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with heavy clouds, from which showers were descending upon the earth. To be in that old building, with only two-thirds of the glass in the windows, on such a day, had a peculiar interest in it to a soul at all inclined to the love of ancient things. The weather being mild, there was nothing to interrupt the indulgence of such a feeling. There was also something to encourage it, in the fact that an aged lady, (the descendant of Mr. Carter,) whose two nieces-the eldest daughters of Mr. Tomlin, who lived near at hand-had on the preceding day ratified their baptismal vows, desired on this occasion to do the same. I can never forget my feelings as I stood in the old chancel administering the rite, while only a few individuals, and they chiefly the descendants of the builder of the house, were here and there to be seen in the large double pews adjoining the pulpit and chancel. There was a circumstance which occurred at that time not unworthy to be mentioned, as showing that we of this day of progressive improvement are not in all things in advance of our fathers, but in some rather the contrary. I spent the night intervening between the two above-mentioned days at Mr. Tomlin's house, which was a new one scarcely finished, and, while lying in bed early in the morning and looking toward the ceiling, suddenly saw a large portion of the plastering giving way just above me, leaving only time to draw the covering over my head before it fell upon my body, and not without a slight bruise. I could not help then and often since instituting a comparison between the fidelity and durability of ancient and modern architecture. Here was the ceiling of a private house, not a year old, tumbling over me, and there was the heavy plastering of an old church, built one hundred and twenty or thirty years before, perfectly sound and impervious to rain, except in one or two small spots where it was a little discoloured underneath the gutter, where the shingles had decayed. Where is the house, built in these degenerate days of slight modern architecture, which may compare with Old Christ Church, either within or without? When a few years since it was repaired, as I in my report expressed the belief that it would be, the only repairs required were a new roof, (and but for the failure in the gutters that would have been unnecessary,) the renewal of the cornices, supplying the broken glass, and painting the pews, pulpit. &c. All the rest was in a most perfect state of soundness. The shingles, except in the decayed gutters, were so good that they were sold to the neighbours around, and will probably now last longer than many new ones just gotten from the woods, having become hardened by age on the steep and

taunt roofs from which the rains of more than a century rushed downward, not stopping for a moment to settle in the joints. That is one reason why all of the old roofs were more durable than the modern, the fashionable taste for low or flat ones leading to their speedier decay. Another is the fact that in former days worms, so destructive now to timber, appear not to have abounded as at present, or else some method for drying and hardening all the materials used was adopted, which is now neglected. In taking off the roof of Old Christ Church for the purpose of renewing it, one secret of the durability of the plastering was discovered. Besides having mortar of the most tenacious kind and of the purest white, and laths much thicker and stronger than those now in use, and old English wrought nails,—our modern factories not then being known, the mortar was not only pressed with a strong hand through the openings of the laths, but clinched on the other side. by a trowel in the hand of one above, so as to be fast keyed and kept from falling.

In all respects the house appears to have been built in the most. durable manner, but without any of the mere trinkets of architecture. The form and proportion of the house are also most excellent, and make a deep impression on the eye and mind of the beholder. Though the walls are three feet thick, yet such is their height and such the short distance between the windows and doors. and such the effect of the figure of the cross, that there is no appearance of heaviness about them. The roof or roofs are also very steep and high, and take the place of tower or steeple. A steeple or tower would indeed injure the whole aspect of the building.

For the repairing of this house we are indebted mainly to the liberality of two brothers,-Mr. Kelleys,-descendants of old Episcopalians of the Northern Neck. Not only did they furnish far the larger part of the fifteen hundred dollars required for it, but superintended most carefully the expenditure of the same. Their bodies lie side by side within a strong iron enclosure near the church. The eldest of the brothers has died within the last two years, leaving, among other bequests, two thousand dollars to our Theological Seminary and High School.

I am sure the reader will be pleased in having the following epitaphs added to the foregoing notices of Old Christ Church.

I.

This incription is to the north of the chancel, in the east end of the church:

"Here lyeth buried ye body of John Carter, Esq, who died y° 10th of June, Anno Domini 1669; and also Jane, ye daughter of Mr. Morgan Glyn, and George her son, and Elenor Carter, and Ann, y daughter of Mr. Cleave Carter, and Sarah, ye daughter of Mr. Gabriel Ludlow, and Sarah her daughter, which were all his wives successively, and died before him.

"Blessed are y° dead which die in ye Lord; even soe, saith y Spirit, for they rest from their labours, and their works do follow them."

II.

This inscription is in the centre of the church, at the intersection of the aisles :

"Here lyeth the body of Mr. David Miles, who died the 29th of December, 1674, and in y 40th year of his age.

"Hodie mihi, cras tibi."

(Mine to-day, yours to-morrow.)

III.

This tombstone is at the east end of the church:
:-

"H. S. E.

"Vir honorabilis Robertus Carter, Armiger, qui genus honestum dotibus eximiis et moribus antiquis illustravit. Collegium Gulielmi et Mariæ temporibus difficillimis propugnavit, Gubernator.

"Senatus Rogator et Quæstor sub serenissimis Principibus Gulielmo, Anna, Georgio Primo et Secundo

"A publicis concilliis concillii per sexennium præses; plus anno Coloniæ Præfectus, cum regiam dignitatem et publicam libertatem æquali jure asseruit.

Locu

"Opibus amplissimis bene partis instructus, ædem hanc sacram, in Deum pietatis grande monumentum propriis sumptibus extruit. pletavit.

"In omnes quos humaniter excepit nec prodigus nec parcus hospes. Liberalitatem insignem testantur debita munifice remissa.

"Primo Juditham, Johannis Armistead, Armigeri, filiam; deinde Betty, generosa Landonorum stirpe oriundam, sibi connubio junctas habuit: e quibus prolem numerosam suscepit, in qua erudienda pecuniæ vim maximam insumpsit.

"Tandem honorum et dierum satur, cum omnia vitæ munera egregiæ præstitisset, obiit Pri. Non. Aug. An. Dom. 1732, æt. 69.

"Miseri solamen, viduæ præsiduum, orbi patrem, ademptum lugent.'

EAST OF THE CHURCH.

IV.

"Here lyeth buried the body of Judith Carter, the wife of Robert Carter, Esq., and eldest daughter of the Hon John Armistead, Esq., and Judith his wife. She departed this life the 23d day of February, Anno 1699, in the year of her age, and in the eleventh year of her marriage having borne to her husband five children, four daughters and a

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