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A HISTORY OF LEICESTERSHIRE nursery gardening, and had Handel's oratorios performed in his church, to attract large congregations and corresponding offertories. The second of these means was a failure, as crowds came but did not contribute largely ; but the other was so far a success that he really did leave behind him quite a substantial sum of money. He dreamed of turning his church into a cathe- dral, a place which men would look upon with ' religious veneration, awe, and reverence,' and would be forced to exclaim, 'This hath God done.' There were to be pillars of jasper and porphyry, and statues of the saints ; the altar should be of marble, and over it a marble 'altar-piece' with a picture of the Crucifixion, or of our Lord carrying His cross, like the one in Magdalen Chapel at Oxford. The door of the church should stand always open, and there was to be a fine organ, and a continual round of musical services, performed by singing men and boys trained in a choir school for the purpose. The services were to be strictly according to the rubrics, with no parts abridged or curtailed, and the worshippers should be beguiled into patience by musical interludes. Every Sunday there was to be mattins, with Litany, sermon, and ' Second Service,' at which the Commandments should be sung, with three ministers before the altar. But he did not contemplate the celebration of Holy Communion more than once a month. 810 Mr. Hanbury died in 1778, having hoped much, but realized little. There is no need to pity him, for such enthusiasm is its own reward. But very few men in his time had any sympathy with his plans ; and his parish- ioners would not even keep his organ in repair, nor suffer him to build a gallery, for fear of extra expense. They were satisfied to see the church as their fathers saw it, and neither rockets, 311 nor ritual, nor stately music could wake them out of their indifference : the time was not yet come. The records of the first half of the nineteenth century show indeed how very little change there was in the ordinary course of church services and church life (except in the direction of slow decay), from the time when the first enthusiasm of the Restoration faded until the period in which we still live. We have admirable materials for judging of the state of the Church in this county just before the influence of the Oxford movement began to make itself felt outside the academic circles where it began. Leicestershire was very fortunate in possessing at this time an excellent archdeacon, who thoroughly grasped the duties of his office, and did his work most faithfully. No one could read his reports of visitation from 1832 to i842, 312 without being struck by the minute care with which he surveyed the fabric of every church com- mitted to his charge, and noticed every detail of church furniture. He points out ' one rotten beam in the roof at Burton Overy, ' a few loose stones in the parapet ' of Loughborough, ' the floor still bad in one place ' at Branston after repair. Where all was on the whole well, as in the Leicester churches and at Loughborough or Ashby de la Zouch, small defects are nevertheless noticed ; and when there was serious cause for dissatisfaction, as at Barkestone, Branston, and Ab Kettleby, he gives the most careful directions, and notices at a second and third visitation exactly what still remains to be done. It has !I For the whole of this description see Hill, Hist. ofLangion, 9 1-167. With the funds since accumulated, L.ington church was completely restored in 1866, and a new chapel built at Tur Langton. 811 Hill, Hist, of Langton, 164. " These may be consulted by any who care for more detail, at the Leicester Free Library. They deserve a far more detailed treatment than is possible in a general paper. 396