in this church during
the times of popery though it is very probable there has been one. About
the year 1676, the corporation of Newcastle contributed L300 towards
the erection of the present organ. They added a trumpet stop to it June
22d, 1699."

The year that Avison was born, 1710, it is recorded further that "the
back front of this organ was finished which cost the said corporation
L200 together with the expense of cleaning and repairing the whole
instrument."

June 26, 1749, the common council of Newcastle ordered a sweet stop to
be added to the organ. This was after Avison became organist, his
appointment to that post having been in 1736. So we know that he at
least had a "trumpet stop" and a "sweet stop," with which to embellish
his organ playing.

The church is especially distinguished for the number and beauty of its
chantries, and any who have a taste for examining armorial bearings will
find two good-sized volumes devoted to a description of those in this
church, by Richardson. Equal distinction attaches to the church owing to
the beauty of its steeple, which has been called the pride and glory of
the Northern Hemisphere. According to the enthusiastic Richardson it is
justly esteemed on account of its peculiar excellency of design and
delicacy of execution one of the finest specimens of architectural
beauty in Europe. This steeple is as conspicuous a feature of Newcastle
as the State House Dome is of Boston, situated, as it is, almost in the
center of the town. Richardson gives the following minute description of
this marvel. "It consists of a square tower forty feet in width, having
great and small turrets with pinnacles at the angles and center of each
front tower. From the four turrets at the angles spring two arches,
which meet in an intersecting direction, and bear on their center an
efficient perforated lanthorne, surmounted by a tall and beautiful
spire: the angles of the lanthorne have pinnacles similar to those on
the turrets, and the whole of the pinnacles, being twelve in number, and
the spire, are ornamented with crockets and vanes."

There is a stirring tradition in regard to this structure related by
Bourne to the effect that in the time of the Civil Wars, when the Scots
had besieged the town for several weeks, and were still as far as at
first from taking it, the general sent a messenger to the mayor of the
town, and demanded the keys, and the delivering up of the town, or he
would immedi