could be applied only to unite two contiguous parishes of which the aggregate population should not exceed 1500, and the aggregate yearly value should not exceed 500/.; and the last law of this nature, the 13 and 14 Vict. c. 98, to unite contiguous parishes" of which the aggregate population should not exceed 1200 persons, notwithstanding the aggregate yearly value should exceed 500." The present Bill proposes to assume the like power" without regard to aggregate population or aggregated yearly value." It further proposes (by sect. 2), upon the union of two benefices, to make them "subject to a certain amount of rent-charge in perpetuity, in favour of some other specified benefice in the same diocese," however distant, or even to transfer "the whole" of the income of one of the united benefices in that manner.

But the most monstrous and innovating proposal as regards the Christian people whose present rights and possessions are to be confiscated, is that contained in the seventh and eighth sections of the Bill: which would enact, that, after the ordinary forms of an Order in Council, &c. have been gone through," the fee simple and inheritance of the site of each such Church, and the building materials of each such Church, and the burial ground or burial grounds belonging thereto, if the same has or have ceased under competent authority to be used for the interment of the dead, shall, without any further transfer, conveyance, or other form of law being had, observed, or required, belong to and be vested in Her Majesty's Commissioners for building new Churches, in trust to make sale or dispose of such sites and burial ground, or any part thereof, and such materials, at such times and at such prices and in such manner, as in their discretion shall seem fit."

It appears to us that the most extraordinary part of these destructive proposals is that the parishioners, the parties most interested, are to have no voice in the matter. They are not asked or permitted to give or withhold their consent, but absolute power is placed in the hands of the ecclesiastical authorities already mentioned. No longer implored to contribute to the spiritual aid of their destitute brethren, the parishioners of the devoted churches are simply ordered to "stand and deliver!" The only satisfaction offered to them is, they may remove the remains "of any deceased person whose body may within the last twenty years (before the passing of this Act) have been interred or deposited in any grave or vault disturbed," and that a sum not exceeding ten pounds may be allowed to them for the expenses

of so doing. The like pittance is also offered for the removal of a tomb or monument.

By the 16th section it is provided that the Bishop of London may assign one of the churches, otherwise to be taken down, for the performance of service in Welsh ; and by the 17th he is directed to prepare a scheme for the transference to other churches of the Lectures founded in the churches to be pulled down.

We are now desirous to direct attention to the arguments in opposition to this scheme which are advanced, at a greater length than our present limits will allow us to detail them, in a very able pamphlet which has appeared from the pen of a distinguished member of the Institute of British Architects. It is addressed to the Bishop of London, and urges in a just and forcible way the claims of " CONSECRATION versus DESECRATION."

Addressing the Bishop of London, the writer appropriately commences his argument by reminding his Lordship of his former brilliant success in exciting a spirit of Church extension by legitimate and voluntary effort, and suggesting that success as a ground for hesitating, to say the least, before adopting other and questionable means. He next pleads the historical interest attached to most of the City Churches as having been the result of the last great Church-building movement in the diocese of London, and the fruit of great and noble devotion and self-sacrifice at a moment of unexampled distress and disaster;-as being a standing example to future and more prosperous ages, and not a mere investment on which such ages are to draw, to reduce their own expenditure. He maintains the principle that it is our duty and ought to be our privilege to provide for the arrears of population of our own day; that this is a wholesome responsibility, and one from which it will do harm to relieve ourselves, and which there are ample means to meet; for in the poorest districts the owners of the land and houses at least ought to be able to do much, whatever may be the poverty of those who occupy them, and the rich of other districts are also always ready to aid those less able to provide for themselves. He points out as a general rule the impropriety of desecrating land once dedicated for the worship of God, or the sepulture of the dead; that any cases in which this is admissible should be viewed as strictly exceptional, and that the principle of the indiscriminate mobilisation of churches is dangerous in the extreme, is contrary to the very principles of consecration, and calculated to make that solemn rite a mere farce, having no real meaning.

He argues that in a place of such enormous wealth, and such stupendous mercantile transactions, as the City of London-the mart of the globe-it is but right that the worship of God should be provided for on some less niggardly rule than mere calculations of fixed population; that the concourse of people during every week-day is enormous, and might provide congregations at daily services in every Church, and that such services would not be inappropriate, nor, it may be hoped, without result, in a city whose transactions depend so directly upon the divine blessing, and that even where a few only join in them such blessing may be looked for. He suggests that a more active and zealous clergy might make the city the centre of missionary exertion to the whole metropolis, and itself the very pattern of pastoral care and religious cultivation; and that, on the removal of the pews, which, if not actually closed against the poor, are well known to present barriers which always practically lead to their exclusion, there still remains in most parishes a fixed population sufficient to supply tolerable congregations. He raises a well-grounded warning against the effect which supplies of money obtained without exertion will have in checking the impulse that has latterly been given to voluntary effort, and in furnishing ready excuses to those who wish for them; and this he has reason to believe has even now begun to act, and may be regarded as the just retribution to be expected from any attempt to further the cause of God by spurious means. next stigmatises "the horrible sacrilege of selling the burial-places of our forefathers" as an act which even the most uncivilized would repudiate with abhorrence, and which would bring about scenes against which the first sympathies of our nature must rebel, and which would outrage every principle in which we have been led to view Christian burial. "On what principle, for instance, are cemeteries consecrated (not to mention the fees for opening graves) if they may be sold for secular purposes, the bodies dug up, and the purchase-money devoted to building churches elsewhere; Would it not make consecration appear a mere trick to delude the unthinking multitude-a lie, one may almost say, not only to man but to God? Burial-places, my Lord, are not the property of the Church: they may in theory be so called, but this is for the sake of placing them under her sacred protection, as the surest and most inviolable sanctuary, not for giving her power to sell the bodies of the dead committed to her charge; and I contend that, should the Church ever be guilty of so fearful a breach of trust, an act by which

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she would deservedly lose much of her hold upon the people, the purchase-money would be the property of the Parish, not of the Church." The author also, "but only for the sake of those who do not admit these principles," points out the horrible effects of such desecration, and the scenes it would give rise to in a sanatory point of view. Lastly, he protests, as a lover of ancient art, of historical monuments, of the antiquarian associations, and of the picturesque ornaments of our cities, against the wholesale destruction with which such monuments and reminiscences are now threatened. cannot, my lord, part with objects so dear to us unless the absolute necessity of the sacrifice be demonstrated; and I have endeavoured to show that it is the very reverse of being necessary. Such considerations, instead of having been too much considered in this country, have been more neglected here than almost anywhere, and to the great detriment of our national character. What should we think of promoting Christianity by the sale of our cathedrals? Yet this, on hard utilitarian arguments, might just as easily be proved feasible. Such considerations are a part of the better feelings of our nature, and deserve not only to be respected, but sedulously cultivated; and we not only beg, but we demand, that they shall not be outraged."

Nothing, we think, requires to be added to the force of these arguments but that they should be reiterated and duly enforced by the Christian laity upon the attention of their representatives in the House of Commons. Petitions in opposition to the Bill have been presented from several of the parishes of the City of London; but none as yet from any of the other threatened cities, whose inhabitants are probably in a great measure ignorant of the impending mischief. There is, however, but little time to be lost. second reading of the Bill, having been deferred from the 15th of June, is now fixed for the 6th of July.

The

Viewing the matter merely in a personal and historical point of view, as connected with the records of genealogy, the Society of Antiquaries has addressed a memorial to Lord Viscount Palmerston, urging the preservation of a due record of such memorials as would infallibly be destroyed were the proposed scheme brought into action. The important part of this document runs thus: "Besides the particular case of the City churchyards, your memorialists would desire to bring before your Lordship the general question of the preservation of existing Monuments in Churches and Churchyards, with reference to which they beg to submit the following facts:

"A Bill is proposed to be brought before Parliament by the North Metropolitan Railway Company, by which it is sought to obtain for the company the power of purchasing several Churchyards adjoining their line; but no provision is made for preserving monumental inscriptions.

