A VISION. . 67

Looking round, I found myself behind the
reading-desk, and nearly facing a transept ; but
by a turn of the head I could take in almost the
whole length of the church, as it stretched away
from the chancel to the western entrance: its long
line of pillars and arches apparently descending as
they retreated one beyond another, while the wood-
work of the pews seemed running upward to meet
them, in that far-off visionary point where all per-
spective lines converge.

But oh that woodwork! those dreadful pew-
lines ! how they grated on my feelings ! how they
disturbed my temper! J, fresh from the beautiful
harmonies of the outer world! I, as a student of
Nature, so keenly alive to such influences! It was
a disappointment with aggravation too, for I had
intended to worship that day in an esthetically
restored church: a church where, among other
returns to the more refined style and better taste
of our forefathers, carved oaken finials headed the
divisions of the open sittings, and brought modern |
woodwork into accordance with the ancient archi-
tecture of the building.