the publication was connected, as has been
seen, with my resignation of St. Mary's, I may be allowed to conclude
what I have to say on the subject here, though it will read like a
digression. As soon then as the first of the series got into print,
the whole project broke down. I had already anticipated that some
portions of the series would be written in a style inconsistent with
the professions of a beneficed clergyman, and therefore I had given
up my living; but men of great weight went further, when they saw the
Life of St. Stephen Harding, and decided that it was of such a
character as to be inconsistent even with its being given to the
world by an Anglican publisher: and so the scheme was given up at
once. After the two first parts, I retired from the editorship, and
those Lives only were published in addition, which were then already
finished, or in advanced preparation. The following passages from
what I or others wrote at the time will illustrate what I have been
saying:--

In November, 1844, I wrote thus to one of the authors of them: "I am
not Editor, I have no direct control over the Series. It is T.'s
work; he may admit what he pleases; and exclude what he pleases. I
was to have been Editor. I did edit the two first numbers. I was
responsible for them, in the way in which an Editor is responsible.
Had I continued Editor, I should have exercised a control over all. I
laid down in the Preface that doctrinal subjects were, if possible,
to be excluded. But, even then, I also set down that no writer was to
be held answerable for any of the Lives but his own. When I gave up
the Editorship, I had various engagements with friends for separate
Lives remaining on my hands. I should have liked to have broken from
them all, but there were some from which I could not break, and I let
them take their course. Some have come to nothing; others like yours
have gone on. I have seen such, either in MS. or Proof. As time goes
on, I shall have less and less to do with the Series. I think the
engagement between you and me should come to an end. I have anyhow
abundant responsibility on me, and too much. I shall write to T. that
if he wants the advantage of your assistance, he must write to you
direct."

In accordance with this letter, I had already advertised in January
1844, ten months before it, that "other Lives," after St. Stephen
Harding, "will be published by their respective authors on their own
responsibility." This no