ness is next to godliness," as I at last landed in Martha's best room, which bore evident tokens of having been newly washed and sanded; whilst each separate piece of furniture, (there were but few indeed,) had also been dusted and set in order. I went and stood before the open casement, dislodging for this purpose a rather testy black pussycat, which retired on my approach, mewing loud complaints at being disturbed in her monopoly. There was no fresh country air, nothing rural or pleasant to look out upon, such as one usually associates with the cottages of the English poor. And yet I could not help thinking that what there was was rightly bestowed on her, for between the alley and the black, sooty forges, was a small paddock about as big as a middle-sized room, in which two or three sheep were feeding; it is true they looked shaggy and uncomfortable, and not at all like the snow-white lambs of the pastures, and their food was but cabbage leaves and such like. And yet, placed just there, they served to bring to one's mind thoughts of that Flock redeemed, with Precious Blood, and of the "green pastures and still waters" its sheep will one day lie down beside, when He the Great Shepherd, shall have led them safely through the wilderness. I am sure that Martha herself was no stranger to such thoughts. One very marked feature in her character was her unvarying contentedness with her hard lot in this life; she never complained of anything but always looked on the bright side, so that one might have fancied there was no dark one to look upon; but I suppose she had learnt that favourite lesson of our Prayer-book, potatoes no bigger than a walnut Do not hence suppose, kind reader, that I was guilty of the indelicacy of peeping into her cupboards and saucepans during her absence, (for I should have said that I had met her at a shop on my way, and, with her wonted frankness, she asked me to go on and rest myself till she returned,) but, left alone, I could not help seeing what was left exposed. I was not long alone however, for the landlady thought fit to " step in," and volunteer her opinion of her stranger tenant, nearly in these words: "She is a quiet, good little woman, Ma'am; she never quarrels, nor makes a row, and scarce ever goes out, ex cept to Church, where she goes, I believe, almost every day." When Martha came in, she gave me a little sketch of her early life. She said she was born in Manchester, and had been brought up as a Sunday and week-day scholar at one of the Old National Schools there, and I found she marked her attachment to these early associations in a very practical way, namely, by sending her own little girls to the nearest National School in whatever place they might happen to be. "For, Ma'am," she said, "the Old-fashioned ways is the best ways, the Old Church, and the Old Schools." And there can be no doubt that she was right, she had Holy Scripture on her side, for thus it is written : "Stand ye in the Old Ways, and walk in 'them." felt ourselves to be "the children of One Father," she was never in the least presuming in any way; she was grateful, indeed, for any little kindness I shewed her thus, she "used not her liberty for a cloak of maliciousness." But such pleasant intercourse seldom lasts long in this world; and one evening, not very long after, I found Martha waiting to speak to me, under the lime trees; it was to say good-bye, for the ironwork had suddenly failed, and her husband must embark with his family the next day for Liverpool, in search of employment there. She told me that she meant to rise very early the next day so as to wash her only gown in time to attend Morning Service, that she might have the Church's Prayers for those who "travel by water; and then she should go on board immediately afterwards, and we should see each other no more. So we parted, where it was fit that we should part, for it was there we had met and talked together, close beside our holy and our beautiful House. Most likely we shall meet no more in this world; but, walking in the paths of holy is all joy; poor and unlettered though she be, and her name unhonoured, almost unknown, in the Church of her fathers; for "Blessed is the man whom Thou choosest, and causest to approach unto Thee; he shall dwell in Thy Courts, and shall be satisfied with the pleasures of Thy House, even of Thy Holy Temple." ECCLESIASTICUS. PRAYER. "Of prayer, there are two uses. It serveth as a means to procure those things which God hath promised to grant when we ask; and it serveth as a means to express our lawful desires also towards that, which, whether we shall have or no, we know not till we see the event."-Hooker. NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. Received.-W. S.-; C. F. D—, a work obedience and trustful love, I hope ing man; C. F. H; W. R. B—; H. I shall one day see her again, in our Father's House in Heaven, where the Church Militant, with its changes, and its chances, and its sufferings, will be swallowed up in the perfected victory and joys of the Church Triumphant. Even now, I sometimes seem to see her with us, when some victorious Psalm or glorious Anthem rises on high, and then softly hushes itself away. Even now, I see her kneeling, where the pearly light used to shed upon her its transfigured beams, in spots of violet and rose-colour, as if that vile raiment were already changing into the bright robes of immortality. To think of her thus L-; Irene; P. O-; L. C-, Bristol; E. J. W-; C. D-; Nemo; Mansfield; Rev. S. F; Pro. D. Replies.-W. S-; too late to be of use. -C. F. D-, a working man; unhappily, the passages of Holy Scripture you quote, are but too applicable in the case referred to; but we must not forget another"Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people."-Pro. D.; will you tell us where to write to you privately? Your subject is a very delicate one, and we might wish to communicate with you.NEMO, of course, does not expect us to answer such a letter as his, but as we do not wish to be rude, we will say thus much-that we are confident nothing has yet appeared in our pages contrary to Holy Scripture, or the teaching of the Church of England; nor do we intend to permit it, sure as we are that the teaching of the English Church is really Scriptural. OUR EXHIBITION FOR 1851. ARCHITECTURAL DEPARTMENT. Church Architecture. No. 3. The various styles of Architecture found in English Churches.