Further, desecration of the church-yard was permitted; and in spite of all the thought which had been bestowed on the monuments and tombstones in the previous Act, any decayed vault, tombstone, or grave, which offended the sight of the officials, was now to be taken down, or removed, after six months’ notice to repair had been given to “the owner or owners of such vaults.” And the churchwarden or churchwardens, for the time being, were empowered “to sell and dispose of such vaults for the best price that can be got, and to apply the money arising therefrom towards rebuilding or repairing the said parish church.” And why were these extraordinary powers granted? Because the inhabitants of Paddington were not “capable of raising without the further aid of Parliament,” or were not willing to raise, “a further sum of one thousand five hundred pounds,” to defray the expences required to _finish_ the church-yard; and to pay “a considerable sum of money due on account;” and because those who took the profits of “the rectorial and other lands,” did not think it their duty to pay it for them. How much more than these sums Saint Mary’s has cost, I cannot say; but I presume they very nearly covered all the original expenses, as Lysons was informed by a most excellent authority—a gentleman, who, in imitation of the manifold offices held by the lord of the manor, was assistant curate, parish-clerk, sexton, and vestry-clerk at the same time {137}—that the total sum expended, amounted to £6000. So much admired was this church at the time it was built; and so picturesque an object it is said to have been, “particularly from the Oxford, Edgeware, and Harrow roads;” that almost all the periodicals of the day take some notice of it. The Universal Magazine for January, 1793, gives an engraving of it, and the village-stocks, by Eastgate, from a drawing by Earl; and in the same Number there is an account of the building, in which the first stone is said to have been laid “on the twelfth of August, 1788,” and the consecration to have been “in Easter week, 1790.” Lysons, however, tells us, Saint Mary’s was consecrated on the twenty-seventh of April, 1791; the first stone having been laid, according to him, on the twentieth day of October, 1788. As to the date of consecration, Lysons is certainly right, as most likely he is in the other statement, having had so good an authority as the curate, parish-clerk, &c., &c. to furnish him with these and other facts which occurred in Paddington about the time at which he wrote. On the day this church was consecrated, a sermon was preached in it, and a collection made for the benefit of the Sunday School.