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and often in the near view a central point, 

 roujid which the liouses are irregularly dis- 

 posed. Indeed, the church, together with 

 the church-yard, is, on various accounts, an 

 interesting object to the villagers of every 

 age and disposition: to the old and seri- 

 ous, us a spot consecrated to the purposes 

 of religion, "svhere the living christian per- 

 forms his devotions, and where, after death 

 his body is deposited near those of his an- 

 cestors, and departed friends and relations : 

 to the young and thoughtless, as a place, 

 Avbere, on the day of rest from labour, they 

 meet each other in their holyday clothes ; 

 and also (what forms a singular contrast 

 with tombs and gravestones,) as the place 

 which at their wakes, is the chief scene of 

 their gayety and rural sport3. Of the most 

 conspicuous part of churches there are vari- 

 ous forms ; among which, none is, perhaps, 

 more suited to a village, than that which 

 occurs in the often-quoted lines of Milton — 

 a tower with battlements. A tower, in its 

 most simple, unvaried unoraameuted state. 



