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kind utterly unknown to the antients, who had no such conceptions of the excellences of regal eloquence.

ADVICE TO STATESMEN.

Although, Lorenzo, (continued Alberti) you have given proof of such virtues as would induce us to think you rather of divine than human origin; although there seems to be no undertaking so momentous as not to be accomplished by that prudence and courage which you have displayed, even in your early years; and although the impulse of youthful ambition, and the full enjoyment of those gifts of fortune which have often intoxicated men of high expectation, and great virtue, have never yet been able to impel you beyond the just bounds of moderation; yet both you and that republic which you are shortly to direct, or rather which now in a great measure reposes on your care, will derive important advantages from those hours of leisure which you may pass, either in solitary meditation, or social discussion on the origin and nature of the human mind; for it is impossible that any person should rightly direct the affairs of the public, unless he has previously established in himself virtuous habits, and enlightened his understanding with that knowledge which will enable him clearly to discern why he is called into existence, what is due to others, and what to himself!

A CONVERSAZIONE.
(Continued from page 109.)

"No

TOW, my good friend," proceed ed the Lecturer, "I must give you a slight sketch of one of the pillars of our church-I cannot assert indeed that he belongs to the Corinthian Or der, it would seem rather that there is more of the Tuscan in him, if we may judge of him by the solid thickness of his capital. Although this reverend gentle man has neglected whatever talent, personal or professional, he might once have possessed, yet, by dint of self assurance, and a fortuitous coincidence of interest, he found himself, at the age of 25, in possession of one of the best livings in the County of. It may truly be said of him, with all the application of the expression, his father was born before him.' Had he, however, culti

vated the virtues, or inherited the mind,
of his parent, he would have been more
worthy of succeeding to his pastoral
cure of souls; but it soon appeared
that our Doctor had no native claim to
the indulgent consideration which placed
him in the stewardship that his father had
so faithfully filled. It was, perhaps,
somewhat unfortunate for him, that he
was invested at so early an age with so
much responsibility; for, although it is
very true that few men are so laboris
ously inclined as to prefer the work of
the vineyard to the fruits of it, yet it
does appear to savour in degree of
injustice, that he who toils not for his
wages should be allowed to demand, as
his right, what, morally speaking, can-
not be vindicated as the personal claim
of assiduity."-"Why," said I," my
good sir, thus speaking, you would con-
dein in the lump all those beneficed
clergy who inherit paternal advowsons,
or who have interest enough to secure
them through the medium of connec-
tion, and I must dissent from your
position as general postulatum, be-
cause it asserts too much for demonstra-
tion. Will you tell me, that a man
who inherits a farm has no right to its
fruits because he does not plow or sow
the land? or, can you defend yourself
under the proposition, that he who re-
ceives one upon a leasehold tenure is
not entitled to employ labourers under
his superintendance to produce those
fruits to which he has a legal claim?”—
"No, in truth," replied the Lecturer,
"I would not presume upon any so ab
surd an assumption, and for this very
good reason, because it is not necessary
for my argument. Give me leave to
remind you, that the case which I insist
upon varies as widely from that which
you have supposed, as spiritual things
differ from temporal; and I do hope, my
friend, that your ecclesiastical feeling
will admit the infinite distinction which
subsists between them. When a clergy-
man obtains a benefice, it matters not
whether by inheritance or occasional
succession, he is understood as taking
upon himself the cure of souls: and ac-
cording to the tenor of the oath which ac-
companies a presentation, he receives it
without any direct or indirect view to

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the lucre of gain; that is, as I would literally interpret these words, with no other object of profitable result, than just such a modicum of provision as may enable him to fulfil his incumbent duties with freedom from worldly im

