Ecclesfield.
True Blue (Vol. ii., p. 494.).—From documents relative to the wars of the Scottish Covenanters, in the seventeenth century, it appears that they assumed blue ribbons as their colours, and wore them as scarfs, or in bunches fastened to their blue bonnets and that the border English nicknamed them "blue caps" and "jockies." Hence the phrase, "True blue Presbyterian."
G.F.G.
Cherubim and Seraphim.—Why are the cherubim represented as a human head, with the wings of a bird? And why have the seraphim no bodily representation? What, in fact, is the supposed distinction between them?
OMEGA.
[Our correspondent will find much curious information on this subject, accompanied by some exquisite woodcuts, in Mrs. Jameson's Poetry of Sacred and Legendary Art.]
Darcy Lever Church (Vol. ii., p. 494.), which is referred to by your correspondent, is the first instance, I believe, of the application of a new material to the construction of an ecclesiastical edifice. It is built throughout, walls, tower, and spire, benches and fittings, of terra cotta from the Ladyshore works. The architect is that accomplished antiquary, Mr. Sharpe of Lancaster, who furnished the designs of every part, from which moulds were made, and in these the composition forming the terra cotta was prepared, and hardened by the application of fire. The style is the purest and richest Second Pointed, and the effect of the pierced work of the spire is, as your correspondent observes, very fine when seen from a distance. There is a rich colour, too, in the material, which has a remarkably pleasing result upon the eye. But a nearer approach destroys the charm. It is found to be a "sham." The lines of the mouldings, mullions, etc., are warped by the heat attendant upon the process of the manufacture. The exquisite sharpness of outline produced by the chisel is wanting, and there is (in consequence of the impossibility of undercutting) an absence of that effect of light and shade which is the characteristic of the mediæval carvings. The greatest shock is, however, experienced on an examination of the interior. What at first sight appear to be highly elaborated oaken bench-ends and seats are only painted earthenware. In point of fact, it is a POT CHURCH. A similar and larger
structure by the same architect, and in the same material, has been erected near Platt Hall, in the parish of Manchester.
J.H.P. LERESCHE.
The church at Lever Bridge, near Darcy Lever Hall, on the line of railway between Normanton and Bolton, was built about seven years since. The architect is Edward Sharpe, Esq., of Lancaster. The material of the entire structure, including the internal fittings, is terra cotta, from the Ladyshore works in the neighbourhood, where a model of the church, in the same material, is in preparation for the Exhibition of 1851.