The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-10-02 00:00:00

POPULARITY-A PARISH SKETCH.

Our curate is a young gentleman of such prepossess-
ing appearance and fascinating manners, that within one
month after his first appearance in the parish half the
young lady inhabitants were melancholy with religion,
-and the other half desponding. with love. Never were so
many young ladies seen in our parish church on Sunday
before ; and never had the little round angels' faces on
Mr. To..litin's monument in the side aisle beheld such
devotion on earth as they all exhibited. He was about
'five and twenty when he first came to astonish the
parishioners, parted his hair on the centre of his forehead
in the form of a Saxon arch, wore a brilliant of the first
water on the fourth finger of his left ,hand (which he
always applied to his left cheek when he read prayers);
and had a deep sepulchral voice of unusual solemnity.
'lnnumerable were the calls made by prudent mammas on
.our new curate; and innumerable the invitations with
which he was assailed, and which, to do him justice, he.
readily accepted. If his manner in the pulpit had created
-an impression in his favour, the sensation was increased
tenfold by his appearance in private circles. .Pews in
.the immediate vicinity of the pulpit or reading desk rose
in value: sittings in the centre aisle were at a premium:
an inch of room in front of the gallery could not be pro-
cured for love or money; and some people even went so
far as to assert that the three Miss Browns, who had an
obscure family pew just behind the churchwardens', were
detected on Sunday, in the free seats by the communion-
table, actually laying wait for the curate as he passed to
the vestry! He began to preach extempore sermons, and
even grave papas caught the infection; he got out of bed
at half-past twelve o'clock one winter's night to half-bap-
tize a washerwoman's child in a slop-basin; and the
gratitude of the parishioners knew no bounds—the very
churchwardens grew generous and insisted on the parish
defraying, the expence of the watch-box.on wheels, which
the new curate had ordered for himself to perform the
funeral service in, in wet weather. He sent three pints
of gruel and a quarter of a pound of tea to a poor woman
who had been brought to bed of four small children, all at
once—the parish were, charmed. He .got up a subscrip-
tion for her—the woman's fortune was made. Ile spoke
for one hour and twenty-five minutes at an anti-slavery
meeting at the Goat in Boots—the enthusiasm was at
its height. A proposal was set on foot for presenting
the curate with a piece of plate, as a mark of esteem for
his valuable services rendered to the parish.----,The list of
supscriptions was filled up in no time; the contest Was,
not who should escape the contribution but who should
be the foremost to subscribe. splendid silver inkstand
was made, and engraved with an appropriate inscription;
the curate was invited to a public breakfast at the before-
mentioned Goat in Boots: the inkstand was presented in
a neat speech by Mr. Gubbins, the ex-churchwarden, and
acknowledged by the curate in terms which drew tears
from all present—the very waiters were melted. One
would have supposed that by this time the theme of uni-
vet sal admiration was lifted to the very pinnacle of popu-
larity. No such thing. The curate began to cough-
four fits of coughing between the Litany and the Epistle,
and five in the afternoon service. Here was a discovery
—the curate was consumptive. How interestingly me•
lanchuly! If the young ladies were energetic before,
their sympathy now knew no bounds. • Such a man as
the curate—such a dear—such a perfect love—to be con-
sumptive ? It was too much. Anonymous presents of
black currant jam and lozenges; elastic waistcoats, bosom
friends and warm stockings, pouted in upon the curate
until he was as completely fitted out with winter clothing
as if he were on the verge of an expedition to the North
Pole ; verbal bulletins of the state of his health were cir-
culated throughout the parish half-a-dozen times a-day ;
_and the curate was at the height, indeed in the zenith of
his popularity. About this period a, change came over
the spirit of the parish. A very quiet, respectable, dozing
old gentleman, who had officiated in one chapel of ease
for twelve years previously, died one fine morning, with-
' out having given any notice whatever of his intention.
The circumstance gave rise to counter-sensation the first ;
and the arrival of his successor occasioned counter-sensa-
tion the second. He was a pale, ttiin, cadaverous man,
with large black eyes, and long straggling black hair;
his dress was slovenly in the extreme; his manner un-
gainly ; his doctiines sterling ; in short he was the very