MR. HANSARD.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR:']
Sire,—Some little time ago, in the course of a discourse in South- Place Chapel, I alluded to the self-sacrificing labours of our neigh- bour, the Rector of Bethnal Green, who had suffered from typhus, small-pox, and finally from scarlatina, all caught in visiting the humble members of his parish. The correspondent of a provincial paper being present, my allusion found its way into the Press, and some of your contemporaries resented it, as seeming to imply that Mr. Hansard's self-sacrifice was exceptional among clergymen. Such was not, indeed, the spirit in which my remarks were made ; nevertheless, in replying to one of my critics, I did intimate that such devotion and sufferings as those of the Rector in question were not generally recognised by the higher authorities of the Church, in such a way as availed to make the public aware of them. This, too, was naturally resented in certain quarters.
Now, Sir, it would be a matter of interest to many of us outside the Church to know whether it be true or not that the main advantages of the Establishment accrue only to polemical writers on theology, or whether earnest labours for humanity may also be remembered. Mr. Hansard supplies a very fair test. Although I do not agree with that gentleman's theology, nearly fourteen years of work in Finsbury have convinced me, and I am sure many others also, that no clergyman has ever done more faithful and costly service to so large and needy a parish. And if such services were thought of in the bestowal of rewards, his place would be very high indeed. I have heard on authority that seems good that the sequels: of scarlatina in his case have been such, that medical authority has warned him that he cannot remain with safety in the rectory of Bethnal Green. If those who criticised me for suggesting that the humane services of a clergy- man were more likely to be noted by humble heretics than by eminent Churchmen were right, I shall gladly acknowledge myself wrong, when I learn that the Church has shown any interest in the welfare of such a man as Mr. Hansard. I may add that this note has been written without his knowledge, and with no private
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