6 probably were not onerous. He was required to present a flitch of the finest bacon to any married couple who, after having been married for a year and a day, were prepared to come forward and say on oath that they had never on a single occasion quarrelled. One is almost reminded of the good old divine Paley, when he was shown an aged couple that had been married for forty years without a single word of difference, and he came to the conclusion, after observing them for some time, that they must have found it very slow.' Of course the Dunmow tenure of the celebrated flitch is another instance of a similar provision. The statistics of the population of Melbourne between the years 1861 and 1871 show a remarkable sameness. Excepting where some industry has sprung up, we should hardly look for much change in the number of the inhabitants in the Derby towns, and we find, in the decade mentioned, that often two per cent. is quite sufficient to cover the increase or decrease; but in Melbourne the census that was taken in 1861 showed 4,694 inhabitants, and in 1871 4,693, or a decrease on the total number of one resident in ten years. Melton Mowbray will be known to every Englishman for some one or other of the specialities that have made it famous-Stilton cheese (for Melton is one of the principal markets), pork pies, and hunting. The oldest and largest pork-pie establishment is that of Mr. Evans, and he very obligingly showed it to me in full working order. With machinery such as he has, a large number of pies. could be turned out in a few hours by a few hands, but he employs twenty-seven cooks, on an average, all the year round. Everything is on a wholesale scale, and the vats of pepper and the sacks of flour would quite astonish even a prosperous grocer. He uses only legs of pork; and these are hung up, like stalactites in a vast cavern, during the winter season, when his principal trade is done. There seems to be no particular reason why Melton Mowbray should excel in pork pies over every other town in England, and probably there is nothing either in the atmosphere or surroundings to account for its pre-eminence, for pork is brought from Lancashire, Yorkshire, Surrey, and indeed everywhere, and flour and pepper come from either Liverpool or London; but, for all that, its supremacy is never questioned. In the same way Ormskirk, in Lancashire, for gingerbread, and Everton, near Liverpool, for toffy, hold undisturbed sway in the markets of the world. The church at Melton Mowbray is very noble, and quite an example of the fine old parish churches of England. It has suffered a little from the restorer, but enough of the ancient fabric remains to show what its old condition must have been at the beginning of the present century. It has been proposed on VOL. XLI. NO. CLXII. X very high authority indeed to have a list prepared of the various churches of ancient date which have not been restored,' as the Goths and Vandals are so fond of calling their costly and sacrilegious destruction of ancient ecclesiastical buildings. This subject has been referred to before, and now again it is brought up, in the endeavour to arrive at some principle on which church restoration, or rather repairs, should be conducted. It may be taken as a canon that admits of no qualification that no old stone should be rubbed down so as to show a new surface; the lichens and the Melton Mowbray, approaching from Leicester. mould of time cannot be restored. If an art education were more common among architects, these records of the past would soon be valued as they should be. With silicates and good mortar, or sometimes cement, and a careful hand, wonderful repairs are possible; and though skill and science have been at work, it may be hardly possible to tell that the church or castle has been touched. I happened to meet with some excellent remarks upon this subject by Mr. Johnson, an architect practising at Melton Mowbray, to whom was entrusted the repairs of the ancient village cross of Frisby on the Wreak. Speaking of Waltham Cross, he said that 'an attempt at its renovation rather than restoration caused much discussion; the plea being that, however faithfully the old work might be copied, it does at best but show how well we can imitate the original, and affords very equivocal evidence of the state of the arts in the reign of Edward I.; and this argument will bear out in all matters of restoration. In the present day we are too apt to lose sight of the ancient work, and by the introduction of novelties to entirely destroy the character of the original. There is a charm about the moss-covered stones that is not appreciated by all architects; but the object should be, not to renew them by putting a fresh stone in the place of every old one that is in any degree mutilated, but to preserve them from further dilapidation, and to save every ancient feature that can possibly be preserved; restoring such parts only when it is indispensably necessary to ensure the safety and durability of the structure.' This is so well said, and so thoroughly covers the ground that is taken, as to render further remarks on the same subject unnecessary. How far such a system has been departed from let the meretricious parish churches that have met with such hard usage in every county in England testify. There are indeed not very many that, under the name of 'restoration,' have not met with some damage, if not even destruction. I saw a short time ago a fine old church of the thirteenth century, formerly an abbey church. It was many years since I had seen it before-and then it had not been restored; 2 |