Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Lichfield Part 8

Hacket's dean cannot have confirmed the clergy in their opinion of Charles, whose appointment to the post he had purchased; so bad was he that the bishop excommunicated him, and the sentence was even read in the cathedral while he was there, but he heeded it not. The chapter loathed him, but apparently the king's feelings were different, for at Hacket's death he was appointed to succeed him. So =Thomas Wood= (1671-1692) became bishop, and was the worst the see ever had: he lived much away from the diocese. Lancelot Addison, the father of the famous Joseph Addison, was dean in his time. William III., staying a night at the deanery, was attracted to the genial essayist early; and we may imagine that he must have been greatly influenced by that part of his life spent within the cathedral close.

The next bishop was =William Lloyd= (1692-1699): he came from St. Asaph, and went to Worcester. While bishop of St. Asaph he was one of the seven bishops who were sent to the Tower in 1688. =John Hough= (1699-1717) came next; he also had crossed the path of James II., for he had been elected President of Magdalen over the head of James's nominee, but James had proved the stronger at the time, and he was ejected, only to be reinstated by the frightened king soon after. At the Revolution he was made bishop of Oxford, whence he was translated hither; he afterwards refused the primacy.

The next two bishops--=Edward Chandler= (1717-1730) and =Richard Smallbroke= (1730-1749)--were distinguished defenders of Christianity against the infidelity of the time. Their controversial writings are numerous and well known.

The next bishop, =Frederick Cornwallis= (1749-1768), afterwards became Archbishop of Canterbury. Then came =John Egerton= (1768-1771), from Bangor, and went to Durham; =Brownlow North= (1771-1774), who was translated to Worcester, and thence to Winchester; =Richard Hurd= (1774-1781), who also went to Worcester; =James Cornwallis= (1781-1824), and =Henry Ryder= (1824-1836), who came from Gloucester. He succeeded in founding many new churches and immensely increasing the members.h.i.+p of the Church in the diocese. His successor, =Samuel Butler= (1836-1843), went on with this work. It was in his time that the archdeaconry of Coventry was taken from the diocese and added to Worcester. The t.i.tle of the see now becomes Lichfield only; Coventry, which at one time held the premier place in the t.i.tle, and then the second, now slips out altogether.

Ten years later the deanery of Bridgenorth was allotted to Hereford, and in the same year all peculiar and exempt jurisdiction was abolished, so that the archdeacons had power to visit every church in the diocese; the number of canons of Lichfield was reduced from six to four.

In the meantime =James Bowstead= (1840-1843) and =John Lonsdale= (1843-1867) became bishops. The latter was one of the greatest bishops the diocese has had, and his work, like that of Ryder, lives in the increased power of the Church in the diocese. He was succeeded by another great bishop, =George Augustus Selwyn=, who, as bishop of New Zealand, had organised the Church in those islands.

The next bishop, =William Dalrymple Maclagan= (1878-1891), is now Archbishop of York. It was during his rule, in 1884, that the new diocese of Southwell was formed and Derbys.h.i.+re was taken from Lichfield.

The present bishop is the Hon. =Augustus Legge=.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MONUMENT TO DR JOHNSON IN THE MARKET-PLACE.]