli, had been compelled
to break away from communion with the rest of
Christendom, — ^when altars were thrown down,
tabernacles destroyed and shrines rifled, and
the houses of God made ruinous and desolate, —
so, in later reigns, the people in a strong and
passionate torrent of self-will broke away from
their national teachers, and set up quaint and
questionable systems of unbelief. When Autho-
rity was short-sightedly weakened for mere
poHtical purposes, confusion, doubt, and divi-
sions grew apace. In Cornwall, as in most
other remote parts of England and Wales,
examples of these are abundantly numerous;
while many a pastor's heart has grown sad and
woebegone because of the wild phantasies of
modern religionists, the crooked extravagancies
of self-constituted prophets, and the apparent
inutility of endeavouring to meet and overmaster
the grotesque intellectual absurdities of the
dangerous but popular principle of private
judgment. For ours is a state of national
religious isolation, and within the too compre-

THE LATE EEV. E. S. HAWKER, M.A. 45

hensive border of our conmninion, alas I that it
should be written, direct contradictories both
in doctrine and practice are tolerated by those
"rulers who rule not," — ^rulers who grasp only
the shadow of authority, and whose personal in-
fluence — on which alone some (as upon a reed)
appear to depend — dwindles and withers up
more completely day by day.

His affection for and interest in his flock —
more especially for those whose child-Hke faith
had been undestroyed by schism and untainted
by theological error — were both true and deep.
Nothing rejoiced him more than to find that old
traditional practices, which gave good evidence
of a sure belief in the Supernatural — the certain
basis of the Christian Religion — were still current
and cherished. Again and again examples of
Christian folk-lore were brought to his notice,
and were always received by him with curious
interest and thankful gratitude. By that Chris-
tian intuition which is no doubt an ordinary
fruit of the grace of baptism, the poor, the un-
educated and the humble — living within sound

46 MEMORIALS OF

of the ever-speaking ocean, and marking the
grandeur of God's visible creation in the wild
beauty and stem magnificence of the Cornish
coast — "walked by faith and not by sight."
They realized the abiding sanctity of sacred
spots and consecrated sleeping-places, where,
with Christian rite, in the years past, balsam and
oil, hallowed by the sacred sign, had been poured
out with prayer and praise. Wells, — ^where of
old angels had glided down to trouble the waters,
for mankind smitten and wasting away, — were
regarded with reverence, and visited with simple
faith and true devotion, to secure the patronage
of a saint and the blessing of Almighty God.
The sign of the cross was not altogether unused ;
while the sacred drops brought away from holy
springs, were frequently sprinkled, with trust in
the Paraclete, to guard the weak from the noon-
day demon and " the pestilence that walketh
in the darkness." All these, and such like
lingering truths — truths enshrined in acts —
gathered up and cherished by the Vicar of
Morwenstow, were used " to point a moral and

THE LATE REV. R. S. HAWKER, 3J.A. 47

adorn a tale " in his most attractive and edifying
sermons. Many a simple soul, won from the •
slippery and dangerous paths of schism, under
his fatherly teaching, has learnt to believe
practically in the communion of saints, and to
walk steadfastly and hopefully in the presence
of God, even up to the very gate of the Unseen
World ; knowing that both at the particular and
general judgment-bar each shall be judged
according as his works have been.

And this remark brings me to the subject of
Dissent. Now few have measured the true
character of schism, and dissent of aU sorts,
more thoughtfully in a broader spirit or more
accurately than the subject of these Memorials.
In the present shallow and unreal age it is the
fashion, even with Churchmen, to praise Mr.
John Wesley and his labours : but the Vicar of
Morwenstow, as on other subjects, so on this,
declined altogether to follow the fashion.
Having unusual opportunities for judging of the

m

practical working of Wesleyanism, and its varied
offshoots, he put on record, in a letter to Mr.

48 MEMORIALS OF

John G. Godwin, dated " December, 1863," the
following forcible and characteristic opinion : —
^ ^ John Wesley years ago corruptedand degraded
the Cornish character; found them wrestlers,
caused them to change their sins, and called it
* conversion.' With my last breath I protest
that the man Wesley corrupted and depraved,
instead of improving, the West of England;
indeed all the land. He found the miners and
the fishermen an upstanding, rollicking, cou-
rageous people : he left them a down-looking,
lying, selfish-hearted throng. I maintain that
he did not effect a single moral change. It is
not * conversion ' to effect a change of sins. The
vices of the body are not after all, bad as they
are, so hateful as the sins of the mind. These
latter the Demon prefers and practises. He
cannot be sensual, though hjp tempts men
thereto ; and even herein Wesleyans about here
are secret dram-drinkers too often, and their
lust is cruel, deadly. Look at the statistics of
Wesleyan regions, seduction and mfanticide are
the badges of the meeting-house throughout the

TH15 L\TE BEV. R. S. HAWKEK, M.A. 40

land. When our Lord said * By their fruits ye
shall know them/ He did not refer so much
to the conduct of the heretics themselves as to
the results of their doctrine whereon it is sown.
I undertake to prove statistically that Methodism
is the mother of the brothel, and the throttling-
cord of modem England."

Mr. Hawker was known, by correspondence,
to many of the most distinguished literary men
of the day, who frequently consulted him on
various subjects, knowing how considerable and
valuable was his store of out-of-the-way infor-
mation, and how thoroughly he was acquainted
with the past and present history of his native
county. Many, too, knew him personally,
amongst whom were— the Poet Laureate, the
late Canon Kingsley, and the late Charles
Dickens. The first drafts of some of Mr. Ten-
nyson's poems are said to have been written on
the clifijs above Morwenstow, especially " Break,
break, break," where likewise some of the most

m

striking of Mr. Hawker's own poetical works
were produced* The wild beauty of the place

50 • MEMORIALS OF

is its great charm. " It is as yet unspoiled by
cockney excursionists and intrusive prigs,"
wrote the late Canon Kingsley of this remark-
able spot. " One is here out of the world."

Another remarkable trait in Mr. Hawker^s
character — a trait in which he who pens these
lines most heartily sympathizes with him-was
his great love for the whole of the animal
creation. His horses, his mule, his cattle, and
his dogs were most attached to him ; and, at
one time, he owned quite a colony of cats.
^^ At other times a tame seal and a tame otter
might have been seen hastening to receive a
word of kindness when Mr. Hawker appeared
at his door ; and, indeed, the habits and hkings
of all the wild creatures about his cliffs and
woods were so well known to him, that he
may be said to have lived as their familiar
friend." «

Though dwelling in a most remote home, Mr.
Hawker took the deepest interest in all public
events, specially in those bearing upon the

* Standard, September 1, 1875.

THE LATE BEV. R. S. HAWKER, M.A. 51

well-being of Church or State. Not only did
he exercise the poetical faculty, with which
Almighty Grod had so largely endowed him, by
commemorating public occurrences of interest
in rhyme from the standing-point of a Christian
minister ; but he often addressed his parish-
ioners in discourses from the pulpit upon such
fresh and interesting public topics as were
uppermost in men's minds, pointing his moral
and illustrating his narrative by the applications
of those imohangeable Catholic principles which
he loved and practised — and this to the delight
and benefit of his attentive flock. A bold and
vigorous thinker, he scorned to take for his
own, at second-hand, the frequently common-
place convictions of other men. He was
original, independent, and vigorous in word;
so that his conclusions and determinations,
never arrived at without patient consideration,
were invariably the result of painful study and
careful thought, by a mind as remarkably
independent as it was honest and lofty.

His " Address to the Queen " on the coming

E 2

52 MEMOKIALS OF

of the late Prince Consort, while loyal and
profound in its terms and phrases, was fiill of
the true spirit of poetry, and was most
adroitly penned as regards the mere art of
versifying ; for the ring is true and the melody
sweet. Though his Royal Highness had been
brought up as a member of the Lutheran com-
munity, yet neither Mr. HaT^ker nor his critical
friends saw any incongruity whatsoever in the
composition of a set of verses, to honour and
vvelcome the Lutheran Prince who was coming
to be the husband and protector of our gracious
Queen, by the Anglo-Catholic priest of a Cornish
parish. In the same way, whenever events of
special public interest occurred, whatever might
have been the nature and quality of fluctuating
current opinions, the Vicar of Morwenstow,
knowing that there is a time to speak out as
well as a time for silence, sometimes spoke out
with vigour and boldness.

The absurd panic which, under Whig guidance,
arose when the Anglo-Roman Hierarchy was
set up, was looked upon by him as a temporary

THE LATE REV. U. S. HAWKER, M.A. 53

act of national insanity, intensified by the
passing of a law, never enforced, of which, in
due course, its chief authors seem to have been
so thoroughly ashamed, that when, in a future
tim^ of restored common-sense and calm, wise
politicians proposed its repeal, the instigators
of the original panic shrank away in silence
€uid shame. If the boast of "civil and
x-eligious liberty" means anything practically
equitable, it surely means that the Roman
Oatholic commimion shall experience its bless-
ings, if blessings they are, in common with all
^he later multitudinous sects, with their con-
:flicting messages, newly-made theories, or
^ireary platitudes. This Mr. Hawker expressed
"^th freedom and fluency — in a sermon to his
:flock — to the dismay and anger of the con-
ductors of a Radical newspaper at Exeter, to
"^hom a garbled account had been forwarded,
^nd whose literary shrieks, heard for some
"^eeks afterwards, might have been more
appalling had they been less confusedly wild
^nd dismally incoherent.

54 MEMORIALS OF

On the death (a.d. 1865) of Cardinal Wise-
man, a prince and prelate who would have done
a great work for Christianity in England had
he written nothing more than his well-known
" Lectures on the Connexion between Science
and Revealed Religion," Mr. Hawker penned
the following appreciatory verses, for which the '
author, since his departure hence, has been
severely criticized : —

ICHABOD.

Hush! for a star is swallow'd up in night!

A noble name hath set along the sea,
An eye that flksh'd with Heaven, no more is bright

Tlie brow that ruled the Islands, where is he ?

He trod the earth, a man! a stately mould —
Cast in the goodliest metal of his kind !

The semblance of a soul in breathing gold,
A visible image of God's glorious mind.

Well he became his Throne : even from his birth,
On him the balsam of a Prince was shed :

Myriads of liwlier men, the sons of earth,

Bent with prone neck, to greet his conquering tread

THE LATE EEV. K. S. HAWKER, M.A. 55

He! when the Sage's soul with doubt was riven,
Smote the dull dreamers with the Prophet-rod :

He call'd ou Earth and Sea to chaunt of Heaven,
And made the stars rehearse the truth of Grod!

Yea ! when the demons quelFd the bold and brave,
And roused the nations with their fiendish mock,

Unmoved he met the Gadarenes, and gave
A lordly echo from the Eternal Rock !

Where reigns he now ? What throne is set for him ?

Amid the ninefold armies of the sky ?
Waves he the burning sword of Seraphim ?

Or dwells a calm Archangel, orown'd on high ?

We cannot tell ; we only understand

He bears an English heart before God's Throne ;
In Heaven he yearns o'er this his chosen land ;

His zeal — his vows — his prayers-— are yet our own I

But if Anglican bishops and clergy may
actively co-operate with the latest new Con-
tinental sect — the sect presided over by certain
(xerman Professors, or with the Dutch Jan-
senists, and this not only without rebuke, but
'with praise — surely a country clergyman with
Caithohc sentiments of the old tradition, believ-
ing that the Roman Communion is an important
as it is a venerable portion of the On^ Family of

56 3IEM0RIALS OF

God, may reasonably, and without condemna-
tion, mourn the loss of a Christian prelate of
unblameable life and great intellectual powers
in stately and high-sounding verse. The
inconsistency lies with Mr. Hawker's one-sided
critics, not with himself. For, to hold the
balance fairly, no one, so far as I am aware,
condemned Dean Stanley for his somewhat
stilted and overdone laudations of John Bunyan
when an image of that dissenter was set up at
Bedford; nor were the Bishop of Worcester
and the other respectable Church-of-England
people who presided over the rite, rated when
another image of another anti-church Noncon-
formist was recently unveiled (with weird
rituaHstic ceremonies) at Kidderminster. The
want of impartiality is with Mr. Hawker's
opponents. Moreover, if images of saints, as
is known to have been the case, were so highly
distasteful to the sects of Baxter and Bunyan,
some simple persons may fail to understand
how images of sinners could be suitably erected
to their memory.

THE LATE BEV. T^. S. HAWKER, JI.A. 57

At the period of the Prince of Wales's severe
and most dangerous illness (a.d. 1871), when
fear overcame the British people lest they
should lose the Heir to the Throne, and when
some of the dangers consequent upon such a
loss were before them, when everywhere in our
island prayer went up for him to God the
Trinity; and when the crude absurdities of
the "philosophers" concerning the use and
efficacy of prayer were rudely but efficiently
swept away, like dusty cobwebs, Mr. Hawker
composed and used the following beautiful
intercession : —

" Lord Jesus Christ ! Thou second Person
of the glorious and undivided Trinity I Thou
^Tho wert once blended here upon earth thirty
and three years with the visible form and
xxature of a man ! Hear us. Thou Healer of
the Nations, hear I In and by Thy manhood,
built from an earthly Mother's veins, and taken
into God, Thou didst assuage all manner of
disease, and even death by Thy Voice, Thy
"touch, Thy silent command. Thou art the

58 ' MEMORIALS OF

self- same Redeemer still ! the unalterable God !
We call upon Thee for Albert Edward, the
firstborn Prince and hope of the Royal House
of England, the future King, beneath Thy will,
of our native and natural land ! Say but the
word which Thou didst utter in Cana of Galilee,
* Thy son liveth ! ' and in the same hour the
fever shall leave Thy servant, our Prince, and
he shall be made whole. Restore him, Lord,
to the yearning hearts of his people; to the
wife of his youth; and to the Royal Lady
weeping over her child. Even so. Lord Jesu ;
and by the memory of Thine Own great impulse
at the gate of the City called Nain, and of Her
who won Thy latest love upon the Cross,
deliver him to his mother. Hear us, O
Healer of the Nations, hear ! and grant our
trusting prayer to God the Trinity, through
Thy manhood, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen."

And again, when, by the abounding mercy of
God, the Prince was raised up again and
restored, the Vicar of Morwenstow penned and

THE LATE EEV. R. S. HAWKEE, M.A. 59

used constantly the following beautiful " Act
of Thanksgiving : "—

" Jesu Master ! my Lord and my God !
We utter our earnest and faithful Thanksgiving
to Thee for that Thou hast heard and granted
our prayer. We besought Thee to have mercy
on Thy servant, Albert Edward, our Prince of
the Royal House of England, in his perilous
disease. Thou hast fulfilled our vows. In
Thy mdd-nature between God the Trinity and
mankind. Thy Heart, human and divine, hath
been the channel of a nation's entreaty and a
people's benediction! Thou hast given back
to the Princely sufferer strength and hope and
life. Command, mighty Redeemer, that he,
like those whom Thou didst make whole when
Thou wert visible here among men, may arise
from his bed healed and forgiven ! Let him
follow Thy Voice and be Thine for ever. Blend
him, Lord, and his wife, tender and true,
with his gracious mother, our Queen, into Thy
house and lineage of heaven ; so that, at the
last, with penitence for all sin, and trust in that

60 MEMORIALS OP

which Thou didst suffer upon the Cross, this
Kingly race of England may be gathered into
the realm of eternal pardon and peace in the
kingdom of God.

" Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away
the sin of the world, even Jesus Christ our
Lord. Amen."

Mr. Hawker lost his first wife — a very
refined and agreeable lady — at a ripe old age
early in February, 1863, and the loss was very
heavy. She was buried in the south-east
portion of the churchyard at Morwenstow, and
a granite cross marks her grave. The inscrip-
tion upon it stands thus : —

HERE RESTS
THE BODY OF

CHARLOTTE E, HAWKER,

for nearly 40 years

the wife of one of the

Vicars of this Parish.

She died

FEBRUARY 2nD, 1863.

" There is sprung up a light for the righteous, and joyful
gladness for such as are true-hearted.'*

THE LATE KEV. R. S. HAWKER, M A. 61

The generosity of Mr. Hawker — such an im-
portant and leading detail of true Christian
charity — was a marked and ruling feature in
his character. If he was your friend, he would
remain so as cordially and openly in stormy
solitude and darkness as in sunshine and calm :
and if it were only words of balm that he could
hreathe, or a touching epistle that he could
pen, the words were spoken or the sentences
of consolation written. Always on the side of
the weak and the oppressed, and never turning
a deaf ear to the sorrow-stricken, he was
deservedly venerated for these and such-like
Christian qualities.

In the spring of the year 1865, I received
from him the following cordial letter : —

" I have not written to you, and indeed to
but few friends of any kind lately. Nothing
Can be more remote or unnoticed than my ex-
istence ; but I have felt sincere sympathy with
you at the unworthy treatment you have
^^ewved in Scotland. But what else could
B,^ait you,, or any other champion of God's

02 MEMORIALS OF

Truth, in an age which is /car iioxqp the *Hour
of Satan and the Power of Darkness ' ? What
is the Englishman or Scotchman of the nine-
teenth century but a dexterous Blacksmith to
whom the Demons have surrendered their
myths of Gas, Steam, and Electric force in re-
quital for his strong hatred of God and His
Church ? . . . I am at all times glad to hear of
you, or from you, and with feelings of aflTec-
tionate regard, and sympathy responsive and
sincere, I am yours very faithfully."

Of late years the services in the parish
church were not so frequent as in previous
times: partly arising from his own increased
infirmity, partly from the difficulty of obtaining
the assistance of a curate, and partly from the
fact that he had set up an Oratory for divine
service and private worship in the Vicarage.
As in so many country parishes, so here, the
chief and most constant worshippers in the
weekday office were members of the Vicar's
family and household; the convenience of a
prayer-room, therefore, was obvious. What-

THE LATE REV. R. S. HAWKER, M.A. 03

ever changes came over him in later years were
no doubt the direct result of his growing fears,
— ^whether well grounded, or the reverse — that
the candlestick of the National Church was
being removed, — and this by those who had
solemnly promised, the Lord being their
Helper, to preserve the Faith, and keep the
lamp of Divine Truth ever burning.

CHAPTER II.

LITERARY LABOURS.

Though Mr. Hawker may be chiefly recognized
and celebrated in the future as a lyrical poet,
yet those who knew him intimately, knew that
he was likewise a very deeply-read and exact
theologian, as well as an excellent preacher,
and a devoted parish Priest.

Some detailed account of his literary works
shall now be put on record. His eail'liest
volume, published at Plymouth in 1825, was
entitled "Poetical First Buds. By Reuben." It
seems to be both out of print and rare. In the
opinion of several competent critics, it gave un-
doubted promise of future ability. When it
was published, Mr. Hawker was an under-

THE LATE BEV. B. S. HAKWEB, M.A. 65

graduate at Pembroke College, where amongst
the Scholars he had for his friend, Francis
Jeune, eventually Bishop of Peterborough. At
Magdalene Hall one of his chief aUies was Wil-
liam Jacobson, the present Bishop of Chester.

This slight juvenile volume was followed
by his Newdigate Prize Poem " Pompeii,"
printed in 1827,^ and re-issued again nine
years later, in 1836. It is a well-conceived
and carefully written production, displaying
thought, research, and poetical culture. It was
remarked at the time of its reqital that parts of
it were very Uke Mr. T. B. Macaulay's Cambridge
Prize Poem on the same theme: but any one
who cares to study and critically compare the
two, while giving all credit to the brilliant
literary ability and obvious art of Macaulay,
will, for poetical power and picturesque
beauty, award the palm to that better sus-

^ "Pompeii," recited June 27, 1827, republished by J.
Roberts, of Stratton, in 1836. Dedication — "To Arthur
Kelly, Esquire of KeUy, Sheriff of this year for the County
of Cornwall — in memory of the day of its recitation, this
Republished Poem is inscribed by his Friend — the Author."

66 MEMORIALS OF

tained and more perfect production from Mr.
Hawker's pen.

The following extract — a fair specimen of the
author's powers — is full of interest : —

All, all is mute ! save sadly answering nigh

The nightbird's shriek, the shrill cicada's cry.

Yet may you trace along the furrow'd street,

The chariot's track — ^the print of frequent feet ;

The gate unclosed as if by recent hand ;

The hearth where yet the guardian Lares stand ;

Still on the walls the words of welcome shine,

And ready vases proffer joyous wine :

But where the hum of men ? the sounds of life ?

The Temple's pageant and the Forum's strife ?

The forms and voices, such as should belong

To that bright clime, the land of Love and Song ?

How sadly echoing to the stranger's tread

Those walls respond, like voices from the dead !

And sadder traces — darker scenes are there,

Talse of the Tomb, and records of Despair ;

In Death's chill grasp unconscious arms unfold

The fatal burden of their cherish'd gold ;

Here wasted relics, as in mockery, dwell

Beside some treasure loved in life too well ;

There, faithful hearts have moulder'd side by side.

And hands are clasp'd that Death could not divide !

"Records of the Western Shore/* a slender
volume of 66 pages, was issued at Oxford in
1832, by D. A. Talboys. The preface was

THE LATE EEV. B. S. HAWKER, M.A. 67

dated " North Tamerton, June 1st." A second
edition was printed and issued by a local book-
seller, J. Roberts, of Stratton. It is dedicated
simply " To Charlotte " — his first wife. In this,
on page 54, occurs the following celebrated
" Song of the Western Men," having reference
to the imprisonment by James II. of the Seven
noble Bishops, of whom Sir Jonathan Tre-
lawny, Bishop of Exeter, was one : —

A good sword and a trusty hand !

A merry heart and true !
King James's men shall understand

What Cornish lads can do.

And brave they fixed the where and when?

And shall Trelawny die ?
Here's twenty thousand Cornish men

Will know the reason why !

Outspake their captain brave and bold,
A meny wight was he :
" If London tower were Michael's hold.
We'll set Trelawny free :

We'll cross the Tamar, land to land,

The Severn is no stay, —
With one and all and hand in hand,

And who shall bid us nay ?

F 2

68 MEMORIALS OP

And when we come to London Wall,

A pleasant sight to view,
Come forth ! come forth, ye cowards all.

Here's men as good as yon.

Trelawny he's in keep and hold,

Trelawny he may die ; —
But here's twenty thousand Cornish bold

Will know the reason why !"

With the exception of the choral part

" And shall Trelawny die ?
Here's twenty thousand Cornish men
Will know the reason why ! "

this poem was composed by Mr. Hawker in the
spot known as Sir Seville Granville's Walk, in
Stowe Wood. It first appeared anonymously
in a Plymouth newspaper, where it attracted
the notice of Mr. Davies Gilbert. Sir Walter
Scott eulogized it, and believed it to be an old
ballad ; as did also Lord Macaulay.

In the year 1836, another small volume, a
second series of "Records of the Western
Shore," was published by J. Roberts, of Stratton.
It contains only 52 pages, the preface being

THE LATE EKV, R. S. HAWKER, M.A. G9

dated " Morwenstow, July 1, 1836." Many
of the verses in those volumes appear in the
completed edition of his " Cornish Ballads and
other Poems," issued by Messrs. Parker and
Co., of London and Oxford, in 1869.

Four years afterwards, in the year 1840, Mr.
Hawker wrote the following " Welcome " on the
Marriage of her Majesty the Queen. It is dated
" The Vicarage, Morwenstow, Japuary 8, 1840,"
and was published by D. A. Talboys, of
Oxford : —

TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCE

ALBERT.

I.

He comes, a conqueror with the soft control,

Mightier than warrior's sword in monarch's hand ;

He comes to claim the lady of his soul —

A fearless knight from the old German land !

II.

A voice of welcome from a thousand hills !

The sound of love in earth and air and sea !
A nation's heart, thy name. Prince Albert fills

With prayer and blessing for thy bride and thee!

70 MEMORIALS OF

III.

Thou comest to link thee with a lofty soil,
A land of graceful dames and stately men :

Be proud : on thee will England's daughter smile.
And thou on England's Queen look love again.

IV.

What haughty dreams thy gathering visions yield !

'Tis thine the awful couch of kings to share ;
The hope of many a land thine arm must shield,

The Beauty of Our Isles shall slumher there.

V.

Bring princes in thy breast across the brine !

Lo ! round the chaste form of thy noble mate.
The future spirits of a shadowy line,

The souls of kings unborn, in silence wait.

VI.

Forget thy fatherland ! thou hast no more
Another city, hearth or native home :.

This is thy country — this thy natural shore —
Thine eagle nest amid the ocean foam.

VII.

Come ! at an English altar proudly stand.

Take, from our ancient priest, thy chosen bride.

Breathe in the language of thy lady's land.

The eternal vows — the pledge of love and pride.

THE LATE REV. B. S. IFAWKER, M.A. 71

VIII.

Rejoice, O Prince ! her father's faith is thine,
One worship and one creed je twain will share ;

How many a solemn arch and cloistered shrine
Shall hail your blended names in English prayer !

