Lacock,
Friday May 6
My Dear Charles
There is a great deal about the Moabite stone <1> in the Times of yesterday. All translators are substantially agreed as to its meaning, and though some parts of it are lost it seems likely that they would not, if preserved, have materially altered its meaning or enlarged its scope, though they would have supplied us with some more proper names, probably that of Ahab King of Israel <2> and others – Convocation have just agreed after a long debate, to accept the new Lectionary & undertake a revised Version. The bishops were unanimous, the lower House much divided, Archdeacon Denison <3> made a foolish suggestion, that clergymen (already in orders) might use either Lectionary the old or the new. The Bishop of London <4> professes that he felt the deepest respect for the Archdeacon, but such a suggestion could not be adopted.
Your affte
Father
Weather fair here, but nights very cold – potatoes injured by frost –Envelope:
C. H. TalbotRoyal Hotel
Weston super mare
Notes:
1. Moabite stone, the only known surviving inscribed monument (made of basalt stone – 106cm high, 61cm wide and 37cm thick) of ancient Moab, discovered by F. A. Klein, 1868, at Dhiban on the Dead Sea. On it there are 34 lines of Hebrew–Phoenician characters describing the war of Mesha, king of Moab ( fl.830BC), against Omri, Omri’s son Ahab, and other Israeli kings. See ‘The British And Foreign Bible Society’, in The Times (London), Thursday, 5th May 1870, p. 10.
2. Ahab, the infamous King of Israel and husband of Jezebel.
3. George Anthony Denison (1805–1896), archdeacon of Taunton, 1851; took a prominent part in religious controversy as a high churchman of the old school; published religious and other writings, including a violent political diatribe against William Ewart Gladstone (1809–1898).
4. John Jackson (1811–1885), bishop of Lincoln (1853–1868), bishop of London (1868–1885).