APPENDIX. Note A, page 6. A late Derbyshire tourist, Mr. Rhodes, observes, that the Church at Ashbourn has been "strangely defaced and cut away, in order that some unmeaning monumental tablets might be more conveniently put against them.—It is a pity (adds the tourist) that the Churchwardens, who allowed such a mutilation to take place, were not made to do penance for such an instance of bad taste." Happily this reproach no longer applies to this fine Church. Amongst the many restorations which have there recently taken place, under the direction of the architect Mr. Cottingham, he has judiciously removed these tablets to places more suited for their reception; one large monument of the age of James I., which interfered with a beautiful lancet window, has been placed against a blank wall, and partly sunk into the ground, without any portion of it being hidden. This example may be followed with success in other places. The plan adopted in Lichfield Cathedral, by the direction of the late excellent Dean, Dr. Woodhouse, is one that ought also to be imitated where it is practicable. Tablets and small monuments are inserted within the architectural pannels on the walls. By this plan, the pilasters are unbroken, and these features of the building are preserved. The Abbey-Church at Bath was not long ago literally encrusted with tablets; by a re-arrangement of them, that sacred edifice has been most materially improved a. I may here advert to the very serious injury, which has resulted to many of our Churches from the interments within their walls. This practice should be altogether discontinued, except in those cases, where vaults or catacombs have been constructed coeval with the Church, or where they can be introduced with due regard to the safety of the fabric. In some of our older Churches, the foundations and piers have been undermined and shaken by sinking graves and vaults too near them, and even gunpowder has been resorted to for the purpose of blasting a rocky bed. The pavement and the pews are thus displaced, and are frequently left in a neglected state, and, what is still more important, the living are brought too closely into contact with the dead. We may inquire with Smollett "whether the area of a Church should not be kept sacred from pollution, causing us to breathe a gross stagnated air, surcharged with damps from vaults and tombs?" Let us remember how many wise and good men have solemnly protested against this practice, and expressly directed that their own remains should be interred in a Church yard. They objected to the House of God being devoted to any other purpose than that of "a house of prayer;" they were mindful of the health of those who survived them, and, a Similar improvements have, I understand, been made in several Churches in Oxford; in St. Mary's, St. Peter's, St. Giles's, and St. Michael's. In all these the Monuments have been removed from the Pillars, and in some of them, Windows have been re-opened. The late Dean Cholmondeley was amongst the first of those, who, in his Cathedral at Chester, set the good example of placing Monuments in appropriate situations. |