noticed that one of the stained-glass windows had been replaced by a
modern one, and were informed that the original had been presented to
the newer church in America--a courtesy that an American congregation
would hardly think of, and be still less likely to carry out. An odd
silver communion service which had been in use from three to five
hundred years was carefully taken out of a fire-proof safe and shown us.

Hadley Church is a delight from every point of view, and it is a pity
that such lines of architecture are not oftener followed in America. Our
churches as a rule are shoddy and inharmonious affairs compared with
those in England. It is not always the matter of cost that makes them
so, since more artistic structures along the pleasing and substantial
lines of architecture followed in Britain would in many cases cost no
more than we pay for such churches as we now have.

[Illustration: HADLEY CHURCH, MONKEN HADLEY.]

Our friend the sexton garrulously assured us that Thackeray had spent
much of his time as a youth at the vicarage and insisted that a great
part of "Vanity Fair" was written there. He even pointed out the room in
which he alleged the famous book was produced, and assured us that the
great author had found the originals of many of his characters, such as
Becky Sharp and Col. Newcome, among the villagers of Hadley. All of
which we took for what it was worth. Thackeray himself told his friend,
Jas. T. Fields, that "Vanity Fair" was written in his London house;
still, he may have been a visitor at the Hadley vicarage and might have
found pleasure in writing in the snug little room whose windows open on
the flower garden, rich with dashes of color that contrasted effectively
with the dark green foliage of the hedges and trees. The house still
does duty as a vicarage; the small casement windows peep out of the ivy