Part 19

WESLEYAN CHAPEL, QUEEN'S ROAD.--The following is a brief account of the rise and progress of Wesleyan Methodism in this neighbourhood. In the year 1871, in the order of God's providence, a good man and his wife removed from the Great Queen's Street Circuit to Frederick Street, now known as Newby Street, Wandsworth Road. On October 17, 1871, they very kindly opened their houses for a class meeting, to be held in connexion with the Society of which they were members. Here on Sunday, December 3rd of the same year, the first preaching Service was conducted. As the room became inconveniently crowded at the Sunday Services it was felt that a more suitable place was needed, so after a short time a Billiard Room capable of holding 150 persons, situated at No. 588, Wandsworth Road, was secured, and on April 21, 1872, was opened for Public Worship. On June 2nd, about 30 children were garnered in and a Sunday School commenced. Notwithstanding the unsuitableness of the place and other difficulties which had to be surmounted, the work of the Lord was carried on in this place until February, 1879; in the meanwhile however, strenuous efforts were made in order to obtain an eligible piece of ground on which to erect a more commodious building. In 1878, the freehold site situated in Queen's Road, was purchased for £1,140, and a temporary Iron Chapel erected, with seats for 500, at a cost of about £600, this temporary Sanctuary was opened February 14th, 1879. This Structure while making ample provision at first was soon found to be inadequate to meet the requirements of a neighbourhood where the population was large and rapidly increasing, hence the Trustees and Friends endeavoured to raise £4,000, by means of grants and loans from the late Sir Francis Lycett's Fund, the Metropolitan Chapel Fund, etc., towards the entire outlay of about £7,000, (the estimated cost of the permanent building etc.) leaving about £3,000, to be raised by funds in the Lambeth Circuit. On August 28th, 1881, the New School-Room which holds about 320 persons, was opened for Public Worship and Sunday School purposes. The Iron Chapel having been sold to make way for the New Chapel now in course of erection which is expected to be opened for Divine Service about May 1882.

On Friday July 15th, 1881, the Memorial Stone was laid at 3 o'clock, by Lady Lycett, when the Rev. G. W. Olver, B. A., gave an address.

By express desire of the Local Committee the Italian Style has been adopted, and the building will be erected in Bath Stone and Picked Stocks--Sitting accommodation for 1,000 will be provided, on the ground floor 650, and in the galleries 350. Adjoining the Chapel large School-Rooms have been erected with Vestry, Class-Rooms, and the usual offices. The Architect is Mr. James Weir, of the Strand. James Holloway, Builder, Marmion Road, Lavender Hill. "_That thine eyes may be open upon this house day and night._" 2. _Chron. vi._ 20.

Christ is our corner stone, On him alone we build; With his true saints alone The Courts of heaven are filled; On his great Love Our hopes we place Of present grace and joy above.

O! then with hymns of praise These hallowed courts shall ring; Our voices we will raise The Three in one to sing; And thus proclaim in joyful song, Both Loud and Long, that glorious Name.

Here gracious God do Thou For evermore draw nigh; Accept each faithful vow, And mark each suppliant sigh, In copious shower on all who pray Each holy day Thy blessing pour.

Here may we gain from heaven Thy grace which we implore: And may that grace once given, Be with us evermore: Until that day, when all the blest To endless rest are called away.

FREE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, Queen's Crescent, Queen's Road. Some 6 years or more ago, Mr. Crosby began the above work in Arthur Street Mission Hall, a small Hall situated in the lowest part of Battersea, and the work under his superintendence has been so manifestly owned and blessed of God, that it was some time since deemed imperative on his part as the Lord's steward, to seek further to extend this effort in His cause. As far as the means of himself and friends allowed, and in the exercise of much consecrated faith and self-denial, a plot of land was secured, and an iron building erected adjacent to the most needy part of the neighbourhood, where the extended work is now carried on. The building, however, is of a temporary character, the Board of Works granting a license only of two years on iron buildings, and according to an agreement entered into in faith of the Lord's continued favour, a brick building must be erected in the course of 4 years. The present building, owing to the speedy growth of the work is even now too small. An effort is being made to purchase the freehold, and erect a building capable of holding about 700 persons, at an estimated cost of £2,750. W. Crosby, Pastor, E. V. Kelly, Treasurer.

