Page:Memoir of Edward Lord Bishop of Salisbury.djvu/15

Rh evil custom; one year he confirmed throughout Wiltshire, another throughout Dorsetshire, on the third he held his visitation. No year passed that he did not confirm in the principal towns of his diocese; nor did his exertions end here—he always endeavoured, utterly regardless of his own convenience, to select such central spots as would bring the church in which the confirmation was holden within a reasonable walk of the candidates for the holy rite, and visited thereby many a small country church to which the presence of a bishop had been formerly unknown.

The spirit, the principles, and the habits which had made him the model of a parish priest at St. Peter's in the East, at Oxford, accompanied his elevation to the episcopate. He was at all times ready to assist his clergy in the performance of divine service. Not only did he frequently preach upon public occasions in different parts of his diocese, and continually in his own cathedral, but once every Sunday in one of the churches of Salisbury, often twice, sometimes, but a short time before his death, three times, though his delicate frame was unfit for exertions which visibly undermined his health.

Every Wednesday found him at the Penitentiary in Salisbury, administering instruction and consolation to the inmates. All these things were silently done, and as a matter of course.

But there was one occasion which forced his