IX.

liOve well our clime ! the scenery of thy choice,
Thy Lady's isle, the pride of earth and sea,

Her fanes will greet thee with their hohest voice,
Her towers amid the trees shall thrill for thee.

X.

'Tis not the troth of State, the plighted hands
Where Passion shudders at the feet of Pride :

No selfish Bridegroom at yon altar stands,
Nor glitters there a cold and reckless Bride.

XI.

Joy to that fane ! the noble and the fair

Are met to blend the tones of Love and Truth ;

Joy to that fane ! an English lady there
Binds to her soul the husband of her youth.

XII.

He comes, as came the mighty hearts of old.
The men of bounding steed and belted brand ;

That which his vows have won his arm shall hold,-
A fearless knight from the old German land.

72 MEMORIALS' OP

xui.

The voice of welcome, Prince, I wake once more —
Far from the glare of courts, of cities free,

A lowly name, on Comwairs rocky shore,
I breathe this blessing for thy bride and th^e.

In the same year he published a new poetical
volume — larger than those previously issued,
mainly consisting, however, of reprints of
verses then out of print, — entitled " Ecclesia :
a Volume of Poems." It comprises 144 pages,
handsomely printed, and was issued by the
Messrs. Rivingtons. In this book there are
certain new productions, all marked by that
unusual and accurate knowledge of local
legends. Christian folk-lore, and true religious
sentiment which so markedly distinguished all
his productions. The following lyrical gem is
transcribed, because it is not found in the com-
pleted volume of his poems already referred to : —

ARE THEY NOT ALL MINISTERING SPIRITS?

I.
We see them not — we cannot hear

The music of their wing ;
Yet know we that they sojourn near, —

The Angels of the spring !

THE LATE REV. B. S. UAWKER, M.A. 73

II.

They glide along this lovely ground,
When the first violet grows : —

Their graceful hands have just unbound
The zone of yonder rose.

III.

I gather it for thy dear breast

From stain and shadow free,
That which an angel's touch hath blest

Is meet, my love, for thee.

(Pp. 53, 54.)

Three years afterwards another small volume
of poetry was hkewise sent forth. It is en-
titled " Keeds Shaken with the Wind," and was
published in London by James Bums, in the
year 1843. It is dated " Morwenstow, Festival
of St. Andrew, 1842,". and contains only 48
pages. Its motto stands thus :— " The Muse
of the Priest should be his Church. It was |
the beautiful language of the Sweet Singer

of Israel — * Thy statutes have been my songs in

«

the House of my Pilgrimage.' "

It appears that in*the year 1844 Mr. Hawker,
being Rural Dean of Trigg Major, took a deep

74 MEMOEIALS OF

and active interest in the revival of synodical
action, both local, diocesan,* and provincial;
and with his bishop's consent, held a ruri-
decanal chapter at Morwenstow, the first that
had been held for centuries. He justified the
meeting of the synod in church by the follow-
ing considerations, taken from a small octavo
pamphlet of 24 pages, entitled "Rural
Synods; by the Vicar of Morwenstow," which
was published in London by Edwards and
Hughes : — " Our Sermons are delivered during
the intervals of Divine Service in church : and
the grave expression of our thoughts on themes
of doctrine or of discipline in a rural chapter,
need not be reckoned more secular or less sacred
than those other discourses which we compose
and deliver to the people in church. For my

' In one of the last letters which I had the honour to re-
ceive from the late Bishop of Exeter, Doctor Philpotts,
(when he sent me his parting and final blessing), he re-
marked that the Vicar of Morwenstow had been the first to
suggest a Diocesan Synod, as a true mode of meeting the
direct evils with which that diocese was flooded, through
the Gorham Judgment,

THE LATE REV. B. S. HAWKER, M.A. 75

own part I hold the solemnity of such a scene

to be a most salutary check on all levity of

language, on all warmth and infirmity of

temper, on the common tendency of mutual

discussion to kindle or to harass the human

mind. The solemn roof which now bends over

xis, the image of that invisible shelter which

tias been our refuge from one generation to

Q,nother ; that single sacred font, the memorial

'that we have all been baptized into One Body

\)j One Spirit ; the simple and solitary Altar at

"^^hich, century after century, so many ministers

^ave * said the same thing ; ' the silence of

^hese ancient aisles, that have grown old with

the worship of past generations ; all these are

so many pledges to me of the propriety of our

thought and language in this * city of our

solemnities,' where we come to take sweet

counsel together, and to walk in the House of

God as friends." (Pp. 22-23.)

The effect of the movement which Mr.
Hawker thus commenced in North Cornwall
under excellent auspices soon became apparent.

76 MEMORULS OF

in the steady spread of the restored practice
throughout considerable portions of the diocese
of Exeter ; and this the Bishop saw and noticed
with evident satisfaction. It was Mr Hawker's
privilege to lead in many other ways — ^but ever
on the old Catholic landmarks — ^for he was a
leader by nature, and to live to see many
follow in his footsteps. His reputation a3 a
brave, fearless, and unflinching supporter of the
Catholic Revival, steadily and deservedly in-
creased.

In the autumn of 1844 there arose consider-
able excitement, — a kind of "storm in a tea-
cup," with regard to the restoration of the
weekly offertory in parish churches — a storm
which some of the daily newspapers in London
and Exeter did their best to intensify. Mr.
Hawker, who had openly defended the prin-
ciple of the Ofiertory; and this from the plain
and unambiguous directions of the " Book of
Common Prayer," was singled out by name for
attack in The Times newspaper. Some of his
letters in answer to the attack in question,

i

THE LATE BEV. R. S. HAWKEE, M.A. 77

though strictly confined to the point in dispute,
were refiised admission (tactics common enough
now, but more unusual then) : upon which he
personally addressed the proprietor of that
journal, the late Mr. John Walter, of Bear-
wood in Berkshire, in a " Letter on the Ofier-
tory," which was as forcible in its reasoning as
it was true, charitable, and vigorous in its
conclusions. It had a very large circulation,
and was generally commended. The warning
words towards the end are here reproduced : —
" And now. Sir, I conclude with one or two
parting admonitions to yourself. You are, I
am told, an elderly man, fast approaching the
end of all things; and ere many years have
passed, about to stand a separated soul among
the fearful mysteries of the spiritual world. I
counsel you to beware, lest the remembrance of
these attempts to diminish the pence of the
poor, and to impede the charitable duties of the
rich, should assuage your happiness in that
abode where the strifes and the triumphs of
controversy are unknown, * because thou hast

78 MEMOEIALS OP

done tlus thing and because thou hadst no pity.'
I exhort you, moreover, and all secular persons
identified with you in their attacks on the ser-
vices of the Church, to seek by diligent prayer a
' right understanding in all things,' before you
again embark in rehgious disputation, for which
I assure you, as * disputers of this world ' you
are not qualified, either by theological know-
ledge, or spiritual discernment, or fitting
temper of mind. And lastly I advise you not
again to assail our rural parishes with such
publications, to harass and unsettle the minds
of our faithful people. The Cornish clergy are
an humble and imdistinguished race ; but we
are apt, when unjustly assailed, to defend our-
selves in straightforward language, and to utter
plain admonitions, such as on this occasion
I have thought it my duty to address to
yourself."^

In the summer of 1845 Mr. Hawker was
selected by his bishop to preach a Visitation

^ Letter on the Offertory to J. Walter, Esq. Dated
November 27, 1844.

THE LATE EEV. E. S. HAWKER, M.A. 79

Sermon, but owing to his father's death was
unable to deUver it. It was, however, preached
by the Rev. T. Norton Harper, sometime an
English clergyman, but afterwards a convert to
the Church of Rome, and now a very distin-
guished priest and theologian of the Society of
Jesus. The sermon* is thoroughly original,
displays considerable thought, much power, and
excellent taste — the taste of a far-seeing religious
teacher who was a perfect gentleman.

The eloquent and forcible conclusion stands
thus : —

" Although the sun may go down while it is
yet day, it shall come to pass that at eventide
there shall be light. Moses is dead and Aaron
is dead, and Hur is gathered to his fathers
also ; but because of their righteous acts in the
matter of Eephidim, their memorial and their
name live and breathe among us for example and

* " The Field of Rephidim :" a Visitation sermon in the
diocese of Exeter, written by the Vicar of M or wen stow ;
delivered in the church of St. Marj Magdalene, Launceston,
July 27, 1845, by T. N. Harper, B.A., Curate of Stratton.
8vo, pp. 16. London, Edwards and Hughes, 1845.

80 MEMORIALS OP

admiration still. So shall it be with this
generation. He, our spiritual lord, whose living
hands are lifted up in our midst to-day — ^he shall
bequeath to his successors, and to their children's
children, the eloquent example and the kindling
heritage of his own stout-hearted name. And
we, the lowlier soldiers of the war — so that our
succour hath been manifest, and our zeal true —
we shall achieve a share of humble remembrance
as the duteous children of Aaron and of Hur.

"They also, the faithful few, who have lapped
the waters of dear old Oxford, and who were
the little company appointed to go down upon
the foe, with the sword of the Lord and of
Gideon, and to prevail — ^honour and everlasting
remembrance for their fearless names ! If in
their zeal they have exceeded, if in the dearth
of sympathy, and the increase of desolation,
they should even yet more exceed — nay but do
Thou, Lord God of Jeshurun ! withstand them
in that path, if they should forsake the home
of the Mother that bare them for the house of
the stranger. Still let it never be forgotten

THE LATE REV. R. S. HAWKER, M.A. 81

that their voices and their volumes were the
signals of the dawn that stirred the heart of a
slumbering people with a shout for the mastery.
Verily they have their reward. They live
already in the presence of future generations ;
and they are called, even now, by the voices yet
imborn, the giants of these days, the mighty
men that were of old, the men of renown."
(Pp. 15, 16.)

At the end is a note as follows : —

" The Bishop did not desire that this sermon
should be printed." .

In 1845 Mr. Hawker issued another small
poetical volume entitled " Echoes of Old Corn-
wall," which was published by that indefatigable
and prolific Tractarian publisher, Mr. Joseph
M§LSters. It had a considerable sale, for Mr.
Hawker's name and powers were now known
and appreciated far and wide.

Four years afterwards, to generously aid Miss
Sellon,.whd, in restoring the religious Ufe within
the Church of England, was right royally abused
both by Protestants and unbelievers, Mr. Hawker

G

82 MEMORIALS OF

wrote and published " A Voice from the Place
of St. Morwenna in the Rocky Land, uttered to
the Sisters of Mercy at the Tamar Mouth, and
to Lydia their Lady in the Faith, * whose heart
the Lord opened.' By the Yicar of Morwen-
stow." Small 4to, pp. 14. London : J. Masters,
1849. From a note on page 6, may be learnt
that " the Chancel of Morwenstow has just been
nobly restored by the piety of Rudolph Baron
Clinton, and the Lady Elizabeth Georgiana, his
wife."

Mr. Hawker thus writes of Plymouth, its
religious desolation and needs : —

O city, where my birthplace stands,
How art thou fallen amid the lands !
Thy daughters bold, thy sons unblest,
A wither'd Salem of the West !
Hark ! from yon hill, what tones arise, —
Thy peace is hidden from thine eyes !

w

"Nsij ! there be forty, twenty, ten,

All women true, and trusty men,

A faithful band, like angels given.

To plead the Patriarch's prayer with Heaven ;

And one a thrilling Lady stands

Whose voice might rescue sentenced lands.

THE LATE BEV. R. S. HAWKER, M.A. 83

Daughter I my spirit turns to thee :

Here by the lonely Severn sea,

I too have borne, years fierce and long.

All hatred and rebuke and wrong ;

And now thy truth shall soothe the sigh —

The life I live — the death I die.

At the end is the following paragraph of
sound and excellent advice : —

"I recommend the slanderers of God's
servants, before they again presume to revile
the imaged death-bed of the Lord, to read,
carefully and thoroughly, the works of Gretser,
published in Latin, in seventeen folio volumes,
at Ratisbon, 1734-41.

" Shrove Tuesday, 1849."

In May of 1860 he wrote and circulated
privately another poem, entitled " Aishah She-
chinah " — on the Incarnation — which seems to
many almost inspired : —

A shape, like folded light, embodied air,
Yet wreathed with flesh, and warm;

All that of Heaven is feminine and fair.
Moulded in visible form.

G 2

84? MEMOUIALS OF

She stood, the Lady Shechinah of Earth,

A chancel for the sky ;
Where woke, to breath and beauty, God's Own Birth,

For men to see Him by.

Bound her, too pilre to mingle with the day,

Light, that was life, abode ;
Folded within her fibres meekly lay

The link of boundless God.

So link'd, so blent, that when, with pulse fulfill'd,

Moved but that Infant Hand,
Far, far away. His conscious Godhead thriU'd,

And stars might understand.

Lo ! where they pause with inter-gathering rest,

The Threefold and the One ;
And lo ! He binds them to her Orient breast,

His manhood girded on.

The zone, where two glad worlds for ever meet,

Beneath that bosom ran ;
Deep in that womb the conquering Paraclete

Smote Godhead on to man.

Sole scene among the stars, where, yearning, glide

The Threefold and the One ;
Her God upon Her lap, the Virgin-bride,

Her awful Child, Her Son !

Anything more theologically accurate or

THE LATE EEV. E. S. HAWKER, M.A. 85

poetically perfect could not be conceived. In
the whole range of English religious poetry I
know nothing at all to be compared to it. The
mystery, beauty, and mercy of the Incarnation
are sung with perfect simplicity as by the lips
of the seraph ; while the divine art ^nd majestic
music of every line and stanza strike and linger
on the memory like a song from the angelic
choirs.

Mr. Hawker's poetical masterpiece, written in
the year 1863, in his Summer-house or Hut, a
rocky excavation overlooking the Severn Sea, is
a poem in blank verse of about five hundred
lines, entitled " The Quest of the Sangraal." *

• " The Quest of the Sangraal. Chant the First. By
R. S. Hawker. 4to, pp. 46. Exeter : Printed for the
Author,*' 1864. The dedication in memorj of his Wife, then
recently departed, stands thus — " To a vacant chair and an
added stone, I chant these solitary sounds.*' — Mr. John
Godwin thus writes to me : — " * The Qu^st,' at least all after
the first few lines, was written at my urgent request and
repeated solicitations. This was at a period of great sorrow
and anguish to him, consequent on the loss pf his first wife.
A great part of it was written in * The Hut,* a little cabin
he had constructed on the side of one of the cliffs ovei-
looking the Severn Sea ; and many days I repaired thither

86 MEMORIALS OF

The Arthurian legends were carefully studied
prior to its composition, and he gave the
greatest consideration to every dehcate thought,
due epithet and telling expression used through-
out it. Full of the deepest meaning, yet never
obscure nor spasmodic, but always musical, the
verse seems to march on like the stately chant
of an ancient bard ; while over every sentiment
and sentence gleams the glory of the Cross of
the Crucified. There is not a diffuse passage
throughout : every hne is full of pious thought,
and fi:*aught with lofty teaching: while the
scriptural lore evidenced so continually, adds
much to its devotional characteristics and
obvious beauties. Deep Catholic instincts are
apparent on every page. In it the scenery of

with him whilst he was engaged in the composition of the
poem. He was not at all surprised at its failure in a
commercial point of view : but repeatedly stated to me his
full belief that fifty years hence it would be understood and
appreciated. He often remarked that he was thankful that
he had been able to pen, and give to the world, these lines,
so full of the sentiments of his maturer years, and to leave
them on record.** — October 12, 1875.

THE LATE EEV. R. S. HAWKER, M.A. 87

Cornwall is pictured with graphic power and
epigrammatic beauty. It may well claim a fore-
most place amongst the Christian poems of the
nineteenth century, as much for its sound
practical teaching as for the uni^y of the author's
purpose, the splendour and power of his pictures,
and, as the late Bishop Phillpotts remarked, for
"the masterly literary capacity evidenced
throughout." On no page is there any affecta-
tion of obscurity, and the lines are always
musical, sweet, and scan-able. In truth, the
more this poem is studied, and it needs patient
and painstaking study, the more do its
sterling ' beauties become manifestly appa-
rent.

Here is a fine passage, powerful and awful in
description, and vigorous as well as religious in
thought : —

Ye know that in old days, that yellow Jew,
Accursed Herod ; and the earth- wide judge,
Pilate the Roman, doomster for all lands —
Or else the judgment had not been for all, —
Bound Jesu-Master to the World's tall tree.
Slowly to die

88 MEMOMAJiS OF

Ha I Sirs, had we been there.
They durst not have assayed their felon deed, —
Excalibur had cleft them to the spine !
Slowly He died, a world in every pang.
Until the hard centurion's cruel spear
Smote His high heart ; and from that sever'd tide
Rush'd the red stream that quench'd the wrath of
Heaven.

Then comes a description of the work of
St. Joseph of Arimathea, and a record of the
origin of the Sangraal :—

Then came Sir Joseph, hight, of Arimathee,

Bearing the awful vase the Sangraal !

The vessel of the Pasch, Shere Thursday night :

The self-same Cup, wherein the faithful wine

Heard God, and was obedient unto Blood !

Therewith he knelt, and gather'd blessed drops

From his dear Master's Side that sadly fell.

The ruddy dews from the great Tree of Life :

Sweet Lord ! what treasures ! like the priceless gems

Hid in the tawny casket of a king, —

A ransom for an enemy, one by one !

That wealth be cherish'd long ; his veiy soul

Around his ark : bent, as before a shrine.

He dwelt in Orient Syria : God*s own land :

The ladder-foot of Heaven, — where shadowy shapes

In white apparel glided up and down !

His home was like a garner^ full of com

And wine and oil : a granary of God !

THE LATE BEV. R. S. HAWKEB, M.A. 89

YouDg men that no one knew went in and out,
With a far look in their eternal eyes !
All things were strange and rare : the Sangraal
As though it clung to some ethereal chain,
Brought down high Heaven to Earth at Arimathee.'*

(Pp. 4—6.)

The search or " quest " is described in detail,
and with most touching tenderness, deep spi-
ritual power, and rational symbolism. The
warning lesson to us as a nation, mystically
but powerfully set forth, concluding the poem,
stands thus : —

'Ah ! haughty England, lady of the wave !'

Thus said pale Merlin to the listening king,

* What is thy glory in the world of bliss ?

To scorch and slay, to win demoniac fame.

In art and arms, and then to flash and die !

Thou art the diamond of the demon crown

Smitten by Michael upon Abarim,

That fell, and glared, an island of the sea !

Ah ! native England ! wake thine ancient cry I

Ho ! for the Sangraal ! vanished vase of Heaven,

That held, like Christ's own heart, an hin of blood ! '

He ceased, and all around was dreamy night,

There stood Dundagel throned ; and the great sea

Lay, a strong vassal at his Master's gate.

And, like a drunken giant, sobb'd in sleep I — (P. 25,)

90 MEMOEIALS OF

In March, 1865, Mr. Hawker wrote and pub-
lished the lines, given elsewhere, on the late
Cardinal Wiseman's decease. They were issued
anonymously, and signed " Karn-idzek."

To the above may be here and now added a
short essay printed verbatim concerning " Time
and Space," which Mr. Hawker sent to me on
August 30, 1865. The same characteristics
mark this production which so eminently dis-
tinguish his power in other writings, both prose
and poetical, and deserve the careful considera-
tion of the Christian philosopher : —

"When we encounter some of the meta-
physical discussions of our own day the
question will naturally occur to us. In what
manner were the mysteries of the material
universe dealt with in the early ages of the
Church ? Surely our Theological Ancestors
could not have been devoid of the suggestions
of the Paraclete on these mighty and majestic
themes. Aidance, if not inspiration, could not
have been denied to them when they approached
such topics as the Nature and the Attributes of

THE LATE EEV. E. S. HAWKER, M.A.

91

a
at

£

9

o

2000 End of Dispensation

God the Trinity.— The Hebrew Tetragram, sounded
YehhSvah.

Eternity. — Tot a simul et perfecta possessio intermindbilis
VitcB. The whole at once, and the complete possession of
life, without beginning or end.

Time. — That section of the circle dotted with dates is Time, i. e. Mensura
motus prius et poster ius habens : a measure of movement with a first
and a last : a foi*mer and a latter.

Natural world. Accordingly we aibuo,
uheir writings an accuracy of discernment and a
wealth of definition which might well supersede
the systems of theory and guess which charac-
terize our own vague and dubitative time. A
brief recurrence to the simple and settled per-
suasions of these forefathers in the lineage of
spiritual knowledge on Time and Space may
not -be without interest and use. In that
sublime oracle wherewith the Book of Inspira-
tion begins, they discerned a sense which
modem interpreters entirely ignore. In prin-
cipioy that is to say in Verbo^ in Filioj in, by,
through, the Second Person of the Trinity.
Deus (Blohim) creavit^ caused to exist, in th'
boundary of Space and Time, coelum et terran
the spiritual and the material world. Here t'
mind must first attempt, the image of the Tr
and boundless Godhead, existing before tl
was a visible or conceivable thing;
throughout Eternity, alone. Nor is it
possible for human thought to conce

THE LATE BEV. B. S. HAWKEB, M.A. 93

notion of that Eternal existence apart from the
resting-points of Time and Space. We find the
definition — JEtemitas : Tota simul et perfeda
possessio intermindbilis vitcBj i. e. the whole at
once : the perfect and entire possession of life
without beginning or end. Amid this conscious
Eternity, it must be our next effort to ima-
gine, that there came forth beneath the energy
of Omnipotent Will, the tracery and outline of
Space. The First and Second Persons of the
<jodhead acting by, and through, the Son, of
Whom were all created things, measured out a
3)art and a portion of the Divine Presence to be
the boundary and abode of the future universe.
That which we call Space was and is thus
defined. Pars metata Prcesentice Dei puncta et
orbitas gerenSy a limited and measured part of the
presence of God, having within it fixed points
and paths.^ We may lawfully conceive the

• " Space," wrote Mr. Hawker elsewhere, "is that mea-
sured part of God's Presence which is inhabited by the
planets and the sun. The boundary of space is the outline of
a cone, and the pathway of every planet is one of the sections
of that figured form." And again : — " When the cone of

\

94 MEMORIALS 01'

form and outUne of this vast but finite Figure
to be a cone. A cone is a pyramid in revolved
movement, and Motion is the Life of Matter.
The Planets travel in the curves of a cone.
Whatsoever is not God is finite : and Space is
a limited creation. It holds and contains for
our contemplation the Material Universe. Itself
revolves with the Planetary World on its breast.
Peopled with the stars and an orb in their
midst, the outline of Space was pervaded with
an ethereal Element. We have named it for
convenience * Numyne ' : it is the woof and tissue
of Spiritual action and life, the atmosphere, so
to speak, of bodiless spirits, the Goelum of the
Mosaic Record. Its nature and forces are next
to Divine. But, when Space was so created
and occupied, whence and how came into

space had to be traced out and defined, the next act of
creation was to replenish it with that first and supernatura
element which I have named * Numyne.' The forefather
called it the spiritual or ethereal element, caelum, fro
' 2. Within its texture the other and grosf

-'r ebb and flow, clinsr and erl?

THE LATE BEV. R. S. HAWKEB, M.A. 95

existence that which we call Time ? We must

again resort to the w;ords of the interpreters.

Our Fathers in the Faith have told us that

^Tempus est mensura motits^ prius et posterius

habens ' is the accurate and only definition. It

appertains to the created universe ; but it might

be termed the clock of Adam, for its origin and

existence are simply derived from the usage

a.nd necessity of man. The contrast between

Time and Eternity may be discerned from the

Subjoined diagram, with its illustrations, which

is one habitually used in parish schools. The

cjhildren understand it, and therefore it may be

Intelligible to others also."

In the Gentleman^ s Magazine for March, 1867,
"there appears a full and interesting account
of Morwenstow from Mr. Hawker's pen, replete
with learning, research, and piety. It gives a
most valuable and accurate impression of the
church and parish ; is illustrated with several
engravings, including the Norman Font, an old
Piscina, the " WeU of St. John," and the " Well
of St. Morwenna ; " and is only deficient in a

96 MEMORIALS OP

lack of some technical description of the archi-
tecture and plan of the old Parish Church.
Mr. Hawker frequently contributed to the
Cornwall newspapers, as also to Household
Words, to The Lamp, a Roman Catholic
serial, to All the Tear Bound, and other
secular publications. When I was its Editor,
between 1863 and 1869, he obligingly wrote a
few literary comments on new books for the
Union Review, and took a warm and prac-
tical interest in the object which that serial
had been originally started to support and
extend.

