," I answered, "I am not a 'good fellow' at all I cannot
give it up."

"Then," he said, "at least please to defer your address for a week, till
we can get the Bishop's decision."

He asked so kindly and earnestly, and made such a point of it, that I
consented to wait for the Bishop's answer, and defer the preaching for a
week. He was very pleased, and said that I was indeed a 'good fellow',
but the praise I got from him barely satisfied my conscience, and I was
ashamed to meet my friends. I had not gone far before my courage failed;
so, going back, I said that "I must withdraw my consent to defer the
meeting. I will take the consequences and responsibilities, and go on."

"No, no." cried the vicar, "I will arrange for the Postponement of your
meeting. Look here, I have written out a notice for the crier; he shall
go round the town at once, and tell the people that the meeting is
unavoidably deferred for a week."

I was very reluctantly persuaded to yield, and then went to my friend
and told him what I had done. He was very much vexed with me, and said,
"Then we must go at once and tell the mayor before he hears the crier."
We did so, and found that this personage was disappointed too, and
advised me to go away out of sight of the people. Accordingly, my friend
and I went to a house which commanded a good view of the town and
principal streets, from whence we could see the people assembling and
dispersing. A large gang of them stood opposite my friend's house, and
asked if I would not preach to them in the open air; and when they
ascertained that the vicar had hindered the preaching, they were much
exasperated.

In the evening I went back to my own parish, and had the usual service,
which I found very refreshing after so much bickering about
technicalities.

The Bishop's letter arrived in due time. In it his lordship said, that
he "always had entertained a great esteem for me and my obedience to
authority, and highly commended me for postponing or giving up my
service at the above town." As he did not say a single word of
prohibition, I immediately wrote to the mayor to expect me on the
following Tuesday, "For the Bishop had not forbidden me," and I also
wrote to the vicar to the same effect. Large bills, with large letters
on them, announced that "the Rev. William Haslam will positively preach
in the Temperance Hall at three o'clock on Tuesday next."

The churchwardens of the parish were requested to attend the