12 
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. [Sess„ 
Albany on their stay at Claremont immediately after their marriage. 
While curate at St James’s, Piccadilly, he preached before many distin- 
guished men — Gladstone among the number. Gladstone was an attentive 
listener. His habit of fixing a piercing eye upon the preacher was 
disconcerting. But though a keen critic he was a kindly one, and his 
approval of the young preacher was expressed in terms which led to 
extravagant hopes of preferment in the minds of friends. The only step 
in this direction was the suggestion of a royal chaplaincy, but when it 
came Dr Hunt had already pledged himself to the forlorn cause of a 
London church which had fallen to the lowest depths of decay, a building 
falling to pieces, a congregation of about twenty persons, and funds in a 
state of bankruptcy. About this time he took a step which had long been 
in his mind. In Maltese families it is no uncommon practice for the eldest 
son to add his mother’s family name to his own patronymic. Dr Hunt 
resolved to perpetuate the Bonavia tradition in his own family by linking 
the names as a surname. 
He had now entered upon the most strenuous years of his extra- 
ordinarily active life. Trinity College, London, under his wardenship was 
rapidly expanding into an extensive organisation with ramifications all 
over the Empire. As chairman of the School Board for Willesden he was 
taking an active part in the education of one of the biggest London 
centres, and in this connection he founded the Kilburn Grammar School 
to fill the crying need for a secondary school in this densely populated 
neighbourhood. He was also editing the Quiver, Cassell’s Magazine, and 
Little Folks, which last magazine he started and made a great success 
and was restoring and filling his church and bringing it into a prominent 
and honourable position in the religious life of the place. His preaching 
was vigorous, animated, and original, with a wealth of illustration and 
felicity of phrase which never failed him. 
As a Freemason he passed through all the grades of the craft, and 
inaugurated a lodge in connection with Trinity College. Musical com- 
position served him as a recreation from sterner duties. He composed 
much church music, among which were some very beautiful hymn tunes 
and “services.” At different periods of his life various branches of learning 
and research presented an irresistible appeal. For some years he held the 
post of Lecturer in Musical History to the University of London, which 
post he only resigned when he left London to take charge of the large 
and important country parish of Burgess Hill, near Brighton. He was 
elected to fellowships of various learned societies, but music and literature 
held him most firmly, and the honour that he had most coveted, and always 
