Mason at the capture of Senegal from the French in 1758, and presented
to the Episcopal Society on 1761. The peculiarly sweet-toned bell
which calls the parishioners of St. John's together every Sabbath is,
I believe, the same that formerly hung in the belfry of the old Queen's
Chapel. If so, the bell has a history of its own. It was brought from
Louisburg at the time of the reduction of that place in 1745, and given
to the church by the officers of the New Hampshire troops.

The Old South Meeting-House is not to be passed without mention. It is
among the most aged survivals of pre-revolutionary days. Neither its
architecture not its age, however, is its chief warrant for our notice.
The absurd number of windows in this battered old structure is what
strikes the passer-by. The church was erected by subscription, and
these closely set large windows are due to Henry Sherburne, one of the
wealthiest citizens of the period, who agreed to pay for whatever glass
was used. If the building could have been composed entirely of glass it
would have been done by the thrifty parishioners.

Portsmouth is rich in graveyards--they seem to be a New England
specialty--ancient and modern. Among the old burial-places the one
attached to St. John's Church is perhaps the most interesting. It has
not been permitted to fall into ruin, like the old cemetery at the Point
of Graves. When a headstone here topples over it is kindly lifted up
and set on its pins again, and encouraged to do its duty. If it utterly
refuses, and is not shamming decrepitude, it has its face sponged, and
is allowed to rest and sun itself against the wall of the church with a
row of other exempts. The trees are kept pruned, the grass trimmed,
and here and there is a rosebush drooping with a weight of pensive pale
roses, as becomes a rosebush in a churchyard.