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About Google Book Search Google's mission is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers discover the world's books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through the full text of this book on the web at http : //books . google . com/| f^Hl IW^^^Tm ^to n ^p 1 i ■ i The S. M. Magdalene's parish magazine Oxford city, St. Mary Magdalen ''^'' • WWi h \ 11 Ptlllfi InilMMil/il 1 ll« nil i 1 If PI 111 ilfll RWlii PI ill m MM Digitized by Google Digitized by Google CHURCH SERVICES & PARISH OFFICERS. Church of St. Mary Magdalene. Sundays 8 a.nL Holy Commuiuon on eyeiy Sunday but the first in the month, and on the Great Festivals. 11 a. m, Mominff Service. Holy Communion on the first Sunday in the monUi, and on the Great Festivals, and special Offertory on the second Sunday in the month. 8 p.m. Afternoon Service. Daily 10 a.m. Morning Prayer, except on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Holy Days. 4 p.m. Evening Prayer. Wednesdays, ) Fridays, > 11 a. m. Morning Prayer, Litany and Communion Office. Holy Days. ) Baptisms on any Sunday at the Afternoon Service, after the 2nd Lesson. Churchinffs at the Afternoon Service on Sundays and Week-Days. Chapel of St. George. Sundays 11 a.m. Morning Service. Special Offertory on the 2nd, and Holy Communion on the 3rd Sunday in the month and on thd Great Festivals. 7 p.m. Evening Service Holy Days 7.80 p.m. Evening Prayer. Baptisms after the 2nd Lesson in the Evening Service on the 2nd Sunday in the month, or on any Holy Day. ChurcHngs at the Evening Service on Sundays and Holy Days. CLERGY. St, Mary Magdalene. Revd. R. St. John Tyrwhitt, M.A., Vicar, Ketilby, Park Town. Revd. Carteret J. H. Fletcher, M.A., Curate, 2, The Crescent. Revd. Edgar Whitmarsh, D.C.L. Curate, 6, Keble Terrace. St. Oeorge^Si Revd. John Rigaud, B.D., Senior Curate, Magdalen College. Revd. H. C. Ogle, M.A., Magdalen College. Senior Churchwarden, Pro/essor J. E. T. Rogers, 8, Beaumont Street. Junior Churchwarden, Mr. T. Hawkins, Jun., St. Giles*. Chapel Warden^ Mr. Moses HoUiday, Victoria Place, George Street. Parish^lerlk, Mr. Richard Fell, Victoria Yard, George Street. Clerk of St. George's Chapel, Mr. Henry Poulter, George Street. Commissioner of the Local Board of Health, E. W. Owen, Esq., 30, Beaumont Street. Guardian of the Poor, Mr. M. A. A. Mathews, 66, St. Giles' Street. Collectors and Assessors of Income Tax, Mr. Joseph Round, Beaumont Street. Mr. W. E. Emberlin, 4, Magdalen Street. Overseers, Mr. C. Cripps, 65, St. Giles' Street. Mr. C. Bolton, 69, St. Giles' Street. Digitized by Google No. 8. ST. MABY MAGDALENE PAEISH, ox::foi2/ID. THE S. M. MAGDALENE' %' / >,f-' "s^^L^o/ Ai? PUBLISHED -MONTHLY. PRICE TWOPENCE, March, 1872. OXFORD : PRINTED BY G. J. REID, 64 AND 65, GEORGE STREET ; SOLD BY EMBERLIN AND SON, AND BY PAUL PACEY, MAGDALEN STREET, OXFORD. Digitized by Google INDEX OP PAROCHIAL CONTENTS. Our Parisli, Notes of its History, No. 2. list of the Yicars of St. M. Magdalene Broken Hayes and Bulwarks Alley First four pages. Organisation of Charity, continued from Feb. No. Besignation of the Vicar The Parish Council Obituary Notice The Parish Clothing Club Entertainments Miscellaneous Penny Reading Account MonlJily Register Offertories and Communicants Last five pages. Digitized by Google Our Parish : Outline Notes of its History. No. n. As an important component part of Oxford, the Parish of St. Mary Magdalene partakes of course in what may well be tenned its noble history — a history not con- fined within local bounds, but extending throughout and far beyond our own country. Before, therefore, we go on with the notes of our Parish, it may not be uninteresting to call to mind in a summary way some of the main points in which, through the many and various institutions and events which have existed or happened within it, it has contributed to Oxford's fame and history. As it has already been noted (and with some account of which it is intended Jo proceed presently), it is one of those ancient landmarks of the kingdom known as a Hundred, out of which was developed the Ecclesiastical Division — a Parish — with a Parish Church, or House of God, for the common use of all Parishioners, and once containing several Altars, Chapels and Chantries, witnessing to the inner life of our forefathers in past centuries. Here was a Royal Palace : and it had its own domestic Court for the administration of justice, and for the appointment of various officers, such as constables and others. Though the ancient Fair in Horsemonger Lane is known only traditionally, here are still a Fair and Markets in Gloucester Green ; and in the same Green stands a Gaol and House of Correction, erected in the last century. Within the limits of the Hundre.d and Parish were several Monastic Houses for regular clergy. The ancient Order of Benedictines was represented in Durham Col- lege, and the later Cistercians in St. Bernard's, and the Mendicant Friars (in their origin and profession great and enthusiastic Reformers of the Ecclesiastical System, and the latest development of Monasticism), were represented in the House of Carmelites or White Friars. Here were ancient Academic Halls and receptacles for Students before' University and Collegiate Endowments were known, and here still stand represen- tatives of the many Colleges which were founded for the education and maintenance of (primarily and chiefly, though not exclusively) Secular Clergy, and which having swallowed up the smaller Halls and engrossed to themselves the freer and more national University system, are now in their turn engulphed in the new development of secular learning and science. It was within the limits of this Parish that the fires of persecution were kindled for the three well-known Protestant Bishops in Queen Mary's reign : and in these our own days, there is within our limits in the Independent Chapel in George Street, with its congregation assembling there, a representative of those modem associations, which, in the place of Monks and Friars of old, seek to renew, as they fondly hope and pro- fess, the Christian life amongst the people. Here, too, illustrating the modem revival of the taste for Art are the "University Galleries," with their valuable artistic contents, and the ** Taylor Building," in con- nection with the teaching in modem languages, the united block of which buildings was erected from designs of the late C. A. Cockerell, Esq., one of the first of modem architects in the classical style ; and here, from drawings of Geo. Gilbert Scott, Esq., in his early days, is that beautiful specimen of revived old Christian architecture, the Cross or Monument to Archbishop Cranmer, and Bishops Ridley and Latimer. Here, then, is an abundance of subjects for research and thought and illustration by many hands, and for many numbers of the Parish Magazine. For the present, however, we must confine ourselves to a few more brief notes of the Hundred, derived chiefly from Kennett's Parochial Antiq^uities. It was, doubtless, from his possession of Northgate Hundred, that King Henry I., " Beauclerc " — a munificent patron of Oxford, as well as of St. Friedswide's Priory, erected the palace on Beaumont Closes. Little, however, is known about its extent or its use as a palace. The building was completed a.d. 1130, in which year the King kept within it the Feast of Easter. Here, also, we are told on the 15th August, A. p. 1 157, Richard * ' Coeur-de-Lion, " son of Henry 1 1. , was born. From that time, nothing further is heard of it, until King Edward II. granted it to the- Carmelite Friars for their house. The " Hundred " was in the hands of the Crown until about a.d. 1175, twentieth Henry II. The family of Basset was a great one at that time in this neighbourhood.- Digitized by Google A Ralph Basset had been a Jnsticiaiy of Heniy I., and his descendant, Thomas Basset, served Henry II. in divers wars, and when Henry divided England into the several Circuits for the administration of justice, which have in the main continued to this day, Thomas was one of the first of the ** Justices Itinerant," as they were then called, forOzon, Berks, and other counties on this Circuit. As a reward for his various services, Henry granted him the Lordship of Headinfton, with the Hundred of BulUngdon, and the Hundred without Northgate, Oxfora, in fee farm for the rent of £20 per annum to the King's exchequer. By his wife, Alice de Dunstanville, Thomas had three sons, Gilbert, Thomas and Alan, and one daughter, who became the wife of Albert de Grelle or De Greslle, baron of Manchester, in the county of Liancaster. Thomas Basset died before twenty-ninth Henry IL, A.D. 1183, in which year Gilbert, his son, had come into his possessions, and founded the Priory of Bicester in this county. Gilbert left one only daughter, who was married twice, — ^first to Thomas de VcKrdon, and second to Richard ae Camville ; and on Ids death, fourth and fifth John, A.D. 1203, the King granted the Lordship and two Hundreds to his brother, Thomas Basset, to be held by the service of one Knight's Fee and £20 yearly — £10 at Michaelmas, and £10 at Easter. A century later, thirty-third and thirty-fourth Ed- ward I., A.D. 1305, an Inquisition was held before Nicholas de Persch, sherifif of the county, to ascertain how the Manor had been alienated from the crown ; and the Jurors made a return on oath, setting forth the grant by King Henry to Thomas Basset, and the other facts just mentioned, and that the M&uor had descended to Philippa, the daughter of the second Thomas, as her ''purpurty " with Juliana her sister ; and that, Philippa dying without heirs, it passed to Isabella, daughter of Juliana by John de Ripan^, which Isabella married Hugh de Plessets ; and Hugh, after the death of his wife, made an exchange with the King for the Manor of Compton, by which means Headington and the two Hundreds were again in the King's hands. After this, in the reign of King Edward II1.» the Manor and Hundreds are found to belong to Sir Riclmrd D'Amory, Knight, who, in an indenture between the Chan- cellor, Masters and Scholars of the University and himself, is described as son and heir of the Lord Richard D'Amoty, deceased, holding of the King in fee farm the Hundred outside the Northgate of Oxford. This Richard D'Amory the elder was "Warden or Constable of the Castle, and had served King Edward II. in the wars in Scotland, and had stood by him in the disputes with the Barons. It is probable, there- fore, that he received a grant of the Manor and Hundreds as his reward for those services. Sir Richard, the elder, died a.d. 1330, fourth and fifth Edward III., leaving Mar- garet his widow, and Richard his son and heir a minor, who in the tenth Edwani III., did homage and had livery of his lands. A.D. 1341, fourteenth and fifteenth Edward III., Sir Ricliard was in the Expedition into Flanders, and in the two following years served in the wars in France. In preparation for that service, he settled his estates , whieh he conveyed to Matthew Clyvedon, to hold for him, the said Richard, with remainder to Richard, his son and heir. An inquisition, ** ad quod damnum," was held in reference to that settlement, and return was made it would be no prejudice to the King if the lands were so conveyed. There is a further mention of Sir Richard D'Amory in twenty-first and twenty-second Edward III., giving a bond to Sir Utho de Holland, to pay him fourscore pounds on the ensuing Feast of the Purification of the Virgin ; and before the end ofthe year. Sir Richard had to pay a fine to the King for leave to convey the Manor and Hundreds to the said Utho de Holland, This must, however, have been only a mortgage conveyance, as a further security for the bond debt, as it was in the thirtieth Edward III. that the agreement mentioned above between the University and Sir Richard was entered into, so that he was clearly in possession of the Hundred at that time. Sir Richard died a.d. 1377, fifty-first Edward III., and the Manor and two Hundreds then passed to Sir John Chandos, one of the. great soldiers of his age ; but he soon afterwards forfeited his estate to the Crown for default in payment of the reserved rent. Thereupon, King Richard 11. , A.D. 1399, granted it to William Willccotes, Esq., subject to a rent of £40 a year. How the estate passed away from the Willecotes family does not appear. It may have been only a temporary grant to him. At all events, it appears that, a.d. 1418, sixth Henry V., the Manor and Hundreds were in possession of Robert James, Esq., in ri^ht of his wife Catharine, daughter of Sir Edinund de la Pole, who had married Elizabeth de Handle, of BoarstaU; and in the year 1427, the estate was settled upon the same Robert James for life, with remainder to Edmund Rede and Christina his wife, who was the only daughter of the said Robert James, and to their heirs. Robert died only four years afterwards, leaving his daughter, Christina, living but a widow ; and upon her death, the estate passed to her son, Edmund Rede (the same who, a.d. Ii56, thirty- fourth and thirty-fifth Henry VI., claimed to be considered, and was recogiused, by Digitized by Google the Prior and Brethren of the Augustine Friars as entitled to founders' rights in their house, being a descendant of Sir John Handlo the actual founder). Frcmi Edmund, the estate passed to his son William, and from him to Leonard his son. Then once more, throu^ failure of male issue, it descended to an only daughter 6f Leonard, married to Thomas Dynham, and thence to the Brome family, of Holton and Forest Hill, until ultimately, in the year 1592, thirty-fourth Elizaroth, the City became the purchaser of the Northgate Hundred from George Brome, Esq., and it was thus severed from its ancient manorial tie to Headington, which dated back to a time before the Norman Oonqu/est. F. J. M. liist of the Vicars of St. Mary Magdalene. BATES. NAMES. AUTHOBITIES. About A. D. 1220. Bichard, Chaplain of St. Mary Magd. Muniments of Magd. CoUeee. 1225. Michael, presented to the vicarage by the Abbey Register of of Oseuey. Lincoln diocese. 1234. John de Tyham, presented hj Oseney, on Ihid, Michael's preferment to a benefice m the dioc. of Salisbury. [In a Manuscript Chronicle called HUtoria Aurea by John of Tynemouth, preservedinthe BodL Libr. , the following story is told under the year 1266. A priest named Balph who had fallen into some deadly sin, was, while celebrating mass at the tdtar of St. M. Magd., suddenly struck senseless by an angel whom he beheld descending &om heaven, and who snatched away the Sacred Elements out of his hands. Upon recovering his senses, he sent a confession of his sin by the clerk who was at- tending on him to a priest lyin^ sick in a house near at hand, and on receiving absolution, with an Injunction to perform certam penance, he was enabled to complete the Office. But to the end of his life, a trembling palsy of the head testified to the heaven-sent chastisement. Before 1265. WiUiam. Wood M.S. D. 2. p.299(Bodl.Libr). About 1266. Robert Maynard. Ibid. p. 227. — about 1280. Mafid. ColL Muniments, He possessed property in Holywell from which he made grants about 1270 — 80 to the Hospital of St. John Bapt., a hospital which was afterwards in- corporated with Magdalene College. • • • ^ • • • • In 1839. Robert Feysount. Wood M.S. D. 2. p. 11. • •••••• Before 1420 John Felton. Tanner's BibL —after 1434. £rit. &c. He wrote in 1431 a volume of Latin Sermons for Wood M.S. D. 2. all the Sundays in the year, which he compiled p. 299. from popular writers for the use of younc students in divimty. This came, as it seems, mto some general use, as several copies of it are still preserved m various libraries. He also wrote a Theological Dictionary under the title of "The Stranger's Wallet" (Per a Peregrint)^ which exists in the Bodleian. A M. S. in the library of Balliol College contains a memorandum of its having been given by our vicar to that library in 1420. He was so much revered for his piety thatit is said that people, after his death, made pilgrimages to his tomb. His obit was observed as late as 22 Hen. VIII., 1530. (Peshall's Sist, of 0^- P- 226). Digitized by Google Before U56; WOliiuiiBede. WoodM.S. D. d. 1469. 8. p. 101. In 1461 lie was executor of the will of Atwode. Deeds preserred in All Saints Chuich. His own will was proved 28 March, 1469. Griffiths' Indem of WiUtinthe Chancellor's CouH, • • * • • • • • In 1498—4. Master Richard Broke. Oseney Abbey deeds, in BodL Libr. Master John Denham. 1504. 18 Apr. John Haster, 6.D., presented by Register of Oseney Abbey, on the resignation of John Den- Lincoln Dioc ham. Died 1611. Haster was assisted by a Corate ; for the will of Richard Gompton, Rector of Hynton and Curate < of 8t» Mary Hagd. tn Oxford, was proved 29 Sept. 1607. Griffiths' Index ^ Oxford WilU, 1611. 26. Apr. William ChediU, abbot of Oseney, I hid. on the death of J. Haster. Chedill was elected abbot 6 June, 1501, and resigned his abbacy in 1513. How long he held the vicarage does not «)pear. In 1518 Thomas Coke was chaplain of St. WoodM.S. Mary's Chapel in the parish Church. D. 3. p. 171. In 1523 (15 Hen. VlII)., J. Hayes celebrated Peshall's Hitt, of the obits, of T. Havel and Agnes his wife, as a Oxf p. 226. chantry-priest attached to the Church. Jii 1530. W. Musgrave. Hid. p. 227. The Church tower was built during his time ; some of the materials were brought from Rewley Abbey. William Huske. 1549. June 27. John Biyeylbanke, presented by Lincoln Dioc. Gr^ry Stonynge of Lichfield, on the resignation Register. of W. Huske. • 1580—1. R. Baker, Vicar, buried 24 Feb. Peshall ; p. 228.