"The Churchyard of St. Clement Danes, in Portugal-street, Lincoln's-inn-fields, has been aliened to King's College Hospital. It is at present used as a place for the deposit of building materials, and it is stated that some tombstones have already disappeared.

"When the Church in Threadneedlestreet was removed for the formation of approaches to the new Royal Exchange although some of the more interesting monuments (such as that of Miles Coverdale) were removed to other Churches-no authentic record was taken (as your memorialists believe) of the greater part of the slabs and engraved stones.

"In St. Pancras burial-ground many of the inscriptions published by Lysons, as existing, are no longer to be found; several were destroyed on the recent restoration of the church.

"Your memorialists can scarcely overrate the importance of these records, as evidences of title and in the tracing of pedigrees; and it is to be feared that, if they be destroyed, not only a great amount of valuable evidence will be lost, but facilities will be given for manufacturing inscriptions and assumed copies of lost stones; and, as in a recent peerage case, for the actual production of forged stones. Your memorialists submit the whole subject to your Lordship's consideration; and they especially desire to refer to your Lordship's judgment, whether a careful and accurate record of all Monumental Inscriptions should not be made under the sanction of Government, and such record be made evidence; and also whether all such monuments should not as far as possible be preserved: and they submit to your Lordship, that the preservation of a Record of Inscriptions might be efficiently carried out without involving (comparatively speaking) a large expense, through the office of the Registrar-General." To this very reasonable suggestion the Home Secretary has replied, in a rather off-hand way, that "he does not see how he can interfere in the matter." Such an answer is very unsatisfactory, and we trust that the subject will be reconsidered. We could however have wished that the Society had, in the first instance, taken a higher ground, and endeavoured to protect and save the Churches-not merely the records they contain.

A

The Oxford University Reform Bill has now made some progress in its passage through the House of Commons. The proposed Hebdomadal Council has been substituted for the Hebdomadal Board. The establishment of private Halls was carried, after a division, by a majority of 92; but a proposal to allow students to live also in private lodging-houses, sanctioned by authority, was rejected. clause has been introduced, requiring that the ordinances of the Commissioners shall always be "for promoting the main designs of the Founders." A more stringent adherence to the original foundations was proposed, but it was shown that this implied masses for the souls of the founders, and a variety of arrangements scarcely tolerable in a Protestant country. It was proposed that the visitors of a college should have a veto on any ordinances of the Commissioners, but this was negatived, after discussion. An effective check upon innovation remains in the clause providing that, "if two-thirds of the governing body of any college shall, by writing, under their hand and seal, declare that, in their opinion, such ordinances and regulations will be prejudicial to said college (as a place of learning and education), then the same shall not take place." The admission of Dissenters to study has been voted by a majority of 252 to 161. No oaths or subscriptions will be necessary, except the oath of allegiance, to any person matriculating. A further proposal to dispense with the oaths and subscription to the Thirty-nine Articles, in the case of graduates, was thrown out by 205 to 196. Some of those who opposed Mr. Heywood's motion, especially Lord John Russell and Mr. Sidney Herbert, advocated the admission of Dissenters, but thought that the present bill would thereby be endangered.

The Chancellor's prizes at Oxford have been awarded as follows:-Latin Verse, Alfred Blomfield, Scholar of Baliol. English Essay, Thomas F. Fremantle, B.A. Scholar of Baliol. Latin Essay, not awarded. The Newdigate prize for English Verse has been awarded to Frederick George Lee, Commoner of St. Edmund hall. A general wish having been felt that the University should possess some memorial of its late respected representative, Sir R. H. Inglis, a committee has been formed for the purpose of obtaining a full-length Portrait of Sir Robert, by subscription, which is to be placed in the gallery of the Bodleian.

A committee appointed by the Oxford Circuit to determine the most desirable form in which to erectamemorial to the late Mr. Justice Talfourd, have recommended

the erection of a mural monument, with a bust of the deceased, in St. Mary's Church, at Stafford.

