certain riotous transactions which had taken place at Haworth on the
presentation of the living to Mr. Redhead, and said that there had been
so much in the particulars indicative of the character of the people,
that he advised me to inquire into them. I have accordingly done so,
and, from the lips of some of the survivors among the actors and
spectators, I have learnt the means taken to eject the nominee of the
Vicar.

The previous incumbent had been the Mr. Charnock whom I have mentioned as
next but one in succession to Mr. Grimshaw. He had a long illness which
rendered him unable to discharge his duties without assistance, and Mr.
Redhead gave him occasional help, to the great satisfaction of the
parishioners, and was highly respected by them during Mr. Charnock's
lifetime. But the case was entirely altered when, at Mr. Charnock's
death in 1819, they conceived that the trustees had been unjustly
deprived of their rights by the Vicar of Bradford, who appointed Mr.
Redhead as perpetual curate.

The first Sunday he officiated, Haworth Church was filled even to the
aisles; most of the people wearing the wooden clogs of the district. But
while Mr. Redhead was reading the second lesson, the whole congregation,
as by one impulse, began to leave the church, making all the noise they
could with clattering and clumping of clogs, till, at length, Mr. Redhead
and the clerk were the only two left to continue the service. This was
bad enough, but the next Sunday the proceedings were far worse. Then, as
before, the church was well filled, but the aisles were left clear; not a
creature, not an obstacle was in the way. The reason for this was made
evident about the same time in the reading of the service as the
disturbances had begun the previous week. A man rode into the church
upon an ass, with his face turned towards the tail, and as many old hats