Page:The Leadbeater Papers (1862) Vol 1.djvu/41

The first abode on entering the village was that of old Abraham Shackleton, a man whose memory was long held in veneration. His exterior bespoke his character; his countenance expressed the sweetness and humility of his mind, mixed with a gravity sometimes bordering on austerity. Being the youngest of six orphans, and his habit of body not being robust enough for labour, he betook himself to letters, and though twenty years of age when he began to learn Latin, he succeeded so perfectly as to write that language not only with correctness but with elegance. He was a native of Yorkshire, and became an assistant in the school of David Hall of Skipton, in whose family his future wife, Margaret Wilkinson, David Hall's near relation, was also an inmate. Having removed to Ireland, he was engaged by William Cooper of Cooperhill, and John Duckett of Duckett's-grove, who were both country-gentlemen and Quakers, as private tutor to their children. Sensible of his talents and worth, they encouraged him to open a boarding-school, which he did in Ballitore on the first of the Third-month, 1726, having previously prevailed on his beloved Margaret to become his wife and accompany him to a strange land. Under the auspices of piety and honesty the school prospered beyond their humble hopes. To them were born a son, Richard, and a daughter, Elizabeth; the latter wounded her parents' hearts by a clandestine marriage with Maurice Raynor, a young man who was usher to her father. She died early in life, leaving one son, William, who was taken by his grand-