The Autobiography Of An Old Church Window.

About her time there began to be changes . Now and then , some friar would come and preach against the corruptions of the church and clergy : and I , as a disinterested spectator , could see that there was room enough for their indignant

remonstrances . The priests , on the other hand , angrily denounced them as impostors , and threatened all sorts of spiritual and temporal penalties . But the new opinions grew . Bye and bye the gorgeous rites , the theatrical showswere banishedan

, , open Bible was placed in the church where it could be read by all , and the preaching of the gospel took the place of the mass , with all its superstitious observances . It was an edifying sight to see the people come to hoar and read bhe word . Blany of

them could not read themselves , so they would get one who could to read to them , while they with eager ears drunk in the words of life .

Soon after these changes , there was a great commotion in Westhorpe . It was rumoured that England ' s maiden queen was about to pay a visit to the hall . And the sensation increased when she came . I remember her well . A handsome commanding womanwhose beauty

washow-, , ever , of a somewhat masculine cast . She rode into the village in groat pomp , on her stately palfrey , surrounded by a numerous band of nobles and retainers . This was the last visit of royalty to Westhorpe : but it was still the abode of nobility . I well

remember the Duke aud Duchess of Buckingham . The duke was in some trouble and was hiding here . The duchess was out riding , when she fell in with royal messengers , coming to arrest her husband . But her steed being swift and sureshe

, rode hard , and was in time to see her lord put in hiding before they came . After remaining thus for a few days he cf caped . I think I see him now , coming across the long meadow dressed like a ploughman , but unable to walk like one . lie could

not deceive my eyes ; but he did those of the men who were watching for him . and got safely off . Time wore on ; the hall was destroyed ; the glory of Westhorpe was departed . The church began rapidly to fall into decaythe

, progress of which there was none to arrest . I was mutilated , the beautiful tracery work in my heading was broken up , my two side li ghts were built up , leaving only

three . Persons came and looked and admired my remains , the beautiful jambs and mullions , and said , "What a lovely window it must have been . " But nobody did anything for me . At last the wall in which I had stood so long begun to crumble , and I thought my end w : ^

drawing near . The wall was pulled down . But I found my ilMerei . ed members were being handled gently , and placed , not under but on the turf in the churchyard : and I understood that I was to be built up again just as 1 had been taken down .

Then there was a consultation , and I heard that 1 was to be restored to something like my former beaut 3 . This has now been done : and here I am , not perhaps ,

so well proportioned as formerly , for the roof over 1113 ' - head dwarfs me , but comely and beautiful . I sometimes think , when I look round at the other parts of the church , too beautiful . But I believe an effort is to be made to restore the rest , so that the whole building may again be not only

decent but beautiful . The roof of the chancel is to be raised , aud then perhaps I may raise my head as heretofore . May those who have done so much for mo , do so likewise to the other parts of the building ; and may it long stand a

monument of antiquity , the House of God , whore his glory ma 3 be promoted , and souls edified and strengthened with the bread of life .

The parish church of Westhorpe is in an obscure part of Suffolk . L ying away from all great thoroughfares , it is but little known , and yet , in years long past , it was a place of considerable importance . The manor was very ancient , and seems to have been held iu the time of Edward the

Confessor by one Rebric Bagana , and in that of William the Conqueror by Endo , the sou of S pirvil . This is not the place to trace the owners of the manor through all the changes that took place ; suffice it to say that it was

held in 1312 b y Bartholomew de Elmham , who is supposed by some to have built the nave and chancel of the now-existing church . They have certainly been built about that time . In 1330 he was succeeded by his son Henry , who is supposed to have added the south aisle as a chantry chapel . That this aisle was a chantry