245

FREDERICK CORNWALLIS,

ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY.

THE Hon. Frederick Cornwallis-apparently, with the exception of the late Archbishop Sumner, the only Etonian who has risen to be Primate of England -would seem to have been indebted for his elevation to that high dignity rather to the amiable qualities of his heart than to his head, and to his patrician birth rather than to either. He was a younger son of Charles, fourth Baron Cornwallis; a brother of Charles, first Earl Cornwallis; and uncle to Charles first Marquis Cornwallis. The Archbishop was born on the 22nd of February, 1713.

From Eton, Frederick Cornwallis was transferred to Christ's College, Cambridge, of which society he became in due time a fellow. In 1736 he took his degree of B.A., and in 1748 as D.D. His first preferments of any importance in the Church were as chaplain to George II., and as Canon of Windsor. On the 18th of February, 1750, he was consecrated Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, and on the 28th of November, 1766, Dean of St. Paul's.

By his elevation to the episcopacy, Dr. Cornwallis, it may be here mentioned, was afforded the gratification of having it in his power to appoint as his domestic chaplain, his old Eton schoolfellow, Sneyd Davies, who, in his correspondence at this time, does ample justice to the merits of the new prelate in his several capacities of his diocesan patron and friend. Dr. Cornwallis, as may also be here incidentally stated, is reported to have been the first Archbishop of Canterbury who, abolishing the practice of keeping a separate table for his chaplains, received them uniformly as his daily guests at his own board.

Among the virtues which distinguished Bishop Cornwallis may be classed a disinterestedness which well became the exalted position which he attained. When, for instance, in 1762, the veteran Duke of Newcastle, after his prolonged dispensation of the patronage of the State, and especially of the Church, was degraded from power and place, it was to the credit of the future Archbishop that the respect and attention due from him to the fallen Minister continued undiminished to the last. In according him this commendation, it should be mentioned that, notwithstanding nearly the whole of his brother prelates were indebted to the Duke either for their mitres or for translation to some more valuable see, not one of them, with the exception of Cornwallis, had the delicacy to present himself at his grace's farewell levee at Newcastle House. It is but fair,

however, to observe that Dr. Philip Young, Bishop of Norwich, had not only the excuse of being absent from London at the time of the Duke's disgrace, but that he ever remained a staunch partisan of his former patron.

It was not till Dr. Cornwallis had almost completed his forty-sixth year, nor till he had sat for almost nine years on the bench of Bishops, that, on the 8th of February, 1759, he entered into the marriage state. The lady of his choice, by whom he had no children, was Caroline, daughter of the Hon. William Townshend, third son of Charles, second Viscount Townshend. She survived the Archbishop nearly thirty years, dying at so late a date as the 17th of September, 1811.

The elevation of Dr. Cornwallis to the Archbishopric of Canterbury took place on the 13th of August, 1768. Undoubtedly it was neither to superlatively brilliant abilities nor to profound erudition that he was indebted for his advancement; but, on the other hand, if mild and endearing manners, if unaffected courtesy, if piety, benevolence, strong good sense, and toleration in matters of Church and State, are to be regarded as either indispensable or desirable qualities in an Archbishop of Canterbury, then the qualifications of Bishop Cornwallis for that exalted post must be admitted to have been of no common order. Even Horace Walpole, chary of his encomiums as he usually is

where the dignitaries of the Church are concerned, eulogizes him as "a most amiable, gentle, and humane man."

"When he was a young man at the University," writes Bishop Newton, " he had the misfortune of a paralytic stroke on his right side, from which he has never recovered the full use of his right hand, and is obliged to write with his left; but this notwithstanding, he has hitherto enjoyed uncommon good health, and never fails in his attendance on the multifarious business of his station. He has greatly improved Lambeth House; he keeps a hospitable and elegant table; has not a grain of pride in his composition; is easy of access; receives every one with affability and good nature; is courteous, obliging, condescending, and, as a proof of it, he has not often been made the subject of censure, even in this censorious age." "

2

"The noble hospitality," said to have been exercised by Archbishop Cornwallis at Lambeth Palace, was, after all, apparently not more sumptuous than was compatible with the maintenance of his high ecclesiastical dignity, and with the examples set him by his predecessors. On the other hand, however, when we find him permitting his fashionable wife to enliven with balls and assemblies those

1 'Reign of George III.,' vol. iii. p. 234.

Bishop Newton's Autobiography, 'Works,' vol. i. p. 121; 2nd edition.

hallowed apartments which had immemorially been the habitation of the learned and the pious, it surprises us but little that the propriety of such merry-makings should have been seriously questioned by serious individuals. To the Dissenters, the innovation would seem to have been more especially offensive; and accordingly, one of the most influential members of their persuasion, the celebrated Selina Countess of Huntingdon, availed herself of the privileges of her high rank to obtain an interview with George III., to whom, as head of the Church, she mildly preferred her complaint against the Primate. That the appeal was not made in vain, the following letter-than which, since the days when Queen Elizabeth threatened to "unfrock" Bishop Heton of Ely, perhaps perhaps no more peremptory and effective a reprimand has been administered to an English prelate by his sovereign-will sufficiently indicate:

The King to Archbishop Cornwallis.

"MY GOOD LORD PRELATE,

"I could not delay giving you the notification of the grief and concern with which my breast was affected, at receiving authentic information that routs have made their way into your palace. At the same time, I must signify to you my sentiments on this subject, which hold these levities and vain dissipations as utterly inexpedient, if not unlawful, to pass in