impediment. But now the great northern railroad, which may be called the aorta, or main artery of the nation, being completed, time and space were, to a certain extent, annihilated, and the happiness of two very loving friends promoted. Accordingly, setting out early one morning, I arrived before night at my friend's house, two hundred and fifty miles distant from my own residence. I found Morton a little the worse for years, and evidently rather careworn with the burden and responsibility of four thousand souls resting on him, but still the same cheerful companion and hearty friend as formerly. We had a thousand things to discuss; a host of old friends to talk about; many changes to deplore; others—perhaps at least equal in magnitude to rejoice over; for we were both of sanguine temperament, and still in the full vigour of life. We had not arrived at that age which views improvements with suspicion, and is unable to enter into the restorative course upon which the Church has now set herself in earnest. The hour of midnight had struck before our first colloquy was ended. "I fear," said I, starting from my seat," that I am keeping you up later than your usual wont. What hour do you assemble in the morning?" "We have prayers at half-past seven, and breakfast soon after eight." "I will not fail to meet you," said I, as I wished my friend good night. Next morning, at the hour mentioned, I descended from my room, and found the vicar in the front hall, with his hat on his head, his stick under his arm, and in the act of drawing on his gloves. The hall-door was open, and the fresh morning breeze poured in freely to the house; while the newly risen sun cast its cheerful light on the venerable church which stood on the other side of the well-trimmed garden and shrubbery. "Is it not your hour for prayers?" I asked. "Yes; will not you accompany me to church?" "To church? most willingly; but that is a new arrangement." "Rather, an old one revived," answered my friend. : "Well, we will talk about that afterwards it is a good custom at any rate;" and forthwith I accompanied him to the church, to which the rest of his family had already gone before. On entering the church, I was much struck with the extreme beauty and propriety of its arrangements, which I afterwards learned was chiefly owing to the taste and zeal of my friend. Basil Morton was in truth a most zealous churchrestorer in every sense of the word; not only of its tone and spirit, and of its forgotten or neglected usages, but of the smallest points of order or decoration. He would often use the expression of George Herbert, "There is nothing little in God's service." On first obtaining the living, he had laid out a con siderable sum in restoring and beautifying the church, before he had spent one shilling on his own parsonage; and, by the example of his continued liberality, had induced his parishioners to take a pride in their place of worship, and endeavour to make it more worthy of Him whose it was. Many pieces of beautiful moulding and tracery, and a handsome roof of carved oak, which the ignorance of former churchwardens had plastered up, were brought out and restored to view; several tall unsightly pews had been lowered to the height of the rest; a beautiful gothic window, of the best stained glass which could be obtained in these degenerate days, shed a calm and rich lustre from the east end; but the greatest improvement of all was the removal of a cumbrous and gaudy pulpit, which, in the days of former incumbents, had entirely obstructed the chancel. The pulpit, in a more tasteful and modest shape, was now placed against one of the side-columns of the transept, so that when you knelt to pray, the eye rested on the holy altar, simply but richly decorated, having on it, when not prepared for the communion, a rich covering of crimson velvet, a massive Bible and PrayerBook, and the whole surmounted by a simple cross; (not a crucifix, observe, good reader: a crucifix is an image, and Basil Morton was as great a foe to Romish abuses as to Puritan slovenliness, and considered the "bowing down" to a crucifix a direct infringement of the second commandment, or certainly too much like it to be safe). One very beautiful and reverent custom of the English Church had been revived by my friend, namely, the decoration of the altar on certain days with garlands of flowers and evergreens. This custom has in most churches become disused, except on the Feast of the Nativity; but my friend adopted it on all the principal festivals and the pious care thus taken to adorn God's house in a worthy manner contributed, no doubt, to engender feelings of respect and holy devotion. On the morning when I first entered the church, the congregation, though small, was more numerous than I had expected on a week-day at that early hour. There were between twenty and thirty persons, perhaps rather more. I think I never heard our beautiful Liturgy to more advantage, or felt more deeply its solemn impressiveness. It is scarcely a paradox to say, that in some churches you never hear the Liturgy at all. The clergyman may perform his part with propriety, but the congregation seem to forget when it comes to their turn to respond and join in the prayers and praises. No wonder that the service is apt to appear tedious, when it is a mere duet between the minister and the clerk. But the congregation now assembled had come really to worship, and every one took his part in the service. The psalms were chaunted by six choristers, clad in white surplices, accompanied by the soft notes of the organ, while the voices of four or five respectable-looking young men filled up the other parts of the harmony, the whole congregation adding their melody to that of the choir. At last the blessing was pronounced, and, after a silent interval of prayer, the congregation rose to depart. As they left the church, I could not but remark the heterogeneous character of the assemblage. They seemed to consist of no one class of persons more than another, but to be taken from all ranks of life, both high and low; and such, as my friend afterwards told me, was indeed the fact. When he began the daily prayers, not more than half-a-dozen persons had attended, but they gradually increased, and were still increasing, in numbers. Sometimes a new face appeared for a few days, and then was seen no more; but, generally speaking, those who once began, continued regular in attendance. Every one of the congregation, which I had that morning seen, would be there, he assured me, the following day. And so it proved. First, there was a tall elderly gentleman, who, by his appearance, was evidently a military officer, accompanied by a young lady, the picture of elegant simplicity these, I learned, were Sir St. Vincent Miles and his daughter, who lived at the old mansion on the opposite side of the church. He had seen much service, had passed his life in camps and courts with honour and integrity, and had now retired from the world to devote his remaining days to a closer communion with that God whom, amidst the temptations of the world, he had been never known to dishonour. There were several other persons of both sexes, evidently belonging to the upper ranks |