"SHIFT+ 252 BE SHETH 2007 IM SIT JILLA ag; of sie VIIIST RICE p.seness associers zor betray a sapineness among themselves, Fruttags the present sem may, shost chong last their time, some considerat associd be had tur posterity. To uphold the respectabiity of the Clergy, it is absolutely necessary that some more equal distribution of preferment should take place; or, at least, that the stipends of many of our Curates, and the benefices of the inferior Clergy, should fier: say by поднется as car or even eight Fencs and oful be ift artarendeservesá at a time to e stipealed, Bait les shoe d then be offered to poc competitia for tithes in the Raads of las impropriaters cause only aimited mischief in a parish. Much and loudly as the farmers (whom, by the bye, I think the Rector is too severe upon) complain of the payment of tithes, it is certain, that nothing like the value of that property (except when taken in kind) is generally * A late Inclosure of Barnwell, near Cambridge, forms an exception; there the Radagon tithes are continued: and they be sorry for it hereafter. who were the cause thereof may possibly paid by them; yet, I have no doubt, that a fair value would be given by the land-owners to exonerate their estates from so obnoxious an imposi tion. The proceeds of the sale might be made a public stock, and would, I presume, produce a nett revenue to the Clergy, very far indeed exceeding their present receipts; and the security they could in no wise doubt; for if the state be not firm, weak indeed must be the dependence of our Clergy; and the surplus would enable them to alleviate the wants of their distressed brethren. There is one addition I beg leave to suggest to the last item in the Plan of a Country Rector; which is, that Seats should be set apart for, and proper persons appointed to conduct thereto, all strangers that may enter the Church: in this point, we are a century behind the Dissenters. Ere I conclude, permit me, Mr. Urban, to say, that the example of the late Bishop of London is worthy of general imitation, and would tend very much to strengthen our interest. In the appointment of Dr. Andrewes to St. James's, that worthy Prelate waved the private interest of his relative and friend, considering his patronage could not be more beneficially exercised than in attending to the choice of the parishion ers. How rare this! Yours, &c. Mr. URBAN, TH P. August 20. HE extensive circulation of your very useful publication, particularly among the friends to the Established Church, renders it the most proper channel to convey information relative to the interests of the Clergy; and you will, I have no doubt, feel a satisfaction in giving farther publicity to a measure, which, while it reflects honour on the feelings and benevolence of the Bishops, and other dignified or opulent Members of the Church, as well as of the Laity, promises to afford a lasting and important benefit to such of the inferior Clergy as, having large families and very contracted incomes, can have no hope of making provision for them, in the event of their own deaths previous to their children being placed out in the world. It is now more than sixty years since a number of benevolent individuals, contemplating the frequent and urgent distress into which the children of Clergymen are thrown by the loss of their father; and, considering that a judicious combination of their means of relief would render the intended benefit more extensive and permanent, formed a Society "for the education of the Orphan Children of Clergymen until they are of an age to be put apprentice:" for which the Corporation of the Sons of the Clergy have a distinct provision. This Institution, supported by annual subscription and the occasional donations of its friends, has, under Providence, continued gradually to enlarge its powers of doing good, until it is now enabled to provide clothes, education, and maintenance, to above forty boys and as many girls, who are annually elected by the subscribers at large as vacancies occur and the funds of the Society will allow; and the excellent education they receive in these schools gives them the means of acquiring very advantageous situations when they go from thence. The permanent funds, as well as the annual subscriptions, having greatly increased through the benevolence of the publick, and the good management of its conductors, it was thought right to secure them to the use of the Charity, and ensure its perpetuity by erecting it into a Corporation, which was accordingly done last year by Act of Parliament; the expence of which was presented to the Society by a Prelate of known benevolence *. The lease of the girls' school, situated at Lisson Green, having nearly expired, and these premises, as well as the boys' school at Acton, being much too small and confined for the reception of the present numbers, it was suggested at the commencement of this year, that it would be attended with many important advantages, if an appropriate building could be erected in an airy ant eligible situation, for the reception of both the Schools, sufficiently near the Metropolis to ensure the constant superintendance of the officers (who all act gratuitously) and the Committee, composed of London Clergy, and other gentlemen chiefly resident in London, the want of which is felt even at the distance of Acton. It was also thought, that by increasing the size of the build * The Bishop of Durham. at the same season; and in Commemoration of which the Church of St. Mary ad Nives was erected in Rome -These, being nearly as improbable as that a boy of 12 or 13 years of age should have been the author of Rowley's Poems, are not insisted on, although they might have afforded an allusion to a Roman Catholic Priest of the fifteenth century. But I perceive, Mr. Urban, that I am exceeding the due bounds of a letter to you: I shall therefore conclude; though not without expressing my willingness at any time to pay the same attention to the candid enquiries of your Constant Reader, or any of your other learned and ingenious Correspondents. Yours, &c. JOHN SHERWEN, M. D. Mr. URBAN, S A August 15. one of your numerous Subscribers, and an admirer of the Established