(44) 



From the time of his entry into the Rectory until his 

 death, my father lived the uneventful life of a country 

 parson, seldom leaving home except for a few days 5 

 collecting from time to time, or a meeting of the Dorset 

 Field Club, or a brief visit to London or Oxford, 

 principally for work in Natural History Museums, or 

 sometimes to spend a few days with a brother natu- 

 ralist. The contents of his diaries show some of the 

 interests which entered into a singularly happy and 

 contented life the dates of the planting and digging 

 of potatoes, of the first rhubarb, asparagus, peas, or 

 strawberries, of the c meets ' of foxhounds at Blox worth 

 or the < Red Post ', of the buying and selling of pigs, 

 of concerts in his own or neighbouring villages, and so 

 on. He took some part in the life of the Diocese also 

 he was a member of the Salisbury Diocesan Synod from 

 1871 (when he was elected to represent the Poole 

 Deanery) to 1889, and attended its meetings regularly. 

 He was not a very frequent speaker, but did not shrink 

 from taking an independent line when he felt called 

 upon to do so, and in discussions at Salisbury and 

 elsewhere upon the financial side of ecclesiastical life 

 his strong common sense and capacity for business 

 contributed something towards the opinions of others. 

 He held particularly strong views on the subject ot 

 ecclesiastical dilapidations, the charge for which, he 

 thought, should be divided between a Central Church 

 Fund and the incumbent on the same lines as those 