* In 1588. **Mr. Snowe. " ) Parish accounts. In 1594. "Mr. Aubre. " \ still preserved in ) the Parish Chest. William Aubrey, student of Ch. Ch. , was Proctor in 1593, and letters of administration were granted to his executors 6 Jan. 1596. {Qriffithe* Index of > WilU), A Thomas Aubre of Ch. Ch., took the degree of D.D, in 1693. [The notes from the Lincoln Register, and several other particulars, have been kindly communi- cated by Mr. W. H. Turner.] W. D. Macbay. * Peshairs notes were taken from old Parish Registers which are now lost. {To he continued,'] Broken S^ayes and Bulwarks Alley. A correspondent, in whose initials, G. M., we recognise a former respected Curate of the Parish, has sent us an explanation of these parochial local names. As regards *■ Broken Hayes, 'he says that broken is from hroe a badger, hai/es from laiffh or lay a place hedged in ; so that ** Broken Hayes " would seem to be the badgers' inclosures or closes where they were kept for baiting or hunting. As regards ** Bulwarks Alley," he says, it it the Boulevard of the Parish. We may add that our word bulwark, the French boulevard and the German bollwerh are all the same word, the probable derivation of which is bol or bal (whence our ball) a protuberance and werk (work) and the meaning a projecting fortification or outwork. Our Bulwarks Alley, like the Boulevards of Paris, indicates the line of the ancient fortifications of the City. Digitized by Google Organization of Charity. {Continued from our last Number^ Our readers will remember that the Vicar'a proposed remedy for the evils of our present system of Almsmving is the modified adoption of the principle of the Elberfeld Systeta of Poor Law Kelief. We will now i)riefly describe this system and consider the practicability of adapting its principle to our Offertories and private charity. As this part of the subject was but slightly touched on in the Vicar's ser- mons, we shall expand his idea according to our own conception of its nature and tendency. Elberfeld is a town of the province of Diisseldorf in Rhenish Prussia, .with a population of 52,590. In 1862 the number of its inhabitants receiving Poor Law Kelief was 4,000 or just 8 per cent on its then population,' at a cost of £7,072 7s. In 1857 the number of its paupers was 1,528 or 2*9 per cent, on its then population, at a cost of £2,623. This great reduction was due to the introduction of a new system of Poor Law Belief, the one now generally known as the Elberfeld System. For the purpose of the Elberfeld Poor Law System the town is divided into 252 SectioM li of which constitute a District, The system is worked by three adminis- trative bodies ; 1, a body of 252 Visitors ; 2, a body of 18 Overseers ; 3, a Central Council of 9 members which we will call the Poor Law Board. The Citizens of each District nominate those of their number whom they think likely to make the best Visitors and Overseers, and the Town Coimdl appoints them upon this nomination. The Visitors and Overseers are elected for three years, one third of their number retire annually, their offices are unpaid and compulsory, and the persons who fill them are well-to-do citizens, professional men, manufacturers, shopkeepers, and mechanics. Each Visitor has under his charge one Section of the Town, which is so limited in extent that the number of cases requiring his attention shall not exceed four. Each Overseer presides over one District composed, as has been stated, of 14 Sections. Every application for relief is made to the Visitor of the Section, whose duty it is pei'sonally to enquire into the circumstances of the case. If he is satisfied that the application is legitimate and urgent, he gives relief at once, but otherwise he refers the claim to the fortnightly meeting of the Visitors of his District. The Visitors of each District meet at least once a fortnight under the presidency of its Overseer. At this meeting, applications for relief and reports of refief ffiven are considered. Each case is decide! by a majority of votes, the President having a casting vote. The Pi*esident has also the power of appealing from any decision of the meeting to the higher tribunal of the Poor Law Board. The nine members of the Poor Law Board, selected partly from the Town Council and partly from the principal Citizens, are appointed by the Town Council for three years and retire by rotation. The Board meets fortnightly and its meetings are attended by the Overseers who give information as to the state of the Poor in their Districts and submit for consideration such decisions of the District meetings as they may object to or consider doubtful. They also submit to the Board estimates of expenditure for the ensidng fortnight, and receive from it the sums appropriated to their respective Districts, which they are bound to hand over to the Visitors. Such are the administrative bodies of the Elberfeld System. Some of its principles of administration must now be glanced at. To secure the most searching examination into the circumstances of each applicant for relief, the number of cases of which a Visitor may take charge is restricted to four. Relief is as much as possible given in kind, it is never granted for longer than a fortnight at a time, and it is delivered generally at the home of the Pauper. Constant personal intercourse between the Visitors and the Poor is the essential characteristic of the System, and the influence of this dose intimacy of the Poor with those in a much higher social position, is considered to reach far beyond the result immediately aimed at. The qualifications of the Visitors and Overseers are thus indicated. " The offices ** of Overseer and Visitor are the most important of Civic honorary Offices, requiring '* in the persons who accept them a large measure of human kindness and an earnest ** sense of duty — ^kindness to hear the prayers of the poor with love and heart, duty '* to withstand demands urged upon insufficient grounds, so that idleness and im- ** morality may not follow from indiscriminate almsgiving." — It is further declared to be the duty of the Visitor ** to visit the poor of his Section frequently ; to enforce Digitized by (^oo^z " order, oleanliness and honesty ; to warn parents of their duties to their children " esj^cially as regpards education and their attendance at school ; to impress upon ** children that they are to be reverent towards their parents and to contribnte to their ** support. In short he must strive to exercise a healthy influence over the moral ' * feelmgs of the poor. " How can the principles of the Elberfeld System of Poor Law Relief be applied to the administration of the Church Offertories and private Charity in Oxford and other cities? Let our Parishes be taken a% correflrpondinff with the Districts of Elberfeld. Let the quarters of the poor in each Parish be sub-divided into sections, of such limited extent that no section shall be likely to furnish more than four families needing relief at one time. Let as many Visitors, as there are sections, be elected by the Yestry of each Parish from its weU-to-do classes, and let one, a lay-man, be appointed Overseer to preside at the meetings of the Visitors, and to be the means of communication between the Visitors of each Parish and the Central Council to be presently mentioned. In case any Parish shotild be unable to supply all the Visitors it re(mires £rom within its own limits, let its Vestry elect volunteers from other Parishes. Let the Visitors, in their personal intercourse with the poor of their sections, be guided by the instruc- tions to the Elberfeld Visitors ; let them, that is, be actuated by feeling of kindness and duty, and endeavour to exercise a h^thy moral influence. Let the Visitors of each Parish hold weekly meeting to be presided over by the Overseer, at which reports of relief given shall be received, and applications for relief shall be considered and decided on. Let the Church Offertories for the poor be thrown into a common fund, and be dealt with by a Central Council of not more than nine members, all of whom shall be Laymen, and shaU be appointed by the Incumbents of the Parish Churches and the Churchwardens. Let private charity be invited to add its contiibu- tions to this fund. Let the functions of the Central Council be to preserve unity of principle in the distribution of relief throughout the City, and to make grants out of the common fund to the various Parishes, proportioned to their respective w^nts. For the discharge of these functions, let the Council meet at least once every ten days, and let the Overseers attend its meetings with the minutes of the proceedings at the last meetings of the Visitors. If this man or something like it were adopted (and there seems to be nothing impracticable in it) the following results would be attained. The Parochial Clergy would be relieved of a duty wmch impairs their spiritual work : a kindly relation would be established between the rich and the poor : the degrading effects of indis- criminate almsgiving would be avoided : the superfluous alms of wealthy parishes would be transferred to poorer neighbourhoods : the administrators of legal and charitable relief would be better able to work together. Two difliculties may we think be anticipated in carrying out such a plan of charitable organization. The Parochial Clergy would be reluctant to have the distribution of the Offertories taken out of their hands, and the well-to-do classes would be indisposed to undertake the offices of Visitor and Overseer. But both these difficulties womd vanish before a public opinion awakened to the necessity of a reform in our charitable administration. Bible Note. I Cor. iv. 4. For I know nothing ly mtfself; yet am I not hereby jwtified. This verse, which occurs in the epistle for the third Sunday in Advent, is we suspect unintelligible to many. It is so from the use of the word by iaa. sense now obsolete. At the date of the translation of our English Version and for some time afterwards by was used in the sense of against. Thus in Shakespeare's Love's Labour Lost, act 4, sc. 3, we find, "I would not have him know so much by me." So in Strype's Memorials of Cranmer, book 1, c. 8, we read, "The angry Prior also told the Archbishop that he knew no vices by none of the Bishops of Rome." See also Hacket's Sermons p. 485, ** as if you knew enough by yourself to provoke all that vengeance." St. Paul says that the absence of self-accusation is no proof of famtlessness. It is not difficult to see why. In the first place, conscience, as the power of discerning right and wrong, is a growing faculty, so that we often condemn ourselves retrospectively when we did not do so at the time. Secondly, conscience or moral discernment may be blunted by frequently disregarding it. Still, the approbation of an unvitiated conscience, though not a proof of faultlessness, shows that we are in a right state towards God. ** If our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence towwd God." Digitized by Qoo^z The Vicar's Besignation. The Vicar of St. Mary Magdalene, in a communication made officially to the Senior Churchwarden, announces that he has informed the authorities of Christ Church of his intention of resigning the Vicarage on June 30th of the present year. In the course of his letter, uie Vicar says that * his object is to assure all parties that he wishes all ties of acquaintance and friendship which he has formed during his 1 4 years Vicariate to continue quite uninterruptedly, That he means to continue his subscriptions to Schools and Choir, so long as his family are allowed church room at St. Mary Mag- dalene's, and that as he is not going away from Oxford, no leavetakings or farewefls of any kind whatever are necessary or admissible. ' The Senior Churchwarden thinks it wiU be better that the reply to be made to the Vicar's letter should proceed from the Parish Council, before whom the conmiunication will be laid, at the next meeting of that body. The Parish Coimcil. The Parish Council has grown out of a Committee formed or^nally for the puroose of regulating and strengthening the choirs of the two Parish Churcnes. The Vicar and other clergy have found it convenient to consult with this Committee on points connected with some details of the several services conducted in the Churches, as a fair means of arriving at what mi^ht be conceived to be the wish of the parishioners in general. Of course these conferences wei-e not formal, nor was any decision or opinion of the Committee binding. Many things however, which are not binding in law, are useful and suggestive, and it was found that the Committee was a very con- venient means for eliciting opinion on many particulars. The Senior Churchwarden proposed, that in order to give this Committee more of a representative character, it should consist for the future of the Vicar and Clergy of the Parish, the Churchwardens for the time being, and such past Churchwardens as continue to reside within the Parish. The practice of the Parish, as far as the memory of the inhabitants goes, is that the Churchwarden who has been elected by the Parish in Vestry in any particular year, is nominated by the Vicar as his Churchwarden during the following year. Of course this is only a custom, as the Vicar can appoint whom he pleases. But in the face of facts, it will be seen that all the Churchwardens past and present have been elected by Vestry, and therefore may be supposed to possess the confidence of the Parishioners. Under these circumstances, the proposal was unani- mously adppted, and it was decided that the Committee should be thenceforth called the Parish Council. The Parish Council meets when occasion arises, by summonses sent to each of its members by the Chairman, Mr. Alderman Cavell. J. E. T. E., Senb. Chueohwaeden. Obituary Notice. On two successive days of last month, two old Parishioners, and formerly Church- wardens, were laid in the grave. Mr. Thomas North, who had long retired from business, and resided in St. John Street, died after a protracted but not painful illness on the 14th of February. He was buried in the old Churchyard on the following Monday. Mr. George Wyatt, the well-known Builder, died very unexpectedly on the morning of February 15th. A few days saw his last sickness begin and end. He was buried at the Cemetery on the 20th of the month. The numbers of different classes who attended his funeral testified to the interest felt in him ; while the writer of these lines mav add, what he will long retain his own lively recollection of his straight- forward neartiness of character. Those who had worked for him followed him to the grave, to show, as one of them expressed it, ** for the last time our respect for him." Well-known as Mr. Wyatt was m the county and neighbourhood, we have in the midst of us a monument of his skill, in the Chapel of St. George the Martyr, built by him in the year 1860. We are glad to think that his name wfll still remain with us, as his work will be continued in the person of his sou. J. R. Digitized by Google The Parish Clothing Club. This, as was intimated in our last number, has now existed and we may thankfully add flourished for many years. It is intended for the children, boys and girls. The object is twofold, to teach them honest thrift, no small matter in days of such ex- travagance ; and thereby to secure to themselves help in way of clothes of many kinds at Christmas time. The children pay into the Club according to their will and power. They receive 8d. on every complete shilling, and they then have the value as they select or their parents for them at their own Shoemakers or Tailors; while the accounts which we have nad with Messrs. Cavell, and Messrs. Thorp and Waldie, illustrate alike their varied wants, and we are glad to say the large supply of them. From much smaller beginnings, the sum has risen to a total last Christmas of nearly £60. An Offertory at both the Churches is given in aid of the Club : and what is needed more than this, and the interest on the deposits at the Savings Bank, is made up by private subscriptions. May we remind our readers that the more prosperous the Club the more it entails on us ? 25 per cent, is more easily raised on £30 than on £60. The more they pay in the more we have to pay them. Some kind friend of the children of the poor may take the hint. Fenny Readings and Musical Entertainments. The sixth of these Entertainments was given on Tuesday, 30th January. There were 303 people present. The musical part was undertaken by Mr. Tame. Messrs. Kilbee, BrinKwater, Sims and Berry, took part in the Readings. A Dramatic Dialogue, from Nicholas Nickleby, was given by members of the Glow Worms' Amateur Dramatic Society. Mr. Rowell played a flute solo, Mr. Lawson a piano solo. By request, Mr. Thorogood repeated his song "The merry little fat grey man." The Entertainment cave great and general satisfaction. The seventh and last of the series was given on Tuesday, 13th Febniary. The number present was 305. Mr. Thorogood undertook the musical arrangements. The Entertainment was of equal excellence with the last, and nearly the same gentlemen took part in it. A solo was played on the English concertina. Mr. Thorogood, by request, sang "The Schoolmaster." The evening concluded with the National Anthem. Our readers will find in another page the account of receipts and payments in re- spect of these Entertainments, from which it appears that a balance of £2 153. 7d. remains for the Poor of the Parish. The.foUowing gentlemen connected with the Parish took part in one or more of the Entertainments : The Vicar, Rev. J. Rigaud, Rev. C. Fletcher, Professor Rogers, Mr. Alderman Cavell, and Messrs. Tame, Cousins, Sims, Ijawson, Thorogood, Williams, Pattison, Eldridge, Berry, Bennett, W. Bennett, French and Packman. Several gentlemen not connected with the Parish, amongst them members of the Dramatic Society before alluded to, kindly gave their services on several occasions. Mr. Fletcher wishes to thank these gentlemen, and all who so readily assisted in various ways, for their hearty co-operation. His thanks, as well as those of the audiences, are especially due to Mr. Tame and Mr. Thorogood for undertaking the musical parts of the Entertainments. Miscellaneous. 1. — The Lord Bishop of the diocese will hold a Confirmation in Oxford before Easter. Classes for candidates will be formed and instruction commenced in the week com- mencing March 2nd. All persons living in the parish, of the. age of 15 and upwards, who have not been confirmed are invited to communicate their names and addresses to the Clergy without loss of time in order that they may be duly prepared. Heads of families are requested to see that those* members of their households who are of an age to be confirmed avail themselves of this opportunitv. 2. — The balance of £2 15s. 7d. from the receipts of the Penny Reading Entertain- ments has been applied in the following manner ; one third to the Soup Kitchen, one third in coal tickets, and the remaining third to the Clothing Club. 3. — The Rev. Dr. Whitmarsh cleared £24 by his Musical Evening. Part of this has already been given through the District Visitors to the poor in coals, needlework, tickets, &c. Other part of it has been applied in donations to the Parish Schools, the Choir Fund, the Benevolent Society, the Soup Kitchen, the Dispensary, the Oxford Branch of the Wido.w and Orphan Society and the Blanket Charity. A small balance remains in hand. 4. — We are obliged to reserve our promised article on pews for our April number. Digitized by Google Dr. Penny Beading, and Musical Entertainments. Account of Receipts and Payments. Cr. 1871. Kov. 21. Dec. 5. Dec. 19. 1872. Jan. 2. Jan. 23. Jan. 30. Feb. 13. «^ AA ' ' 1 KA 5 29 at 6d. 21. Admissions 150 { ^gi at Id. 189 230 £ s. d. 1 4 7 zy at 6d. / , ^^^ 160 at Id. 5^ ^^^ 29 at 6d. 201 at Id. Ill 3 -- \ 49at6d. K .g ^ 211 162 at Id. H^ ^ 303l246:t?d:[2 9 H252:tid:[2 '' £12 12 11 £ s. d. Mr. Taphouse, hire of Piano for 7 evenings - - - - 3 10 Mr. Roddis, hire of chairs do. 2 3 4 Emberlin & Son, for printing 2 9 Presented to Mr. Lester and four Pupil Teachers for their assistance -- - - 1160 Balance for the Poor - - 2 15 7 £12 12 11 1872. Monthly Parish Register. St. George*s Chapel — Baptisms. February 11th. Annie Harriet, daughter of Thomas and Jane Smith, George Street. Private. January 27. John, son of John and Matilda Smith, Red Lion Square. Marriages. 1872. February 10th. George Straujge, widower, publican, and Charlotte Spencer, widow, both of this parish. Burials. 1872. January 31st. Joseph Baylis, George Street, aged 35. February 1st. Edward Mansell, the Workhouse, aged' 57. ,, 4th. John Smith, Red Lion Square, aged 14 days. ,, 11th. Sarah Marsh, Friars* Entry, aged 16. „ 19th. Thomas North, St. John Street, aged 74. „ 20th. Geoi^e Wyatt, St. GQes, aged 67. Offertories and Communicants. St. Mary Magdalene. 1872. Service. Communicants. Offertories. Sexagesima Sunday 11 a.m 57 £2 11 Quinquagesima ,, 8 a.m 8 ....0 7 3 1 Sunday in Lent 8 a.m 22 17 6 2 „ „ 8a.m 10 10 £4 5 9 .42.. .1 13 1} St George's Chapel. 1872. 1 Sunday in Lent 11 a.m Special Cffertory. St. Mary Magdalene. St. George's. 1872. £ s. d. £ 8. d. February 11th. 3 2 9 Diocesan Board of Education 2 14 \\ „ 25th. 9 2 5J Oxford Medical Dispensary — ^_, Digitized by Qoo^z 1 Monthly Parish Register. 8. Mary Mctgdalene. Baptisms. 1872. March Slst. Alice, daughter of John and Anna Maria Collier, 0eorge Street April 11th. Walter Richard, son of William Henry and Esthei; Horn, No. 5, St. John Street. Private. Aprill7th. George, son of William and Augusta Lillingston, 10, Beaumont Street. „ „ Alfred, son of William and Augusta Lillingston. Burials. 1872. April 15th. James East, G-loucester Green, age 57. „ 19th. Alfred Lillingston, Beaumont Street, age seven hours. „ „ George Lillinjrston, Beaumont Street, age one day. ' „ 23rd. Mary Ann Telling, Speedwell Street, age 51. „ 24th. Mary Tyror, Gloucester Green, age 67. Offertories and Commiinicants. St. Mary Magdalene. 1872. Service. Communicants. Offertori* 1 Sun. after Easter 11 a.m 32 £i 1310 2 „ „ „ 8 a.m 15 O 13 9 , 3 „ „ „ 8 a.m 9 9 3 '4 „ ., » 8 a.m 22 14 2' ^ 1 I St. Oeorge*s Chapel. 1872. £ 8. A 3 Sun. after Easter 11 a.m 23 O 19 3J Special Offertory. St. Mary Magdalene. Qt, GeorgeVi 1872. £ s. d. £ 8. i 2 Sun. after Easter. 