At the beginning of December they left Sarawak in the Rifleman' for Labuan-the Bishop, Mrs. McDougall, and their daughter-and arriving there he consecrated the church and held a confirmation. From Labuan they proceeded to Manilla, where they anchored on Christmas Day. 'It had been very wet,' she said, 'but cleared up at night, and we sat on deck watching the lights on shore and listening to the constant chimes of the numerous church bells, whilst the sailors sang songs and did their best to amuse us. so strange to be in a Christian country again.' time they did not escape the dreaded Labuan fever, which, attacking Mrs. McDougall, showed itself at Manilla. She became seriously ill, and suffered from a relapse at Hong Kong. At this place the Bishop also caught a chill, and became so much amiss that when they arrived at Singapore the doctors ordered them away at once.

It seemed

But this

He struggled hard to get through his episcopal duties, as will be seen in the following, his last letter from the East, and his spirits rose at the prospect of home:

'Singapore, Feb. 7, 1867.

'My dear Charlie,—I have just received a letter from Hope urging me very strongly not to delay coming home to look after my affairs at the Colonial Office, and I find that if I go to Sarawak, as I purposed, there will be the greatest uncertainty as to when I shall get back-perhaps May, and then it will be too hot in June in the Red Sea for Harry and Mildred-so I have determined to come home by next P. and O. steamer vid Bombay, as there are no places to be had by the direct route. This will, I hope, bring us to you early in April. I have held a confirmation here; next Sunday 1 shall be at Malacca, the Sunday after at Penang, and we shall come on from thence.

'Harriette is much better, but still very weak, and easily knocked up, but she has had no relapse of fever since we

T

started from Hong Kong. I am better than I was, and when I get well, shall, I have no doubt, forget liver and heart before long, but another hot season would have floored me too.

'I have no time to write more. Kiss Mab for me. I

shall be crazy to be with you all when I am once off. "Your affectionate brother,

'F. T. LABUAN.'

FINAL RETURN TO ENGLAND, AND THE EVENTS THAT FOLLOWED.

ON April 17, 1867, the Bishop and his wife, with their youngest child, arrived at Kensington, where they remained with her brother until August, and in the autumn formed a temporary home for themselves, with their four children around them, in the immediate neighbourhood, until their plans could take some definite shape. In the interval his health had caused great anxiety to his friends, for he became very ill, and the truth gradually dawned upon him that he ought to relinquish his intention of returning to the East, although, hoping against hope, he did not resign his bishopric until the spring of 1868. By the month of September, however, his health improved, and it appears by a letter to him from the Rev. H. W. Tucker that he preached for the Society on September 23 and 29 in London and Bristol or Clifton, and thenceforward he continued to do some deputation work for it until his final resignation, and in fact from time to time during the rest of his life, for his heart was always bound up with the objects of its great mission.

The question of the future during this period caused him great anxiety. Would the heads of the Church find some suitable position for him at home? Would some private friend stand in the gap and provide him with a living in England? Should he resign at once, or should he decide to leave his wife and children at home, and go out alone, looking forward to the union of the Straits with Labuan, and the possi

bility of his making his head-quarters, between his visitations, in the more salubrious station of Penang? These questions were settled by the offer, by the Dean of Westminster, of the vicarage of Godmanchester. After the Dean's first mention of it, a doubt had arisen whether the patronage would, after all, fall to him, but it turned out that it did so, and he made a formal presentation of it in the terms of the following letter:

'Deanery, Westminster: Feb. 18, 1868.

'My dear Bishop,-The vicarage of Godmanchester has come round to me, and I therefore renew my offer. I ought, perhaps, to state the grounds on which I make the proposal to you. There are many who from local or personal reasons have a claim upon me, but it appeared to me, as a public administrator of patronage, that there was no one whose claims were so immediately pressing as yours. Knowing for many years your faithful services to the Church, and understanding that you would be obliged to return to your distant field of labour in broken health and without your family, unless some appointment at home became accessible, I felt myself bound to consider your case as calling for any help that it might be in my power to give. And, therefore, being sure that your ministrations at Godmanchester will be a real blessing to the place, I trust that you will be able to accept the post, and enjoy there many years yet to come of happiness and usefulness. 'Yours sincerely,

'A. P. STANLEY.'

In a private postscript the Dean added: 'I have written thus much not only because it expresses my own feelings, but because it may be convenient to you to have it in case any ill-natured person, from hostility to you or to me, should put any such construction upon my offer as that it arose from your relationship with Colenso. You know that if it were I should not shrink from avowing it, but in fact the only way in which this

at all entered into my consideration was, that I thought it possible that it might have prevented other persons from doing what is in itself just.' The offer, he said, was made on

public grounds.

This was very characteristic of the Dean: he had been, both in Convocation and elsewhere, the chivalrous defender of the Bishop of Natal, and he therefore thought it right that his motives should be thus clearly expressed. And in truth a preferment, which was in any degree a provision, was not readily to be found, although it is right to add that the Bishop of London had already recognised Bishop McDougall's claim by offering him a living in the East End of London of some importance, which he had not, however, on account of his health, ventured to accept.

Before his final acceptance of the vicarage, he took his brother-in-law to Godmanchester to reconnoitre and assist him in his decision. But this is only worth mentioning as showing the impression made by his personal appearance at the time, after the wear and tear of his long residence in the East; for it was at once reported in the place that a new vicar had come to inspect the parish, and that he had been accompanied by a very old gentleman, who seemed to be a bishop, and was probably his father, and who had no doubt come with him to advise him. There was not, in fact, four years' difference in age between the two.

When the preliminaries were settled he announced his decision to the Society, and on April 11 a warm and appreciatory letter was written by Mr. Bullock in the name of the standing committee, regretting his loss from Borneo, but rejoicing at the less arduous post allotted to him at Godmanchester.' In answer to the wish which he had expressed in his letter, Mr. Bullock added: 'They desired me to assure you that they will heartily approve of Mr. Chambers as your successor, if the Archbishop of Canterbury consents to nominate him.'