William  [Gregory)  Cowley. — This  amiable  prior  filled  the
office  for  many  years;  more  of  him  in  the  nintii  and  last
chapter.
Henry   Parker    {not   Porter)    was   the   last   prior  of  St.
■102


COLLECTIOMS   ILLCmUTIKa    TUB


Edmund's  nt  Paiix.  He  ended  hia  days  in  that  city  on  8tli
Julr,  1SI7;  itiid  in  the  fallowing  clinptcr,  1818,  Dr.  M&nh
vtut  »p]ii}iiiled  odtoinUtnitor.
During  the  liutdrienniuinfrora  1832  to  IH2<!,tbo  iircsidcnt,
Dr.  Mttrsh,  succeeded  in  resuBcitHttng  St.  Edmund's  Convent,
oil  u  |>ortion  of  the  old  site  of  St.  tiregorj's,  nt  llouiiy.
When  thiN  uctivo  superior  liad  made  bis  arrangenictits,  he
obtained  Or.  William  Collier  to  be  the  firet  prior.  Dr.  Collier
continued  in  office  till  1K31,  when  he  retired  to  tlie  mission
of  Little  Crosby,  near  Liverpool.  After  u  year's  it[ioNtolic
labour  there,  he  w»»  xciit  to  Kumo  m  agent  for  the  eongregn-
lion.  He  was  prei«nt  at  the  fjencral  chnpter  iu  18*8;  and
rctiuniug  to  Rome  in  the  month  of  May,  IHMJ,  was  cou-
Mcrated  bishop  of  Mdevi.->,  with  the  charge  of  tlte  ftiithful  in
the  Manritiui,  by  Cardinal  Fraii»oni.  In  1818,  when  Port
Louis,  the  capital  of  the  Mauritius,  wsa  erected  into  an
episcopal  see,  Dr.  Collier  became  its  liret  bishop.  On  his  re<
aigning  the  prlor^hip  of  8t.  Edmund's,  at  Douay,  Dr.  Fmncta
Appletoo  Has  di^elareil  his  siiecit^Hnur,  but  in  18  tl  waa  trMis-
ferrcd  to  the  itteumlwiicy  of  St.  Peter's  (Jhapel,  Sccl-streel,
Liver|)ool.  There  he  caught,  in  the  exercise  of  his  ministry,
tliat  dreadful  fever  which  ravaged  Liverpool  in  1817f  and
which  tested  the  heroic  kcoI  and  cliarity  of  so  many  prieatlr
victims.  Recommended  to  try  a  cbaiiKe  of  air  at  f>tanbrook
Convcut,  near  Worecatcr,  he  breathed  liia  last  in  the  arms  of
hii  dear  friend  the  pruxident.  Dr.  Barber,  at  fwir  of  tfac
mominK,  20th  May,  18*7.
