obscure hand, will excite filial gratitude,
and a due use shall be made of the
obligation vouchsafed thereby to your
Grace's very dutiful and most obedient Son
and Servant,
ROBERT WALKER.'

The same man, who was thus liberal in
the education of his numerous family, was
even munificent in hospitality as a parish
priest. Every Sunday were served upon the
long table, at which he has been described
sitting with a child upon his knee, messes
of broth for the refreshment of those of his
congregation who came from a distance,
and usually took their seats as parts of his
own household. It seems scarcely possible
that this custom could have commenced
before the augmentation of his cure; and
what would to many have been a high price
of self-denial was paid, by the pastor and
his family, for this gratification; as the
treat could only be provided by dressing at
one time the whole, perhaps, of their
weekly allowance of fresh animal food;
consequently, for a succession of days, the
table was covered with cold victuals only.
His generosity in old age may be still
further illustrated by a little circumstance
relating to an orphan grandson, then ten
years of age, which I find in a copy of a
letter to one of his sons; he requests that
half a guinea may be left for "little
Robert's pocket-money," who was then at
school: intrusting it to the care of a lady,
who, as he says, "may sometimes frustrate
his squandering it away foolishly," and
promising to send him an equal allowance
annually for the same purpose. The
conclusion of the same letter is so charac-
teristic, that I cannot forbear to transcribe
it. 'We," meaning his wife and himself,
"are in our wonted state of health, allowing
for the hasty strides of old age knocking
daily at our door, and threateningly telling
us we are not only mortal, but must expect
ere long to take our leave of our ancient
cottage, and lie down in our last dormitory.
Pray pardon my neglect to answer yours:
let us hear sooner from you, to augment
the mirth of the Christmas holidays.
Wishing you all the pleasures of the ap-
proaching season, I am, dear Son, with
lasting sincerity, yours affectionately,

"ROBERT WALKER."

He loved old customs and old usages,
and in some instances stuck to them to his
own loss; for, having had a sum of money
lodged in the hands of a neighbouring
tradesman, when long course of time had
raised the rate of interest, and more was
offered, he refused to accept it; an act not
difficult to one, who, while he was drawing
seventeen pounds a year from his curacy,
declined, as we have seen, to add the
profits of another small benefice to his own,
lest he should be suspected of cupidity.
From this vice he was utterly free; he
made no charge for teaching school; such
as could afford to pay gave him what they
pleased. When very young, having kept a
diary of his expenses, however trifling,
the large amount, at the end of the year,
surprised him; and from that time the rule
of his life was to be economical, not
avaricious. At his decease he left behind
him no less a sum than 2000l.; and such
a sense of his various excellences was
prevalent in the country, that the epithet of
WONDERFUL is to this day attached to his

name.

His

There is in the above sketch something
so extraordinary as to require further
explanatory details.-And to begin with his
industry; eight hours in each day, during
five days in the week, and half of Saturday,
except when the labours of husbandry were
urgent, he was occupied in teaching.
seat was within the rails of the altar; the
communion table was his desk; and, like
Shenstone's schoolmistress, the master
employed himself at the spinning-wheel,
while the children were repeating their
lessons by his side. Every evening, after
school hours, if not more profitably
engaged, he continued the same kind of
labour, exchanging, for the benefit of
exercise, the small wheel, at which he had
sate, for the large one on which wool is
spun, the spinner stepping to and fro.
Thus was the wheel constantly in readiness
to prevent the waste of a moment's time.
Nor was his industry with the pen, when
occasion called for it, less eager.
trusted with extensive management of
public and private affairs, he acted, in his
rustic neighbourhood, as scrivener, writing
out petitions, deeds of conveyance, wills,
covenants, etc., with pecuniary gain to

In-

himself, and to the great benefit of his employers. These labours (at all times considerable) at one period of the year, viz, between Christmas and Candlemas, when money transactions are settled in this country, were often so intense, that he passed great part of the night, and sometimes whole nights, at his desk. His garden also was tilled by his own hand; he had a right of pasturage upon the mountains for a few sheep and a couple of cows, which required his attendance; with this pastoral occupation he joined the labours of husbandry upon a small scale, renting two or three acres in addition to his own less than one acre of glebe; and the humblest drudgery which the cultivation of these fields required was performed by himself.

