Excerpt from In Memoriam: A Sketch of the Life of the Right Reverend George Augustus Selwyn, Late Bishop of Lichfield, and Formerly Bishop and Metropolitan of New Zealand

On Sunday, the 24th of March, 1878, unexpectedly and almost without warning, Her Majesty's training ship, Eurydice, with all hands on board went down Off the Isle Of Wight. The tidings next morning sent a thrill of dismay throughout the length and breadth Of England at the suddenness Of the calamity. On the same afternoon Of that chill and bitter day, with its blinding snowstorms and withering wind, after a long Confirmation which had tried his powers to the utmost, our late beloved Bishop, folding his hands and laying back his head in the vestry of S. Mary's, Shrewsbury, said The end is come. TO hear of his being ill created a feeling of no ordinary anxiety among his people, as he had shown few signs Of failure in health, and no sign whatever of failure in energy. But when, a fortnight later, the medical attendants announced that his life was in the greatest danger and that very little hope could be entertained of his recovery, anxiety gave place to deep and unfeigned sorrow. Telegrams and bulletins were scanned with keenest interest from hour to hour; and when on Thursday, April 11th, the great Bell at the Cathedral announced that Bishop Selwyn was no more, everybody felt that a stately ship had indeed gone down, or, as we should rather say, had passed to the haven beyond our earthly knowledge. While therefore the remembrance of him, both as man and Bishop, is still vividly present with us, and his voice - that voice with its calm deep tone, warning, exhort ing, comforting all who heard him - still sounds in our ears.

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