It having been found that so many of Mr.
Hawker's earliest volumes of poetry were out
of print, and becoming exceedingly rare, he was
induced by Mr. J. G. Godwin (whose experience
and advice in literary matters he always
greatly valued), to make arrangements for their
republication in a single volume. This was
done in the year 1868, and in the following*
year " Cornish Ballads and other Poems " was
issued by Messrs. James Parker and Co., o£

THE LATE EEV. K. S. HAWKER, M.A. 97

London and Oxford. This volume contains the
whole of his chief and best-known poems, of
which sixty-three remarkable examples are
given, including " Pompeii," " The Quest of the

Sangraal," and all his popular ballads and

«

lyrics. Several hitherto unpublished poems are
also embodied in this book, — one of the most
complete and attractive volumes ever issued.
The " Notes " by which the poems are explained
or illustrated are full of learning and ex-
perience, wisely gathered and concisely set
forth. A study of this volume — so thoroughly
Christian from end to end, so full of true
teaching, formed and founded on the old and
unalterable Catholic tradition — will serve to
secure to its author a fair and beautiful memoiy '
in the hearts and sympathies of all who hold
that the highest type of poetry is religious, and

^ " So long as men have any feeling or love for true
English poetry, Mor wens tow will ever be remembered as
the home for many a year of the author of some of the most
beautiful of modem ballads." — "Odds and Ends." By
William Maskell. Article, " Bude Haven," p. 16. London :
1872

98 MEMOEIALS OP

that the only religion worth having is the
Catholic, In the various productions found in
it, he sang of the Tamar Spring and the Tor-
ridge, storied rivers of the West, which flow
from a rushy knoU in a moorland of the parish
of Morwenstow; of beautiful Clovelly; of the
Blackrock, a bold, dark-pillared mass of schist,
rising midway on the shore of Widemouth Bay,
near Bude, reported to be the lair of the troubled
spirit of Featherstone, a Cornish wrecker; of
ancient legend, and deed of prowess; of St.
ThecMa, of St. Cecily, and of St. Madron, —
intermingling his varied poetical thoughts and
vivid word-pictures with the attractive melno-
rials and lore of a wild and beautiful land.

In the year 1870 another of his most interest-
ing and attractive volumes was published, en-
titled, " Footprints of Former Men in Far Com-
wall." It is a handsome book of more than
250 pages, and contains a variety of curious
and most readable articles. Many of them had
been previously published! in various magazines
and serials; but some then appeared for the

THE LATE REV. E. S. HAWKEK, M.A. 99

first time. The volume is thus inscribed :

"May, 1870. To my infant daughter, Juliot,

I dedicate these pages." It contains thirteen

papers, as follows : — " Morwenstow," a reprint

of the article already referred to; "Antony

Payne, the Cornish Giant}" "Daniel Gumb's

Bock;" "Black John;'' "Thomasine Bona-

venture;" "The Botathen Ghost;" "Cruel

Coppinger;" "The Ganger's Pocket;" "The

Xight of other Days;" "Holacombe;" "The

Hemembrances of a Cornish Vicar ;" "A Ride

fi-om Bude to Boss ;" and " The First Cornish

3M[ole."

The following brief but curious record of an
^xile is taken from this volume : —

" There is a bedstead of carved oak still in
existence at Trevotter — a farm among the mid-
^land hills — ^whereon for long years an unknown
istranger slept. None ever knew his nation or
:xiame. He occupied a solitary room, and only
emerged now and then for a walk in the even-
ing air. An oaken chest of small size con-
tained his personal possessions, and gold of

H 2

100 MEMORIALS OF

foreign coinage, which lie paid into the hands
of his host with the solemn charge to conceal it
until he was gone thence or dead — a request
which the simple-hearted people faithfully ful-
filled. His linen was beautifully fine, and his
garments richly embroidered. After some time
he sickened and died ; refusing firmly the visits
of the local clergyman, and bequeathing to the
farmer the contents of his chest. He wrote
some words, they said, for his own tombstone,
which, however were not allowed to be engraved,
but they were simply these : —

H De R. Bquees & Bcsvl.

The same sentence was found after his death
carved on the ledge of his bed ; and the letters
are, or lately were, still traceable on the moul-
dering wood."

The style of the volume is excellent, clear,
lucid, and scholarly, and the book itself fiill of
the most picturesque descriptions of Cornish
scenery. There is a force in the word-painting
and an art in the construction of the interesting

THE LATE REV. K, S. HAWKEE, M,A. 101

stories, which evince on every page the polished
scholar and luminous writer of the English
language.

In the great war between France and Ger-
many (A.D. 1870) Mr. Hawker's sympathy of
course, arid for obvious reasons, lay with the
former. A pubHc utterance of the Prussian
Idng became the groundwork of the following
vigorous and remarkable poem : —

Hurrah ! for the boom of the thundering gun !

Hurrah ! for the words they say !
Here's a Merry Christmas to eveiy one,

And a Happy New Year's Day !
Thus saith the king to the echoing ball^
" With the blessing of God, we shall slay them all."

" Up," said the king, " load, fire, and slay I

'Tis a signal kindly given :
However happy on Earth be they,

They'll be happier in Heaven.
Tell them, as soon as their souls are free,
They'll sing like birds on a Christmas tree.

" Down with them all ! If they rise again
They will munch our beef and bread ;

War there must be with the living men ;
There'll be peace when all are dead !

This earth shall be our wide, wide home,

Our foes shall have the world to come.

102 MEMOEIALS OF

" Starve, starve them all, till through the skin

You may count each hungry bone ;
Tap, tap their veins till the blood runs thin,

And their sinful flesh is gone.
While life is strong in the German sky,
What matters it who beside may die?

" No sigh so sweet as the cannon's breath,
No music like the gun !
Here's a Merry Christmas to War and Death,

And a Happy New Year to none ! "
Thus saith the king to the echoing ball,
" With the blessing of God, we shall slay them all ! "

The following remarkable letter, so fall of
thought and Christian wisdom, was addressed
to his nephew, Mr, James, of Plymouth. Bear-
ing as it does most forcibly and directly on
several subjects of scientific discussion, its
reproduction here may serve to give an accurate
idea both of Mr. Hawker's temper of mind and
power of expression on topics of the greatest
moment. Neither its teaching nor its warnings,
as I well know, have been thrown away : —

" You ask me to * put into one of my nut-
shells ' the pith and marrow of the controversy
which at this time pervades the English mind

THE LATE BEV, B. S. HAWKEB, U.A. 103

as to the claims of Science and Faith. Let me
try : The material universe — so the sages allege
^s a vast assemblage of atoms or molecules,
* motes in the sunbeam ' of science, — ^which has
existed for myriads of ages under a perpetual
System of evolution, restricture, and change.
This mighty mass is traversed by the forces
electrical, or magnetic, or with other kindred
names; and these, by their incessant and in-
<iomitable action, are adequate to account for
€ill the phenomena of the world of matter, and
of man. The upheaval of a continent; the
drainage of a sea ; the creation of a metal ; nay,
the origin of life, and the development of a
species in plant, or animal, or man ; these are
the achievements of fixed and natural laws
among the atomic materials, under the vibration
of the forces alone. Thus far the vaunted
discoveries of science are said to have arrived.
Let us indulge them with the theory that these
results, for they are nothing more, are accurate
and real. But still, a thoughtful mind will
venture to demand whence did these atoms

104 MEMORIALS OF

derive their existence? and from what, and
from whom, do they inherit the propensities
wherewithal they are imbued? And tell me,
most potent seigniors, what is the origin of
these forces? And with whom resides the
impulse of their action and the guidance of their
control ? * Nothing so difl&cult as a beginning/
Your philosopher is mute ! he has reached the
horizon of his domain, and to him all beyond is
doubt, and uncertainty, and guess. We must
lift the veil. We must pass into the border-land
between two worlds, and there inquire at the
Oracles of Revelation touching the Unseen and
Spiritual powers which thrill through the mighty
sacrament of the visible creation. We perceive,
being inspired, the realms of surrounding space
peopled by immortal creatures of air —

* Myriads of spiritual things that walk uuhoou, C^ATl/ft^
liyuA^Cl4/u^^oth when we wake and when we sleep.'

These are the existences, in aspect as * young
men in white garments,' who inhabit the void
place between the worlds and their Maker, and

THE LATE REV. B, S. HAWKER, M.A, 105

their God, Behold the Battalions of the Lord
of Hosts ! the workers of the sky ! the faithful
and intelligent vassals of God the Trinity!
"We have named them in our own poor and
xneagre language *the Angels,' but this title
merely denotes one of their subordinate offices
— ^messengers from on high. The Gentiles
called them *gods,' but we ought to honour
them by a name that should embrace and in-
terpret their lofty dignity as an intermediate
army between the kingdom and the throne; the
Centurions of the stars, and of men ; the com-
manders of the forces and their guides. These
are they that each with a delegated office fulfil
what their * King Invisible ' decrees ; not with
the dull, inert mechanism of fixed and Natural
Law, but with the unslumbering energy and
the rational obedience of Spiritual Life. They
mould the atom ; they wield the force ; and, as
Newton rightly guessed, they rule the World of
matter beneath the silent Omnipotence of God.
" * And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set
up on the earth, and the top of it reached to

106 MBMOBIALS OF

Heaven ; and behold the angels of God ascend-
ing and descending on it. And behold the
Lord stood above it.' — Genesis xxviii. 12. Tolle
Lege, my dear nephew.

" Your affectionate uncle,

" R. S. Hawkee.
" Morwenstow Vicarage, Cornwall."

On this subject he wrote thus to Miss L.
Twining : —

"You refer to the MS. extracts which I
transcribed for you some time since. Their
history is this ; — I have kept on my table for
many years a * Thought Book,' in which I write
down every reference, question, and idea worth
preserving, which may come to me in course of
reading or meditation. The latter, which I
practise in my Chancel alone, and often at
night, is my most abundant source of in-
struction. There mysteries are made clear,
doctrines illustrated, and tidings brought, which
I firmly believe are the work of angelic ministry.
Of course the Angels of the Altar are there,

THE LATE BEV. R, S. HAWKER, M.A. 107

and the Angel of my own baptism is never
a^ay."

And again : — •

"Once, in dreamy vision, a stately and
Solemn Person stood and said to me, ^Ephphatha
is not so good a word as Amen.^ I was ponder-
ing the manner of the Real Presence in the
Eucharist, and I understood him to rebuke me,
»nd to say, * It is better to acquiesce in a doc-
'trine than to see it clearly. Better say " jBe as
-it iSf^^ than " Let it be opened to me." ' "

The following dissertation on the symbols of
St. Paul the Apostle from Mr. Hawker's pen, is
a good example of that curious and accurate
archaeological knowledge for which he was so
justly remarkable, and of which he owned such
a store : —

" The Apostle of the Gentiles is portrayed
upon ancient glass in the thin and ethereal form '
and stature of the arisen dead, and, at his side,
a peaceftd and symbohc sword.

" I. Because of the Oracle of Jacob his
ancestor, he was called in antique parch-

108 MEMORIALS OF

ments, * The Wolf of Benjamin.' — Genesis
xlix. 29.

" II. At Tarsus, his native city, lie was Saul,
the favourite disciple of Rabbi Gamaliel. He
was famous in the art and usage of arms, and,
as the custom of his nation demanded, he had
learned a craft or trade and was a maker of
tents from the rough skins of slain beasts. The
animals themselves were offered upon altars
there, and their skins from the days of the first
man were evermore regarded as emblems of the
sacrificial garniture of our exiled race. The
labour of his hands, therefore, was a fitting
type of his future priesthood.

" III. Now it was this Saul who went forth
from the gates of Jerusalem a strong Hebrew,
a man-at-arms, with horse and sword and spear
in the morning to ravin as a wolf ; and in the
evening to divide the spoil.

" IV. On the road to Damascus * which was
desert,' a Voice smote him to the Earth. He
feU, blind beaten into darkness by a flood of
insufferable light. A saying of Syria, which

THE LATE REV. E. S. HAWKER, M.A. 109

the memory of the Lord Jesus had carried up
into hieaven, put Saul of Tarsus to shame, for
he felt that it was in * vain for the ox to kick
against the goad/ So it was, as it were, said to
that armed man, * Thou shalt draw that sword
no more.'

" V. Thenceforth St. Paul went on his way
to the war with the Dark Legions of the Air ;
and, in the evening, in many a city he did
divide the spoil.

"VI. Therefore, in memory of that wilder-
ness and of the day when this weapon of earthly
battle * shook restrained,' the Saint was pic-
tured evermore with the * Sword filleted ' of
heraldry, in his faithful hand. His weapon,
wreathed and bound, is there the symbol of his
unavailing war with God.

" VII. His text, a legend of his shield, for
every Saint had one, is, *^He is a chosen vessel
unto Me, to bear My Name before the Gentiles
and Kings and the children of Israel.' "

His remarks on the Hand, and other signs and
symbols, are also interesting and noteworthy : —

110 MEMORIALS OF

" The Hand is the Symbol of Power. When
wholly given as a symbol it meant the All-
Might of the Godhead. With three fingers
only extended, it signified the Trinity.

" The Pentacle of Solomon, or five-pointed
figure, was derived from his Seal wherewith he
ruled the Genii. It was a Sapphire, and it con-
tained a Hand alivey which grasped a small ser-
pent also alive. Through the bright gem both
were visible, the Hand and the * Worm,' as of old
they called it. When invoked by the king, the
fingers moved and the serpent writhed, and
miracles were wrought by spirits who were
vassals of the gem : —

Hence all his might ; for who could these oppose ?
And Tadmor thus and Syrian Balbec rose !

" Because of this mystic Hand, the pentacle or
five-pointed (fingered) figure became the Sigil
of Signomancy in the early ages.® There is one
on a Boss in Morwenstow Chancel.

• " On this Seal, it is said that the four Hebrew letters
which form the awful Name n)rv were graven. Of this the

THE LATE EEV. E. S. HAWKEB, 3I.A. Ill

" The shield of David is a figure with six
angles (one for the manhood taken into God)."

The following privately-printed poem is a very
beautiful specimen of Mr. Hawker's theological
accuracy and rhythmical powers : —

A CANTICLE FOR CHRISTMAS, 1874.

Lo ! a pure Maiden, meek and mild,
Yearns to embrace an awful Ciiild ;
Those limbs her tenderest touch might win :
Yet thrill they with the God within.

She gazes ! and what doth she see ?
A gleaming Infant on her knee !
She pauses ! can she dare to press
That glory with a fond caress ?

" Yes, 'tis her flesh — that Form so fair !
Her very blood is bounding there !
The Mother's Heart the victory won, —
It is her God ! It is her Son !

rightful pronunciation is lost. The Rabbins say that if it were
to be accurately sounded, even by chance, earthquakes would
ensue, the foundations of the hills would be uprooted, and
the ancient genii imprisoned there would come forth and
appear to many. Yee-hah-ee-hah, a word entirely
breathed, without usage of the tongue or teeth, appears to
approach it. It should come forth from the throat and
mouth as breath, sighed rather than syllabled." — Letter of
Rev. R. S. Hawker to Miss Louisa Twining.

112 MEMORIALS OF

Hers the proud gladness mothers know ;
Without a thrill ; without a throe ;
And Mary Mother undefiled
Claims for Her Breast that awful Child !

The following remarks, in a letter to myself,
from the pen of Mr. William Maskell, sometime
Chaplain to the late Bishop Phillpotts, and now
of Bude Castle — an old friend and a near neigh-
bour in latter years of Mr. Hawker, will be read
with interest : —

" I can't think why you suppose that I under-
rate Mr. Hawker's powers : certainly in quoting
and in referring to him in the little description
of *Bude Haven,' I wished to be imderstood
very differently. I should not call him a great
poet; his subjects, with one exception, were
not great; but many of his ballads (not to
mention the * Trelawny ') are admirable. Few
men could have written * The Silent Tower of
Bottreau,' * The Wail of the Cornish Mother/
* The Dirge,' or * The Croon on Hennacliffe/
These are simple, spirited, and beautiful ; they^
are what ballads should be, and, if equalled,

THE LATE BEV. B. S. HAWKER, M.A. 113

not surpassed by the ballads of any living or
modem writer. One or two of Edgar Poe's
might be compared with them ; but whose else ?
Edgar Poe, and Hawker, and Hood were bom
poets; not made better, as it were, up to a.
certain mark, by continual exercise and evident
labour at writing poetry. So also I have always
spoken in the highest terms of his * Quest of the
Sangraal ;' the one attempt, and we must regret
it is only a fragment, — ^upon a great subject.
To my mind, it is far more true work of a real
poet than the rival * Idylls ' of Tennyson. It
may be a mistake, but there is a dim impression
on my memory that Mr. Hawker used to claim
for his * Quest ' precedence in point of time.*

" You ask me, also, for a brief estimate of his
character. I knew him for more than thirty

* This is not so. Mr. Hawker's poem was first published
at Exeter in 1864, whereas the Poet Laureate's "Idylls of [ y
the King" first appeared five years previously, in 1859. \
Mr. Hawker sent a presentation copy of his " Quest " to
Mr. Tennyson, which was acknowledged, not by him, but
by his wife. He is said to have been annoyed that Mr.
Hawker had taken the same subject. — F. G. L.

V

114 ^ MEMORIALS OF

years, and knew him well; but there are cir-
cumstances connected with the last few hours
of his Hfe, which make me hesitate to speak.
Every one who had seen or corresponded with
him for the last ten or twenty years must have
been aware of his (what people call) * Catholic
feelings and tendencies,' yet I was extremely
surprised to hear that he had been received into
the Church a few hours only before his death.
I would not venture to offer any judgment, not
even an opinion, upon an act of that kind ; it
seems to me very presumptuous in any one to
do so. Who can be justified in speculating
(and it would be mere speculation) as to the
possible or probable causes which prevented
such a step in years gone by, or at last forced
it to be taken when almost too late ? At present,
therefore, I feel only this, that I dare not attempt
to delineate his character. By-the-bye, don't
forget his genial and kind manners, and Ids
generous hospitality to all; likewise that he
was a good letter-writer, and an excellent teller
of stories."

THE LATE REV. R. S. HAWKER, M.A. 115

In this slight and imperfect account of his
writings — many of which have been but glanced
at — sufficient has been written to show that the
late Vicar of Morwenstow possessed, in many-
ways, very remarkable powers. As a Christian
poet he will be surely ranked amongst the fore-
most of the present century, a century which
has produced a Wordsworth, a Keble, a Faber,
a Neale, an Isaac Williams, and a Miss Procter.

:*-^

1 2

CHAPTER m.

ALTERED CONVICTIONS AND DEATH*

Many of us remember the excitement which
arose in the year 1869, when the author of the
first of the " Essays and Reviews," an authori-
tative printed manifesto of sceptical and latitu-
dinarian opinions, — ^wag, by Her Majesty, at Mr.
Gladstone's recommendation, nominated to the
see of Exeter.^ Condemnatory words, neither weak

* I am told by a trustworthy and well-informed corre-
spondent, that the Bishop of Exeter has disclaimed all
responsibility for any opinions expressed elsewhere than in
his own contribution in Essays and BeviewSy and that since
his elevation to the episcopate he has refused to allow hif
own essay to appear with the others ; and, furthermore
that the volume is now out of print. Many persons woul
be glad if the Bishop would publicly avow such a new a?
more creditable policy^ especially for one who has becoj
an official guardian in England of the Christian faith t
traditions.

MEMORIALS, ETC. 117

nor unforcible, were used even by men of sedate
calmness and picturesque platitudes; protests
were numerous, and strongly-worded threats of
what would happen in the future were doleful
and dreary in their sound, and helped to conjure
up a probable and immediate period of confusion
and gloom.^ But after all, what has happened ?
While no single leader of the Oxford movement
— at its origin so thorougUy Christian and
Conservative in its every tendency — has been
elevated to the bench ; the Oxford tutor (him-
self, on his own confession, an unbeliever in the
Athanasian Creed),* who led a Liberal perse-
cution of Dr. Newman, and helped to drive him

* Though no names were given, and nothing very specific
as regards individuals set forth, yet the John Bull (which,
to its conductors' credit, attempted an agitation against the
appointment of Dr. Temple) was authorized hy some of
its episcopal supporters to declare that certain of the hishops
would decline either to meet the person nominated in Con-
vocation or to co-operate with him in work.

' We [the Archbishop and Bishops] do not — there is not
a soul in this room who does — take the concluding clauses
of the Athanasian Creed in their plain and literal sense."
Speech of Archbishop Tait in Convocation, reported in the
Guardian of Feb. 14, 1872.

118 MEMORIALS OF

away/ was placed by a Tory Prime Minister in
the chair of St. Augustine ; while a contributor
to a volume formally condemned, as well by a
majority of the Bishops as by Convocation, and
declared to be unsound and heretical, succeeded
Dr. Phillpotts, the most fearless and remarkable
ecclesiastical statesman of the present century,
in the see of Exeter. Passive contentment, if
not active satisfaction, as we may each see,
reigns on all sides.

To a clergyman of Mr. Hawker's accurate
knowledge, ti^ue Christian instinct, and sen-
sitive soul, this appointment must have caused
(as was certainly the case) the greatest con-
sternation and pain. Henceforth, as he main-
tained, it would be clear to all, that, although

* Dr. Newman, the best of witnesses to this fact, thus
wrote : — " The men who had driven me from Oxford were
distinctly the Liberals, it was they who opened the attack
upon Tract 90 " (p. 203). And, *< I found no fault with the
Liberals ; they had beaten me in a fair field" (p. 214). —
"History of My Religious Opinions," London, 1865. And
elsewhere, " My battle was with Liberalism : by * Liberalism^
I meant the anti-dogmatic principle and its developments ^ '
(p. 120. Part IV. First Edition.)

THE LATE BEV. R. S. HAWKER, M.A. 119

the three Creeds were technically received as
expressive of the theoretical faith of the Church
of England, yet it was equally open to her
nominal members to maintain that the principles
of " Essays and Reviews " were alike honestly
tenable in the Established Church ; for a con-
tributor to that volume was now the Father in
God of those of the faithful who dwelt within
the confines of Devonshire and Cornwall.*

' The following Memorial was presented to Dr. Temple
of Exeter in 1873, by communicants of the diocese ^—

" We should be greatly relieved if your lordship can
Assure us that in your Charge delivered lately at Plymouth,
^ou did not mean to convey that the Church of £ngland
has ever by her practice or in her ordinal, authorized,
^Sanctioned, or in any way encouraged, a constitution of the
xxiinistry of the Church upon any other basis than that of
"the Apostolical Succession."

The Bishop replied as follows, on July 16, 1873 : —
" I have to observe that there can be no doubt that the
Ohurch of England has included, and has deliberately
intended to include, within her limits both those who hold
Cind those who do not hold the doctrine of the Apostolical
Succession. She has accordingly most carefully provided
t;hat all her ministers shall have that succession as a matter
of course. She has omitted from her Articles all mention
of that succession as a matter of doctrine."

In the face of the " Preface " to the Ordinal, comment

120 MEMORIALS OP

Furthermore, Mr. Hawker was very much
distressed that no party of action amongst the
bishops could be formed to resist the recent bold
and aggressive Erastianism of the two Primates.
Our leaders wiU not, apparently, face existing
diflBculties. This is only what Dr. Newman
remarked, in the following terms, thirty years
ago :— " Has not all our misery, as a Church,
arisen from people being afraid to look diffi-
culties in the face ? They have palUated acts

on the above is unnecessary. Such a declaration from his
" Father in Grod," in which the Church of England is by
episcopal authority made to hold and teach no doctrine
whatsoever on the Apostolical Succession, made, of course, a
deep impression on Mr. Hawker, who remarked *' Our
beloved Church, then, permitting contradictories, has no
doctrine on the subject at all."

Few condemned the late Dean Alford's vagaries, in
conjunction with representatives of many of the latest and
most unclean sects, thus recorded by himself: — " Sept 13,
Sunday. — ^At nine a.m. we all went to the Hdtel de~ Russia,
where about 150 English Christians of all denominations
received the Communion together ; no form except the
reading the words of institution — a thing I should imagine
without parallel in the history of the Church." [And so
should I.— F. G. L.] "Life of Dean Alford," p. 279^
Bivingtons, 1874.

THE LATE KEV. R. S. HAWKER, M.A. 121

when they should have denounced them. There
is that good fellow Worcester Palmer, can
whitewash the Ecclesiastical Commission and
the Jerusalem Bishopric ; and what is the con-
sequence ? that our Church has through cen-
turies ever been sinking lower and lower, till
good part of its pretensions and professions is
a mere sham, though it be a duty to make the
best of what we have received."^

I possess several letters dealing in vigorous
language with this most dangerous shortcoming.
In December, 1870,Mr. Hawker wrote thus : —
" You wiU have noted that neither Moberley
the friend of Pusey and Keble, nor Mackamess —
imtil the eve of his consecration a member of
the English [Church] Union — came forward to
maintain and defend the most elementary prin-
ciples of a true Church. At the Union they
give talk abundant, in return for ill-spent sub-
scriptions ; and in talk, as Experience teaches
us aU more and more, the frivolous and shallow

• " History of Mj Religious Opinions," by Dr. Newman.
First Edition, p. 274.

