Accordingly, it
often happened, as in the present case, that the buildings
immediately surrounding, as well as the chapels themselves,
looked as if they carried you back to a period a hundred and
fifty years ago. The chapel had a picturesque and old-world look,
for luckily the congregation had been too poor to rebuild it, or
new-face it, in George the Third's time. The staircases which led
to the galleries were outside, at each end of the building, and
the irregular roof and worn stone steps looked grey and stained
by time and weather. The grassy hillocks, each with a little
upright headstone, were shaded by a grand old wych-elm. A
lilac-bush or two, a white rose-tree, and a few laburnums, all
old and gnarled enough, were planted round the chapel yard; and
the casement windows of the chapel were made of heavy-leaded,
diamond-shaped panes, almost covered with ivy, producing a green
gloom, not without its solemnity, within. This ivy was the home
of an infinite number of little birds, which twittered and
warbled, till it might have been thought that they were emulous
of the power of praise possessed by the human creatures within,
with such earnest, long-drawn strains did this crowd of winged
songsters rejoice and be glad in their beautiful gift of life.
The interior of the building was plain and simple as plain and
simple could be. When it was fitted up, oak-timber was much
cheaper than it is now, so the wood-work was all of that
description; but roughly hewed, for the early builders had not
much wealth to spare.
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