“Sacred to the Memory of the Rev. John Clayton, M.A., Successively Chaplain and Fellow of this Church, Who died September 25th, 1773, Aged 64 Years. This Monument is erected by his Scholars, A grateful Token of their Affection and Esteem. He had endeared himself to them by his manly Cheerfulness, and strict Integrity, diffusive Charity, heroic Forgiveness, and Serenity of Temper under Disappointments; his judicious Fidelity to guard against the Dangers of Vice, and Follies of Ignorance, by forming the Man, the Scholar, and the Christian, in every Mind submitted to his Cultivation; his ardent Zeal for true Religion; warm Attachment to the Church of England; and unwearied Discharge of all the Labours of a conscientious Parish Priest; by the uncommon Lustre of his declining Years, wherein he bore the sharpest Agonies of a painful and humiliating Disease, with the Fortitude of Faith, the Resignation of Hope, and the strong Consolation of a well-spent Life.” This is high praise, but not unmerited,—given not by strangers, who never saw him, but by those who knew him best. Old Manchester Methodists used to describe him as being about five feet eight inches in stature, somewhat portly, dignified in gait, wearing an enormous wig, always deeply serious, a rigid disciplinarian among his scholars and choristers, a pattern of canonical regularity in the performance of his ministerial duties, and very venerable in appearance at the close of life. Though a scholar and a man of considerable mental power, he seems to have published nothing, except the Sermon already mentioned, his Jacobinical strictures in the _Chester Courant_, and a sixpenny pamphlet, with the following title, “Friendly Advice to the Poor; Written and Published, at the Request of the late and present Officers of the Town of Manchester, by John Clayton, M.A. Manchester: Printed by Joseph Harrop, opposite the Clock End of the Exchange; for Messrs. Newton’s, Booksellers, 1755.” 47 pp. Clayton was a faithful and fearless friend. He had no notion of using lollipops when bitters were required. His “advice” was “friendly”; but the opposite of fulsome. In his municipal publication, he delivers himself in no measured terms. He writes:—