RESIGNATION OF CURACY. 25 



his ministry ; and then he received full Orders at the 

 hands of the same bishop. 



Shortly afterwards, however, owing to a variety of 

 causes, he felt himself obliged to relinquish his curacy. 

 The stipend attached to his office, in the first place, 

 amounted to no more than sixty pounds a year, and 

 out of this he was supposed to pay the interest upon 

 the clothing club, and to make up the deficit in the 

 salary of the schoolmistress, if the children's pence 

 failed to amount to the stipulated sum. The laborious 

 character of the work, and the necessity for constant 

 visiting, prevented him altogether from adding to his 

 income by the use of his pen; and so, in 1854, he 

 retired temporarily from active clerical work, and went 

 back to his literary labours. 



For the next two years he took occasional duty 

 only, often relieving a brother clergyman at one of the 

 numerous Oxford churches. Early in 1856, however, 

 he was advised to apply for the appointment of chaplain 

 to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, which was then vacant, 

 and with 'which was held also a readership at Christ 

 Church, Newgate ; and having done so, and interviewed 

 several of the governors, he was shortly afterwards 

 appointed to the post. On April 28th of that year he 

 brought his long residence at Oxford to a close, and 

 travelled up to London; and on Ascension Day, May 

 1st, he began his active work at the hospital. 



There he remained for the next six years, during 

 which he also carried on literary work with but little 

 interruption. The duties at the hospital were not 



