y are the good stories told of
interviews that took place between our more recent chancellors and
clergymen suing for preferment. "Who sent you, sir?" Thurlow asked
savagely of a country curate, who had boldly forced his way into the
Chancellor's library in Great Ormond Street, in the hope of winning the
presentation to a vacant living. "In whose _name_ do you come, that you
venture to pester me about your private affairs? I say, sir--what great
lords sent you to bother me in my house?" "My Lord," answered the
applicant, with a happy combination of dignity and humor, "no great man
supports my entreaty; but I may say with honesty, that I come to you in
the name of the Lord of Hosts." Pleased by the spirit and wit of the
reply, Thurlow exclaimed, "The Lord of Hosts! the Lord of Hosts! you are
the first parson that ever applied to me in that Lord's name; and though
his title can't be found in the Peerage, by ---- you shall have the
living." On another occasion the same Chancellor was less benign, but
not less just to a clerical applicant. Sustained by Queen Charlotte's
personal favor and intercession with Thurlow, the clergyman in question
felt so sure of obtaining the valuable living which was the object of
his ambition, that he regarded his interview with the Chancellor as a
purely formal affair. "I have, sir," observed Lord Thurlow, "received a
letter from the curate of the parish to which it is my intention to
prefer you, and on inquiry I find him to be a very worthy man. The
father of a large family, and a priest who has labored zealously in the
parish for many years, he has written to me--not asking for the living,
but modestly entreating me to ask the new rector to retain him as
curate. Now, sir, you would oblige me by promising me to employ the poor
man in that capacity." "My lord," replied Queen Charlotte's pastor, "it
would give me great pleasure to oblige your lordship in this matter, but
unfortunately I have arranged to take a personal friend for my curate."
His eyes flashing angrily, Thurlow answered, "Sir, I cannot force you to
take this worthy man for your curate, but I can make him the rector; and
by ---- he shall have the living, and be in a position to offer you the
curacy."

Of Lord Loughborough a reliable biographer records a pleasant and
singular story. Having pronounced a decision in the House of Lords,
which deprived an excellent clergyman of a considerable estate and
reduced him to actual indigence,