parts of the diocese. He was the first bishop to appoint a canon whose business it should be to conduct missions in the diocese and to gather a community round him for the purpose. He formed a divinity school, like that at Lincoln, under the charge of the chancellor of the cathedral, for the training of candidates for holy orders. Meanwhile he found it needful to obtain a new cathedral for the see. There had been assigned for the purpose a small plain parish church, undistinguished except by an interesting little southern aisle, and in almost ruinous condition. Cornwall at the time was much impoverished, and the effort to find the endowment of the see was enough to exhaust the resources of its church people. Many thought that it would be best in the circumstances to aim at building a good-sized church of the same type as the old. But the bishop was more ambitious. His enthusiasm at length carried every one with him. John Loughborough Pearson [q. v. Suppl.] was chosen as the architect; and on 20 May 1880 the foundation stone of the present beautiful cathedral was laid by the Prince of Wales (as Duke of Cornwall). The bishop took the keenest interest in the progress of the work. As archbishop he was present at the consecration of Truro Cathedral on 3 Nov. 1887. It was, he said, a most spiritual building.' He left to it his pastoral staff, his ring, and other relics.
Among other works which the bishop took up with ardour was the foundation of a first-rate high school for girls at Truro, to which he sent his own daughters. He put on a new footing the ancient grammar school, though his hopes with regard to it were hardly fulfilled. He threw great energy into the organisation of Sunday-school work in the diocese, and into the maintenance of church day schools in the places where they still remained. It was his principle to make the most of what he found existing. He took a guild for the advancement of holy living, which had proved useful in a few Cornish parishes, and developed it into a powerful diocesan society with many branches. A devotional conference, which had been started by the Cornish clergy some years before he came, received an access of strength, and led on to the holding of diocesan retreats. The yearly conferences with the clergy and representative laity in the various rural deaneries, begun by Bishop Temple, gave him opportunities which he greatly valued. The diocesan conference at Truro, as well through the statesmanship of its president as through the skill and labour of its secretaries, Mr. Carlyon and Mr. J. R. Cornish, became famous for its businesslike character. The interest which he took in every detail of parochial work in every corner of his diocese had a most stimulating effect. Wherever he preached he told the people things about their church, or about their patron saint, or about the history of the place, of which they were ignorant. His attitude towards the prevailing dissent of Cornwall was that of personal friendliness towards all who sought to do good, while he felt bound to endeavour so to reinvigorate every department of church life that the people might of themselves return to what they would feel to be the most scriptural and spiritual religion.
Besides his diocesan work, Benson, in spite of the remoteness of his see, was unfailing in his attendance at convocation and at the meetings of the bishops. The conciliar idea was a powerful motive with him, and he was always indignant when bishops allowed diocesan engagements to interfere with their wider duties as 'the bishops of England.' He was appointed to serve on the royal commission upon ecclesiastical courts in 1881, and laboured hard upon it.
Since his appointment to Truro the eyes of churchmen had been fixed upon him, and when Archbishop Tait died, in December 1882, the queen, acting through W. E. Gladstone as prime minister, offered him the primacy. Tait himself had foreseen that Benson would be his successor, and had for some time past taken him into relations of close intimacy. He gave him rooms in Lollard's Tower. His son-in-law, Dr. Randall Davidson, remained as chaplain to the new archbishop. The appointment was calculated to give peace and confidence to the church, which had been greatly agitated by ritual prosecutions. Archbishop Tait on his death-bed prepared the way for better times, and Benson carried on the tolerant policy. No ritual prosecutions, except that of Bishop King, took place during his primacy.
Benson had not sat in the House of Lords before his translation to Canterbury. But as soon as he became archbishop he made it his duty constantly to attend the sittings of the house, even when there was no ecclesiastical business before it. Everything that concerned the nation concerned in his opinion the church. A conservative by training and temperament, he was glad to speak and vote on matters that were of larger than party interest. In the first year of his archiepiscopate, he spoke warmly in favour of the new extension of the franchise. 'The church,' he said, 'trusts the people.' When many churchmen were inclined to fight the parish