At a special general meeting of the Geological Society, on the 24th of May, W. J. Hamilton, esq. was unanimously elected President of the Society, on the resignation of Professor E. Forbes, in consequence of his appointment to the Chair of Natural History, at Edinburgh.

Mr. John Pepys has presented to the Royal Institution, in Albemarle Street, a fifth donation of one hundred pounds.

Dr. Thomas Young's Miscellaneous Works are again announced in Mr. Murray's list. This work, the scientific portion of which is edited by Dean Peacock, and the hieroglyphic by Mr. John Leitch, was destroyed by fire on the premises of Messrs. Clowes when nearly ready for publication. It is now reprinted, and will appear as soon as Dr. Peacock's "Memoir of Dr. Young," which is in the press, shall be completed.

Mr. John Nurse Chadwick, attorneyat-law of King's Lynn, author of the "Memorials of South Lynn Vicarage," has been laboriously engaged in supplying that great deficiency to Blomefield's History of Norfolk, an Index Nominum. It has been compiled according to the principle shown by the Calendars of Inquisitions in the public record offices, with arms; and is announced for publication, by subscription, in a few months' time.

The collection of Manuscripts left by the late Sir William Betham has occupied a day's sale at Messrs. Sotheby and Wilkinson's during the past month. We suspend a short account we had prepared

of it, in order to notice the collection more fully in our next number.

We are also obliged to postpone to our next a review of Mr. Roach Smith's Catalogue of his Museum.

The first number has appeared in 4to, under the title of Miscellanea Graphica, of Mr. Fairholt's illustrations of the Ancient, Mediæval, and Renaissance Remains in the possession of Lord Londesborough. It promises to be a highly interesting work, and we shall notice it more fully hereafter.

Messrs. Constable of Edinburgh have published the first volume of a complete edition of the Works of Dugald Stewart, under the editorial supervision of Sir William Hamilton, who is also to supply a Biographical Memoir of the Author.

In Murray's British Classics, Goldsmith's Works are now complete in four volumes octavo; and we have received the third volume of Gibbon's Roman Empire belonging to the same series.

The latter work is also in progress in Bohn's smaller series of British Classics; as are the Works of Addison, from the edition of Bishop Hurd. In his Standard Library Mr. Bohn has republished the Works of Cowper, from Southey's edition.

In Mr. Bell's Annotated Edition of the Poets three volumes of Dryden and two of Cowper have now made their appearance.

Mr. Washbourn has published another, the fifteenth, edition of Clark's Introduction to Heraldry, the most popular manual of its class.

Mr. Pulman has completed his interesting topographical work, The Book of the Axe, which we have heretofore noticed.

SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES.

May 4. Rear-Admiral Smyth, V.P. Frederic Dixon Hartland, esq. banker, of Oaklands, near Cheltenham, author of a work containing the Genealogies of the Sovereigns of Europe, was elected Fellow of the Society.

The Abbé Cochet, Honorary Member, presented a string of beads found on the neck of a woman in the Frank cemetery of Aubin sur Scie. The style of these beads led him to suppose that they belong to the later Merovingian period-rather to the age of Charlemagne than to that of Clovis.

K. R. H. Mackenzie, esq. F.S.A. exhibited a jug of brown earthen-ware found at Ardleigh, near Colchester. It was said to have contained a small number of coins,

of which no record has been preserved, together with a deed which was exhibited, of the reign of Henry V.

J. Y. Akerman, esq. Secretary, then read a report of further excavations, prosecuted by him, at the expense of the Society, at Harnham Hill, near Salisbury, during the Easter recess, the result of which was the discovery of four more graves; one containing the bodies of a woman and child, with two dish-shaped fibulæ, a number of amber beads, a pair of bronze tweezers, a silver armilla, and two iron knives; besides a bronze girdle-ornament in the shape of a lion's head full-faced. Another skeleton had, with it, an iron spear-head, the umbo of a shield, and a shallow circular flatbottomed dish at the head, formed of wood and covered with bronze.