OLD CHURCH BANDS AND VILLAGE CHOIRS. 179 



myself, the Steepleton gallery, which had been deserted for 

 several years, was occupied by the musicians from Winterborne. 

 It was a wedding, and after the wedding was over an appropriate 

 wedding march was naturally expected. Mendelssohn and 

 Wagner being out of the question and Jackson's Te Deum 

 hardly suitable, a martial hymn tune was the next best thing. 

 Unfortunately, the leader's choice fell on Cooper's S. Alban, 

 and, in spite of the festive variations with which the clarinet 

 adorned the air, bride and bridegroom left the church to the 

 suggestive strains of 



Onward, Christian soldiers, 

 Marching as to war ! 



Of the old musicians' galleries very few are now to be found 

 in their original condition. A fine example, however, still 

 remains in this neighbourhood, and will be seen in the Parish 

 Church of Puddletown, or more artistically Pydelton, im- 

 mortalized by Thomas Hardy in " Far from the Madding 

 Crowd." Through the kindness of the Hon. Editor of the 

 Club's "Proceedings" two illustrations of this handsome relic 

 of bygone days accompany the present paper. The oak front, 

 which is finely carved, bears the date 1635, and at either end on 

 small escutcheons are the following initials: G. H. (How?) 

 and I. D., probably the names of the churchwardens of that 

 year. The gallery is extended across the north aisle, and this 

 part of the ancient structure was carefully restored in 1898 on 

 the removal of a school children's gallery which had been 

 erected at a later date in front of it. On the well-preserved 

 central shield is cut the motto HUC ADES NGN VIDERI 

 SED AUDIRE ET PRECARI (" Hither thou comest, not to 

 be looked at, but to listen and to pray"), and the small 

 escutcheons at either end are carved with the initials W. S. 

 (Stile ?) and F. E. F. (Freeman), the latter, which bears the 

 name of the present vicar, replacing the original work destroyed 

 by the later erection now removed. The large and ornamental 

 shield immediately in front of the organ is not an integral part 



