The Rev, J. Tyrwkitt Drake. 289 



denied to him at Oxford. Following this good advice, 

 Mr. Drake proceeded to Cambridge forthwith. ; bat the 

 bacilli of learning and biblical lore could not have 

 been in the air during his residence on the banks of 

 the Cam. If they were^ they did not care to enter 

 either his rooms or his system ; and again the vision of the 

 Cheshire rectory seemed to grow more and more 

 indistinct. 



Happily, a road hitherto unthought of — a road by 

 following which many a traveller in like condition with 

 himself had found his way within the pale of the Establish- 

 ment, was now pointed out. Pursuing this, it was not long 

 before the village of Malpas found itself under the 

 spiritual care of the Rev. John Tyrwhitt Drake, M.A. 

 late of Oxford and Cambridge Universities. It is not 

 expected of parishioners to be able to teach their 

 ministers much, if anything; and the inhabitants of this 

 Cheshire village soon discovered that while not at all to 

 be despised in the wood, the new parson had nothing to 

 learn from any one in those parts when once in " the 

 open." By never neglecting the duties incident to a 

 large country-parish, and by being a kind and generous 

 friend to those who needed help, Malpas soon learned to 

 like the new incumbent, who neither puzzled their heads 

 by the too much learning, or aggravated their tempers by 

 the too great length, of his discourses. 



Speaking plainly, he never laid himself open to the 

 snub received by one of London^s most famous Bishops, 

 who, when a curate, having preached upon the text, 

 ^' The foolish body hath said in his heart, There is no 

 God,^^ was told by an old labourer afterwards, " Well, sir, 

 you may say what you please, but I believe that there is 



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