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their respective jurisdictions, and necessarily be incapable of improvement.— Essay on the Revenues of the Church, p. 109.

Suspicion is thrown upon the whole estimate of the value of the dignitaries of the Church, delivered in the Black-Book, by the exaggerated valuation of the archdeaconries at 7391. each.

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Archdeacon

Wrangham, if my memory does not deceive me, once stated, that the emoluments of the archdeaconry of Cleveland were not equal to the necessary expenses of the visitations. The author of Awkward Facts respecting the Church of England and her Revenues, states that "archdeaconries are, in most cases, worth very little one, in the diocese of London, is about 127. per annum; the best is not 2001." The Archdeacons of Chester and Richmond, I think, receive each 501. from the hands of the Diocesan. I have heard that the most valuable archdeaconries are those of Canterbury and Colchester; but I have never heard either of them estimated at more than 400l.; and how is an average of 7391. to be achieved?

Of Chancellors, Dr. Dealtry has complained of the unprofitable honours of the Chancellor of Winchester; and the Chancellors of Canterbury, York, London, Gloucester, Oxford, Rochester, St. David's, and Worcester, are all laymen.

Prebendaries and Canons are said to receive 5451. each. Their incomes are usually derived from small reserved rents, and from fines received upon the renewal of leases. Some are, no doubt, of considerable value; others are not worth one penny, and the expenses of collation are absolutely lost; they are mere marks of honour. Such was the stall held in Lincoln cathedral by the late Bishop Middleton ; such are "four prebends at Chichester; such is the prebend of Oxgate in the cathedral of St. Paul's, where another prebend, Consumpta per mare, has a most unpromising title.

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If the 530 Precentors, Succentors, Vicars General, Minor Canons, Priest Vicars, Vicars Choral, and other members of cathedral and collegiate churches, "have an income of 3381. each, and it is little. more than an income," very moderate, "very little objectionable indeed,"--I wish them uninterrupted health and happiness in the possession of it. The little addition which may be made from some small vicarage in the neighbourhood of the cathedral, or in the gift of the Chapter, will hardly compensate for the deductions which must be made for the use of other persons who have an unnoticed claim upon the cathedral revenues. There have hitherto been enumerated not more than 1,159 dignitaries, among whom the revenues of the Deans and Chapters are distributed; but this is not the whole number; and it is necessary to borrow a little further information from Dr. Cove's Essay:

Exclusive of these dignitaries, there are, in every cathedral and collegiate church, other members of a subordinate nature and rank, under the denomination of Minor Canons, Priest Vicars, Vicars Choral, &c., with many more in still lower situations, all in holy orders, and whose total number may amount to nearly 300; these, as well as the superior cathedral members, have a portion of the collective cathedral and collegiate revenues, and derive, from their appointments, incomes in various proportions. And, in addition to these, there are also to be found, in every cathedral and collegiate church, a far greater number, in the aggregate, of lay officers, in the capacities of organists, singing-men,

choristers, vergers, sextons, &c., with schoolmasters, free-scholars, almsmen, &c. all whose emoluments are included in the revenues of the capitular bodies.

And thus, when it is advanced that the cathedral and collegiate revenues amount to the gross sum of 275,000l., it must not be forgotten that probably not less than 2,000 persons partake of those revenues in a greater or smaller gradation.-P. 110.

Of the "aristocratic pluralists, mostly not resident, and holding two, three, four, or more livings,-in all, 7,037 livings," I have little to add to what I have formerly said. Of their aristocracy I know but little, and of the imputed excess of their pluralities I believe less. In a district containing forty-six parishes, I find but one Incumbent born of a noble line; and but one Incumbent holding three livings, and two of these are adjoining vicarages of inconsiderable value; and I find twenty resident Incumbents, one only of whom has any other preferment, and that not a cure of souls. Of these forty-six parishes, two have neither church nor parsonage, and the tithes are, I think, in both cases, lay-impropriations; in three, the Incumbents reside and have the assistance of Curates; in twenty-four, the Incumbents reside and perform their own duty; in two, the duty is performed by the Incumbents, not being resident, and one of these is a very small parish, of which the Incumbent is the resident Rector of the adjoining parish; in ten, the duty is performed by resident Curates; by nonresident Curates in four other parishes, in none of which, as I believe, is there any residence for the minister; in the one remaining parish the Vicar, lately presented, is coming into residence. In my own neighbourhood, therefore, I find no warrant for the charge against the aristocratic pluralists. In Wales it might receive some justification; but there the poverty, which is the occasion of pluralities, is a check to the ambition of the aristocracy; and I refer with pleasure to the statement of the Bishop of Peterborough, copied into the last Remembrancer, p. 601. Supported by this authority, I feel it unnecessary to expose the gross insinuations contained in the following paragraph: to quote it is to refute it. I leave it to the author's meditations, only challenging him to produce the original of his caricature, and pledging myself to join in the condemnation. Till the animal is produced, I must be allowed, with every man of candour and intelligence, to doubt its existence.

