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64
raised for the said Repairs of the said Church, and the
Apportioning thereof, and in case that there shall be no
Agreement, the Churchwardens and Old Vestry may proceed
as formerly, without the New Vestry, who seem to me to
have no Negative. But since the Statute gives only such
power as the Churchwardens had before, great care must be
taken in making the Rate to pursue the Ancient Method.
Serjeant Eyre's Opinion.
I apprehend that in default of Meeting in pursuance of the
Act or in default of an Agreement at such meeting the
Churchwardens of St. Margaret's may make Rates to charge
both parishes for the re pairing of Saint Margaret's Church in
like manner as they might have done before any Division
made.
17th July 1734.
The Clerk laid before the Board a letter prepared pursuant to an
Order of the last Vestry stating the Reasons of the proceedings
of this Vestry in relation to the Eepair of the Parish Church
in Answer to a paper from the Vestry of St. John.
[The letter was a conciliatory explanation of the facts
in which the foregoing opinions were recited.]
Mr. Walcott, in his "Memorials" (page 104) states that
"a serious and most unjust suit was now (1759) brought
against the Churchwardens because they had put up that
splendid addition to the Church—the great East Window.
The prosecution was instituted in the name of
Daniel Gell, the Registrar of the Ecclesiastical Court of the
Dean and Chapter, who was in consequence struck off the
list of Vestrymen." Beyond this incidental allusion to the
feeling of the Vestry, no reference has been made to the
decisive action of that body by the various writers who
have described the artistic merits and the remarkable
vicissitudes of this magnificent window until its fame has
become almost world-wide. The parochial chronicles,as hereafter
reproduced, will leave little doubt but that the retention
and preservation of the window is due to unwavering
attachment of "the parishioners in vestry assembled" to
all that concerned their Church. The first entry relates to
the removal and sale of the East Window and "Altar
Piece," said to have been put up but sixty-six years