4 Parish Choirs 2 6 8 Digitized by Google i^ No. 6. ST. MAEY MAGDALENE PARISH, ^. THE S. M. MAGDALEN PUBLISHED MONTHLY PRICE TWOPENCE. June, 1872. OXFORD : PRINTED BY G. J. REIi), 64 AND 65, GEORGE STREET ; SOLD BY EMBERLIN AND SON, AND BY PAUL PACEY, MAGDALEN STREET, OXFORD. Digitized by Google INDEX OF PAROCHIAL CONTENTS. Parish History, No. 6 : Street Improvements list of Vicars, coTicltided Miscellaneous Notes The Editor to the Parishioners - - . - Monthly Register, Ofifertories, and Communicants First two pages Last four pages. Digitized by Google Our Parish : Outline Notes of its History. No. V. STREET IMPROVEMENTS. The ground on which the Houses and Buildings at Bocardo stood was ordered to be ** paved in a convex form in the middle with the kind of ^bbles that are now used " and a raised foot flagged Stone Pavement, of seven feet width on each side, with a ''space of twenty inches between the foot pavement and the centre of the kennels ** as a specimen for the future general Pavement." It was also ** ordered that the ground on the sides of the road in St. Giles' be ** levelled, for the purpose of widening the said road." The removal of ** Bocardo *' necessitated the building a new City Gaol, and so the good open space of " Broken Hayes " otherwise " Gloucester Green " which had been intended for a Fair uid Market, under the Charter of Queen Eliz., but which seems to have been then forgotten, was spoiled by placing the large ugly structure in its eentre. It was finished in the year 1789. After an interval of about thirty years more the remainder of the Green began to be used as a Cattle Market, at first tifirough the intervention of the Street Commissioners rather than the City. At a meeting of the Commissioners on the 5th May, 1818, a Committee was appointed '*to take into consideration ** -whether some place might not be conveniently appropriated for the sale of Cattle, *' to remove the nuisance of exhibiting them in the Streets as how practiced on Market days." The Committee resolved that, ** having in View the convenience of the seller **and purchaser of Cattle, they do report to the general meeting the possibilily of ** removing the sale of Cattle to Gloucester Green, and that an application be made to ' ' the Mayor in Council, to request their permissiQu to use that part of Gloucester ** Green which shall be useful for the aforesaid object having in view the most com- " plete convenience and accomodation of foot passengers." The answer of the Mayor and Council was communicated as follows : "Resolved that thife House see no reason ** to disaj^rove of the place in contemplation by the Commissioners of the Streets for ** removing the sale of Cattle on Market days from Carfax to Gloucester Green, provided ** it be carried into effect without expense to the City, or injury to its property." And at a Meeting of the Commissioners on the 17th June, 1819, "regulations to be ** observed by persons using the place on Gloucester Green for the sale and exhibiting *' of Cattle were approved and signed ; and the Commissioners appointed Mr. Richam « * Baxter to be the Superintendent. " The Cattle Market as it is now held fortnightly under the control of the City, was a subsequent development of what was at fist a very small affair. A very important duty imposed upon the Street Commissioners, by the Act of Parliament of 1771, was the removal of encroachments on the Streets. The number of these was so great they might well be called "legion." The Act gave authority *' to take down, fill up, remove, alter, or regulate all signs or other emblems used to ** denote the trade, occupation, or calling of any person or persons, sign posts, sign- * * irons, pent-houses, show-boards, spouts, gutters, stalls, bulks, bulk or bow windows, ' ' window shutters, porches, sheds, butchers' gallows, pumps, shambles, blocks or ** pieces of timber, chopping blocks, cellar windows, dwarf walls, pits, saw-pits, trees ** and posts projecting into or standing or being in any of the Streets, Lanes, or '* public ways." Such an array of Street Nuisances must appear to anyone reading them now like a Lawyers' list or perhaps invention to cover every species of possible thin^ rather than an actual reality. It is a fact, however, that every one of them had its many representatives in the Streets throughout the Town. In July following the passing of the Act a general order was issued that, "spouts ** were to be affixed or i)laced on the fronts of the houses under the inspection oi Mr. ** Gwyn (the Surveyor) within six months." In High Street, from Carfax to East Gate the "Pent houses," "projecting shop ' windows," and " projecting sashes to shops," " projecting steps " and in one case " a Gallery and Rails " attached to ninety-five houses wei-e ordered to be taken down, the parties being "at liberty to have a cove and cornice fonned to connect with the ** adjoining buildings. " Digitized by Google In May, 1772, a Committee made a ** report of pent houses, spouts, and projections ''of fronts of shops, to be taken down, removed, altered, &c., from Sir Thomas ''Mundays in St.Aldate's to Mr. Morrell's in St. Giles*. Eighty-two such projections on the west side of the Streets and forty-one similar things on the east side were thus condemned, besides the following, viz : — Mr. Morrell. Timber Rails, Posts and Trees to be taken down. Balliol Coll. The Rails and Posts from Mr. Morrell's to the comer of Broad Street, and the Pent house next, to Mr. Morrell's. (This was an appendage to two old houses known as "Pompey and Caesar" adjoining Mr. M.'son the south). The low fence wall and trees behind to be taken down. At the same time, houses on the two sides of St. Giles' to the number of eighty- five were ordered to be deprived of Dripping Eaves, Bow-windows, Rails, Porches, Spouts, Pent houses, front Sheds, projecting Fronts, Trees, Door heads. Posts at doors and dwarf walls. And, in a few months afterwards, notices for the like purpose were given to forty-three inhabitants of houses on both sides of Broad Street. A general Order was issued "that the Owners and Occupiers of all Pumps detached "from the houses and buildings in the public Streets be required to remove them to ** more commodious situations, under the direction of Mr. Gwyn. " Of several Pumps, which within memory stood in the Streets, but set against the houses, one of the last was a Pump against the Star Public house, in Broad Street, and the sole representative of them now remaining is the one at the S.W. end of St. Mary's Church. In May, 1772, it was " ordered that the Tree in Broad Street be taken down. This stood in front of Kettel HaU. And, in October following, it was or- dered that notice be given to the Mayor, &c., of Oxford, to take down the Tree oppo- site to tiie Museum. In October, 1774, amongst similar orders for other Churches, it was "ordered that notice be given to the Churen wardens of S. Mary Magdalen Parish to "take down the spouts belonging to the Church." Thus was destroyed those pictur- esque old " Guigoyle" spouts, which were inconvenient to persons passing underneath them during rain, but which carried the water well away from the Buildings instead of letting it sink into the foundations and "green " the Walls as is too often the case with modem stack pipes. But one of the boldest flights of the Commissioneis is shown in the following order of a meeting on the 29th April, 1774 : " It having " been complained of that 8, Michael's Tower is in a very ruinous state and a dangerous ** nuisance to the public, ordered that notice be given to the Minister, and Churchwardens "that the same wiU be taken into consideration at the next meeting." Happily, however, through either the energy of the Parish and its Officers, or the more conservative coxmsels of the Commissioners, that venerable relic of Sa^on days was spared. The idea of the removal of the Tower seems to have been part of a clever scheme of Church partnership between the Parishes of S. Michael and S. Mary Magdalene. In a printed paper of the year 1774, entitled "An attempt to state the "accounts of Receipts and Expenses relative to the Oxford Paving Acts," is the following : — " Among nuisances it may be proper to note the very dangerous state of " S. Michael's Tower, which declares itself to the eye of every beholder and threatens "every passenger. " The fabrics of the two Churches of S. Michael and S. Mary Magdalen are uncouth " if not ruinous. It were to be wished that both were taken down, and that from the "materials of both, with other aids, briefs, benefactions, &c., one decent fabrick was , "raised sufficient to contain the inhabitants of both Parishes. Let the new Church " be raised on or near the present site of S. Michael's Church. Let the North side "thereof with Galleries, divided by the middle path, belong to the inhabitants <rf " Magdalene, the other to S. Michael. The repairs of each Moiety may be defrayed " by 9ie respective Parish. The Chancel, a small one, by both. But let the handsome " fabric of S. Mary Magdalene's Tower be permitted to stand, and serve as a Belfry " for both Parishes. S. Michael's Bells may be added, if necessary, to complete tho&e " of Magdalene, or sold for the common benefit. " The Parochial duties may be distributed between both the Ministers as they with " the consent of their Patrons and the Bishops shall determine. " Each Parish shall retain its Churchyard or Burying ground as heretofore. Each " Parish would soon be convinced of the benefit of such alteration, not only in respect " of the commodiousne^s, but of saving charges in making the now necessarr " reparations. Nor need it be said what beauty would result from such alteration. "' F. J. M, Digitized by Google ^ List of the Vicars of St. Maxy Magdalene. lOoncluded from our last Number.'] DATES. NAMES. AUTH0BITIE8. 1763.— May 13. Samuel Rogers, M.A., B.D., 1786. Pre. of Dioc. Inst. Reg. S. David's, Rector of Batsford, Glouc. Died 22 Nov., 1786, a^ed 86. G. Watkins (M.A., Oriel) was Curate in 1765, and in Par. Ace. Books the following year T. Nowell. This was most pro- bably Dr. Thos. Nowell, Princ. of S. Mary Hall, who had taken an active part against the spread of Method- ism in the University, and may therefore have been anxious himself to occupy the pulpit which had been a means of its dissemination. In 1767, E. Good- enough, of Ch. Ch., was Curate ; he became Vicar of Swindon, and died 8 Nov., 1807. In 1771—9, T. Matthews, M.A., Ch. Ch., afterwards Vicar of Har- ringworth, Northamptonshire. 1778.— Joshua Berkeley, B.D., D.D. 1780. Dean of Tuam. DiocInstBeg. Died 21 July, 1807. Curate in 1781, Abram Robertson, Ch. CIl, after- wards D.D. 1782. — June, William Jackson, M.A., Reg. Prof, of Greek, „ „ 1783. Canon of Ch. Ch., 1799. Bishop of Oxford, 1811. Died 2 Dec, 1816, aged 66. Curate in 1787, Simon Stanton, M.A., Chap, of Ch. Ch., afterwards Vicar of Cassington. 1791, John Graham, M.A., Chaplain of Ch. Ch., afterwards B.D., Chap, of All Souls*, and Vicar of Cople, Beds. 1791.— Nov. 1. Charles Barker, M. A. Sut-dean of Wells, „ „ 1799, &c. Died 1 June, 1812. 1799.— May 21. — Matthew Marsh, M.A., afterwards B.D. „ „ Canon and Sub^dean of Salisbury, &c. Died 80 July, 1840, aged 70. Curate in 1799 (?) — Williams, (? J. Williams, Chap, of Ch. Ch., Vicar of Southsoke.) 1803.— Jan. 31. James Webber, M.A., D.D. Vicar of Kirk- „ „ ham, 1815. Dean of Ripon, 1828. Died 3 Sept., 1847, aged 75. 1808.— Jan. 25. Charles Abel Moysey, M.A. Left in the „ „ same year on appointment to the HvinM of Southwick, Hants, and imnton Parva, Wilts. Bampton Lect., 1818. Archdeacon of Bath, 1820. Died Dec. 17, 1859, aged 80. 1808.— Oct. 22. Kenneth Mackenzie Reid Tarpley, M.A. „ „ Vicar of Floore, North Hants, 1815. Died in 1866. 1 81 5. — June 5. Charles Lewis Atterbury, M. A. , Great Grand- „ „ son of Bp. Atterbury. He had previously been P.C. of St. Thomas. His ruling-passion was a love of stage-coach driving, in the palmy days of the four- in-hands ; and it is even said that, as one of his fa- vourite coaches used to enter Oxford on Sundays about one o'clock, he used carefully so to regulate his ser- mons as always to reach the Ansel Inn in time to see the anival ! At the age of 46, ne was killed by the ovei-tuniing of the Sovereign Coach near Leamington, July 26, 1823. He was buried in the Cathedral, Aug. 1. He had preached on the previous Sunday on Is. xxxviii 1 : " Set thine house in order, for thou shalt die, and not live." Digitized by Google w / 1828.— Nov. 7. Charles Henry Cox, M.A. Sub-Iibr. of Dioc.Inst.Reg Bodl. Libr., 1826—8. P.C. of Bensington, 1828. City Lecturer. Rector of Oulton, Suffolk. Died 1 Oct., 1850, aged 52. 1827.— Oct 26. Charles CaiTaerke,M. A., D.D. Still well „ „ known in his old parish as the excellent and respected Archdeacon of Oxford, to which office (with the at- tached Canonry of Ch. Ch.) he was appointed by Bp. Bagot in 1830. In 1828 — 9, the Curate was John Perkins, M.A., Ch. Ch., a member of a family long connecteii with the parish, and which (as all the cler^ ministering in the place of late years know) has afforded the most valuable help in district visiling and all other good works. In 1883 Mr. Perkins became Vicar of Neth- ersweU, Glouc, and died April 17, 1860. 1834.— Dec. 20. Henry Bull, M.A., now P.C. of the small parish of Sathbury, Bucks, to which he was appointed in 1838. Brother to the late Dr. Bull, Canon of Ch. Ch. 1888.— July 26. John Robert Hall, M.A. In his time, the „ „ Pansh Church was constantly filled with large con- gregations, influenced by the earnestness which characterized his evangelical teaching. His incum- bency was signalized abo by the erection in 1840 — 41 of the Martyrs' Memorial, and the addition of the Martyrs' Aisle to the Church. He became Vicar of Frodsham, Cheshire, in 1844, and is now Rector of Hunton, Kent. 1844.— AjffU 27. Robert Aston Coffin, M. A. Unhappily for „ „ the parish, as well as for himself, Mr. Coffin was car- ried away in the flood of secessions to Rome which at this time set in. In one short year he began to be beloved and then was lost. With him, or shortly afterwards, seceded several other cleigymen who assis- ted &s Curates, via. : — ^the Revs. C. H. Collyns. of Ch. Ch., J. H. Wynne, of All Souls, and S. 6. Macmullen, of Corpus. Of these the first has kaj^y long since returned to the C^hurch of his baptism. Mr. Coffin himself is now the head of the Reden^ torist Fathers at Olapham. 1846. — Dec. 18. Jacob Ley, B.D. Of him, now and since ,, ,, 1858 Vicar of Daventay, the writer (who received from him his title to Holy Orders in 1850) needs not to speak ; the whole parish knows the sound Church- manship which inspired general confidence, and the fatherly kindness wiiich developed general good-will. The Chapel of St. George is an abimng monumrait of his exertions for the welfare, especially, of the poorer part of the population who were in some degree shut out from the parish Church by the system of pew appropriation. 1868.— June 11. Richard St. John Tyrwhitt, M.A. The whole staff of Mr. Ley's Curates, consisting of E. Marshall, M.A., J. Rigaud, B.D., (the present Senior Curate) and the undersigned, continued to serve for some years without chan^, under his successor. In the latter, the literary distinction of some of the by- gone Vicars of St. Mary Magdalene has been revived ; the numerous sermons printed by request prove him to be a worthy successor of old John Felton; while his skill and knowledge in art (which have won him a place in the Decoration Committee of St. Paul's- • Cathedral) add new matters ot interest to former records. Digitized by Google Should a July number of the Magazine appear, it will chronicle Mr. Tyrwhitt's departure, and the arrival of his successor. God grant that as one Vicar goes, another may ever come with the same clear commission, to teach in the same Church the same truths with the same authority. Of each separate Parish CJhurch, as of our dear Mother Church of England corporately, let us say from our inmost souls, esto perpetua ; perpetual in its establishment in men's hearts, as well as in its witnessing for God's truth. / Ncmies (rniiUedfrom the List : — In 1818; Robert' Carsingtbn. (Dugdale'dl^biiast.', vi.,1677.) In 1742. John Abbot, of Balliol Coll. (afterwards D.I).) was Cufafe, and in 1743 Will. Parker; of the same College, afterwards D.D. W. D. M. Mii^cbMiieibtiB Nbtes: The famous hon-juror, Dr. Hickes, Dean of Worcestjer, lived in 16^6 in a house in Gloucester Green. One Holt, a gentleman'common^r of BaMo^, wa^ buried in 1653 ; he was kiUed in struggling while on horseback with a Fellow of New College for precedence, in coming down Headington Hill, by "Smallman's Cross.'* (Wood's MS., F. iv.) Several instances occur in the Parish accounts of the custom of poor wanderers taking shelter in the Church-porch. The CJhurch was thus, ere the days of Ppof-Law Unions, practicaSly fec'ogiiised by law as being the refige of the homeless aiid Mendless. Samuel Parker, a learned commentator on the Pentateuch, son of the Bishop of Oxford in the time of James II., lived (as did^ also his descendants for two or three Snerations) in the house adjoining Worcester stableyard, now occupied by Mr. Best, e was the ancestor of the present Messrs. Parker, whb haviB done so' mubh for arcM- tecture and archaeology in Oxford." , ,: It is stated in the ** Memorials of Oxford," as a proof of the veneration in which the memory of St. Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln (who built an aisle in the Church), was long held in the Parish, that, as late as the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the Parish accounts show that the bells were rung on his day in his honour. This is a mistake. St. Hugh's day, Nov. 17, was the day of the accession of Queen Elizabeth, and the bells were rung not to commemorate the former, but with due loyalty to honour the latter. In 1678 an iQumination' appestts to haVe been added : we have an entry in the accounts — ** Paydd for candells on St. Hewe's day at nyght, 3id." It is painful to find',"by 9XL entry under 1587, that the bells were rulig ** for the Queen of-Stotts,', i,e,, for lihe judicial murder of the cruelly-wronged QUeen MAiy. W. D, M.' To*^^ the Parishioners of St: Mdry SiWgdlileiie' DbabFeiends, . As 'this is the last number of the Magazine that I shall edit, ai|.d'as-lhy bfficiil con n e ction wi th the Parish will terminate this month, I take the opportunity of saying a^flw^ parting words. 1 didwaarit-a great privilege to have been allowed for more than four years to minister among you, and freely to preach' Christ's GospeL Unlike other workers, we Clergy never see tie results of our labours : our preaching is Uke firing in the dark — ^^^ shoot out word^, and know not where or. when they strike. But, whatever its effect -on others, my Ministry has taught and. advanced me much ; and for this I shall ever cherish a grateful remembrance of St. Mary Magdalene. It is one of the happy events of my life that I have been associated with your Ticar, of whom the least that I can say is, that to know him has been my gain, and to work with him my pleasure. . , You have my heartiest thanks -for your invariable kindness towards me, and for your too favourable appreciation of the little I have done. So, .lon^ as I remain in Oxford, I shall hopte to maintain the personal acquaiiittoc^s I have made; but, wherever r may be, I sliall always feel that there existe a spiritual bond betweeii'the Parish and myself. I remain, dear Friends, very sincerely yours, CARTERET J. H. FLETCHER. Digitized by Google 1872. Monthly Parish Register. Baptisms, 8t George's. May Ist. Elizabeth Awn Maud, dangliter of William Francis and Elizabetiii Keep, St. Paul's District. „ ,. John Edward, son of George Robert and Rebecca Boll, Farmer's Row, George Street. May llth. George Thomas, son of George and Jane French, Friars' Entry. „ „ William Henry, son of William and Sarah Tanner, Gloucester Gre^. May 2(Mii. Agnes, daughter of Edward and Amelia Clifford, Friars' Entry. ^ „ „ Sarah CecLua, daughter of Benjamin and Leah Clifford, Bliss' Court, Broad Street. „ „ James Clement, son of Benjamin and Leah Clifford. . . Marriages, May 16tlL Joseph Smith, of the Parish of St Barnabas, Oxford, bachelor, and Euzabeth Foote, of this Parish, widow. Btmals, May 14tlL Emily Reynolds, Friars' Entry, age 9 years. „ „ Edwin Reynolds, Friars' Entiy, age 5 years. Offertories and Communicants. 8t Mary Magdalene. 1872. Fifth Sunday after Easter, Ascension Day - Sunday after Ascension Whit Sunday Trimty Sunday - 1872. Whit-Sunday Trinity-Sunday Serrice. 11 a.m. 8 a.m. 8 a.m. 8 a.m. 11 a.m. 11 a.m. Communicants. - 67 16 10 38 61 38 Offertories. 