122 MEMORIALS OP

of the younger race seem to put their whole
trust and confidence."

And in January 1870, as follows : —

" Tait claims to be a Pope, and his provincials
allow it, without rebuke or protest. He acts,
and they register his will, in unanticipated and
shameful silence.' In Capetown, and India,
and Canada, he actively interferes, without
jurisdiction; and superior men bow the head
as well as the knee. But he is a Pope, without
Cardinals for councillors or Congregations for
advisers. His beardless and unfledged chap-
lains know nothing, and can advise nothing;
save to grease the creaking wheels of the
Establishmentarian coach well, and to sacrifice
everything which concerns the World to come.

' This may be illusti'ated by a recent event When 483
English clergymen petitioned the bishops for advice, the
Archbishop (without, as it is reported, consulting his co-
provincial bishops), wrote and despatched the reply ^
implying in that answer (what ought certainly not to hav^ ^
been implied), that the whole bench of bishops had accepted^
his Grace's opinion on the subject.

THE LATE EEV. B. S. HAWKER, M.A. 123

in order to make things more pleasant and
comfortable for the World that is."

To a Parish Priest who held closely to the
Catholic faith as set forth in the Creed of St.
Athanasius, however, this new and altered
position must have been sorely perplexing.
What sorrow it caused him is possibly known
only to his Master. In conversation with his
acquaintance, Mr. Christopher A. Harris, of
Exeter, in the autumn of 1874, Mr. Hawker is
reported to have said, " Much as I disapproved
and was shocked at the nomination of the
present Bishop of the diocese ; yet, when he was
appointed to the episcopal bench, I was bound
by my ordination vow to obey him, and I have
obeyed him by discontinuing to wear vestments
of which he disapproved. My conscience is my
own."* About the same period he wrote to
me to this effect : — " The open disobedience of
the Ritualistic party is to myself a problem and
a puzzle.- I obey" [in the question of reUn-
quishing the use of the sacerdotal vestments] ;

» John Bull, Sept. 18, 1875.

124 >IE\IORIALS OF

** bowing my head before circumstances, and
throwing the whole responsibility on my Father
in God. What else can a Christian priest do ?
But I am getting paralyzed and stricken down
with anxiety as to the future."

What the Church of England set forth in the
Prayer Books of 1549 or 1662 may have been,
as Mr. Hawker admitted, the voice of the body
enshrined in print and writing, spoken and
recorded at those respective periods; but the
pressing question is rather what does she say
and teach, or what does she permit her breath-
ing and speaking ministers to teach, at the
present time ? As regards Baptism — a sacra-
ment on which of all others she speaks so
plainly in authorized documents that no doubt
can possibly exist as to the obvious primary
and literal sense of her recorded words — ^what
is the doctrine of the Church of England ? What
is her living voice? Some of her clergy, in
accordance with her formularies, teach that
regeneration is directly effected by baptism;
others, in contradiction to them, that baptism

THE LATE REV. R. S. HAWKER, M.A. 125

is simply an empty sign and spiritually useless
act. Both licensed and authorized to teach,
or instituted to livings by her Bishops, have
full liberty, and not unfrequently in adjacent
parishes, to maintain these their own contra-
dictory opinions in her name ; each is duly and
regularly authorized to be a teacher on her
behalf. Neither public religious instructor is
let or holden in contradicting his clerical neigh-
bour. So that by consequence — and it needs
but slender logical powers to draw the inevitable
conclusion — ^the National Church, by her living
oflBcers practically teaches no doctrine at all on
this fundamental and momentous subject. This,
ever since the Gorham judgment, (would that
it were not so !) has been our exact position.
And the moral danger of this anomalous position
was, as I well know, a sore and constant source
of mental perplexity to Mr. Hawker.

Again, the same system of " wise comprehen-
sion '* or " loving toleration " • is so practically

* For these and similar well-worn expressions, see
generally almost any episcopal '* Charge " for the last thirty

126 MEMORIALS OF

known in the actual working of the Church of
England that vast mischief, as he maintained,
constantly arises from its presence and power.
Several cases have lately occurred in which
sweeping and ruthless changes have been sud-
denly effected on the death of some rector or
vicar. ^ I have one melancholy example very
clearly in my mind, and forcibly before me as I
write. A clergyman of High Church principles
laboured quietly, patiently, and without rebuke
for twenty-five years in a certain London parish.
He taught his flock both in school and church
the Catholic faith, and their duties ; and they,
regarding him as an ambassador from God,

years passim ; or particularly the Bishop of Chichester's
recent Charge, in which he writes of " the comprehensive
tolerance of the Church of England."

* Now, in the Church of Borne, it is the system on which
people rest ; in the Church of England it is the indivtdiial.
The death of this priest or the other makes little or no
difference in the first-named communion ; services and
teaching go on just the same ; with ourselves, on the other
hand, the changes are so great that two different and
distinct religions are sometimes presented in succession to
a dazed and confounded congregation.

THE LATE REV. E. S. HAWKER, M.A. 127

accepted it and strove to abide and benefit by
his teaching. He died, as God willed it ; and
the patron, a high ecclesiastical dignitary,
presented a clergyman of a school directly
contrarient. Everything was changed, as far
as it was possible to make a change. Numbers,
saddened to the very heart's core, tried to bear
the revolution in patience, and, for awhile,
hoped against hope ; but, having common sense,
and owning consciences, they could not long
endure the alterations. A considerable number
were scattered, some, as I know with sorrow,
to bear the chill and curse of religious indiffer-
ence ; others to become ecclesiastical outcasts,
sceptics as to whether Almighty God has ever
vouchsafed any revelation to mankind at all;
and a few to the Church of Eome.*

* A fnend, looking over these paragraphs, remarks that
the case of All Saints', Lambeth, in 1867, was an example
of such a similar change, though in an upward direction ;
^nd others may note the same point. But this is not so.
I^rior to my coming (through circumstances which, I am
informed) were altogether beyond the control of the previous
vicar), the congregation had greatly dwindled away. In

128 MEMORIALS OF

Mr. Hawker saw and heard of this and similar
cases ; and, surveying events from the calm dis-
tance of a Cornish parish, with the keen and
undimmed eye of a fervent believer in Chris-
tianity, who, amid present storms and per-
plexities, looked out calmly — ^like a tempest-tost
mariner for a sight of harbour, for the Heavenly
City which he sought — was forced to the pain-
ful conclusion that the apparently secure
standing-point from which the old Church of
England had been previously defended so
efficiently by such eminent writers as Andrews,
Bull, and Jeremy Collier, was gone, — buried in
the quicksands of present rude and violent
changes — ^its place knowing it no more.

His opinion may be both questioned and
lamented : but such a conscientious decision, if
arrived at, ought at least to merit respect. For
he who acts conscientiously himself, is usually
the first to give others credit for doing the

the previous year the average attendance at the Sunday
morning services is said to have heen exactly sixteen adults,
and I helieve this to have heen the case.

THE LATE REV. B. S. HAWKER, M.A. 129

same. And surely Protestants, whatever be
their form of misbelief, w:ho start with the
principle that Private Judgment is a duty, as
well as a right, ought especially to avoid con-
demning those of their neighbours who may
think weU to exercise it in a direction slightly
different to that which they themselves have
taken.

But events must not be pre-considered.

Early in March of 1874, Mr. Hawker did me
the honour to apply to me for specific informa-
tion regarding certain perplexing details bear-
ing upon the validity of Church of England
ordinations. The fact that direct and im-
doubted evidence has not, as yet,, been dis-
covered of William Barlow's consecration;
coupled with the doubt, which will possibly
always exist in some minds, as to Barlow's
mtention in consecratiag Matthew Parker,
troubled him sorely.* He felt astonished, too,

• He wrote to me about that period thus : — " Another
question which I cannot get answered is this : * Why, when
our dear old Church possessed forms for Ordination and

130 MBMOfilALS OF

that no canon or dignitary of any literary
capacity or reputation (well paid, and with
learned leisure) had come forward from his
repose to defend the new and vigorous attacks
which had been so adroitly and successfully
made on the personal characters of several of
the leading reformers.* And so he began to
harbour a doubt as to whether the spiritual
continuity of the old National Church had been
certainly and duly secured: not being very
much enamoured of the active agents and in-
struments of the sixteenth-century changes,
either as regards their personal characters,
ecclesiastical policy, or public writings.

On the evening of Easter Day, 1874 (April
5th), Mr. Hawker was brought down to my
Parish Church, All Saints', Lambeth, by our

ConsecratioDj; which were universally regarded as valid,
(and this without an exception,) should other forms have heen
substituted for them, which have been questioned ever since
the dark day of change ? Did not the restoration and im-
provements of 1662 come a century too late ?' "

* See Appendix No. I. for the convictions of the Rev. N.
Pocock, M.A., &c.

THE LATE REV. B. S. HAWKEB, M.A. 131

mutual friend Mr. J. G. Godwin. I liad not
seen the venerable Vicar of Morwenstow for
more than twenty-five years, since I, as a
youth, was presented to him about the year
1847 or 1848, at Oxford ; and, at first sight, he
appeared so altered that I should have scarcely
recognized him ; but, by degrees, his old form
and face returned again, and I had the pleasure
of seeing before me, and afiectionately greeting,
a Poet-priest, who, through evil report and
good report — ever standing up for principle —
had done so great a work in his Cornish parish;
whose memory is deservedly respected wherever
that work is known; and for whom, both
as Priest and Poet, benevolent, refined, and
courteous, I myself entertain so true and deep
a regard.

The well-filled church, adorned with flowers
and in festal garb, was bright with Wax tapers.
We took our way in procession, and with song,
round the sacred edifice, each defiling, with
orderly precision, into his appointed place in
choir and sanctuary. The service was performed

K 2

132 MEMOEULS OF

mtli care and dignity; and, at my special
request, my venerated friend consented to ad-
dress tlie faithful. His sermon I shall never
forget. He spoke most eloquently of the cer-
tainty of the Resurrection, of the Faith and the
Hope and the Joy of the Mother of God, and of
the blessed end of our own enduring warfare
here. His voice, melodious and of a wide
compass, was as clear as a bell : his manner
simple, dignified, and loving: his oratory
perfect. The congregation listened with
breathless attention, and were deeply struck by
his remarkable powers.

He addressed the following letter to me on
April 10, 1874 :—

" I hope my pubhsher has sent you a copy of
my book, as I ordered him. You must hold it
in memoriam [ * Footprints of Former Men in Far
Comwair]. You have given me gold for lead
in your noble volume on * The Validity of our
Ordinations,' one that ought to have been the
chief text-book of the Church of England in this
Age of Doubt.

THE LATE REV. R. S. HAW^R, M.A. 133

" I shall take with me to the grave the service

in your church on the evening of Easter Day.

I never felt more impressed than by the gleam

of Paradise as we turned in from the dull lanes

and streets of Lambeth, into your lighted Hall

of God. It must be to you like an inspiration,

to rule and reign in such a sanctuary. May

Cjrod the Trinity give you a throne in your

C5hancel for long and coming years ! "

At this time I wrote several letters, on behalf

of his scheme for restoring the Church of

IMorwenstow under some thoroughly competent

STchitect, and tried to induce some of my

<3lerical brethren in London to give him the use

of their pulpits for appeals with this object.

IBut I was not successful. As is very constantly

"the case, every one seemed to be so engrossed

"^th his own parish and demands, that no

Result whatsoever came from my several appU-

^ations. In my own parish church the weekly

offertory scarcely averages thirty shiUings a

^^eek throughout the year : so it would have

t>een of little use to have looked for aid here.

134 MEMORIALS OF

My friend and former coadjutor, Archdeacon
Dunbar, also interested himself in Mr. Hawker's
success : but the responses he too received were,
to say the least, disappointing.

On April 26th the Vicar of Morwenstow
wrote to me thus : —

"Thanks, cordial thanks, for your letter to
the Post " ' [on Archbishop Tait's Bill] . " What
a forcible and incisive letter it is 1 You would
have made a fortune at the bar. The ears of
those with whom it deals ought to tingle as
they read it. God be with you in the conflict,
and grant us a triumph ! I myself am sad and
doubting, and very low; for I believe we are
losing the battle. Ever affectionately yours."

In acknowledgment of my slender services
on his behalf, Mr. Hawker wrote again ^ on
April 28, 1874 :—

• See Appendix No. III.

• 1 print the above letter exactly as I received it, so that
no doubt may exist as to the fact of Mr. Hawker's dis-
appointment. Very possibly the clergy named had good
and sufficient reasons for the reception they gave him. As
in other matters, however, so in taste and manners, the
World has changed considerably of late years.

THE LATE EEV. E. S. HAWKER, M.A. 135

" Thank you very earnestly, my dear Dr. Lee,
for your kind efforts to obtain pulpits for me.
But I regret to say that I have not been suc-
cessful. * The Thanes fly from me.' White, at
St. Bamabas's, would not see me, although he
was at home when I called. His excuse was
that he wanted all the offertories for himself.

m

Stuart saw and snubbed me. Liddell, of St.
Paul's, whom I referred to his relative (the
Dean of Christ Church) and others, wishes to
appropriate all collections for an indefinite time
to a Mission-chapel. Compton, of All Saints',
has given no reply to a note which contained a
letter of introduction from a friend of his own.
The only sermon which I have been allowed to
preach was at St. Matthias', Brompton. An
evening offertory, usually meagre, under 51. ;

but I won 221. 18s. Od Well, we

shall soon, I infer, have neither churches nor
ritual. Has Archibald Tait ever been baptized ?
If he has, the exorcisms were omitted, if one
may judge from the demonism of his measure '

" On this point, the Morning Post, quite as plain-spoken as

136 MEMOBIALS OF

[the Public Worship Eegulation Bill.] I wish
he and his could be induced to renounce the
Devil in old age* One of your flock, whose
name I do not know, followed me to Brompton
because of my sermon at Lambeth. Was not
this a compliment? My repulsion elsewhere,
makes me more grateful to you. With kindest
sympathy, yours always affectionately.*'

At the close of April, 1874, he wrote again: —
" I accept the omens. It is not from London
that God intends the resources of my restoration
shoidd be drawn. Nor are the doomed and
selfish clergy of this earthly city to be my
trusted allies in the humble warfare which I

the Vicar of Morwenstow, wrote as follows : " It is simply
impossible that the House of Lords — ^numbering as it does
many emineDt jurists — can possibly permit so violent a
departure from the plainest justice. The only marvel is
that any prelate could have been found to propose it. If it
be necessary to * put down Ritualists,' at least let them be
put down fairly, and have the securities of those sound prin-
ciples of law which from time immemorial have guarded the
honour of our courts of justice. Space fails us before the
subject is half exhausted ; but enough has been said to show
that the Bill is unfairly conceived, carelessly drawn, and
likely to create greater evils than it professes to cure. "

THE LATE REV. R. S. HAWKER, M.A. 137

wage for the grey old shrine on the Tamar
side."

Amongst his last words to myself was the
forcible expression of a solemn conviction that
the utter inability of the Clergy of the Esta-
blished Church to find any bond of united
action for defending the Ancient Faith, of which
they were at once the keepers and trustees,
showed that such disunion was a well-merited
punishment for the sins of our forefathers — sins
of sacrilege, robbery, and faithlessness. How
far the step he finally took was brought about
by the perfect tranquillity with which the
English clergy seemed, and seem, prepared to
adapt themselves to the altered ecclesiastical
circumstances of the present day, is one which
I am wholly unable to solve.

About this time the attention of the Vicar
of Morwenstow was specially called, by public
events both at home and abroad, to the re-
lations between THe Spiritual and The Tem-
poral in G o vernment ; and to this momentous
subject he gave great and painstaking con-

138 MEMORIALS OP

sideration. Mr. Hawker's was a mind whicli
could compass and take in great principles with
a perfect ease and sure completeness. Mere
details and unimportant results, as well as
peddling trivialities and obscure personalities,
his soul abhorred. He saw clearly that the
great struggle between the Spiritual and the
Temporal in Germany and elsewhere could not
do other than exercise a large and mischievous
influence on the National Church at home;
and remarked again and again, fearing a re-
action, " we shall suffer in England from a
similar conflict." " Brastianism is the same
everywhere; and, now that we have disciples
of the system in high offices within the Church,
we are sure to feel their powers." " * Law *
with Archbishop Tait," he wrote, " seems only
another word for tyranny."

A very vigorous and remarkable article on
this subject, to which his special attention had
been privately called, giving him much food
for thought, added considerably to his distress
of mind ; for he remarked to a friend, " Its

THE LATE HBV. E. S. HAWKER, M.A. 139

principles are unanswerable." This was in
September, 1874.

I quote a portion of it, thus : —

" The revived struggle in our own day
between the Spiritual and Temporal Powers
is only the reiteration of man's impotent re-
solve to reign without God. But it presents
a new character and asserts a new principle.
In other ages men rebelled ; but they did not
say that they had a right to do so. Even Pagan
lawlessness stopped short of that. To thinkers
like Plato and Aristotle, or even to jesters
like Horace and Juvenal, such a pretension
would have seemed exorbitant. It was re-
served for the Protestant Reformation to pro-
claim this definitive emancipation of the creature
from the law of the Creator, and make him
a law unto himself. The * supremacy of the
individual conscience,' as a Bampton lecturer
gaily observes, * and its complete independence
of all external authority, date from that
auspicious movement. It made man his own
master, owing allegiance to none but himself.

140 MEMOEIALS OF

The reign of Authority, which had always been
a mere usurpation, was finally closed. The
creature was at length free, or thought he was.'
And this doctrine was quickly imported from
the spiritual into the political sphere, with
results of which we are all witnesses 1 * Nobody
in the least conversant with the history of
opinion,' says the Pall Mall Gazette^ 'can
doubt that the political creed of the Liberal
party all over the world is, in its principal
articles, descended fi:om the Protestant Refor-
mation.' Nothing could be more evident. If
man could judge for himself in questions of the
soul, a fortiori he could do it in everything
else. Rationalism, Socialism, and Communism
are systems, which, like national Churches, have
their logical root in Protestantism. They are
inconvenient, but inevitable results of the
abolition of Authority, and the right of private
judgment. ^The moment a man is accountable
for his opinions only to his conscience, he may
as well be one thing as another. The Pro-
testant Reformation taught him, among other

THE LATE EEV. B. S. HAWKER, M.A. 141

useful lessons, that * Liberty to err is man's
highest good,' and that immunity from error
is the only real bondage. The Demon did not
propose to the human race so imprudent a
sophism tiU he knew they were ripe to receive
it. He is a good judge of times and seasons.
He has also a large experience, as he told one
of the saints, and possesses by this time a
complete map of the whole field of human
s,bsurdity. He was too wise, after his fashion,
^0 subvert the fabric of Authority prematurely.
IFifteen ages of constant observation before he
"rentured the final experiment of the Protestant
^Reformation. Only then, as his vast intellect
3)erceived, was the World rotten enough to give
at a chance of success. For, spite of much
ficientific culture, it had not hitherto fiirnished
a suitable soil for such a plant. Man had often
erred, but only to confess his error ; had re-
volted, but only to ask pardon foy his revolt.
Henceforth he was boldly to maintain, suadente
"numiney that there is no such thing as either
error or revolt. From that hour he has never

142 MEMORIALS OF

ceased to maintam it, both in the reUgious and
poUtical sphere. He is doing it now all over
the world. * Schism is a sin/ said a writer
the other day in the Church Review , *when
unnecessary: but necessary schism is not a
sin/ and of course they who commit it are the
only judges of its necessity. It is evident,
therefore, as a writer in the Pall Mall Gazette
asserts, and the writer in the Church Review
proves, that the principle by virtue of which
Satan is destroying Authority, making Grovem-
ment impossible, supplanting order by chaos,
and preparing the final dissolution of human
society, * is descended fi-om the Protestant
Reformation.*

" Nor is it less plain that to restrain or inter-
dict this * Right of Revolt * is a function which
cannot belong to those who use the same
right themselves. Even the civil magistrate,
if he is a Protestant, can only punish male-
factors by contradicting himself and renouncing
his first principle. Every sentence pronounced
by him against those who use the 'right of

THE LATE REV. B. S. HAWKEE, M.A. 14o

private judgment * against society as he uses

it against the Church, and transgresses human

laws as he violates those which are divine, is

a confession that he dares not tolerate in the

citizen the Hcence which he applauds in the

Christian, and that though he denies the

Authority of the Church, he will suffer no one

to deny his own. And those more logical

IProtestants, the burglar and the assassin, the

Communist and the Red Republican, easily

detect the^ revolting inconsistency, and resent

it accordingly. They claim in their * Theory

<)f Social Science,' only the same unlimited

3)rivate judgment, which one of our ablest

journalists lately claimed for the Clergy of the

INational Church, and which they every day

claim for themselves. * The first security of

«very beneficed clergyman in England,* said

ihe Spectator, in a benevolent defence of the

Tights and privileges which the Anglican

minister derives from the Reformation, * is

that .... he does not in the pulpit represent

his congregation or the Church, but is only

144 MEMORIALS OF

setting forth his own " views ^^^ and that he is
authorized to teach what is in him to teach.'
Any limitation of this delightful form of
LiberaUsm, our contemporary adds, should
be resisted. * All three divisions of the Church
will feel it equally : the High Churchmen in
their freedom of assertion, the Low Churchmen
in their freedom of protest, the Broad ChurcTi
in their freedom of exposition.' Is it possible
to avow with more unconscious frankness that
we have reached in England that hideous
climax of disorder which three of the Apostles
announced would spring from the sects of
* the last days,' and which we did not need to
be told by the Pall Mall Gazette, * is descended
from the Protestant Reformation' ?"

Considerations such as these exercised a great
influence over Mr. Hawker ; and, whether wisely
or the reverse, led him to doubt gravely whether
the National Church imder present guidance
would turn out to be any true portion of the

Catholic fold. The rebellion which existed

*

amongst the Clergy, every man doing that which

THE LATE REV. B. S. HAWKEB, M.A. 145

was right in his own eyes ; the utter inability
of the Bishops to curb the mutinous or to steer
the vessel ; the contradictory faith and opinions
amongst Bishops themselves and the clergy of
the same communion ; their impracticable com-
promises and insincere co-operation; the shallow
and fruitless talk of Conferences, the babbling
platitudes of Congresses; and more especially
the feeble and insane appeal of our spiritual
rulers to a non-Christian Parliament to help
them in their ecclesiastical difficulties, all tended
to work a great revolution in Mr. Hawker's
mind. So much so that the services at his
church began to become a heavy burden to him,
and he looked with considerable distaste at
having to perform them. Still he was not so
convinced of the need of actual change as to
leave the national commimion ; though he felt
that any day he might be called upon by con-
science to do so. As I have said before, he had
lost heart ; not by the action of Roman Catholic
controversialists, but because of the policy of
our own Fathers in God. >

146 MEMORIALS OF

In a letter addressed to Mr. J. G. Godwin,
on September 21, 1874, from Morwenstow, Mr.
Hawker wrote thus : — " The reason why success
does not attend all these spasmodic efforts to
bolster up the Anglican Body is that they are
all hollow and selfish, and insincere. A mass
of men see and he^* of a noble gift, a generous
succour, and they cry out, * What a good man !
what a fine-hearted fellow ! ' An angel stand-
ing by and looking into the man's mind, and
discerning his motives, mocks his efforts, and
glides away with God's benediction imopened
in his hand.

" The two worlds are nearer than we think,
and the transactions between them are daily
and graphic. A Bishop, in his place in Parlia-
ment utters a defiant and rancorous speech
God-ward. Soon after his horse stumbles, and
the angel of his baptism holds aloof; and, un-
succoured, he dies. Another Bishop apes the
Apostle and the Martyr among the barbarous
people of the Southern Seas. In peril 'an arrow
or a club (which the least of God's angels coul

THE LATE REV. B. S. HAWKEE, M.A, 147

have averted by a touch, yet did not) slew him.
Even I wondered until his episcopal * Life * was
written and printed. Then saw I the cause of
these things. The doctrines uttered by this
man to the listening heathen were fallacious
and untrue. He was Arian, Wesleyan, heretical ;
and the messages he invented were not sent by
God. So among the savages he was left alone.

" I firmly beheve that the daily affairs of us
all are discussed among spirits and angels, and
are helped or hindered by them as usually as
one earthly friend helps another. The angels
hear what we say ; read what we write. One
is looking over my shoulder now. And they
are empowered to requite good and evil, not
only, said St. Augustine, * according to God's
general command, but by the exercise of their
own rational and reasonable power.'

" K you have seen my letter, you will under-
stand the office they fulfil in the economy of
the universe.

