in the purchase of an estate offered to him upon
advantageous terms, because the proprietor was a Quaker;--whether from
scrupulous apprehension that a blessing would not attend a contract
framed for the benefit of the Church between persons not in religious
sympathy with each other; or, as a seeker of peace, he was afraid of the
uncomplying disposition which at one time was too frequently conspicuous
in that sect. Of this an instance had fallen under his own notice; for,
while he taught school at Loweswater, certain persons of that
denomination had refused to pay annual interest due under the title of
Church-stock;[2] a great hardship upon the incumbent, for the curacy of
Loweswater was then scarcely less poor than that of Seathwaite. To what
degree this prejudice of his was blameable need not be
determined;--certain it is, that he was not only desirous, as he himself
says, to live in peace, but in love, with all men. He was placable, and
charitable in his judgments; and, however correct in conduct and
rigorous to himself, he was ever ready to forgive the trespasses of
others, and to soften the censure that was cast upon their
frailties.--It would be unpardonable to omit that, in the maintenance of
his virtues, he received due support from the partner of his long life.
She was equally strict, in attending to her share of their joint cares,
nor less diligent in her appropriate occupations. A person who had been
some time their servant in the latter part of their lives, concluded the
panegyric of her mistress by saying to me, 'She was no less excellent
than her husband; she was good to the poor; she was good to every
thing!' He survived for a short time this virtuous companion. When she
died, he ordered that her body should be borne to the grave by three of
her daughters and one grand-daughter; and, when the corpse was lifted
from the threshold, he insisted upon lending his aid, and feeling about,
for he was then almost blind, took hold of a napkin fixed to the coffin;
and, as a bearer of the body, entered the chapel, a few steps from the
lowly parsonage.

[2] Mr. Walker's charity being of that kind which 'seeketh not her own,'
he would rather forego his rights than distrain for dues which the
parties liable refused, as a point of conscience, to pay.

What a contrast does the life of this obscurely-seated, and, in point of
worldly wealth, poorly-repaid Churchman, present to that of a Cardinal
Wolsey!

'O 'tis a bu