2 9 IJ 16 3 7 9 1 18 9 3 9 11 2 12 6 £11 13 3i 8L George's Chapel, 11 a.m. 11 a.m. 49 86 £ 8. 1 15 1 2 d. 4 7i £2 17 llj Special Offertory, St. Mary Magdalene. St. George's. Sunday after Ascension - £4 8i | Church Missionary Society - £2 5 llj , Tl Digitized t^LjOOQlC No. 7. S. MAEY MAGDALENE PAEISH, OXFORD. THE S. M. MAGDALENE'S m. PUBLISHED MONTHLY. W PRICE TWO PENCE. July, 1872. OXFORD : PRINTED BY G. J. REID, 64 AND 65, GEORGE STREET ; l^a, ■*§»§ SOLD BY EMBERUN AND SON, AND BY PAUL PACEY, ^*"'" MAGDALEN STREET, OXFORD. Digitized by Google INDEX OF PAROCHIAL CONTENTS. Parish History, No. 7 ; Street Improvements - . First two pages. A Sunday at Geneva > Monthly Register, Oflfertories and Communicants - - / ^"^^ ^^ P*Se«- Digitized by Google OUB PARISH: OUTLINE NOTES OF ITS HISTORY, No. VII. STREET IMPROVEMENTS. MIE Census Returns of the two Parishes of S. Mary Magdalene and S. Michael A.D. ISOO (twenty-six years after the date of the proposed Church partnership), furnish the following particulare of their then state, viz. : — S. Mary Magdal&tie. — 258 inhabited houses. OccuT>ied by 337 families. Total population, 1,446. S. Michael . . 144 inhabited houses. Occupied by 198 families. Total population, 850. And according to the Census, A. p., Iii71 : — S. Mary Magdalene. — 446 inhabited houses, 14 uninhabited houses. Total population, 2, 476. S, Michael . ,155 innabited houses. Total population, 898. The inhabitants of the Parishes may well be content that their fathers allowed them to retain each their own old Church. S. Michael's may be proud of its old' sanctuary, which has been restored in the present generation to something of its ancient beauty and spirit ; and S. Maiy Magdalene's Church, though at present it cannot vie wth its neighbour in its internal arranffements, has, through the liberality and zeal of its fonner Vicar, the Rev. Jacob Ley, Dome good fruit, in the addition of S. George, as a Chapel of Ease. The removal of the many encroachments and nuisances in the streets, and other improvements towards the close of the last century, was a very fortunate and necessary preparation for the enlarged traffic in coaches and caniages of various sorts, both public and private, which sx)rung up throughout the country during the first quarter of this century. But the wholesale destruction of the Town Gates, and of all bow-windows, pent-houses, porches, and house-signs, deprived Oxford of many historical reminiscences, and of much beauty and picturesqueness in numberless details, and reduced the private houses of the place to the flat fronts, too thin and flimsy for varieties of light and shade, and to long horizontal parapets, which make our modern towns generally dull and uninteresting, and of whicli S. Mary Magdalene Parish has, unfortunately, conspicuous examples in Beaumont Street and S. John Street. The throwing down the walls and fences along S. Giles' Road led to its becoming, what it has so long been, one of the finest streets which this or any other town possesses. The Commissioners in 1771 ordered (as has already been mentioned) the ground on the sides of the road to be levelled for the purpose of widening, and its carriage-way was then pitched, and made of the width of seventeen feet. It waa not till the years 1783-5 that the reconstruction of the street was seriously taken in hand. In 1783 there was a difficulty in providing pitching-stones for the town, so the first pitching in S. Giles was taken up, and an estimate made for laying it in a proper convex form, ttoenty-fotir feet wide, and covering it with gravel, one foot thick and eight inches in the sides : "Estimate of gravelling that part of the road in S, Giles, from S. John's College to *• S. Giles' Church— Length, 264 yards :— £ 8. d. **Tocarting685Loadsof Gravel, at 6d. - - 17 2 6 •* To getting and filling 685 Loads, at 2^d. - 7 2 8 " To forming and levelling the Road, at 2s. per rood 8 6 " £27 11 2 " In this way was brought about the first piece of ** Macadamized" road. It was done in 1783. In 1784, the paving, from the south-west end of Broad Street to join the paving on the east side of Corn-Market, was ordered, at aii estimated cost of i>62 lOs Digitized by Google And in Jmmey, 1785, n«w WeU lor the mdm and centre of tlie street, from the east end- of George Lane to & Giles' Church, were ascertained, and the footways were ordered to be paved with Torkshire-stone. But it is not clear when the pavement was laid, for an order was made in the same year that " the curb to the foot-pavement ** in Magdalene Parish be left off at Mr. Morrell's house and the street opposite, or " thereabouts." The paving was probably postponed on account d the carriage-way which was ordered to be pitched with Dry-Sandlord-stone, at a cost of £1,716 ; and a subsequent addition of £53 13s. 6d. for making the road from Balliol College to the houses at the north end of S. Mary Magdalene Church, being 116 yards in length, and which had been omitted in the first estimate. The street beins then latd-out and made, the Commissioners '* ordered that the inhabitants of S. Guea have permission " to plant trees, under the direction of the Conmdttee." S. John's College, however, undertook that ornamental work at their own cost, and it is to them therefore that the town became indebted for the avenue of elms, which contributed so greatly to the beauty of the street. The last work to the street at that time was the construc- tion of a sewer to carry off the surface-water, in substitution for cesspools, which had previously been used. In October, 1786, it was '* ordered that Mr. Weston's plan, "and estmiate amounting to £468 Ids. 2d., for making a common sewer on the west ''side and other parts of S. Giles' and Magdalen Parishes be adopted." Thus, in the three years from 1783 to 1786, there was expended in permanent works on the streets, between the east end of George Lane and S. Giles' Church, the large sum of £2,266 6s. lOd. Thirty years then passed away, and (in December, 1818), a Com- mittee, appointed by the Street Commissioners, to consider about the block of houses at the north end of the churchyard, reported to the Board as follows : — ** The Committee, appointed to consider the practicability of purchasing and pulling ** down the houses on tne north side of S. Mary Magdalene Church, in order to widen " that part of the street, and to beautify the entrance into the city, agreeably to the ** Act of 1771, are happy in reporting to the Board that, in their enquiries, they have " not only met with no difficulty, but^ on the contrarv, the greatest readiness in all " parties towards effecting this great improvement. They most strongly recommend *' the immediate purchase of the houses m order to their being pulled down." And for the following, among other reasons : "The state of condemnation under which ** the houses are placed by the Act, and which would deter every one from purchasing "them of the present owners, notwithstanding their anxiety to dispose of tliem, and " the consequent dilapidated state of them, so as to be dangerous to the tenants, and " a nuisance to the wnole neighbourhood." The Committee also reported that the Parish had made "an application through their Vicar, the Rev. Mr. Atterbury, as follows — " ' For many years past very great complaints have been made of the smallness of the " ' churchyard, and the difficulty of opening a single grave without disturbing the " 'bones of many dead ; and, from the continual increase of the population of the " * Parish, this evil is now almost at its height. The Parish, therefore, are most " ' anxious that a portion of the site upon which those buildings stand should be " ' reserved to enlarge their churchyard, and they will be most ready to accede to any " ' terms, and comply with any conditions, that the Commissioners may think proper "'to adopt.'" The Board thereupon "Ordered that the houses shall be purchased forthwith." £200 was paid to Mr. Micklem, the brewer, for the Black Boy public-house, and £700 for other houses. Besides these, there was a small house, once the Vicarage-house, then let at £10 a-year. The houses were removed ; and, in 1820, a plan presented by the Committee was adopted, and it was " Ordered that the whole of me space on " which the houses lately stood should be enclosed with a low wall and iron rails, "similar to the fence on the south side of the Church, and that a portion of it be " conveyed to the Parish for enlar^g the churchyard, on consideration of their " erecting the fence, under the direction of the Committee, to the extent of the ground "allotted to the Parish." And the Committee was to "direct the laying-out and " planting the ground reserved by the Commissioners." Out of this reserved portion was given up to the Committee of Subscribers to the Mwiiiyrs' Memorial the space on which that monument was erected in 1841, the rest of the ground being laid into the street. The next great work of street improvement in this Parish was the laying-out, by S. John's College (for building purposes) of their " Beaumont Closes," the site of the old Royal Palace and Carmehte Friary, the last fragments of whieh were then destroyed, and the name of Beaumont alone remains to give a clue to their old lOmitiniMd at laUcr part o/the Magaaiiie^} Digitized by Google hiBtoricfld associatioiis. The ffround wm Uid-oat in tha year 18111 ; and bjr Ootobir^ 1823, Beaumont Street had oeen so far completed, that the Street Conuzofl^ioiLert ' ' Ordered that lan^ be put up and the street paved. " Bat the foot-pavement was not laid till the end of 1824. This waa the. beginning of the great Bailmng-Movement in Oxford, which has since covered Jericlio, S. Thomas, 8. Ebbe, 8. Clement, part of Cowley, and S. Giles, with their multitudes of houses. Other works of beaaty and importance in the Parish have arisen subsequently : such are — ^the Mariyr3* Memorial in 1841 ; the Taylor Building and University Galleries in 1845 ; suctiesnve additions to Balliol College in 1825, 1855, and 186$^70 ; and the Bwndolph Hotel in 1864-5. These, in one sense, are great street improvements, being ornaments to the streets on which they abut. They do not, however, come under the class of improvements with which this branch of Notes commenced, brought about by or directly connected with the regeneration of the streets and thoroughfares, effected through the demands^ and energy of Oxford, and by the agency of the Commissioners under our Local Paving, Lighting, and Cleansing Acts, before it had come to be daimed and recognised as an '* Imperial'' duty to insist on the whole countiy being deanied and purifi^ under the controlling power of one great central authority. F. J. M. The following Communication has been received from the Vicar who is note in Switzerland. A Siinday at Oeneva. A wet day among the Swiss Mountains, when it succeeds a spell of fine weather and does not seriously affect the barometer, may be rather acceptable. It has beauties of its own which rival or even surpass those of sumiy cloudless weather. To see the vapoury clouds gathering beneath ^ou over the bed of the mountain torrent, and rolling onwards and upwards in their stately march, hiding the pastures, and chalets and pine forests and bare precipices and snowy peaks until you are gazing upon a dense wall of mist) and then to note how on. a sudden the cloudy curtain parts asunder here and there, and glimpses of trees and waterfalls and cliffs are caught and lost again, and how as if in the mid-heavens and belonging to some other world a snowy summit anon peeps out — all this is matter of woniwr aiid delight to a .traveller who can afford time to lose a day of active exercise. But there are duties also even for travellers towards those at hoime, and to omit others, postponed letters make a wet day a bu^ day. If the Editor has still sufficient space at his command, I wish to note down in this month's Magazine a few impressions of a Sunday spent at Geneva. This famous City, the largest in Switzwland, the chosen home of Calvin, is not so entirely Calvinistic now as it once was. Out of its 48,000 inhabitants nearly 17,000 are said to be Roman Catholics ; and most other religious bodies possess places of worship within the town. Still, Calvinism is the dominant religion in Geneva, and I determined to be present at the xnoming service on Sunday. I had learnt on the previous day that the hour of service was 10 o'clock and that as the present preacher was not a person €f note there would probably be a rather small congregation. The Cathedral is a beautiful specimen of pure Romanesque archi- tecture, but it has been disfigured externally by €tie addition of a Corinthian portico at the west-end, internally by some hideous stained fflass windows. The builaing- is of course very bare of ornament, but the fine carved 15th century stalls h^ve been removed from the choir to the south aisle, where^ they are occupied by the Oity Magnates, while some of the old stained glass still remains. When I entered, the service had already begun, and the officiating Minister who remained in the pulpit throughout the service and wore a heavy black gown and bands, was delivering an extempore prayer, the people standing. Then 1^ read the words of a hymn Ti^ich was sung wnile the congregation sat. Many persons were provided with hymn books, in which the music and words were printed together, l^ut. the in^ng wa^ not ^hat we should call congregational. It was 1^ apparently by a second minister, who occupied a lower desk under the pulpit Thm followed another prayer intro- ductory to the Sermon which was divided into three parts, and laste4 about three- quarters of an hour. The preacher's action and delivery were quiet but effective. Of the matter of his sermon I cannot say m^ph, p«#ly because I t^ras at the botton* of Digitized by Google the Charcli, and so could not hear distinctlj, atill more from mj want of familiarity with the French language. The congregation were for the most nart attentive, bat ■ereral persons went oat daring the btter part of the service, and at the conclosion of the sermon quite one quarter of the congregation left the church while the Minister was reading the words of the second hymn. Before this was sung the oiganist brought out the powers of the fine oigan in a short voluntary. Then followed a prayer from a book, with the Lord's prayer, and in conclusion the Levitical benediction. While the people left the church a piece of music of the character of Bach's Fugues was played on the organ. Of the rather scanty congregation more than one half were women. Some quiet respectable younff men of the middle class were sitting near me. There were very few children present, but perhaps, as at Lausanne they may have a separate service for children. The whole service including the sermon was a little less than an hour and a quarter. I have no space for observations on what I have told you. The sermon is the centre towards whicn all tends, and I think such a system of worship in which there is in- deed a confession of sin, but no kneeling, no apijarent self-humbling before God, no congregational addresses to God in prayer or praise would fail to satisfy anyone who values — I will not say the sacramental system of our Church, but her congr^ational form of worship. But we may learn something from Greneva, i.e. to take down our pews aud galleries. They have uniform open seats — of deal, certainly, and unadorned, out they have no pews, and they have no galleries, except that at the west end in which the organ stands, and tliat is not la^er than is neieded for the organ. Our fathers imitated one point of their system — ^the use of the black gown in the pulpit — ^and this was incon- sistent, for they never change their vestment for the sermon. Let us imitate another point, and substitute open seats for our pews and galleries. C. D. Monthly Parish Register. Baptisms. 1872. June 5th. Augustus Johnson, son of Arthur John and Elizabeth Savage, Beaumont Buildings. „ 80th. Frederick Trevor Wheler, son of Carteret John Halfordand Agnes Wheler Fletcher, 2, The Crescent. Burials. June 16th. Mary Ann Huggins, Beaumont Cottage, age 48. Alfred Looker, Ked Lion Square, age 43. »» »» Offertories and Communicants. 1872. 1 Sunday after Trinity, 8t. Mary Magdalene. Service. Communicants. Offertories. £ 8. d 11 a.m. • 36 1 14 7 8 a.m« . 16 12 7 8 a.m. - 17 13 6 8 a.m. . 20 15 9 £4 6 5 8t. George's Okapel. 1872. £ s. d. 8 Sunday after Trinity * 11 a.m. - 16 2 Special Offertory. St Mary Magdalene. St. George's £ s. d. £ 8. d. 2 Sun. after Trin. 3 6 4^ - Parish Schools. - - - - 2 1 7i Digitized by Google Digitized by Google Offertories and Ooxmaunicants. S. Mary Magdalene. 1873. Serrioe. Com. Object Offertones. £ s. d. 4 Sunday aft Epiph 11 a.in 89 Poor 1 11 S PurinoatioiiB.V.M.... 7 p.m Ghuich Expenses 10 8 Septuagesima 8 a.m 16 Poor 10 8 „ „ 11 a. m. r Diocesan Church Building and 1... 4 15 11^ „ „ 7 p-m. \ Spiritual Help Socie^r /... 2 8 4| Sezagesima 8 a.nL 16 Poor 16 4 ,j „ 7 p.m Church Expenses 17 OJ Quinquagesima 8 a.m 20 Poor 16 1 ,, „ 7 p.m Church Expenses 18 6} S.Matthias 8 a.m 6 Poor 6 24 Ash Wednesday 8 a.m 11 Poor 8 9 £18 19 Si S, Oeorge^B Chanel, 1878. £ B. d. 4 Sunday aft. Epiph. 8 a.m 10 Poor 8 2 Septuagesima 11 a.m. (Diocesan Church Building and) ... 2 2 0} „ „ 7 p.m. ) Spiritual Help Sociely. ( ... 11 OJ Sexagesima 11 a.m 84 Poor 18 7 £8 19 10 Contents of the Almshoxee for the past month. Silver. Copper. Total. 28. M, Id, 28. Id, Digitized by Google "Vol. m.— No. 2. ST. MARY MAGDALENE PARISH, oziFoie/X). THE S. M. MAGDALENE'S PUBLISHED MONTHLY. PRICE TWOPENCE. Febf^ai^, 1874. OXFORD : PRINTED BY G. J. REID, 64 AND 65, GEORGE STREET ;^ SOLD BY EMBERLIN AND SON AND PAUL PACEY, MAGDALEN STREET; AND BY M. A. A. MATHEWS, ST. GILES*, OXFORD. •^•v^-) Digitized by Google INDEX TO PAROCHIAL CONTENTS. Decorations at S. Mary Ha^idalene and S. Geoige-the-Martyr Monthly Parish Register Kora's Revenffe, and its Consequences .... Offertories and Commnnicante - - Holy Days for the Month - - - District Visiting Account for 1878 Parish Notices Parish Library > First two pages. Last four pages. Hymns for SiindajTB and Festivals in February. S. Mart Maodalekb. S. GflOKOB'S. 1 kforninff. Aitemoon. Bvcnin^. Morning. Bvraing. Septuagesima Feb. 1. 71 169 830 71 164 144 67 197 144 343 848 299 825 197 276 iPttrification. 247 247 Sexagesima. Feb. 8th. 880 164 179 832 299 186 188 158 186 137 820 882 276 327 279 Quinquagesima. Feb. 15th. 297 188 188 179 198 811 816 815 320 166 180 816 279 348 14 Ash Wednesday. 81 80 78 82 82 1 Sun. in Lent. 77 179 189 165 80 78 187 81 81 189 81 11 82 11 S. Matthias. 260 260 Digitized by Google Decorations at S. Mary Magdalene and S. George- the-Martyr. 8. Mary Magdalene, Over the altar was a cross of hollyberries and Cape everlastings, with a white camelia in the centre, the pillars of the reredos being prettily twined with very small wreaths of evergreens. On the font was a canopy of holly leaves, with alternate bunches of white ever- lastings and hollyberries, the whole surmonnted by a small cross of white cotton wool, edged with a rim of hollyberries. The present extremely inconvenient arrangement of the east end of S. Mary Magdalene (which is more especially noticeable at the cele- bration of Holy Communion) mxust certainly be matter of deep regret to all well- wishers to the parish. Surely some improvements might be made. Would it not be possible for the mother Church to take a hint from the daughter Church of S. George's, where the poition assigned to the Clergy and Choir (the latter, by the way, properly vested as they should be whilst engaged in Divine Service), being raised a few steps above the level of the nave gives that prominence to the altar which it certainly ought to have, as being that part of a Church where the highest of the Christian mysteries is celebrated P It is to be hoped that the good example shewn some years ago at S. Clement's Church, where a fitting place has been arranged for the choristers, may inspire the parishioners of S. Mary Magdalene with a desire to render their Church a little more ecclesiastical in appearance than it is at present. Owing to the excessively awkward clustering together of the pulpit, reading desk, and clerk's seat, which are at present grouped in a most extraordinary manner, it was found impossible to do much to decorate that portion of the Church, and accordingly the pulpit was simply ornamented round the top with a wreath of holly, below which was the text, " The Word was made flesh," Ac., in white silk on red velvet. It is an old saying in the parish, that the pulpit has never been known to remain more than five years in one place, and it is fervently to be hoped that on the next occasion of its flitting it may take up its station in some position which may less forcibly recall to mind the old- fashioned three-decker, now happily for the most part banished even from remote village churches. In other parts of the Church were various devices, enHvened with the beautiful Cape everlastings (a box of which had been sent to a lady by friends residing at the Cape), as well as with the bright scarlet and white helichrysum, of which such large quantities are annually exported from the sunny plains of Austria and Portugal to our more frigid country, where they can usually only be reared with the assistance of artificial heat. One who has known the Pabish fob many Years. 