Probably they do; but nobody goes to All Saints’ for that purpose.  No genuine hearty interest seems to be taken in the singing by anybody particularly.  The choir move through their notes as if some of them were either fastened up hopelessly in barrels, or in a state of musical syncope; the organist works his hands and feet as well as he can with a poor organ; the members of the congregation follow, lowly and contentedly, doing their best against long odds and the parson sits still, all in one grand piece, and looks on.  The importance and influence of good music should be recognised by every church; and we trust in time there will be a decided improvement at All Saints’.  A church like it—­a building of its size and with its congregation—­ought to have something superior and effective in the matter of music.

We have already said that the Rev. George Beardsell is the minister of All Saints’.  He has been at the church, as its incumbent, about five years.  Originally Mr. Beardsell was a Methodist;—­a Methodist preacher, too, we believe; but in time he changed his notions; and eventually flung himself, in a direct line, into the arms of “Mother Church.”  Mr. Beardsell made his first appearance in Preston as curate of Trinity Church.  He worked hard in this capacity, stirred up the district at times with that peculiar energy which poor curates longing for good incumbencies, wherein they may settle down into security and ease, can only manifest, and with many he was a favourite.  From Trinity Church he went to St. Saviour’s, and here he slackened none of his powers.  Enthusiasm, combined with earnest plodding, enabled him to improve the district considerably.  He drew many poor people around him; he repeatedly charmed the “unwashed” with his strong rough-hewn orgasms; the place seemed to have been specially reserved for some man having just the perseverance and vigorous volubility which he possessed; he had ostensibly a “mission” in the locality; the people of the district liked him, he reciprocated the feeling, and more than once intimated that he would make one or two spots, including the wild region of Lark-hill, “Blossom as the rose.”  But the period of efflorescence has not yet arrived; a “call” came in due season, and this carried the ministerial florist to another “sphere of action.”  Mr. Beardsell was translated to the incumbency of All Saints’, and he still holds it.  When Mr. Walling was at this church the income was about 260 pounds a year; taking everything into account, it is now worth upwards of 400 pounds.

Mr. Beardsell is not a beautiful, but a stout, well-made, strong-looking man, close upon 40, with a growing tendency towards adiposity.  He has a healthy, bulky, English look; is not a man of profound education, but, makes up by weight what he may lack in depth; thinks it a good thing to carry a walking-stick, to keep his coat well buttoned, and to arrange his hair in the high-front, full-whig style; has a powerful,