Whene'er He spares, may heart-felt praise be given— Whene'er He calls, may all be meet for heaven. J. S. THE DEPARTURE OF THE SOUL. ANOTHER and another pang, Lingering 'mid pain, remorse, despair- Yet would it part? O no! for this Was it for this the wretched dream O, cheap were thousands to redeem To slake awhile this gnawing fire, Saw you those flashing eye-balls roll? One parting throb, the strife is o'er; The quivering mists that dimly frowned, Wept thou on earth? those fruitful tears What, though so strong thy trials were, O, glorious fight! all-gracious Lord, E. B. LINES, ON BEING DETAINED FROM CHURCH THROUGH INDISPOSITION. THE church-going bell has ceas'd its tone, Oh! while I here am left alone, May I, too, drop all worldly care. "Ne'er less alone than when alone," What, though on earth I may not join That bids me, in Thy Word rejoice. And though, while here, celestial love In spirit join the saints above, And hold communion with my God. J. S. ORGANO-HISTORICA; Or the History of Cathedral and Parochial Organs. NO. XV. THE ORGAN AT ST. ANN'S, LIMehouse. THE organ we are now about to describe was built in 1741, by Richard Bridge,* the builder of the organ at Christ Church, Spitalfields. (See our Number for November 1833.) It originally was a short octave organ, the compass being from G G to D in alt, 52 notes; but in 1799 and 1810 it underwent extensive repairs, alterations, and improvements. In the first repair the swell was extended in compass, with the addition of three new stops; a principal, cornet, and clarion : This is the same artist mentioned in our last Number. He was, at that time, in partnership with Byfield and Jordan. as also a new sound-board and box, &c., and an octave and half of German pedals. In the second repair the compass of the great and choir organs was extended, and a dulciana, stop diapason, principal, fifteenth, and mixture, added to the choir, and an open diapason to the great organ. The order for this repair was given, May 17, 1810, and finished in July 1811. The instrument contains the following stops : The compass of the great and choir organs is from F F F to F in alt, 60 notes; that of the swell, from E in the tenor to F in alt, 38 notes. The quality of tone in this instrument was originally very fine; but it appears of late years to have suffered much through neglect. The choir organ, previous to the last repair, was by communication from the great organ, with the exception of the flute and Cremona. The new open diapason only speaks to C C upon the keys; the six lower notes speak with the pedals, and are of wood. The instrument possesses none of the modern improvements, and is, therefore, in the same state, with respect to unsteadiness of wind, as all the old organs. It is rather a remarkable circumstance, that the organs built by this celebrated artist are behind all others in regard to modern mechanical improvements. The church is favourable to sound, and the situation of the organ good; but there is not sufficient weight or ponderosity in the bass to cope with the brilliancy of the treble. A set of double open pedalpipes, with other improvements, would make it one of the best organs in London. The dulciana is metal to gamut; the six notes below, viz. to C C, are double-stop diapason pipes. COLLECTANEA. THE ORIGIN OF BELLS.-Bells were used by the Romans to signify the times of bathing; and naturally applied by the Christians of Italy, therefore, to denote the hours of devotion, and summon the people to the church. They were so applied, before the conclusion of the seventh century, in the monastic societies of Northumbria, and, as early as the sixth, even in those of Caledonia. They were therefore used from the first erection of parish-churches among us. Those of France and England appear to have been furnished with several bells. The second excerption of Egbert, about the year 750, which is adopted in a French capitulary of 801, commands every priest, at the proper hours, to sound the bells of his church, and then to go through the sacred offices to God and the Council of Enham, in 1011, requires all the mulcts for sins to be expended in the reparation of the church, clothing and feeding the Minister of God, and the purchase of church-vestments, churchbooks, and church-bells. These were sometimes composed of iron in France; and in England, as formerly at Rome, were frequently made of brass. As early as the middle of the tenth century, there were many cast of a large size and a deep note. Two of them were given by Egebrich to his own abbey of Croyland, in the reign of Edward, and another much larger, by his immediate predecessor Turketul. Several of them were presented by Archbishop Dunstan to the monastery of Malmsbury in the preceding reign of Edgar. The number of bells in every church gave occasion to that curious and singular piece of architecture in the campanile or bell-tower; an addition which is more susceptible of the grander beauties of architecture than any other part of the edifice, and is generally, therefore, the principle or rudiment of it. It was the constant appendage to every parish-church of the Saxons, and is actually mentioned as such in the Laws of Athelstan: and the custom of ringing regular peals, now peculiar to the inhabitants of England, commenced in the time of the Saxons, and was common before the Conquest. ORGANS.