He also assisted his neighbours in haymaking and shearing their flocks, and in the performance of this latter service he was eminently dexterous. They, in their turn, complimented him with the present of a haycock, or a fleece; less as a recompence for this particular service than as a general acknowledgment. The Sabbath was in a strict sense kept holy; the Sunday evenings being devoted to reading the Scripture and family prayer. The principal festivals appointed by the Church were also duly observed; but through every other day in the week, through every week in the year, he was incessantly occupied in work of hand or mind; not allowing a moment for recreation, except upon a Saturday afternoon, when he indulged himself with a Newspaper, or sometimes with a Magazine. The frugality and temperance established in his house were as admirable as the industry. Nothing to which the name of luxury could be given was there known; in the latter part of his life, indeed, when tea had been brought into almost general use, it was provided for visitors, and for such of his own family as returned occasionally to his roof, and had been accustomed to this refreshment elsewhere; but neither he nor his wife ever partook of it. The raiment worn by his family was comely and decent, but as simple as their diet; the home-spun materials were made up into apparel by their own hands. At the time of the

decease of this thrifty pair, their cottage contained a large store of webs of woollen and linen cloth, woven from thread of their own spinning. And it is remarkable that the pew in the chapel in which the family used to sit, remains neatly lined with woollen cloth spun by the pastor's own hands. It is the only pew in the chapel so distinguished; and I know of no other instance of his conformity to the delicate accommodations of modern times. The fuel of the house, like that of their neighbours, consisted of peat, procured from the mosses by their own labour. The lights by which, in the winter evenings, their work was performed, were of their own manufacture, such as still continue to be used in these cottages; they are made of the pith of rushes dipped in any unctuous substance that the house affords. White candles, as tallow candles are here called, were reserved to honour the Christmas festivals, and were perhaps produced upon no other occasions. Once a month, during the proper season, a sheep was drawn from their small mountain flock, and killed for the use of the family; and a cow, towards the close of the year was salted and dried for winter provision; the hide was tanned to furnish them with shoes. -By these various resources, this venerable clergyman reared a numerous family, not only preserving them, as he affectingly says, "from wanting the necessaries of life;" but affording them an unstinted education, and the means of raising themselves in society. In this they were eminently assisted by the effects of their father's example, his precepts, and injunctions: he was aware that truth-speaking, as a moral virtue, is best secured by inculcating attention to accuracy of report even on trivial occasions; and so rigid were the rules of honesty by which he endeavoured to bring up his family, that if one of them had chanced to find in the lanes or fields anything of the least use or value without being able to ascertain to whom it belonged, he always insisted upon the child's carrying it back to the place from which it had been brought.

No one, it might be thought, could, as has been described, convert his body into a machine, as it were, of industry for the humblest uses, and keep his thoughts so

frequently bent upon secular concerns, without grievous injury to the more precious parts of his nature. How could the powers of intellect thrive, or its graces be displayed, in the midst of circumstances apparently so unfavourable, and where, to the direct cultivation of the mind, so small a portion of time was allotted? But, in this extraordinary man, things in their nature adverse were reconciled. His conversation was remarkable, not only for being chaste and pure, but for the degree in which it was fervent and eloquent; his written style was correct, simple, and animated. Nor did his affections suffer more than his intellect; he was tenderly alive to all the duties of his pastoral office: the poor and needy "he never sent empty away,"—the stranger was fed and refreshed in passing that unfrequented vale-the sick were visited; and the feelings of humanity found further exercise among the distresses and embarrassments in the worldly estate of his neighbours, with which his talents for business made him acquainted; and the disinterestedness, impartiality, and uprightness which he maintained in the management of all affairs confided to him were virtues seldom separated in his own conscience from religious obligation. Nor could such conduct fail to remind those who witnessed it of a spirit nobler than law or custom: they felt convictions which, but for such intercourse, could not have been afforded, that as in the practice of their pastor there was no guile, so in his faith there was nothing hollow; and we are warranted in believing that upon these occasions selfishness, obstinacy, and discord would often give way before the breathings of his good-will and saintly integrity. It may be presumed also-while his humble congregation were listening to the moral precepts which he delivered from the pulpit, and to the Christian exhortations that they should love their neighbours as themselves, and do as they would be done unto-that peculiar efficacy was given to the preacher's labours by recollections in the minds of his congregation that they were called upon to do no more than his own actions were daily setting before their eyes.

