monks belong to the order of "Redemptorists," founded by their last canonized saint, Alphonsus M. Liguori, and are, I believe, the first community of this order established in England, though they are somewhat numerous in Belgium and Italy. Alphonsus died but a few years ago, and the order he founded is rigidly ascetic. This fraternity, in selecting so beautiful a spot, have imitated the Cistercians, who sought out the most quiet and lovely retreats. The monastery was opened in August, 1846, having cost (including endowment) nearly £20,000. There are two priests and one lay brother. The old chapel is converted into a school room, and the education of a large number of children is conducted by some Sisters of Mercy."

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In addition to this monastery there is a Catholic Chapel at Little Malvern, belonging to W. Berington, Esq., whose chaplain, the Rev. W. Scott, has recently had a fine ecclesiastical looking dwelling house raised there. There is also a convent at Stanbrook, in the parish of Powick, hard by. It belongs to the order of Benedictines, and there are about twenty or thirty "religious" resident there. The community removed to their present establishment about nine or ten years since from Salford, in Warwickshire, where, for all I know to the contrary, they flourished for ages; and I hear it would be worth a "ramble" to the place to see the venerable house they quitted. Stanbrook, with its spacious hall and grounds, being considered an eligible locality, was purchased by the community. The house was considerably altered and enlarged for the accommodation of the numerous young ladies who are there educated by the nuns.

Charles the First, Thomas Hornyold brought a troop of horse at his own cost to the assistance of that monarch, and subsequently his estates were sequestered, and £3000 worth of timber sold therefrom to repair the losses of Alderman Elwins, of Worcester, "a rebel."

L

Warndon.

EST the reader should refer to a map, and suffer disappointment, I may as well at the outset inform him that the parish of Warndon lies to the north-east of Worcester, is situated in the lower division of the hundred of Oswaldslow, and deanery of Worcester, bounded east by Tibberton, west by St. Martin's and Claines, south by Spetchley, and north by Hindlip, and that the church is two and a half miles from Worcester Cross. It is necessary to be thus precise with regard to the latitude and longitude of the village of Warndon, or perhaps the reader may be occupied, like myself, a long time in making the discovery. Skirting the lower part of Perry Wood, I gained the New Town road, and, having passed on for a mile or so, observed a lad in a ditch holding a hook in his hand, and evincing his early interest in the science of agriculture by his cutting, thrusting, and stabbing the weeds which hung over from the hedge. He might have been better engaged in conning the collect and psalms for the day, or in getting ready his Sunday school lesson, but it seems that no such school was within his reach. I enlisted his services to point out the way to Warndon, and his directions were a fair sample of the perspicuous manner in which country folk generally delineate his line of route to a traveller :-" You will go down that lane, through the gate, down the pitch and over the stile, then along the lower meadow, and keep to your right by the trees, till you come to Trotshill, and then 'twill be all straight road; you can't mistake, sir." I thanked him for his specific information, feeling that further inquiry would only make the matter worse; and he returned to his hedge clipping with the self-satisfied air of a person who had been imparting superior knowledge to an ignoramus. The line of route described as "all straight road" consisted of a farm yard out of which four

roads branched, then a series of fields traversed by paths in all manner of angles, and a wood to make the uncertainty still more doubtful. By and bye the tinkling of the little bell informed me of my proximity to the church, of which indeed I had been till then unconscious, for the sacred edifice was hid by farm buildings; and its tower, being of a most unecclesiastical character, had completely nonplussed my little knowledge of church architecture.

The church has an exceedingly unpretending appearance, its ground plan being nothing more than an oblong, with a wooden tower at the west end, ascended on the inside by means of a ladder. The date of the building is that immediately preceding the introduction of the debased styles-a period of about three centuries; and the records state that in June, 1542, Henry Holbeche, suffragan Bishop of Bristol, last prior and first dean of the Cathedral Church of Worcester, consecrated the parish church and churchyard of St. Nicholas de Warmdon. The arch of the south doorway (now blocked up) is semi-circular, and would seem to denote a much earlier period. There is a wooden porch at the entrance on the north side, but made so low as to remind one of the description of the doorways of houses in certain eastern countries, which are constructed low for the purpose of keeping out enemies, being in keeping with the proverb, “He that exalteth his gate seeketh destruction.” The structure was repaired a few years ago, in the time of the present incumbent, at an expense of £130, raised by subscription and the sale of a small plot of land formerly belonging to the church; but the repairs of the east wall consisting mainly of bricks and plaster, the whole wears a shabby, crumbling appearance. The roof is tiled, and the ceiling of the interior is waggon shaped. The only symptoms of ornament about this poverty stricken, woe-begone edifice, are a table of charities, the tables of the Creed and Ten Commandments, a few bits of stained glass in the east window (including probably the relics of the arms of Poher and Brace, remaining in Nash's time), with a row of twelve hat pegs on the south wall. There is