In addition to other lay helpers (including Scripture Readers and Bible Women) there are six agents at work in Battersea connected with the London City Mission. This is an excellent Institution, having for its object the Evangelization of the poor of London. Mr. David Nasmith founded the London City Mission May 16, 1835. The general business of the London City Mission is conducted at the Mission House, Bridewell Street, Blackfriars, by a Committee consisting of an equal number of members of the Established Church and of Dissenters; and the Examiners of Missionaries consist of an equal number of Clergymen and Dissenting Ministers, all of whom, with the Treasurers, Secretaries and Auditors and Members of the Committee, ex-officio. These gentlemen give practical illustration of the purest ideal of Christian unity by showing, notwithstanding the peculiar church organization to which each may be attached, how harmoniously they can work together on one common platform under the guidance of their Divine Head for the extension of the Redeemer's Kingdom by bringing back wanderers from God to the fold of the one Great Shepherd, Jesus Christ. The number of City Missionaries engaged in the Metropolis is about 450.

The Corner Stone of Trinity Mission Hall, Stewart's Lane, promulgated and subscribed to by the members and adherents of Trinity Presbyterian Church, Clapham Road, was laid Wednesday, June 20, 1877, by the Rev. David Macewan, D.D. in the presence of a very large concourse of people. It is estimated that the Hall will accommodate about 400 persons; and in addition to the Hall there is a School-room which will probably accommodate 150 to 200 scholars The building cost about £2,500. The land, which is freehold, has been purchased for £400. The Hall is built of brick with box stone dressings. W. H. Robbins, Esq., Architect; B. E. Nightingale, Builder. Mr. Cameron is the Minister.

The handsome edifice belonging to the Presbyterian Church of England, Clapham Road, cost about £12,000, built through the unremitting energy and pious zeal of the late Dr. John MacFarlane and was for many years the scene of his earnest, faithful and successful pastoral labours.

PLYMOUTH BRETHREN.--A body of Christians calling themselves "The Brethren" came into existence about 1830-1835 in Plymouth, Dublin, and other places in the British Islands, extended throughout the British Dominions, and in some other parts of the continent of Europe, particularly among the Protestants of France, Switzerland, and Italy, and also in the United States of America. Many of the first religious communities found in Plymouth and elsewhere, were retired Anglo-Indian officers, men of unquestionable zeal and piety and those communities began to appear almost simultaneously in a number of places. Mr. Darby, regarded as an influential member, afterwards separated from them with many adherents. Mr. Darby was previously a Barrister, moving in the highest circles of Society, and under deeply religious impressions became a Clergyman of the Church of England, lived for some time in a mud-hovel in the County of Wicklow devoting himself to his work. The Plymouth Brethren object to National Churches as too Latitudinarian, and to other Dissenters as too Sectarian; their doctrines however agree with those of most Evangelical Protestant Churches, but they recognize no ordination of minister; their tenets may be stated thus:--Original Sin, Predestination, the efficiency of Christ's Sacrifice, the merits of his obedience, the power of his intercession, the gracious operations of the Holy Ghost in Regeneration and Sanctification; they also generally maintain millenary views, usually practise the Baptism of believers without regard to previous infant baptism, they acknowledge the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper and administer it to one another in their meetings usually every Sunday, or first day of the week. In 1851, they had 132 places of Worship in England and Wales. This year 1879, the (exclusive) Brethren have erected a small place of Worship in High Street, near Battersea Railway Station.

A Railway Arch in Latchmere Road, has been utilized for a Gospel Hall where the (Open) Brethren meet for worship.

Situated in the rear of Lawn House Laundry, Orkney Street, is a small place of worship called the "_Little Tabernacle_" erected at the sole expense of Mr. John Strutt, where meetings for Bible Readings, Breaking of Bread, Exhortation, and Prayer are held every Lord's day.

