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yeoman church-goers. On week-days the farmers sent their 
younger sons with hedgehogs to the churchwardens. These 
creatures were supposed to be inimical to the interests of the 
farmers, and a price was put upon their heads. Fourpence per 
head was paid for a time, but gradually the price fell to 2d. In 
those days Burnley Church was the only church between Colne 
and Padiham, and consequently people flocked in from the 
villages of Worsthorne, Extwistle, and Marsden. The horses 
were put up at the Parker’s Arms (now the Talbot,) or at 
Johnny Riding’s at the Sparrow Hawk. Our friends stayed two 
Sundays in Burnley, and attended church both days. The 
church had been newly carpeted with rushes, for the annual 
rushbearing was still a feature of the town’s life. They also 
had a walk round Dawson square. It had not long been built, 
and seems to have been built over what was known as Burnley 
Green. And here my rambling paper ends. I trust my hearers 
have not been weary whilst I have mentioned some of the trivial 
things of this town 70 years ago. There is such a thing as local 
as well as national patriotism, and, cradled as I was in the very 
heart of old Burnley, my interest in Burnley buildings and 
Burnley people does not diminish, nor do I hope it will wither 
as age advances. 
THE POETRY OF SCIENCE. 
By F. H. BOWMAN, D.S8c., F.R.S., (Edin.) F.R.A.S., 
F.C.8S., dc. September 30th, 1890. 
The lecturer said there was a popular notion that because we 
have studied nature, the facts and knowledge we have gained 
have driven out of the sphere of science every element of poetry. 
It was thought poetry should be surrounded with some kind of 
mystery, something shadowy and something ill-defined. He 
contended this was a mistake and that the study of science did 
not at all suppress the imagination, but that on the other hand 
it stimulated the imaginative faculties to an extent that would 
without it be impossible. He argued that if we looked back over 
the era of time there was nothing could exceed our admiration 
of the cumulative force represented in that very simple article 
of fuel we throw into the fire. We often talk about big things 
and contrast anything we have with the vast mass of mountain, 
ocean or rock, to be discovered in earth, but all falls into insig- 
nificance when we compare the latter with the size and weight 
of the sun. Solar physics were beyond our imagination altogether. 
