ORGANO-HISTORICA; Or the History of Cathedral and Parochial Organs. NO. XII. THE ORGAN AT THE GERMAN LUTHERAN CHAPEL, IN THE SAVOY. THE organ we are now about to describe is the workmanship of the celebrated Schnetzler, the builder of the instrument described in our number for December, 1833; to which article we beg to refer our readers for the character of this artist. Schnetzler may justly be ranked amongst the most eminent English organ builders, as he appears to have spent nearly the whole of his life in England. The organ of which we are now speaking, was the gift of her Majesty Queen Charlotte. Its cost was 1,000l. The instrument contains the following stops : The compass of the great organ is from F F F to E in alt, but no F F F sharp, 59 notes; that of the choir, is from G G, without G G sharp, to E in alt, 57 notes; the swell extends from fiddle G to E in alt, 34 notes. It has a copula stop, to unite the choir to the great organ, when requisite, and also a stop, called Tremulant, which has a most extraordinary effect, when used in certain pieces of music, such as the "Hailstone Chorus," by producing upon the hearers a sensation similar to the building being moved or falling down. This, at present is, the only organ in England that has such a stop. The quality of tone in this instrument is rich, but not nearly so pure as it was formerly; for it appears, that at the late repair of the chapel the restoration of the quality of this instrument was undertaken by an incompetent hand, by which, we are sorry to say, it has been greatly injured. The quality of the open diapason is still good; and also the stop diapasons, the trebles of which are made of metal. The chorus of the great organ is good to the 12th and 15th; while the sexquialtra and trumpet have suffered materially, as have also the reeds in the swell. The choir organ is still good. From the want of new bellows, and the ill construction of the old, the present supply of wind is very bad. It has an octave and a half of German pedals, which are not attached to the keys, but act upon the soundboard by means of a separate set of pallats; it has no pedal pipes, nor any of the modern improvements, such as Composition Pedals, Venetian Swell, Coupling Stops, &c. Those persons who recollect hearing the celebrated Baumgarten perform on this instrument, will feel regret at the degraded state in which the instrument now is. LAW REPORT. ON THE ERECTION OF TOMB STONES. CASE. THE chapelry of M- in the West Riding of the county of York, is a perpetual curacy, the gift whereof is vested in the Vicar of the parish of Almondbury. The right of soil in the chapel-yard is vested in the perpetual curate for the time being. There has existed in the said chapelry an ancient custom, that, for every tombstone erected in the chapelyard, a fee of half a guinea should be paid to the Incumbent; but such fee is not mentioned by the terrier. Application was some time ago made to the present Incumbent, by A. B., for leave to erect a tombstone in the chapel-yard, and leave was accordingly given, and the tombstone has actually been erected. The application to the Incumbent was made by the person who was employed by A. B. to cut or engrave the stone, and, during the time of the erecting the stone, A. B. promised the Incumbent that he would pay the usual fee of 10s. 6d., but, unfortunately for the Incumbent, no witness was present when the promise was made. Application has since been made by the Incumbent, or his agent, to A. B. for payment of the 10s. 6d., but he now refuses to pay the same, alleging, that the Incumbent had no right to make any such charge. Your opinion is therefore requested, whether, under the circumstances above-stated, the ancient custom will warrant the Incumbent in charging the above fee for allowing the erection of tombstones (although no mention of it is made in the terrier). And if custom cannot warrant it, whether the promise by A. B. to pay the same before the tombstone was completed will not entitle the Incumbent to claim it legally; and if so, to advise the Incumbent by what means he is to compel the payment of the 10s. 6d. and in what Court. And whether, in case, in your opinion, the Incumbent has no remedy for his fee, he has not the power of directing the tombstone to be taken down and removed from the chapel-yard. OPINION. The Incumbent has a right to demand a reasonable fee for the erection of any tombstone in the church-yard; this is a reasonable fee, and besides is sanctioned by usage; but such fees can only be sued for at common law, and then the immemorial custom must be proved. In a court of common law alone could a suit for the present fee be brought, and, from the smallness of the amount, I apprehend there would be great difficulty in finding any remedy, especially as the custom also must be strictly proved. I cannot advise the Incumbent to make the attempt; his proper course, in future, is to compel payment before he permits the stone to be put up, and in this the law will support him. The tombstone having been erected with the Incumbent's consent, though for a consideration not paid, I am of opinion that he would not be justified in directing the tombstone to be removed. STEPHEN LUSHINGTON. Doctors' Commons, Nov. 25, 1824. S. P. C. K.-LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS, March 4. THE ARCHBISHOP of CANTERBURY was in the Chair. The Lord Bishop of London, in moving that the Report of the Standing Committee upon the motion of the Master of the Temple should be received and adopted, objected to annual elections as likely to produce angry discussions and canvassing if any change were to be effected. Or if nothing of that sort took place, things would only go on as usual, and no benefit would arise from the change. The motion being seconded, The Rev. the Master of the Temple abandoned so much of his original resolution as related to the quarterly meetings, adverted to the functions of the Standing Committee as being most important, and objected to the constitution of the Committee as in practice bad. It is, in fact, a self-electing body, as no individual has ever been introduced without the consent of the Committee. The Rev. H. Blunt, Rector of Upper Chelsea, seconded Mr. Benson's amendment, which, after some discussion, was put, and a division being called for, the numbers were For Mr. Benson's amendment 76 in this town and neighbourhood, adopted from the first, and continued after an experience of nearly twenty years, have been attended with a success most encouraging to our hopes for the future. It is gratifying to mention, that in a letter addressed by the Secretary in London to our Treasurer, very honourable testimony is borne to the exertions which the District Committee have made in advancing the great object for which it was established. A plan is suggested in the General Report for the adoption of the Committees in large and populous Districts; a part of which might, it is presumed, be carried into effect in this town, as it has already been tried with advantage in other parts of the kingdom. Small as well as large yearly subscriptions have been solicited, and a considerable addition to the number of subscribers has thus been secured. By this means the humbler classes are made to feel a more lively interest in the prosperity of the Society, and are brought into closer contact with those who seek to promote their spiritual welfare." By a resolution of the annual meeting a committee was appointed to take measures, by which the many in this town, whose names have not as yet appeared in our lists, may be invited to cooperate in a cause which no member of our Church can hesitate to support. The number of children educated in the town and neighbourhood, in schools connected with the Established Church, is 10,500 nearly A considerable increase of school accommodation may be expected during the present year, and particularly from the opening of the schools under the Free Church in Howardstreet, situated in the midst of a poor and crowded population. Grants have been made by order of the Committee, to St. Martin's Church Library, St. Michael's Church Library, Formby Church Library, and District Libraries. And, during the year, eighty-five boys and girls apprenticed from the Blue Coat Hospital, and, recommended by the trustees, have received each a Bible and PrayerBook from the District Committee. It is again earnestly recommended to the School Committees to take into consideration the proposal mentioned in a preceding part of the Report, by which, on the purchase of books to the amount of 57. they will be entitled to a gratuitous supply to the same amount at cost prices for the establishment of a School Library. A Lending Library has already been formed for the use of the children in the South Corporation Schools, and, after a trial of twelve months, it has fully answered the object for which it was intended. The sale of Bibles, Testaments, and Prayer-Books has been very considerable during the past year. AT a special adjourned Meeting of the Bath District Committee of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, held on the 27th of February, 1834, at Weymouth House, for taking into further consideration the resolutions passed by the Parent Society on the 10th of February, and to receive the protest directed to be drawn up by the Sub-Committee; the Venerable Archdeacon Moysey in the Chair. The Rev. G. Baker, Chairman of the Sub-Committee, brought up and read the Protest prepared by the direction of the last Meeting. Resolved, That the Protest now read be adopted as the Protest of this Committee, and be transmitted to the Parent Board. Resolved,-That this Committee earnestly recommend to the consideration of the Society the adoption of a rule which shall ensure due notice to be conveyed to every District Committee, whenever any proposition involving the fundamental and constituted principles and usages of the Society shall be brought forward; so that no measure tending to change such principles or usages may become a law of the Society, before