THOMAS BLOOD, generally known by the appellation of _Colonel Blood_, was a discarded officer of Oliver Cromwell's Household; he was notorious for his daring crimes and his good fortune. He was first distinguished by an attempt to surprise the Castle of Dublin, which was defeated by the vigilance of the Duke of Ormond, and some of his accomplices were executed. Escaping to England he with his confederates meditated revenge, and actually seized the Duke of Ormond one night in his coach in St. James' Street, intending to hang him, and had got him to Tyburn, where, after struggling with his would-be assassins in the mire, the Duke was rescued by his servants, 6 Dec, 1670. Blood afterwards in the disguise of a clergyman, attempted to steal the crown and regalia from the Jewel Office in the Tower, 9th May, 1671. He was very near succeeding, for he had bound and wounded Edwards the keeper, and was making off with his booty, but was overtaken and seized with his associates. Blood, who was accused as being the ringleader in this conspiracy, when questioned he frankly owned that he had taken part in the enterprise, but refused to discover his accomplices, "the fear of death (he said) should never induce him to deny a guilt or betray a friend." All these extraordinary circumstances made him the subject of general conversation. Charles II. moved by the influence of popular excitement, or from idle curiosity, granted him a personal interview. Blood confessed to the king that "he had been engaged with others in a design to kill him with a Carbine (said to be in the vicinity of Battersea Priory) where His Majesty often used to bathe (beneath the garden belonging to the Priory was a Subterranean passage leading to the river-bank); that the cause of this resolution was the severity exercised over the consciences of the godly, in destroying their religious assemblies; that when he had taken his stand among the reeds on the other side of the river full of these bloody resolutions he found his heart checked with an awe of Majesty; that he not only relented himself, but diverted his associates from their purpose; that he had long ago brought himself to an entire indifference about life, which he now gave for lost; yet he could not forebear warning the king of the danger which might attend his execution; that his associates had bound themselves by the strictest oaths to revenge the death of any of their confederacy and that no precaution nor power could rescue any one from the effects of their desperate resolution." Yet notwithstanding these and other offences, the King not only pardoned but granted him an Estate of £500 per annum, thus this man who had been regarded as a monster became a kind of favourite. He lived to enjoy his pension about ten years, till being charged with fixing an imputation of a scandalous nature on the Duke of Buckingham, he was thrown into prison, where he died August 24, 1671.

Battersea Priory is a castellated building reported to have been a Convent for Ursuline Nuns.

PRIOR was the Ecclesiastical title formerly given to the head of a small Monastery, to which the designation of Priory was applied. The Prior ranked next in position to the Abbot. Similarly the term Prioress was applied to the head of a female convent. The title of Grand Prior was given to the Commandants of the Grand Military Priories of the Orders of John of Jerusalem, of Malta and of the Templars.

Alien Priories were cells of the religious houses in England which belonged to foreign Monasteries. The whole number is not exactly ascertained; the Monasticon has given a list of 100. Weever, p. 338, says 110. The houses belonging to the several religious orders which obtained in England and Wales, were, Cathedrals, Colleges, Abbeys, Priories, Preceptories, Commandries, Hospitals, Friaries, Hermitages, Chantries, and free Chapels. These were under the direction and management of various officers; the dissolution of houses of this kind began as early as 1312, when the Templars were suppressed; and in 1323 their lands, churches, advowsons, and liberties, here in England were given by Ed. II., st. 3, to the prior and brethren of the hospital of St. John at Jerusalem.

In the years 1390, 1437, 1441, 1459, 1497, 1505, 1508, and 1515, several other houses were dissolved, and their revenues settled on different Colleges in Oxford and Cambridge. From the year 1312 in the reign of Edward the 2nd to the close of the reign of Henry VIII, 1547, the number of houses and places suppressed from first to last as far as any calculations appear to have been made were 23, 4; besides the friars' houses and those suppressed by Wolsey, and many small houses of which we have no particular account. Henry VIII founded six new bishoprics of which Westminster was one, which was changed by Queen Elizabeth into a Deanery with twelve prebends and a school.

Persons desirous of obtaining information respecting Monasteries should consult Dugdale's _Monasticon Anglicanum_, (Lond. 1655, 1661, 1673). Also a new and greatly Enlarged Edition by Bandinel, Caley and Ellis, published in 1817, 1830, and reissued in 1846.