8, George-the-Martyr. As the Church decorations which have marked the season of Digitized by Google Christmas will have been removed before our Magazine is in circulation, it would scarcely be necessary to give a description of them but that the promise to do so must be fulfilled. Those who have attended the services — and it is much to be wished that the numbers who avail themselves of the privilege were greatly increased — ^have had the opportunity of seeing and judging for them- selves. To begin with the chancel. At the east end, behind the altar-table, was. a trellis- work, surmounted by a cross formed of white flowers with green leaves ; white flowers marked the intersecting lines of green. Around the credence table and vestry door were wreaths of berried and variegated holly. On the reading desk was a scroll with the words, " Unto us a- Child is born ;" also tracery of everlasting flowers and the sacred monograms. The pedestal of the lectern had a light wreath twined round it, a star was on the eagle's breast ; these were both adorned at first with yellow winter jessamine, which was afterwards exchanged for white Cape everlastings. The pulpit had rich wreaths of leaves with berried holly. In the centre compartment was a cross of red berries, with a circle of white flowers ; in the side compartments were the sacred monograms formed in red berries, with leaves and white flowers. On each poppy head of the choir seats hung a small shield of crimson, with a cross in white and a border of leaves. The font had wreaths in which were white variegated holly. Between the windows in the north aisle were the sacred monograms, and double triangle in white on crimson ground. Under the east chancel window were the combined texts — " The Word was God," " The Word was made flesh." At the west end of the Church, as it were echoing these texts, was the declaration from the Athanasian Creed — " God and man is one Christ." At the east end of the south aisle was a device with a semicircle surrounded by rings. The words in gold on this were " Sun of Righteousness ;" below appeared in white, on crimson, " Holy is His ^Njjme.** Where all worked willingly for the decoration of the Church, it is needless to particularize the portion which each took. This year the pulpit was kindly undertaken by Mrs. Jayne ; Miss Hawkins, the Misses Holliday, and Miss E.igaud sharing the remainder. A. N. Monthly Parish Register. Baptism. Jan. 28rd. Edith Compton, Museum Terrace. Marriage. Jan. 11th. George Parsons, of this Parish, and Hannah Maltby, of S. Thomas's. Burials. Jan. 4th. Mary Ann Austin, Friars' Entry, aged 60. Jan. 18th. Caroline Pacey, George Street, aged 60. Jan. 18th. Elizabeth Wells, Summertown, aged 43. Jan. 23rd. James Osborne, Infirmary, aged 76. Digitized by Google * These hollows are technically called ** forms." Here the hare rests in a crouching attitude, with the chin and throat resting on the front paws' THE HARE. XVI.— 2. Digitized by Google |HE common hare is well-known to all who live in the British islands. It is found in every part of Europe except •Norway and Sweden, The hare feeds wholly on vege- table substances, and does terrible injury to young plant- ations, fields of early wheat, and other cereal crops. The habits of the hare are, for the most part, nocturnal. During the day hares rest in open fields and stubbles, and especially in grassy hollows. For partial concealment they excavate holes, in which they lie. These hollows are technically called * forms.' Here they rest, in a crouching attitude, with the chin and throat resting on the front paws. Hares are good swimmers when occasion requires. Mr. Yarrel records in the London Magazine, that he saw a hare swim from the sea-shore to an island a mile distant. He saw two hares come down to the shore, and he watched them for half an hour. One of the hares fronj time to time went down to the very edge of the water and then returned to its mate, and eventually one hare took to the sea at the precise time of the tide called * slack-water,' when the passage across could be effected without being carried by the force of the stream either above or below the desired place of landing. The other hare then cantered back to the woods. As game, the hare is shot in great numbers, and there is no cruelty in that ; but we cannot say the same about hunting poor puss with a pack of harriers, or * coursing' it with greyhounds. These forms of so- called * sport * doubtless give an excuse for healthy exercise to men, and give excitement to the gallant dogs, but it seems a very unfair and unequal match thus to run a defenceless little hare, to the death. The poet Cowper kept several pet hares in his house, and he gives minute details of their ways and habits. He wrote an epitaph on one of his favourites, in which the following stanzas occur : — * Here lies — ^whom hound did ne'er pur- Eight years and five round rolling sue, moons Nor swifter greyhound follow; He thus saw steal away ; Whose foot ne'er tainted morning dew. Dozing out all his idle noons, Nor ear heard huntsman's halloo — And every night at play. Old Tiney, surliest of his kind, I kept him for his humoi^''s sake, Who, nursed with tender care For he would oft beguile And to domestic bounds confined, My heart of thoughts that made it ache, Was still a wild Jack hare. And force me to a smile.' 1466-1519. 1 tracing the history of the English Eeformatiou we find that the seeds of opposition to the usurped power, and the cor- ruptions of Papal Eome, had been sown in early times, espe- cially by Grossteste, Bishop of Lincoln, in the reign of Henry III.; by Wycliffe, in the reign of Edward III.; and in the reigns of Henry VII. and Henry VIII., by John Colet. This excellent and distinguished man waa the son of a wealthy English merchant, who had obtained favour in the court of Henry VII., and being the sole survivor of the merchant's twenty-two children, John became the heir of his large property. Not caring, 2 Digitized by Google Dean Colet however, for the prosperous worldly career which was thus opened to him, he chose the clerical profession, as more adapted to his tastes and feelings. Colet studied for seven years, and graduated at Magdalen College, Oxford, and appears to have had especial ability for mathe- matics. The Greek language was not then taught in the University; but at this time the study of that tongue, and its literature, had been re- vived in France and Italy by the learned Greeks who had fled there from Constantinople, when that city was taken by the Turks ; and this ' new learning,' as it was called, attracted Oxford students to the Continent, and among others Grocene, who, on his return to Oxford, gave lectures on the Greek language and authors, although Oxford was then the stronghold of * the Scholastic Theology,* which was mainly produced by the subtle works of Duns Scotus, Aquinas, and the like. The intelligent mind of Colet could not endure the fanciful and allegorical interpretations that these doctors gave to the plainest words of Scripture, and in 1493 he, too, went to Paris and Florence for four years, where he learnt the Greek language, and studied the works of the Greek and Latin Fathers of the Church, preferring Origen, Cyprian, and Ambrose, to Augustine, who was the favourite of the Oxford * Schoolmen.' Colet also improved his knowledge of the English language and studied elocution, that he might be able to preach in England in a better and more attractive manner than was then customary. On his return to Oxford he took Holy Orders, and gave a. course of lectures on St. Paul's Epistles, explaining the Apostle's words in their natural and literal sense, to the utter astonishment of the University. Colet was only twenty-nine, and had not yet taken a degree in Divinity, yet he dared to reverse the whole system of teaching and lecturing in Oxford. Instead of turning all the Scrip- tures into mysteries aud allegories, Colet set forth the plain meaning of the words ; and instead of expounding single texts, he dwelt on the whole drift and aim of an epistle. These lectures were heard with intense interest. Many who had only intended to criticise were convinced by them. Nearly all the elder men of learning were, however, too much rooted in former ideaa to approve of Colet's teaching, with the exception of Prior Charnock, Grocene, and Linacre. Colet turned to the younger men of the University, many of whom attached themselves to him and his opinions, among whom was More (afterwards Sir Thomas More), then only seventeen, with whose genius Colet was greatly impressed, though they afterwards took differing lines of thought and conduct. Colet's lectures awakened fresh interest in the study of Scripture, about which he related an anecdote. When sitting in his study in the winter vacation a priest entered, whom he recognised as an attendant at his lectures. After some converse the priest took a book from the folds of his dress, and said, * This contains the Epistles of St. Paul, which I have transcribed with my own hand. I owe to your lectures my love for St. Paul.' * Then, brother,' replied Colet, * I love you for loving St. Paul, for I also love and admire him.' The talk continued, till at last the priest asked Colet to enlighten him as to some of the truths which were hidden from him in the 3 Digitized by Google Dean Cokt treasure-liouse of tliis book, that lie might know the right method of reading these Epistles. * My good friend,' said Colet, * I will do as you wish. Open your book, and we will see how many and how golden truths we may gather from one chapter only of the £pistle to the Romans.' The priest took notes of Colet's exposition, rejoicing his kind in- structor's heart as well as his own. In 1497 the learned and enlightened Erasmus came to England, to study in the new school for Greek at Oxford ; and becoming acquainted with Prior Charnock, they went together to hear Colet's lectures. The latter gave a friendly welcome to the Dutch stranger, who warmly accepted it, and they became firm friends for life. Both Colet and Erasmus laboured successfully to bring about a certain degree of reformation in religion. They both did much towards setting aside the cumbrous mass of questions raised by ^ the Schoolmen,' and desired men to keep firmly to the Bible and the Creed, and to * let divines, if they pleased, dispute about the rest.' Colet also disapproved image- worship, opposed the celibacy of the clergy, and exposed the abuses of the religious houses. Erasmus greatly benefited by his friend's counsels, and acted on his opinion in after years. Colet is described as *a tall, graceful, comely, well-bred man;* and in 1497 Erasmus said, in one of his letters, that his ^ friend Colet spoke like one inspired : in his eye, his voice, his whole coimtenance and mien, he seemed raised as it were out of himself.' He spoke of Colet presiding at the table of a College Hall, and declared, that ' with two such friends as Colet and Charnock I would not refuse to live eveiv in Scythia.' Erasmus said, ^ I have found here so much pohsh and learning — ^not shallow learning, but profound and exact, both in Latin and Greek — ^that &ow I do not so much care to go to Italy. When I listen to my friend Colet, it seems to me Uke listening to Plato himself.' In 1499 both More and Erasmus left Oxford, to Colet^s great regret. He had implored Erasmus to remain and help him to do. battle against the subtleties with which the Schoolmen had loaded and corrupted true religion. Erasmus declared, that when he had gained sufficient knowledge and firmness he would join him in the combat, which promise he afterwards amply fulfilled. Colet continued his course of lecturing on the Scriptures, and convinced many. Tyndale, then a young student, gained from them that knowledge which afterwards led to his translation of the Bible into English. In 1505, Henry VII. appointed Colet to the Deanery of St. Paul's, without any application on his own part, and he had now taken the degree of Doctor of Divinity. Having resigned the great suburban living of Stepney, the Dean set himself to fulfil with diligence his new duties, and he soon infused a new spirit into the deanery. He began by giving on Sundays, and other festivals, a course of sermons on the life of our Lord, as a continuous history, and also gained the aid of other preachers, like-minded with himself, and in a short time St. Paul's became the centre of religious teaching in London. When the Dean himself preached, he taught the doctrines of Scripture in a dear and plain manner, and yet with an ability, force, and fervour, that moved the hearts, not only of the citizens, but of the learned and 4 Digitized by Google * The Kinj se.it for and conversed long with the Dean in the garden ot' the monastery at Greenwich.* COLET AND HENRY VIII. Digitized by Google Dean Colet. intetlectnal. Sir Thomas More said, * The day on which I do not hear Oolet preach is a Yoid in my life;* and once when the Dean was in the country More wrote, * The city, with all its vices and follies, has far more need of your skill than country-folk. There sometimes come into your pulpit at St. Paul's who promise well to heal the diseases of the people ; but though they preach plausibly enough, their lives are so far from their words that they stir up men^s wounds rather than heal them. But your fellow-citizens have confidence in you, and long for your return.' And now the revival of heathen learning and the spirit of free inquiry, or rather a wicked abuse of them, had, unhappily, led men to scepticism and infidelity, and the court of Borne had become heathenish in spirit, while devoted to classical learning, art, and science. At this critical time, twenty years after his first intercourse with Colet, the now celebrated Erasmus carried out still more his friend's lessons by the publication of a Greek and Latin version of the New Testament, exhorting Christians to meet the infidel philosophers by a reverent and critical examination of the Scriptures, casting aside the fantastic interpretations of the Schoolmen. In 1509, Colet having inherited the large fortune of his father, founded with it St. Paul's Free School, in the Cathedral yard, endowing it with about 35,000/. of our present money, for 153 boys, who were to be educated in the reformed religion of Christ which he taught. * My object,' he said, * in this school, is to increase knowledge arid the worshipping of God and our Lord Jesus Christ, and good Christian life and manners in the children.' The school was dedicated to the Child Jesus, whose image stood above the master's chair, with the inscription, ■*Hear ye Him.' The hoys were also to be educated in the restored classical learning, to have an accurate knowledge of Latin and Greek ; the corrupt 'monkish Latin* was never to be heard among them. Milman has remarked that the Dean drew up the statutes of the school with great wisdom and forethought, and he was careful as to the manuals that were to be used, and as to the masters that were to be appointed. For his head>master he chose Lilly, the celebrated grammarian. Colet wrote for the scholars a Latin Grammar, requesting them in the preface to remember him in their prayers. He bequeathed the school to the Mercers' Company, who still retain the trust. Thus did this good man complete his grand foundation, which ought ever to endear his memory to Englishmen, and especially to the inhabitants of the city of London. Fitzjames, however, the Bishop of London, who disliked' the Dean for his superior virtues and his censures of evU, denounced the Dean's new school, whereon the iatter wrote thus to Ers^smus : * Now listen to a joke. A certain bishop, who is held, too, to be one of the wiser ones, has been blaspheming our school before a large concourse of people, deckring that I have erected a useless thing; yea, a bad thing ; yea, more (to give his own words), a temple of idolatry: which, indeed, I fancy he called it because the poets are to be taught there. At this, Erasmus, I am not angry, but laugh heartily.' Fitzjames was then cruelly persecuting the Lollards (Wycliffe's followers) as heretics, and had had two of them burnt at Smithfield. Many more of such horrors must have been committed ; for a friend 6 Digitized by Qoo^z Dean Colet ' wrote to Erasmus, ' I do not wonder tliat wood is so scarce and dear^ the heretics canse so many holocausts.' Fitzjames desired to conyict Colet, declaring that Lollards being known to attend his sermons, it was a proof that he favoured their tenets. Bishop Latimer stated in one of his sermons, that Colet would have been burnt if God had not turned the king's heart in his favour. In 1512, a Convocation was summoned for the extirpation of heresy, and the Archbishop of Canterbury appointed the Dean of 8t Paul's to preach before the assembled clergy, including his enemy J^'ltzjames. Colet chose for his text, * Be not conformed to this world,' declaring that these words were chiefly applicable to ecclesi- astics, whom he boldly rebuked for the evil practices to which so many were -in those days addicted, and among. other things denounced their luxury, their pomp, their hounds and hawks, their simony, and their anxiety for preferment. In hearing this sermon, *how many,' says Milman, * hated themselves, how many hated the preacher ? ' Henry VI IL, who was now on the throne, had become intent upon war with France. On Good Friday (1515), the Dean, who was one of the king's chaplains, preached before him in the royal chapel at Greenwich, and after alluding to the warfare that Christians are bound to wage ' under Christ's banner, against sin, the world, and the devil,' he declared that when men fight from hatred or ambition they fight under the banner of Satan. He inquired how men could shed each other's blood, and yet hieive the brotherly love enjoined by their Lord ? ' Follow,' he said, ^ the example of Christ, and not of Caesar and Alexander/ Colet's enemies expected that this sermon would be his ruin, and exulted accordingly. The King sent for and conversed long with the Dean in the garden of the monastery at Greenwich, and having, in his youth, a noble, generous spirit, Henry was far from being offended at the Dean's faithful admonitions, and earnestly consulted him for the relief of his mind ; urging, however, that the war which he contemplated was a just one. Whether his arguments convinced Colet or not is un- known ; but certain it is, that when the courtiers were recalled, they saw the King embrace Colet, and heard him say, ' Let every man have his own doctor; ihis man is the doctor for me.' The war party prevailed in England ; the country was astir with soldiers ; robbery and violence were common events. Erasmus determined to seek for quiet and peace in Holland; but before departing he visited his friend Colet, and they also took a journey together, and at Canterbury visited the shrine of St. Thomas a Becket ; but Colet ridiculed the excessive veneration paid to his relios. As they came from the cathedral, an old friar offered them a piece of St Thomas's shoe to kiss. * What,' said Colet, turning to Erasmus, * d^ these simpletons wish us to kiss the shoes of all good men ? ' The Dean continued his preaching at St. Paul's Cathedral. At that time people met there to transact business, and the nave was placarded with advertisements. Masses were at the same time cele- brated in the chapels and aisles before altars of the Madonna and the saints; but amid all the conflicting somnds, Colet's voice was raised to preach the Gospel of Salvation, and to denounce worldliness and aaperstition. 