[63]. Memoirs of Viscount Melbourne. By W. M. Torrens, M.P. Vol. ii. p. 332. Lord Houghton in the Fortnightly Review, February 1878.
[64]. Letters to a Friend, p. 278.
[65]. Letters, &c. p. 161.
[66]. Letters, &c. p. 292.
[67]. Charges, vol. ii. pp. 90-100.
[68]. In his charge for 1851 (Charges, vol. i. p. 150) he announced his intention to devote the surplus of his income to the augmentation of small livings, and in 1866 he pointed out that the fund had up to that time yielded £24,000 (Ibid. vol. ii. p. 98).
[69]. He particularly disliked gossip. At Kirby Underdale the old sexton used to relate how Mr Thirlwall said, ‘I never ’ears no tales’; and the following story shows that he maintained the same wise discretion after he became a bishop. One of his archdeacons thought it right to tell him that a certain clergyman in the diocese, who was a clever mimic, was fond of entertaining his friends with imitations of the Bishop. Thirlwall listened, and then inquired, ‘Does he do me well?’ ‘I am sure I cannot say, my Lord,’ replied the informer; ‘I was never present myself at one of these disgraceful exhibitions.’ ‘Ah! I should like to know, because he does you admirably,’ replied the Bishop. It is needless to say that no more stories were carried to his ears.
[70]. An Earnestly Respectful Letter, 8vo. 1860, pp. 20-23. See also The Life and Letters of Rowland Williams, D.D., London, 1874, chap. xv., where his determination to make the Bishop declare himself, under the belief that he really agreed with him, is expressly stated.
[71]. A Letter to the Rev. Rowland Williams, 8vo. 1860, p. 19.
[72]. Dean Stanley’s preface to the Letters to a Friend, p. xi.