All Formats & Editions

THE world takes people very willingly at the estimate in which they hold themselves. With a fashionable bias for expression in a foreign tongue it calls modesty mauvaise honte; and the impudent are thought merely to have a proper opinion of their merit. But Ponsonby was really... Read Full Overview

In this engrossing social satire, Theodore Spratte, a cleric, motivated by an obsessive desire to be elevated to bishop, embellishes his family history and intrudes upon his son's and daughter's courtships.

the bishops apron From W Somerset Maugham

Canon Spratte is an important man...most of all in his own mind. He is the son of a Lord Chancellor, which alone should assure him the position to which he knows he is entitled. He deserves to be the next Bishop of Sheffield. Spratte never concealed from the world that he rated... Read Full Overview

Canon Spratte is an important man...most of all in his own mind. He is the son of a Lord Chancellor, which alone should assure him the position to which he knows he is entitled. He deserves to be the next Bishop of Sheffield.
Spratte never concealed from the world that... Read Full Overview

Canon Spratte is an important man...most of all in his own mind. He is the son of a Lord Chancellor, which alone should assure him the position to which he knows he is entitled. He deserves to be the next Bishop of Sheffield.
Spratte never concealed from the world that... Read Full Overview