here an heptagonal font, without ornament, and large enough for total immersion. This shape is, I believe, somewhat rare.* The only person in the church on my arrival was an aged man —at least a septuagenarian—who was busily engaged, brush in hand, removing the dust from his own seat and that of the clergyman. I am not sure that he extended his thoughtful attentions to any other part of the church, probably owing to an uncertainty in his mind as to whether any other part of the church would be occupied. He wore a grey skull-cap, and, being nearly doubled up with the rheumatism, hobbled about by means of a stick. This old man, who holds the conjoint responsibilities of clerk and sexton, informed me that he had officiated in that church for half a century, during which period he had "seen out" four parsons; and had I asserted the probability of his "seeing out" four more I don't think he would have disputed the fact, for

"All men think all men mortal but themselves."

From him I learned that there was formerly a Sunday school belonging to this church, which met in the space under the belfry; but as there was not sufficient money forthcoming for the master's stipend, it was broken up and its influence destroyed -a fact which I had preconceived from the circumstance of having seen, but five minutes before, two sturdy young urchins engaged in bird-nesting at the walls of the tower itself, against which they would have reared a ladder for that purpose but for the arrival of one or two stragglers, who drove them further a-field, perhaps to "fit hares with brass collars," as the next step in crime. My ancient friend the sexton, it appeared, had been recognised as the parochial carpenter for an indefinite period of time, and had himself repewed the church about

*The Rev. G. A. Poole, in his work on the decoration of churches, says "I know of no font, worthy of especial notice, whose basin has seven sides; and this shape would be least of all adapted to the font, according to the symbolical meaning of the different numerals with the elder theological writers: for seven signifies perfection, whereas the font is the instrument of initiation. I may just mention however the heptagonal fonts at Elmeswell, in Suffolk, and of Bowden Magna, in Leicestershire."

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sixteen years ago. A large elevated seat at the south-west corner he pointed out as the then intended receptacle for the 66 quire"-"as fine a lot o' singers," he said, as ony parish could show; but they were not encouraged, and so they gin it | up”—in high dudgeon, I have no doubt; for it is only to hint : a fault in the proceedings of your rural choirs, and they'll

"Throw down their fiddles, and depart

In savage grandeur home;"

and pretty strong must be the influence, or rather the apology, to draw out them and their instruments once more from their hiding places. Moreover, the Warndon choir were erst in possession of a bass-viol-"a mighty good sounded one," as the old clerk informed me, and which, having cost him from time to time a matter of ten shillings in repairs, he seized upon as his lawful due at the time of the bankruptcy of the concern, and "sold him to pay for his keep, but at a loss of 6s. arter all." The poor old man seemed heartily to bewail the degeneration of all things, though in his own person he himself presented an instance of the indifference and neglect so frequently prevailing in the selection of the servants of the church. The majority of parish clerks are chosen from a class of persons wholly unsuited to the duties of their office, which is secondary only to that of the clergyman himself. Archdeacon Manning, in allusion to this subject, observes-"It is greatly to be lamented that an office of so much sacredness should have fallen into so low esteem. Next to the clergyman no one bears a more public example, or one more nearly related to the highest blessings, than the clerk who is appointed to take part in the services of parochial worship. The very name is a witness that he is the Lord's servant. It has come to pass in the smaller, that is in most parishes, that the clerk has sunk into the sexton.* But it is manifest that in the Book of Common Prayer, when the clerk or clerks are spoken of, an order of men in every way higher,

* On consulting village registers, it is found that the office of parish clerk, in nine instances out of ten, is often vested in one family. At Hope, the present clerk is the seventh in lineal succession who has held the office in that village.