MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR 13 



consulted a specialist, who found him to be 

 suffering from a long-standing kidney disease. 

 Strict diet produced for a time an improvement ; 

 but in May his condition changed rapidly for the 

 worse, and he passed away on June 11th of that 

 year. A friend who was with him at the end 

 writes : "In the short time he has been here he 

 has much endeared himself to his parishioners, 

 and in spite of ill-health he has done much in the 

 way of bringing about better conditions of 

 farming. . . . His year at Exmoor was one of 

 rapidly faiUng health. Just at first — in the 

 height of the summer beauty — he was in a 

 rapture of delight, and said he felt better than 

 he had done for months. Then came the terribly 

 long and cold winter, which was fatal to his com- 

 plaint ; the loneliness and isolation preyed upon 

 his spirits and, I feel sure, hastened the end. 

 When I saw him in January, after an interval of 

 five months, I was struck with the scared expres- 

 sion in his eyes, and with his passionate dread of 

 another winter on Exmoor. Had he been well 

 he would have felt differently, and Exmoor 

 would have become to him a place of rest and 

 adoration. After all he had the joy of a most 

 radiant summer." 



Such in brief outline was the life of Alfred 

 Rees. In his short career he lived through more 



