He  was  the  village  tailor  and  constable,  also  the  principal  per-
former in  the  church -music  which  obtained  in  Englebourn.  In
the  latter  capacity  he  had  of  late  come  into  collision  with  Miss
Winter.  For  this  was  another  of  the  questions  which  divided
the  parish — the  great  church-music  question.  From  time  im-
memorial, at  least  ever  since  the  gallery  at  the  west  end  had
been  built,  the  village  psalmody  had  been  in  the  hands  of  the
occupiers  of  that  Protestant  structure.  In  the  middle  of  the
front  row  sat  the  musicians,  three  in  number,  who  played
respectively  a  bass-viol,  a  fiddle,  and  a  clarionet.  On  one  side
of  them  were  two  or  three  young  women,  who  sang  treble —
shrill,  ear  piercing  treble — with  a  strong,  nasal,  Berkshire  drawl
in  it.  On  the  other  side  of  the  musicians  sat  the  blacksmith,
the  wheelwright,  and  other  tradesmen  of  the  place.  Trades-
man means  in  that  part  of  the  country  what  we  mean  by
artisan,  aod  these  were  naturally  allied  more  with  tlie  laborers.
ENGLEBOUEN   VILLAGE.  19fl

and  consorted  with  them.  So  far  as  church-going  was  con-
cerned, they  formed  a  sort  of  independent  opposition,  sitting
in  the  gallery,  instead  of  in  the  nave,  where  the  farmers  and
the  two  or  three  principal  shopkeepers — the  great  landed  and
commercial  interest — regularly  sat  and  slept,  and  where  the  two
publicans  occupied  pews,  but  seldom  made  even  the  pretense
of  worshiping.