-The Ground Plan of a Church, that is, its division into Chancel, Nave, Aisles, &c., is, we said, that which most of all distinguishes it from other buildings, and declares it at once to be a Church. Whatever style of architecture, or whatever materials were employed-wood, brick, or stonewould comparatively make but little difference, so long as the building were divided out into the above and the other usual parts; it could not then be mistaken for anything but a Church, however mean and ugly it might be; but build it up, for instance, without a chancel, (as we are sorry to say too many of our modern Churches have been built) and however stately or costly, it would be difficult to pronounce, at first sight, that it was not a School, a Lecture-room, a Hall of Commerce, or a Meeting-house. Therefore, the Ground Plan is the first point to be attended to. At the same time, the Style of architecture in which a Church is built-that is, the shape of the arches and pillars, the pitch of the roof, the tracery of the windows, the mouldings and other ornaments-makes an immense difference, of course, in its beauty, grandeur, and religious effect. The lofty pitch and pointed character of all the various styles of Gothic architecture, mounting, as it were, towards Heaven, fit them at once for employment in a Christian House of Worship, in preference to the straight lines, flat roofs, square-headed doors and windows, and, generally, the cold, stiff (however beautiful) formality of Pagan and classical architecture such as we find in the ruins of ancient Roman and Grecian temples; and this explains one of the most important principles in the architecture of our old Churches; viz. its singular fitness to express outwardly, the uprising heavenward tendency of the Church's teaching and temper. The styles of Gothic architecture have been commonly divided into five distinct periods; and are called, according to the age in which they succeeded one another, and prevailed in turn, 1. Saxon; 2. Norman; 3. First Pointed, called also Early English; 4. Middle Pointed, called also Decorated; 5. Third Pointed, called also Perpendicular. In one or other of these styles, all our old Churches are found to have been built; and the style of each will at once determine the age in which it was built; for different styles prevailed at different ages, and one is easily distinguished from another, by certain striking differences in the shape of the arches and mouldings, which it is not difficult to discover and remember. But of these we shall speak more particularly in future numbers. At present, it will be sufficient to remember that there are five distinct styles, and that each in turn prevailed about a century, and then gradually was succeeded by another; and that the period during which the greater number of our old parish Churches and Cathedrals were built, extends from the 11th to the 16th Century. Since the period of the Reformation, until within the last few years, scarcely any style of Church Architecture has prevailed. Rather, what remained of ancient beauty has been suffered to crumble with decay, or was ruthlessly mutilated by mischief or fanaticism, or covered up out of sight by the whitewash of tasteless, economizing Churchwardens, or the deal and lath-and-plaster niggardliness of parsimonious vestries. Of the few new structures which have been erected during that period, the models have been mostly taken from classical examples-the temples of the ancient Pagan world. But a better spirit, in this respect, let us hopefully thank God, has come over us at last. We are every day making progress in the revival of Church Architecture; and that too, of the purest and highest Christian character developed by the Church in this country, in past ages. For convenience' sake, the dates of the several periods may be thus stated in round numbers : The Saron-any time before the Conquest, say to the middle of the 11th Century. The Norman--from the middle of the 11th to the middle of the 12th Century. The First-Pointed, (otherwise called Early English)-from the middle of the 12th to the middle of the 13th Century. The Middle-Pointed (or Decorated)—from the middle of the 13th to the middle of the 14th Century. The Third-Pointed (or Perpendicular)-to the middle of the 15th Century, in its greatest perfection; gradually deteriorating in the 16th Century, when it became what is called Debased. Or the periods may be calculated by the different reigns of Kings, thus: : The Saxon-before the Conquest. The Norman-from the reign of William the Conqueror to that of Henry II. the first of the Plantagenets. The First-Pointed-from this period to that of Edward I. The Middle-Pointed-ending with the third Monarch of the same name. The Third Pointed-declining gradually until the reign of Henry VII., when it took the character called Tudor, and afterwards sank into the Debased style of the reign of Queen Elizabeth. It would be exceedingly interesting to trace carefully, in the history of the different periods, the apparent causes, religious and political, of the developement and deterioration of the several styles. But this is beside our present purpose. CHINESE MAXIMS. From the Chinese Department in the Crystal Palace. "Let every man sweep the snow from his own door, and not busy himself about the frost on his neighbour's tiles. "Great wealth comes by destiny: moderate wealth by industry. "The ripest fruit will not fall into your mouth. "The pleasure of doing good is the only one that does not wear out. "Dig a well before you are thirsty. "Water does not remain in the mountains, nor vengeance in a great mind." FENELON, ARCHBISHOP OF CAMBRAY. "IN one of his visits Fenelon met a peasant, still young, but plunged in the deepest affliction. He had recently lost a cow, the only support of his indigent family. Fenelon attempted to comfort him, and by giving him money to buy another, alleviated his sorrow; still he had lost his cow, and the tear continued to fall. Pursuing his journey, Fenelon found the very cow which was the object of so much affliction, and, like the good Shepherd, he himself drove it back before him, in a dark night, to the young man's cottage. This, says the Cardinal de Maury, is perhaps the finest trait in Fenelon's life. Woe to those who read it without being affected!" "He that will be saved must be saved in the way which God hath appointed, and not in any way of his own."-Jones of Nayland. |