a lady member of the congregation has put this question to us on the subject, “Would it sound if the organist kept his hands and feet off it, and attended to the service?” That is rather a direct interrogation from so fair a source, and lest we might give offence we will allow people to answer it for themselves in their own way, after which they may, if inclined, communicate with the vivacious beadle, and tell him to look after the organ as well as the doors, &c.  The singers in the gallery are spirited, give their services, like the organist, “gratisly”—­one of the wardens told us so—­and, if not pre-eminently musical, make a very fair average ninth-rate effort in the direction of melody.  They will mend, we have no doubt, eventually—­may finally get into the “fastoso” style.  In the meantime, we recommend careful reading, mingled with wise doses of sal-prunel and Locock’s wafers.  On the first Sunday in every month, sometimes in the morning and sometimes in the evening, the sacrament is partaken of at St. Mark’s church; and, comparatively speaking, the number of participants is considerable.  The business is not entirely left, as in some churches, to worn-out old men and sacredly-snuffy old women—­to a miserable half-dozen of fogies, nearly as ignorant of the vital virtues of the sacrament as the Virginian old beldame who took it to cure the rheumatism.  At St. Mark’s the sacrament takers consist of all classes of people, of various ages, and, considering the district, they muster very creditably.

The first incumbent of St. Mark’s was the Rev. J. W. Green, who had very poor health, and died on the 5th of October, 1865.  Nineteen days afterwards the Rev. T. Johnson was appointed to the incumbency which he continues to retain.  Mr. Johnson is apparently about 40 years of age.  He was first ordained as curate of St. Peter’s, Oldham; stayed there two years and five months; then was appointed curate of Pontefract Parish Church, a position he occupied for nearly two years; subsequently took sole charge of a church at Holcombe, near Bury; four months afterwards came to Preston as curate of the Parish Church; remained there a considerable time; then went to Carnforth, near Lancaster; stayed but a short period in that quarter; and was afterwards appointed incumbent of St. Marks in this town.  Although not very aged himself be lives in a house which is between 700 and 800 years old, and which possesses associations running back to the Roman era.  This is Tulketh Hall, an ancient, castellated, exposed building on an eminence in Ashton, and facing in a direct line, extending over a valley, the front door of St. Mark’s Church.  With a fair spy-glass Mr. Johnson may at any time keep an exact eye upon that door from his own front sitting room.  Nobody can tell when the building, altered considerably in modern times and now called Tulketh Hall, was first erected.  Some antiquaries say that a body of monks from the monastery of Savigny, in Normandy, originally built