The aristocratic pluralists are so many clerical sinecurists, who receive immense incomes without rendering any service to the community. They are mere men of the world, whose element is the race-course, the ball-room, and billiardtable. They seldom see their parishes; their residence is in London, at Paris, Naples, or Florence. If they visit their benefices, it is not in the capacity of pastor, but of surveyor or tax-gatherer, who comes to spy out improvements, to watch the increase of stock and extension of tillage, and see how many hundreds more he can squeeze out of the industry and capital of the impoverished farmer. The poor parishioner, who contributes his ill-spared tithe to the vicious indulgence of these spiritual locusts, is neither directed by their example, instructed by their precepts, nor benefited by their expenditure.-Black-Book, p. 56.

M.*

• Errata: Page 621, line 26, for 'within,' read without. Page 625, line 20, for 4,100,' read 1,400; line 35, for instruments,' read emoluments; line 41, for £50,' read five shillings. Page 627, line 26, for conception,' read exception. Page 628, line 36, for Stratford,' read Shalford. Page 629, line 40, for 'in Wales,' read in England and Wales.

NOTICES OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

Continued from page 567.

PENNSYLVANIA.

THIS diocese consists at present of the Bishop, the assistant Bishop, fifty-three Presbyters, twelve Deacons, and seventy-one Congregations; being an accession, since the last General Convention, of eight Clergymen, and seventeen Congregations. The number of persons confirmed has been 1017. The number of baptisms reported since the last General Convention is 2211, of whom 294 were adults. The number of Communicants is 2563. The state of religion, on the whole, appears encouraging. Sunday-school instruction flourishes in many parishes, and is carefully maintained in nearly all. Infantschools have been established with much success in some instances, and promise a high degree of usefulness. Occasional examples have occurred, in a few of the congregations, of a peculiar degree of religious sensibility, followed by numerous and solemn professions. In other places, large additions have been made to the congregations, and to the number of communicants, accompanied by a gradual increase of general seriousness and devotional regularity. And a much more earnest attention is manifested on the subjects of theological and christian education, and the great cause of missionary exertion. And although the diocese has not escaped its share of the agitation usually incident to the management of elections, whether in Church or State; although there have been occasion to lament, in some particulars, the evils of a temporary alienation amongst brethren, and in many others, the spirit of worldliness, indifference, and neglect ; although they have great reason to long for an increase, not only in the number of ministers, but in the zeal of their labours, and in the consistent diligence of their flocks; yet is there cause of deep and fervent gratitude to the gracious Head of the Church, for the blessings which he has vouchsafed to us, and ground to hope, that the diocese of Pennsylvania will experience an increasing measure of prosperity for the years to come.

DELAWARE.

In the diocese of Delaware there are five Clergymen resident, four of whom have parishes; the other, from age and infirmities, only occasionally exercising his ministry. Attached to several of the churches are flourishing Sunday-schools, in which deep interest is felt, and from which there has been a happy result. There has, in some of the parishes, been laid the foundation of libraries attached to the churches, and thus an example set worthy of general imitation. It is to be regretted, that the Diocesan Missionary Society has been totally inefficient, from the inability to obtain missionaries. The Church in Delaware, availing itself of the provision in the twentieth Canon of 1808, invited the Right Rev. Bishop White to visit and perform episcopal offices in this diocese; and a similar invitation has

Notices of the Protestant Episcopal Church in America. 691

been given to the Right Rev. Dr. Onderdonk, as assistant Bishop, whose services have produced and revived feelings promotive of the best interests of the Church. The number of communicants, so far as they can be ascertained, is 217. We hope that the time to favour this part of Zion is not far distant; and this hope rests upon the great Head of the Church; for we think no truth more evident than that stated in Holy Writ: "Paul may plant, and Apollos water, but God giveth the increase." Under the influence of that divine energy from above, we hope that this part of the Church will be renovated, and its moral and spiritual condition assume its primitive purity and eminence.

