It was announced on Monday that the Deanery of West-
minster vacant by the retirement of Dean Bradley, who has held the appointment so long and so worthily, had been given to Canon Robinson, and that Canon Robinson was succeeded in his stall at Westminster by Mr. Beeching. Both appoint- ments—the first made by Mr. Balfour as Prime Minister—are excellent. Dean Robinson has one of the most difficult posts in the Empire to fill, but we do not doubt that he will fill it worthily. Canon Beeching's preferment is, we hope, only the beginning of a career of usefulness in the Church to which his sound and moderate Churchnianship and his high literary distinction certainly entitle him. We note that the news- papers have dealt chiefly with Canon Beeching's successes in belles-lettres, and especially with his delightful "Pages from a Private Diary." But charming as that volume is, it is most unfair to Canon Beeching to regard it as his chief work. His sermons, full of clear and just thought, and his recent admirable volume of essays on religious themes entitled " Religio Laid," are the basis on which his reputation as an English Churchman deserves to rest.
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