Church of my country, I feel very much obliged to A Country Rector, p. 11. for the hints he has thrown out respecting the present state of our Ecclesiastical Establishment; and although I do not at all feel competent to decide on the plan of Reform which he has suggested, yet I most sincerely, though reluctantly, subscribe to his idea, "that, unless some speedy and effectual measures be adopted to check the growing mischief, a serious state-commotion will be the consequence." And Sir, feeling this, I most fervently hope that those of your Readers best qualified to give an opinion upon the subject, will comply with the earnest solicitation contained in the article alluded to, and furnish "hints, additions, and improvements," to the plan proposed. And here let me most sofemnly conjure the Dignitaries of our Church to lend a helping hand ere it be too late; let them not be fastidious in the rejection of all plans of improvement proposed by others, nor betray a supineness among themselves; for although the present system may, without a change, last their time, some considerations should be had for posterity. To uphold the respectability of the Clergy, it is absolutely necessary that some more equal distribution of preferment should take place; or, at least, that the stipends of many of our Curates, and the benefices of the inferior Clergy, should be augmented, so that all should receive a comfortable independence; but I cannot agree with a Country Rector that, to accomplish this, recourse should be had to the public purse; for 1 have no doubt but that the Ecclesiastical property may be made fully equal to accomplish the desired effect: this achieved, and the second important article in the plan might with propriety be stipulated for. In the parish where I reside, I have seen the growing evil of having service only once on a Sunday. A Meeting-house has been erected (which, in point of convenience of situation, is fully equal with the Church); and where, for lack of Church-service, the parishioners have resorted, till many of them have become converts, and consequently seceders from the Establishment. The commutation of tithes is certainly of all things the most desirable to be effected. To dilate upon the evil consequences the possession of such property produces to the Clergy, is unnecessary; it is every where known, and every where felt; and has particularly engaged the attention of the Legislature upon all modern Inckares *. Surely, therefore, some plan might be adopted to do away an evil so universally acknowledged. Suppose, for instance, that the tithes of the kingdom were to be valued by two competent persons, one chosen by the Clergy, the other by the land proprietors, in each parish; and an offer made, or permission granted, to the land-owner, to exonerate his lands from tithes at the valuation, upon a similar plan to the redemption of the land-tax; say by instalments at four, or even eight years: and if any tithes should be left unredeemed at a time to be stipulated, that they should then be offered to public competition; for tithes in the hands of lay impropriators cause only a limited mischief in a parish. Much and loudly as the farmers (whom, by the bye, I think the Rector is too severe upon) complain of the payment of tithes, it is certain, that nothing like the value of that property (except when taken in kind) is generally * A late Inclosure of Barnwell, near Cambridge, forms an exception; there the Radagon tithes are continued: and they who were the cause thereof may possibly be sorry for it hereafter. paid by them; yet, I have no doubt, that a fair value would be given by the land-owners to exonerate their estates from so obnoxious an imposition. The proceeds of the sale might be made a public stock, and would, I presume, produce a nett revenue to the Clergy, very far indeed exceeding their present receipts; and the security they could in no wise doubt; for if the state be not firm, weak indeed must be the dependence of our Clergy; and the surplus would enable them to alleviate the wants of their distressed brethren. There is one addition I beg leave to suggest to the last item in the Plan of a Country Rector; which is, that Seats should be set apart for, and proper persons appointed to conduct thereto, all strangers that may enter the Church: in this point, we are a century behind the Dissenters. Ere I conclude, permit me, Mr. Urban, to say, that the example of the late Bishop of London is worthy of general imitation, and would tend very much to strengthen our interest. In the appointment of Dr. Andrewes to St. James's, that worthy Prelate waved the private interest of his relative and friend, considering his patronage could not be more beneficially exercised than in attending to the choice of the parishionHow rare this! Yours, &c. ers. Mr. URBAN, T P. August 20. HE extensive circulation of your very useful publication, particularly among the friends to the Established Church, renders it the most proper channel to convey information relative to the interests of the Clergy; and you will, I have no doubt, feel a satisfaction in giving farther publicity to a measure, which, while it reflects honour on the feelings and benevolence of the Bishops, and other dignified or opulent Members of the Church, as well as of the Laity, promises to afford a lasting and important benefit to such of the inferior Clergy as, having large families and very contracted incomes, can have no hope of making provision for them, in the event of their own deaths previous to their children being placed out in the world. It is now more than sixty years since a number of benevolent individuals, contemplating the frequent and urgent distress into which the children of Clergymen are thrown by the loss of their father; and, considering that a judicious combination of their means of relief would render the intended benefit more extensive and permanent, formed a Society "for the education of the Orphan Children of Clergymen until they are of an age to be put apprentice:" for which the Corporation of the Sons of the Clergy have a distinct provision. This Institution, supported by annual subscription, and the occasional donations of its