Excerpt from Henry and Mary: A Local Tale, Illustrative of the Peculiar Habits, Customs, and Diversions of the Inhabitants of the West of Cumberland, During the Greater Part of the Eighteenth and Preceding Century

Litt in after life, as one of a circle of men of literary tastes and pursuits in Whitehaven which might have done honour to any town in England, will scarcely need to he told this; for even in that society he was alike remarkable for his learning as for his talent. Although, we believe, there was some intention on the part of his parents at one time that he should be brought up with a view to the pulpit, the bent of his early inclinations was such, and he was so passionately attached to athletic exercises and field sports of every description, that it was not deemed prudent to seek to force him to an evocation for which, however much he might be fitted by talent, he was certainly but little qualified in some other respects. Accordingly, his occupation, from the time of leaving school up to manhood, was principally that of agriculture; that is to say, he resided for the most part with his parents at N etherend, taking just what portion of the duties of the farm he planed, and at such times as best suited his inclination or his convenience; in fhct, leading what may be called rather a loose, gentlemanly kind of life. In after years he looked back on this period of his career with feelings of great pain, and attributed his subsequent misfortunes and want of success in life to the fact that the golden time of youth had been allowed to pass over so unprofitably, and to the circumstance that he had not been brought up to look forward to any particular occupation as a means of living. I look upon it, says he, in a letter to a friend, written not many years before his death, that the most important thing for youth is always to have some object in view, some aim and end, the atttainment of which shall find occupation for both mind and body and to which everything else should be made subservient. I am satisfied my own failures and sorrows have all sprung from a want of this kind in early life.

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