“A few hours after this affecting scene he breathed his last, without a struggle or a groan. At the moment of his departure Mrs. Fletcher was kneeling by his side; a domestic, who had attended him with uncommon assiduity, was seated at his head; and his respected friend, Mr. Gilpin, was sorrowfully standing near his feet. Uncertain whether he had actually expired, they pressed near, and hung over his bed in the attitude of listening attention. His lips had ceased to move, and his head was gently sinking upon his bosom. They stretched out their hands: but his warfare was accomplished, and his happy spirit had taken its everlasting flight. Such was the end of this eminently holy and laborious servant of God, who entered into rest on the evening of Sunday, August 14, 1785, in the fifty-sixth year of his age. “Mr. Fletcher had frequently expressed an earnest desire that he might be buried in the plainest manner possible. ‘Let there be no pomp,’ he would say, ‘no expense, no ceremony, at my funeral. The coffin of the parish poor will suit me best.’ To these instructions his affectionate widow religiously adhered. A plain oak coffin, with a brass plate, conveyed his honoured remains to their long home, without a pall, pall-bearers, scarf, or hat-band. But two thousand of his parishioners followed him to the grave, who manifested by all the signs of unaffected sorrow their affliction for their irreparable loss.” TESTIMONIES OF THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF THE REV. JOHN FLETCHER. Posthumous literature usually carries little weight. It often assumes virtues to which the deceased were strangers, and not unfrequently libels the dead. The simple epitaph on the plain iron plate which covers Mr. Fletcher’s remains in the Madeley churchyard is not of this class, but is so modest an expression of facts that it requires to be read by the light which the records of contemporaries throw upon it, and which will be found to be more on a level with the merits and virtues of the deceased. The _Shrewsbury Chronicle_ of August, 1785, in recording the death of Mr. Fletcher had the following:—