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Rh of residence at St. Paul's; and there he gave himself heart and soul to the foundation in 1870 of Keble College, and he interested himself in the Pusey House from its inception in 1883. Both institutions seemed to him to give the church new security in Oxford, now that her old habitations were withdrawn from her. In spite of his indignation at the work of the university commission of 1881 he found himself cheered by the sympathetic affection of the younger generation, whose devotion never swerved. From 1883 his spare time was spent on a ‘Life’ of Dr. Pusey. The doctor's immense and scattered correspondence involved infinite labour; and Liddon set about his task, on a scale and with an industry rarely given to work of this type. The labour seriously injured his health. He left three volumes practically complete. These, with a fourth by another hand, are now being prepared for publication.

In 1884–5 Liddon was select preacher at both Oxford and Cambridge, and at the latter university again in 1889. In June 1886 he was elected bishop of Edinburgh by a convention of episcopal clergy and laymen, but he declined to accept the charge. At the same date he was appointed chancellor of St. Paul's Cathedral. At the end of the year he was recommended to winter in Egypt, and thence he visited the Holy Land. A record of this tour by his sister, Mrs. King, who accompanied him, was published in 1891. He came back with renewed vigour to his post at St. Paul's, but his health soon failed again. He aged rapidly, growing very grey, and in the autumn of 1889 he could hardly get through his residence at St. Paul's. He looked very ill in June, when he visited Cambridge to receive the honorary degree of LL.D. conferred on him by the university. Finally, he caught a severe chill at the funeral of his old friend, Lord Carnarvon (3 July 1890). After enduring great suffering at Christ Church, he seemed to be rallying, and was moved to his sister's house in Gloucestershire. Thence he went to Weston-super-Mare, where he died on 9 Sept. 1890. He was buried in the crypt of St. Paul's Cathedral.

In private life Liddon's companionship was an incomparable and unfailing delight. His conversation, which was restrained and guarded so long as he at all suspected the temper of his company, bubbled over with imaginative humour when once he was assured of full sympathy. He had intense dramatic vividness, and told a story to perfection. In politics he was popularly known as a liberal; but this was accidentally, rather than substantially, true. In all his natural instincts he was intensely conservative. But his natural instincts were dominated by spiritual convictions; and these spiritual convictions made him deeply suspicious of the worldly ties which knit the church to the state as an establishment, and they threw him on to the liberal side on the only occasion on which he actually showed himself on the political field, i.e. in the agitation respecting the Bulgarian atrocities and the Russo-Turkish war. He looked to character in politics, rather than to any particular measures, and lived on friendly terms both with Lord Salisbury and Mr. Gladstone. A profound belief in the latter's moral character he had inherited from the Tractarian chiefs, but his inherent conservatism was often disturbed by Mr. Gladstone's public action. Each statesman when prime minister took steps to sound Liddon respecting his willingness to accept a bishopric, but Liddon resolutely refused to entertain either proposal.

His recreation was travelling, and he was an inveterate sightseer. He was possessed of private means, and was a generous giver. Intensely domestic and lovable, and unaffected by any worldly ambition, he was totally free from the peculiar moral weakness to which a great popular preacher is proverbially liable. His most striking characteristics were a passionate chivalry, a burning courage, and a delicious humour.

A fine portrait, painted by Mr. G. Richmond in 1866, is at Keble College. Another by Professor Herkomer is in Christ Church Hall.

In addition to the works mentioned, numerous separate sermons, and prefaces contributed to the works of others, Liddon published: 1. ‘Some Words for God; being Sermons preached before the University of Oxford in 1863–5,’ London, 1865; 2nd ed. 1866, with the title ‘Sermons preached before the University of Oxford;’ 8th ed. 1884. A second series, 1868–79, was published London, 1879; this reached a fourth edition in 1887. A new edition containing both series appeared London, 1891. 2. ‘Some Elements of Religion: Lent Lectures, 1870,’ London, 1872, 8vo; 7th ed. 1890. 3. ‘Evening Communions contrary to the Teaching and Practice of the Church in all ages,’ 4th thousand, London, 1876, 8vo; reprinted from ‘The Christian Remembrancer’ for July 1860 and January 1861. 4. ‘Easter in St. Paul's: Sermons bearing chiefly on the Resurrection of our Lord,’ 2 vols., London, 1885; 1 vol. 1890. 5. Four series of sermons on various subjects, all published London, 1886. The second series included the ‘Two Lectures on the Life of St. Paul.’ 6. ‘Advent in St. Paul's: