e antique school of
life. "Where will you sit?" said a large-hearted young man, when we
made our second appearance. "There," was our reply, pointing at the
same time to a well-cushioned and genially sequestered seat at the
north-west corner, and we were ushered into it with becoming
decorum. In two minutes afterwards five women and a festive infant,
dressed in a drab cloak, and muffled all over to keep the cold out,
stopped at the pew door. We stepped out; three of the females, with
the baby, stepped in; the remainder went into the next pew; and
after condensing our nerve power, we settled down in the corner from
which we had been disturbed, quietly lifting one hand over the door
and latching it firmly at the same moment, our idea being than an
environment of five females, with a baby thrown into the bargain,
was quite enough for the remainder of the morning. After an inquiry
as to the christening arrangements at the church, for we fancied
this was a christening gathering, we got nearer the baby, and, in a
delicately sympathetic whisper said--"How old is it?" The maiden who
was holding it blushed, and laconically breathed out the words,
"Three months." We subsequently found out that the seat we were in
was the incumbent's, and that the blessed baby, whose lot we had
been contemplating with such interest, was his, too.

Six minutes before the commencement there were only nine persons in
the body of the church; but nearly 300 were congregated there when
the service began, whilst the gallery was well filled with
worshippers of all ages and sizes. All the responses here are
"congregational"--none of them being in any way intoned. We believe
that St. Paul's is the only Protestant church in Preston wherein
this system is observed. The effect, when compared with the plans of
intonation now so universal, is very singular; and it sometimes
sounds dull and monotonous--like a long, low, rumbling of irregular
voices, as if there were some quaint, oddly-humoured contention
going on in every pew. But the worshippers seem to like the system,
and as they have a perfect right to be their own judges, other
people must be silent on the subject. The music is not of an
extraordinary sort; it is plain, and very well joined in by the
congregation. But the choir, like many others, lacks weight and
symphony. Mrs. Myres, the wife of the incumbent, is a member of the
choir, and if all the other individuals in it had her musical
knowledge, an im