“Others abide our question: thou art free,”
the Law Courts may say. Stern critics sit in Whitehall and weed out all that seems perilous: when the sieve has done its duty there is little left for the lawyers.
I meditate on the extension of the expression of free opinion. How would it work on Sundays? The preacher has a pulpit, and in that inviolable recess has a free tongue for half an hour, with a merciful leaning towards twenty minutes. The organist is a greater libertine. The architect and builder ill-use us, and for the most part we suffer silently. Would the bench of bishops send me about the country to report on church services, and to recommend deductions from the incomes of the incompetent? Of course one would begin with cathedrals and proceed with more lenient rule to parish churches. Probably at least one inspector would be required in each diocese, and as these officials, like school inspectors, would be men of diverse minds, it would be the most racy Bluebook of the year that reproduced their varied views. Let us make some samples:
Norchester Cathedral. Visited on April 1 by Mr. Mendelssohn Brown.
The condition of this cathedral is far from satisfactory. The singing, which is the main object of interest to the greater part of the congregation, is even worse than at last year’s inspection. Of the eight men several should be contemplating acceptance of a retiring pension. The boys are ill-behaved, and their musical capacity is on a level with their behaviour: in the Psalms there was no verse in which they did not make one or more mistakes. The Services were ill-chosen and incorrectly rendered: the Anthem was a pretentious failure. The merely literary part of the service was satisfactory, but it is not desirable to attach too much importance to these rudiments.
Remarks: My Lords will require a more favourable report on the singing as a condition of an unreduced grant.
Westchester Cathedral. Visited on March 7 by Mr. Simeon Jones.
It is gratifying to be able to report well of the musical part of the service: the organ playing was distinctly good, and the singing often reached a high level of excellence. It should, however, be borne in mind that congregational worship is the primary consideration, and special attention should be paid to this feature in the coming year. The Canon in Residence would do well to attend an elocution class at a Continuation school in the winter season: it was with the utmost difficulty that the Lessons were heard, and even in the 16th chapter of Romans four mistakes in the Salutations is 33·3 per cent. above the average for all England. The Dean’s sermon was for the most part inaudible: this is probably not to be regretted from a doctrinal point of view, but the waste of time is a serious consideration.
Remarks: Special attention should be paid to the Inspector’s warning.
Sudchester Cathedral: Visited on Nov. 10 by Mr. Hodge.