ENGLAND REVISITED -1885 393 



speech was made by the candidate, Sir Hugh Davey ; and 

 in his anxiety to propitiate his hearers he began by ad 

 dressing them as men whose ancestors had for centuries 

 shown their devotion to free principles, and had espe 

 cially given proof of this by hanging the last Abbot of 

 Glastonbury at the old tower above the town. But, 

 shortly afterward, when Freeman began his speech, it 

 was evident that his love of historical truth and his de 

 votion to church principles would not permit him to pass 

 this part of Davey s harangue unnoticed. Eef erring 

 then respectfully to his candidate for Parliament, Free 

 man went on to say in substance that his distinguished 

 friend was in error ; that the last Abbot of Glastonbury 

 was not a traitor, but a martyr a martyr to liberty, and 

 a victim of that arch-enemy of liberty, Henry VIII. 

 Any one who had heard Freeman in America as a lec 

 turer would have been amazed at his ability as a political 

 speaker. As a lecturer, trying to be eloquent while read 

 ing a manuscript, he was generally ineffective and some 

 times comical, worse even than the general run of lec 

 turers in the German universities, and that is saying 

 much; but as a public speaker he was excellent so much 

 so that, congratulating him afterward, and bearing in 

 mind the fact that he had been formerly defeated for 

 Parliament, I assured him that if he would come to Amer 

 ica and make speeches like that, we would most certainly 

 put him in Congress and keep him there. 



Toward the end of October we went on to Exeter, and 

 there, at Heavitree Church, heard Bishop Bickersteth 

 preach admirably, meeting him afterward at our lunch 

 eon with the vicar, and taking supper with him at the 

 episcopal palace. He was perhaps best known in Amer 

 ica as the author of the poem, &quot;Yesterday, To-day, and 

 Forever ; and of this he gave me a copy, remarking 

 that every year he received from the American publisher 

 a check for fifty pounds, though there was no copyright 

 requiring any payment whatever. In his study he 

 showed me a copy of &quot;The Book Annexed,&quot; which pre- 



