The first suit under the Public Worship Regulation Act has
been; tried this week by Lord Penzance, the complaint being brought by three aggrieved parishioners of Folkestone against the Rev. Charles Joseph Ridsdale, curate of St. Peter's, Folkestone, a very High- church curate indeed, charged with having used lighted candies without needing light, with wearing an alb and chasuble, with favouring the practice of "solitary communion," with having a crucifix set up in his church, and various representations in relief intended to mark "the stations of the cross." The questions de- cided in the famous Ptirchas judgment, by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, were reserved for argument before the Court of appeal, the lower Court being, of course, bound
by the previous decisions of the higher Court. But on all the other complaints, Lord Penzance heard Mr. Fitzjaine,s Stephen and Mr. Arthur Charles fully for the defence, and Dr. Stephens and Mr. Shaw for the aggrieved parishioners, and finally reserved his judgment. Lord Penzance held his own well in the conduct of the suit, and we may look to the judgment, whatever it be, as a fair sample of the mode in which the Public Worship Regulation Act will be worked.
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