MARYLAND.

It appears from the journals of the several conventions which have been held in this diocese, since the last meeting of the General Convention, that four persons have been ordained Deacons, and thirteen admitted to the holy order of Priests. There are now in the diocese fifty-one Clergymen, and four candidates for orders; and three churches have been consecrated to the service of Almighty God. According to the parochial reports, 3302 persons have been baptized, 575 confirmed, and there are now 2325 communicants in the Church. The Diocesan Missionary Society, formed some years since, appears to have been useful in some of the parishes which had been deprived of the ordinances of the Gospel, and it is a matter of deep regret that it has not received that pecuniary aid which the situation of many parts of the diocese so imperiously demands. Sunday-schools have been formed in most of the parishes, and have been eminently useful, and some of them have become auxiliary to the General Sundayschool Union of the Protestant Episcopal Church. The diocese of Maryland has been called to mourn the death of its much beloved Bishop Kemp. The journals record the deep affliction which was produced by this event, and the various communications of the different ecclesiastical bodies, expressing their condolence with the Church in the diocese in the heavy loss which it has sustained, and the sentiments of love and veneration which the diocese at large cherished for him. Episcopal duties have been performed in several portions of the diocese, by the Right Rev. Bishop Onderdonk, assistant Bishop of the diocese of Pennsylvania, and by the Right Rev. Bishops of Ohio and Virginia; and their services have produced the happiest effects, and tended, in a high degree, to sustain the cause and extend the influence of the Church in Maryland.

VIRGINIA.

The prospects of the Church in the diocese of Virginia continue encouraging, and indeed are greatly more so than at the time of the last report. The number of clergy has considerably increased; the principles of the Church are better understood, and more than ever loved ; and the influence of pure and undefiled religion more extensively felt. Arrangements have been made for the permanent establishment of the theological seminary of the diocese; and a system adopted for its future management, calculated, it is confidently

believed, very greatly to extend the influence, and multiply the benefits of that institution. A Diocesan Missionary Society has been recently established, from whose operations much is expected; and by means of which numerous waste places, we trust, will soon be, in some hopeful measure, supplied with the ministrations of the Gospel; and the doctrines and institutiors of the Church made known in the hitherto neglected and destitute but important western section of the State beyond the mountains. Besides the repair of several of the old churches, almost in ruins, and the re-occupation of some hitherto almost or entirely deserted, it is pleasing to report the building and consecration of several entirely new. The number of clergy is now forty-four; and there is the prospect of an early addition to their number from among the candidates for orders now prosecuting their studies at the seminary.

(To be continued.)

LAW REPORT.

On the Right of the King of Great Britain and Ireland_to_grant exclusive Patents to print the Translation of the Bible, and all other works circulated under the authority of the Established Churches of England, and Ireland, and Scotland.

"For two hundred years and more, the kings have, in England, granted patents to their printers, as extensive as the patent we are now considering, and perhaps more extensive; but extensive enough to raise the question under discussion. In England, the power of the King to grant patents of this description, or to appoint to such an office, has never been seriously questioned. Those patents have from time to time come under the review of our courts, and the judges have been called to decide upon them. One case occurred before Sir Joseph Jekyll, so far back as the year 1720,* and others at different periods, both in the courts of equity, and also before this House during the last century. And I would state it as a point not admitting now of doubt or controversy, that as far as relates to the office of King's printer in England, the crown has the prerogative to grant a patent as extensive as that under consideration.

But, although the power of the King and his prerogative in England has never been questioned, it has been rested by judges on different principles. Some judges have been of opinion that it is to be founded on the circumstance of the translation of the Bible having been actually

*Baskett v. Parsons. At the Rolls, 1718. In D. P. 1719. Cited in Univ. of Oxford and Cambridge v. Richardson, 6 Ves. 699.

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