xxiv MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR 



offered him the living of Sproughton, near Ipswich ; 

 and it was at Sproughton, after nearly twenty years' 

 residence, that he died. 



At Eedgrave he began to take an interest in 

 rose-growing, an interest that gradually deepened 

 through the years spent at Tostock. At Tostock 

 Eectoryhe planned and planted a rose garden which, 

 until certainly quite recently, used to he shown 

 on the ordnance survey map as " the rosary," 

 although the roses have disappeared these many 

 years to make room for a tennis-court. But it was 

 at Sproughton that he became so well-known that, 

 just to mention the name of Sproughton, begat 

 a vision of eternal summers among the lovely roses 

 there — the long low beds of them, backed by the 

 brooding beeches in their dark-green summer garb. 

 Perhaps, in his heart, there was no country quite 

 like the old west country; but, in time, he grew 

 to love this Sproughton of his, lying low along the 

 river, that wound softly through its great green 

 meadows — Sproughton and its people, the people 

 whom he came to know so well, whose troubles were 

 his troubles, whose joys were his joys. He knew 

 their lore, knew their speech and habits, or, as 

 he would say, their "manners and customs." And, 

 in return, the people too learnt to love the " old 

 Eector," though they never, perhaps, quite under- 

 stood the reserved strong character that lived among 

 them nearly twenty years. But, if they never quite 

 understood him, they knew what he stood for. 

 Upright, steadfast, "straight," no case of injustice 

 or oppression passed him by unheeding. 



Possibly very few ever understood him really. 

 A great talker, most entertaining when telling 



