Henry Charles Beeching

“ The style of the work is the prose-style of a poet; that is to say, words are used not merely as conventional counters, but with a full sense of their value. In some places the effect of the writing is somewhat, odd, but on the whole it is striking and satisfactory. The character sketches, generally critical in tone, of the chief actors in the historic drama show Dixon's imaginative insight and genius for reconstructing past events ”

“ He was always singularly modest as to his claims upon recognition; but it gave him genuine pleasure when in the last year of his life his university conferred upon him an honorary doctor's degree in divinity, and his college made him an honorary fellow. ”

“ He was appointed select preacher at Oxford in 1868, and the next year accepted the post of chaplain to Moberly, when he became bishop of Salisbury, preaching the consecration sermon. He was select preacher at Oxford for the second time in 1876-8 and again in 1881-2. In politics Church, though he describes himself as 'conservative in spirit,' was long a follower of Gladstone. For Gladstone's character and talents he had great admiration, though not without a clear perception of his weak points, and Gladstone's adoption of home rule in 1886 ultimately alienated Church's political sympathies. ”

“ The poems of the first volume, though largely upon religious subjects, are not strictly religious poetry; they are works of picturesque imagination rather than of devotional feeling. The ‘Historical Odes’ show an advance in simplicity, and a power, that Dixon afterwards carried further, of ode construction. The odes upon Wellington and Marlborough contain much good writing, and deserve more attention than they have received.
After leaving Oxford Dixon lodged for a time with Morris and Burne-Jones in Red Lion Square. ”

“ Characteristically, in his account of the proceedings (The Oxford Movement, p. 382) , Church gives no hint of his own share in the business, but a letter of the period to Newman makes plain that, though Guillemard as the senior proctor actually spoke the decisive words nobis procuratoribus non placet, it was the junior proctor who had taken the initiative and influenced his colleague. An address signed by over five hundred members of the university was presented to the proctors, thanking them for the course they had taken. ”

“ He died at Dover on 9 Dec. 1890. He lived to welcome Archbishop Benson's judgment in the bishop of Lincoln's case, which he pronounced 'the most courageous thing that has come from Lambeth for two hundred years.' At the time of his death he was putting the last touches to his 'History of the Oxford Movement' (London, 1891, 8vo) , a brilliant account of its origin and progress up to Newman's secession. He was buried by his desire in the churchyard at Whatley. On 5 July 1863, at Sparkford in Somerset, Church married Helen Frances, daughter of Henry Bennett, rector and squire of Sparkford. ”

“ Three series of his 'Village Sermons' have been published since his death (1892-7) . Their tone reveals the earnest piety and sense of the reality of unseen things which distinguish all his religious writings; but their form, owing to the endeavour to impress the slow minds of a country congregation, si somewhat lengthy and cumbrous. They are said to have been listened to with attention. ”

“ A volume (1893) called 'Paschal and other Sermons' contains excellent studies of the 'Pensees,' Bishop Butler, and Bishop Andrewes. They are all the work of a mind with a large and clear outlook and great delicacy of perception and discrimination.
[Life and Letters of Dean Church, edited by his daughter, M. C. Church, 1895; obituary notices in Times and Guardian, December 1890; Craik's English Prose Writers; private information.] ”

“ At Whatley, Church contributed regularly to the 'Guardian' and the 'Saturday Review,' and occasionally to the 'Christian Remembrancer.' In 1857 an essay upon Montaigne appeared as one of the 'Oxford Essays.' Much of his correspondence during this period was addressed to Asa Gray, the American botanist, with whom Church had contracted a warm friendship. They are interesting still from the notices they contain of such books as Darwin's 'Origin of Species' and the Oxford 'Essays and Reviews,' and, again, of such events as the appointment of Dr. ”

“ To make up for time thus diverted from study he stayed in Oxford to read during the long vacations. He surrendered the tutorship in 1842, in consequence of the suspicion that fell upon all members of the tractarian party after the publication of Newman's tract No. 90 upon the articles. In 1844 Church was junior proctor, and in the convocation of 13 Feb. ”

“ H. Daniel in Oxford; from them a selection was edited in 1896 (by his friend, Mr. Robert Bridges) and published in Elkin Mathews's 'Shilling Garland.' In 1892 Dixon issued a Latin poem, 'Carmen elegiacum in obitum Edwini Hatch, D.D.' Dixon's latest poems are his best. They grew to the end in simplicity and intellectual force. ”