URSULINES, or Nuns of St. Ursula: a sisterhood founded about the year 1537, by Angela Merici at Brescia, the community numbering at that time, as many as six hundred. St. Angela was born in 1511, at Desenzano, on the Lago de Garda, and died at Brescia, 21st March, 1540. The institution was formally approved of and confirmed by Paul III., in 1544, and it was on this occasion that the name of Ursulines was given to the order after the famous St. Ursula; a Virgin Martyr of the Roman Catholic Calendar especially honoured in Germany, and especially at Cologne, which is the reputed place of her Martyrdom. The Legend substantially, in its present form, can be traced as far back as the end of the 11th or beginning of the 12th Century, as it is to be found in the revised Edition of the Chronicle of Sigebert of Gemblours (Pertzs Rerum Germanicarum Scriptores VIII. 310) which was made between 1106 and 1111. "According to their writer, Ursula was the daughter of the British King, Deonatis; and on account of her distinguished beauty, was sought in marriage by the son of a heathen Prince who was originally named Holofernes, but afterwards when a Christian was named Ætherius. Her father was forced to yield to the demand; but Ursula made it a condition that her suitor should become a Christian, and that she should be allowed the space of three years, during which she proposed, in company with her maidens to each of whom should be assigned a thousand companions and a three-oared galley to convey them, to make a voyage of pious pilgrimage. The conditions were accepted; the maidens to the number of 11,000 were collected from all parts of the world, and at length the expedition set sail from the British Coast. Arriving at the mouth of the Rhine they sailed up the river to Cologne, and thence upwards to Basel, where leaving their galleys, they proceeded by land to visit the tombs of the Apostles at Rome. This Pilgrimage accomplished, they descended the river to Cologne, which however, had meanwhile fallen into the hands of an army of Hunnish invaders under the headship of a Chief, who although not named is plainly the Attila of history. Landing at Cologne in ignorant security, the pious Virgins fell into the hands of these barbarous heathens by whom they were all put to the sword with the exception of Ursula, who for her beauty sake was reserved as a prize for the chief. She too, however, as well as another maiden, who had at first concealed herself in terror, demanded to join her companions in Martyrdom and then the full number of 11,000 victims was made up. Heaven, however, interposed a host of Angel Warriors who smote the cruel Huns; Cologne was again set free; and in gratitude to their Martyred intercessors the citizens erected a church on the site still occupied by the Church now known under the name of St. Ursula." Soon after the Reformation this legend became the Subject of a most animated controversy "on one hand the Centuriators of Magdeburg exposed its weak points with unsparing severity, on the other a Jesuit father, Crombach devoted an entire folio volume to the vindication of the narrative." Secular writers deny that the Legend has any foundation in historical facts; they trace no reverencing of Virgins in the Martyrologies and missals till the latter half of the 9th Century. Many suggestions have been offered by way of explanation of its startling improbability viz., the alleged number of the Martyred victims 11,000. One of these is that the belief arose from the name of a Virgin who was really the companion of Ursula's Martyrdom called according to the legend and according to a Missal which belonged to the Sorbonne, Undecimilla for a number. The Roman Martyrology mentions the Saint and her Companion, without stating their number. St. Ursula was the Patroness of the Sorbonne. The record of the Martyrdom in the Calender thus begins. "_Ursula et Undecim Milla_ V. V." Ursula and Undecimilla Virgins was easily mistaken for "Ursula et _Undecim Millia_ V. V. Ursula and _Eleven thousand Virgins_." Respecting further remarks concerning this Legend, suffice it to say, "that while the most learned of the Catholic hagiographers, putting aside the idea of a directly and unintentionally invented narrative, have traced the origin of the legend to a real historical massacre of a very large number of Christian Maidens, which took place during the invasion of Attila, and soon after the celebrated battle of Chalons in 451, all the modern writers of that Church are agreed in regarding the details of the narrative, the number, the pilgrimages to Rome, the interposition of the heavenly host, etc, as legendary embellishments of the Medieval Chroniclers."