plications. But when we see a reverend pastor more anxious to make what he can of the temporals of his living and paying no heed to the spirituals-when we see him calculating upon the pecuniary einoluments of his parishioners, as a farmer who sells, or a butcher who buys, a flock of sheep-when, I say, we see one clergyman making a trausfer of his living to another, as Russian fiefs, with all their stock of vassals, are exchanged in a bargain of territory, I can not help thinking that the spirit of mammon prevails in his anxiety for advantage, inore than the disinterestedness of evangelical zeal operates in his concern for the salvation of those whose eternal interests he is most solemnly bound to promote. I believe this is a just inference; and I do not hesitate to say that the premises bear me out. Now this certainly never was the original intention of the first establishment of appropriated benefices in the church; for however this appropriation was, or has been modified, it doubtless was always designed that the duties of the ministry should preserve all their sacred weight in the balance of the sanctuary-subject to no counter-poise of secular compromise-no selfish reservation of spiritual negligence. I am, as you may well suppose, a staunch stickler for the rights of the clergy, and a no less strenuous advocate for the unalienable claim of tythes; but I go so far as to declare, that, among those rights, there is not one that does not bind the reverend body to an equivalent discharge of the obligations of their function, nor any part of that claim which can in fairness be substantiated but upon the reciprocal interchange of a meum for a tuum. It is the indispensable duty of the laity to maintain their clergy, so as to preserve the latter in respectable influence, and raise them above the necessities of worldly vicissitude. It is, on the other hand, the unquestionable duty of the clergy to evince to the laity, that their motives for insist ng upon their rights, and urging their claim, originate in no other desire than that of better cnabling them to accomplish the important purposes of their divine commission. Tithes have hitherto been the source of their maintenance; and I must confess I do not see any other system of subsistence that could be efficiently substituted for them; - and if this ground of claim has grown into disre pute, it has occurred in consequence

of the uncharacteristic motives to which I have alluded. It has, unfor tunately for the church, been made a medium of vexatious exaction, and has produced much discontent in the complainants; hence the clergy, as individuals, have become unpopular, and the laity, as a body, have been driven into disaffection towards them. The laws have been appealed to; and, as they only apply to the temporal part of the question, the division is made without any of that reference to spiritual desert, the absence of which is never lost sight of by the oppressed defendants;-oppressed, not because they do not acknowledge their liability to pay tithes, but because they are called upon too often to make the payment without any prospect of deriving the advantages from it which they, on their part, have a prescriptive right to receive from the professional exertions and personal anxieties of the reverend appellants. The equity of the case seems to be, that if the incumbent persists in demanding his part of the bargain, the parishioner has an equal claim upon the clergyman for his. Now, I take upon me to assert, that, when the equipoise is preserved between right and duly, the equilibrium of claim and payment is seldom disturbed."-" All this," I observed," is reasoning, but surely you will allow that it as frequently happens that adverse feelings of capricious discontent govern the conduct of the layman, as the motives of worldly gain operate with the ecclesiastic.”—“ I grant it," rejoined the Lecturer, “yet at all events the latter's pecuniary claim ought either to be upheld by something of a more elevated sentiment of duty than that which actuates the former, or at least ought to assume the appearance of a justificatory plea in an evidence of professional ability and pastoral concern. But in how many cases of litigous pertinacity does the very reverse of this manifest itself, and how numerous are the instances in which the spirit of litigation absorbs the better disposition, ofthe one who is compelled to pay, and sets aside all consideration of the talent of the other, who, disdaining the milder course of conciliation, insists upon compulsion. If, however, we take a com parative view of the comforts which the Incumbent sacrifices, and the pecuniary advantage which he obtains, it will, in nine cases out of ten, whatever may be his professional ability be found

an adverse balance against his happiest interest, which, both in religion and reason, should be considered by him as centered in the affection and respect of his parishioners. Yet how can it be expected that he should secure their regards by insisting upon the farthest stretch of a legal claim upon the profits of their industry, or the possessions of their inherited rights. The 'summum jus in no instance bears a stronger feature of the 'summa malitia' than in such impolitic exactions."-" But, why," I asked, "do you call them impolitic You should recollect, my friend, that an incumbent of a benefice is no more than the locum tenens of his successor, and it is but the policy of justice for him to provide that the succession should not be impoverished.""And do you really think," rejoined the Lecturer, with an incredulous smile, "that this disinterested principle constitutes the motive of a man who raises his living two-thirds, or one-half, above its original value? and who, to establish this rise, commits his personal peace, and, I had nearly added, his professional character also, to a constant series of disquieting results? No, no, my good sir, the real truth of the thing lies here: a young man succeeds to his father's advowson, or a fellow of a college goes off to a living, or a clerical elector gets a benefice through the interest of some successful candidate, no matter which as to the object of raising the tithes; the first blames the ease of his parent with which he submitted to so much imposition, and surrendered so much of his claim; and, eager to step a little higher in society than the good old man's associations and habits of expenditure required, he determines to insist upon his legal rights to enable him to provide for those artificial necessities which his increased expenses have created. The second, comes forth into the world with his brain filled with undigested calculations upon the intrinsic worth of land, the depreciated value of money, the loss and gain of tithes taken in composition and kind, the possibility of setting aside such and such a modus, the cunning of landlords, and the shifts of tenauts; and with all this * rudis indigestaque moles of avaricious feeling and unauthorised suspicion, resolves to make the most of every thing. The last knows at what price he has pledged his vote, and well aware that his patron would not have given Europ Mag: Vol. LXX. Sept. 1816.

him what he has if it had not been worth his while, he determines for himself upon the same venal plan of action, and therefore pursues no other system than what may secure to himself all the pecuniary prospects which he contemplated in the bargain of his interests.

