26 THE REV. J. G. WOOD. 



arduous, save that they necessitated his residence within 

 five minutes' walk of the building, and that he was of 

 course always liable to be called upon to minister to the 

 spiritual needs of the dying at any hour of the day or 

 night. And so he contrived to find sufficient spare time 

 for his writing, without encroaching upon that which 

 was required for the duties of his sacred office. 



Early in 1859, the monotony of his life was broken 

 b^ his marriage. In February, 1854, having come up 

 to town to attend a meeting of the Linnean Society, of 

 which he had just been elected a Fellow, he had met 

 Miss Jane Eleanor Ellis, fourth daughter of John Ellis, 

 Esq., of the Home Office, and a member of the York- 

 shire branch of the family. An engagement soon after- 

 wards followed, but was protracted for more than four 

 years. On February 15th, 1859, however, the wedding 

 took place ; and my father always plumed himself 

 greatly on the fact that no single member of the 

 hospital staff knew anything at all about the matter 

 until it was all over. He simply left his rooms early 

 one morning, and returned a married man. 



In 1861 he began to think seriously of giving up 

 his hospital appointment, and taking up his residence 

 permanently in the country ; this for more reasons 

 than one. A child a daughter had been born a 

 year previously, and had died at the age of ten 

 months. A second child, born in 1861, was still-born. 

 My mother's health was in a very unsatisfactory state, 

 and he himself was far from well. Twice, indeed, he 

 had been visited with a species of blood-poisoning. On 



