Our Churches and Chapels: Their Parsons, Priests, & Congregations: Being a Critical and Historical Account of Every Place of Worship in PrestonAtticus
History
Our Churches and Chapels: Their Parsons, Priests, & Congregations: Being a Critical and Historical Account of Every Place of Worship in Preston
Atticus
Preston (Lancashire, England) -- Church history
Father Payne has been at St. Walburge's about four years. He has
passed 40 summers in single blessedness, and says he intends to
"last it out." His preaching is serious and earnest in style. His
eloquence may not be so captivating as that of some men; but it
comes up freely, and involves utterances of import. Father Payne has
not much action, but he has a good voice; he lifts his arms slowly
and regularly, leans forward somewhat, occasionally seizes both his
hands and shakes them a little; but beyond this there is not much
motion observable in him. He has a keen, discreet sense of things,
and, like the rest of his order, can see a long way. In private
life--that is to say when he is out of the pulpit and off general
duty--he is an affable, clear, merry, brisk-talking little
gentleman, fond of a good joke, a blithe chat, and a hearty laugh.
He is a pleasant Payne when in company, and if you knew him you
would say so. The last Daniel who cometh up to judgment is Father
Papall--the very embodiment of vivaciousness, linguistic activity,
and dignity in a nut shell. Dark-haired, sharp-eyed, spectacled;
diminutive, warm-blooded, he is about the most animated priest we
know of. He has English and Italian blood in his veins, and that
vascular mixture works him up beautifully. No man could stand such
an amalgam without being determined, volatile, practical, and at
times dreamy; and you have all these qualities developed in Father
Papall. He is 40 years of age, and has seen more foreign life than
many priests. He has been in Italy, where he resided for years, in
Holland, Belgium, Germany, France, America, &c.; and he has been at
St. Walburge's in this town, for 14 months. He is all animation when
conversing with you; and in the pulpit he talks from head to foot--
stirs all over, fights much with his sleeves, moves his arms, and
hands, and fingers as if under some hot spell of galvanism, and
fairly gets his "four feet" into the general subject, and revels
with a delicious activity in it at intervals. He is an earnest
preacher, has good intellectual constructiveness, and if he had not
to battle so much with our English idioms and curious modes of
pronunciation he would be a very potent speaker, and a racy
homilist. He has a sweeping powerful voice; you could almost hear
him if you were asleep, and this fact may account for the peculiarly
contented movements of several parties we observed recently at the
church whilst Father Papall was preaching. At least 20 near us went
to sleep in about five minutes after he began talking, slept very
well during the whole sermon, and at its conclusion woke up very
refreshed, made brisk crosses, listened awhile to the succeeding
music, &c., and then walked out quite cool and cheerful.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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