Look up at the inscription on that venerable church defaced with
plaster; what does it record? “_Beautified_ by Samuel Smear and Daniel
Daub, churchwardens.” And so these honest gentlemen call disguising that
fine, old, stone building, with a thick coat of lime and hair, or
whitewash, _beautifying_ it!
What is the history of all this? Why the plain matter-of-fact is, that
every parish officer thinks he has a right to make a round bill on the
hamlet, during his year of power. An apothecary in office physics the
poor. A glazier, first in cleaning, breaks the church-windows, and
afterwards brings in a long bill for mending them. A painter repairs the
commandments, puts new coats on Moses and Aaron, gilds the organ pipes,
and dresses the little cherubim about the loft, as fine as vermilion,
Prussian blue, and Dutch gold can make them. The late churchwardens
chanced to be a silversmith and a woollen-draper; the silversmith new
fashioned the communion plate, and the draper new clothed the pulpit,
and put fresh curtains to the windows. All this might be done with some
shadow of modesty, but to insult the good sense of every beholder with
their _beautified_! Shame on them!
Dr. Burney tells of some parish officers, that they applied to Snetzler
(a celebrated organ-builder) to examine their organ, and to make
improvements on it--“Gentlemen,” said the honest Swiss, “your organ be
wort von hondred pound, just now--well--I will spend von hondred pound
upon it, and it shall then be wort fifty.”
* * * * *
_For the Table Book._