The afternoon service in the chapel was

less numerously attended than that of the morning, but by a more serious auditory; the lesson from the New Testament, on those occasions, was accompanied by Burkitt's Commentaries. These lessons

he read with impassioned emphasis, frequently drawing tears from his hearers, and leaving a lasting impression upon their minds. His devotional feelings and the powers of his own mind were further exercised, along with those of his family, in perusing the Scriptures: not only on the Sunday evenings, but on every other evening, while the rest of the household were at work, some one of the children, and in her turn the servant, for the sake of practice in reading, or for instruction, read the Bible aloud; and in this manner the whole was repeatedly gone through. That no common importance was attached to the observance of religious ordinances by his family, appears from the following memorandum by one of his descendants, which I am tempted to insert at length, as it is characteristic and somewhat curious. "There is a small chapel in the county palatine of Lancaster, where a certain clergyman has regularly officiated above sixty years, and a few months ago administered the sacramen of the Lord's Supper in the same, to a decent number of devout communicants. After the clergyman had received himself, the first company out of the assembly who approached the altar, and kneeled down to be partakers of the sacred elements, consisted of the parson's wife, to whom he had been married upwards of sixty years; one son and his wife; four daughters, each with her husband; whose ages, all added together, amount to above 714 years. and respective distances from the place of each of their abodes to the chapel where they all communicated, will measure more than 1000 English miles. Though the narration will appear surprising, it is without doubt a fact that the same persons, exactly four years before, met at the same place, and all joined in performance of the same venerable duty."

The several

He was indeed most zealously attached to the doctrine and frame of the Established Church. We have seen him congratulating himself that he had no dissenters in his

of his own manual industry. But Robert Walker was not a man of times and circumstances; had he lived at a later period, the principle of duty would have produced application as unremitting; the same energy of character would have been displayed, though in many instances with widelydifferent effects.

With pleasure I annex, as illustrative and confirmatory of the above account, extracts from a paper in the Christian Remembrancer, October 1819: it bears an assumed signature, but is known to be the work of the Rev. Robert Bamford, vicar of Bishopton, in the county of Durham; a great-grandson of Mr. Walker, whose worth it commemorates, by a record not the less valuable for being written in very early youth.

No rail

"His house was a nursery of virtue. All the inmates were industrious, and cleanly, and happy. Sobriety, neatness, quietness, characterised the whole family. ings, no idleness, no indulgence of passion were permitted. Every child, however young, had its appointed engagements; every hand was busy. Knitting, spinning, reading, writing, mending clothes, making shoes, were by the different children constantly performing. The father himself sitting amongst them, and guiding their thoughts, was engaged in the same occupations.

*

*

"He sate up late, and rose early; when the family were at rest, he retired to a little room which he had built on the roof of his house.

He had slated it, and fitted it up with shelves for his books, his stock of cloth, wearing apparel, and his utensils. There many a cold winter's night, without fire, while the roof was glazed with ice, did he remain reading or writing till the day dawned. He taught the children in the chapel, for there was no schoolhouse.

Yet

slided behind He was

and in tranquil evenings, as the hills, he blessed its departure. skilled in fossils and plants; a constant observer of the stars and winds: the atmosphere was his delight. He made many experiments on its nature and properties. In summer he used to gather a multitude of flies and insects, and, by his entertaining description, amuse and instruct his children. They shared all his daily employments, and derived many sentiments of love and benevolence from his observations on the works and productions of nature. Whether they were following him in the field, or surrounding him in school, he took every opportunity of storing their minds with useful information.-Nor was the circle of his influence confined to Seathwaite. Many a distant mother has told her child of Mr. Walker, and begged him to be as good a man.

"Once, when I was very young, I had the pleasure of seeing and hearing that venerable old man in his 90th year, and even then, the calmness, the force, the perspicuity of his sermon, sanctified and adorned by the wisdom of grey hairs, and the authority of virtue, had such an effect upor. my mind, that I never see a hoaryheaded clergyman, without thinking of Mr. Walker He allowed no dissenter or methodist to interfere in the instruction of the souls committed to his cure: and so successful were his exertions, that he had not one dissenter of any denomination whatever in the whole parish.-Though he avoided all religious controversies, yet when age had silvered his head, and virtuous piety had secured to his appearance reverence and silent honour, no one, however determined in his hatred of apostolic descent, could have listened to his discourse on ecclesiastical history and ancient times, without thinking that one of the beloved apostles had returned to mortality, and in that vale of peace had come to exemplify the beauty of holiness in the life and character of Mr. Walker.

*

"Until the sickness of his wife, a few months previous to her death, his health and spirits and faculties were unimpaired. But this misfortune gave him such a shock