The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1852-07-20 00:00:00

THE OLD GREE.Y LANE.

BY ELIZA COOK.

'TwAq the very merry summer time
That garlands hills and dells,
And the south wind rung a fairy chime
Upon the foxglove bells ;
The cuckoo stood on the lady birch
To bid her last good-bye—
The lark sprung over the village church,
And whistled to the sky ;
And we bad come from the harvest sheaves,
A blithe and tawny train,
And tracked our path with poppy leaves
Along the old green lane.

'Twas a pleasant way on a sunny day,
And we were a happy set,
And we idly bent where the streamlet went
To get our fingers wet ;
With the dog-rose here, and the orchis there,
And the woodbine twining through,
With the broad trees meeting everywhere,
And the grass still dank with dew.
Ah ! we all forgot, in that blissful spot,
The names of care and pain,
As we lay on the bank, by the shepherd's cot,
To rest in the old green lane.

Oh, days gone by ! I can but sigh
As 1 think of that rich hour,
When my heart in its glee but seemed to be
Another woodside flower;
For though the trees be still as fair,
And tile wild bloom still as gay—
And the south wind sends as sweet an air,
And heaven as bright a day;
Yet the merry set are far and wide,
And we shall never meet amain ;
We shall never ramble side by side
Along that old green lane.

LITERATURE.

Books von REVIEW, &c.—Books, New Prints, Music, &c.,
intended for review, may be left at Mr. C. Mitchell's, Red-
lion-court, Fleet-street, London, addressed " to the Editor
of the LIVERPOOL STANDARD," when they will be forwarded
and receive attention.

A Charge delivered by the Venerable the Arch-
deacon of Liverpool, upon the Admission of
Churchwardens in his Archdeaconry, in the month
of May, 1552, and published at their request.
Liverpool : Deighton and Laughton. Haddock
and Son, Warrington.
The whole tenor of this charge of our Venerable
Archdeacon is conceived in a truly Christian spirit;
and, with respect to the rights of private parties
to pews in parochial churches and chapels of ease,
it contains a statement of the law, which will be
both new and interesting to the public. The
Venerable Archdeacon lays it down that " by the
general law, and of common right, all the pews in
parish churches are the common property of the
parish ; they are for the use in common of the
parishioners, who are all entitled to be seated."
He proceeds :
" It is a clear rule of law, recognised in a series of ad-
judged cases, that pews in the body at least of a parish
church, cannot be either bought or sold. The practice
of making such sales may have frequently prevailed. but
has constantly been disallowed by the courts. Even
where an occupier has purchased a seat erected under a
faculty containing a clause permitting the party erecting
it to sell, this is no bar to the common right of the
parisioners, as such permission is illegal. In a case which
came before Sir John Nichol', a most learned, able, and
experienced judge, it appeared that on the building of a
gallery the churchwardens and vestry had sold the seats,
erd that the pews in question had been purchased and
paid for twenty years before—but he said, " this is
alleging what from beginning to end was an illegal trans-
action, and can furnish no ground of title. It may be a
reason in the discretion of the churchwardens for seating
these persons, and such seating may give a possessory
right against a mere disturber ; but if the court were to
admit any part of this article, it would lend its countenance
to a proceeding contrary to law. The sale and purchase
do rot improve, they rather operate against the claim ;
because if a party seeks to found his title on an illegal
origin, it goes far to justify his removal—and as it is
illegal to sell, so is it equally unlawful to let pews.' "
Pews " may be appropriated by prescription and
by a prescriptive title ;" but in most cases where
claims of the kind are made, such title would be
proved to be supposititiotis. It must he shown that
the pew has been annexed to the house of the
parishioner time out of mind; and, secondly, that
it has been repaired by the party claiming it time
out of mind. A third proposition is, that as soon
as ever the holder of a pew ceases to be a parishioner
end quits his house, his right ceases. For the
remainder of the argument, however, we would
refer our readers to the pamphlet itself, which is
well worthy of perusal.

Edinburgh

Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine.
Blackwood and Sons.
Blackwood presents us with an admirable num
ber this month ; and we would especially direct the
attention of our readers at the present crisis to an
article on "The General Election." The remarks
of the writer point with tolerable plainness to the
policy which an honest government, should the
verdict of the country be in favour of Free-trade
policy, must pursue to render it a just policy.
Having withdrawn protection from agriculture,
from our sugar colonies, and our shipping interest,
we must, he contends, carry out the principle of
Free-trade in other branches of industry. " Why,"
he asks, "should the staples of Paisley and Sheffield
be protected, whilst the great staple of our agricul-
tural counties is laid open to the competition of the
world ?" Why, indeed? Why the staples of
Manchester, Bradford, Macclesfield, and other
towns ? We should like much to see what sort of
arguments any consistent Free-trader could find
to oppose to so just a proposition. The magazine
contains an elaborate article on our national de-
fences, and a letter on American politics, which is
well worthy of perusal. The literary matter is of a
high, order.
SERIALS.—First in order we take up our old
friend Chambers's Journal, which still flourishes
with the strength of former days. The selection of
articles is pleasingly varied, while their quality sus-
tains the reader's interest. "An A.D.L.L. Adven-
ture in Liverpool"—the letters are sufficient cabal-
istical !—is an amusing, article, giving a local inte-
rest to the magazine. We recommend it to all our
antiquarian readers; and while sympathising with
the adventurer, they will laugh with him at his en-
thusiasm and mistake. The Home Companion
comes next, with its ;spirited woodcuts, sound
sense, and folly. Like the Home Circle, it is a
repertoire of trifles for the weary hour, and sounder
matter for instruction.. In this respect, these ma-
gazines are much alike; and each is reprinting a
work of standard merit—the former, "The Vicar of
Wakefield ;" the latter, " Handy Andy." Apropos
of the times, the last has got to the nomination day
and.election, one of the most amusing and best-
written parts in the volume. The Ladies' Own Book
accompanies the " Home Circle," and on this occa-
sion contains several patterns for Broderie Anglaise,
an old fashion revived.—We come now to another
group : the Juvenile, in one of the numbers of
which is a full description of the silk-worm, and
drawings of the insect in all its stages. Familiar
Things, and TVonderfal Things. The last is a new
claimant for our suffrages; and with fair promise
for the future, we heartily commend it to the young.
—The Biographical Magazine keeps up its charac-
ter. The lives are fairly written, and bring the
men before us as they lived. In the present
number we have a glowing life of Wordsworth,
written with a poet-spirit, sincere, vigorous, and
critically discriminative. Jacquard, so celebrated
in France for his loom for weaving figured goods,
follows; and after him 'the philanthropic Cotton
Mather, and Samuel Draw.—The Bulwark and the
Protestant Magazine continue staunch in the cause
of the Reformation ; and with this class may be
included a new magazine, which has been already
well received—the Christian Family Advocate, edited
by Catherine Ponsonby, of Edinburgh. Two num-
bers are before us, lively in their contents, and with
more than ordinary ability in their writing. Poetry
and prose, tales which elevate the mind and purify
the heart, essays on religious 'subjects, and reviews,
are the chief materials with which this lady seeks,
through her " Advocate," to promote " the Revival
and growth of an earnest and devoted piety in the
family."—Cocks's Musical Miscellany is this month
enriched by a pretty Romanzina by C. Czerny ; a
Valse Rondoletto by J. Labitzky, which will please
our musical performers, and an American air,
" Call me pet names."