[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR. "]
Sin,—The letter of the Dean of Lincoln in the Spectator of December 8th, reminds me that immediately after the pub- lication of Lord Carnarvon's appeal to the Archbishop of Canterbury upon the subject of " opening churches," I wrote to one of your leading contemporaries suggesting that any change in the direction advocated by Lord Carnarvon ought to commence with cathedrals, and I referred to the cathedrals of Canterbury, York, and St. Paul's, London, as instances within my own knowledge where access to the eastern portions of the respective churches was, even after the payment of fees, only permitted to a limited and inconvenient extent. I am not aware that the authorities of Canterbury and York ever noticed my letter; but Canon Liddon was good enough to reply to me and establish my case with regard to St. Paul's even more strongly than I had put it, and to make public that no person was allowed to enter the choir there except by special permission. It is not, however, to revive this particular discussion that I now venture to trouble you, but to state my humble opinion that the apology of the Dean of Lincoln for the practice observed in his cathedral cannot hold water. I agree that the financial position of the capitular body justifies the exaction of a fee, and I am quite willing to pay it, provided that I can have my money's-worth, and am permitted to take my own time to remain within the enclosure, and not be under compulsion to wait until a party is formed, and then marched about and watched by " a competent attendant," whose explanations I, for one, do not care to hear. At one period of my life I passed a great deal of time at Lincoln, and in those days a gratuity of a very moderate amount to the verger secured me that full enjoyment of the choir and Lady Chapel which evidently is not obtainable under the new system.
I cannot conclude without expressing my dissent from the Dean's doctrine, " that the habit of mischief is so rooted in human nature as to endanger the more delicate parts of churches." My experience both in England and abroad—and it is a very large one—leads me to a different conclusion, and the views which I entertain on the subject are confirmed by the perfect success of the regulations which have been in force in Westminster Abbey for several years past, and which the Dean of Lincoln would do well to study, and adopt in principle in his own church.—I am, Sir, &c.,
GEORGE CAVENDISH BENTINCK.
House of Commons, December 12th.
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