he came under a very different set of teachers. The
principal, Dr. Jelf, represented the high and dry variety of
Anglicanism. I can remember how, a little later, I used to listen with
wonder to his expositions of the Thirty-nine Articles. What a marvellous
piece of good fortune it was, I used dimly to consider, that the Church
of England had always hit off precisely the right solution in so many
and such tangled controversies! But King's College had a professor of a
very different order in F. D. Maurice. His personal charm was
remarkable, and if Fitzjames did not become exactly a disciple he was
fully sensible of Maurice's kindness of nature and loftiness of purpose.
He held, I imagine, in a vague kind of way, that here might perhaps be
the prophet who was to guide him across the deserts of infidelity into
the promised land where philosophy and religion will be finally
reconciled. Of this, however, I shall have more to say hereafter.

I must now briefly mention the changes which took place at this time in
our family. In 1846 my brother Herbert made a tour to Constantinople,
and on his return home was seized by a fever and died at Dresden on
October 22. My father and mother had started upon the first news of the
illness, but arrived too late to see their son alive. Fitzjames in the
interval came to Windsor, and, as my mother records, was like a father
to the younger children. The journey to Dresden, with its terrible
suspense and melancholy end, was a severe blow to my father. From that
time, as it seems to me, he was a changed man. He had already begun to
think of retiring from his post, and given notice that he must be
considered as only holding it during the convenience of his
superiors.[52] He gave up the house at Windsor, having, indeed, kept it
on chiefly because Herbert was fond of the place. We settled for a time
at Wimbledon. There my brother joined us in the early part of 1847. A
very severe illness in the autumn of 1847 finally induced my father to
resign his post. In recognition of his services he was made a privy
councillor and K.C.B. His retirement was at first provisional, and, on
recovering, he was anxious to be still employed in some capacity. The
Government of the day considered the pension to which he was entitled an
inadequate reward for his services. There was some talk of creating the
new office of Assessor to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council,
to which he was to be appointed. This proved t