Ambitious of preferment for it's gold, And well prepared, by ignorance and sloth, By infidelity and love of World, To make GOD's work a sinecure.' Now, do you suppose that any one of these, acting in the manner as I describe, and which, I will appeal to the experie ence of the major part of the popula tion of this kingdom, is the mauner in which such individuals are known to act, can have any thing like a prospec tive concern for the interests of their successors? You may indeed say, that the heir to a perpetual advowson is the most likely to have something of such concern mixed up with his procedure; but even in him the 'Auri sacra fames' gives a colouring to the deed which does not warrant the favourable conclusion you would have me draw from it; and I do repeat, that all such measures of exaction are impolitic, because they divide the laity from the clergy by a barrier of hostile feeling, which is inju rious to the influence of our established church;-because they commit the personal character of its ministry, and consequently degrade their profession;— because they increase dissent, and mul tiply sectaries;-because (and this is the most important cause of the whole) they tend to countenance the libertine scoffings of the infidel, by exposing the interests of religion to the bitterest opposition which he can bring against them, the variance which exists between the profession and the practice of those who assert themselves the only regularly constituted administrators of its ordinances, and the only faithful teachers of its doctrines and precepts."

"That such consequences are likely to ensue from such causes," I observed, "may be allowed, but I do not admit the extent of your appeal: 1 know many, very many, of the hencficed part of our clergy who have, with all the forbearing qualities of that self-denial which Christianity inculcates, resisted much of the facility which the tithe laws open to them of increasing their demands upon their parishioners, and bave lived mong them as the tender shepherds of their flocks."-" And so might all the ree

D d

tors and vicars of our church live," abruptly exclaimed the Lecturer, "if they would only consult that reciprocal de'pendance on which pastor and flock must necessarily ground their mutual satisfactions,O! jortunatos nimium sua si bona norint;' for what condition of life can be more replete with the most satisfactory enjoyment, than a beneficed clergyman living among his parishioners as the father and the brother of them all-the paternal counsellor of the young-the brotherly associate of the old-the guide and guardian of their spiritual life, the friend and associate of their social? And how can the inhabitants of a parish possess a more assured source of general gratification, as Christians and men, than when they find in their minister the earnestness of the pastor blended with the sympathy of the friend. Such a pastor Goldsmith has pourtrayed in all the amiable characteristics of pious worth:

Unpractis'd be to fawn, or seek for power, By doctrines fashion'd to the varying hour; For other aims his heart had learn'd to prize: More skill d to raise the wretched than to rise;

And in his duty prompt at every call, He watch'd and wept, he pray'd and felt for all;

To them his heart, his love, his griefs were giv'n,

But all his serious thoughts had rest in Heav'n.'.

For such a man they will do much, and do it in a much more acceptable way than they can be expected to do, when the coercion of a law forces from them by compulsion what they would have voluntarily supplied by personal regard. It is true that there may be found among a flock various dispositions-here and there a black sheep, on whom the best motives and the highest abilities will make no impression; but, whether ignorance or perverseness produce the exception, the rest disown the unworthiness of his conduct, and usually shame him into submission to the gene ral complacency of the majority. But what I would be understood to argue against, is that cupidity on the part of the incumbeat which induces him to lose sight of all the obligations of his character as a Christian and a member of society, and to interpose between the untried inclinations of his parish ioners and his own pecuniary claim the arbitrary decision of a surveyor; who, without any consideration of the comfort of his employer, and of those

against whom he is employed, consult only the right of the former, without the smallest indulgence for the necessi ties of the latter. This gentleman seldom applies the caduceus of reconciliation, but measures the demand of the one and the liability of the other with the iron rod of merciless adjudication. Instances of this kind are every where to be met with, and these of the most aggravating nature. I could quote you twenty at this moment which have recently occurred within my knowledge, but I forbear; and as we have launched into this subject almost as it were without design, we will close it if you please with one observation: that, although the rights of our clergy are unalienable as to the authority on which they are grounded, yet it behoves every beneficed man to reflect, that the interests of the establishment are of paramount concern, and the temporal existence of it depends greatly, at this eventful period of public opinion, upon the mode and temper with which those rights are asserted. A court of law may afford hima triumph; but the victory is dearly bought, if his motives are not acquitted in that court which conscience holds in every Christian's breast. And now let us go back to the instance of our reverend doctor, although talking of conscience and this individual is lucus a non lucendo.' He is one who has availed himself of the last parliamentary intervention between the non-resident incumbent and the residing curate. I told you that he came in early life into the benefice which he holds; and although it was admitted by his parishioners that a small augmentation was no more than what might be justly contributed by them, which also he accepted, with the gratuitous promise that the increase should proceed no farther; yet he has not scrupled to hazard their affection and esteem by making occa sional rises in his demand upon them, in direct disregard of his own promise and their warranted expectations. Many involvements, consequent of various improvident habits, have reduced him to these injudicious measures; and as he was naturally of that turn of mind which prefers the vacant indulgencies of a dis sipated hour to the severer pursuits of professional duty, he made a greater proficiency in the mystery of the whisttable than in those of Revelation, and hence he became much better read in Hoyle than he was in his Bible. The

