ment for the spectator to hurry up the broad ladders into the belfry, to The author describes the tolling of the great bell of S. Paul's, on occasion of the death of George IV. The day that we recall, was extremely sultry; the atmosphere was heavy, and charged with electricity; the windows were thrown wide open to catch any chance breeze from the river. . . . . With ponderous stroke the bell tolled; and the sound spread like the angry rolling of distant thunder over the whole metropolis-a dull booming tone, which seemed to vibrate through every building and on every nerve. A minute passed, and the sound had died gradually away, when another tremendous stroke on the bell was heard, and the noise seemed to roll as before, over the whole city, like the unfolding of a thunder-cloud. At each repetition of the tolling, the impression from it became more powerfully awful. .. [The tollings] seemed to be charged with a message of irresistible evil: they carried you involuntarily to the chamber of almighty death they might have been the herald of national pestilence-you might have yielded minute after minute to their monstrous power, until you fancied the crach of doom' was coming. Aided as it no doubt was by the peculiar state of the atmosphere, we own that we have never felt a more dispiriting influence from any earthly sound" (p. 87). There are numerous other passages strikingly given, for which, however, we must refer our readers to the little volume itself. : A Brief History and Description of the Cathedral Church of S. Peter, THIS is a successful attempt to provide a careful and scientific description of the cathedral, which should supersede the ordinary twaddle of guide-books. Perhaps it may err in the opposite direction: for we doubt if any one would consult it except to get at bare facts. There is a ground plan, and a collection of chronological lists of considerable value; and the history is very succinctly given. But the author cannot help being more profuse upon such a provocation as this: During the commonwealth the cathedral was divided into two portions by a brick wall, erected, as it would appear, upon the rood-loft, blocking also the entrance to the choir-aisles. The nave was called West Peter's, Stukeley or Stucley, a notorious Independent' preacher, and Cromwell's chaplain, exercising his ministry therein in the congregational way'; the choir was termed East Peter's, and profaned in similar manner by Thomas Ford, a Puritan. These men had great quiet and comfort' for about ten or twelve years, but were happily ejected at the Restoration," p. 17. The account of the magnificent establishment of the cathedral before the Reformation contrasted with its present most insufficient staff is painfully interesting. The author uses our own nomenclature. We regret to see a note in page 24, calling the triforium" an absurd name, and recommending "blindstory." We cannot think the latter word a happy one; and the other, if its derivation be obscure, is generally understood and has been adopted by foreign ecclesiological writers in several languages. There are some very earnest remarks about the meanness of the choir and the need of restoring its use to the nave, with which, of course, we sympathise but we do not feel quite sure whether it is wise to recommend the demolition of the present screen. ECCLESIOLOGICAL NOTES. S. John Baptist, Newton Nottage, Glamorganshire. This church, situated close to the sand-hills on the Bristol Channel, has probably been very little visited, nor is there anything in its external appearance very remarkable except its tower, which has a packsaddle roof, the east and west sides having gables. The tower is generally rude in its construction, with small openings and some of them now closed, and under the parapet the plain corbel table usually found in the towers of South Wales; the west door however is of more elegant and finished character, having a high ogee canopy flanked by pinnacles, and enriched with crockets and a large finial, the foliage of which is arranged so as to form a cross. The mouldings are good, and there are small shafts stilted on a stone ledge. The whole of the church seems to be of Third-Pointed character, and it consists only of a chancel and nave, with a large south porch, now used as a vestry. It contains however one curious feature within in the curious stone pulpit, to which the original approach by a staircase within the wall still remains. The pulpit is against the north wall and of very unusual form, being semicircular, though apparently of Third-Pointed date. It has round the upper part a cornice of foliage and grapes not very delicately executed, below which are sculptured three figures, representing the martyrdom of a saint, who is bound by the feet and placed between two executioners, one of whom is in the act of lifting a sword. This has also been supposed to represent the flagellation of our LORD. The entrance into the pulpit from the staircase is under a flat arch which has a flowered moulding and sculpture in the spandrels with figures of angels. The staircase is entered by a door in the wall having a flattened trefoil head, which also communicates with the rood-stairs, which are perfect, as well as the rood-door above. There is nothing else remarkable in the church except the altar, which consists of a very large marble slab, mounted upon solid masonry, but apparently of no great antiquity. The slab does not appear to be an original altar stone, as there is no trace of the crosses. S., Haddington, Scotland. This fine church, we believe, was formerly collegiate; and notwithstanding the ruinous condition of the choir and transepts, still presents one of the most considerable specimens of ancient ecclesiastical architecture in Scotland. Perhaps even among Scottish churches this one may be said to have a large share of the foreign peculiarities of style which we once noticed. It is wholly and uniformly Flamboyant, widely differing from English churches, yet it wants one marked foreign feature, viz., the apsidal east end. The church is on a grand scale, of cruciform plan, with a central tower, and aisles to both chancel and nave. It stands within a spacious burying-ground quite detached from the town, and in a pleasing situation near the river, and some picturesque effect is derived from the curious admixture of red and grey stone in its outer walls. The whole of the choir, and transepts, and tower are unroofed; the nave is occupied as the parochial place of Presbyterian worship, and as such is kept clean and in tolerable repair, but its pued, galleried, and altarless interior presents a dreary spectacle to the ecclesiologist. The arcades of the nave are very fine and lofty, with five bold pointed arches on each side, rising from clustered piers, each of four shafts, with capitals of foliage continued all round, except in one case where the capital is plain. The shafts intended to support the original groining remain, but the present groining is of plaister and quite modern. The clerestory windows are of two lights; those in the aisles of three, all of a debased Flamboyant kind, and generally without foliation. The west window is very large, of six lights, and in two divisions, but by no means elegant. There are round arches to the window lights, and the west