of Crawley in Sussex. But the climate was unsuited to his frail health, and he was not instituted. A visit to Penzance proved no more satisfactory, and with his wife, Sarah Norman Webster (whom he had married on 27 July 1842), he went in the first week of 1843 to Madeira. The next three years were spent between Madeira and England, and during this time he was busy with his pen. In the autumn of 1845 Neale removed to Reigate, and in the spring of 1846 he was ‘presented by the Ladies Amherst and De la Warr, coheiresses of the third Duke of Dorset,’ to the wardenship of Sackville College, East Grinstead. Sackville College was a charitable institution founded in 1608 by Robert Sackville, second earl of Dorset, for the shelter and maintenance of thirty poor and aged householders, under charge of a warden, not necessarily in holy orders, and two sub-wardens. The stipend was only between 20l. and 30l. a year; and this was the only preferment—which was not really any ecclesiastical preferment at all—that Neale held, in spite of his high claims on the church. In 1850 he declined an offer of the deanery, or, as it was called, the provostship, of St. Ninian's, Perth, and he remained at East Grinstead for the rest of his life. Scotland, America, and Russia all showed themselves more appreciative of him than his own country. Harvard University conferred the degree of D.D. upon him, and in 1860 the Metropolitan of Moscow showed the appreciation in which his liturgical labours were held in Russia by sending him a valuable copy of the Liturgy of the Starovertzi (Old Faith dissenters), with an interesting inscription.
Neale's avowal of high-church doctrines and practices and his support of Puseyism raised against him much opposition, and even subjected him occasionally to mob violence. Although extremely gentle in manner, he adhered to his principles with iron inflexibility. When the college buildings, which were in a ruinous state, were restored early in his career at East Grinstead, he rebuilt the college chapel, adding such ornaments as are now the rule rather than the exception in every well-ordered church. The additional ornaments were brought to the notice of the bishop of the diocese (Dr. Gilbert), who, in a painful controversy, denounced Neale's accessories to worship as ‘frippery’ or ‘spiritual haberdashery,’ and inhibited him from officiating in his diocese. Sackville College chapel had not been under episcopal jurisdiction. Neale had desired to place it under the bishop, but the patrons objected. Independently of his natural desire to minister to the spiritual wants of his flock, he now felt bound to contend for the privileges of the college. A suit was instituted, and Neale was defeated. The episcopal inhibition was not formally removed until November 1863. ‘So, I hope,’ writes the warden, ‘ends a battle of more than sixteen years; I having neither withdrawn a single word, nor altered a single practice (except in a few instances by way of going further).’ Bishop Wilberforce interceded warmly with Bishop Gilbert in behalf of the college. Finally friendly relations were established between Neale and his diocesan, to whom he dedicated the volume of his collected ‘Seatonian Poems.’
While at East Grinstead Neale founded a well-known nursing sisterhood. It began in a very small way at Rotherfield, Neale working in conjunction with Miss S. A. Gream, daughter of the rector of the parish. In 1856 it was brought back to East Grinstead, where it still flourishes under the name of St. Margaret's Sisterhood. An orphanage, a middle-class school for girls, and a home at Aldershot for the reformation of fallen women were one by one attached to the sisterhood; but the home, after having done much useful work, was abandoned in consequence of the protestant prejudices raised against it. The work grew upon his hands, and he was anxious to see the buildings of the sisterhood enlarged. His last public act was to lay the foundation of a new convent for the sisters on St. Margaret's day (20 July) 1865; but he did not live to see it completed. His health utterly broke down, and, after a period of severe suffering, he died on the Feast of the Transfiguration (6 Aug.) 1866. His domestic life was eminently happy; he left behind him a widow and five children. He had also a circle of devoted friends, among whom may be especially mentioned the Revs. Benjamin Webb and E. J. Boyce (co-founders of the Cambridge Camden Society), E. Haskoll, and Dr. Littledale.
Neale is best known to the outer world as a writer. As a translator of ancient Latin and, still more, Greek hymns he has not an equal; but he was a most voluminous writer on an infinite variety of other subjects. His linguistic powers were enormous; he knew more or less of twenty languages; he was a true poet, and his Latin verses are not less graceful than his English. A story is told by Gerard Moultrie [see under Moultrie, John] of Neale's placing before Keble the Latin of one of Keble's hymns with the words, ‘Why, Keble, I thought you told me that the “Christian Year” was entirely original.’ Keble professed himself utterly confounded until Neale relieved him by owning that he had just turned it into Latin. His
