Rambles about Portsmouth. Sketches of persons, localities, and incidents of two centuries: principally from tradition and unpublished documents. By Charles W. Brewster.

PARSON WALTON'S MEETING HOUSE. 331
for singing-books; all are daguerreotyped in unfading hues
upon my memory, mingled with remembrances of early
childhood, whlen my home was almost within the shadow of
the ancient bell-tower. Nor is the exterior —weather-beaten, black with age, and moss-covered-less familiar, or the
belfry, with its spire and vane, that vibrated at every revolution of the ancient bell. On every Sabbath day, and on
afternoons when "conference meetings" were held, hitched
to the church-railing, might be seen a horse, of very "certain age," attached to an antique pattern of a gig or sleigh,
the conveyance of a worthy pair from Long Lane. When
absent in the winter-time, it was an unerring indication that
the snow had fallen very deep in the country, and that the
roads must be badly blocked up. Accompanying them was
a long hound-shaped dog, of iron-gray color, who was left
in charge of the vehicle during church-hours. If a mischievous boy attempted to invade his castle, he was too
well principled to bark, especially if it were Sunday, but he
displayed a double row of ivory that never failed to send
the offender away in terror, glad to escape at so cheap a
rate. Others too, who came from far distances, seldom
failed to be seen in their accustomed places.
How many prayers ascended to the throne of grace from
that sacred edifice, and how often its walls echoed to the
good old tunes of'Lisbon,''Corinth,''St. Martin's,''Mear,'.Coronation,' that most sublime of sacred lyrics'Old Hundred,' and many others not less remiembered, or less loved.
But the old church is no more; those who offered up the
prayers have had their " faith changed to sight," and the
singers are numbered with the choir who sing the song of
Moses and the Lamb."
There probably never existed, since the apostolic age, a
more devoted body of Christians than those who constituted the church of Rev. Joseph Walton; a people, truly,
who were " good for goodness' sake," and whose daily life