THE LATE SIR JOHN KENNAWAY.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."]
Sut,—The life of Sir John Kennaway was wonderfully complete and happy. He was a man happy in his work, his beautiful home, his wife and children, his countless friends; a man singularly free from any serious adversity, whose lines lay in pleasant places. But beyond all this, independently of outward things, he had the inward happiness and settled peace which springs from a strong and simple faith. His faith was plain for all to see, for he had the courage, or absence of shyness, rare among Englishmen, which enabled him to speak naturally and openly of spiritual things to any man or won1an, high or low, with whom he came in contact. And this he could always do without offence, because of his obvious sincerity, his shrewd commonsense, his kindly humour, and the utter absence of anything approaching cant or hypocrisy. You felt that he was real through and through; his words were just the expres- sion of his life. No one who talked to him in his study, or met him in the fields, or received one of his delightful letters could fail to feel the better for it One outcome of his faith was the conviction, which became very touching in his later years, that everything which happened to him had been " wonderfully ordered " for the best—a simple philosophy of life marvellously conducive to a beautiful and peaceful old age. There is a passage in Law's Serious ('all which might have been written with express reference to this dear old man, so appropriate is it to the latest years of his life-
" Would you know," he says, " who is the greatest saint in the world.? It is not he who prays most, or fasts most; it is not he who gives most alms, or is most eminent for temper- ance, chastity and justice; but it is he who is always thankful to God, who wills everything that God willeth, who receives everything as an instance of God's goodness, and has a heart always- ready to praise God for it. For it is certain that whatever seeming calamity happens to you, if you thank and praise God for it, you turf' it into a blessing."
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