here the spirit of poetry had first met him, and thrown
her mantle round him.

And now the day had come when the mandate of the bishop could no longer
be ignored. In October 1805, Crabbe with his wife and two sons returned
to the Parsonage at Muston. He had been absent from his joint livings
about thirteen years, of which four had been spent at Parham, five at
Great Glemham, and four at Rendham, all three places lying within a
small area, and within reach of the same old friends and relations. No
wonder that he left the neighbourhood with a reluctance that was
probably too well guessed by his parishioners in the Vale of Belvoir.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 3: Richard Turner of Yarmouth was a man of considerable
culture, and belonged to a family of scholars. His eldest brother was
Master of Pembroke, Cambridge, and Dean of Norwich: his youngest son was
Sir Charles Turner, a Lord Justice of Appeal; and Dawson Turner was his
nephew. Richard Turner was the intimate friend of Dr. Parr, Paley, and
Canning.]

[Footnote 4: Readers of Lockhart's Biography will remember that in one
of Scott's latest letters to his son-in-law, before he left England for
Naples, he quoted and applied to himself this stanza of _Sir Eustace
Grey_. The incident is the more pathetic that Scott, as he wrote the
words, was quite aware that his own mind was failing.]

CHAPTER VI

THE PARISH REGISTER

(1805-1809)

"When in October, 1805, Mr. Crabbe resumed the charge of his own parish
of Muston, he found some changes to vex him, and not the less because he
had too much reason to suspect that his long absence from his incumbency
had been, partly at least, the cause of them. His cure had been served
by respectable and diligent clergymen, but they had been often changed,
and some of them had never resided within the parish; and he felt that
the binding influence of a settled and permanent minister had not been
withdrawn for twelve years with impunity. A Wesleyan missionary had
formed a thriving establishment in Muston, and the congregations at the
parish church were no longer such as they had been of old. This much
annoyed my father; and the warmth with which he began to preach against
dissent only irritated himself and others, without bringing back
disciples to the fold."

So writes Crabbe's son with his wonted frankness and good judgment.
Moreover, besides the Wesleyan secession, the mischievous extravagances
of William Huntington (S.S.) ha