have been clear of all monetary encumbrances long since if certain old scores needing liquidation had not stood in the way.  The members of the choir sit near the pulpit, the females on one side and the males on the other.  They are young, good-looking, and often glance at each other kindly.  A female who plays the harmonium occupies the centre.  The music is vigorous and, considering the place, commendable.  On Sundays there are two services at the chapel—­morning and evening; and during the week meetings of a religious character are held in either the chapel or the adjoining rooms.

The present minister of the chapel is the Rev. Richard Abercrombie.  He has only just arrived, and may in one sense be termed the “greatest” minister in Preston, for he is at least six feet high in his stocking feet.  He is an elderly gentleman,—­must be getting near 70; but he is almost as straight as a wand, has a dignified look, wears a venerable grey beard, and has quite a military precision in his form and walk.  And he may well have, for he has been a soldier, Mr. Abercrombie served in the British army upwards of twenty years.  He followed Wellington, after Waterloo, and was in Paris as a British soldier when the famous treaty of peace was signed.  His grandfather was cousin of the celebrated Sir Ralph Abercrombie, who defeated Napoleon’s forces in Egypt, and his ancestors held commissions in our army for upwards of four generations.  Tired of military life, Mr. Abercrombie eventually laid down his arms, and for 33 years he has been a minister in the body he is now connected with.  It is worthy of remark that, before leaving the army, he occasionally sermonised in his uniform, and 35 years ago he preached in his red jacket, &c., in the old Orchard Chapel.  Mr. Abercrombie is a genial, smooth-natured, quiet man—­talks easily yet carefully, preaches earnestly yet evenly; there is no froth in either his prayers or sermons; he never gets into fits of uncontrollable passion, never rides the high horse of personal ambition, nor the low ass of religious vulgarity—­keeps cool, behaves himself, and looks after his work midly and well.  He has two or three sons in the United Methodist Free Church ministry, and one of them, called after the general who defeated the Napoleonic forces, is the only man belonging the body who has a university M.A. after his name.

Very good schools are connected with Orchard Chapel.  The average day attendance is 140; and on Sundays the average is about 350, In the last place, we may observe that the people belonging Orchard Chapel are, generally, getting along comfortably in all their departments.  Formerly they had feuds, and fights, and church meetings, at which odd pieces of scandal were bandied about—­they may have morsels of unpleasantness yet to encounter; but taking them all in all they are moving on serenely and well.