CHAPTER XV 



CONCLUSION. 



In July, 1879, the valuable living of Black 

 Torrington was kindly offered to him by Lord 

 Poltimore, and with much perplexity was at 

 length accepted for reasons which the follow- 

 ing letter, written to Mr. Davies, will best 

 explain: — 



" Tell me, my dear old friend, what shall 

 I do about Black Torrington ? I cannot live 

 on ;^'220 a year, which is all I shall have after 

 I have paid a certain annuity for another three 

 or four years. Black Torrington is a clear ;^5oo 

 a year, and there is a good house ; but then it 

 is neither Tordown nor Exmoor, and bv the 

 time I have settled in there, I shall perhaps be 

 called upon to leave it again for Swymbridge 

 Churchyard ! What shall I do ? How can I 

 leave my own people, with whom I have lived 

 in peace and happmess for half a century ? It 

 will be a bitter pill to swallow, if it must be 

 taken ; but it will be my poverty, and not my 

 will, that will consent to it." 



Again, in October of the same year, he writes 

 from Tordown : — 



" The day of my departure from this my 

 happy home draweth nigh, and I am fretting 



X 



