Another Anecdote

This anecdote appeared in the Evangelical Magazine in 1806 (also in the first issue of the Christian's Penny Magazine 1832).

The late venerable Mr Beddome, minister of the Baptist Church at Bourton on the Water, Gloucestershire, being on a journey, stopped at an inn at Wotton Basset, a small town in Wiltshire, where he was quite a stranger, to take refreshment. A widow woman who then kept the house, concluding from his appearance that he was a clergyman of the Establishment, anxious to please her guest, said, after serving him obligingly with every thing he called for, "Sir, the inhabitants of this place are a very happy people." "I am glad of that," said Mr B "but for what reason are they so happy?" added he. "Why, Sir," answered his hostess, "we have but one Dissenter in the town, and he is a Roman Catholic; and you know, Sir, they are the best of them!" The good man, not willing to confound her, pleasantly passed off the matter, without making himself known.