-The services of every parish church among the Saxons were celebrated at several periods of the day, which were called the canonical hours; and were three and six in the morning; nine, twelve, and three in the afternoon, and at midnight. These services were generally chanted; and, in a Canon of 747, the Presbyters are commanded not to chatter like reciting bards in their offices, and either mar the composition, or confound the distinction of the words, by a theatrical pronunciation, but to follow the plain and holy melody of the church. Such as could not chant were permitted to read the service. Some parts of it were also sung, the custom being introduced into Northumbria by James the Deacon, an attendant on Paulinus; and every greater church and monastery, even previously among the Britons, had choral service celebrated regularly in it. "Since Moclocunus has left his monastic abode," says Gildas in his Epistle, "he hears no more the praises of God in the sweetly modulated accents of young choristers, and listens no longer to the breath of ecclesiastical melody." The instrumental music of British churches is here distinguished sufficiently from the vocal. Both the British and Saxon instruments were called organs. The Romans had an instrument which they also denominated an organ: for Alexander Severus, says his historian, Lyra, Tibia, Organo cecinit. Very early after the conversion of the Northumbrians, we find an instrument of that name familiarly used in the services of the north. Alchfrid, the son of King Oswi, requested Wilfrid to stay with him, about A. D. 660, to preach the Word of God to him and the other Northumbrians, and to be to them a spiritual organ, voluntarily heightening the devotions of the church with its pious tones: and all England, says the History of Ramsey, lamented the death of Edgar, cum verteretur in luctum chorus monachorum, et organa in vocem fentium. But that grand combination of instruments, which we now denominate an organ, was absolutely unknown in Europe at that period. It was the happy production of an Eastern genius; and the first that ever appeared in the west of Europe was sent by Constantine, the Grecian emperor, to Pepin of France, in 756. The artists of the west availed themselves of the present. Organs were constructed on the Continent and in the Island, and erected in some of our cathedrals, before the middle of the tenth century and Archbishop Dunstan, in the reign of Edgar, presented the church of Malmsbury with one, in which (according to the historical description) the pipes were formed in certain musical proportions of brass, and the air was impelled through them by a pair of bellows. SELECT SENTENCES.-To endeavour to work upon the vulgar with fine sense, is like attempting to hew blocks with a razor. Every man has just as much vanity as he wants understanding. A man should never be ashamed to own he has been wrong, which is but saying, in other words, that he is wiser to-day than he was yesterday. To be angry is to revenge the faults of others upon ourselves. LAW REPORT. No. XXVII. - APPEAL FROM THE COMMISSARY OF SURREY'S COURT. ARCHES COURT OF CANTERBURY, HILARY TERM, 1825. FULLER v. LANE.* THIS was a question respecting the appropriation of a pew in a parish church by faculty; in which the law respecting such appropriation of pews, and the principles by which ordinaries should be governed in disposing of applications for the issue. of such faculties, especially with reference to the circumstances of the times, were fully entered into; and were stated by the Court, at large, in its judgment. *Faculties appropriating pews in parish Churches to particular families, in different forms and under different limitations, were too lavishly granted by ordinaries in former times. The numerous exclusive rights to particular pews, vested, or supposed to be vested, in particular families, to which this has given rise, are nuisances to parishes at large; and it is the duty of ordinaries to prevent, so far as may be, their continuance or increase, by treating all applications for such faculties with great reserve, and by suffering none to issue but under very peculiar circumstances. |