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    Some years after Mr . Yates ' s marriage his activity and usefulness were in a certain degree impeded by ill health , probably in consequence of severe application to his professional studies . From this circumstance he took into his family as a tutor , and also with a view to occasional assistance in the pulpit , the late Rev . Benjamin Davis , afterwards of Evesham . This gentleman was succeeded , on his removal to Walsall in

    Staffordshire , by the Rev . William Shepherd , now well known to the public , as deeply imbued with classical and polite literature , and as the intrepid asserter of civil and religious liberty . In his friendships , indeed , Mr . Yates was peculiarly happy . The same kind

    and social disposition , and the same high character which had gained ., for him the love of his fellow-students at college , continued , wheresoever he went , to attract the regards of those who were most distinguished by their talents and their virtues . He considered himself

    fortunate in the very affectionate . and confidential intercourse he enjoyed with Mr . Roscoe , Dr . Currie and Mr . Rathbone , so justly regarded as among the brightest ornaments of the tow ' tf of Liverpool . With them he was accustomed to unite in every scheme conducive either to their own intellectual improvement or to the benefit of the public . With a view to the

    former of these objects , they ( together with four other gentlemen ) formed a society denominated from the number to which it was limited , the Octonian . It was a highly liberal and intellectual association . A topic previously agreed upon was made the subject of conversation , and sometimes a paper relative to it was read .

    The delicacy of Mr . Yates ' s health made it necessary for him at a very early period of his ministerial services to quit his residence in town , and he finally removed to Toxteth Park . Here he spent the greater part of his life ; and here he gratified that taste for the beauties of nature which was always one of the prominent features of his finely-constituted mind .

    Nor did he content himself with merely admiring what was beautiful , he set himself sedulously to improve what he thought capable of greater excellenceand truly it may be said of him , " Nihil tetigit , quod non ornavit , " A small dingle , celebrated in one of the earliest efforts of Mr . Roscoe ' s muse , the rough sides of which had , indeed , sometimes been explored by the prying gaze of the botanist , but which in general had at-

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    tracted little regard , has in consequence of his liberality and discernment become the admiration and occasional resort of the neighbouring population . In this retirement after the discharge of his ministerial labours he loved to spend his leisure time amongst his family , regarding it as the means of contributing to their health , to their domestic union , to their virtuous recreation and to the

    cherishing of those tastes which , regulated by religious principle , confer a grace upon the character , while they give the purest pleasure to the heart . But he never suffered pleasures of this nature to interfere with his more important duties

    as a Christian minister ; m these he placed his chief delight . In his attention to his congregation he was indefatigable , not as regarded his public services only , but also in his intercourse with them in

    private life . For a long series of years it was his almost daily practice to visit some one family amongst them , to study their interests , to encourage them in their difficulties , and urge them on in their laudable pursuits . He was also ever active in promoting the education of the poor : with this view he built , principally at . his own

    expense , in Harrington , a town adjoining Liverpool , a school in which about 450 poor children now receive instruction . The plan which he projected well deserves attention . He was uniformly desirous that all sects should join in schemes for the education of the poor , but he lamented that , in the endeavour to secure union , the inculcation of religious

    principles is liable to be neglected . It was his intention that in the Harrington school , which is supported by voluntary contributions , moral and religious instruction in those fundamental principles on which all Christians are agreed , should be a primary object , and that besides religious exercises on the other days of the week , the children should on the Lord's-day be conducted in the morning to their own places of

    worship , and meet in the afternoon in the school , to join in singing , in praying and in hearing instructions suited to their tender capacities . With a view to this object , he compiled and published , in 1817 , a small volume of Hymns for the Social Worship of Children , in the preface to which he has admirably unfolded the principal design of the school , and to which Mr . ftpscoe and some others of his friends with great kindness contributed by original compositions . The various associations either for charitable or scientific purposes , by which

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    68 Obituary . — Rev , John Yates .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1827, page 68, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1792/page/68/