" A traveller in Yorkshire, in 1852, encoun,-
tered on a moor a person who seemed to him to

L 2

148 MEMOEIALS OF

be a pedlar carrying a pack. They sat down

upon a rock. and conversed. Said the stranger,

* In fifty years from this time the great mass of

the English people will be divided into two

armies, and their names will be Catholic and

Infidel.' The traveller knew not whom the

stranger might be, nor did he touch him so as

to ascertain that he was really a man. Soon

after (how he could hardly tell) he had ghded

away. I read this book of travels, and have

often thought of it since.

* * * * Ik * ^

" I am conscious of symptoms very ominous
and very depressing. I hope you will always be
a faithful friend to my dear ones when I am not.
.... I am very impatient for my [Sermon
on] * Rural Synods.' I shall want it perhaps
shortly for my defence to the Bishop. I expect
to be soon assailed with calumny. My — ^ —
did his best to ruin me, and he is doggedly
attacking me now ; although his connexion with
Morwenstow is severed. He was all grimace
and strut and falsetto. He brought into my

THE LATE EEV. R. S. HAWKER, M.A. 149

church everything Roman that is there, and
now accuses me of disloyalty to the Anglican
Church. Do write me, I pray; for I am very
forlorn. God bless you."

And to myself, six weeks later, on All Souls'
Day, he wrote the following : — :

" It is not well, methinks, for the * Ritualistic
party,' as they are called, that their cheap serial
should be conducted by irresponsible persons —
Radical parsons, as I hear— with neither parish
charge nor ecclesiastical obligations; *free
lances ' of an upstart and misleading band ;
which, I am inclined to aver, has but Uttle in
common with the grand and great men of God
in Newman's day, whose sensitive refinement
and deference to Authority contrast so mightily
with the brag and bounce of vulgar anonymes
and adventurous theorists, whose newspaper I

cannot read and will not see. The guards

little else than its proprietors' capital and
financial interests. I take the Register^ because
its foreign church news is always so good and
interesting."

150 MEMOBIALS OF

In truth the policy and principles of the
so-called "Radical Ritualists" distressed Mr.
Hawker deeply. He saw keenly and clearly
enough the wide distinction between the sound
and solid principles of the old Oxford school of
Dr. Newman's time — ^honestly put into practice
in the relations which the clergy of that day bore
to their Bishops — before a demure Whiggism
and afterwards a revolutionary Radicalism, had
seized upon too many of the leaders of the High
Church party, issuiug in weakness, paralysis,
and discomfiture. He felt strongly that the
Christian reUgion rested on the great principle
of Authority. "Most of our disputes,** he
wrote, " arise fi:om the manner in which men
answer the questions, so often arising and as
put to them, *Has the Almighty left any
authority upon earth. Divine and unerring,
which obviously represents Him; or are men
left to be guides to themselves ?* "

Mr. Hawker disHked public meetings, the
organization and action of party societies, the
policy of rival missionary corporations as well

THE LATE BEV. K. S. HAWKER, M.A. 151

as clap-trap appeals to the oi voWoC for sensa-
tional support and temporary aid, — because
they seemed to him based on a thoroughly false
and bad principle. "Missionary operations,"
he remarked to a friend, " ought to take either
a diocesan or provincial form. One diocese,
old-established, should aid another, in God's
Name, to plant the Faith ; and your squabbling
societies, riotous in dispute, should put up their
shutters and die quietly and without any noise."
And, on the same subject, to another fiiend ;
" For God's sake, let us try to agree together
at home, before we transplant our demoniacal
dis-union to foreign lands. A National Church
[acting] apart from foreign Cathohcs has never
been able to retain its own flock, let alone the
folding of others. Discord, the delight of
demons, is the greatest foe to all English
missioners, wheresoever or whatsoever they
may be."

Again, on his return to Morwenstow, he
addressed me thus : — " When a man in a high
ecclesiastical position is asked in good faith

152 MEMORIALS OF

concerning the fact of his baptism — a sacra-

«

ment upon the due administration of which
depends' the validity of the momentous acts —
why should he be silent, or why should he not
at once peaceably reply ? The very hesitation
on his part adds to the doubt, if doubt there
be. At all events the position of an archbishop
is such that no doubt ought to remain idle for
a day if it can be truly removed."

He had previously sent to me another let-
ter on the same subject, in the following
terms : —

"Morwenstow, Oct. 20th, 1874.

"A doom seems to gather over us. The
hour of the demons appears to prevail. But
why ar^ the best avenues of attack deserted ?
The very strongest hold (the more than doubt
of Archbishop Tait's baptism) was assailed
and then quietly closed. In all the oppor-
tunities of a fair battle this was, and is, the
best point of advantage over the foe, and no
one mans the wall. I had meant to make
onslaught, but when I asked the Editor [of the

THE LATE BEV. B. S. HAWKEE, M.A. 153

Church newspaper, in which the subject was
discussed,] to admit my MS. into his columns,
he made no reply.

" You of course know the case of Archbishop
Seeker.® His baptism was found wanting, and
the wrath evoked among the clergy whom he
had invalidly ordained, and the confirmed upon
whom he had laid his ineffectual hands, was
fearfol. Only estabUsh Tait's unregeneracy,
and he is at your mercy."

In the early part of the November following
I begged his acceptance of my book of verse,
" The Bells of Botteville Tower," and at the
same time solicited a contribution for a small
volume of original poems, " Lyrics of Light and
Life," compiled and edited by me, then in the

• As yet I have been unable to find any particulars of
this case of Arcbbisbop Seeker, who, it appears, was con-
secrated at Lambeth, January 19, 1735, on his appointment
to Bristol. Two years later he was translated to Oxford,
and in 1758 was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury.
As archbishop he was the consecrator of ten bishops, viz. : —
Philip Young, William Warburton, Samuel Squire, John
Ewer, John Green, Thomas Newton, Charles Lyttelton,
Frederick Keppel, Robert Lambe, and Robert Lowth.

154 MEMORIALS OF

printer's hands, in acknowledgment of which
came the following, dated Morwenstow, Nov.
5, 1874 :—

"Thank you earnestly, my dear Dr. Lee,
for your graphic and faithful book. I return
you some fragments — dross for gold. The
only one among them which may suit your
themes is * Aishah Schekinah.' Say if it will
do. The others are merely fragments of a
broken mind. I write in haste, but always
yours affectionately."

I eventually accepted for my compilation a
poem entitled "Aurora," of which five and
twenty copies only had been privately printed
by Mr. Hawker's Mend and neighbour, Mr.
William Maskell, of Bude Castle, in the year
1873. It now stands last in my volume, "Lyrics
of Light and Life," and, though mystical, has
deservedly found, amongst competent judges,
many cordial admirers.

In a letter dated Morwenstow, Novem-
ber 19, 1874, in reference to that poem, he
asked : —

THE LATE REV. R. S. HAWKER, M.A. 165

" Did I tell you that in my * Aurora' • I adopted
a theory of the time of Origen that the scene

• I transcribe the following, in order that the theory in
question may be duly considered : —

AURORA.

I.

Sanfall, and yet no night ! Fire floods the earth !
A molten rainbow flakes the northern sky !

The Polar gates unclose ; and gleaming forth
Troop the wild flames that glide and glare on high.
Tinged in their vaulted home with that deep ruddy dye !

II.

Whence flash these mystic signals ? What the scene
Where the red rivers find their founts of flame ?

^ar, far away, where icy bulwarks lean
Along the deep, in seas without a name :
Where the vast porch of Hades rears its giant fi-ame !

III.

-^te underworld of souls ! sever'd in twain :

One, the fell North, perplex*d and thick with gloom ;

^iid one, the South, that calm and glad domain,

^here asphodel and lotus lightly bloom

*Neath God's own Starry Cross, the shield of peaceful

doom.

iv.

"^^o quest of man shall touch — no daring keel
Cleave the dark waters to their awful bourne :

"^^one shall the living sepulchre reveal

Where separate souls must throng, and pause, and yearn
For their far dust, the signal and their glad return,

166 MEMORIALS OF

of the Intermediate State is the hollow centre
of the earth, and that the Northern Lights are
flashed from the opening of the Gates at the
Poles?"

And then he went on to remark, — " I think
that the dogged reticence of Dr. Tait as to his
baptism is the most oflTensive fact in modern
controversy. Could not an appeal to him for
decision of doubt be made for signature by the
persons directly involved? Mrs. Hawker was
ostensibly confirmed by him at St. Pancras', when
he was Bishop of London ; and if she attached
any value to his oflBce, would be very much dis-
mayed by the discovery that he had laid on her
the empty hands of a Pagan oflBcer, * as one
that beatetL the air.' There is something

V.

Ay ! ever and anon the gates roll wide,

When whole battalions yield their sudden breath ;

And ghosts in armies gather as thej glide,

Still fierce and vengeful, from the field of death :

Lo ! lightnings lead their hosts, and meteors glare beneath^

November 10, 1870.

THE LATE EEV. B. S. HAWKEE, M.A. 157

almost demoniac in the way in which some
mock at the grace of the Paraclete in all their
functions. But the total history of our times
is a record of the Battle of the demons with
the Battalions of the Living God. I hope to
have a line from you soon. In these days it is
something to receive a Sacramental Letter from
a true man. God speed you in all your ways.
I am always yours affectionately."

Mr. Hawker's distress that the Public
Worship Regulation Bill should have been
introduced by the Bishops^ was as true and

* In June, 1874, in a letter to the Hon. Charles L.
Wood, Dr. Hook, the late Dean of Chichester, only
expressed in the following words what Mr. Hawker so
keenly felt. The Dean wrote thus : — " I could dwell on
the violation of principle when it is proposed to sweep
away the episcopal jurisdiction in the first instance, or the
enabling of any three people, whatever their principles
may be, to disturb a parish. ... I am content to make
these observations upon a measure which, by its haste and
violence, renders its withdrawal at the present time a
necessity to those who regard the Church of England, not
as a sect, but as a branch of the Holy Catholic Church ....
W. F. Hook."— An analysis of the Archbishop's Bill will
be found in Appendix III. It was contributed by me, under
the signature of " A London Clergyman," to The Morning

158 XEMOBIALS OF

deep as it was sincere. "Neither party of
politicians wonld ever have dreamt of such a
scheme," he wrote to myself, when the Bill had
become law. " The Bishops * are the traitors
of their Master." Those who, Uke Mr. Hawker,
love the " Catholic faith " better than their life ;
those whom its giflbs and graces have cheered
and gladdened for weary and clouded years;
those who have not the remotest sympathy with
religious indifference, will each and all allow
that no strength of language, and Mr. Hawker's

Po8t^ the day after Archbishop Tait introduced it into the
House of Lords, and was reprinted by all the Church
newspapers.

* The prelates who voted for the Public Worship
Regulation Bill on the crucial division, when the Duke of
Marlborough declared by an amendment on going into
Committee, the inexpediency of proceeding with the
measure, were the Archbishops of Canterbury and York,
and the Bishops of Bangor, Bath and Wells, Carlisle,
Chichester, Exeter, Gloucester and Bristol, Hereford,
Llandaff, London, Manchester, Norwich, Peterborough,
Ripon, Rochester, St. Asaph, Winchester, and Worcester.
The only prelate who voted for the Duke of Marlborough's
amendment was the Bishop of Salisbury. The Bishops of
Lincoln, Lichfield, Chester, Oxford, Ely, and Durham were
absent. The see of St, David's wm vacant.

THE LATE BBV. B. S. HAWKER, M.A. 159

language is strong, can be too vigorous to apply
to authorities, who, forgetting that their posses-
sions both spiritual and temporal are only
" trusts " from God for His Church, are appa-
rently ready to sacrifice them (or at least the
spiritualities) for a mere breath of popular
approbation, which so soon passeth away and
is no more known.

Again : persons who have the hardihood to
declare that the "Public Worship Regulation
Act has not in any way altered the law " must
fiurely be at once morally blind and deaf. If
the law needed no alteration, why, in the name
of conmion sense, was the Bill proposed ? And
if, as Archbishop Tait pleaded, the Bill was so
urgently required, how can it be honestly
asserted, now that it has become law, that
"the law has in no way been altered"? The
Prime Minister, who is reported to have directly
borrowed his phrase from a conversation with
the Archbishop, declared in the House of
Gonmions that the proposed Bill was espressly
intended "to put down the Ritualists:" thus

160 MEMORIALS OF

implying that the existing law could not do it ;
in other words, that the existing law was in the
Ritualists' favour, and in the archbishops' and
bishops' opinion required to be altered so as to
be made not in the Ritualists' favour. Thus no
better nor further evidence can possibly be had
than this assertion to prove conclusively that
the law has been altered.^ But in truth there
is not a beneficed clergyman in England and
Wales who has not absolutely lost certain
important legal rights by and through the
passing of that Act. His old, and once secure
position is gone. His benefice is no longer
practically a freehold; for he may be turned
out and ruined by the process and judgment of
a court which, when he was legally instituted,
had no existence, and by the decrees of a secular
Parliamentary judge who was never heard of

• For a temperate, learned, and as yet unanswered state-
ment of this fact, I refer mj readers to a letter to the
Editor of The Morning Post, from the able pen of the Rev.
E. S. Grindle, in reply to a recent assertion in the Bishop
of Peterborough's Charge (1875), to the effect that " the
law has not been altered." See Appendix HE.

\

THE LATE BEV. R. S. HAWKER, M.A. 161

before the Bill in question became law- * To
maintain, therefore, that " the law is not
altered" is an insult to common sense as well
as a falsehood of the first water. The whole
foundations of ecclesiastical jurisprudence are
removed ; and, by consequence, the old building,
newly overweighted, may topple over and fall
down at any moment. Perhaps those who are
preparing to stand aside out of the impending
danger, as Report maintains, are not so foolish
or wanting in foresight after all. That Mr.
Hawker thought and felt all this, towards the
close of his lengthened career, I know.

* The following is borrowed from Mr. Orbj Shipley's
recent able pamphlet — " Ought we to Obey the New Court ? "
" At the first vacancy in the Court of Arches the new Judge
becomes ex officio its official principal. Every cause, there-
fore, which would have come before the legitimate Dean of
Arches will now come, either in the first instance, or in
appeal, before the new Judge created by Act of Parliament.
This is true, whether a clergyman be prosecuted under the
provisions of the New Act of 1874, or of the old Church
Discipline Act ; and is unafiected by the Judicature Act,
or by the renewed vitality infused into the Judicial Com-
mittee of the Privy Council." — P. 2. London : Pickering,
1875.

\

162 MEMOBIALS OF

And it was known to others likewise. Many
of his earnest remarks and forcible criticisms —
summed up in a few epigrammatic and telling
sentences to intimate friends, and sometimes
to mere acquaintances — gave them food for
thought and reflection for days. As public
occurrences took place he applied the true and
unchangeable Christian principles in which he
so devoutly and enthusiastically beheved to the
events and necessities of the present time.
Thus especially was it on the topic under
consideration.

As the Standard wrote of Mr. Hawker,
obtaining its information from Mr. Christopher
A. Harris, of Exeter: — "In allusion to the
Public Worship Regulation Act, Mr. Hawker
said emphatically, and with calm determination,
that if at the expiration of the year 1875 * the
pernicious measure ' came into operation, with-
out further interference, he should take his
stand at once, and sever himself from a Church
which had * neither authority noE doctrine.* * I
will never consent to have my competency as a

THE LATE EEV. B. S. HAWKER, M.A. 163

Minister of Christ called in question, or judged
by a barrister of six years' standing, without
reference to episcopal or archi-episcopal jurisdic-
tion — little as I value that State Church which
would make Dr. Temple a Bishop. I will fight
them here on the altar of my God.' I expected
that he would, by his High Church ceremojiies,
and especially by his sermons that were most
dogmatic and denunciatory of the Evangehcal
doctrines now paramount in the Church, chal-
lenge the * barrister of six years' standing,' and
defend himself in the Court before which he
was cited. I am certain that such was his
intention ; that is to say, it was the immediate
consequence which I deduced from his intimate
conversation; and I might almost go further,
and say that he intended that that should be
the interpretation of the remarks he made. It
is my impression, almost amounting to a cer-
tainty, that, had his health permitted, he would
not have joined the Church of Rome until he had
first done battle with Dr. Temple."^

• Standard, August 28, 1875. — I, too, am positively con-

M 2

164 MEMORIALS OF

Furthermore, it should have been put on
record that Mr. Hawker looked upon this
unhappy and unjust measure — a measure which
has effected a complete and total revolution —
as a direct and distinct breach of faith on the
part of the State — a breach of faith arranged
by our Fathers in God the Bishops, and effected
by Parliament.^ And he reasoned thus: —
" Those of the clergy who were ordained in
bygone years were ordained on certain specific
conditions. For from them particular and
explicit demands were made both as regards
personal pledges as to belief and opinion, and
due and reasonable safeguards against theolo-

vinced that this was Mr. Hawker's distinct intentiou,
and, under other circumstances, would have been his public
policy.— F. G. L.

• The Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, preaching
recently (October, 1875), spoke as follows. His Eminence's
words are worthy of the careful consideration of all our
Bishops: — ** The English Church which remains established
by law, and endowed with property, is so divided and sub-
divided by the internal conflicts of religious belief, that but
(he other day it was necessary to invoke an Act of Parlia-
ment to determine their conflicts — nay more — to settle how
Almighty God is to be worshipped."

THE LATE REV. R. S. HAWKER, M.A. 165

*

gical error; while, on the part of the State,
and in return, certain civil advantages and
proper protection were practically promised,
and various definite civil and religious rights
and privileges formally bestowed. One was
the priest's old and unquestioned right imder
accusation and article to be judged, in the first
instance, by the Bishop of the diocese, within
the limits of the same, in accordance with the
ancient Canons ; and with an appeal to the
Provincial Court. To the Bishop canonical
obedience — i. e. obedience in accordance with
the Canons — was solemnly promised by the
subject of ordination ; while the Bishop, on his
part, was to do justice and to give judgment
according to ancient Church law and recognized
custom. And these mutual arrangements were
not only of the nature of a contract, but made
up a contract, obvious, equable, mutually bind-
ing, and not to be determined without the
formal consent of both parties to it. And yet,
what has been done? Might has triumphed
over Right, to the certain loss and eventual

166 MEMORIALS OF

degradation of the whole clergy of England.
One man is forced to taste the bitter dregs of
the Erastian chalice to-day ; another to swallow
its drastic dregs to-morrow."

Here, of course, a very practical, legal and
moral question at once comes up for considera-
tion: — If one party to a contract forcibly
breaks it, altering its conditions, and to all
intents and purposes destroying its equity and
validity, is the other party to it still bound by
its original terms ? Many, no doubt, amongst
the beneficed clergy will sooner or later put
this question to their own consciences; and
some may answer that, being a contract which
no longer exists as of old, its new and altered
terms are by consequence binding neither in
morals nor in law/

Such a conviction and conclusion is surely
reasonable, logical, and just. He cannot be

^ If justice had been done the new enactment should onlj
have affected those instituted to benefices after the passing oj
the Acty not those ah'eadj occupying an assured and hitherto
protected position.

THE LATE EEV. R. S. HAWKEB, M.A. 167

morally condemned who, in self-defence, takes
up such a position.

That there are dangers to be apprehended
from the adoption of another policy — the
policy of secession — ^is likewise apparent. It
must, however, be admitted, as Mr. Hawker
observed, that the threats of certain of the
High Church leaders have ' long ago been too
accurately appraised. Their language is often
more vigorous and appaUing than their actions.
At the time of the Gorham case, for example,
hundreds threatened secession and what not ;
but, with the exception of a limited few, all the
rest subsided and settled down again, after their
superabundant steam had been wisely turned off.
And so it was on other great and more recent
occasions of dispute ; and so, no doubt, it will be.
If the Pubhc Worship Regulation Bill be tamely
submitted to, a non-Christian Parliament may
carry anything it chooses to decree ; for the only
result will be the lofty talk and unimposing plati-
tudes of the English Church Union ; a few me-
lancholy and illogical speeches ; some grandiose

168 MEMORIALS OF

protests ; and then, in a few weeks, every'
theoretical confessor will duly sink down into
superfine calmness, and we shall all go on
again nobly doing our noble duty as if nothing
remarkable had happened, or was ever likely to
happen.

The Church of Rome in England, however,
stands forward to challenge the National Church
on many points ; on jurisdiction. Church autho-
rity and orders. Though some refuse to look
at it, their act of closing their eyes or averting
their gaze does not either efface its existence
or blunt its controversial shafts. On all sides
the glove is being thrown down ; and it is
intellectually impossible that the utterly new
basis, which has just been set out and planned
by the Archbishop of Canterbury and his
coadjutors, can long uphold the structural
weight violently placed upon it by Parliament.
The Anglo-Roman communion in England may
be small, but it is certainly not uninfluential.
The newspapers are full of its doings, and the
sayings of its chief Bishops are carefully

THE LATE REV. R. S. HAWKER, M.A. 169

chronicled ; and without a doubt its presence is
being increasingly felt/ Moreover, it has for

• We {Morning Post) fear that the boast which a Roman
Catholic divine recently made with regard to secessions to
Rome is not altogether without solid foundation. A well*
informed correspondent, professing to supply us with facts
and figures, provides the following list of thirty recent
seceders. It certainly deserves consideration by our rulers,
both in Church and State : — The Rev. W. M. Hunnybuu,
M.A., and the Rev. Verney Cave- Brown-Cave, M.A., both
of All Saints', Margaret-street; the Rev. J. R. Madan, M.A.,
President of the Missionary College, Warminster; the
Rev. G. R. Burrows, B.A., of Liverpool ; the Rev. Alfred
Newdigate, M.A., Vicar of Kirk Hallam, Derby, sometime
Curate to Dean Bickersteth ; the Rev. Willis Nevins, of
Southampton; the Rev. H. J. Pye, Rector of Cliffcon-Camp-
ville; the Rev. George B. Yard, M.A. (brother of Canon
Yard, just elected Proctor in Convocation) ; the Rev. John
Higgins, B.A., Curate to Prebendary Clarke of Taunton;
the Rev. Septimus Andrews, M.A., student of Christ
Church and Vicar of Market Harborough; the Rev. C. H.
Moore, M.A., student of Christ Church; W. M. Adams,
B.A., Fellow of New College; Rev. W. C. Robinson, M.A.,
also Fellow of New College, Oxford; the Rev. F. Bown,
and F. M. Wyndham, of St. George's East; the Rev.
George Akers, of Mailing, Kent; the Rev. Gordon Thomp-
son, of Christ Church, Albany-street; C. Moncrieff Smith,
of Cheltenham; the Rev. Reginald Tuke, of St. Mary's,
Soho; the Rev. W. Tylee, of Oriel College; the Very Rev.
Dr. Fortescue (brother-in-law of Archbishop Tait); the
Rev. W. Humphrey, of Dundee; the Rev. T. H. Grantham,

170 MEMORIALS OF

its chief Pastor a prelate of singular gifts,
high principle and unquestioned consistency ; it
numbers amongst its priests the greatest and
most intellectual Englishman of the age — Dr.
Newman; and the words and works of its
leaders, in other ways, fill the public eye.
With us the feeblest men are frequently put
into the highest command; while the actual
leaders in the National Church — those who
mould thought and guide their fellow-men —
are placed neither in decanal stall nor on the
episcopal throne — an arrangement of forces as
detrimental to success in unity of work as it is
dangerous in itself, and certainly very unlike
the policy of those who dispose their men and

of Slinfold; the Rev. Lord Francis G. G. Osborne, Rector
of Elm; the Rev. Caithness Brodie, B.A. (sometime Curate
of St. Stephen's, South Kensington); the Rev. J. C, F.
Pope, M.A.; the Rev. Alfred Faukes, M.A., Balliol College,
Curate of St Bartholomew's, Brighton; Rev. E. Trovelyaii
Smith, M.A., Vicar of Cannock, Staffordshire; Rev. Wil-
liam Goldstone, M.A., St. Michael's, Wakefield; Rev. R. T.
Webb, M.A., Rector of Hambleton; and the Rev. H.
Jones, B.A., Christ Church, Curate to Archdeacon Thorpe,
of Kemerton.

THE LATE REV. E. S. IIAWKEK, M.A. 171

govern in the Church of Eome. Moreover, the
voices of the true leaders of ecclesiastical thought
are louder, and their suggestions are sometimes
less coherent than they might be, if those who
owned them possessed the responsibility and
discipline of place and position.

