caster.'

About the time when this letter was written the Bishop of Chester
recommended the scheme of joining the curacy of Ulpha to the contiguous
one of Seathwaite, and the nomination was offered to Mr. Walker; but an
unexpected difficulty arising, Mr. W., in a letter to the Bishop, (a
copy of which, in his own beautiful handwriting, now lies before me,)
thus expresses himself. 'If he,' meaning the person in whom the
difficulty originated, 'had suggested any such objection before, I
should utterly have declined any attempt to the curacy of Ulpha;
indeed, I was always apprehensive it might be disagreeable to my
auditory at Seathwaite, as they have been always accustomed to double
duty, and the inhabitants of Ulpha despair of being able to support a
schoolmaster who is not curate there also; which suppressed all thoughts
in me of serving them both.' And in a second letter to the Bishop he
writes:

'My Lord,--I have the favour of yours of the 1st instant, and am
exceedingly obliged on account of the Ulpha affair: if that curacy
should lapse into your Lordship's hands, I would beg leave rather to
decline than embrace it; for the chapels of Seathwaite and Ulpha,
annexed together, would be apt to cause a general discontent among the
inhabitants of both places; by either thinking themselves slighted,
being only served alternately, or neglected in the duty, or attributing
it to covetousness in me; all which occasions of murmuring I would
willingly avoid.' And in concluding his former letter, he expresses a
similar sentiment upon the same occasion, 'desiring, if it be possible,
however, as much as in me lieth, to live peaceably with all men.'

* * * * *

The year following, the curacy of Seathwaite was again augmented; and,
to effect this augmentation, fifty pounds had been advanced by himself;
and, in 1760, lands were purchased with eight hundred pounds. Scanty as
was his income, the frequent offer of much better benefices could not
tempt Mr. W. to quit a situation where he had been so long happy, with a
consciousness of being useful. Among his papers I find the following
copy of a letter, dated 1775, twenty years after his refusal of the
curacy of Ulpha, which will show what exertions had been made for one of
his sons.

'May it please your Grace,--Our remote situation here makes it difficult
to get the necessary information for transacting business regularly;
such is the reason of my gi