Introduction

Biography

Dr. Long­hurst used to re­late the fol­low­ing an­ec­dote con­cern­ing him­self and one of the Ca­thed­ral verg­ers:—Some years ago, a cer­tain Ca­non of the Ca­thed­ral sent one of the verg­ers to me while I was play­ing the op­en­ing vol­un­ta­ry, with a mes­sage to in­form me that, as there was on­ly one Mi­nor Ca­non pre­sent that (Sun­day) morn­ing, he (the Ca­non) would chant the Li­ta­ny. And, said the verg­er, would you give him the note? Cer­tain­ly, I re­plied. To my sur­prise the verg­er still lin­gered on the steps. All right, A—, I said. He still re­mained sta­tion­ary, and at length made the in­no­cent in­qui­ry: Please sir, shall I wait for it?

This was the same verg­er who when des­crib­ing the new or­gan to some vi­sit­ors point­ed up­wards and told them that the new hargin was put up in the Tri­fo­li­um; that the con­nect­ion be­tween the con­sole and the har­gin was done by he­lec­trics; and the whole thing was set in mo­tion by hy­draul­ic wa­ter!

West, p. 13