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which can give pain to those who are earnestly wishing to do good, or to be the means of its being said, is painful in the extreme; and these are not words of course. The Editor can only express his hope that no more collections of hymns will be sent for review.

"T. S. L. V." wishes to ask Mr. Newman (with reference to the advertisement to the second volume of his Sermons), where those directions of our church are to be found autho rizing the introduction of a lecture or sermon "between the reading of Scripture and the prayers; by which, I suppose, he means after the second lesson in the evening service, which is the time the rubric after the catechism appoints for catechising?"

"A Country Curate" mentions the Introduction to the Second Part of the Homilies as forming some excuse for those who alter the lessons. In the note to which he refers this was not noticed, simply because it has been noticed already so very often. It has no authority, nor can any authority, as it is apprehended, be pleaded for thus defying the orders laid down in the Preface to the Book of Common Prayer, and the Calendar, which has received every force which church authority can give. Does the "Country Curate" not think that a wilful and regular departure from such authority to suit an individual minister's sermons deserves to be brought to the notice of those who are authorized to rebuke it?

"A Clergyman of Surrey" desires to call the reader's notice to an important Appendix on Archdeacon Broughton's Sermon at Canterbury. It relates to the aggressions of popery. Everything from Archdeacon Broughton deserves attention.

In reply to "P. Q." the Editor cannot but express his conviction that a person of such excellent intentions as Mr. Stanley will not be slow to confess that it is a perfect impossibility (even for one of his ability) to form, in a few days, (and his visit, as Mr. Nangle states, and as is clear from his book, was not more,) the slightest notion whatever of the state of things in Ireland, and will not be surprised that others consider his book as merely an expression of his preconceived opinions as a very liberal politician. If he could have alleged facts, or made observations, the discussion recommended by " P. Q." might have been advisable; but as things are, to enter on the question with Mr. Stanley would only be considering whether strong Whig opinions on this matter are right or wrong.

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There is another very able letter in the "Gloucestershire Chronicle" on the "Patriot," from which it appears that the Christian Advocate" has begun to attack it as too mild, and not faithful to the cause of dissent, stating that many ministers have given it up, and that it is no longer publicly supported, but has passed into private hands, &c. &c. "Patriot" denies a good deal of this. But it seems that neither the one nor the other of these precious papers answers.

"E. W.'s" papers and drawing are just received, with thanks.

The

SIR,-I should be obliged to you to insert the following errata in the articles on Parochial Psalmody:-In that of October, p. 423, for “Meter Chapel," read " Quebec Chapel, Portman Square." In that of December, p. 680, for "tunes each arranged on the barrels," read "tunes scientifically arranged on the barrels." Again, in the list of organ builders, for "Byam," read "Bryceson;" also, for "Ghent and Hill," read "Elliott and Hill;"* for Benington," read "Bevington;" for "Liverton," read "Lincoln."

R.

The Editor has received the following remarks on "R.'s" letter, which ought to appear at

once :

"SIR,-In "R.'s" very excellent paper he has fallen into some little mistakes in his detail, which might militate against his desire to see barrel organs widely adopted in village churches. He says, for a small sum we are not able to give the chromatic scale in the lower notes, and this is apt to mar the effect of the chord.' Now barrel organs only are never constructed upon a chromatic scale in the lower notes; they are so from the tenor upward, and it is in that part the harmony of the chord might suffer were it otherwise than chromatic; the bass octaves only are used, and the extent of an objection to a church barrel organ of even the smallest size, is, the necessity of sometimes changing the key in which the tune was composed; but as this seldom transposes the air more than a semitone above or below its original key, it can scarcely be considered worth notice as a defect. 'R.," in his combination of stops for small barrel organs, has introduced one called the 12th. Its effects (in producing a continuous predominance of 5ths) is, in my opinion, objectionable in either finger or barrel organs, except as an adjunct in such instruments as possess a full complement of stops. No warping of the barrels need be apprehended, in fact; it would imply the use of unseasoned material, which time would render the more manifest rather than effect a remedy. "I am, Sir, yours respectfully, JOHN GRAY."

*Here follow some words quite illegible.

THE

BRITISH MAGAZINE.

FEB. 1, 1836.

ORIGINAL PAPERS.

THE MARTYRS'-FIELD, AT CANTERBURY.

"The noble army of martyrs praise thee."

It was on a calm evening in May that I took my first walk about the old city of Canterbury. We had climbed the singular and steep mound called the Dane John, and were looking with interest on a scene very new to us. The wide hop-grounds, the lath-and-plaster farm-houses, the beautifully-cultivated and fertile-but, to our minds, used to our own rugged hills and banks, not picturesque-country, reminded us, on every side, that we were far from home.

