to subsidise those funds by alloting a limited number of pews at £100 and £50 respectively, which were to be redeemed by the trustees from time to time by such balances as they might have in their hands at the end of the financial year, after meeting such prior claims as were provided for in the Acts from the rate and pew-rents. There were no compulsory powers under the Acts to enable the trustees to redeem the pews; but nevertheless the owners of these ecclesiastical freeholds yielded to a sense of propriety in some cases and expediency in others to dispose of their pews to the trustees, by which the church was gradually, though not wholly, emancipated from its anomalous position. There are still (we are ashamed to write it) some few pews which either the rector and churchwardens do not wish to acquire, or which the owners thereof do not choose to sell. The consequence is, that the church, which has cost the parish a sum of nearly £20,000, is, notwithstanding, as much under the trammels of the pew-rent system as a proprietary or a dissenting chapel. In a word, the parishioners are still partially excluded from the church which they themselves have built, and are compelled to pay for the privilege of sitting in the church they have themselves paid for.

The present state of things is, whatever the cause may be, a distinct violation of the spirit and intention of the Act of Parliament, and of the solemn pledges given from time to time by the late rector and those who acted with him. It could never have been intended that the clause in the Act providing that the church should be free to the parishioners when the pews were all redeemed, should be practically vetoed because a few persons retain so many pews. If this be so, then the present state of things may go on for ever.

The foundation stone was laid in 1814, but the church, partly owing to the causes referred to, was not completed until 1821. It must not be forgotten, in estimating the character and merits of the design and style, that there were

difficulties to encounter of no ordinary kind. Mr. John Pinch was the architect, and he had to adapt his work to the contracted nature of the site. He seems, moreover, from this and the sister church of St. Saviour, (of which he was also the architect,) to have had an irrepressible affection for the Third Pointed or Decorated Gothic-no uncommon characteristic of the late revival period. It was, in fact, Third-Pointed-on-thebrain with many architects of the early part of the century.

The interior was most unsatisfactory, the east end being furnished with an apse, and although it was only a temporary arrangement, an adequate space of ground eastward being left for a chancel, yet the whole body of the church was arranged so that the congregation faced the west, and the "rostra" of woodwork for clerk and clergymen at the west end resembled a huge candlestick with three sockets.

The first improvement was effected in 1866 by Prebendary Scarth, who was then rector. The objectionable pulpit and reading-desk were altogether removed; for the pews low seats were substituted, and a comely pulpit and a reading-desk placed in their proper positions at the east end, the cost of which was borne partly by the parishioners and partly by private individuals.

At a later period other and more important alterations were made under the direction of the late Mr. Street.

These comprised a new chancel, organ-chamber, priests' and choir vestries, of which so soon as sufficient funds had been obtained, the two former were proceeded with in the year 1873, the vestries being added in 1880. Subsequently, in 1885, to afford the needed accommodation for the choir and for other reasons, the two existing vestries were thrown into one and devoted to the use of the choir and sacristan, whilst a new priests' vestry" was provided. Mr. Street's design is of the Decorated period, well conceived and ably executed. The chancel is rectangular in plan and well lighted by the east window, and the iron grille which bounds it is very good. The floor is of encaustic tiles.

The east window was the gift of Mrs. Roscoe. It consists of seven lights, filled with stained glass, the work of Messrs. Clayton and Bell. In the south wall there are three windows, each of two lights. The first (reckoning from the east) is in memory of Thomas and Eleanor Dilkes. The first light of the second is to the memory of the Rev. Warburton Wharton, and the second light to the memory of the Rev. Algernon Cassan. The third window is to the memory of Sarah Tugwell, and is the gift of the Rector, the Rev. George Tugwell. In the south aisle the first window (eastward) is in memory of Randle Wilbraham Falconer, M.D.

The walls throughout are faced with freestone; those of the chancel, together with the open-timbered roof, being painted and richly ornamented with coloured decoration.

The organ-chamber is on the north side of the chancel, arched openings communicating with it and the church.

In each of these openings are screens of woodwork supporting the organ fronts, both screens and fronts being richly decorated. The elaborate altar-piece is of alabaster, the sculptured subject representing Christ laid in the tomb. Surmounting it is a triptych, in some respects of rather questionable taste.

