He,
too, succeeded his father in his pastoral charge. Tinged, however,
already with heterodox views, he was by no means so popular as his father
had been. His own sermons were exceedingly cold and dry, but he possessed
a chestful of his father's, and used to read them frequently, by way of
grateful change to his hearers. The sermons of the elder Godwin were
recognised by the orthodoxy of their sentiment, and the dinginess of
their colour, and were much relished; and so long as the stock lasted,
the future author of "Caleb Williams" commanded a tolerable audience; but
so soon as he had read them all, and resumed his own lucubrations, his
hearers melted away, and he moved off to become a literateur in London.
Perhaps Churchill, in like manner, may have found that general audiences
like plain sense better than poetry. That he had ever much real piety or
zeal has been gravely doubted, and we share in the doubts. But although
he himself speaks slightingly, in one of his latter poems, of his
ministerial labours, he at least played his part with outward decorum.
His great objection to the office was still his small salary, which
amounted to scarcely L100 per annum.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25