BELL RINGING. We are favoured with the following table by a correspondent who professes the pleasure he has received from those articles on the same subject, that have already appeared in our work but he requests information on the origin and antiquity of the custom of Bell-Ringing in our island, which he supposes to be altogether indigenous. He inquires also, who adopted the names of majors, bob-m jors? &c.; how beginners learn, and whether there be any thing like a gamut of the art ?-We should be glad of satisfactory information on the subject. There are 12 peals of 12 bells in England, viz. 7 peals of 12 in London, and 5 peals of 12 at the following places: Harwich, Birmingham, Shrewsbury, Cambridge, and Cirencester: And in Great Britain and Ireland there are 50 peals of 10-360 peals of 8-600 peals of 6-and 500 of 5; sides 700 peals of 4, 3, and 2 bells. be The following table is the full extent of changes that can be produced upon each number of bells: Peal of 2 bells produces .........2 changes Substance of a Speech on the Second Reading of the Curate's Bill in the House of Lords, June 27, 1808. By the Right Rev. BEILBY PORTEUS, D.D. Bishop of London. MY LORDS; In rising to support this bill, I must first make my acknowledgements to your lordships, for your indulgence to me in a lowing it to take the precedence of other most important matters which were fixed for this day. This is a great accommodation to me, in my present very infirm state of health. Indeed, on that account, I should have spared your lordships the trouble of hearing me at all, had I not been so deeply impressed with the great importance of this bill, not only to a large and meritorious class of the English clergy, but to the general interests of religion ministers, and the spiritual welfare of the people, and the church of England, to the credit of its that I thought it my indispensable duty (even incompetent as I feel myself to address this house in the manner I ought, and to present my thoughts to your lordships with that correctness and in that lucid order I could wish) to add my feeble efforts to the more effectual exertions of other noble lords in favour of this bill. The bill before your lordships has two great objects in view. The first is, to enforce the residence of curates upon their cures. The second, to increase their stipends on livings exceeding 4001. a year; by giving them a certain proportion of the clear yearly income. I. With respect to the first, there will, I am persuaded, be no difference of opinion among your lordships. You will, I am sure, all agree with me, that the first and most important duty of a clergyman, whether curate or incumbent, is RESIDENCE. It is that on which all other duties rest as their foundation; for till he is AT HIS POST, at his proper station, he cannot act, he can do nothing. An idea indeed has of late prevailed, that the duties of a parish may be performed at a distance; at the distance of four or five miles or more: and several clergymen satisfy themselves with this, which they are pleased to call virtual residence. But in this they are, I conceive, greatly mistaken, sist merely in preaching and reading prayers on The duty of a parochial clergyman does not conSundays, but in various other most important functions and branches of the pastoral care; in personal conversation with his parishioners on religious subjects, in visiting the sick, in reforming the vicious, in encouraging the virtuous, in catechising the children, in protecting the poor, in superintending parochial schools, and promoting peace, good will, and harmony among the people. These kind offices are not the work of a single Sunday, or of a day or two in the week, but they are performed occasionally and gradually, under a general system indeed, but at convenient seasons only and accidental opportunities; and therefore In addition to the letter of the right hon. Spencer Perceval, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Dr. Mansell Bishop of Bristol, (inserted at large in Panorama, Vol. IV. p. 209 et seq.) we present our readers with the following opinion of the venerable Bishop of London, just issued from the press, We require constant residence and constant vigilance.. presume these respectable documents will be For this reason, it is most devoutly to be wishthought sufficiently explanatory on the sub-ed that there should be a RESIDENT CLERGYMAN, ject: they will serve for reference when it again comes under the notice of the legislature in the approaching session of parliament. either incumbent or curate, in every parish throughout the kingdom. The good effects of it would be incalculable, and in one respect more particularly, in checking the growth of schism. Great complaints are every day made of the in-compulsory. But suppose a fifth is given; will crease of sectaries, and I believe not without any one contend, that on a living of 15001. a reason. And one great cause of it, I am persuad- year, 2501. is too much for the curate, who does ed, is the want of resident clergymen, to coun- the whole duty of perhaps a very populous and teract their influence. They most commonly in- laborious parish; but that 12501. is not at all too vade those parishes where the flock is without a much for the incumbent, who does nothing, or shepherd living amongst them. They seldom in- next to nothing, during the whole year? trude themselves on a parish where there is a re- that be called an unjust and oppressive tax on such sident minister performing all his sacred functions a non-resident and non-efficient incumbent ? with zeal, with activity, with assiduity and per severance. For all these reasons, your lordships will, I think, be of opinion, that this part of the bill which requires and enforces the residence of curates, is not only unobjectionable, but in the highest degree