In our last number we presented our readers with a view of the exterior of Islington Church, together with an account of the old as well as of the present building. It now remains for us to give some descriptive matter respecting the interior of the Mother Church, also of the Chapel of Ease, and the other district churches of this highly-favoured parish.

The interior of St. Mary's Church consists principally of a nave and two side aisles, with spacious galleries extending from north to south, painted on the front in imitation of oak wainscoat, and supported by Tuscan pillars. They contain between sixty and seventy pews, framed of fir; at the west end stands a very handsome and good-toned organ in a mahogany case, built in 1772. The altar piece is composed of mahogany, divided into compartments by pillars, and their entablature of the Doric order. The decalogue, creed, &c. are painted in golden letters on a black ground; and above the pediment in place of the east window (which was designed in the Venetian taste, but has been filled up with stone work) is an appropriate painting of the Annunciation, having on each side emblems of the Law and the Gospel in chiaro'scuro, painted by Mr. Nathaniel Clarkson. The pews in the area of the building, which were originally ninety-one in number, together with the screen which divides the Church from the vestibule, are framed of oak wainscot; and in

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the pew for baptisms at the entrance is a neat marble font.* The pulpit, the desk for prayer and reading, &c., are of mahogany, and the sounding board is supported by two Corinthian columns. The Church will accommodate 1300.

The Church throughout exhibits an elegant plainness; but the beauty of the interior has been much impaired by some alterations which were made in 1818, which cost about £2,000, when the building was newly roofed. The ceiling was formerly carved and vaulted, as in the annexed engraving; but in consequence of some defect in the roof, it has been altered and made flat. The extreme length of the structure is 158 feet, its width is 60 feet, and its height to the top of the vane is 164 feet. At the east end of the Church are funeral hatchments belonging to the families of Pullen, Wilson, Moorhouse, Blackstone, and Burton; two royal escutcheons put up on the demise of the Princess Charlotte and George the Third, and various monumental inscriptions.

In the vestry room is a large drawing of the Church, presented to the vestry by William Wickings, Easter, 1793; and two views of the old structure, given in our last number. Here is also a large plan or survey of the parish on vellum, enclosed in a mahogany case. This was made by Richard Dent in 1805-6, and contains a delineation of the site of every house, garden, field, &c., with figures of reference to a terrier, containing the names of the respective proprietors. A copy of this survey is kept at the Chapel of Ease. There is also in the vestry an old plan or survey of the roads, made in the year 1735, and a Table of Benefactions.

Beneath the Church are extensive vaults for interment; and it is curious to observe the care entertained by some persons towards their earthly remains after death. In the vault are two coffins of cast iron, made many years before a patent was obtained for iron coffins, in which are deposited the remains of Mr. Giles and his wife, formerly inhabitants of the City Gardens; also one of cedar, with a cover similar to the gable roof of a house; this contains the body of Justice Palmer, train-bearer Arthur Onslow, Esq., Speaker of the House of Commons, and was made according to his own directions, with a view of resisting the attacks of worms, and to prevent any other coffin being placed upon him. Here is also a coffin bound round with iron chains for better security; and one with a piece of glass fixed in the lid, for the convenience of viewing the face of the lady whose body it contains.

The site of the Church and the church-yard occupies 1a. 20p. An enclosed cemetery, or burying-ground, containing 3r. 2p. was annexed to the latter, by virtue of an Act passed for this purpose (33 Geo. III.), intituled, "An Act for enlarging the Church-yard or Cemetery of the parish church of St. Mary, Islington, in the County of Middlesex." The copyhold of the ground cost £1,200, and £108 was paid for the enfranchisement. It was consecrated by the Bishop of the Diocese, Dec. 18, 1793. The iron rails were placed upon the dwarf wall in front of the Church about the year 1802.

ST. MARY'S CHAPEL, HOLLOWAY.-The vast increase of buildings in Islington parish of late years, and particularly in the neighbourhood of Holloway, rendered the erection of a CHAPEL OF EASE in that quarter essentially necessary. An Act of Parliament, therefore, was obtained for the purpose in 1811, and in the course

• Fonts were at first built near the church, then in the church porch, and afterwards (as it is now usual amongst us) placed in the church itself, still keeping the lower end, to intimate that Baptism is the entrance into the mystical church.-Wheatly.

of the three following years the present spacious edifice was built, from the designs, and under the superintendence of Mr. William Wickings. The first stone was laid on the 16th of June, 1812; and the consecration sermon was preached on the 17th of August, 1814. The entire charge of building and furnishing this Chapel (exclusive of somewhat more than £6,000 for the purchase of the ground) amounted to £20,230 8s. 11d.: of this sum £614 was expended for the altar-piece; £492 17s. for the pulpit: £3,036 18s. 4d. for the tower; £422 18s. 6d. for the clock and bells; and £1,911 10s. Od. for the boundary wall, iron gates, &c. of the surrounding burial-ground. The Chapel will hold 1200.

It has been remarked of this Chapel, that it neither possesses the simplicity which is characteristic of a building of this class, nor the grandeur sufficient to raise it to the rank of a Church. The tower is too deficient in elevation to produce a good effect; and instead of being placed at the western extremity of the fabric, as customary in religious edifices, it is here erected at the east end, and immediately over the altar. This was not the fault of the architect, who only followed the instruction of the trustees, who wished to give the building a more important aspect when viewed from the main road.

