The Clergy Omnibus

In the whole delightful world of Wodehouse, the English clergy offers some of the richest sources of good-natured good humour. Confronted by burglars or belted earls, they plough serenely on with the Advent sermon or the opening of the village fete - until that is, they are swept further into plots which only a well-disposed devil or member of the Drones Club could have contrived. No bishop is more endearingly plump and pompous than a P.G. Wodehouse bishop, no vicar more a pillar of his community (provided his sermons aren’t too long), no curate more sprightly, more green or more hopelessly in love. They may almost come to blows about the number of orphreys allowed on a chasuble, but in Wodehouse’s eternal world the clergy is unquestionably on the right side of the angels.