The Bishop of Winchester, Dr. Randall Davidson, who was generally
believed to have declined the appointment in 1896 owing to ill-health, has been raised to the vacant See of Canterbury. The appointment, which, if not a foregone con- clusion, at least is in accordance with general expectation, is good as well as popular. Dr. Davidson is still a young man as Archbishops go—he is not yet fifty-five—and is, we are glad to believe, in far better health than for many years past. Scotch by family, and educated at Oxford, he was in succession secretary to Archbishops Tait and Benson, Dean of Windsor, and Bishop of Rochester and Winchester. A sound Churchman who has profited by his experience gained in every branch of clerical work, a true ecclesiastical statesman who will stand for moderation and comprehension in Church government, Dr. Davidson was specially marked out for the arduous post which there is good reason to believe he will fill with the sagacity and temperate judgment he has hitherto shown.
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