Mr. Woodward had more than once joined in petition to Parliament to alter the law. No one can see anything unscriptural in these marriages except a bigoted section who ignore the name Protestant.

In the Colonies the Sovereign has to sanction what is prohibited in England; and the people at large have laughed to scorn this outworn relic of ecclesiastical bigotry, which had its rise in the dark ages.

This is a very scanty outline of the manner in which Mr. Woodward treated the subject, but shows his opinion of the law.

It having been widely circulated by newspaper paragraphs, as well as in short accounts of Mr. Woodward's life, that the present Bishop of Winchester was the first to recommend Mr. Woodward to the notice of the Queen, the following letter of inquiry received a courteous reply from the Bishop, which proves the fallacy of the original report.

66

"The Laurels, Clewerhill,

Windsor, July 3, 1871.

My Lord Bishop,-You will, I am quite

sure,

15293A

sure, not only pardon me for the liberty I take and the trouble that I give, but will kindly inform me whether the report be true that you introduced to the late Prince Consort my relation, Mr. Woodward, as librarian at Windsor Castle in about the year 1859. Permit me also to ask whether your Lordship has any objection to your name appearing in a memoir now preparing of that useful and good man? My aim being to arrive at the truth in every detail collated of him.

"I well remember his mentioning to me the enjoyment he always felt in your company. "I have the honour to be,

"My Lord Bishop,

"Your obedient faithful servant,

"The Right Rev.

"F. BOLINGBROKE RIBBANS.

"The Lord Bishop of Winchester."

[THE REPLY.]

"Winchester House, July 4, 1871.

"Dear Sir,-You have not at all over-stated my high opinion of your relative;-but it would

not

not have been within the scope of my duties to recommend to her Majesty any librarian, heartily as I rejoiced in Mr. Woodward's appointment. "I am truly yours,

"S. WINTOR.

"F. Bolingbroke Ribbans, Esq., LL.D. "The Laurels, Windsor."

The gentleman who was consulted by the Prince Consort respecting a librarian at Windsor Castle, and who urged Mr. Woodward to send in immediately his printed testimonials, is pleased to call it merely a "felicitous accident;" therefore he says, in a letter to the editor, "I can claim no "credit for the recommendation of him. The "discredit would have been had I overlooked him "at the moment. All I had to do in the matter "was, as soon as I was informed of the Windsor

66

librarianship being competed for, to urge Wood"ward to send in those testimonials directly, and "inasmuch as my letter contained in them attrac"ted notice, owing to the circumstance of my "connection with the Lord Chamberlain's office, I was sent for to Buckingham Palace, and so

"was able to confirm by oral testimony the pre"viously written one. That is really the extent "of my good offices, which Woodward, with his "wonted goodness of nature, would always look "at through a microscope, accountable for perhaps from his having then a brother in the "British Museum, who had charge of all sorts of "scientific machines. I have already explained "that the service I rendered him, though it

66

66

was done most gladly and willingly, was the "result of a happy accident. To have missed "the opportunity would have been, on my part,

66

a demerit—to have taken occasion by the fore"lock can scarcely be accounted a merit.

66

"If you will hearken to my advice, you will oblige and gratify me much more than you "would by carrying your present proposal into "execution. Dedicate your work to the memory "of Hudson Gurney; and inasmuch as brevity is as important to a dedication as it is to wit, I "venture to curtail your proposal very consider

66

66

ably, and for reasons besides brevity. You "have ascribed to H. G. virtues he did not possess-patronage of art, science, and literature;

"" and

"and patriotism and philanthropy. He was a

66

66

very odd compound-a most charitable man as "regarded his private benevolence, but as little "of a philanthropist as you can imagine. It "would take too much space and time to dis"criminate him. To call him a patriot might "raise him from the tomb-not with surprise, "but as a man with a grievance for he held patriots in slender esteem. Do not fancy that "I did not highly esteem him, or did not sorely "miss him when he departed; yet he was the "friend and patron of the elder Woodward, 66 as well as the son. The father, a most “remarkable man, Mr. Gurney esteemed highly, "and greatly befriended; and thus you can put "on record two facts most honourable to one "who uniformly did good by stealth."

By his former marriage Mr. Woodward had three daughters, who survive him. By his second he had one son, who was educated at Merchant Taylors' and the London University Schools, and who is now in the banking-house of Messrs. Robarts & Company, Lombard Street.

His library, including many valuable works,

was