Wisconsin tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1847-1854, 1851-07-03
Sights in London.
LoyDoN, Friday May %, 1851.
BY HORACE CIR EELEY.

last fortnight. and shall be for some ten
days more, with the fulfilment Of the du-
ties of Juror therein. The number of
Americans here mot exhibitors) who can
and viii devote the time required for this
service is so small that none can well be
excused ana the fairness evinced By the
Royal Commissioners In offering 10 place
as many foreigners (named BY their res
pective Commissioners as Britons, on the
several Juries, we'll deserves to be met in
a corresponding spirit. | did not, there
fore feel at liberty to decline the post Of
Juror, to which [ had been assigned be
fore my arrival, though it involves much
labor and care, and will keep me here some
what longer than [ had intended to stay
On the other hand, = has opened to me
/ sources of information and facilities for
observation which could not, ia brief
visit to a land Of Strangers, otherwise
hoped to enjoy / spend each secular day
ut the Exhibition-generally from 10 to
o'clock-aad have my evenings for 9th
or pursuits and thoughts propose here
to iot down few of the notes on London
[ have made since the sailing of the last
steamship.
WESTMINSTER ABBEY.
/ attended Divine worship in this cele-
brated ediice last Sunday morning Sit
uated near the Houses of Parliament. the
Royal Palaces of Buckingham and St
James and in the most aristocratic quar-
ter IF the city, its external appearance Is
less imposing than / had expected. and
what l saw Of It's interior did not partic-
ularly impress me. Lofty ceilings, stain
ed windows and barbaric profusion Of
carving. groiring and all manner Of costly
contrIyances for absorbing money and la
Dor. made on me the impression OF waste
rather than taste. seeming to give form
and substance to the orators simile Of the
contortions of the sybil without her ms
piratiou. 4 better acquaintance with the
edfee, or the principles of architecture
might serve to correct this hasty judgment
bat surely Westminster Abbey might af-
ford place Of worship equal in capacity
fitness. and convenience 20 amodern church
edihce costing $50 GOO and surely it does
not. ] think there IS no one Of the ten
best churches IN New York. which Is not
superior to the Abbey for this purpose
! thought myself acquainted with all
the approved renderiDgs of the Episcopal
morning service but when the clergyman
who oficiated at the Abbey began to twang
out, Dearly beloved brethren" etc, in a
nasal, drawling, scmi-chant, [ was taken
completely a-back 1t sounded as though
some rraceless Friar Tuck had wormed
himself into the desk. and was sndeas0r-
ing. under pretence OF reading the service
to caricature as broadly as possible the
alleged popularity of Methodist pulpit
enunciation superimpoSed upon the recu-
lar Yankee drawl As the service pro
ceeded, l became more accustomed and
more reconciied to this mode of utterance.
but never enough so to like it, nor even
the responses. which were given IN the
same way. but much better After / came
a5Tay, ! was Informed shat this seIni-chant
IS termed inl0nulg, and Is said to be q
revival Of an ancient method OF rendering
the church service. If such be the fact
[ can only say that in my poor judgment
tha. revival was an unwise aud unfortua-
ate one
The service was very long-more than
t8o hours-the music excelcnt-the con
cregation large-the Sermon. so far as I
could Judge, had nothing bad in IT, Yet
there was an eleventh century air about
the whole. which strengthened my conyic-
tion that the Anglican Church will very
soon be summoned to take her stand dis
tinctly on the side either of Romanism or
Protestanism, and the summons viii shake
not the Church only, but the Realm, to
its centre
RAGGED SCHOOLS.
In the evening l attended the ragged
- i
near artheeattle-market in Smithfeld. .(where
John Rogers was burned at the stake by
Catholics.as Catholics had been burned by
Protestants before him The honest can
did, history Of Persecution for Faiths
sake has never yet been written when
ever II shall be, it must cause many ears
TO tingle)
It was something past I o'clock when
we reached the rough old building in a
filthy, poverty stricken quarter which has
been rudely fitted up for the ragged school
one of the first, | believe, that was at
tempted | should say there were about
forty teachers the pupils were at least
two-thirds males, from FIVE to twenty years
old. with a dozen or more adults The
girls were a hundred or so. mainly from
y
ate aud upper apartment ascending out Of
the main room, there were some forty ad-
ult women, with teachers exclusively Of
their own sex The teachers were OF va
rious grades of capacity but as all teach
without paw, aud under circumstances
which forbid the idea Of any other than
philanthr0pic or religious attractiveness
in the duty, they are all deserving of praise
The teaching IS confined, L bel.eve to ru-
dimeutal instruction in reading and spell
ing, and to historic, theologic and moral
lessons from the Bible As The doors are
open, aud every one who sees fit comes in
stays 50 long as he p!eases, and then goes
out, there Is much confusion and hustle at
times bat on the whole satisfactory de-
gree Of order Is preserved. and considera-
Die, though very unequal, progress made