Bishop Wagstaffe died in 1712, leaving Bishop Hickes alone in his glory, who in 1713, assisted by two Scottish Bishops, consecrated Jeremy Collier, Samuel Hawes, and Nathaniel Spinckes, Bishops of ’the faithful remnant.’  Hickes died in 1715, and the following year the great and hugely learned Thomas Brett became a Bishop, as also did Henry Gawdy.

Then, alas! arose a schism which rent the faithful remnant in twain.  It was about a great subject, the Communion Service.  Collier and Brett were in favour of altering the Book of Common Prayer so as to restore it to the First Book of King Edward VI., which provided for (1) The mixed chalice; (2) prayers for the faithful departed; (3) prayer for the descent of the Holy Ghost on the consecrated elements; (4) the Oblatory Prayer, offering the elements to the Father as symbols of His Son’s body and blood.  This side of the controversy became known as ‘The Usagers,’ whilst those Non-Jurors, headed by Bishop Spinckes, who held by King Charles’s Prayer-Book, were called ‘the Non-Usagers.’  The discussion lasted long, and was distinguished by immense learning and acumen.

The Usagers may be said to have carried the day, for after the controversy had lasted fourteen years, in 1731 Timothy Mawman was consecrated a Bishop by three Bishops, two of whom were ‘Usagers’ and one a ‘Non-Usager.’  But in the meantime what had become of the congregations committed to their charge?  Never large, they had dwindled almost entirely away.

The last regular Bishop was Robert Gordon, who was consecrated in 1741 by Brett, Smith, and Mawman.  Gordon, who was an out-and-out Jacobite, died in 1779.

I have not even mentioned the name of perhaps the greatest of the Non-Jurors, William Law, nor that of Carte, an historian, the fruits of whose labour may still be seen in other men’s orchards.

The whole story, were it properly told, would prove how hard it is in a country like England, where nobody really cares about such things, to run a schism.  But who knows what may happen to-morrow?

LORD CHESTERFIELD

’Buy good books and read them; the best books are the commonest, and the last editions are always the best, if the editors are not blockheads.’  So wrote Lord Chesterfield to his son, that highly-favoured and much bewritten youth, on March 19, 1750, and his words have been chosen with great cunning by Mr. Charles Strachey as a motto for his new edition of these famous letters.[A]

 [Footnote A:  Published by Methuen and Co. in 2 vols.]

The quotation is full of the practical wisdom, but is at the same time—­so much, at least, an old book-collector may be allowed to say—­a little suggestive of the too-well-defined limitations of their writer’s genius and character.  Lord Chesterfield is always clear and frequently convincing, yet his wisdom is that of Mr. Worldly Wiseman, and not only never points in the direction of the Celestial City, but seldom displays sympathy with any generous emotion or liberal taste.  Yet as we have nobody like him in the whole body of our literature, we can welcome even another edition—­portable, complete, and cheap—­of his letters to his son with as much enthusiasm as is compatible with the graces, and with the maxim, so dear to his lordship’s heart, Nil admirari!