Page:Distinguished Churchmen.djvu/32

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
10
DISTINGUISHED CHURCHMEN

David's were convinced that Mr Gladstone had made a wise choice, and which, on the other hand, prove that the people of the Diocese of Llandaff are more than satisfied that the Bishop's labours in their midst have amply justified his appointment. It was not long after the Bishop had settled down to his work in his new Diocese—it happened to be Mr Gladstone's seventy-fourth birthday—that he was besought to attend at the Shirehall, Haverfordwest, to receive what was at once a happy and a sorrowful send-off from friends in Pembrokeshire, who had learned to love him during his thirty years of ministerial service there. The presentation took the form of handsome candelabra and episcopal ring, together with a beautiful illuminated address framed in black and gold, bearing the arms of the Henllan family and those of the Diocese of Llandaff. The text of the address constituted a weighty recognition of the Bishop's work as Archdeacon in Pembrokeshire, on the part of high and low, rich and poor, to whom he had endeared himself. The Bishop's reply revealed something of the diligence with which he had already applied himself to his episcopal duties, for he incidentally confessed to having traversed his Diocese from end to end within the first eight months. “The men of Glamorganshire and of Monmouthshire,” he added, “must have known of the terrible strain which leaving my old home