necessary and useful. II. The other object of the bill is to augment the salaries of curates, on benefices which exceed 4001. a year; by assigning to them one-fifth the clear annual income of the living. Can But, my lords, I have further to observe on this head, that one fifth of the income, which some noble lords think too much, is not near so large a proportion of the income as you have already given to curates on livings not exceeding £400. a year, in the act called the Curate's Act, which passed in the year 1796. In that act, the bishop is empowered to assign a salary of 751. a year to the curate of any beneoffice, wherever he judges it expedient and just so to do. Now, my lords, 751. is one fourth of a living of 300l. a year-it is more than one third of a living of 2001. a year, and it is one half of a living of 1501. Now this, my lords, I confess, appears to me, after much consideration, a fair and impartial and equitable partition of the revenue between the incumbent and the curate. Will now any one assert that it is an enormous thing to give the curate 2501. a year on livings of 500l. 1000l. and 20001. when only twelve years ago this very house empowered the diocesan to give a fourth, a third, and one half on livings of 3001. 2001. and 1501. a year respectively? I think I may safely rest the whole argument on the answer that will be given to this question, which I humbly beg to leave upon your lordships minds. 2. But it has been further said, that the bill is an unjust invasion of private property. At present, no curate is by law entitled to more than 751. a year, with the use of the parsonagehouse and premises, or 151. a year in lieu of them. Will any of your lordships say that in the present times, when the price of all the common necessaries of life is double and treble of what it was twenty years ago, that this is a sufficient maintenance for a man of a learned and honourable profession, who is expected to support a respectable appearance in his parish, to assist the poor, and to maintain (as it frequently happens) a wife and a large family of children? Your No one can have a more sacred regard to private lordships must be sensible that the condition of property than myself, and if I could be convinced such a man, with only 751. a year to maintain that this bill was a violent and unexampled invahimself and his family with food, fuel, and cloth-sion of private property, I should be as great an ing, is a state of absolute beggary. And the fact is, that great numbers of curates, even in this opulent diocese, are in a state of extreme penury and wretchedness. I have good reason to know this to be the case. I know many that are at this moment struggling under the severest difficulties, and I could easily pourtray to your lordships sach scenes of distress as would, I am confident, make an impression on your compassionate minds in favour of this suffering class of men, which you could not resist. 1. That they stand in need of some relief, I believe all your lordships will allow; but it is contended at the same time, that a fifth of the incumbent's income is too large a proportion to assign them. But can it be maintained, my lords, that when the value of the benefice is 500, 1000, 1500, 2000, 30001. a year (for there are several benefices even of that value) that the curate shall have no more than 751. a year? Can your lordships think it a hard thing upon an incumbent enjoy ing a benefice of suppose 15001. a year, to pay his curate out of that sum 1501. a year (which is putting an extreme case) while he is enjoying at a distance the other four parts? For I beg your lordships o observe, and carry it in your minds, that this bill relates solely to non-resident incumbents of very large livings; and that though the bishop may, if he pleases, assign the curate a fifth part, he is not bound to do it. The clause which gives this power is only permissive, not enemy to it as any one of your lordships. But, my lords, it is my most decided and conscientious opinion, that this is not the case. For if an ecclesiastical benefice can with any propriety be called a property at all, it is without doubt a peculiar species of property. It is not a freehold estate liable to no deductions, but parochial and parliamentary taxes. It is, strictly speaking, an office having certain duties, certain services, certain functions of religion annexed to it, which the incumbent is bound to perform as the very condition of his possessing that office. This condition is expressly prescribed at the very time when he is invested with that office: I mean at his institution to his benefice. The bishop then says to him-" I do by these presents commit unto you the cure and government of the souls of your parishioners, and do authorize you to preach the word of God in the said parish." These conditions, then, he is strictly bound to fulfil in his own person, for not one word is here said about a substitute. But if he is unavoidably prevented from so doing, then he is bound to pro cure a competent substitute, with a salary sufficient not merely to keep him and his family from starving, but sufficient to raise him above contempt, and enable him to support that respectability of cha racter without which he will lose all weight and influence with his parishioners. When noble lords say that this is an invasion of private property, unprecedented and not to be en dured, they quite forget that in the act of 12th, But my lords, there is no necessity for much árgument on this subject. This house and the other house of parliament have by their authority sanctioned this very invasion of property, which is now so much complained of; and that not merely for the support of the curate, but for the support of the incumbent himself. Your lordships will recollect, that no longer ago than the year 1803, the