196 LIFE OF ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 



the mean time I am, with hearty wishes of all 

 good to you, 



" Sir, your loving friend, &c. 



" Jo. Eeor." 



Great was the mildness of this answer, consi- 

 dering the style of the letter to which he re- 

 plied, and the temper of the person he wrote 

 to. But it is a genuine specimen of that cour- 

 tesy which he shewed to all, how differently 

 soever they might behave towards himself. He 

 was not easily thrown off his bias, or put out of 

 his naturally sweet temper, though, at the same 

 time, he was not to be diverted from steadily 

 pursuing the rules he had laid down for his own 

 conduct in the discharge of his office. 



He was observed to act so conscientiously 

 and cautiously in the choice of fit persons to 

 serve in the Church, that sometimes the patrons 

 of livings, who were well acquainted with him, 

 would refer the designation of the clerk, upon a 

 vacancy, entirely to himself. And this not only 

 within his own diocese, but in other parts of 

 his province. And sometimes, when he was 

 not applied to or consulted, he would himself 

 take the liberty of reminding -patrons of the im- 

 portance of observing the trusts that ivere by the 

 laws reposed in them; desiring them to consider 

 how much they were concerned that the people 



