perforated belfry, containing one bell.  It was put up a few years ago, and before it got into use there was considerable newspaper discussion as to the inconvenience it would cause in the morning, for having to be rung at the unearthly hour of six it was calculated that much balmy quietude would be missed through it.  Some people can stand much sleep after six, and on their account early bell-ringing was dreaded.  But the inhabitants have got used to the resonant metal, and those who have time sleep on very excellently during its most active periods.

The chapel has a broad, lofty, and imposing interior; but it is rather gloomy, and requires a little extra light, which would add materially to the general effect.  There is considerable decorative skill displayed in the edifice; but the work looks opaque and needs brightening up.  The sanctuary end is rich and solemn, has a finely-elaborate and sacred tone, and combines in its construction elegance and power.  At the rear and rising above the altar there is a large and somewhat imposing picture, representing the taking down of our Saviour from the cross.  It was painted by Mr. C. G. Hill, after a picture of Carracci’s, in Stonyhurst College, and was originally placed in St. Wilfrid’s church.  St. Mary’s will accommodate about 1,000 persons.  All the pews have open sides, and there are none of a private character in any part of the church.  The poorest can have the best places at any time, if they will pay for them, and the richest can sit in the worst if they are inclined to be economical.

Large congregations attend this chapel, and the bulk, as already intimated, are of the Milesian order.  At the rear, where many of the poor choose to sit, some of the truest specimens of the “finest pisantry,” some of the choicest and most aromatic Hibernians we have seen, are located.  The old swallow-tailed Donnybrook Fair coat, the cutty knee-breeches, the short pipe in the waistcoat pocket, the open shirt collar, the ancient family cloak with its broad shoulder lapelle, the thick dun-coloured shawl in which many a young Patrick has been huddled up, are all visible.  The elderly women have a peculiar fondness for large bonnets, decorated in front with huge borders running all round the face like frilled night-caps.  The whole of the worshippers at the lower end seem a pre-eminently devotional lot.  How they are at home we can’t tell; but from the moment they enter the chapel and touch the holy water stoops, which somehow persist in retaining a good thick dark sediment at the bottom, to the time they walk out, the utmost earnestness prevails amongst them.  Some of the poorer and more elderly persons who sit near the door are marvellous hands at dipping, sacred manipulation, and pious prostration.  Like the Islams, they go down on all fours at certain periods, and seem to relish the business, which, after all, must be tiring, remarkably well.  Considering its general character, the congregation is very orderly,