It was not strange, therefore, that at this
crisis, and at this time. May, 1875, Mr.
Hawker's thoughts turned towards the Church
of Rome. Whither else could he turn?
Great men, dissatisfied with the triumph of the
Temporal over the Spiritual in the English
Communion, had before this shaken off the
dust from their feet, and with alternations of
sadness and hope had turned thither. Who
that read them can forget the touching and
sorrowful words ^ with which the late Arch-

• "If these pages should find their way into any fair
parsonage, where everything within and without speaks
of comfort and peace, where sympathizing neighbours pre-
sent an object to the affections, and the bell from an adjoin-
ing ancient tower invites the inmates morning and evening
to consecrate each successive day to God's service ; and, if
the reader's thoughts suggest to him that it is impossible
to unloose ties so binding, or to transplant himself from his

172 MEMORIALS OF

deacon Wilberforce brought the Preface of his
remarkable book, " An Inquiry into the Prin-
ciples of Church Authority" to a close?
What reader has been other than touched to
the heart's core by the powerful " Apologia '* of
the great and venerated Dr. Newman ? That Mr.
Hawker contemplated the possibility of having
to leave the Church of England is evident from
the tone of the beautiful verses which, though
almost a stranger to His Eminence, he ad-
dressed to Cardinal Manning on his elevation
to the purple. The cord which bound him to
the National Church must then have been
worn to a very slight proportion, and have
become somewhat attenuated, ere he could have
penned the following : —

" Shout, happy England, for the sceptred Hand,
The rod of Aaron 'mid the barren stems ;

The Throne of Rock amid a quivering land,
The brow to sway a thousand diadems !

ancient seat, when he is too old to take root in a new soil,
let him be assured that such also have been the thoughts
and feelings of the writer. And more painful still is the
consciousness that such a step must rend their hearts and

THE LATE REV. R. S. UAWKER, M.A. 173

" A Prince shall reign from the Great Gregory's line ;

A Prelate wield Augustine's mightj name ;
They live and breathe again, as though their shrine

Gave back the buried Saints to life and fame."

Expediency, which, in the National Com-
:tnunion, rules so many, and Compromise which
governs so many more, are poor substitutes for
Principle, of whatever sort it may be. Now
Principle, whether good or bad,^ is sure in
the long-run to win the day. Bad principles,
held so firmly by those who own them, have
already brought about the disastrous abolition
of Church Bates, the presence of the Divorce
Court, the reports of' which sully the news-
cloud the prospects of those who are as dear to men as
their own souls." — Preface, p. ix.

' It is a remarkable sign of the times, (and worthy of
careful notice, if our Church leaders noticed anything,
which apparently they do not,) that a Conservative Govern-
ment, with a majority of seventy in the House of Commons,
is at the present time (1875) reported to be preparing to pass
the Burials Bill, by which our churchyards are to be open to
Dissenters' services. Of course, the churches will fall into
the same position in a short time. For churchyard and
church stand on an exactly similar footing. Let one go,
and how can the other be retained ?

174 MEMORIALS OF

papers and taint the land, the disastrous
secularizatiod of our old Christian Universities,
and that last certain curse — Parish Schools for
the lower classes, from which God is deli-
berately and completely banished. And a
punishment for these, and such as these (if
there be a righteous Judge, a God, and Chris-
tianity be true), will be sure, swift, and sudden
for our afflicted nation. Whether such a
putiishment may not be hastened by the
adoption of a new legislative principle for the
clergy, borrowed from Germany, remains to
be learnt by experience, either by ourselves,
our children, or our children's children.

The gospel of "Modem Thought " — as few can
fail to note — tells men that the " law " is the
public conscience, or in other words. Public
Opinion ; and that the Judges, who are public
servants, should never at any cost disregard its
transitory and changing opinions, let the con-
sequences be what they may. An appeal to
the individual Christian conscience is at once
characterized as an antiquated and absurd

THE LATE EEV. R. S. HAWKER, M.A. 175

mental operation. Thus the greatest danger
for true Liberty — which a few reflecting persons
who think for themselves beheve to be surely
passing away from our national grasp — is the
idea of attributing an absolute power and the
highest authority to the State ; that is, to the
representatives of a fluctuating majority. This
is the wearisome burden of Archbishop Tait's
laboured exhortations to the English Clergy.
But such a doctrine plainly deviates from
Christianity, because its adherents recognize no
higher will, no divine order, on which the
mutual alliance with Churchmen to the State
ought to be founded. That which God the
Trinity, in His highest perfections, is to the
Churchman, such is the Non-Christian or Infidel
State to the excogitators of " modem thought."
With these latter the question may be put —
what is " the law " ? Its response stands
thus : — " The decision of certain politicians or
their nominees, who have accidentally gained a
temporary majority and a position of power,
but whose opinions in private life would never

176 MKMOEULS OF

have been refuted, for the simple and obvious
reason that they never would have been thought
worthy of notice." Before this so-called " law/'
the " worshippers of Progress " and the Eras-
tians bow down ; until in a few months ; or, at
longest, in the revolutions of a few years, it is
replaced by another political majority, and a
fresh batch of authorities who are elevated, it
may be, in order to set forth something ob-
viously contradictory, itself equally " law " with
that which is seen to be its direct antithesis.

Mr. Hawker felt all this, and, from time to
time, expressed it openly and fully to several
friends. " It troubles me night and day," he
wrote to an old Oxford ally ; " for the whole
position seems to have shiftied, and to be
changed. Where, and how, will the Bishops
get men of position, independence, and cha-
racter to become God's stewards ? — God's
stewards indeed ! — Theological-college men,
from St. Aidan's, and St. Bees', and Lampeter
are all that they can look for; learned and
honest men will go elsewhere."

THE LATE REV. E. S. HAWKER, M.A. 177

• I may here put on record that in the latter
part of the year 1864, Mr. Hawker had married
PauUne Ann, only daughter of Vincent Francis
Kuczynski,* a Polish nobleman (by Mary
Newton, his wife, an Bnghsh lady), to whom
the Vicar had been introduced by the Rev.
William Valentine, Vicar of Whixley, in York-
shire (who owned a residence in the parish of
Morwenstow, and often abode there), and with
whom Miss Kuczynski resided. It has heen
said that this accomplished lady and most
devoted wife, was a Eoman Catholic at the
period of her marriage ; but the statement is
altogether incorrect. She was evidently a Pro-
testant member of the Established Church ; and
nothing more. "When I was married," she
kindly writes to me, " I was as ignorant of the

' I am indebted to Mrs. Hawker for the following genea-
logical note : —

"Vincent Kuczynski was born of noble parents, Paul
and Josephine (born Karczewska), on the 6th of April,
1807, in Nieswiz, Government of Grodno, circle of Norvo-
grod. Up to the twenty-third year of his age he resided^
in Wilno, where he also received his education/'

N

178 MEMORIALS OF

great truths of the Catholic Faith as a child un-
bom/' What she learned her husband taught
her. By this marriage Mr. Hawker had three
children, 1, Morwenna Pauline; 2, Rosalind;
and, 3, Juliot. Of herself and them Mrs.
Hawker wrote to me quite recently, on October
21, 1875 :— " On the Feast of All Saints, I hope
with my children to return in verity to the
Faith of my forefathers in Poland. My little
daughters — our little daughters — ^have no his-
tories at present, except in their names.

"1, Morwenna — you know her story, and how
my husband brought back her memory to the
Station at the Tamar Source. 2, Eosalind,
bom within the octave of St. Eosa di Lima. 3,
Juliot, after a Cornish Saint, whose Church and
Station are near Boscastle. I have only this
ambition for them — that they may grow up
(God willing) good Catholics, and do what they
can to spread the Faith in this tardy and deso-
late Western Land ; the last to leave their faith
I have heard, and the last to return.' Also

* On a lofty rock near Bude Haven, there stood of old a

THE LATE REV. B. S. HAWKER, M.A. 179

may they * breathe 'mid future hearts their
father's nam© 1'"

For myself, and of my own knowledge, I
may say that the deep and earnest interest
which Mr. Hawker took in the subject of the
vaUdity of our ordinations, so lately as last
year ; the keen anxiety he felt and expressed
when the fact of Archbishop Tait's baptism
was publicly questioned, and never adequately
settled;* the earnest wish he held to see the
old church of his deeply-loved parish restored
by some competent architect, and his endea-
vours, though with failing physical powers, to
make a beginning — all prove to myself, that
however much his faith both in the theoretical

chapel, dedicated to Almighty God, in honour of the Arch
angel St. Michael ; and it is traditionally maintained that
Mass, according to the Salisbury Use, was celebrated there
last of all the churches in England — possibly late into the
reign of King Charles I. There are one or two churches,
however, one in Berkshire (if I am not misinformed), and
another at Stonor Park, Oxfordshire, the seat of Lord
Camoys, where Mass is reported to have been said without
any break for generations.
* SeQ Appendix No. II.

180 MEMORIALS OF

and practical position of the National Church
may have been shaken by the recent policy of
Parliament, at the express request of our epis-
copal rulers ; yet that he still undoubtedly re-
mained a member of the Church of England, and
was not so completely and conscientiously con-
vinced that it was a purely human institution,
as to have deserted it for any other communion.
In so momentous a change, no one should act
in haste, nor without patience or due considera-
tion. Yet no one can be harshly judged for
dwelling upon the Church of England's present
dangers, or for being painfuUy anxious as to its
immediate future. If all who are " feeble and
sore-smitten " because of the recent revolutionary
proceedings of the Episcopal bench — not, be it
noted, originated by statesmen, but pressed
upon their unwilling consideration by timid
and unstatesmanlike bishops, who weakly con-
fessed themselves unable to govern their clergy *

* That such was the impression made upon many, is evi-
dent from the following statement of Mr. John Bright^
M.P. :—

THE LATE REV. R. S. HAWKER, M.A. 181

— ^are to be characterized as "blasphemous
rogues and scoundrels," — the choice language
used in reference to Mr. Hawker by a Eadical
Church newspaper, such will have to be applied
to a very large and not decreasing class.

Nevertheless, and notwithstanding this, that
Mr. Hawker's religious convictions were seri-
ously and considerably altered in his latter years
is a matter of certainty, and not in the least
degree a subject for dispute. He unquestion-

"Men, who knowing very little of Dissenting Ministers,
saj that, in opposition to Dissenting Ministers, the Clergy-
men of the Church of England are gentlemen. They
declare that they are the sons of gentlemen ; that they have
been educated at our great universities ; that there they have
been accustomed to associate with the great wealth and
high blood of the Peerage ; and they point out to us, as we
know, that they are set over us by the State, as instructors
in religion and morality. And yet their own friends, their
own chiefs. Archbishops and Bishops, tell us in language
that cannot possibly be misunderstood, and blazon it forth
to the public, through the House of Lords, that their con-
duct is so lawless, — they are such dangerous transgressors
of the law, — that it is absolutely necessary (as in the case of
publicans, garotters, and maniacs), to have special legislation
to keep them in order." — Mr.Bright's Speech at Birmingham,
in the autumn of 1874, copied from the local Gazette.

182 MEMOEIALS OP

ably lost heart in the Church of England, and
took only decreasing interest in her services.
There is no shadow of doubt on the point, and
perhaps the Vicar of Morwenstow may have
been anything but singular in his change.
Others have had change unwillingly forced
upon them by the blundering, purblind policy
of those riding rough-shod over us who wield
for awhile, without let or hindrance, the power to
alter, upheave, and rudely destroy. The various
powerful and telling blows which the Esta-
blished Church has received, since the rise of the
Oxford movement, from the Law Courts and their
judgments, have shaken the faith of thousands,
and sent himdreds of our most devoted, learned,
and self-sacrificing clergy, and thousands of our
laity, to the ranks of the Church of Rome.®

" Such assertions are yerj distasteful and disagreeable to
many, but their sting lies in their truth. Some recent con-
troversies with Roman Catholics, as I chance to know, are
not altogether to the credit of our Church-of- England de-
fenders, and, in the long run, become rather a hindrance
than a help, — for they frequently cause secession. There is
scarcely a family in England, amongst the aristocracy and

THE LATE REV. B. S. HAWKER, M.A. 183

Moreover, amongst lay-people, these contra-
dictory and unjust judgments have compelled
them still more, by the elementary natural law of
self-preservation, to reconsider the tenability of
their new ecclesiastical position, and either to
obtain, or contemplate as possible, personal
intercommunion with the Apostolic See. The
Bishops of the Established Church, even where,
as in Bishop JJUicott's case, they do not directly
and openly recommend secession to Eome, are,
by their support of Dr. Tait's policy, surely
assisting to put before Englishmen the severe
alternative of " Infallibility or Infidelity."

These thoughts and considerations, and such
as these, troubled Mr. Hawker sorely. But,
from my own knowledge, I do not believe that
he altogether lost hope, until the final passing
of the Public Worship Regulation Bill. That, I
feel confident, was to him the last straw which
broke the camel's back. The changes effected
by it were, in all their naked ugliness, before

gentry, in which one or more converts to the Church of
Eome may not be reckoned up.

184 MEMOEIALS OF

him, as I know, night and day ; and constantly-
harassing a delicate and sensitive conscience,
helped eflficiently to further weaken an already
weakened frame.

The end was drawing nigh. Want of sym-
pathy, isolation; a perusal of undigested
statements resulting from a prolonged inquiry
into the character and motives of the
"Reformers," entirely overthrowing ordinary
and old-fashioned Anglican traditions, came
upon him like a shock ; while doubts about the
validity of our English Ordinations, coupled
with the discussion which arose concerning the
validity of Archbishop Tait's baptism, added
efficiently to his difficulties. Moreover, he saw,
or thought he saw, in the future the certain
triumph of an already too-triumphant and ever-
encroaching Erastianism, disestablishment, dis-
endowment, disruption, and confusion. And so
his soul was low.

In his expressive and beautiful poem " The
Token Stream of Tidna-Combe," there seems to
run an under-current of thought indicating such

THE LATE REV. B. S. HAWKER, M.A. 185

a change as that which was sealed at the last.
Picturesque and graphic as are the verbal
dehneations of the " source of gentle waters,
mute and mild," yet the interwoven record of
hopes and fears, like straws on the surface of
the current, or blossoms fallen and faded from
overhanging flowers, strikes the eye, and smites
the heart. The poem— stately, sweet, and
melancholy — thus concludes : —

Come, then, sad river, let our footsteps blend
Onward, by silent bank, and nameless stone :

Our years began alike, so let them end, —
We live with many men, we die alone.

Why dost thou slowly wind and sadly turn,
As loth to leave e'en this most joyless shore ?

Doth thy heart fail thee ? do thy waters yearn
For the far fields of Memory once more ?

Ah me ! my soul, and thou art treacherous too,
Link'd to this fatal flesh, a fetter'd thrall :

The sin, the sorrow, why should'st thou renew ?
The past, the perish'd, vain and idle all !

Away ! behold at last the torrent leap,

Glad, glad to mingle with yon foamy brine ;

Free and unmoum'd, the cataract cleaves the steep —
O river of the rocks, thy fate is mine I

186 MEMOBIALS OF

Of his latter hours, which came so unex-
pectedly, I know nothing but what has been
3ourteously and kindly vouchsafed to me by his
relations and friends. So much as is needful to
set forth facts is here set forth in the exact
words of others. I am unable to determine many
points and questions which have been raised.
What is now put on record must be left to the
judgment and consideration of the reader, — ^facts
and probabilities being each duly considered.

Mr. Claude Hawker wrote to me thus con-
cerning his brother, on September 11, 1875 :—
"He came down from Morwenna to see me
[early in August]. I was then ill in bed at
Penally, Boscastle. He was himself very ill,
and I saw that he was death-struck. I advised
him to go home. He promised to do so, but
his wife induced him to go by way of Plymouth.
He never intended to go that way, but to go
home and die, and be buried in the Saxon
shrine he loved so well and long."

An account of his last illness at Plymouth,
just referred to, will now be given from the pen

THE LATE EEV. B. 8. HAWKEE, M.A. 187

of a lady who 'was educating his children ; and
who, accompanying Mr. and Mrs. Hawker
thither at the period referred to, witnessed his
last sufferings and death : —

" I did not think seriously of him before we
left Morwenstow, but felt that he wanted a
change and rest, and hoped we should soon see

him much better again After we got to

Plymouth he was more quiet. I could then see
that he was really ill. He was much less dis-
tressed in mind, and I from the first thought it
owing to the fact that he was so near to the
goal where he would be. At times his breathing
was most painful, but his distress after dinner
was alleviated in a great measure by the doctor.
He also slept better. On the whole he seemed
better than when we went to Plymouth. When
we were about to leave, we were all packed on
the Monday (i. e. August 9th, 1876,) ready to
start on the Tuesday, when we were stopped at
about seven in the evening. We then hoped
that we might leave in a few days; but the
doctor said that Mr. Hawker would never leave .

188 MEMORIALS OF

Pljrmouth again. He did not seem mucli
worse, but Mr. Square said that one of the
arteries of the left arm with the pulse had
stopped. On the Wednesday for some hours he
had great difficulty in speaking, though at the
worst time, when Mr. and Mrs. James were in
the house, and I went to stay with him while Mrs.
Hawker was with them, he expressed his desire
that I would help nurse him. This of course
I did, and stayed up until about twelve o'clock
that night. On Thursday his pulse was weaker,
and Mrs. Hawker then sent for John Olde (his
^man-servant) ' as we found it very difficult, as he
got weaker, to move him. . . . On Friday John
came. Mr. Hawker expressed his joy at seeing
him, and thanked him in his own words. On
that same evening he had a visit from young
Dr. Square, knew him perfectly, and talked to
him. That night I went to bed at about twelve
o*clock, and slept until about six in the morn-
ing. I saw and stayed with him for some time;

^ See the letter to myself, which stands as a note to thiB
ehapter, from the Rev. J. C. D. Yule.

THE liATE BEV. R. S. HAWKER, M.A. 189

he was quite conscious ; knew everything and
each of us who attended to him. On the
Saturday morning I was present when he was
told that Canon Mansfield (one of the clergy of
the Roman Catholic Cathedral) was coming that
evening to receive him into the Church.* I
shall never forget the scene. He looked so
peaceful, and was so fiiU of thankfulness,

' Those who blame Mr. Hawker for having delayed his
change until the eleventh hour, should be reminded that it
was his plain duty not to make any change at all, unless he
was perfectly and completely convinced, without any re-
maining doubt, of its absolute necessity. God Almighty
had placed him in a particular official position, and he was
bound to remain there as long as he conscientiously could
do so. Perhaps when he approached the Valley of the
Shadow of Death his spiritual vision grew keener. The
late Archdeacon Wilberforce took much time to consider his
own difficulties, and wrote thus in 1854 : — " The prepara-
tion of the present volume [* On Church Authority '] has
brought to a head difficulties, by which I have been per-
plexed for four years. Some may think me dilatory, and
others hasty ; but the mind, like the body, has its time of
crisis, which is not altogether in our own power to regulate.
Those who know what it is to break through the associa-
tions of nearly half a century, will not wonder at my ex-
periencing that which Cicero speaks of in a less arduous
case — Quam difficile est sensum in repuhlicd deponere,^

190 MEMORIALS 01*

released from the burden which I had so often
heard him say was greater than he could bear.
.... Just before eight a.m. (on Sunday morn-
ing, August 15,) he sat up on the side of the
bed, and took a cup of tea with bread and
butter dipped into it. We then laid him back
comfortably, and he passed away most peacefully
at twenty minutes past eight a.m."

Mrs. Hawker herself, in a letter to the Rev.
C. T. Comber, the Curate in charge of Morwen-
stow, gives further interesting particulars as
follows : — " Until I could see Mr. Rowe [of
Stratton, the family attorney,] and tell him
what I must now tell you, I thought it best that
my farther news should not reach Morwenstow.

" It will, I am aware, shock and pain you more
than the announcement of Mr. Hawker's death.

" For, I suppose, thirty years at least, my
dear husband has been at heart a Roman
Catholic' No one converted him, as no human

' This might he a popular, hut not an exact impression
of Mr. Hawker's religious convictions. No douht he was
a Catholic ; hut that he was a Roman Catholic is simply

THE LATE BEV. R. S. HAWKEB, M.A. 191

being influenced him in the smallest degree.
He quietly, during the first years of his having
Morwenstow, read himself into his convictions,
and embraced all the tenets of the Roman
Catholic faith, and his heart yearned for com-
munion with them ; but he looked around and
he saw a wife many years his senior, not hold-
ing what he held, and dependent upon him
for a hearth and home. He saw also great
complication of monetary trouble, insurances
made in earlier days, which, in honour to his
creditors, must be kept [up], so he bowed
himself to the will of God; and those who
thought that Morwenstow with its fair acres of
land was a joy and delight to him little knew
how they hung like a millstone round his neck.
But he set his back to the burden, and said, * I
will consider the poor and needy, and him that

impossible. Had he been a Roman Catholic he could not
have remained at Morwenstow, nor would he have been
received into that communion on his death-bed. The very
fact that he joined that Church in extremis proves that
until that act he was certainly and assuredly not a member
of it.

192 MEMORIALS OF

hath no helper, and I will teach them in all
simplicity the truths of the gospel. Then
shall the Lord say, "Inasmuch as ye did it
imto one of the least of these My brethren,
ye did it unto Me." ' When they hungered he
fed them; when they thirsted he gave them
drink. Yea, the half of his goods he gave to
the poor. With his charity, then, and kindliness,
with God in it, let the people remember him.

" You must have guessed what is the sequel
to all this. On Saturday night, twelve hours
before his death, he was received into the
Catholic Church, and the last rites and cere-
monies of that communion were administered to
him by Canon Mansfield. His reason returned
at the moment when, in the morning, I told him
[that] a priest should see him in the evening.
He broke forth into the jubilant antiphon, the
Gloria in excelsis^ Te Deum^ and other canticles
of praise.

" His devotion to our Blessed Lady was the
feature of his life, and I have not in my own
mind the slightest doubt [but] that she obtained

THE LATE BEV. B. S. HAWKEB, M.A. 193

for him the grace to die on the feast of her own
assumption into heaven. It was most distinctly
put into my mind that he would do so, and as
early as Thursday morning I told Miss Savage
that he would die on Sunday. There are many
more things equally remarkable about his death :
one was that he expired the very moment when
Our Lady's Mass at the Cathedral here was
concluded.

" His body will rest to-night in the Cathedral,
in accordance with a remark made by my dear
husband the first Sunday evening after attend-
ing the Benediction Service, * How much I should
hke to pass a night in that Cathedral!' A
Requiem Mass will be sung at ten, and at half-
past eleven the interment will take place in the
Plymouth Cemetery.

" I feel it my duty to inform you of times
and places. At the same time, naturally, you
are relieved from the necessity of attending the
funeral. Should you have no scruples in doing
so, there will still be time. ... I hope to be at
the Vicarage on Saturday night." /

194 MEMOBIALS OF

The body of the deceased clergyman was, as
report says, dressed in cassock, surplice, and
stole, and placed in the coffin of oak with a
plain cross on the lid, upon which the following
inscription was engraved : —

ROBERT STEPHEN HAWKER,

FOR 41 TEARS ViCAR OP MORWENSTOW,
WHO DIED m THE CaTHOLIC FaITH,

ON THE Feast op the Assumption op Our

Blessed Ladt, 1876,

AGED 71.

Requiescat in pace.

After the ancient and consolatory services of
the Roman Catholic Church had been duly
celebrated in the presence of a considerable
congregation — services which relate mainly to
the departed, and not (like our own) merely to
the survivors, the body was taken in a hearse
to the Pljrmouth Cemetery for interment. *

^ Some may have reasonably desired his burial in God's
acre of his dearly- loved Morwenstow : but, as the mother
of his children was to make her future home at Plymouth,
who could say " nay " to her having his remains near her ?
Moreover, the cord which had bound him to Morwenstow for

THE LATE REV. B. S. HAWKER, M.A. 195

T wocarriages followed, containing Mrs. Hawker,
her three children, and others. The mourners
were dressed, not in black, but in dark purple
and violet, — for, as has been before remarked,
Mr. Hawker greatly disliked black, — and the
undertaker's attendants wore violet gloves.
Many spectators, not a few in tears, were
gathered round the grave. Prayer for mercy
and everlasting rest in the land of light and the
living, ascended upward to the throne of the
Eternal ; and many a soft and sincere " Amen "
was whispered by the by-standers, when, with
care and solemnity, all that was mortal of a
loved and venerated man was left in that sleep-
ing-field to await his Master's coming.

If earth be a place of sorrows and separations
— as it merely is, so that to some shadows seem
to be realities, and reaHties appear to be but
shadows — ^may the grave and gate of death
become to all of us the bright morning of a

so long had been snapped ; and, had he lived, Morwenstow
must, by consequence, from his new standing-point have
seemed a spiritual desolation and a desert.

