about having a thing for nothing in the region of
St. James's church. They would probably flock in greater numbers to
the edifice if there were an abundance of those oysters which it is
said "Saint James gives;" but they appear to have a sacred dread of
free seats. Very recently we were at the church, and on the side we
noticed seventeen free pews. How many people do you think there were
in them? Just one delicious old woman, who wore a brightly-coloured
old shawl, and a finely-spreading old bonnet, which in its weight
and amplitude of trimmings seemed to frown into evanescence the
sprightly half-ounce head gearing of today. Paying for what they get
and giving a good price for it when they have a chance is evidently
an axiom with the believers in St. James's. There is at present a
demand for seats worth from 7s. to 10s. each; but those which can be
obtained for 1s. are not much thought of, and nobody will look on
one side at the pews which are offered for nothing. That which is
not charged for is never cared for; and further, in respect to free
pews, patronage of them is an indication of poverty, and people, as
a rule, don't like to show the white feather in that department.

The congregation is thin, but select--is constituted of substantial
burgeois people, and a few individuals who are comparatively
wealthy. There is a smart elegance about the bonnets and toilettes
of some of the females, and a studied precision in respect to the
linen, vests, and gloves of several of the males. Nothing gloomy,
nor acetose, nor piously-angular can be observed in them; nothing
pre-eminently lustrous is seen in the halo of the respective
worshippers; yet there is a finish about them which indicates that
they have no connection with the canaille, and that they are in some
instances approaching, and in others directly associated with, the
"higher middle class." There are only two services a week--morning
and evening, on a Sunday--at St. James's. Formerly there were more--
one on a Sunday afternoon, and another on a Thursday evening; but as
the former was only attended by about 30, and the latter by eight or
ten, and as the fund for maintaining a curate who had the management
of them was withdrawn, it was decided some time ago to drop the
services. The Sunday congregation, although it does not on many
occasions half fill the church, is gradually increasing, and it is
hoped that during the next twenty-years it will swell into pretty
large