two houses of parliament granted an augmentation of more than 1001. a year upon average to fifty rectors and vicars of the city of London. And how did they do this? Why, by an assessment on every individual in each of those parishes; that is, they took 5000l. a year from the private property of the inhabitants of the city of London, and gave it to the clergy of London, and this without any consent signified by these inhabitants to parliament; a circumstance to which the noble lord on the woolsack made strong obsections at the time, but at length gave his assent to the bill; and in so doing the learned lord acted like himself, nobly and wisely, and so 'did the whole legislature. They gave a striking proof of that regard for the interests of religion, and the decent support of its ministers, by which they have been uniformly distingushed. I trust, therefore, that your lordships will manifest the same spirit on the present occasion; that you will exercise the same equity, the same generosity, the same humanity towards the curates of this kingdom, that you have so recently shewn to that most respectable body of men the incumbents of the city of London.-So much, my lords, for the invasion of private property. 3. But it has been alleged further, that this bill gives an enormous discretionary power to the bishops, directly repugnant to the constitution; such as they never possessed before, and ought never to possess; having greatly abused even that inferior degree of power which they already enjoy. If this charge, my lords, could be made out, It would, I confess, be a solid objection to the bill. But they who have so vehemently urged this objection, have not, I think, looked very carefully into the constitution of the church, and the statutes of the realm; which, if they will have the goodness to examine with due attention, they will find have from the earliest times confided the management of all ecclesiastical matters, and especially the appointment of the curate's salary, to the discretion of the bishops. And this power the bishops have exercised without control, and (t,s far as I can learn) without blame, from the time of Edward III. to the present hour; that is, for near 500 years. To convince your lordships that this is not mere gratuitous assertion, unsupported by any evidence, I beg leave to refer you to the following constitutions and statutes. In a constitution of archbishop Islip, in 1350, it is ordered; that curates serving a cure shall be content with six marks a year. In 1362, so far was this constitution of an archbishop thought to be the assumption of an enormous and unconstitutional power, that it was confirmed by a statute of the 36th of Edward III. c. 8. In 1378, the 2d of Richard II. by a constitution of archbishop Sudbury, the above salary of six marks is enlarged to eight marks, or their board and four marks, by reason (says the constitution) of the difference of the times. Your lordships here see that the bishops not only fixed the curate's salary at one particular period, but increased it from time to time in proportion to the increasing price of all the necessaries of life. This, my lords, is one principal object of the bill now before your lordships. In 1415, the last-mentioned constitution of archbishop Sudbury was enforced by a statute of the 2d of Henry V. stat. 1. ch. 2; and this expressly recognizes the authority of the bishop, within certain restrictions. In 1713, the statute of the 12th of Anne, ch. 12. enacts that the bishop shall, before he grants a license to the curate, assign a sufficient stipend, not less than 201. nor more that 501. a year. In 1796, by the statute of the 36th of George, III. c. 83. the bishop is empowered to augment the stipend of the curate from 501. to 751. a year and to add the house, garden, and stables, or 151. a year in lieu of them. But, my lords, there is still another proof of the discretionary power entrusted to the bishop by the constitution, to which I beg your particular attention; it is, the faculty or form of a dispensation for holding two livings; a copy of which I have in my hand, and will, with your permission, read the material parts of it to your lordships. It is as follows: "We, Thomas, by Divine Providence, archbishop of Canterbury, by these presents graciously dispense with you, that, together with the rectory of A. B. which you now possess, you may freely and lawfully accept the rectory of C. D. provided that the cure of the souls of that church from which you shall be most absent, be in the meautime in all respects laudably served by an able minister, capable to explain and interpret the principles of Christian religion, and to declare the word of God unto the people, in case the revenues of the said church can conveniently maintain such minister; and that a competent and sufficient salary be well and truly allowed and paid to the said minister, to be limited and allotted by the proper ordinary at his discretion; or by us or our successors, in case the diocesan bishop shall not take due care therein. Provided nevertheless, that these presents do not avail you any thing un less duly confirmed by the king's letters patent. Given under the seal of our Office of Faculties, this day of &c.". From these incontestible authorities and documents, it appears, beyond all doubt and all contradiction, that the power of fixing and regulating the salaries of curates from time to time has been vested in the bishops by the most ancient constitu tions of the church, and by a regular succession of various acts of parliament, from the year 1350, the most unequivocal proofs of attachment and to the present hour. 4. But it has been, moreover, broadly and positively asserted in this house, that the bishops have abused this power. This, my lords, is a very grave and severe charge against a whole body