This edifice is principally of brick, but has stone bands, copings, &c. The lower division of the tower, also, is of stone, as well as the pilasters and balustrades of the upper part: the angles are surmounted by eight vases. On the north and south sides, and at the west end, are porticoes of the Tuscan order, each rising from a high flight of steps, but assuming a somewhat heavy appearance, through the columns being duplicated. The interior has a light and elegant appearance; the area is neatly pewed; and the galleries, which are supported by Tuscan pillars, extend semicircularly round the west end. The ceiling is flat, and wholly plain, excepting towards the middle, where there is a large wreathed circle, inclosing an expanded flower. The altar-piece is enriched by pilasters of Scagliola marble; and over the Decalogue is a good painting, by Mr. John Tibbatts, of our Saviour appearing to Mary Magdalen. The communion table is of fine mahogany: the pulpit and desk, which are of similar wood, and stand before the altar in the middle aisle, are very elegantly designed and wrought. In the western gallery is a fine-toned and handThe whole of the sub-structure is occupied by well-built vaults. The cemetery is spacious, and is planted with avenues of trees forming approaches to the Chapel, which, as seen from the higher grounds, has an interesting appearance.

some organ.

During the first three or four years of the incumbency of its late indefatigable Vicar, the present Bishop of Calcutta, three churches were built by the Parliamentary Commissioners, at an aggregate expense of more than £35,000, towards which sum the parishioners contributed £12,000. The living of each has been made a distinct incumbency under the 21st section of the Act of the 58th of George III. in the gift of the Vicar. The Churchwardens are in the receipt of considerable funds arising from the Stonefield estate, bequeathed by Richard Cloudesley, in 1517, for superstitious uses; but by an Act passed in 1811, the trustees were empowered to let the land, and apply the proceeds to keeping in repair the Parish Church and Chapel of Ease. The land, comprising upwards of sixteen acres, was, in 1814, let on lease for eighty-one years, at a rental amounting in the aggregate to £668 11s. per annum, of which sum four marks are annually paid to the New River Company.

Under the Act of the 2d of Wm. IV. cap. 26, the rental, provided it do not exceed £1,000 per annum, is to be applied to the repair and maintenance of the Parish and District Churches and the Chapel of Ease, the overplus to be appropriated to other parochial purposes. There are also various charitable bequests for distribution among the poor. The architect of the three churches was Mr. Charles Barry.

ST. JOHN'S CHURCH, Upper Holloway, erected in 1827, at an expense of £11,890 7s. 8d. is a handsome structure in the later style of English architecture, with a square embattled tower crowned with pinnacles; the interior is beautifully arranged; the nave, which is very lofty, is lighted by a fine range of clerestory windows, enriched with tracery, and separated from the aisles by pointed arches and pillars of graceful proportion: the whole of this edifice forms an elegant specimen of beautiful design and correct embellishment. It will accommodate 1750. The present Minister is the Rev. Henry Venn, B.D. son of the late Rev. Henry Venn, Vicar of Huddersfield, and Yelling, and Author of the Complete Duty of Man.* The first stone of this Church was laid, with the usual solemnities, by the Archbishop of Canterbury. His Grace was attended by the Bishops of Chester and St. Asaph; the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress; Messrs. Sheriffs Crowder and Kelly; Messrs. Byng and Whitbread, the County Members; the Rev. Daniel Wilson, Vicar (now Bishop of Calcutta), and a very numerous assemblage of the Reverend Members of the Corporation of the Sons of the Clergy. The living is a perpetual Curacy, in the jurisdiction of the Commissary of London, concurrently with the Bishop: patron, Vicar of Islington.

ST. PAUL'S CHURCH, Ball's Pond, erected in the same year, cost the sum of £10,947 16s. 6d., is a building of the same character as St.John's, though differing in its minuter details. It has a low square tower crowned with pinnacles; and the interior of this beautiful structure has a very neat and elegant appearance, more especially the chancel, when viewed from the children's gallery at the western extremity: 1750 persons can be accommodated. It was consecrated Aug. 23, 1828, by the Bishop of London, who delivered a most impressive Sermon from Rom. viii. 26+. The Rev. John Sandys, M.A. is the present Minister. In Oct. 1833, two spacious rooms for the National Schools were erected, together with a convenient house for the Master and Mistress, which cost, with the fittings, about £680. The Schools are plain, but neat and substantial, and capable of holding 140 children each, and are used on Wednesday Evenings for a Cottage Lecture, In connection with this Church is a small Chapel in New Norfolk Street, capable of containing rather more than 200 persons, which cost, with the necessary alterations, about £500. It was formerly used by the Wesleyans: and was opened under the sanction of the Bishop on the first Sunday of the present year.

Of this work above twenty editions have been sold; it has proved highly useful to many. His son mentions the following anecdote as an illustration of the wonderful manner in which God will sometimes supply the wants of his servants, as well as for the sake of the testimony which it affords to the benefit which had attended the perusal of this excellent treatise :-" At a period of very pressing difficulty, when a tradesman was importunate for the payment of his bill, he had no resource left, but with earnest supplication, to make his wants known unto God; and whilst he was upon his knees, a letter was brought enclosing a bank note of fifty pounds, with an anonymous address, saying, Having received great benefit from your Complete Duty of Man'-which was just then published-I beg you to accept this small acknowledgment. He never could discover to whom he was indebted for this seasonable

benefaction."

+ The Bishop's Sermon will be found in The Pulpit, No. 294.