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But there was no absence of the picturesque in our close neighbourhood here were the old city walls and its beautiful towers; and here, at every step, was some name that awoke ancient associationssome place connected in our minds with the most interesting passages of the history of our country.

We were travellers, and, in the few last hours, had seen the memorable places of which we had heard all our lives, and of which our children's children will be taught to tell. For the first time, on the evening before, I had seen the sun light up the purple towers of Windsor, dear to many an English heart as the favourite abode of her good king-the place of his long seclusion and of his last rest. I will own that, as I saw the flag stream out against the setting sun, to indicate to the surrounding country that the King was himself there, I felt the tears in my eyes as the church's prayer rose to my lips—“ O Lord, save the King!" "Send peace in our time, O Lord, for there is none other that fighteth for us, but only thou, O God!" Early in that morning I had had one glance at the old tower, "by many a dark and midnight murder fed," and stood on the very spot where the seven noble bishops had landed on their way to their prison, whilst the crowding spectators, and the very soldiers who guarded them, kneeled to ask their blessing. In the course of that busy day, too, I had seen the beautiful hospital of Greenwich-that monument of a fallen woman's humanity-built by Charles II., at the solicitation of his favourite, VOL. IX.-Feb. 1836.

R

Eleanor Gwynn, at which one looks with the more interest, because Bishop Burnet tells us that she died, according to his belief, a humble penitent.

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I had passed Tilbury Fort also, and had again fancied that I saw the ready troops of soldiers, and listened with them, and shouted with them, in answer to the noble declaration of their protestant Queen-" I am come amongst you all, not as for my recreation and sport, but as being resolved, in the midst and heat of the battle, to live and die amongst you; I have but the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart of a King, and a King of England, too .. and can lay down, for my God, and for my kingdom, and for my people, my honour and my blood, even in the dust." All these places of deep interest, in so few hours, I had seen; yet the remembrance of all vanished as one narrow boundary at the south-west side of the city was pointed out to me-"Do you see that singularly-shaped field, here beneath us, with low hawthorn hedges. There are a few sheep lying round the shallow pond in the bottom of it. That is the Martyrs' Field-tradition calls it so—and there is every reason to believe that the martyrs who sealed their profession of faith with their blood, in Canterbury, were really burned in that very spot. This steep mound would afford convenient room for the spectators of the awful tragedy, and that strange hollow-it is dry in the summer-was certainly a work of art, and made-or, if not made, used-for the very executions." And so I was come to the end of my pilgrimage, and to a place of much note; for, during the Marian persecution, more suffered in Kent, I believe, for their religion, than in any other county in England; and, of those, the large proportion in Canterbury. And the very last martyr-fires that scared England, and that within six days of its deliverance, blazed on this very memorable spot. Memorable! yet how little it is remembered. It is called the Martyrs' Field; yet the shepherd thinks nothing, probably, of the meaning of the words, as he passes to and fro with his few sheep. The children play here, and, in the dry summer, run races up and down this hollow, and the grown boys try strengths in leaping across it, and little care that once it streamed with blood instead of water-the blood of those of whom "the world was not worthy ;" and so the little ones can reach the fair maythorn boughs from the hedge, and find daisies and dandelions enough for their chain, few care to teach them how every flower and herb there was withered once with hotter fire than the midsummer sun's heat, that flashed and sparkled here as it bore the living sacrifice up to God. Ought these things to be so forgotten? Are we, then, so degenerate, so unworthy of our forefathers, that a senator has dared to speak of martyrs' records as "old almanack stories"? "They are old almanack stories," it was well answered, "but they are red letter stories-they are written in blood." Come, then, let me do my part-let me express my feelings of gratitude to God, for the grace bestowed on these blessed servants of his; and let me own the veneration with which I trod this ground. It may be that even I may awaken some like feeling; it may be that one who has as yet thought but little of the mighty debt due to our blessed martyrs, may

in these latter days thank God, and take courage to follow their good example, at least in sincerity of intention. It may be that some young person (for there were those who had the fair prospect of long and prosperous life before them-I speak from the authority of living witnesses who here gave themselves unblemished offerings to God,) may feel their energy, and their activity, and their warmth of heart, all worthy to be consecrated to the Almighty Giver. It may be that some delicate woman-for I can tell of the weak and the fragile lifting themselves up in the hour of trial to shew how strength is made perfect in weakness-may learn from my record to look in faith to Him who, to them that have no might, increaseth strength.