7 Digitized by Google The Boy on the Gate. At the deanery Ck>1et practised great hospitality, and as Eras- mus said, 'sent away his guests better than they came.' He also leathered round him a circle of more intimate friends, with whom he "Would converse till midnight, generally on religious subjects, and often on the topics uppermost in his mind, which were * the wonderful majesty of Christ, and the profound wisdom of His teaching.' Dean Colet's last sermon was preached at Westminster Abbey, September 1515, at the installation of Wolsey, before the new Lord Cardinal and all the great men of the land, and he cautioned them <?arnestly and solemnly against pride of spirit. But though still energetic, Colet was now yearning for rest. He had suffered from that strange epidemic of former times, * the sweating «iekness,' probably a species of ague, and he prepared to retire to a well-ordered monastery at Sheen, * where religion dwelt without a too rigid monasticism.' He wrote to Erasmus, * Fitzjames of London never ceases to harass me. Every day I look forward to my retirement tmd retreat to the Carthusians. ... When you come back to us, as -far as I can conjecture, you will find me there, dead to the world.' Bat a better rest was now prepared for Colet. His epidemic Tetnmed the same year, and ended his life upon earth at the age of •fifty-three. John Colet ought to be remembered in England as one of those men whose enlightened wisdom and fearless assertion of truth led to the reformation of the National Church, and whose energy and munifi- cence gave great and lasting aid to the national education. C. E. M. Sf)e ISog on tf)e iffiate* THE rosy-cheeked urchin that swings OD ihe gate Is a right meiTy monarch in all hut estate : But treasure brings trouble— what title is free ? Thus better without one, thus happy is he; For the ring of his laugh is a miith- moving strain, Which a choir of young creatures re- spond to again. The birds are all singing, each heart is elate '\Vith the rosy -cheeked urchin that hangs on the gate. The rosy-eheeked urchin that swings on the gate Hath Nature's own pages upon him to wait; His joyous companions — a cherubim crew, With posies of daisies and buttercups too. 8 He boasts not of jewels on forehead or breast ; But his heart is all gladness — his mind is at rest. Ah I what are the honom-s, the glories of state, To the rosy-checked urchin that hangs on the gate ? The rosy-cheeked urchin that swings on the gate Waves proudly on high his satchel and slate ; The sky is all brightness— the fields are all gay ; Green brandies are waving — the lambs are at play : And where is the bosom that pines not to be Thus bathed in the sunlight as happy as he ? Tot the heart's purest pleasures we find when too late, And sigh to be swinging again on the gate. John Obion. Digitized by Google 1 A STORT OF PHILADELPHIA* |OTTIE was glad to find Michael Michelson in the tidy kitchen when she stole in in the dnsk : next to Qeorge and dead Jan she loved him best. With an anxioas glance to see that Annt Patience was oat of hearing she crept np to the stalwart old man, and laid her head against his shonlder. * Michael, wilt thou hear my secret?' she asked coaxingly. < Ay, my maid, if thou hast one,' said the old man cheerily : < is it anght I can give thee, or do for thee ?' * Nay, it is nothing I want, but something I have,' said Lottie, her ▼oice sinking to a troubled whisper. * See thee, dear Michael, I love my cousin English Qeorge, and I have promised to marry him some day. He is not a Friend, he is of the world, and I fear to tell my Aunt Patience.' Michael gave a long low whistle. * Maidens will ever be in mischief,' he said, smoothing the bit of bright hair which shone beneath the girl's close cap: * there will be trouble here, my child.' * Nay, do not say so ! ' pleaded poor Lottie. * I trust thee so, Michael, to make it all right. Aunt Patience dwells so on what thou sayest.* *But what can I say?' urged Michael, half smiling; *what has English George to say ? Will his blue eyes or his soft speeches keep thee and give thee a home ? for he has little else, I gather, to share with thee.' * But he will work, hard and well,' said Lottie anxiously ; * even now he hath a plan by which to make a good living. And see thee, Michael,' she added, smiling, 'Friends should not look for riches. Holy Writ speaketh disparagingly of the rich man.' ' Go to, little preacher ! ' said Michael ; < we shall have thee moved to speak at meeting next.* * No, never !* said Lottie, shaking her head solemnly. « George liketh not f©r women to speak in the churches, but to thee, Michael, I can say anything.' And she caressed the grizzled head of the old man till he was fain to promise he would do his best for her with Aunt Patience. * And thou wilt tell her to-night,' said Lottie anxiously: 'while I take my knitting and sit with sick Adah Holmes?' That night poor Lottie crept back into Mistress Nicholas house with trembling feet. Michael was gone, and her aunt was sitting before the fire, looking stem and harsh in the dim light. Neither spoke for a minute. Then Mistress Nichol raised her head, and said with decision : — . * Charlotte Thurston, Michael Michelsen hath told me of thy wish to marry George Merivale ; at first it sorely angered me, but I have prayed and considered the matter, and while 1 can never consent to thy joining thyself to a worldling and a reprobate, I will be gentle with thee, and endeavour to feel the same for thee as before this matter, if thou will give him up. Dost thou hear, child ? ' she re- peated sharply, as Lottie stood still and immovable before her. Lottie had heard ; she was only thinking in what words to answer 9 Digitized by Google Duty Iir%L her aiiiit. Then they came. The girl spoke gently, bnt as decidedly as the old voman: — ' Annt Patience, thou hast been good and kind to me, and meanest well for me, body and soul : but I am not like thee, I cannot be good by thy pattern ; I cannot give up Qeorge ; he is not wicked, he is not a worldling, albeit the Friends thinks so. Ask Michael.' *■ I shall ask none,* said Mistress Nichol, sternly. *■ I can judge for myself. Choose, girl, between him and me I ' She rose from her chair with difficulty, tottered to her bedroom, and firmly locked the door behind her. It had been Lottie's custom to help to undress her aunt, and make her comfortable for the night, since her infirmities had increased upon her, but she was eyidently to be shut out from this office to-night. It was the first serious difference she had had with her aunt, and it grieved her, for Mistress Nichol to her had meant home, and shelter, and woman's care for many a long year. * And now I seem so ungrateful,' sobbed poor Lottie ; * but I could not give up George. I should only be always thinking of him. And, besides, I know she wants me to marry Master Qreen, or Silas Yander- blum, and I never, never could. Oh, dear! was ever any one so miser- able or so much tried before ? ' Yes, poor Lottie, many a one ; and it would diy your tears and freeze you into calmness if you only knew that before very long you, too, would look back to this evening as upon a child weeping over a cut finger or a broken doll, so much heavier afiSictions being heaped upon you. £ut the strength is given ydih the day, so that none need despair. Lottie sobbed herself to sleep, her only consolation being that Michael was her friend. And yet he, good fellow, thought it unwise of the girl to promise to marry the young cousin, who had no settled business, and who, though he might- mean well, had hitherto been associated in his mind with the idle scum on the surface of the city world, that floated hither and thither with eveiy breeze from Heaven. * She deserves better than that,' said the old man. ' If her aunt casts her off, as she may do, for Mistress Patience is stem, I must look to her.' But Patience Nichol did not cast off her young relative ; they went on day by day pretty much as of old, only avoiding all mention of the disputed matter. Lottie never, however, quite regained her post of waiting-maid on her aunt ; whether the old lady had strength of body granted her to back up her strength of mind is uncertain, but Lottie was kept at arm's length for some time, and altogether shut out of her aunt's room at night. George's name was never mentioned between them, save that once or twice on a Sunday Lottie had stayed her steps in the doorway for an instant, to say painfully, — *■ Aunt, I shall see George to-day ; I could not go without telling thee.' Mistress Nichol never answered those speeches. She often had long talks with Michael Michelsen, Lottie knew, but the old man had nothing reassuring to tell her of them. * Mistress Nichol means well by thee, child,' he would say, * and thou must have patience ; the world is yet young for thee.' 10 Digitized by Qoo^z Duty Mrst. The yoiug, howerer, fight more against obstacles to their happiness than those who are quieted by years, and so Lottie and George beat their wings often against the barrier between them and their love. 'You won't let it hinder onr marriage, directly I have a home for yon ? ' asked Gfeorge, almost fiercely. And then Lottie could only repeat Michael's ' Be patient.' Lottie tried to be good in those days, good in the highest sense in which she understood the word. It was not that she attended meeting more strictly, and would not jest with George over the eccentricities of Tarieus Friends who stood as shining lights in Aunt Patience's esti- mation, though she did this too, but she stroye earnestly to do her duty by her aunt, bearing disagreeable allusions, and even taunts, with meekness, and striving to allay the irritability which daily gained on her protectress. Then she was careful to prudiahness, George thought, over her ©wn behaviour ; would see him only in the face of day, sit by him only in the church, and grant him only one hour's walk on the Lord's day evening. ' I am thine, thou knowest,' she would say, caressingly; ' therefore lend me awhile to Aunt Patience.' Meantime the business in which George Merivale had engaged progressed to an extent that exceeded both his own and Lottie's most sanguine expectations. He was the worker in the business, but had little or nothing to do with the management of it; therefore his surprise and pleasure were great when at the close of the first year he received, in addition to his large salary, a bonus from his masters, as his two associates in reality were, though to give him importance, as they s^id, he was considered a partner in the store. The salary alone would provide a humble home for two. Flashed with his riches George urged immediate marriage to Lottie, but the girl drew back. * Not yet, dear,* she said ; * wait awhile, I cannot leave Aunt Patience.' And again, when further pressed, she was still more resolute. * It wouldn't he my duty, George ; something tells me so. Thou knowest thy Catechism in mother s red book, about doing thy duty in that state of life to which God calls thee. Now, I don't feel as if He called me to be married just now, but to look after Aunt Patience ; she has been so ill lately. Don't be vexed with me, dear ; it makes it so much harder,' she added, with tears in her eyes. * But / want you,' said George, with something of arrogance in his tone. ' I, who am almost your husband ; can't you think that is a call from God ?' Lottie shook her head and smiled. ' No, that is pleasure, not duty,' she said. ' Go on, dear one, and make our little home ready — that is thy work — and leave me to mind Aunt Patience. I can't explain myself, but, as Friend Joshua says, " I have a call that I see this thing aright." ' George was too vexed to notice Lottie's unconscious adoption of the old Quaker's pompous voice, and Lottie could hardly get a smile or a pleasant word from him throughout the rest of the interview: yet she no more cried herself to sleep ; she only prayed for George and herself, for patience for both, and then slept calmly. II Digitized by Google Duty First Many another stich scene had she to go through in the next few months. Business prospered yet more and more. George worked hard, but he owned that he was surprised at the amount of money realised by the firm. 'Thou didst wrong to mistrust them at first/ said simple Lottie; ' they have done well by thee: though I, too, disliked their fiftoes the only time I saw them. Now tell roe again about ^e little house thou wilt build for me, and remember the verandah and the vines.' And with such talk she would while her promised husband away from the vexed subject of immediate marriage. A grave obstacle to it soon intervened. Mistress Nichol had a stroke ; her long irritability, her increasing feebleness, culminated in paralysis: for days she lay helpless on the kitchen-floor, where a mattress had been hastily laid for her. Lottie waited on her day and night, thankful she had never thought of leaving her. Neigh- bours came in and out, but any one remaining long soon found in the increased restlessness of the sick woman that she could only tolerate Lottie near her, and the poor girl was worn to a shadow. George was. very busy just then, assisting to form a branch store at a town at some little distance, and a fortnight elapsed before he heard of the occurrence. Then he hurried to the house, knocking softly ax the outer door. Lottie answered it, and the two held a short and hurried conversation. They were interrupted by a voice as from the dead. * Is that George Merivale ? Let him come to me.' Yes, it was the half-unconscious invalid that spoke. • * Go to her,' said Lottie, gently drawing George into the house, and closing the door. And George went in, politely dofl&ng his hat as he stepped over the threshold. The old woman looked at him with a bewildered gaze. * She will have none but thee — a worldling,' she said at last ; * she may be blinded, but God hath not forsaken her. Remember that, it is my testimony. She hath stood by me, a widow in affiction, for long, and she shall have peace, ay, joy, in the end.' George stood silent and awe-struck by the solemnity of the tone, but Lottie, reared amidst the traditions of second sight and light from above, general among the Quakers, was even more impressed, and the w r.rds stood her good stead in the troublous days that were coming for her. When Aunt Patience had spoken, she sighed and tossed restlessly on her bed. . Lottie hastily kissed George, and thrust him out at the door. ' Go now, dear,' she said, * and take this as a good omen that all will yet be bright for us.' Poor, hopeful Lottie! there'are many and dark clouds yet between you and the sun. Yet those nursing-days were a rest for her mind if a toil for her body. Mistress Nichol, in all the fretfnlness of hei' trying malady, never again said a slighting word of Lottie's English lover; nay, she even encouraged his visits to the house, and one day, having exhibited an unconquerable desire to be moved into a room upstairs, for the sake of fresher air, and Michael not being near to assist in carrying her, she, to Lottie's great surprise, said, * Call George.' 12 Digitized by Google ' Go to her,' said Lottie, gently drawing George into the house. 13 Digitized by VjOOQIC j^J.-. Duty First And Oeorge beiD|^ haplj at hand, was, to Lottie's great satisfac- tion, permitted to assist in this household arrangement. After that, Aunt Patience never forgot to send Lottie each Sunday to the church, where she could meet and see George ; and this proof of consideration from her stem, sick aunt, touched the girl greatly: nor was it altogether a grief to her that her aunt's mind wandered a Httle at this time, ' and hearing a man's footstep at the door, she would call with irritable strength of voice on Jan, never seeing a discrepancy between the bright face of the young Englishman and the remembered features of her sixty-years-old husband. Lottie loved her for the mistake, for Uncle Jan was still a pleasant mf^mory to her; she liked to think George would grow up such another pleasant, gentle giant, in whose arms friendless little girls could nestle. * £ut what had worked on Aunt Patience to bring her round so ? ' ottie asked Michael one evening. And Michael took off his hat. ' It is the Lord's doing,* he said. a good woman, and yet He could not take her to Himself till art was softened. She will not tarry long with us now.' " was right. Just as poor Lottie was beginning to go about as in a d^am, perfectly worn out with want of sleep and constant waiting on uie helpless invalid, she suddenly changed, had one bright painless day with her friends, said the last words of farewell, gave over her little all to Lottie, kissed her and blessed her in His Name Whose imperfect but faithful servant she had been, and then adding, * Bless George too,' laid her down and died. It was to Michael that Lottie turned in that hour of natural grief, for George had not been near the house for days. Not that that was any great wonder, since business often was very pressing; still Lottie would have liked to have wept her tears on his shoulder. Abnt Patience had cared for her now for nearly twenty years, and, despite seeming harshness, had always tried to do ifi^ll by her. But Michael was a good stay, too : gcutle and considerate, he saw that Lottie had the rest she needed, he chose who should be watcher and helper in the house of death, and he settled on the plot of ground where Patience Nichol should lie in her long restful sleep. Once when Lottie murmured something about sending for George, he soothed ber as one would a child, but turned the subject: he would do all he said. So there was no George on the funeral day, and Lottie was clinging again to Michael, content too in her quiet grief with him; better for George only to share her joys. As to this sorrow, he would only half enter into it ; for Mistress Nichol had never been to him what she had been to Lottie, and he would naturally look on her death as the prelude to their marriage and future happiness. But it was sweet and comforting that the dying woman hkd blessed her George ; when she was not so tired she would tell him so : at present all she wanted was rest — rest of body and mind. She thought she could be content to do nothing, and see no one for days or weeks, so that she might just live and get strength. Something of this she told Michael as they walked home together, and Michael promised her she should have rest; he would manage her affairs the while. Old Widow Smith would sleep in the house, and do the little necessary work. So Lottie took her rest as she wished, Michael jealously guarding her that no tattling neighbour should step in to break it. Widow 14 Digitized by Google Duty Brat. Smith was a quiet, yeiy deaf old woman; neat and handy, however, so that Lottie relished the food she proyided for her. £ut for this season of complete quiet the girl would most likelj have had brain fever, but as it was the crisis passed over, and one daj Lottie woke up to feel the need of other interests, to ask for work instead of rest. And then Widow Smith hobbled out to call Michael Michelsen. i The strong man trembled as he obeyed the summons ; this season of < repose for Lottie had been one of suspense and terrible anxiety for j him. He had bitter news to tell the poor girl, so lately stricken l^ , sorrow — a blow to deal that he feared would smite her still more severely, and from beneath which she would find it harder to arise. Poor little Lottie! why had not the great sea swallowed her up that blustering night when she lay at the bottom of the pilot-boat ? Better that, than to live to see this day. So thought Michael as he heavily took his way to Mistress Nichol's old home. . It was Lottie's for eight months yet; Mistress Nichol hired it by the year, and