English fiction -- 19th century; Walker, Robert, 1710-1802
“I was the other day upon a party of pleasure, about five or six
miles from this place, where I met with a very striking object, and
of a nature not very common. Going into a clergyman’s house (of whom
I had frequently heard) I found him sitting at the head of a long
square table, such as is commonly used in this country by the lower
class of people, dressed in a coarse blue frock, trimmed with black
horn buttons; a checked shirt, a leathern strap about his neck for a
stock, a coarse apron, and a pair of great wooden-soled shoes, plated
with iron to preserve them, (what we call clogs in these parts,) with
a child upon his knee, eating his breakfast: his wife, and the
remainder of his children, were some of them employed in waiting upon
each other, the rest in teazing and spinning wool, at which trade he
is a great proficient; and moreover, when it is made ready for sale,
will lay it, by sixteen or thirty-two pounds weight, upon his back,
and on foot, seven or eight miles will carry it to the market, even
in the depth of winter. I was not much surprised at all this, as you
may possibly be, having heard a great deal of it related before. But
I must confess myself astonished with the alacrity and the good
humour that appeared both in the clergyman and his wife, and more so,
at the sense and ingenuity of the clergyman himself.” * *
Then follows a letter, from another person, dated 1755, from which an
extract shall be given.
“By his frugality and good management, he keeps the wolf from the
door, as we say; and if he advances a little in the world, it is
owing more to his own care, than to any thing else he has to rely
upon. I don’t find his inclination is running after further
preferment. He is settled among the people, that are happy among
themselves; and lives in the greatest unanimity and friendship with
them; and, I believe, the minister and people are exceedingly
satisfied with each other; and indeed how should they be
dissatisfied, when they have a person of so much worth and probity
for their pastor? A man, who, for his candour and meekness, his
sober, chaste, and virtuous conversation, his soundness in principle
and practice, is an ornament to his profession, and an honour to the
country he is in; and bear with me if I say, the plainness of his
dress, the sanctity of his manners, the simplicity of his doctrine,
and the vehemence of his expression, have a sort of resemblance to
the pure practice of primitive Christianity.”
We will now give his own account of himself, to be found in the same
place.
From the Rev. ROBERT WALKER.
“SIR,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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