Dr. W. R. Matthews had for some time been the
favourite of rumour for succession to Dean Inge at St. Paul's, and as he is little over fifty there is a good prospect of his keeping his office as long as its present holder, who has been there for twenty-three years. The appointment has the warm approval of Dean Inge himself, and it will be accepted generally as thoroughly sound. In one respect Dr. Matthews is making history, for he is, I believe, the first Dean of St. Paul's in history without an Oxford or Cambridge degree. He need be none the worse Dean for that, and he will certainly be the better Dean for the experience he has acquired in administering a cathedral at Exeter, and a better Dean of St. Paul's for his know- ledge of London gained as Vicar of Christ Church, Hornsey, and in his long career at King's College. As a member of the Council of the Modern Churchmen's Union he is of the same school of theological thought as Dean Inge, and if he is likely to shine less vividly on secular platforms, that may leave him the freer to devote himself to his ecclesiastical functions.
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