late hours, and the vicissitudes to which he thus subjected himself, brought on a slight derangement of his nervous system, and he felt it was necessary for him to try the effect of a less close confined temperature of air, than that in which his parsonage was situated. Upon this plea of necessity be made his application to the diocesan and obtained a licence for non-residence, confiding his cure of souls to an assistant, with the liberal allowance of £100 per annum: urging that he could not afford to give more out of the proceeds of a living which was only 1200 a year. It was, indeed, first intended by him to give but 60 guineas, but as the parsonage house was subdivided into several detached tenures, the additional sum was given with the understanding that the curate must provide himself with a residence."-"But how is that?" interrupted I, "I thought the act to which you alluded made a better provision for the subordinate employe.”—“ So it does," answered my friend; "but can you not easily conceive such a reply as the following being made to any one presuming upon the terms of this act:'- Well, sir, this is all I can afford to give, and if you do not think it worth your while to accept it there are plenty who will be glad to take it." Why yes," said I, it is not difficult to suppose this of such a man; and I have no doubt but the same thing has been said in many similar instances; for that the present indigent state of many subordinate ministers of our church might compel them to submit to such harsh conditions, is I fear too likely to happen-yet because their poverty and not their will consents,' it does not make much for the honourable pretensious of those who take advantage of such unfortunate necessity; and the French proverb may be thrown in their teeth • Chien ne mange pas Chien."—" But pray how is it, that the parsonage house could be so appropriated?"" O my good sir, you must not inquire too deeply into such sacred arcana. I remember when this act was debated in Parliament, many such facts were developed, and among them one in which the vicarage house had been converted into a gin-shop. One of the objects of this bill was to prevent such strange alienations; how ever, the difficulty was easily obviated it seems, and at this moment you may see the clerical domicilium of many a metropolitan benefice turned, with all

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the powers of metamorphorsis that harlequin's wand can boast, into eatinghouses, slaughter-houses, undertaker's shops, and shops of all denominations, some of which shall be nameless. One anecdote I must recount to you, which will give you some idea of the beneficial effect of this bill to enforce residence:-A military gentleman, who had been abroad ever since a clerical friend of his had succeeded to a good living, called on his return, at the vicarage, expecting to find the divine at his post. Upon the door he saw several names of individuals, and directions to their respective offices; he entered one and inquired for the Rev. Mr. He was told that his friend was much indisposed, and had retired into the country for the benefit of the air. The Major was sorry to hear this account of his old. fellow collegian, and, with a friendly. anxiety, set out upon a visit to the va-, letudinarian at his lodgings in the vil age, where he resided by his bishop's permission. It was a fine morning in November, and the near cry of a pack of fox-hounds was followed by the rush of the sportsmen across his road; when,1 mounted upon a sleek huuter, and just in the act of leaping the hedge, he recognized the invalid curator of souls ; who, changing a view halloo into an ejaculation of surprise, welcomed his long absent friend, and just stopping to tell him that he had a party of good fellows to dine with him that day, invit ed him to join them at five; then took the opposite bedge, gallopped off after the field, and left his expected guest fully relieved from all apprehensions as to the health of his reverend friend.” "Perhaps," lobserved, "strong exercise was recommended to this gentle man, and a view halloo might assist his voice, as Demosthenes found baranguing the waves strengthened his oratorical powers."-"It may be so," remarked the Lecturer, but I much question the necessity for either of those expedients in the case of the divine, as i do the indispensable nature of a trip to France, or a season at Cheltenham, Brighton, Margate, or Ramsgate, or any other fashionable watering place, for the renovation of the numerous gentle

men of the cloth, whose names the weekly lists of arrivals announce to their deserted Blocks. If, indeed, exhaustion of strength, from a long unwearied aps plication to the duties of their function actually required such relaxation, I

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