The preacher, who has been about six years in the ministry, and gets 250 pounds a year for his duties here, is a dark-complexioned sharp-featured man—­slender, serious-looking, energetic, earnest, with a sanguine-bilious temperament.  He is a ready and rather eloquent preacher; is fervid, emphatic, determined; has moderate action; never damages his coat near the armpits by holding his arms too high; has a touch of the “ould Ireland” brogue in his talk; never loudly blows his own trumpet, but sometimes rings his own bell a little; means what he says; is pretty liberal towards other creeds, but is certain that his own views are by far the best; is a steady thinker, a sincere minister, a tolerably good scholar, and a warm-hearted man, who wouldn’t torture an enemy if he could avoid it, but would struggle hard if “put to it.”  Like the rest of preachers he has his admirers as well as those who do not think him altogether immaculate; but taking him in toto—­mind, body, and clothes—­he is a fervent, candid, medium-sized, respectable-looking man, worth listening to as a speaker of the serious school, and calculated, if regularly heard, to distinctly inoculate you with Presbyterianism.  It is as “clear as a bell” that he is advancing considerably the cause he is connected with, and that his “church” is making satisfactory progress.  There is a Sabbath school attached to the denomination.  The scholars meet every Sunday afternoon in the Institution; and their average attendance is about 90.  As a denomination the Presbyterians are pushing onwards vigorously, though quietly, and their prospects are good.

To the Free Gospel people we next come.  They don’t occupy very fashionable quarters; Ashmoor-street, a long way down Adelphi-street, is the thoroughfare wherein their spiritual refuge is situated.  If they were in a better locality, the probability is they would be denominationally stronger.  In religion, as in everything else, “respectability” is the charm.  We have heard many a laugh at the expense of these “Free Gospel” folk, but there is more in their creed, although it may have only Ashmoor-street for its blossoming ground, than the multitude of people think of.  They were brought into existence through a dispute with a Primitive Methodist preacher at Saul-street chapel; although previously, men holding opinions somewhat similar to theirs, were in the town, and built, but through adverse circumstances had to give up, Vauxhall-road chapel.  In the early stages of their existence the Free Gospellers were called Quaker Methodists, because they dressed somewhat like Quakers, and had ways of thinking rather like the followers of George Fox.  In some places they are known as Christian Brethren; in other parts they are recognised as a kind of independent Ranters.