For Mary, though not of course an ‘unbeliever’, was a Nonconformist, a worshipper at the Congregational chapel in Wethersfield, and not a member of the Church of England.111 As such, had Patrick married her, he would almost certainly have placed immense difficulties in his own path of future promotion; who would have appointed as their curate or minister a man who had a wife belonging to a completely different religious group? This would seem to be the explanation behind one of Mary’s most sarcastic and wounding comments: Happily for me I have not been the ascribed cause of hindering your
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