omas Parkes. He died in
1884. The peculiar resonant nasal twang with which he sang out the
"Amens" gave rise to a sharp newspaper correspondence in the _Wednesbury
Observer_ of 1857. Another controversy provoked by him was at the
opening of the cemetery in 1868, when as vestry clerk he claimed a fee
of 9 d. on every interment. The resistance of the Nonconformists led to
an amicable compromise.

* * * * *

Mr. Wise, of Weekley, the author of several works on Kettering and the
neighbourhood, tells me of an extraordinary incident which happened in a
Sussex parish church when he was a boy about seventy years ago. The
clerk was a decayed farmer who had a fine voice, but who was noted for
his intemperate habits. He went up as usual to the singers' gallery just
before the sermon and gave out the metrical Psalm. The Psalm was sung,
the sermon commenced, when suddenly from the gallery rose the words of a
popular song, given by a splendid tenor voice:

"Oh, give my back my Arab steed,
My Prince defends his right,
And I will ..."

"Some one, please, remove that drunken man from the gallery," the
clergyman quietly said. It was afterwards found that some mischievous
persons had promised the clerk a gallon of ale if he would sing a song
during the sermon.

* * * * *

Miss Elton, of Bath, tells me of the clerk of Bierton, near Aylesbury,
of which her father had sole charge for a time at the end of the
forties. His predecessor had been a Mr. Stephens. The place had been
neglected, and church matters were at a low ebb. Mr. Elton instituted a
service on Saints' Days, which was quite an innovation at that time, and
the first of these was held on St. Stephen's Day. The old clerk came
into the vestry after the service and said, "I be sorry, sir, to hear
the unkid (= awful) tale of poor Mussar (Mister) Stephens. He be come
to a sad end surely." He had evidently confounded the first martyr, St.
Stephen, with the late curate of the parish, having apparently never
heard of the former.

A new vicar had been appointed to a parish about eight miles from
Oxford, who had been for many years a Fellow of his college, and in
consequence knew little of village folk or parochial matters. Dr. A. was
much disturbed to find that so few of the villagers attended church, and
consulted the clerk on the subject, who suggested that it might
encourage the people to attend if D