2

196 MEMORIALS OP

peace which endures, and of an union which
cannot be marred or broken, in a blessed day
of blissful immortality 1

The Eev. William Valentine, M.A. Oxon,
Vicar of Whixley, Yorkshire — a clergyman who,
as I have already stated, resided occasionally
at Morwenstow, and who first introduced Mr.
Hawker to the lady who was to become his
fiiture wife, witote as follows, on September 22,
1875 :—

" As for his having been a Papist at heart
for so many years, I have told Pauline [i. e.
Mrs. Hawker] I never will believe it. If so,
why had he not taken his departure to Rome
when his [first] wife died ? There was nothing
then to prevent his going. But I never heard
a word of such intention. Again and again he
used to say, * Whatever could have brought you
into this place? God sent you here to bury
me.' And he told me where to bury him. The
letter you have so kindly forwarded me to read,
the one to Mr. Comber, evidently proves whom
we have to thank for this most unhappy ending.**

THE LATE BEY. B. S. HAWEEB, M.A. 197

Another letter from this same clergyman to
myself, in answer to certain inquiries, I took
the liberty of making from him, must also
appear, for it contains a deliberate opinion of
a friend and neighbour. It was written in
October, and stands thus : —

"The verses you inquire about* were ad-
dressed respectively to our daughters on their
birthday, and written by the dear old Vicar of
Morwenstow whilst we were residing there. In
1863 I purchased a small property in his
parish, connected with the old * Chapel-house '
mentioned in Canon Kingsley's *Westward-
Ho,' and situated about a mile and a half from
the Vicarage. Thus it was that I first made
Mr. Hawker's acquaintance, and I can indeed
say that we fraternized at once. From Sep-
tember in that year to the following May, when
I returned alone for a few months to Whixley,

•"To Eva Valentine, on her sixth birthday, May 16,
1 864," and " To Matilda Valentine on her birthday, July
17, 1864."— "Cornish Ballads, and other Poems," pp. 164
— 166. London : Parker aud Co., 1869.

198 MEMORIALS OF

we were in the habit of riding or driving about
together ahnost daily, and our acquaintance
soon gave place to the closest intimacy, which
deepened into an abiding friendship and won-
derful love, which ceased only with his conscious
moments. His unceasing kindness all this time
to my wife and family were daily occurrences.
During those months he and I invariably spent
oiu* long evenings together either at the Vicar-
age or Chapel-house ; £|<nd there was scarcely
an event in his life which he did not then and
there recount to me. At j&rst I heard little
else than allusions to his recently-deceased
wife ; and his groanings about ^ Charlotte '
were at times most lamentable. Then came
the oft-repeated expression of his firm persua-
sion that God had sent me to Morwenstow to
bury him ; and the place where he wished to be
laid was duly pointed out to me, and 'the sub-
ject again and again reverted to in after-years.
But when the first weeks of our acquaintance
were over he recovered somewhat his spirits,
and soon became, and continued to be, a most

THE LATE REV. E. S. HAWKER, M.A. 199

delightful and enchantingly-entertaining com-
panion and story-teller.

"I know well what his religious thoughts
were then, and I feel sure they were strictly
within the teaching of our branch of the Catho-
lic Church ; and not one of his letters nor any
of the subsequent conversations I have had with
him, in spite of aU his playful expressions, have
ever led mp to think difEerently.

" And, therefore, when you ask me to throw
a light on his latest change, all I can reply is
that, really and truly I have yet to learn that
he ever did change."

I have written enough to have sketched
feebly but faithfiilly (too feebly, I know, but
faithfully I believe), the character of my
deceased friend. A gentleman and a priest, a
scholar and a poet ; with great personal attrac-
tions, considerable theological and literary
powers, and giffced with high poetical qualities,
he made his sure mark upon those amongst
whom he dwelt, as well as on the general
public and those who knew him well and

200 MEMORIALS OF

intimately. His convictions were as deep as
lus principles were true; and he was never
ashamed of either. Outspoken and brave in
his utterances, brilliant and sometimes sarcastic
in his conversation, he was ever leal and
tender in friendship, and noble both in his
thoughts and actions. A j&rm believer in
Historical Christianity, he was somewhat im-
patient of the Uterary prigs and . inquiring
critics of these lifter shallow times.

Long may his memory Uve in his own native
Cornwall, as a man of sound principle and
singular ability ; whose learning, charity, kind-
liness of heart, and generosity of sentiment are
known and treasured by not a few !

And now, having little more to say, I pre-
pare to lay down my pen. As regards Mr.
Hawker's reception into the Roman Catholic
Church . on his death-bed, none can know any-
thing but those who were with him, and his
wife nearest to him. She, doubtless, knew
most accurately his wishes, and the inmost
desires of his heart. For myself, of course, I

THE LATE fiEV. E. S. HAWKEE, M.A. 201

have written only of what I know. As I have
already said in public, though no one more
deeply laments it. I am not surprised at his
change; and in the previous pages of these
Memorials, reasons for my conviction are, here
and there, abundantly set forth. They may
not satisfy all — they cannot satisfy the anony-
mous writers, some calling themselves his
"friends," who have so harshly and cruelly
maligned his memory; but if they serve the
two-fold purpose I have had in setting them
forth — j&rst to do justice to a venerated priest,
who, having been called home, cannot now speak
for himself; and secondly to warn our ecclesias-
tical rulers how dangerous is their policy which
has made a non-Christian Parliament, repre-
senting Public Opinion, and a Lay-Judge
created for the purpose, the interpreter for the
National Chur-ch, of the Will, the Revelation,
and the mode of worship of Almighty God, — I
shall be convinced and satisfied that my labour
of love will not have been altogether in vain.

202 MEMORIALS OF

I print the following letter, for whicli I am
obliged to its writer, just as it reached me —
leaving it to tell its own story : —

" Bradford Bectory, North Devon,
" 7th October, 1875.

" Sir, — Having read in the Standard a report of yonr
Address to your congregation, on Sunday last, on the death
of the Rev. R. S. Hawker, with whom I was many years
on terms of friendship, it has occiin*ed to me that some
local information respecting the last act of his life, which
has furnished the lamentahle occasion of so much disputa-
tion, may not be unacceptable to you.

^^ I may premise that having frequently visited him at his
hospitable vicarage, and met him at our annual Visitations,
when we always conversed together on professional topics,
I believe I knew him sufficiently well to be able to express
with some confidence the opinion that, though entertaining
what we termed very High Church views, and from his
very nature devoted to Symbolism, he yet regarded the
Church of Rome not as the mother entitled to our obedience,
but as a sister^ with whom we should cultivate kindly and
Christian offices.

'' I think this, which will help to explain much that has
been said and written to his prejudice, will be confirmed by
what was told me by a very respectable and intelligent
yeoman, Mr. Hawker's nearest neighbour and church-
warden, whom I met a short time ago in our local market.

" Our conversation naturally turned upon his late Vicar.
* I am disgusted,' he said, ' with the rubbish that is circu-
lated through the country about him ; I am sure there is
scarcely a word of truth in it. I have been Mr. Hawker's
churchwarden a good many years, and knew him perhaps

THE LATE EEV. R. S. HAWKER, M.A. 203

better than most people ; for our farms adjoined, and we
used to meet generally three or four times a week, and
always had some talk together, and very often about church
matters ; and therefore I believe that what is said about his
becoming a Roman Catholic is false, I have often heard
him express himself in this way: — " Our Church is derived
from a pure British source, and though its stream was fouled
by the dirt of Rome, it has become cleansed and purified
again, and is the same Church as at the first." '

'' Speaking of his alleged conversion to, and reception
into the Romish Church, he said, ' I had some conversation
the other day with Mr. Hawker's man-servant, who had
long been his familiar and confidential attendant, and was
with him at Plymouth at the time of his death; and I
asked him what state of mind he was in before and at the
time when this took place ? He said, " Tho' master knew
me and Mrs. Hawker, he was quite past all power of dis-
tinguishing between one thing and another, such as the
Church of England and the Church of Rome, for some time
before his death." " Were you present ?" I asked, " when
he was what they call received into the Church of Borne?**
" No," he said, " I had been watching by his bedside a good
many hours, and was desired to go down and take some
refreshment, and while I was absent for perhaps half an
hour, whatever it was, was done,'*

" * This was the first of our conversation. I asked my in-
formant if he wished me to regard it as confidential.
" No," he replied, " you may make any use of it that you
may think proper. It is the truth, and I wish it to be
known." '

"I happened to be at Plymouth the day after Mr.
Hawker's death, and returned from thence in the railway
carriage with Mrs. Hawker and her children, who were

204 MEMOBIALS, ETC.

accompanied bj this servant, with whom I had some con-
yersation. He was a steady, middle-aged man, who seemed
qnite to possess the confidence of his mistress, and from
what I saw of him, I should be fully impressed with the
opinion that any statement of his on such a subject would be
worthy of credit.

'' I regret that this communication had not reached you
in time to be of use to you on the occasion which has brought
your name before me as Mr. Hawker's friend. I would
gladly have given what was told me by my friend the
churchwarden of Morwenstow the publicity which he
seemed to desire, but knew not how to do so in a quiet and
unostentatious way. I have not seen much of the ' rubbish '
which I am informed h^s appeared upon the subject, and
shall be glad if, in the interests of Truth, you will com-
municate this letter in any quarter in which you think it
may assist in dispelling the cloud which overshadows the
last hours 'of the Vicar of Morwenstow, and seemed to
afford to Rome a triumph, though at the best a poor one,

" 1 am, Rev. and dear Sir,
" Truly yours,

"John C. D. Yule.

The Eev. Dr. Lee,
Lambeth."

APPENDIX No. I.

THE ENGLISH REFORMATION.

It is known that Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canter-
buiy, was not onlj on principle an Erastiau ; but that, at
the time of his consecration as Bishop, he nnquestionably
perjured himself. Any reliable history (Bishop Burnet's
is false and misleading from beginning to end) provides
full particulars and details of this latter immoral and dis-
graceful act. Jeremy Collier, the most high-principled and
trustworthy of English Church historians, states truly
enough, for example, that " Cranmer was obliged to take a
customary oath to the Pope :" and then adds how, at the
same time, he privately repudiated it. "By this expe-
dient he was to save his liberty and renounce every clause in
the oath."

It is also known that Cranmer formally denied the
necessity of any consecration to the office of bishop or
priest, and maintained that the bare nomination by the
sovereign without further act, gave all necessary powers.
These facts, with others of a similar chamcter, were set
forth in a Lecture on the Reformers delivered at Liverpool,
about eight years ago, by Dr. Littledale ; who challenged
all who might be scandalized by his statements, to disprove
them. That challenge, as far as I am aware, has hitherto

1 Collier's Ecclesiastical History, vol. iv. p. 207. London : 1845.

206 APPENDIX.

remained unaccepted. Dr. Gattj made some strictures on
the lecture in question, in the columns of the Guardian,
but brought forward no facts to maintain them. To these
strictures Dr. Littledale wrote the following reply : —

" Sir, — My attention has been only to-day directed by a
friend to Dr. Gatty's censure on my lecture at Liverpool.
A great many clergjrmen, whom I believe to be honest men,
have written to thank me for what I then said, and to urge
the reissue of the lecture as a pamphlet. I am thus not
alone in my opinions.

" I may remark (though, being far from irritable, I do
not complain) that if I have likened men who were agents
in gigantic crimes to the chiefs of the Left in 1793, Dr. •
Gatty has compared me to the Manchester and Clerkenwell
assassins. Consequently he has put himself out of court as
a censor of language. Now as to facts.

'' I have again and again to note with wonder the amazing
ignorance of the educated classes. The letter of Dr. Gatty
is a case in point. He is evidently unaware that the view
that the Reformation and the French Revolution are not
merely like, but are actually successive scenes of the same
ethical and historical drama, is now a commonplace of the
philosophy of History. That being so, there is nothing
very monstrous in finding parallels in the agents of both.
If Dr. Gatty had read carefully the history of either event,
he would not have been shocked. His words convince me
that he is not familiar with either 1550 or 1793. It is
quite possible for men to take very widely difiering views
as to the Reformation itself in its character and results.
Some may look on it as a Pentecost. I look on it as a
Flood, an act of Divine vengeance, not of Divine grace ; a
merited chastisement, not a fresh revelation.

'' But the other view is tenable. On the other hand, I

APPENDIX. 207

gravely assert it to be absolutely impossible for any just,
educated, and religious men, who have read the history of
the time in genuine sources, to hold two opinions about the
Reformers. They were such utterly unredeemed villains,
for the most part, that the only parallel I know for the way
in which half-educated people speak of them amongst us, is
the appearance of Pontius Pilate amongst the saints of the
Abyssinian Kalendar.

" Dr. Gatty cannot know the facts, or he would say as I
have done. But I admit my parallel with the Jacobin
leaders was somewhat harsh and unjust — to them. Robe-
spierre (who, by-the-bye, is counted as a martyr, and
celebrated on the 9th Thermidor as a true Apostle of
Liberty here in London still, as I know), Danton, Marat,
&c., betrayed no trust, were not sharers in the particular
iniquity they overthrew, crouched to no tyrant, peijured
themselves to no man. So far they stand on a higher moral
level than the base traitors who were, and deservedly, exe-
cuted — ^blunder and folly as that execution was — ^by Mary L
I should have compared them with Egalit^ Orleans and St.
Huruge, the basest of that bad eighteenth century. These
are no hasty sentiments. They have been slowly built up
by years of careful reading ; and I would close with the
words of a foreign scholar, a member of the Russian
Church, to Dean Groode. The Dean cited some Reformers
against him. He replied, * Anything you say of yourself
will have its due weight with me, for I believe you to be a
Christian and a gentleman ; but I know the Reformers were
neither one nor the other, and there is no use in quoting

them to me.'

"Richard P. Littledale.

" Cavendish Glnb, 307, Begent-street, W.
" May 16, 1868.*'

208 APPENDIX.

On the B^formers in general, the Bey. Nicholas Pocock,
M.A.9 of Qaeen's College, Oxford, writes somewhat to the
same effect in a lee tore delivered at Bristol, Maj 13, 1875,
and afterwards pnblished bj Pickering : —

'^ The Bishops who would not go along with Somerset
were first imprisoned and then depriyed ; and others, sach as
Ridley, Farrar, Poynet, Hooper, Coverdale, Scorey, Taylor
and Harley, substitated in their places. I have no time
now to prove to yon the infamous character of some of these
men ; nor could I in a short space, draw out the account of
the extreme opinions as to the Sacraments adopted by most
of them. It will be sufficient, generally to say that Ridley
was guilty of high treason, and would probably have been
hanged, if he had been indicted for treason instead of heresy ;
Poynet an adulterer, and was condemned in an Ecclesias-
tical Court ; Scorey, a consummate hypocrite ; that Cover-
dale had the reputation of a drunkard ; that Hooper wrote
in favour of divorce and allowance of re-marriage. The
last two, Taylor and Harley, are too insignificant to have
left any mark on the page of History " (pp. 8, 9).'

Again, after explaining how the appointment of Bishops
by Letters Patent had been instituted for the old mode of
Election ; first with the view of preventing objections on
the part of deans and chapters, and secondly with the
further intention of sweeping away deans and chapters
altogether, he proceeds thus : —

'' Having secured this point, the next step was to make a
new Ordinal, in which, though a great deal of the ancient
ceremonial was dropped, a good deal was also preserved ;
and from this book it appears that the use of the Church

3 " The Principles of the Reformation shown to be in Contradiction
to the *Book of Common Prayer : a paper read at Bristol, May 13
1875/' by Nicholas Pocock, M.A. London : B. M. Pickering, 1875.

APPENDIX. 209

of England, as regards ornaments of the Church and the
ministers, was in the third year of Edward VI. : the alh,
the tunicle, the pastoral staff, and the cope and vestment,
i. e. chasuble, being specially mentioned by name. These
came out in print in March, 1550, exactly a year after the
publication of the Prayer Book, and it was a distinct
advance in the way of getting rid of ancient custom, though
it may seem surprising that people who, as was afterwards
proved, did not believe in any grace of Ordination, should
have so strenuously asserted the three orders of bishops,
priests, and deacons in nearly the same words which are
used on the preface in our present Ordinal." — (Pp. 23, 24.)

Furtheimore : as to the belief, or rather unbelief of these
so-called "Reformers," Mr. Pocock further writes, as
follows : —

" It is certain that the compilers of this second Prayei
Book [which continued in use from 1552 until 1662]
neither believed in the efficacy of Baptism nor of Confirma-
tion, nor in the grace or order, nor in an apostolical suc-
cession ; nor in the distinct character of Priest and Bishop ;
although they were forced by the spread of Anabaptist
opinions to retain a Baptismal Service, and an Ordinal which
countenanced those doctrines." — (P. 30.)

I need only now add that these and such-like statements,
substantiating Mr. Hawker's own personal inquiries (for he
was a most careful and impartial student of history), helped
most materially to confirm his already altered ideas of the
Reformation and its agents. When, before his eyes, an
Erastianism equal to that of Cranmer was energizing under
the action of the living occupant of the See of Canterbury,
no wonder that he wrote, *' My soul is low."

APPENDIX No. II.

ARCHBISHOP TAIT'S BAPTISM.

The recent controversy* on this subject thus arose, as far as
my observation goes : — On July 1st, 1874, a letter signed
"Junius" appeared, making inquiry as to the fact of Arch-
bishop Tait's confirmation. On the 8th of July, Mr.
William Grant, of 13, Clifton Square, Peckham, published
in the same paper a copy of a letter which he had addressed
personally to the Archbishop, containing the following in-
quiry; — " My Lord Archbishop— Since it is very currently
reported in certain circles (and the report freely alluded to
in the public prints) that your Grace has not received the
Holy Ordinance of Confirmation at the hands of a Bishop —
and as the report, remaining uncontradicted, causes con-
siderable anxiety in the minds of Churchmen, might I beg
the favour of a reply to the question, Has your Grace been
confirmed ? "

Then there appeared a letter in the same newspaper,
that for September 23, 1874, signed " A Looker On," con-
taining the following : —

" 1. ^-fter Mr. Tait of Balliol had undergone the ceremony

^ I am indebted to Mr. William Grant for a complete acconnt and
record of the controversy. In reply to a letter from me, he conr-
teonsly wrote on October 28, 1876 : — " Pray make any nse of it yon
may think right."

APPENDIX. 211

of Confirmation by the late Bishop Bagot, the bishop having
learnt from himself (as is said), that he had neyer even
been baptized (except bj an old and ignorant Scotch nurse,
when he was an infant and in danger of death), said to
him, * Mr. Tait, Confirmation cannot be duly given to any
one who has not been validly christened. I have confirmed
you in ignorance. Go and be baptized for security's sake,
and then come again to my next Confirmation.'

" I had this information from a bishop of the Church of
England, who was on intimate terms with the late Bishop
Bagot, and who told me that he had had it from him.

" Again : a near relation of Archbishop Tait quite recently
admitted, in my hearing, that he had never been christened
at all except in the uncertain and unsatisfactory mode above
described. He had never even been baptized by a Pres-
byterian preacher, an Episcopalian Presbyter, or a Church
of England clergyman. So that his so-called * Confirmation '
by Bishop Bagot was most probably null and void ; for, if
unbaptized, he was no fit subject for Confirmation.

" Now it is a very serious thing for the Church of England
that such a gentleman should have been first made a Bishop
and then an Archbishop of Canterbury, as the validity of
so many recent consecrations, ordinations, &c., depend on
the Archbishop's valid baptism.

" 2. It is obvious that young Mr. Spooner, his Grace's
chaplain, who wrote so confidently to you, can know nothing
about the question. He may have heard this, that, or the
other, on report, by second-hand testimony, through
tradition ; and have accepted it by faith ; but of knowledge
he can have none. He is but recently ordained .... He
was neither bom nor thought of when all this occurred.

" 3. If the Archbishop took Bishop Bagot's advice — which
the late Bishop of Winchester said he did not — all well and

p 2

212 APPENDIX.

good ; but if he did not, the matter becomes very serious ;
and the Church ought to have page, date, and facts with
regard to the momentous point raised. The Archbishop,
as an honourable man, is bound to explain, and at once."

In the number of the Church Herald for September 30,
1874, are two letters on the subject, one from Mr. William
Grant, embodying another letter to Mr. Spooner, the Arch-
bishop's secretary j and a second from a ^' A Bewildered
Anglican."

In that for November 4, 1874, there is a letter from
" Anglo-Scotus," to the following effect : — " It will be a
melancholy satisfaction to some of your correspondents to
be informed that some friends of the Archbishop, during his
recent sojourn in Scotland, endeavoured to find any authentic
record of his baptism ; but were wholly unsuccessful and
failed to do so. On this both they and you may rely. A
sadder or more fearful position for about three hundred of
our clergy, and six or seven thousand of our laity (who
fondly think that they have been respectively ordained and
confirmed) could not be conceived. What can be done ? "

Another correspondent also writes thus : — " During the
years intervening from 1808 to 1872, no less than forty-
eight clergymen in the province of Canterbury, have been
ordained without producing their baptismal certificates. . . .
A certificate is always expected if it can be had. But,
again and again declarations written out and signed are
frequently accepted instead, and in Ireland the case is the
same. Many persons, now priests, have been supposed to
have been baptized privately, and no entry made in the
public register of the fact."

As Mr. W. Grant was, apparently, unable to get any
solid information, with date, person, and place, from
Lambeth, he wrote a long letter to his own diocesan. Dr.

APPENDIX. 213

Harold Brown, Bishop of Winchester, recapitulating the
facts, and asking the Bishop's help in what Mr. Grant
asseii;ed had become a ^* serious matter." His Grace's
chaplain, the Rev. H. M. Spooner, apparently at the request
of his Grace, replied that " he knew, as a fact, that the
report that the Archbishop had not received confirmation
was utterly without foundation." '^ On this reply being made
public the doubt was reiterated, and the fact pointed out
that Mr. Spooner could not, by reason of his age, know,
except by hearsay, anything of the matter. I then further
requested to be informed, * When, where, and by whom *
Confirmation had been bestowed ? but no reply was granted."
To the above was sent the following reply : —

<< Winchester House, St. J^mes' Sqnare, S.W.,
" October 81, 1874.

" My dear Sir, — I do not think it would be right that I
should cross-question my Metropolitan as to his baptism on
the ground of anonymous aspersions on him in a newspaper,
qualified even there with ^ as is said.'

^' It being an undisputed fact that the Archbishop was
confirmed by Bishop Bagot, there is every presumption that
he was validly baptized. If Bishop Bagot ever repented of
having confirmed him, and had good grounds for his re-
pentance, some one should state this on his own knowledge,
and! like a man ; not in an anonymous pai*agraph, like an
assassin. If, however, the statement be true that the Arch-
bishop in his infancy was baptized by a nurse, he being in
danger of death, even that would not prove that his baptism
was invalid ; because the .Western Church has always
admitted the baptism of laymen, and even of midwives in
such cases.

" I do not deny that the subject may be one of interest to
Churchmen ; but those who attack the Archbishop on this

214 APPENDIX.

ground are bound to do so openly and with their names, and
I ao not think that I, as a suffragan of the Province of
Canterbury, can with any propriety take any step in the
matter.

'* I am, my dear sir, your very faithful servant,

" E. H. WiNTON."

In the Church Herald for November 18, 1874, there are
other letters on the subject ; the first from " J. M. L. —
Banks of Don," a Presbyterian ; another from " A Canter-
bury Christian," dated from " Bromley," and a third point-
ing out that Bishops Lord Arthur Hervey, Temple, Wood-
ford, Atlay, Wordsworth, Mackarness, Magee, Moberley,
and Hughes, have been probably invalidly consecrated.

In the Church Herald a second letter from the Bishop of
Winchester (originally addressed to the Ouardian), is
printed, containing the following : —

" The Archbishop naturally did not wish to be catechized
by strangers as to his claim to be a member of the Christian
Church ; and I, as one of the Bishops of his province, did not
think it would be dutiful or becoming in me to cross-question
him ; but his Grace, seeing the paragraph in the GuardiaUy
kindly wrote to me a private letter, in which he denied the
truth of both the statements ; viz. that which ascribes his
baptism to a nurse, and that which makes Bishop Bagot as
having expressed regret at having confirmed him. When
the Archbishop was elected to a scholarship at Balliol, the
evidence of his baptism was deposited with the college
auihorities, and the Archbishop does not doubt that any one
who is curious might find it still among the college docu-
ments. You will perhaps kindly allow this letter to appear
in your next impression ; as, though lay, or even female
baptism would not, as I believe, invalidate the episcopal

APPENDIX. ' 215

acts of the Archbishop, there may naturally be some
desire on the part of many to be assured that the doubts
raised are without foundation.

" E. H. WiNTON.
" Winchester House, November 16, 1874."

Afterwards, in the Church Herald of November 25 ^ 1875,
there appeared a letter from " E, B. Finlay " of Folkestone,
who produced the following entiy and attestation : —

(Copy) "Archibald Campbell Tait, was bom on 2 1st
December, 1811, and baptized on the 1 0th February, by
the Rev. Dr. MacKnight."

" The above is copied by me from the Family Bible of

my father, Crawford Tait, of Harviestoun, Esq. — my father

and the Archbishop's. It was inserted in the Family Bible

by our mother, who died on the 3rd January, 1814, and

who entered in it the birth and baptisms of all her children

as they occurred.

" JjCMES Campbell Tait.

" 13, Great Stuart Street, Edinburgh."

