honour of the Blessed Virgin, and in all respects suited to the present site and wants of the congregation, formerly existed at Islington, and was demolished only a few years since, to make room for the pewed and galleried assembly room which is at present used for the parochial Protestant service.

In the annexed plate (xv) we have given a view of this church as it would have appeared if erected on the site of the present building; in which case it would have stood in correct canonical position, due east and west, the high altar and side chapels facing the New River; while the tower, at the extremity of the north aisle, would have imparted the true character of a parochial church to the building, without encroaching on lateral space. By the plan, which is also given in the plate, it will be perceived that the high altar could be perfectly seen from all parts of the old church; which, strangely enough, was the reason advanced for departing from ancient arrangements, and confining the congregation to the mere nave of the present design, and blocking up the space which should have been occupied by the aisles, with cross walls.* See block plan of new church.

We are unwilling to attribute all the defects of this building to the architect, who has on former occasions shown himself capable of doing very much better, and who would be a valuable ally in the good cause, if he would seek to do what is positively right and correct, rather than what may please for the moment; and we fear he has been induced to arrange this building on the same principle that artists occasionally paint family portraits, out of all harmony and proportion,so much pain, so much money. Yet surely this is quite unworthy of an ecclesiastical architect; these are not times for compromise; the English Catholics are no longer an obscure body, but stand as a light and a beacon to others who are on

* Some persons have pretended to justify this extraordinary arrangement of cross walls, by alleging that glorious example of ancient art, King's College Chapel at Cambridge; but independently of the manifest absurdity of selecting an example of the latter pointed architecture as any authority for an edifice which by its round-headed arches is evidently intended as an imitation of the Norman style, every one acquainted with the chapel of King's must be aware that the lateral chapels were suggested by the enormous projection of the but tresses, which were absolutely necessary to resist the lateral thrust of the flattened groined ceiling of massive masonry. But at Islington, so far from any thing like groining, there is an open truss roof without any thrust at all; and instead of the cross walls being required as buttresses, they are not carried up higher than the bottom of the clerestory, so that in fact they answer no other end than to block up the space which should be open for aisles, and to reduce the accommodation of the church by nearly one-half.

all sides seeking the truth; they are at the present time in a fearful state of responsibility, and sad it is indeed that by the erection of this, or similar departures from true Catholic architecture, they should afford a temporary triumph to the infidels. The Church at Islington is built on the all front principle of Dissenters, and is by no means equal to the Puritan edition of York Minster at the Scotch Kirk, Regentsquare, though it likewise apes two diminutive towers at the west end of a church which is neither collegiate, conventual, nor cathedral. The united cost of these would have erected a good massive parochial tower at the western end. Indeed this building is in all respects so painful a subject, that it would not have been introduced at all, if the exposure of error did not contribute greatly to the advancement of truth; and in the present case it seems absolutely necessary to demonstrate the fallacy of the principle which instigated its extraordinary arrangement, and to set forth the great superiority which aisled Churches possess, in every respect, over large rooms, which some persons in these days advocate strongly as the best form for religious structures.

The annexed plate (XVI) represents the section and plan of one compartment of a large assembly room, quite square, with a flat ceiling, shown by the walls lightly tinted; and a Catholic Church, with nave and aisles, indicated by the dark plan and walls.

By this engraving it will be seen, that a mere room of fifty feet in width, if it possess requisite strength of walls and timber of sufficient scantling to bear a flat truss for such a span, will require considerably more material, both for walling and roof, than a church with aisles of sixty or even seventy feet wide in the clear, on account of the subdivision of the roof into three parts. Few persons are aware of the vast expense attendant on the erection of large rooms; the mere cost of hoisting principals of fifty feet wide into their places would cover that of fixing the roofs on an aisled Church complete, while the ornamental plaster ceiling that is required to hide the flat-framed roofs of these modern rooms would literally furnish an ordinary Church with altars, stained glass, and fittings. Hence, by adhering to the old Catholic method of Church building, we have an increased width of ten to twenty feet, a great saving of materials and expense, and a most solemn and impressive effect produced upon the mind. Aisle roofs act as buttresses without obstruction. Islington Church is only a nave after all; if it had aisles, all the people who