"In the beginning," Fox tells us, " of the persecution, there were lying in the castle," there, yonder, within those very walls,-"fifteen godly and innocent martyrs, of whom not one escaped with their lives;" and this is the remarkable observation he makes "Though certain swerved a little in the number of sacraments, some more and some less,-yet, in the principal matter, the doctrine of salvation for faith to stay upon, and in disagreeing from the dreaming determinations of the popish church, they most agreed." Oh, wise should we be, if, in the in the principal matter, the doctrine of salvation for faith to stay upon, once again we could all agree!

I was much struck with the variety of characters which I met with in the account of those martyrs concerning whom I had opportunity to consult Fox's history; and it is truly beautiful to observe how the religion of the Gospel supplies every want; how it gives strength to the weak, calmness to the irritable-nay, supplies even natural deficiencies. Concerning one of the martyrs, Fox remarks," this good woman was somewhat thick of hearing, but yet quick of understanding in the Lord's matters: His name, therefore, be praised." Of another the account is very touching, from its extreme simplicity. Perhaps it particularly affected my mind, because I knew more than one for whom the character might pass. Yet it is not such a character, perhaps, that fancy would grace with the energy of a martyr; but He "shall give strength and power unto his people"-yes, even to his feeble handmaidens: blessed be God. "She was as simple a woman to see," says the old martyrologist, "as any might behold: she had a lively, cheerful countenance; most patient in her words and answers; sober in apparel, meat, and drink, and would never be idle; a great comfort to as many as would talk to her; good to the poor; and, in her trouble, money, she said, she would take none; for,' she said, 'I am going to a city where money bears no praising; whiles I am here, the Lord provideth for me.' And it was from this very spot I thought again, as I looked round the narrow boundary, that the last English martyrs ascended to God:-here, that the bold Corneford, with almost the feeling, and all the firmness of a prophet, denounced the wrath that was preparing for a persecuting and apostate church. My fancy pictured his manly countenance, and his lofty bearing, as he stood there, just in view of the thousands, who thronged this steep hill-side; and I felt how many a heart amidst that multitude (for it was not only enemies who came together on such occasions, but many a

true and faithful, though perhaps secret, friend was there whispering, "Be strong in the Lord," to the sufferers, and encouraging them in their last extremity, by word and sign)-I felt how many a heart bounded almost to bursting at his words, as he hurled back the impious sentence of excommunication pronounced against him and his blessed companions, and ended with a prayer, "that, by thy just judgments, Ô most mighty God, against thine adversaries, thy true religion may be known, to thy great glory and our comfort, and to the edifying of all our nation." And did not the words come back to many a heart with an awful feeling that the prophecy was fulfilled, when the unhappy Queen died within six days after, and with her, as the historian observes, the tyranny of all English papists? But there stood one in this field, on that same day, very different indeed from the undaunted Corneford, though in faith, and hope, and patience, the same. There was a weak, aged woman, who had learned from her own son the saving doctrines of the gospel, and that it is idolatry to creep to the cross-St. John saying, "Beware of images"-and to confess that "we should not pray to our ladye, nor to the other saints, for they be not omnipotent." What, but the power of divine grace, could have supported so weak and failing a frame to such extremity; and what varied feeling of grief and triumph must have agitated that son's mind, who having been the means of bringing an aged parent to the confession of the truth, as it is in Jesus, saw her "take hold of the gospel, and grow more and more in zeal and love thereof, and so continue unto her martyrdom." And there was yet one more that I must name, among that last band of the noble army of English martyrs-young, perhaps fair and admired, perhaps educated, certainly with all the energy of youth,-and, oh! with how much fortitude, with how much courage, that heroes and the mighty men of this world could never have shewn. Alice made no complaint-she felt herself a sinner. It was not for her to denounce the coming vengeance of God on others. Alice humbly looked to others for instruction, and questioned whether she was right herself. Yet, being come to that deadly extremity, strength sufficient for her need was given-strength was, once again, made perfect in weakness. As she stood at the stake she requested to see her godfather and godmothers. No wonder they trembled and hesitated to come; they must have thought on the hour of joy when they bore the fair infant, in her white robes, to the font. Yet, if it was fear that made them shudder to own their holy relationship to the condemned one, surely their child's courage must have shamed them, when they at last yielded to the repeated summons. She asked them what they had promised for her in her baptism, and, repeating the commandments, asked if she was bound to do, and the creed, if they had engaged on her behalf that she should believe, more than this. They answered that they had not. "Then," said she, "I die a Christian woman; bear witness of me." And have we dared to trifle with these holy memorials? Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. Let us no longer allow ourselves to believe that it is a little matter to slight the mercy of God in the establishment of a pure church in our country. We have been

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