Trustees thereof, placed out at interest on Government securities, and the principal and interest arising from such rents, &c., shall accumulate, and be applied towards discharging the expenses of building any Chapel or Chapels, and house or houses, which may hereafter be erected within the said Forest, for the residence of the officiating Minister or Ministers of such Chapel or Chapels, and for the increasing of the stipend or stipends of any Minister or Ministers who may be so nominated and appointed to officiate in such Chapel or Chapels as aforesaid, or purchasing lands for his or their use as Glebe."

The Act received the Royal Assent June 18, 1808, and measures were speedily taken to render the Church building clause effective. For this purpose, as there were, of course, no funds immediately available, owing to the provision made for accumulations, Mr. Babington set on foot a subscription, and succeeded in raising about £600. amongst his relatives and personal friends. When it was decided to build the first Church in the Peculiar of Groby, the Earl of Stamford nobly gave £400. and lent £400. more; the latter sum, I believe, for the purpose of bringing into cultivation the land in his Lordship's Peculiar allotted for the Chapel. The Bishop of Lincoln gave £50., and a like sum was contributed by Mr. Bosville, the then Lord of the Manor of Ulverscroft. The other Lords of Manors, and proprietors, from the almost unavoidable jealousy occasioned by the manner in which the patronage was limited in the Act, reserved their donations for the Chapel or Chapels hereafter to be erected in those parts of the Forest not included in the Peculiar of Groby.

The building of the Oaks Chapel soon commenced, and on the 18th of June, 1815, while the memorable Battle of Waterloo was being fought, the Bishop of Lincoln consecrated this Chapel of the Wilderness! the first new Church built in this county for several generations, so far as I can learn.

The ceremony has been described as one of unusual solemnity; the fineness of the day, and the novelty of the scene, had attracted a great number of the inhabitants of the neighbouring villages; while those more specially interested in spreading the Gospel in this long benighted region, had been drawn from greater distances. A spectator, who beheld the perambulation of the Chapel yard from a neighbouring eminence, states, that the scene was altogether the most imposing he ever beheld on the Forest.

The inhabitants of the Forest, to commemorate the foundation of the first Forest Church, and struck, perhaps, by the coincidence of its being consecrated on what is now called Waterloo-day," attempted for some years to keep up a wake on the anniversary; the custom, however, soon fell into disuse.

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The beautiful Chapels at Copt Oak and Woodhouse Eaves, erected in 1837, were also the results of the clause already given: Mr. Herrick having kindly taken the same active part to procure subscriptions in aid which Mr. Babington had taken for the Oaks Chapel. There were, however, many difficulties to contend with, and the valuable and gratuitous legal assistance rendered by Mr. Cradock in removing them, deserves to be recorded. The appointments of Ministers were made, for the first time, February 28, 1838. The Rev. Matthew Drake Babington was appointed to the Oaks Chapel, and the Rev. R. W. Close to those at Copt Oak and Woodhouse Eaves. The Copt Oak and Woodhouse Chapels were erected after the elegant and chaste designs of Mr. Railton.

It must be most gratifying to the survivors who aided in the good work of securing the erection of the three Chapels, Schools, &c., to learn that their labours have not been in vain. The Oaks Chapel has always had a tolerably large and an attentive congregation, many of whom, previously to its erection, were precluded from all opportunities of attending divine service.

The Woodhouse Eaves and the Copt Oak Chapels are also extremely well attended, and the Schools connected with them are in a most flourishing state. I visited those at Woodhouse Eaves in the present year, and I never left a similar institution with more favourable impressions. The children are evidently receiving the elements of a useful education, based on the foundation on which all instruction ought to rest-a sound knowledge of the Scriptures.

One source of regret, on leaving the Eaves Schools, naturally occurred to me that he, by whose bounty they were raised, was not alive to witness the happy results of his own munificence to enjoy, as he always did, the luxury of doing good!