that time had still to run. Of silver and gold she had little, a small annuity had died with her; but a few ornaments, a little china, some good furniture — all was Lottie's, and what more would she need as George Merivale's wife ? Such, however, were no part of MichaeVs thoughts as he bowed his head to pass under the threshold of the cottage. There was Lottie sitting sewing in the window, a ray of autumn sunlight on her bright hair. She smiled at Michael ' Come in, dear,' she said to the big man. Caressing words flowed softly and naturally from Lottie's lips. Aunt Patience had often chid her for them, but George had said it was a trick of speech of her English mother, and Lottie did not care then ta correct it. * I am so well and rested now,' said Lottie to Michael, ^I think ^t is hardly fair to keep away from poor George longer ; he must be terribly busy not to come himself. Wouldst thou, Michael dear, see him, and bring him to me, this evening if those canst ? We shall have so much to* settle.' And Lottie smiled and blushed; her last smile, her last blnsb even, for many a long day. Then, when the girl had said her say, was MichaeVs turn. He gathered courage because his story must be told, and spake gravely. ' Yes, Lottie, I will see George, but I fear I cannot bring him to thee ; he is in — in trouble.' * Li trouble! how ? why ? ' said Lottie anxiously. * And I have never been near him, nor sent to him I How cruel he must think me! O Michael! why hast thou kept this from me ?' And the girl turned reproachfully on her friend. ' He knows thou hast had sickness and death in the house,* said Michael, ' and he bade me keep silence awhile. O Lottie, child, it ia hard on thee ! try and bear it, this greater sorrow sent thee.' * What is it ? quick I' said Lottie, her face now white with terror. * He is ill! dead, too!' ' Neither,' said Michael, solemnly. ' God hath afflicted thee in stra-ngely distressing fashion this time, my child. George Merivale with his two associates, Jones and Pahner, are all in gaol, charged with 15 Digitized by Google Duty First. irandnlentlj obtaining goods and conducting business under feigned names. As thou knowest, and as I know, George is innocent of a knowledge of these transactions, but his judges hare found him so implicated in them that they have awarded him but little less pun- ishment, deeming him an accomplice though not a principal. Jones and Palmer have ten years' imprisonment, George hath seven. My child, I tell thee all at once ; it is better than leaving thee to tremble for the worst.' Lottie sat stupefied, her hands clasped, her work fallen to the grdund; this was no grief for tears and lamentation, her whole being was stunned by the news. George, her bright, happy George, so lately pleading for his wife, boasting of his pretty future home, counting over his hardwon earnings, was he a felon in gaol? That he was innocent of all imphcation in the evil deeds of his partners Lottie felt sure, but the bare fact was enough to stun her. And all this had happened in the short weeks of her aunt^s last illness ! If it had* only come upon her gradually, if she could have seen a shade of fear or suspicion on George's face, it would not have seemed so dreadful, she thought: but now, what should she do? where could she turn ? No last words, no farewell, and yet George had gone from her for seven long years ! The innocent was buried with the guilty in one living grave. Lottie's first coherent words were to ask Michael if money, if effort of any sort, could help George. He shook his head. 'All had been done that could be done,' he said; Hhere was no evidence save his own to show that he did not know his employers' «ecrets. He was called a partner, and as a partner he must suffer. Lottie's mind would have gone in those terrible days, but for a letter from George which reached her — a loving letter, in which the man forgot his own troubles in thinking how best to comfort one weaker than himself; a letter which kept Lottie alive, confirming as it did her certainty that George was no real convict, but suffering for others* «ins. * Michael will do all he can for me,' wrote George, * but I fear that is little; still, keep a good heart, and when you go to church do not forget me. I cannot believe that God has forgotten me, and some day yet we may be reunited. I was wrong and foolish not to make stricter inquiries into Jones and Palmer's mode of conducting the business, but I was so busy in carrying out the details that it made it easier for them to hoodwink me; and I see plainly now how much it was for their interest to employ an honest man in the department I filled rather than another rogue.' Then the letter went on to speak of Mistress Nichol and of Lottie's future, every doubtful sentence ending with * I leave all that to Michael.' {To be continued,) 16 Digitized by CjOOQIC ' i UtmtmUr, i Utmtmttt: Y REMEMBER, I remember, A The house where I was bom, The UtUe window where the sun Came peeping in at mom. He never came a wink too soon, Nor brought too long a day ; But now I often wish the night ' flad borne my breath away ! I remember, I remember, The roses red and white ; The violets and the lily- cups, Those flowers made of light ! The lilacs where the robin built. And where my brother set The laburnum on his birth-day — The tree is living yet. I remember, I remember, Where I was used to swing ; And thought the air must rush as fresh To swallows on the wing : My spirit flew in feathers then. That is so heavy now, And summer pools could hardly cool The fever on my brow ! I remember, I remember, The fir-trees dark and high ; I used to think their slender tops Were close against the sky. It was a childish ignorance, But now 'tis little joy To know I'm further oflf from Heaven Than when I was a boy. T. Hood. BT T. LEWIS O. DAVIES, U.A , TICAR OF ST. MART EXTRA, SOUTHAMPTON. many cases it is not the word itself, but the form of it, which has become obsolete. Wc find this especially in the perfects and past participles. Most of these are familiar even to the unedncated, and some are yet employed in poetry ; so that at first sight we hardly realise that they are obsolete at all, f. «. not in ordinary nse now. We may cite as examples these short sentences : — * The old man of whom ye spake ; ' * he sware to him;' * the spirit tare him;' 'which ware no clothes;* *they shaked their heads;' * Moses gat him tip into the mount;' *theyforgat His works;' * they drave them heavily;' *he wringed the dew out of the fleece;' 'Abraham clave the wood;' *the man that bare the shield;' * David took a stone and slang it;' * we strake sail.' * Chide ' is itself a word of not very frequent nse at present, but when employed its perfect would be *chided.' We read, however, 'Jacob chode with Laban;' * the people chode with Moses;' and we still have * rode * and * abode' as the perfects of ^ride' and * abide.' An American humorist, whose fnn depends in part on the nse of false grammar and spelling, writes * glode ' as the perfect of * glide.' This was meant for a ludicrous error, and of course every one now-a-days would say * glided,' but glode was once quite correct, and is to be found in Chaucer, and even in Spenser. The only one of these perfects perhaps which offers any difficulty, and that not as to its meaning, but as to the verb of which it is a part, is * sod.' * Jacob sod pottage.' The word in the present tense is * seethe.* We still retain * sod ' in the participle * sodden,' and the substantive * suds' is also derived from it. Or to turn to the participles. All the following sentences are quite intelligible, but the form of the participle in each differs from that which is current now: — * I was shapen in wickedness ; ' * He hath holpea His servant Israel;* 'their eyes were holden;' 'chains of wreathen work;' ' He hath gotten Himself the victory;' 'though ye have lien among the pots;* ' your carriages were heavy loaden;' ' the house that 17 Digitized by Google Obsolete Words in Bible and Prayer-hook. I liave bnilded;' 'she bad stricken throtigh his temples;' 'I have digged this well;* 'a meat-offering baken in the oyen;' 'eat with nnwAshen hands.' Many words bare passed through a very slight change. There are several, which haying once been of four syllables, and ending in y, are now of three, and end in e: e. g. arrogancy, continency, innocency, ex- cellency. We retaui this last in the title given to governors and ambassadors. We find * they hoised np the mainsail * (Acts, xxvii. 40), for * hoisted ; * * Saul haling men and women ' (Acts, viii. 3), now written and pronounced ' hauling; ' ' marishes ' (Ezek. xlvii. 11) for ' marshes ; ' * fitches' (Isa. xxviii. 25) for 'vetches;' 'fats' (Joel, ii. 24), for 'vats;' 'occurrent' (1 Kings, y. 4) for 'occurrence;' 'magnifical' (1 Chron. xxii. 5) for * magnificent ;' ' throughly ' (St. Luke, iii. 17) for ' thoroughly.' Shakespeare has ' thorough ' where we should now put * through.' * Thorough bush, thorough brier, thorough flood, thorough fire.' {Mids, Night's Dream, ii. 1). * Jacob pilled white strakes ' (Gen. XXX. 87), I. e. peeled white streaks. ' Streak ' is derived from * strike,' a line struck — so we speak of the stroke of a pen; the old perfect, as in the phrase, ' We strake sail,' gives us the old noun. Many of these more modem forms were in use in 1611, and long before, though the older shape of the words was adopted in our version ; often perhaps in order to avoid any unnecessary diange from former translations with which the people were familiar. In some instances we have two forms of the same word, used it would seem indiscriminately, though only one survives in common use. Thus we may find in our English Bible fitablish and establish, ensample and example, defenced and fenced, glistering and glittering, ambushment and ambush, divorcement and divorce, dure and endure, alway (now only employed in poetry) and always, minish and diminish, attent and attentive, ware and aware, sith and since, afore and before, determinate and determined, adventure (as a verb) and venture, astonied and astonished, or and ere, strowed, strawed, and strewed, &c. In all these cases the last form of the word is that which is usual with us in the present day. The numbers of some nouns offer another point of contrast between the old usage and the present-; in some instances the singular form having become obsolete, in others the plural. Thus, * What thank have ye?' (St. Luke, vi. 32-34.) This word, now always found in the plural, is taken from the older versions ; it is only met with in this chapter and in Ecclus. xx. 16, 'I have no thank for all my good deeds.' This singular never appears to have been common. Bacon, however, in his Essay on Suitors, writes, ' They will be content to win a thank.' Jonson has 'thanks' as a singular: 'Thus without a thanks to be sent hence' {Poetaster , iv, 6). 'Alms' in the Authorised Version, is both a singular and plural (Acts, iii. 3 ; x. 4) ; the latter use alone remains. This, no doubt, has come to pass mainly from the word having the usual plural termination, ' s.' ' Victual ' Mid ' victuals * are both found in the English Bible, even in the same chapter (1 Kings, iv. 7, 27). The word, though a good and expressive one, has by a caprice of fashion come to be considered somewhat vulgar ; nor, in ordinary use, does it now occur in any form but the plural. Mr. Tennyson, however, in the Idylls of the King, (Enid), uses * victual ' four times within a few lines. ' Hire ' serves now both for singular and plural, and is em- 18 Digitized by Google Obsolete Words in Bible and Prayer-book, ployed as the latter in St. Matt. xx. 8, * Give them their hire ;* but in Mic.i. 7we read, *A11 the hires thereof shall be burned with fire.* Again, ' swine ' is seldom applied in modern English to a single pig, as in Prov. xi, 22, ' As a jewel of gold in a swine's snout.* * Good' is put for * goods * in 1 Chron. xxix. 3, and 1 John iii. 17; I beast 'for 'beasts' (Judg. xx. 48). *Eiches'is treated as a plural in the Authorised Version, in accordance with present usage, save in two passages; *So great riches is come to naught' (Rev. xviii. 17). *What good hath riches brought us?' (Wisd. v. 8.) So Latimer preached, ' This great riches never maketh a man's life quiet' The word is from the French richesse, and it is in this form that Chaucer writes it. The old plural is * richessis.* A slight change in course of time has taken place in one or two onomatopeous words; those, that is, which are meant to express their meaning by their sound. * Knap ' has yielded to * snap ;' both words being intended by their crisp, incisive sound, to signify sharp and sudden breaking. These terms coexisted at one time. Holinshed describes the chopping of logic as answering ' a knappish quid with a snappish quo.* * Snap' does not occur either in the English Bible or Prayer-book; *knap,' only in the Prayer-book version of Ps. xlvi. 9, ' He breaketh the bow, and knappeth the spear in sunder.' * Knap ' was often used in the sense of biting, cracking with the teeth. *I would that she were as lying a gossip as ever knapped ginger ' {Merchant of Venice, iii. 1). We still retain the word in the compound 'knapsack,' a provision wallet; a sack for that which is to be knapped or eaten. 'Neeze,' the old form of sneeze, is derived according to some from the Latin nasiLSy a nose, that being the organ in which the sneeze originates, but it is more probably expressive of the sound produced. Li 2 Kings, iv. 35, the printers have altered ' neesed' of the version of 1611 into * sneezed;' they have left it, however, in Job, xli. 18, where it is said of the leviathan or crocodile, * by his neesings a light doth shine.' Shake- speare uses ' neese ' and Bacon ' sneeze.' In the * Homily against Peril of Idolatry,' being one of those in the second book put forth in 1563, reference is made to the custom of invoking saints on every occasion, 'such as neese (say) God help and St. John.' Young birds are now said to * cheep;' the old word was 'peep;' and so a satirist at the beginning of the last century calls smaU birds * peepers : ' * Dishes I chuse, thongh little get genteel, Snails the first coarse, and peepers crown the meal.' As the young of birds make this noise when they crack the shell, the word perhaps came to be applied to flowers peeping forth, and then generally to glancing hastily or furtively. The old sense of the word has now quite disappeared, so that many lose something of the real meaning of Isa. x. 14 as it stands in our version; * My hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people; and as one that gathereth eggs that are left have I gathered all the earth, and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.' And when the same prophet speaks of the wizards who peep or mutter, it might be supposed that the peeping was done with the eyes rather than with the mouth. Of words similarly formed some seem to have stronger constitutions and longer lives than others. Thus we constantly speak of * yesterday,' 19 Digitized by Google Waiting. bnt ' yesteniight ' (Qen. xxxi. 29, 42) is now, like ^ jestermorn ' and 'yestereye/ confined to poetry. * liugliing-stock * is still common enough, bnt ' gazing-stock ' and < mocking-stock ' are obsolete. * I will set thee as a gazing-stock ' (Nab. iii. 6). ' Ye were made a gazing- stock ' (Heb. x. 33). * They brought the second to make bim a mocking- stock' (2 Mac. vii. 7). * Gazing-stock * is nsed by Tyndale in 1 Cor. iy. 9^ where we haye * spectacle,' bnt not in Heb. x. 33. Latimer says that Ham made a mocking-stock of his father. Writers of the same period often speak of Christ as oar Mercystock. We retain * frost-bitten,' but the- expressiye term 'hunger-bitten' (' His strength shall be hungerbitten,' Job» xyiii. 12) is gone. * Lost in a desert here and hungerbit* {Paradise Regained, ii. 416). To supply its place we now confine ' starving,* which once simply meant '■ dying,' to dying of hunger, or sometimes, but more rarely, of cold. The old word ' huDger-staryen ' was not tautologous. Chaucer speaks of Him that * star? for our redemption.' ' Winebibber' is almost obsolete, and certainly 'bibber' as a separate word, is not in use; it is, howeyer, so printed in the edition of 1611 in St. Matt. xi. 19; in St. Luke, yii. 34, the two words are connected by a hyphen. Howell writes, — * As soon as little Ant Shall bib the ocean dry.' Sometimes it is the simple word which is lost, thongh it suryiye in some compound. Timon of Athena says (iy. 1), * Itches, Mains, sow all the Athenian bosoms.' The term occurs in Exod. ix. 9, 10, * a boil breaking forth with blains.' We still speak of * chilblains.' So do wer also of * sheepcotes ' and * doyecotes,' but not of * cotes for flocks ' (2 Chron. xxxii. 28), although cot continues to be used, but with »> difference of meaning. Spencer writes, — * Or they will buy his sheepe out of the cote, Or they will caryen the shepheard's throte.' Shepherd's Calendar ^ September^ I M kneeling at the threshold: weary, would that I were with theni,.amicl faint, and sore ; their shining throng, Waiting for the dawning, for the open- Mingling in their worship, joining in ing of the door ; their song 1 ^"'^^^.n'^L^f '^ "*"" ^^ ""* Th« «e"ds that started with me har,. ns6 and come . . A weary path I've travelled, 'mid dark- Their pilgrimage was shorter, their ness, storm, and strife, triumph sooner won — Bearing many a burden, struggling for They wait to give me welcome when my life ; niy toil is done. ^"'""ZmsZ^o'e^"'^^''''"^*"'^ They and other angels, nowfreedft^m- '■'"^^'^"thldoor*!"'''"^'*'""'""'* Are st-^^Ttr^e portale. prepared to let me in. Methinks I hear the voices of the Iiord, I wait Thy pleasure ; Thy time blessed, as they stand and way are best; Singing in the sunshine of the emless But I*to wasted, worn, and weary- land ; father,, bid me rest ! 20 Digitized by Google Short Sermon. * Lord, I wait Thy pleasure ; Tby time aod way are best ; But I'm wasted, worn, and wtary— O Father, bid me i-est ! ' jS$OFf jSppmon. « SALTED WITH FIRE— SALTED WITH SALT.* BY W. BENHAM, B.D., VICAR OF MARGATE AND ONE OF THE SIX PREACHERS OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. S. Mark ix. 49, 50. — ' For every one shall he salted mth fire, and every sacrifice shall he salted itnth salt. Salt is good; but if the salt have lost its saltness wherewith mil ye season it? Have salt in yourselves^ and he at peace one with another,^ [iHIS is one of the hard places of Holy Scripture, but it is also a very solemn and important utterance of our Saviour Himself. Bear with me as I go over it, clause by clause, and try to make it clear to you. The first word, * for,' takes us back to what our Lord has already been telling His disciples, and it is this. He has just said (and in this Gospel of St. Mark the words are put with especial so- lemnity), ' If thy hand — ^thy foot — thine eye offend thee (i.e. lead thee to commit sin), cut them off and cast them from thee.' Just as a surgeon finds sometimes that he must cut v.r a limb to save a man's life, so our Saviour says we must make sacrifices for the sake of our souls, just as 21 Digitized by Google Short Sermon. great as the loss of a limb would be to our bodies. My friends, this is how the greater part of the sin that is in the world comes about, the temptation is so strong. The enemy of souls is a fierce enemy. He does not give us little temptations, but really hard and great ones. If you have no great temptations towards passionate temper, or falsehood, little acts of dishonesty, pride, self-conceit, or lust, then your life is no struggle at all. But we all have. Christian life is a struggle, at times a very stern and bitter one. There are times come to us wherein we are tempted so strongly to yield to some bosom sin, that not yielding seems like cutting off our very right hand. Then what does Christ say? Yield not ! This is the hour of your trial; stand fast, quit you like a man, be strong. Resist the devil; resist again and again — every resistance is one step nearer heaven. This is what Christ has been saying in the verses previous. Now, in the next place, I have to remark that in the law of Moses it was commanded that every offering made to God was to be salted. The command is given in Levit. ii. 13 : — * And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt ; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be wanting from thy meat offering : with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt.' Our Saviour is referring to that commandment here, * For every one shall be salted with fire, and every eacrifice shall be salted with salt.' Every one — t.e. eveiy true disciple— every one consecrated to My service — shall be salted with fire, shall be tried with afflictions, with suf- ferings of some kind or another. You know that Christians are often epoken of in the New Testament as sacrifices to God. Thus St. Paul, in Rom. xii., after speaking of the atonement which Christ has made for sin, goes on : *1 beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.