I followed into the church--a low-roofed building with small arched
windows, through which the sun's rays streamed upon a plain tablet
on the opposite wall, which had once recorded names, now as
undistinguishable on its worn surface, as were the bones beneath,
from the dust into which they had resolved. The impressive service
of the Church of England was spoken--not merely READ--by a grey-
headed minister, and the responses delivered by his auditors, with
an air of sincere devotion as far removed from affectation or
display, as from coldness or indifference. The psalms were
accompanied by a few instrumental performers, who were stationed in
a small gallery extending across the church at the lower end, over
the door: and the voices were led by the clerk, who, it was
evident, derived no slight pride and gratification from this
portion of the service. The discourse was plain, unpretending, and
well adapted to the comprehension of the hearers. At the
conclusion of the service, the villagers waited in the churchyard,
to salute the clergyman as he passed; and two or three, I observed,
stepped aside, as if communicating some little difficulty, and
asking his advice. This, to guess from the homely bows, and other
rustic expressions of gratitude, the old gentleman readily
conceded. He seemed intimately acquainted with the circumstances
of all his parishioners; for I heard him inquire after one man's
youngest child, another man's wife, and so forth; and that he was
fond of his joke, I discovered from overhearing him ask a stout,
fresh-coloured young fellow, with a very pretty bashful-looking
girl on his arm, 'when those banns were to be put up?'--an inquiry
which made the young fellow more fresh-coloured, and the girl more
bashful, and which, strange to say, caused a great many other girls
who were standing round, to colour up also, and look anywhere but