 After some tribulations he settled on becoming a provincial artist, and being of a genial and affable nature, and excelling in poetry, vocal, and instrumental music, he made friends and patrons in Lancashire, Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Nottinghamshire and Westmorland who were glad to give him work in oils.William must have found that his poetry was well received and intended to publish because he had written the Introduction in London in 1867 just before his death.The book was published in Kendal by his friends the next year under the title "Rustic Studies in the Westmorland Dialect, with Sketches from the Sketch Book of an Artist" (published by Whittaker and Company in London, printed by Titus Wilson, Kendal).