ven 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 belonge