* And so we say in our Com- munion Service, * And here we offer and present imto Thee,0 Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and lively sacri- fice unto Thee.' Christians, then, as the sacrifice, are to be made fit for presentation *o God by being salted with the fire of God's great purity and holiness. We are told of God Himself in the Epistle to the Hebrews, * Our God is a consuming fire.' We know that the fire which gives light and life consumes and destroys all that is perishable. And so it is with the spiritual fire of God. It is His great glory, the light in which His people will rejoice evermore ; it will illuminate the heavenly city, so that there shall be no need of sun or moon. But the same fire also bums unceasingly against sin. He causes it to enter into us here that it may burn up all that is vile and refuse, may search out, and cleanse, and purify our hearts and spirits. The process may be painful, but it is necessary. Just as the gold is mad|B bright and pure from dross by fire, so are God's children made fit for Heaven by trouble. Thus we are told by St. Paul, * The fire must try every man's work ; ' by 8t. Peter, * Our faith is tried, as gold is tried in the fire;' by Solomon, ^ As gold is tried in the fire, so are acceptable men in the furnace of adversity.' Therefore it is, my beloved, that sorrow is sent to us by God. Sometimes it is sickness — lon^^ weary nights and days men lie with aching bodies. Do not we .-. know that oftentimes that is a blessed thing for us ; that it leads men to turn to God and to consider 22 Digitized by Google Short Sermon. their past life ? Sometimes friends are taken from ns, sometimes onr hopes are disappointed and broken, the happy expectations we had in- dulged in do not tnm out as we had expected ; all these things are intended as purifying fires from the hand of God. They will all increase the joy of the final victory, because blessed is he that endureth. Every sorrow, every trial, brings a fuller measure of grace. Your sickness, your bereavement, your anxiety over your children, all these things will be helpers to you in the walk of faith. Every affliction — ^you cannot see what it is leading to now, for God's judgments are like the great deep— but every one will at last open some page in God's book to you, will show you something about yourself which you would not have known else, or will set you expecting more earnestly that heavenly rest which remaineth. God is cleansing your spiritual sight that it may be strong enough to bear the vision of Him when He appeareth. Day by day He is drawing the scales from your eyes ; there will come a day at last when you shall stand with unveiled face in His own blessed and happy light. But, my brethren, sometimes trial comes to us and does us no good. How is this? Our Saviour tells us in the next verse : * Salt is good ; but if the salt has lost its saltness, wherewith will ye season it ? ' That is, affliction is good — all God's dispensations are good, whether of grief or joy. Whatever God sends us, that is the best thing for us, if we use it aright and turn it to good account. But if we do not, if we take it all as a matter of chance, and do not recognise that a Father is dealing with us, then whatever may come to us will be like salt which has lost its savour. It will not season and preserve from corruption any longer. Wherewith can we be seasoned if God's dealings do not season us? Just as the same fire melts the ice and hardens the clay, so God's dealings of love harden our hearts if we will not receive them as from Him, and try to become the better for them. Suppose, for example, you rise from a bed of sickness with a heart unsoftened, with no gra- titude, no love, no repentance enkindled within, you will be a worse man than you were before it came. Or if, again, any blessing comes upon you — a happy home, prosperous life, kind friends, good children — they also are salt to season you, to kindle your love and gratitude towards Him who giveth you all things richly to enjoy, and watches you with sleepless love. Look upon your prosperity and upott your adversity as parts of God's education of you, both having the same end in vi^w ; namely, your everlasting peace. For Christ continues, * Have salt in yourselves.' Believe that God is ruling over you, guiding your life, and that everything is capable of being turned to good account by the help of His free Spirit. * Have salt in yourselves ; ' consider quietly what your life is to-day, and see what there is in it which can help to purify you from evil, to make you a sweet-smelliijg sacrifice fit to be presented before God in Heaven. Do not look forward to some future day and say, * When that time comes I shall be able to think more about my ^oul ; to serve God better.' Ask any one who has done so whether such a way of acting is not bad and hurtful? Why, it is letting the salt which God gives you now lose its savour. You say, * But there is so-and-so in my way now, and it makes the service of God difficult.' Yery likely ; but there always will be something. By the time this difficulty has passed away another will Digitized by Google Short Sermon. come , as Solomon says, * The clouds return after the rain.' No ; it will not do to trust to the future. Have salt in yourselves, in the life of to-day, and see what blessings, what tpials, what hopes, what tempt- ations you find in it. This is the way to be happy. Time passes swiftly along, and there is none to lose. A few years and it will all be over. Oh, my beloved! would God that my words might reach the heart of any careless ones among you, if there be any such here ! might convince you, that though time passes away so fast, yet the blessedness of using well all opportunities remains, and will remain for ever and ever, and the saints in Heaven will cease not to rejoice therein. Think of one who goes forth to his daily work in the belief that God his Father is watching over him, who strives — poor and ignorant though he may be — to do that Father's will, with a kind word and a kind deed as far as he can for every one — a heart full of love for Christ, a mind which strives to keep itself pure, lips which refuse to utter a foul word ; think especially of a young man doing this. He is having salt in himself, preparing himself to be presented by Christ, our High Priest,, as a blessed sacrifice of love. Mature age, old age, if God so wills it, will come. upon him, and still his face will be set heavenwards. Every day he will look up to God and wait for His smile, and he shall surely find. There will come a time when he shall wait no longer, because Christ will stand face to face with him and call him into His rest. The last words of the text are, * And have peace with one another. "^ In the 34th verse of this chapter we are told that the disciples had been disputing among themselves which should be the greatest in the king- dom of. Heaven. It was out of that dispute that the present discourse had arisen. And our Saviour comes back to that in these concluding words. He seems to have intended a double meaning to the word salt in the last verse, for salt had a twofold use in the East, and indeed has still. It was not only used for seasoning, but it had a symbolical meaning. as well. To ' eat salt' with a man meant to be on friendly terms with him. It is said that an Arab who has given you his word over the salt will never break it. And once in the Book of Chronicles this idea is hinted at (2 Chron. xiii. 5). It would, therefore, seem that our Saviour means here — * This grace of God which is in you to preserve you from evil, and to season you for an acceptable sacrifice, let it also have another good efiect — let it be the means of preserving brotherly love among you.' Our Christian profession not only leads us to be devout towards. God, it teaches us also our duty towards our neighbour. There can be no real religion well-pleasing to God unless we love one another. Therefore believe tliat all God's dealings with you are dealings of love, and let your faith in His love lead you to love your brethren, to be kindly-afiectioned, forgiving, gentle, for Christ's dear sake. As the- death of Christ teaches you, so let your goodness teach others the great lesson of charity. Blessed are they who so teach, for they shall be greatest in the kingdom of Heaven. 24 Digitized by Google Nora's Bevenge, and its consequences. " Oh, Hannah, papa says, * I may go to the fair, if yon will take me'; dear, kind Hannah, do take me," said little Nora Herford one day to her old nnrse. " Yes, Hannah, Nora has been coaxing me all the morning to let you take her," said Mr. Herford coming up. '* I do not mind her going, if you will take her; but you must promise not to go into any of the shows, for I have a particular dislike to anything of the kind." " Certainly, Sir ; I shall be very happy to take Miss Nora ; and we can start directly after dinner — ^it will be quite early enough — ^and we will on no account go into any of the shows," said Hannah, very good naturedly. " T knew you would take me, — ^it will be nice," — and Nora began wondering what she should buy with the money her papa had given her. Diiectly after dinner, Nora and her nurse started for the fair. They lived in a small country village, about half-an-hour's walk from the town of A. It was a pretty walk, for, being in the month of August, you would here and there see a cottager sitting outside his cottage door, or you would pass by a winnowing machine, or see a number of children rolling about in the hay,^-or sliding down the stacks, or you would pass by a corn field and see the men busy with their sickles, beginning to cut it. It was one of those warm August days which gives a sleepy sensation over you. I think, if I were Nora, I should much rather have gone to sleep in the hay, than have gone down to the fair. However, Nora was enchanted with the fair, and at once spent one shilling and sixpence on a shell workbox. They went from place to place, at one time admiring this and another time that thing, until Hannah was surprised when she looked at her watch to find it so late. Nora, who had gone on a few steps in front, came running back to Hannah to say there was a most wonderful sight to be seen — an acting dog, who could perform the most marvellous things. *' Take me in, Hannah, it is only a penny ; I'll pay for us both." " You know your papa forbad us go into any of the shows. Miss Nora, or I would take you." " But papa said, * I was not to go into any of the shows,' and this is in the open air. I saw a whole crowd of people near where it is written up, so do take me, do, oh you must, Hannah," said the little girl, as Hannah slowly shook her head. " I think you ought to be quite satisfied, my dear," said the old wom n ; *' you have seen quite enough, and it is now a quarter to &ve, and we have to be home for tea at six ; so come along. Miss Nora, and don't stand there any longer." " I shall think it very unkind of you if you don't take me, and I'll never forgive you," said Nora, beginning to get angry. Hannah lost her patience at last, and took Nora, who was now crying, by the hand and led her out of the fair. When Nora got home she talked but little to her papa about what she had seen, and now went to bed complaining of a bad headache. I dare say you will think Nora very cross and disagi^eable, but she had no mamma, neither sisters nor brothers, and she lived alone with her papa, who was very indulgent to Digitized by Google her. Before going to bed, Nora went into the nnrsery to fetch some milk. " I have not any up here. Miss," said Hannah, " but I will fetch you some directly I have finished the hole in this stocking." Nora waited ; and, to begaile the time, she began to ask questions. "I often wonder what is in that box up there, Hannah. I know it belongs to you,— do tell me what is inside it,-^~I should like so much to know." " Inside that box is the last present my son gave me before he went away ; I don't like to take it down for fear it should get broken, and I don't like to look at it for it makes me think of him," and old Hannah bent down a little nearer her stocking, for her only child had been drowned at sea some years ago. Soon after she went down for the milk, and Nora was left alone, and she thought she would get upon a chair, and get down the box and look at what was inside. She did so, and as she got the cup and saucer out of the box, a thought suddenly came into her heart ; she would revenge herself upon poor old Hannah, and take the cup and saucer away from her, and not give it back to her until she seemed really sorry for not having taken her to see the performing dog, for, thought Nora, she seems quite to have forgotten about it, and how unhappy she made me ; and the little girl slowly turned the cup round and round. Yes, I will, thought she, and quickly took out the saucer, and shut the box, and put it back in the same plaod, and ran quickly out of the nursery, and did not stop until she got into the spare bedroom. Nora had decided to put the cup and saucer into the very highest drawer where no one ever went; and for this, she had to get a chair ; and then she was scarcely tall enough. At all events she had made up her mind to put it in, and she let first the saucer and then the cup drop in ; and as she let go the cup, she heard a little chink : it could not be broken, thought Nora. The thought startled her so much that she shut the drawer, jumped off the chair, and ran back into the nursery. To he continued. Offertories and Communicants. 8. Mary Magdalene. 1874. Service. Com. Object Offertories. Feast of the Circ, Jan. 1 8 a.m. 16 Poor 8 2 2nd Sun. after Christmas 11 a.m. Poor 8 18 7 p.m. Church Expenses. 12 Ist Sun. after Epiphany 2nd Sun. after Epiphany 8 a.m. 9 Poor 5 2 8 a.m. 18 Poor 8 14 11 a.m. Parish Schools. 6 11 7 p.m. do. 1 4 84 3rd Sun. after Epiphany 8 a.m. 7 p.m. 16 Poor 8 6 9 7 (Conversion of S. Paul) 8 a.m. 7 p.m. 25 Poor 1 2 10 15 54 8. Oeorge-the 'Martyr, 2nd Sun. after Christmas 8 a.m. 20 Poor 10 7 1st Sun. after Epiphany 11 a.m. 7 p.m. Parish Schools. 3 7 2 13 2nd Sun. after Epiphany 11 a.m. 25 Poor 9 4 Almsboxes for the month — S. Mary Magdalene, 2s. ; S. George-the-Martyr, Is. Digitized by Google Holy Days for the Month. Feb, 2nd. The Presentation of Christ in the TempUy commonly called the Purification of 8. Mary the Virgin. As on this day the Virgin Mother brought her Divine Son to present our human natnre before God in His temple, so snrely Christian mothers will recall with deep thankfulness the day when they brought their first- born to be dedicated to Gk>d in Holy Baptism. It was the consecration oi the Holy Child to the life of sacrifice He came down to earth to lead. In Baptism we are pledged to imitate that life, and to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to the Lord. Feb. 18th, Ash Wednesday, The first day of Lent, the forty days set apart to commemorate our Lord's &sting and temptation. As He *^ left us an example that we should follow His steps," we must not disregard this solemn season, but endeavour to give a more earnest attention to our religious duties than we usually practise. Let us each try to do something this Lent, that when joyful Easter comes we may feel that the season of penitence has been blessed to us. Let us try to be more frequent partakers of the Holy Feast, more constantly at the daily services, or more liberal in almsgiving, or more watchful over some besetting sin. Can we not try to be more forgiving, less censorious, less selfish, less slothful and in- different ? Feb. 2Uh. Feast of 8, Matthias, We know but little of this Apostle, but there is something remarkable in the little we do know. He was the first of the long line of clergy, which, known to the Church as the " Apostolic Succession," has descend- ed in one tmbroken chain from his consecration by the Apostles to the present day. Our thoughts should also rest to-day on the awful warning given by the fate of the Apostle Judas, against the fearful danger of sinning against light, of falling away after having been a partaker of holy things. District Visiting Account for 1873. Collected. Interest. Interest on O £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. Miss Rigaud - 18 1 1 7 10 8 9 Miss Hawkins 6 4 6 7 6 Miss Bessant - 20 1 6 6 12 Miss L. Bessant 11 16 6 4 8 6 Mrs. Whitmarsh 6 8 10 8 9 2 Miss Burrows 17 6 6 8 2 6 6 Miss Ward 86 3 8 1 3 2 10 6 Miss M. Ward 21 18 11 8 11 - 10 9 £187 16 1 £8 9 6 £2 17 2 17 £6 6 6 Received District Visiting Society . £5 ,, Interest Sayings Bank - 18 II i,emau aing deficiency (paid) - 8 6 Digitized by Google Parish Notices. A Special Service will be held in S. Mary Magdalene's Chnrcli on Monday evenings, at 8 o'clock, during Lent. The first sermon will be preached by the Rev. W. B. Dnggan, Vicar of S.. Paul's. A Confinnation will be held in the Parish Church of S. Peter's-in- the-Bast, on Maundy Thursday, April 2nd, at 2 p.m., at which the Bishop will receive any candidates from this parish. All those who wish to be confirmed are requested to send in their names, so that classes may be formed without delay. It may be interesting to our readers to compare the number of births, marriages, and deaths, as evidenced by the registers ten years ago, with thoseof thetwopastyears. Forthispurposethefollowingtableisinserted : 1862. 60 Baptisms. 21 Marriage. 45 Burials. 1863. 42 „ 18 „ 42 „ During the last year there were 38 baptisms as against 36 in 1872, 11 marriages as against 15 in 1872, and 38 burials as against 40 in 1872. The Balance Sheet of the OfEertory Monies collected and distributed during 1873 will be ready for publication in a few days. It will be inserted in next month's Magazine. The following additional Donations have been received during the month of January : — Towards the School debt — Mr. Frederick Morrell 5 Mr. M. HoUiday ... 5 Mr. Davenport 5 Mr. Edward Owen 10 Miss Edwards 10 Miss Speakman ... 10 Towards the S. Mary Magdalene Organ Fund — Mr. E. Owen 10 Members of the S. Maiy J. L. N. P 2 8 Magdalene Choir 10 4 *«* Owing to the pressure upon our space an account of the Parish Concert is reserved for next montL Parish Library. The Parish Library has been re-organized as follows. There will be two classes of subscriptions — Class A. For subscribers of not less than Is. per quarter. There are many new books in this division, and we hope more persons will join it. It will remain as before imder the care of Miss Bessant, who will attend at the School House on every Friday, from 12 to 1, to give out the books. A new division of the Library, to be called Class B, has been formed by the kind aid of donations given for the purpose of providing useful and entertaining reading at a low price for all who may be willing to avail themselves of it, and could not otherwise procure it. We specially invite the working men and women, the children of our schools and choirs, shopkeepers, servants, and the young of all classes to become subscribers. The subscriptidn to Class B. Is not less than Id. per month. It will be under the management of Mrs. Rogers, and the Library will be open for the exchange of books every Wednesday from 12 to 1, beginning on Wednesday, Feb. 4. Donations in money or in books are still needed, and will be grate- fully received by the Vicar, the Secretary, or the Librarian. C. D. Digitized by VjOOQIC Digitized by Google Digitized by Google