the sentiments of such District Committees as choose to express them shall be obtained. W. D. WILLIS, Dist. Sec. PROTEST. In times like the present, when unanimity amongst the members of the Church of England is so essential to the preservation of her interests, nothing short of a strong sense of duty would induce the Bath District Committee to record their dissent from certain of the resolutions adopted by the Parent Board of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge on the 10th of February, 1834; against these resolutions the Bath District Committee feel impelled to protest for the following reasons: According to the constitution of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, the main object which it has steadily kept in view, has been the distribution, within the limits of the British empire at home and abroad, of the Bible and Liturgy, together with other religious books aud tracts, in accordance with the principles of the Church of England; and whenever it has made special grants of books or money for special purposes, in every instance (with such very few exceptions only as tend more strongly to confirm the rule) these grants have been confined to our dominions at home, or to our colonies and dependencies abroad. When, therefore, a measure was contemplated, involving a departure from the rule to which the Society has hitherto almost uniformly adhered, the Bath District Committee conceive that District Committees, comprising as they do so large a proportion of the members of the Society, and contributing so greatly to its funds, were entitled to have been consulted, or at least to have had notice of the intended proceeding, more specifically given than was afforded by an advertisement in some of the London papers; and more especially to have had announced to them the actual amount of any, and what grant of money, it was proposed to make from the funds of the Society, in furtherance of the design in view. Under an impression that, on a point not falling within the accustomed line of the Society's operations, the Parent Board have come to a decision without having given sufficient notice of the subject-matter for deliberation, and that so large a sum as 4,000l. subscribed to the general purposes of the Society, has been appropriated to a specific object not contemplated by the subscribers; and especially at a time when so many urgent calls upon the funds of the Society have arisen from the extension of education and the religious wants of the people, both in these kingdoms and our colonial possessions. On these grounds the Bath District Committee very reluctantly, but at the same time under a firm conviction that they are performing a duty which they owe to the Society and to the Church of England, do hereby enter their Protest against the extension of the Society's operations beyond the limits of the British empire, and against the appropriation of the sum of 4,000l. of the funds given in trust to the Society for their general and accustomed designs. S. P. G.-CHELMSFORD & MALDON. AT the half-yearly meeting of the Committee, held at the Shire-hall, Chelmsford, on Monday, December 30, 1833; the Rev. C. A. St. John Mildmay, Rector of Chelmsford, in the chair; the Secretary having laid before the meeting a circular letter from the Secretary of the Parent Society, and a Report lately issued by the Standing Committee "respecting the measures rendered necessary by the diminution and approaching discontinuance of the Parliamentary Grants for the maintenance of the Clergy in British North America," the Committee resolved, that in addition to the subscriptions which are at present raised in aid of the general purposes of the Society, separate contributions of sums not exceeding five shillings be received, to be appropriated to the following distinct purposes::-- 1. For the relief of any of the present Missionaries of the Society who through the discontinuance of the Parliamentary Grant may be straitened in income or reduced to distress. 2. For the establishment of new stations in such parts of our colonies as have been most frequented by new settlers from the mother country, and are most in want of ministers, churches, and the other ordinary means of grace. 3. For sending out Missionaries to new stations to preach the gospel among the heathen subjects of our empire. And that all such subscribers of five shillings to any one of these funds be entitled to the smaller publications of the Society. Several subscriptions in aid of the different objects above specified were received before the meeting separated. C. A. St. JOHN MILDMAY, Chairman. H. L. MAJENDie, LIVERPOOL BLUE-COAT HOSPITAL. IN presenting the present Report to the Subscribers and the public, the Trustees have much pleasure in offering their grateful acknowledgments for the continued patronage and sup port which the Institution has received during the last year. The munificence of an individual, by his splendid donation of 1,000l. has enabled the Treasurer to discharge the debt which has |