It is customary among certain classes to look upon Bishops as men
living in beautiful palaces, faring sumptuously, and rolling about in
carriages; but there is no ploughman who does a harder day's work than
does our Bishop. As to the clergy, many of them labour amongst us for
a stipend which many an artizan would despise.
_Bassaleg Farmers' Dinner,
October 13th, 1881._
There is a certain class of advanced politicians who never lose an
opportunity of serving their own ends by impressing upon their hearers
their particular notions of what a Bishop of the Church of England is
like. That dignitary is generally pictured as a gentleman who receives
a large salary, is clothed in purple and fine linen, fares sumptuously
every day, and lives in luxurious idleness.
_The Opening of the Seamen's Mission Church, Newport,
January 18th, 1887._
We should remember the duties and responsibilities which rest on an
Archbishop. He has a vast correspondence, in which there is not a
single letter that he can write without weighing every word. He is not
like ordinary people, who are able to scribble off their
correspondence; for if a word in a letter from an Archbishop is in the
wrong place, it may upset a college or cause a revolution. If you
study the history of the Archbishopric of Canterbury, beginning with
St. Augustine, then going on to Lanfranc, to Anselm, to Theodore, and
down to Benson and Temple, you will, I believe, come to the conclusion
that I have reached--that whilst many of the men who have gone before
him have filled great parts in making the history of the nation, there
is not one whose character, whose powers of speech, and whose
earnestness in carrying out his duties, exceeded those of the present
Archbishop (Dr. Temple).
_Seventy-fifth Anniversary of St. David's College, Lampeter
October 9th, 1902._
[Illustration: "_There is not one whose character, and whose powers of
speech exceeded those of the present Archbishop (Dr. Temple)._"]