friends, has, under Providence, continued gradually to enlarge its powers of doing good, until it is now enabled to provide clothes, education, and maintenance, to above forty boys and as many girls, who are annually elected by the subscribers at large as cancies occur and the funds of the Society will allow; and the excellent education they receive in these schools gives them the means of acquiring very advantageous situations when they go from thence. va The permanent funds, as well as the annual subscriptions, having greatly increased through the benevolence of the publick, and the good management of its conductors, it was thought right to secure them to the use of the Charity, and ensure its perpetuity by erecting it into a Corporation, which was accordingly done last year by Act of Parliament; the expence of which was presented to the Society by a Prelate of known benevolence *. The lease of the girls' school, situated at Lisson Green, having nearly expired; and these premises, as well as the boys' school at Acton, being much too small and confined for the reception of the present numbers, it was suggested at the commencement of this year, that it would be attended with many important advantages, if an appropriate building could be erected in an airy ant eligible situation, for the reception of both the Schools, sufficiently near the Metropolis to ensure the constant superintendance of the officers (who all act gratuitously) and the Committee, composed of London Clergy, and other gentlemen chiefly resident in London, the want of which is felt even at the distance of Acton. It was also thought, that by increasing the size of the buildings, an easy opportunity might be afforded of enlarging the benefits of the Institution, by adding to the number of the children as the funds continued to improve. This measure was no sooner proposed to be effected by means of a voluntary subscription, than it met with very general approbation and support. His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury immediately subscribed £300.; the Bishop of London (President of the Corporation) £200.; some of the other Bishops a like sum; and many of the Nobility, and other opulent friends to the Established Church, and its Members, have also been very liberal contributors; and thus, without one public advertisement, or any other effort than a few letters distributed by the Secretary among the annual subscribers, and known friends of the Institution, more than half the sum required for the whole undertaking (which, from the high price of materials, is estimated at near £14,000.) is already raised. In the mean while, the Committee appointed to conduct the undertaking have obtained a suitable piece of ground in an airy and convenient situation, at St. John's Wood Farm, in the parish of St. Mary-lebone, adjoining to a large chapel about to be erected by the parish, where the children may attend divine service. They have also contracted for the immediate erection of so much of the building as the sum already subscribed is adequate to defray, and they propose to complete the whole as fast as the subscriptions enable them to do so. And to effect this important purpose as speedily as possible, it is earnestly to be wished, and not unreasonable to hope, that the undertaking will continue to experience, from the other Capitular bodies, who have not yet subscribed, and the wealthy friends to the Established Church and its distressed Minişters, in the more distant parts of the kingdom, the same liberal and kind support it has already done in the Metropolis, since the children are equally eligible into these schools from every county and diocese. * The Bishop of Durham. Thus, Mr. Urban, I have ventured, through your means, to lay before your numerous Readers a brief account of this excellent Charity, and of the measure now in hand for its farther extension and improvement. And I am persuaded you will think the space which this letter occupies in your Repository not ill bestowed, if it shall prove the means, as I can have little doubt it will, of obtaining farther patronage to a work, which, while it affords a most important relief to the Orphans of Clergymen when deprived of all other support, cannot fail to be acceptable in the sight of Him whom it is our highest interest to please, and who hath expressly told us, that " it is not the will of our Heavenly Father that one of these little ones should perish." Yours, &c. A Subscriber to the Clergy Orphan School. P. S. That the good intentions of your Readers may not be checked by not knowing where to send their coutributions, I subjoin the names of the Bankers appointed to receive them : Ladbroke's and Co. Bank-buildings; Messrs. Goslings and Sharp, 'Fleetstreet; Messrs. Hoare, ditto; Messrs. Coutts and Co. Strand; Biddulph and Cox, Charing Cross; Ransom and Morland, Pall Mall, Birch, Chambers, and Hobbs, Bond-street; and also by James Bush, esq. Treasurer, Deans-court, Doctors Commons, and the Rev. Mr. Embry, secretary, Rectory-house, James-street, Coventgarden; who will very readily furnish any farther information that may be required. Mr. URBAN, T Aug. 1. HE following striking instance of the extent to which the prejudice of Party will carry even a well-intentioned Writer, is transcribed exactly from Hearne's Diaries, in the Bodleian Library, vol. XLIX. p. 161. "March 23, Tuesday [1714]. Richard Steel, esy. Member of Parliament, was on Thursday last, about 12 o'clock at night, expelled the House of Commons for a Roguish Pamphlett called the Crisis, and for several other pamphletts, in wch he had abused the Q. &c. This Steel was formerly of Christ-church in Oxford, and afterwards of Merton-college. He was a rakish, wild, drunken spark; but he got a good reputation by publishing a Paper that came out daily called the Tattler, and by another called the Spectator; but the most ingenious of these Papers were written by Mr. Addison, and Dr. Swift, as 'tis reported. And when these two had left him, he appeared to be a mean, heavy, weak writer, as is sufficiently demonstrated in his Papers called the Guardian, the Englishman, and the Lover. He now writes for bread, being involved in debt." Yours, &c. P. B. |