The northern tribune. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1847-1855, 1848-02-01


woodbine. The graves SO made, that the
tablets which rest upon them cover the ground
entirely, like flag stones in side walk, Some
of these have upright monumental stones
with inscriptions at the head; and some only
an inscription on the tablet as it lies. notc-
cd a church-yard adjoining one of the old
churches, entirely tagged with these tablets,
and without one stone upright. 1t looked
dreadfully cold and naked. Inscriptions on
the monuments. Iperceive are, to say the least,
in no better taste than we find them in our
own cemeteries. Some which we noticed
were truly shocking.
As Dr. Raffles, to whom had letter, was
absent from the city, I went on Sabbath morn
ing to hear DR.. NJ. of the establishment. l
heard him and was disappointed. He had a
fine person and commanding voice, but his
sermon was mere small falkland far inferior
to the average sermons which one would hear,
on any Sabbath in the village churches o.
New England AS the Rev. DIR. is considered
one of the able men of the establishment,
presume it could not have been fair specimen
of his pulpit talents; although was satisfied
on farther observation, that not little of the
preaching in English pulpits is of character
which would not be thought respectable with
US, and which we shou Id expect to find only
in the most familiar exercises of the lecture
room. There is too often, want Of solid
fbouubt of y;uorouc la 7, o,laua and IF earnost-
ness of manner, which renders the perform
ances of the pulpit feeble and unimpressvc.
In the evening I heard a good evangelical
sermon at DR.. Raffless chapel from young
pleased with the still and Sabbath-like APP
pearance of Liverpool throughout the day.
Before taking leave of Liverpool, we made
an excursion by railway to Chester about fif-
teen miles. 1t is on the Dee river. and is one
of the oldest Of English cities. We rode out
in an hour; and l cannot express the interest
which was awakened in my mind by this first
view of ,called city, ruined conuent, and an
old cathedral with its crumbling towers, its ru-
ined cloisters adjoining, and its various other
appendeges II was late in the afternoon
when we reached the Cathedral-a good hour
to visit such place. The chapel in which
good Matthew Henry used to preach, and the
little vestry in which he read and thought and
prayed, had already touched our hearts not a
little; and then we had passed through the
ruins as the old Abbey of St. Johns, whose
timeworn walls overgrown with moss and
shrubbery told of the flight of many centu.
ries, and where noticed a lofty tree whose
two main branches passed up on the opposite
sides of beautiful arch OF ruined gothic
window; and we were thus just in mood to
tread the sombre aisles of the more lofty and
impressive pile. Some parts of the Cathedral
are believed to be very ancient, and the WHOLE
from tho softness. of the stone, which presents
crumbled and decayed appearance, seems to
speak to the thoughtful observer of ages long
since gone. felt, as wound my way along
vague and indescribable sympathy with the
l,ng forgotten past. My Imagination restored
the old Monks to life and found myself
humming alternately Miserere and Jub-
late, or listening: to catch the dying tone of
that seemed to hear just concluding in the
choir. And when looked into the dingy old
cloisters, and to the dining hall where the no.
ly fathers were wont to regale themselves with
abundance of good cheer, should have been
obliged to think twice before venturing to say
that was actually living in the nineteenth
century! Ny musings at length arranged
themselves in the following shape