Below this stands a communication from " Scotus," from
which the following is quoted : — " It was said in Oxford
many years ago, that Dr. Jenkins (Master of Balliol),
whether entertaining any doubt of the validity of lay
baptism, or suspecting that the ordinance might not in all
cases have been duly administered, was accustomed in every
case of a Snell scholar, son of Presbyterian parents, to
desire him on his appearance to go and be conditionally
baptized. Such was considered the rule, and acted on. One
man objected and positively refused, referring to certain
persons of Social position in Scotland who would support
him in his refusal. He carried his point, and the con-
ditional baptism of subsequent Snell scholars was not
insisted on. Mr. Tait was the next scholar, and possibly

216 APPENDIX.

as the old rule of conditional baptism (which would have
rendered a previous certificate needless) had only for the
second time been departed from, the evidence which Dr.
Robinson and others think was always forthcoming might
not have been demanded."

In the above various letters it cannot be denied that there
is much that is extraordinary and irreconcilable with fact.
The various reports sometimes contradict themselves, and
are otherwise very conflicting.

1. As to ihefact of Mr. Tait's baptism there is certainly
some evidence before us, though it is not easy to under-
stand why it was not produced earlier, or why Mr. Spooner
did not refer to it, and the Bishop of Winchester set it forth.
The Bishop, on the other hand, seems in each of the letters
to uphold the theory that a woman had ministered the
sacrament in the Archbishop's case.

The Rev. Dr. Thomas MacKnight referred to in the above
entry — son of the Dr. MacKnight who wrote a ** Harmony
of the Gospels," and died in 1800 — was ordained Minister
February 17, 1791, to the second charge of South Leith
Parish, but was translated to Trinity College Kirk in June
1804. He was afterwards promoted to St. Giles' Kirk ;
and was Moderator of the General Assembly in 1820. He
died circa 1830.

2. As to the validity of Presbyterian baptisms, the
opinion of Dr. Jenkins, some time Master of Balliol, and Dean
of Wells, that they were at the best doubtful, seems to be
more than probable. His custom, therefore, of insisting on
conditional baptism was an excellent safeguard against error
or nullity, or invalidity of subsequent ordination. I myself,
during a residence of some years in Scotland, witnessed

APPENDIX. 217

several public baptisms of Presbyterians ; and in no case
could I testify that they had been validly performed. A
friend of my own (the son of a Presbyterian clergyman),
but for some time a member of the Church of England, bears
me out in this experience. He was present in 1868 at St.
Paul's Established Church, Glasgow, when a certain Mr.
McAuslane (baptizing on behalf of the regular minister,
Dr. Jamieson) used the invalid formula, *^ I baptize thee
in the Name of the Lord Jesus." I am told that a large
majority of the Scotch Episcopal Clergy invariably baptize
conditionally, all converts from the Presbyterian com-
munities. With a view to further inquiry, I took the liberty
of putting two questions on the subject to my friend, the
Right Rev. John Strain, D.D., R. C. Bishop of Edinburgh,
as follows: — " I. In your Lordship's opinion are the baptisms
performed by the Ministers of the Scottish establishment
ministered duly and validly?" Answer — "We consider it
doubtful." "IL What is the practice in the Roman
Catholic Church in Scotland as to re-baptizing, conditionally,
converts from the Presbyterian conmiunions to that Church ? "
Answer — r" The practice is to re-baptize conditionally in
every case."

These, and such-like statements, must be left to tell
their own story. They are known to have affected Mr.
Hawker seriously.

APPENDIX No. III.

THE PUBLIC WORSHIP REGULATION ACT.

The following criticism of the Archbishop of Canterbury's
Bill appeared in the Morning Post of April 24, 1874 : —

{To the Editor of the '^Morning Post:')

" Sir, — Threatened as we are by the proposed * Public
Worship Regulation Bill ' with dangers which are at once
only half disclosed and yet very considerable, I crave your
permission to make the following remarks on it: —

"1. As to the constitution of the new tribunal. The
assessors of the bishop are all appointed by the bishop.
Now, this provision only apparently shifts the bishop's re-
sponsibility on to the shoulders of his own nominees.
Their judgment, in fact and reality, would be his. How
would it fare, for example, under this machinery, with any
High Churchmen in the diocese of a Low Church bishop ?
It is clear that the bishop, if he set about it, could get rid
of all, and this under the guise of * carrying out the law,*
should this extraordinary measure pass. No clergyman
with a spark of self-respect or independence would remain
in a diocese where certain temporal ruin must ensue to a
conscientious man who chanced to be poor, and of another
school to that of his bishop. In fact, a vicar or rector
could, under this proposed Act, be got rid of absolutely

APPENDIX. 219

with far greater ease, privacy, and more sumno aril j than any
licensed curate.

*' 2. By including cathedrals with parish churches, all the
old traditions and customs of the former which have come
down from time immemorial, practically and by living
usages explaining the meaning of our present rubric, * The
chancels shall remain as they have done in times past,'
might be ruthlessly swept away, at the dictation of any
nominal Churchman or political Dissenter in a cathedral
city. We have all heard of Dean Stanley's delightful
friend, ' the Nonconformist member of the Establishment.'

" 3. Under the * rules of procedure ' a dean, rector, or
vicar charged with a breach of the law is actually bound to
criminate himself — a course of proceeding which hitherto
has been unknown to English jurisprudence ; and is not
likely, in the long run, to be approved by Englishmen. It
is unfortunate that Archbishop Tait was not bom and bred
an English Churchman. Here is the proposed enactment :
* If the incumhent shall not transmit an answer, or shall
not in his answer deny the truth of any statement of fact
made in the representation, such statement shall he deemed
to be true.'' In Dod's * Parliamentary Companion ' the two
Archbishops are .. catalogued as * Liberals.* Truly this is
a ' Liberal ' enactment. Truly this is justice indeed !

" 4. Again, the person complaining against a clergyman
need not even be present at the court of inquiry. If he is
present by an agent, that is sufficient. Nor can he himself
be cross-examined {vide Section 11). So that while the
silence of the incumbent is to establish the truth of any
complaining person's allegations and charges, such person
making a charge may stay away and leave the conduct of
his case to a professional agent. Is this, again, even-handed
justice ?

220 APPENDIX.

" 5, By the same section the bishop has the power to pack
the court and exclude all sympathizers and friends of the
person charged with an offence. Here are the provisions
for effecting this : — * The bishop shall have power to make
such rules as he may think proper as to the admission of
persons during the consideration of a representation.^ This
quaint conception of what is equitable goes beyond anything
recorded of the Star Chamber.

** 6. The question of the costs of a suit is wholly in the
hands of the bishop, from whom, as the Bill stands, there
is no appeal on this point whatsoever. One suit per month
against an unpopular rector — no impossible event — would
be a serious item in his year's expenditure. And if he had
to pay the presenter's costs as well (as is the case with the
vicar of Tottenham and his faculty, opposed solely by
Dissenters and non- worshippers of the Church), ruin might
very speedily stare him in the face.

" 7. Appeals to the archbishop or to the new court of
appeal could only be made by clergy who have large private
means ; others would have to submit to the decree of the
* Court of Closed Doors,' secured by nominal Churchmen
in the face of, and in opposition to, the wishes of those who
use, and are satisfied with, the Services of the Church.

" 8. Again, contrary to English law and to justice every-
where, a sentence of an inferior court is to take effect even
though appealed against, and while under appeal (Section
15). So that if any bishop's sentence were to be reversed
by the archbishop, and that of the archbishop in turn re-
versed again, there might be three important and irritating
changes effected in the mode of conducting service where
one would have served.

" 9. By the 20th section the safeguard of a formal faculty
is absolutely swept away. Thus partisan bishops, under

APPENDIX. 221

pretence of * enforcing the law,' may * become a law unto
themselves,' and faculties openly granted by one bishop, at
considerable cost to a parish, may be rendered absolutely
null and void by the private * Star Chamber policy * of
another bishop, his successor, who may belong to an opposite
theological school.

" 10. Furthermore, under this proposed enactment there
may be as many different legal decisions as there are dioceses
in England. What may be * law ' under Bishop Mackar-
ness, for example, in Oxfordshire, may be absolutely illegal
in Durham under Dr. Baring. ' Our unhappy divisions '
may hereafter have known geographical and territorial
boundaries assigned to them through the novel and bene-
ficent legislation of Archbishop Tait.

'^ Let it be here noted that no provision whatsoever is made
for the due observance of Church rules and rubrics by the
bishops themselves. While. deans, rectoi's, and vicars are
having a hempen cord prepared for their necks, bishops and
archbishops are to be amenable to no earthly authority.
Each one is to do as he pleases without let or hindrance.
Yet, as a rule, the bishops are by no means free from blame;
for ' scamped confirmations,' as Bishop Wilberforce used
to term them, were quite lately the rule, and not, as now,
the exception.

" Of course the Purchas and Mackonochie cases were
plainly contradictory. In one a man was punished for not
standing before the Holy Table ; in the other, another man
was punished, by the same authority, for standing before
the Table ; while as to the use of the Eucharistic vestments,
every liturgical writer, from Overall to Wheatley, main-
tained their strict legality ; and if the present rubric does
not enjoin their use, language has altogether lost its meaning.
Judgments such as have recently been given, being intrinsi-

222 APPENDIX.

cally immoral, command no respect, and certainly bind no
one's conscience. The passive attitude which, under deep
provocation, the High Church party has hitherto maintained
may possibly be altered now it is seen that this measure is
being brought to bear on them alone. High Church laymen
(a very considerable class) may become active. For
Evangelicals and Broad Churchmen are left alone. Bishops
do not touch nor rate them. Aggrieved parishioners under
such have not the ear of their superiors. I myself have
heard clergymen in the diocese of London, in sermons,
openly deny the doctrine of the Atonement, the Divinity of
our Blessed Saviour, the Inspiration of Scripture, and
the Resurrection of the body, yet they are permitted to
go on unrebuked, unchecked, and not legislated for — some
of them honoured and rewarded. Let the bishops begin to
do justice and act righteously, and then the clergy will not
even seem to disregard authority, and let them give up this
one-sided and scandalous Bill.

" I will conclude with an ad hominem argument, respectfully
put to the Archbishop of Canterbury himself. Li his
Grace's diocese many beneficed clergymen (some promoted
by him) invariably omit the Athanasian Creed. Let such
be presented. There can be no doubt as to what the
Prayer Book (statute law) enjoins. What could the Arch-
bishop say ? What has he said ? Litera acripta manet : —
* Is it, or is it not, true that if any complaint were made
to any one of your lordships against a clergyman for omit-
ting the Athanasian Creed, you would not proceed against
him for violating the Act of Uniformity ; and if you thought
it necessary to take notice of what he had done, yo%i would
do it in the lightest form which the law allows.' — (Speech
of Archbishop Tait in Convocation. Guardian, February
14, 1872.)

APPENDIX. 223

** Thus Arians and Sociuians arc to be protected, while High
Churchmen are to be cast out by a special and stringent
enactment. I venture to doubt if this new attempt at one-
sided, adroit, and un-English legislation, when carefully
examined, will find favour either with Lords, Commons, or
Convocation. It is obvious why its promoters are in
such an unusual hurry to pass it. When known it will
be execrated.

" Anyhow, an Established Church in which such an enactv
ment became law would not find me, and possibly some few
others, as now, amongst its list of beneficed clergymen.
The life of a toad under a harrow would be paradise in
comparison with the blessed state of varying happiness
which the Archbishop desires to provide, by the machinery
of his enactment, for all English clergy under the order
of a bishop.

" I have the honour to be. Sir, your obedient servant,

"A London Clergyman.

" April 23." [i.e. Frederick George Lee.]

{To the Editor of the Morning Post)

" Sir, — The Bishop of Peterborough, in his Charge [a.d.
1875], says of the Public Worship Eegulation Act that
* it neither added to, took away from, nor interpreted any
of those laws,' i. e. laws of the Church. There is a certain
ambiguity in the phrase * the laws of the Church ' when
used by Erastian divines ; it never clearly appears whether
they mean rubrics, canons, or statutes of the land, or all of
these together ; but in whatever sense the expression was
used, tried by any standard of law, I beg to join issue with
his lordship as to the fact which he states, and to assert
that, whether rightly or wrongly, the Public- Worship
Regulation Act has added very much that is new to the

224 APPENDIX.

statute law of the land, and has taken away very much
that is ancient from the canon law and curial organiza-
tion of the Church, considered as a divinely founded
society.

'' Previous to the passing of the Act in question, ecclesias-
tical suits were heard in the first instance in the consistoiy
court of the diocese, from which there lay an appeal to the
provincial com*t of the archhishop. In many cases, indeed,
the cause was removed hy letters of request to the provincial
court, but the hearing was, in theory at least, and might
have been also in practice, before the court of the bishop
of the diocese first, and then before that of the archbishop,
according to the ancient canonical mode of procedure, which
in substance and principle was as old as Christianity itself
The judges of the consistory courts have been from the very
first appointed by the free irresponsible choice of the
diocesan ; and in the case of the provincial courts, each
province had, agreeably to the ancient and continuous
organization of the Church, its own court of appeal, pre-
sided over by an official principal who owed his appointment
to the free, irresponsible choice of the archbishop' of the
province. Up to the year 1874 no statute had ever been
passed by Parliament afiecting the appointment of these
ecclesiastical judges, who were distinctly Church officers
representing the bishop or archbishop of the see to which
their court belonged. All this has been changed by the
Public Worship Regulation Act ; that Act, in the new
scheme of ecclesiastical discipline which it provides, has
altogether superseded the consistory court of the diocese ;
it has, not only for suits arising under it, but for all suits,
in doctrine as well as in ritual, destroyed the two provincial
courts of Canterbury and York. For the first time since
England became a Christian country the two archbishops

APPENDIX. 225

have been controlled and limited by statute in their choice of
the individual whom they would select as official principal
of their respective courts. While in the Act a show is
made of leaving the appointment of judge under the Act
in their hand, the real character of an official principal, and
their free choice in his appointment, are really abrogated by
the four conditions prescribed by Section 7 of the Act,
which are these : — 1 . They must appoint a barrister (no
statute is ever passed now without providing for the interests
of the barrister of seven years' standing). 2. They appoint
'subject to the Queen's approval.' 3. They must agree
in the choice of the same individual for both provinces.
4. They must appoint in a given time, or the Crown
appoints in their stead.

** Now, sir, I am not going into the question which of these
two systems is the best, the cheapest, the more consonant
with the idea of the Church as a Divine institution ; all I
protest against is the misrepresentation of fact contained in
the statement that the Public Worship Regulation Act has
made no change in the laws of the Church of England. If,
sir, the canons of 1603 are * laws of our Church,' and I
challenge the Bishop of Peterborough to say that they are
not, then some of those' canons are absolutely repealed,
superseded, abrogated (or whatever may be the right term)
by the requirements of the Public Worship Regulation Act.
I repeat, sir, I do not wish to initiate any discussion or com-
parison as to the respective merits of the old courts Christian
and the new court Erastian ; all that I ask is, that those
who, like the Bishop of Peterborough an4 others, had a
chief hand in destroying the ancient curial system of the
Church, should not use the influence of their position to
try and persuade the public that no change has been made,
when nothing short of a revolution has been accomplished.

Q

226 APPENDIX.

It looks as if they were ashamed or afraid of their handi-
work. The Bishop of Peterborough is not the only eminent
person who has thus attempted to minimize the character of
the Public Worship Act. The statement that this Act made
no change in the existing law has been repeated in high
quarters with a pertinacity which would have been im-
possible but for the great ignorance which prevails on the
subject of ecclesiastical courts, their nature and history.

" If I have not trespassed too much upon your space, I
should like to deal with one other fallacy which pervades
the Bishop of Peterborough's charge on this subject. The
Act, he says, provides ' for the cheaper and speedier inter-
pretation and enforcement of the laws of our Church
respecting ritual.' The Act, sir, does nothing of the kind.
It provides, and herein lies the grievance, for the cheap and
speedy enforcement, by a purely secular court, of any par-
ticular decision which half a dozen persons, no doubt
eminent, in Downing-street may be pleased to give respect-
ing ritual. Within the last twenty years the Judicial
Committee has once decided that the ornaments rubric
prescribes the vestments, and once it has decided that it
does not. In the face of such a fact (apart from abstract
arguments) it is marvellous that any one should take the
* decisions of the Judicial Committee * and * the laws of
our Church ' to be equivalent and convertible expressions.
The bishop goes on to lament that * the Church was fast
passing away from the paralyzed hands of her legitimate
rulers into the hands of powerful but irresponsible associa-
tions of private individuals.' . . . No, sir, the Church
Association is not so powerful as all that ; it could not
really have hurt one parish priest or one tiny flock, had the
bishop not given it recognition and opportunity. That
' the Church has passed away from the paralyzed hands of

APPENDIX. 227

her legitimate rulers ' is true, but she has passed from her
legitimate rulers into the hands of Lord Penzance and the
Judicial Committee. Bishops and priests have been replaced
by judges and barristers ; henceforth what half a dozen law
lords choose to impose as the correct interpretation of the
Prayer Book, whether it is so or not, must be accepted by
the Establishment ; and if all the archbishops and bishops
disapprove of their interpretation, they cannot alter or
prevent its being imposed and recognized as the voice of
* our Church.' But, then, whose is the fault ? who sprang
the Public Worship Act upon an unsuspecting clergy ? who
for the last eight or ten years have made it their especial
mission to persuade the British public that the utterances
of the Judicial Committee were the voice of the Anglican
communion ?

" I am, sir, your obedient servant,

'* Edmund Samuel Grindle.

«

Brighton, October 20, 1876."

Q 2

APPENDIX No. IV.

AT MORWENSTOW, NOVEMBER 10, 1875.

By John D. .Sedding, Architect.

A CHILL November day, with low, grey, threatening clouds
overhead, a monotonous drive across bleak Cornish moor-
lands, unrelieved by any points of interest, and lined only
by bare hedges, naturally set one's thoughts in a minor key
that befitted the purpose of my journey.

Although what Murray calls " the wretched hamlet of
Morwenstow " is bounded by the Bristol Channel, it is not
until you have passed the brow of a hill close to the coast
that '^ the Severn Sea '' comes in sight, and at the same time
before you is the lonely grey church tower set among the
trees. Alighting here, a striking scene presents itself that
would alone make the place worthy of a visit. A deep
valley or combe running precipitately down to the sea, has
for its northern boundary, facing you, a stately headland
clad with patches of dark furze, that even on this wintry
day yields its hardy bloom of golden flowers. Nearing the
shore, the hillside breaks suddenly into lofty cliffs, whose
bases are washed by the sounding waves of the Atlantic ;
as report says, the scene of disaster and wreck, where
many a brave man's life has been beaten out of him. The

APPENDIX. 229

other face of the valley, forming, as far as can be seen, a
slope of green turf, is of gentler aspect, and, lying sheltered
in a hollow in its side, is the church and parsonage I have
come to see.

To a pilgrim visiting the footprints of Robert Stephen
Hawker, Cornish bard, and for forty years Vicar of Mor-
wenstow, the scene could not fail to impress one with the
keenest interest. How often must the picturesque figure of
the interpreter of the scenery, life, and character of far
Cornwall have stood in this spot to survey that which was
the whole world to him; and how much of the fresh imagery
and quaint fantasy of his pages must have been indebted to
familiarity with this and the like scenes ! At our feet is
the house he built and so long tenanted, and left only to die.
A deserted house is always a suggestive, and sometimes
even a pathetic sight, and there is nothing just now in the
aspect of the local surroundings or in the mood of nature,
to disturb the sense

" Of one mute shadow watching all ;'*

ft

or to break the spell that seems to hang about those dark,
gloomsome walls. But for the sea's " listless chime," the
plaintive cry of the sea-gull, and the occasional clamour of
Hawker's loved birds — the rooks that gather about the
chimney-tops or turn mad somersaults in the air — not a
sound is to be heard. The house, his own design, is
perched on a small platform a little to the east of the
church, and distant about a quarter of a mile from the
cliffs. Although, as is but natural, one traces the hand of
an amateur in its design, the house bears the impress of
genius. It forms a good block of building of the sixteenth-
century style, well adapted to the site, picturesquely gabled
and adorned with emphatic chimneys. These chimneys are

r~

-1

I

APPENDIX. ^31

indeed its chief feature, for on them is lavished the only
ornamentation about the house ; and, it is said, their whim-
sical designer intended them to commemorate the principal
church towers in the country, a large, squat twin-chimney
standing for the two Norman towers of Exeter Cathedral,
Their forms are slightly varied, but, generally speaking,
they have heads with small stepped battlements, in appear-
ance like an Irish church tower in miniature. The church-
yard, which adjoins the vicarage grounds, is skirted by
trees that are old, grey, stunted and withered, the victims
to the storm-blasts that beat up the valley, their tops being
as flat as a table, but slanting upwards in proportion to
their distance from the churchyard | wall. Just inside
the lychgate is an upright grave cross of Cornish type, the
" added stone,*' as the late Vicar called it, to the memory of
his first wife. The church itself has been described by
Hawker in the characteristic style of the poet, mystic, and
antiquary ; and it only falls to my lot to give a prosaic,
ungarnished version of the building as I found it. Apart
from its associations, the church is a most interesting
fabric, and of so venerable an appearance, that on entering
its walls the most careless person must instinctively lower
his voice to a whisper. The plan consists of nave, chancel,
north and south aisles, western tower, and a modem south
porch. The nave has an arcade of five bays on either side,
the date of whose erection differs widely. To take the
various features chronologically, they would stand thus : —
The three westernmost arches on the north side, with the
south doorway, are of Norman work of the Transitional
period, probably dating from the twelfth century ; they are
ornamented profusely with chevrons and beakheads, and are
peculiar in having large projecting heads of men, griflSins,
and a horned ram at the crown of the arches, all grotesquely

232 APPENDIX.

delineated, as one need hardly say. The easternmost of
these three arches has a half-colamn and respond, and the
label-moulding to the arch is carried along it horizontally
in the form of a string-course, indicating that originally the
arcade was completed at this point. The font, which is
boat-shaped and girt with a cable moulding round its centre,
is also of the Norman period. The two easternmost bays
of the north arcade, together with the chancel, are of
thirteenth-century work. These arches are pointed, and,
together with those aforementioned, rest on plain cylindrical
pillars of large dimensions. The chancel has a modem
east window, but a lancet window is discernible from the
exterior of the church on either side, both being at present
blocked up. The south arcade and western tower are of
late fifteenth-century work. This arcade is of elegant pro-
portions, one half of it being built of Polyphant stone, and
the other half of granite. The capitals of those arches
which are formed of the more tractable Polyphant stone
being enriched with delicate mouldings and carved cresting
and rosettes ; the others being of simpler detail. The
roofs form an interesting feature of the church, they are
throughout of fifteenth-century date, and of the cradle or
barrel form, having principal rafters about five feet apart,
with purline ribs that divide the curved space into square
panels. The principals and purline ribs are enriched with
mouldings and carved rosettes, and there are bosses of
various devices at the intersections of the ribs. The chancel
roof is of a less ornamented character than the rest, but the
bosses are more vai*ied in type. The wall-plates through-
out are adorned with the usual ornament of foliage and
fruit, and at the feet of the principal rafters are rudely
carved angel figures bearing shields.

In the brief allusion to Morwenstow Church in Murray's

APPENDIX. 233

Guide to Cornwall, the chancel screen is described as " an
elaborate screen;" and Hawker, in his paper on the sub-
ject, eloquently dilates upon the symbolism of its various
parts. It is a pity to spoil brilliant theories by a plain
array of facts, but the " scroll of rich device across it,
wherein deer and oxen browse," is not fairly described ;
there are more birds than deer, and an unmistakeable dog
crops out, " neither is it of this countree," for part is of
cast-iron, and the rest imported from the Midland counties ;
while the elaborate lattice- work is also of cast-iron, making
sixteen large traceried panels in all, of true Brummagem
stuff, set in a decent but plain frame of wood.

In spite of this and other small subterfuges about the
building, which are easily detected by the professional eye,
due praise must be given to the late vicar for real good
work accomplished in the Church Restoration. Twenty
years ago the high pews were removed to make way for
finely carved bench-ends, mostly purchased from neigh-
bouring churches where theh' presence was not duly
appreciated, such of the original benches belonging to
Morwenstow Church being re-used. These seats are of early
sixteenth-centuiy date, finely carved with foliage, griflSins,
masques with curling tails, a bell, a spear with a heart
upon it, a crowned Tudor rose, initials and flowing tracery.

The chancel has a very bare appearance. Of seats there
is but one low form, less than five feet long, with an upright
bookstand for the minister. An early edition of ** Hymns
Ancient and Modern," inscribed in Hawker's handwriting,
'' William Olde, senior, Morwenstow Choir," implies, how-
ever, that the parish choir had at least one representative.
The altar, of oak, is small. Upon the super-altar is a
cross Calvary of oak, and two candlesticks of serpentine.
Three steps at the cast end of the chancel lead to the altar.

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