door is very singular, of the double kind, presenting two semicircular arches contained within a larger one, having fine and deeply cut mouldings containing bold foliage, and clustered shafts. The mouldings and details contrast oddly with the shape of the arch, but the same peculiarity will often be found in Scottish churches, yet perhaps there is no door of the kind so much enriched as this. The ends of the nave and transepts have a horizontal parapet, above which rises the gable, an arrangement by no means pleasing. At the west end the buttresses are surmounted by pinnacles. There is a cornice of bold foliage all round the exterior of the church, beneath the parapets; in the aisles of the nave are open parapets, which however seem to be of modern restoration. The four arches under the tower are very lofty, rising on piers of clustered shafts, alternately octagonal and circular. The tower is very unn-English, and does not seem to have been completed. It has on each side three long round-headed belfry windows with transoms, which are flanked on each side by a small niche. The windows of the transept come rather more near to our Middle-Pointed tracery than those in the other parts of the church. The choir has, as has been remarked, a flat east end, of which the window is rather small. This end has large buttresses finished by short pinnacles set on square embattled pedestals. The arcades within the choir are lower than those of the nave, and inferior to them in style. The clustered shafts of the groining still remain, and the windows of aisles and clerestory closely resemble those of the nave. The sacristy on the north side is covered in, and under it is the burial place of the Earls of Lauderdale. There is no trace of sedilia or piscinæ. NEW CHURCHES. S. Paul, Bermondsey.-We gave in page 110 of this volume a notice of this church, founded on a lithograph of the exterior, showing the east and north sides, which was in the main laudatory to Mr. Teulon, the architect, though containing the saving clause--" of course we know nothing of the internal arrangements." We have since seen the actual building, and in duty to the public must beg pardon for what we have said in its praise. To begin with the exterior. As we have said, the lithograph shows two sides. It would be difficult to give more; and those sides, as might be supposed, are the ones most in sight. Their material is stone. That of the remaining two is yellow brick. To proceed to the interior. The style, as we have previously stated, is transitional between First and Middle-Pointed. Accordingly the capitals of the pillars are Middle-Pointed in character. The bases, which are considerably stilted, are alternately Romanesque and nondescript. The prayer-desk faces west, and is supported by a clerk's desk. The pulpit (the best feature in the church, though not devoid of faults) stands at the south-west angle of the sacrarium. Over the altar is a vulgar gilt representation of the HOLY SPIRIT. The seats are open. Galleries run round three sides of the church. The stone carving is executed very coarsely, which ought not to be the case, as the church was contracted for by Mr. Myers, to whom we have a right to look for carefully executed details. There is a pretence about the whole design which makes it far more repulsive to us than a church which is honestly cheap and bad. The money which it cost might have built a church good (galleries perhaps excepted) and handsome, and accommodating as large a congregation as the present one. S. Jude, Bethnal Green. This church, by Mr. Clutton, has been some little time built. The style adopted is German Romanesque, and the architect has endeavoured with the limited funds at his disposal, to give it some of the variety of outline observable in his prototypes. The church is cruciform, with two towers and spires at the west of the transepts in the angle between them and the nave. The apse --of three sides-is more elevated than the remainder of the church. There are no aisles nor clerestory, but under the eaves we find external galleries; which occur frequently in German Romanesque, but which there is no reason to repeat in these times and in England. The wall is thickened under it;-the reason of this will appear as we enter. The internal effect is very peculiar, thoroughly un-English, but yet not un-churchlike. The nave very broad-is spanned by a barrelroof of stone ribs at certain distances, with timbers between. The lantern and apse have plaister groining. As we said, there are no aisles, but beneath the windows a narrow passage has been made in the thickness of the wall, opening into the church by a continuous arcade, and serving as a vomitorium,—a device more original than successful. The transepts contain galleries. The apse is lighted by two rows of windows. The ritual arrangements are not satisfactory. There are outside the sacrarium-rail three stalls on each side, but they are in practice useless, for prayers are read from a desk facing west, while in the centre of the lantern stands the font, with the kneeling stone on the east side necessitating the priest's turning away from the altar. The pulpit is on the south side. The seats are all open, but we observed with great disgust that some of the more aristocratic holders have begun unchecked to introduce the pew-system by extemporising doors, of which the one to the "Minister's pew is far the shabbiest, apparently indeed knocked up out of an old luncheon-tray. Such a practice cannot be too severely noticed: this was the way by which open seats first grew into pews, and so, if it is left unnoticed, they may do again. With all its faults and irregularities, this church looks better than many a badly attempted Pointed church, and with reverent fittings, painted glass, &c., might be made to look somewhat impressive. This does not, of course, at all excuse Mr. Clutton for his adoption of German Romanesque. But we trust that he is developing into something better. The style is carried out in the schools adjoining. We were glad to perceive an unaffected use of brick in their monials. The material of the whole group is yellow brick, with some stone in the church. The programme of services affixed to the church is very scanty; which, if this or the other Bethnal Green churches are to do missionary work, is most deeply to be regretted. S. Simon Zelotes, Bethnal Green.-This church, by Mr. Ferrey, is very commendable as one of the first churches, which have been built in London with an ecclesiastical intention; at the same time, there are faults about it which we must notice, if we mean to do our duty. The style is intended to be transitional between First and MiddlePointed, but it fails from its want of amalgamation-some parts being purely First, and others purely Middle-Pointed. The design consists of a nave with aisles and clerestory, and a chancel without aisles, with a belfry between the nave and the chancel. This belfry is not at all felicitous. There are internally two chancel arches (the most westernly supported on corbels), which sustain externally, a small oblong towerlet, (its long sides being to the east and west,) of two stories, the lower one pierced with two lancets in its long, and one in its short sides, the upper story with one lancet in each side. The effect is far from |