Hugh | Page 2

only a study, so to speak, and is written very informally and
directly. Formal biographies, as I know from experience, must
emphasise a different aspect. They deal, as they are bound to do, with
public work and official activities; and the personal atmosphere often
vanishes in the process--that subtle essence of quality, the effect of a
man's talk and habits and prejudices and predispositions, which comes
out freely in private life, and is even suspended in his public
ministrations. It would be impossible, I believe, to make a presentment
of Hugh which could be either dull or conventional. But, on the other
hand, his life as a priest, a writer, a teacher, a controversialist, was to a
certain extent governed and conditioned by circumstances; and I can
see, from many accounts of him, that the more intimate and
unrestrained side of him can only be partially discerned by those who
knew him merely in an official capacity.
That, then, is the history of this brief Memoir. It is just an attempt to
show Hugh as he showed himself, freely and unaffectedly, to his own
circle; and I am sure that this deserves to be told, for the one
characteristic which emerges whenever I think of him is that of a
beautiful charm, not without a touch of wilfulness and even petulance
about it, which gave him a childlike freshness, a sparkling zest, that
aerated and enlivened all that he did or said. It was a charm which
made itself instantly felt, and yet it could be hardly imitated or adopted,
because it was so entirely unconscious and unaffected. He enjoyed
enacting his part, and he was as instinctively and whole-heartedly a
priest as another man is a soldier or a lawyer. But his function did not
wholly occupy and dominate his life; and, true priest though he was,
the force and energy of his priesthood came at least in part from the
fact that he was entirely and delightfully human, and I deeply desire
that this should not be overlooked or forgotten.

A. C. B.
Tremans, Horsted Keynes,
December 26, 1914.

CONTENTS
I
HARE STREET PAGES
Garden--House--Rooms--Tapestry--Hare Street Discovered--A Hidden
Treasure 1-14
II
CHILDHOOD
Birth--The Chancery--Beth 15-24
III
TRURO
Lessons--Early Verses--Physical Sensitiveness--A Secret Society--My
Father--A Puppet-Show 25-41
IV
BOYHOOD
First Schooldays--Eton--Religious Impressions--A Colleger 42-51
V
AT WREN'S

Sunday Work--Artistic Temperament--Liturgy--Ritual--Artistic Nature
52-65
VI
CAMBRIDGE
Mountain--climbing--Genealogy--Economy--Hypnotism--The
Call--My Mother--Nelly 66-81
VII
LLANDAFF
Dean Vaughan--Community Life--Ordained Deacon 82-88
VIII
THE ETON MISSION
Hackney Wick--Boys' Clubs--Preaching--My Father's Death 89-99
IX
KEMSING AND MIRFIELD
Development--Mirfield--The Community--Sermons--Preaching
100-113
X
THE CHANGE
Leaving Mirfield--Considerations--Argument--
Discussion--Roddy--Consultation 114-129
XI
THE DECISION

Anglicanism--Individualism--Asceticism--A Centre of Unity--Liberty
and Discipline-- Catholicism--The Surrender--Reception--Rome
130-151
XII
CAMBRIDGE AGAIN
Llandaff House--Our Companionship--Rudeness--The Catholic
Rectory--Spiritual Direction-- Mystery-Plays--Retirement 152-167
XIII
HARE STREET
Ken--Engagements--Christmas--Visits 168-175
XIV
AUTHORSHIP
The Light Invisible--His Books--Methods of Writing--Love of
Writing--The Novels 176-187
XV
FAILING HEALTH
Illness--Medical advice--Pneumonia 188-195
XVI
THE END
Manchester--Last Illness--Last Hours--Anxiety--Last Words--Passing
on 196-208
XVII

BURIAL
His Papers--After-Thoughts--The Bond of Love 209-215
XVIII
PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS
Courage--Humour--Manliness--Stammering--
Eagerness--Independence--Forward 216-230
XIX
RETROSPECT
Boyhood--Vocation--Independence--Self-Discipline 231-240
XX
ATTAINMENT
Priesthood--Self-Devotion--Sympathy--Power--Energy 241-252
XXI
TEMPERAMENT
Courtesy--Chivalry--Fearlessness--Himself 253-261
INDEX 263-265

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Robert Hugh Benson in 1912, aged 40. In the Robes of a Papal
Chamberlain Frontispiece From copyrighted Photo by Sarony, Inc.,
New York.
Hare Street House Facing page From the front, 1914 2 From the

garden, 1914 4
The Master's Lodge, Wellington College, 1868 16
Robert Hugh Benson and Beth at the Chancery, Lincoln, in 1876, aged
5 20
The Three Brothers, 1882 44
Robert Hugh Benson in 1889, aged 17. As Steerer of the St. George, at
Eton 48
Robert Hugh Benson in 1893, aged 21. As an Undergraduate at
Cambridge 68
Mrs. Benson 76
Robert Hugh Benson in 1907, aged 35 158
At Hare Street, 1909 168
Hare Street, in the Garden, July 1911 174
Robert Hugh Benson in 1910, aged 39 184
At Tremans, Horsted Keynes, December, 1913 188
Bishop's House, Salford 200
The Calvary at Hare Street, 1913 208
Robert Hugh Benson in 1912, aged 40 250
Robert Hugh Benson in 1912, aged 41 258

"Then said Great-heart to Mr. Valiant-for-Truth, Thou hast worthily
behaved thyself. Let me see thy Sword. So he shewed it him. When he
had taken it in his hand, and looked thereon a while, he said, Ha, it is a

right Jerusalem Blade!"
The Pilgrim's Progress.

HUGH

I
HARE STREET
How loudly and boisterously the wind roared to-day across the
low-hung, cloud-smeared sky, driving the broken rack before it, warm
and wet out of the south! What a wintry landscape! leafless trees
bending beneath the onset of the wind, bare and streaming hedges, pale
close-reaped wheat-fields, brown ploughland, spare pastures stretching
away to left and right, softly rising and falling to the horizon; nothing
visible but distant belts of trees and coverts, with here and there the