Young as Angela was she had been elected the first Superior of her Order and had ruled it well for the two or three years she lived.

At first the Ursulines practised charity and devoted themselves to the education of Children without being bound to the rules of Monastic Life. In 1571-2 Pope Gregory XIII. made the Society a religious order, subject to the rule of St. Augustine, at the solicitation of Charles Borromeo the additional privileges thus conferred were afterwards confirmed by Sextus V. and Paul V. "They add to three religious vows a fourth to occupy themselves gratuitously in the education of their own sex. The order is under the Superintendence of the Bishops. In the 18th Century, it had 350 Convents. Many governments which abolished Convents in general, protected the Ursulines on account of their useful labours, particularly in the practice of Christian Charity towards the sick. The _Dictionnaire de Theologie_ published in 1817, says that 300 Convents of these sisters existed at that time in France, their dress is black with a leather belt, and a rope for the purpose of self-scourging. Their congregations however did not universally accept the Monastic rule; and in France and Italy, there were Societies, the members of which only took the vow of Charity, and gave instruction like their sisters. Their dress was that commonly worn about 200 years ago by widows." In some countries however, their dress appears to have been white, and to have varied in other respects as well as colour. The Ursuline Sisters have several Educational Establishments in Ireland, in England and the United States.

BATTERSEA GRAMMAR SCHOOL, St. John's Hill. Founded under the Trust of Sir Walter St. John A.D. 1700. Scheme revised A.D. 1873. GOVERNORS:--William Evill, Jun., Esq., Robert Hudson, Esq., Rev. Evan Daniel, M.A., W. G. Baker, Esq., John Costeker, Esq., _Treasurer_, Rev. Canon Clarke, M.A., James H. T. Connor, Esq., Richard Hadfield, Esq., Thomas D. Tully, Esq., Charles Few, Esq., James Stiff, Esq. HEAD MASTER:--Rev. E. A. Richardson, M.A., late Scholar of Queen's College, Oxford. ASSISTANT MASTERS:--W. H. Bindley, B.A., late Scholar of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, M. Michael, Bachelier-es-Lettres, University of Paris, C. P. Martinnant, University of London, Mr. Badel, Writing Master, Serjeant Major Doberty, Drill Master.

_Scheme of Instruction._ RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION, (according to the principles of the Church of England) forms a regular part of the teaching of each class. Those boys are excepted from the teaching of the Church Catechism and Prayer Book, whose parents, (being Dissenters), express a desire to that effect, in writing to the Head Master. THE COURSE OF STUDY comprises the English, Latin, Greek, French and German Languages; Writing, Arithmetic, Book-keeping and Mathematics. History and Geography; Natural Science and Drawing. French is taught throughout the School; German in the three highest classes only. DRAWING, (Freehand, Model and Landscape), is taught in all classes. TECHNICAL DRAWING, (including Practical Geometry, and Perspective), and Painting are taught only in the two upper classes. SCIENCE, (comprising Physics, Chemistry and Botany), is taught only in the upper classes. Vocal Music is taught.

_School Term and Holidays._ The period of instruction is divided into three terms, as nearly equal as possible. The holidays are four weeks at Christmas, three weeks at Easter, and six weeks at Mid-summer, commencing about the 1st of August.

1st Term commences September 7th; ends December 7th. 2nd. do. January 8th; do. March 29th. 3rd. do. April 23rd; do. July 31st.

_Tuition Fees._ The annual payment for boys above 12 years of age, £12; for boys under 12, £10. The fees are to be paid terminally and in advance.

_Regulations for Admission._ Application for admission must be made either in person or by writing to the Head Master. No boy will be admitted, who shall be found on examination unable to read English, to write correctly and legibly from dictation and to work sums in the first four rules of arithmetic. The boys must attend at the school for examination on the first day of each term, at two o'clock p.m. The Governors require a term's notice to be given on the removal of a boy, or the payment of the terminal fee.

THE SOUTHLANDS PRACTISING MODEL SCHOOLS.--Girls' School, seven years and upwards, 6d. per week. Infants' Boys and Girls to seven years, 3d. per week.

ST. PETER'S SCHOOLS. Fee, 9d. per week.