quaffed on his rounds, till the
knowing quadruped refused to pass any inn along the road for miles around
without stopping for refreshment.

Parson Moreton is not to be judged by modern standards. At that time the
church was asleep; and Dr. Johnson once declared that he did not know one
religious clergyman. Though the Parson of Willenhall became noted
throughout the countryside for his eccentricities, he managed to labour
among the rough population, to whom he ministered, with some sort of
success.

Into all his lapses from the conventionalities of clericalism, he was a
gentleman at the core, having a dignified bearing and a commanding
presence. He candidly admitted his shortcomings as a clergyman, telling
his flock to do as he said, not as he did. This naturally failed to
satisfy very many of them; and it has been asserted that the strength of
Dissent in Willenhall at the present time is directly due to the
influence of his incumbency.

Of the Rev W. Moreton, it may at least be said that he was a remarkably
fine reader, and his sermons were always well-constructed compositions.
For many years he lived with Mr. Isaac Hartill in the house at the corner
of the Market Place, opposite the Metropolitan Bank; an old house still
retaining its original oak floors and staircase, and its substantial
old-fashioned doors of the same material, although the building is now
made into two shops.

For nearly fifty years Parson Moreton was a familiar figure in the
streets of Willenhall. His last signature in the Registers appears in
1833, a year previous to which the Rev. George Hutchinson Fisher had come
into the parish to assist him, taking up his residence in the house next
to "The Neptune Inn," now the Police Station. He died July 16th, 1834,
and was buried on Sunday the 20th.

When Mr. Fisher came to preach Mr. Moreton's funeral sermon, the most
notable feature of the oration was the absence of direct reference to the
departed. Towards the close of the sermon, however, the following
passage was uttered with impressive solemnity:--

"May every occasion like the present bring instruction and
edification to your souls. May the failings which you have witnessed
and lamented in others urge you to examine and correct your own; and
when their removal makes you think on the nature of the account they
will have to render, may you be awakened to scrutinise your own
stewardship; and instead of recording