The Tables on Cabby.
One night, after Parliament adjourned, the new Archbishop of Canterbury, then Bishop of London, was driven to his home, Fulham Palace, by a cabby who, noting what a distinguished passenger he had, undertook to get from him a big fee. Determined not to be taken advantage of, Bishop Temple tendered the exact legal fare, two shillings, and refused to add even a modest tip.
Cabby did not protest. He tried flattery. He knew that most bishops of London had reason to expect promotion to Canterbury in the event of a vacancy in the primacy of all England. So he said, in a begging and martyrlike tone:
"Do you think the Archbishop of Canterbury, with his big salary, ought to ask a poor cabby to drive all the way to Fulham late at night, and then give him the pittance of two shillings only?"
"Decidedly not," returned the Bishop. "The Archbishop of Canterbury lives at Lambeth Palace, and the cab fare from Westminster to Lambeth is not two shillings, but only one shilling. Good-night."