FIFTY YEARS OF A SHOWMAN'S LIFE 



Sanskrit, and of the proposal to increase Jowett's 

 stipend as professor of Greek ; the basis of 

 objection to both individuals being their supposed 

 unorthodoxy. As my father shared the arch- 

 deacon's views, he lent him his aid in the practical 

 working of the machinery of opposition. So I 

 heard a good deal about the archdeacon and his 

 doings at this time. 



In after years his individuality and the tenacity 

 with which he held the faith, as he regarded it, 

 and his inflexible determination that others should 

 hold it, were brought forcibly home to me. It so 

 happened that, at the Sunday service in the yard 

 during my first Bath and West Show, held at 

 Bridgwater in 1883, the archdeacon was the 

 preacher in lieu of the Bishop of the Diocese, who 

 was unable to officiate. To the surprise of all 

 present, the archdeacon devoted the whole of his 

 discourse to an elaborate and learned exposition 

 of the doctrine of the Trinity, with particulars 

 of the direful consequences of not accepting all 

 that it represented ; in fact, it was just such a 

 sermon as one would expect to hear preached to 

 the theological experts at St. Mary's, Oxford, by 

 Dr. Pusey or some such master of doctrinal 

 intricacies. But it was certainly not what one 

 would have expected to hear addressed to a con- 

 gregation mainly composed of herdsmen, shep- 

 herds, and such like simple-minded folk, for 

 whom the service was specially intended. I was 

 puzzled to account for it until, having confided in 

 the Society's chaplain that most delightful of 

 clerics and horticulturists, the late Hon. and 

 Rev. J. T. Boscawen he furnished the explanation 



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