were no recommendations in the eyes of Fletcher, and he declined the living on the ground that the income was too large and the population too small.  Madeley had the advantage of having only half the income and double the population of Dunham.  On being asked whether he would accept Madeley if the vicar of that parish would consent to exchange it for Dunham, Fletcher gladly embraced the offer.  As the Vicar of Madeley had naturally no objection to so advantageous an exchange, Fletcher was instituted to the cure of the large Shropshire village, in which he spent a quarter of a century.  There is no need to record his apostolical labours in this humble sphere of duty.  Madeley was a rough parish, full of colliers; but there was also a sprinkling of resident gentry.  Like his friend John Wesley, Fletcher found more fruits of his work among the poor than among the gentry.  But none, whether rich or poor, could resist the attractions of this saintly man.  In 1772 he addressed to the principal inhabitants of the Parish of Madeley ’An appeal to matter of fact and common sense,’ the dedication of which is so characteristic that it is worth quoting in full.  ‘Gentlemen,’ writes the vicar, ’you are no less entitled to my private labours than the inferior class of my parishioners.  As you do not choose to partake with them of my evening instructions, I take the liberty to present you with some of my morning meditations.  May these well-meant efforts of my pen be more acceptable to you than those of my tongue!  And may you carefully read in your closets what you have perhaps inattentively heard in the church!  I appeal to the Searcher of hearts, that I had rather impart truth than receive tithes.  You kindly bestow the latter upon me; grant me the satisfaction of seeing you receive favourably the former from, gentlemen, your affectionate minister and obedient servant, J. Fletcher.’

When Lady Huntingdon founded her college for the training of ministers at Trevecca, she invited Fletcher to undertake a sort of general superintendence over it.  This Fletcher undertook without fee or reward—­not, of course, with the intention of residing there, for he had no sympathy with the bad custom of non-residence which was only too common in his day.  He was simply to visit the college as frequently as he could; ‘and,’ writes Dr. Benson, the first head-master, ’he was received as an angel of God.’  ‘It is not possible,’ he adds, ’for me to describe the veneration in which we all held him.  Like Elijah in the schools of the Prophets, he was revered, he was loved, he was almost adored.  My heart kindles while I write.  Here it was that I saw, shall I say an angel in human flesh?—­I should not far exceed the truth if I said so’—­and much more to the same effect.  It was the same wherever Fletcher went; the impression he made was extraordinary; language seems to fail those who tried to describe it.  ‘I went,’ said one who visited him in an illness (he was always delicate),