In the south wall is the piscina, and adjoining it a tripleted sedilia.

Abutting against this wall on the south side are the vestries and sacristy, the choir vestries and sacristy consisting of a rectangular chamber of about the same length as the chancel, but the design is more simple and purposely subordinated to that of the main building, thus balancing and graduating it into a harmonious whole. The south annex to the priests' vestry, erected in 1885, is ugly as a whole and offensively obtrusive; its exterior is more particularly objectionable, inasmuch as it possesses features in character and design partly ecclesiastical, partly domestic, and partly flamboyant, the whole being incongruous, mean, and devoid of ecclesiastical unity.

CHURCH OF ST. JOHN BAPTIST, BATHWICK.

The original building consisted of a nave and chancel, with a transept, organ-chamber, and a small tower and spire, forming a porch at the north-west angle. The congregation having far outgrown the accommodation, an extensive enlargement became necessary. Mr. Blomfield was called in, and prepared a design for adding to it as much as the limited site would permit. The plan consisted of a large and lofty nave (the existing one becoming the north aisle), a south aisle and porch, a large organ transept, and priests' and choir vestries. This scheme had to be very considerably modified, and the south aisle abandoned, on account of the expense. The present plan has the same features, with the exception of the north aisle, but carried out in a plainer manner.

As there was considerable difficulty in adding a nave of satisfactory proportions in the usual way (owing to the limit of the site westward), the main roof is carried unbroken from east to west, only a sacrarium, 15 ft. deep, being cut off by a lofty arch at the east end. The choir is taken out of the nave area, and surrounded by a low stone septum and metal screen, and towards the west there is a stone rood-screen, which serves to divide the choir from the nave, and to receive the thrust of the old chancel arch. The division is further marked by a pair of coupled principals in the roof.

The roof over the choir and sacrarium is simply decorated in colour; and a considerable amount of stained glass, including the east window and the side windows in the chancel, has been presented by various donors. The reredos consists of a very effective mosaic picture of the Nativity, set under a richly-moulded arch, which forms part of the architectural design of the east end. This, as well as the decorative painting and the stained glass, was executed by Messrs. Bell & Almond. The altar and choir-stalls, in oak, were executed by Mr. Bates, of Stevenage, Herts. The carving was done by

Mr. Earp, who also executed the pulpit.

The metal-work is

by Mr. Shrivell. The organ, which is a fine instrument, though yet unfinished, is an electric one, by Messrs. Bryceson, the organist sitting behind the choir-stalls on the opposite side to the organ.

The general dimensions of the building are :-Nave and choir, 96 ft. 6 in. long, 29 ft. 6 in. wide, 35 ft. high to plate, 60 ft. to ridge; sacrarium, 15 ft. long, 21 ft. wide.

That portion of Bathwick which was originally assigned as a district, is now an independent ecclesiastical parish, the patronage being vested in the rector of Bathwick.

The old Rectory House (of no great antiquity) has not been used as such since the present Church of S. Mary has been erected. Since St. John's was built, and the incumbency of the Rev. James Dunn, the house has been annexed to and used as the Vicarage.

ST. JOHN'S HOSPITAL CHURCH OR CHAPEL.

St. John's Hospital Chapel was repaired and altered in 1879 under the direction of Mr. Henry Spackman, surveyor to the Trustees, and Messrs. Browne and Gill, architects. The improvement carried out consisted of relaying the lead roof, a new floor to the Chapel, a new entrance to the vestry opening direct from the Chapel, removing the square deal pews and substituting open pitch-pine seats, and putting an oak and pitch-pine reading desk to take the place of the old pulpit. The apse was laid with encaustic tiles and marble and Draycot stone steps. The old sash windows were taken out, and stone tracery of Florentine design put into the old window openings. All the windows have been filled with painted glass by Ward and Hughes. The subjects of the windows of the apse are- -“Christ among the Lilies;" "Christ and the Centurion ;" "Christ Blessing Little Children." The windows on the north and south sides of the Chapel represent six out of the seven