of men who have the honour of a seat in your lordships' house. It requires something more than mere assertion to support it; and I trust that those who have brought the accusation will produce their proofs. At the same time I must beg leave to say, that I shall not consider a few solitary instances picked up here and there throughout the kingdom, as a sufficient proof of so general, so indiscriminat, and so unqualified a crimination. It is possible that two or three errors of this kind may with great industry be brought to light. But can it be wondered at if, in a country containing near 12,000 parochial benefices, some few instances of apparent harshness may be found; which yet, when they come to be fairly examined, will probably appear to have arisen from the peculiar circumstances of the case, and to be founded on reasons which will perfectly justify the bishop's conduct. As to my own conduct in this respect, I cannot, on the strictest scrutiny, charge myself with any thing like rigour or severity toward the incumbents in this diocese in fixing the salaries of the curates; which is what I suppose noble lords mean by abuse of power. esteem. 5. There is still one more objection which I have lately heard made to the bill, viz. that it will tend to destroy all that harmony and good understanding which ought to subsist between the incumbent and curate, and to produce perpetual dissension, animosity, and hostility, between them. Now, my lords, as this is nothing more than mere assertion, and as one assertion is as good as another, I will venture to assert, on the contrary, that no such consequence is at all likely to follow from this bill. It will, I am persuaded, in the event, be found, that this is one of those conjectural and unfounded predictions that are so frcquently opposed to solid and substantial benefits, which can no otherwise be controverted but by foretelling evils that will probably prove to be perfectly imaginary and visionary.-The ground on which these prophecies of the dissensions which this bill will create between the incumbent and curate are founded, is, the proposed augmentation of the curate's salary; which, it is said, will be the cause of everlasting contention. But if this be so, why did not these dissentions arise from the act of the 36th of the king, in which the salary of the curate (taking in the use of the house) was nearly double of that enacted by the 12th of Queen Anne? Yet I have never heard that any such terrible evils have been produced by that act, nor were any such objections urged against it at the time it passed.→→ Indeed that act alone is in itself a complete answer not only to this, but to all the other material ob God forbid that I should ever knowingly take one shilling more than I think necessary from the pockets of the incumbents, to put it into the pock-jections that have been made to this bill.-If you ets of the curates. No, my lords, I beg to have say that this bill gives too large a proportion of the it distinctly and clearly understood by this house, incumbent's income to the curate, the act of 1796 and by the whole diocese of London, that what- gives a still larger proportion. It gives, (as I have ever zeal I may have shown on this occasion in frequently observed before, and must again and behalf of the curates, I should show the very same again repeat, as an argument which appears to me zeal in behalf of the incumbents, if their circum- unanswerable) it gives a fourth, a third, and one stances required it. Of this good disposition to- half; and that on all livings under 4001. a year; wards them, I have, I hope, given some sub- whereas this bill gives only a fifth, and that on stantial proofs.-I took a warm and active and a few livings (comparatively speaking) of great vazealous part in promoting the act above mention- lue, where the incumbents can well afford it.—If ed, which gave the incumbents of the city of you say that this bill is an unjust and unexampled London 50001. a year; and I have reason to think invasion of private property, the act of 1796 is that my strenuous exertions in favour of that bill equally so, nay, more, for it takes away more, contributed not a little to the success of it. The in proportion to the value of the living, from the clergy of London were fully sensible of this; and property of the incumbent.-If you say that this I received their unanimous thanks for what I had bill gives an exorbitant discretional power to the done. I must add, too, what nothing but self- bishops, the act of 1796 gives the same, nay, a defence and the pressure of the present occasion still greater, for it gives them the power of fixing should ever have induced me to mention here, the salary of all the curates in the kingdom.— that the fund which I lately established for the re- If you say that this augmentation of the curate's lief of the indigent clergy of this diocese compre-stipend will create divisions, contentions, animohends incumbents as well as curates, and many of the former have been actually benefitted by it Indeed, on all occasions I have endeavoured, to the utmost of my power, to promote the interests, the welfare, the credit, both of the higher and lower classes of the clergy in this diocese. In every class of them, there are men of very distinguished abilities, of great erudition, of fervent piety, and exemplary attention to all their sacred functions, for whom I entertain the highest regard. With many of them, I have had the happiness to live in habits of intimacy and friendship for many years; and from the whole body of them in general I have had the satisfaction of receiving, on various occasions, VOL. V. [Lit. Pan. Dec. 1808.] sities, between the incumbents and curates, there is the very same ground for it in the act of 1796; namely, a great augmentation of income, which yet has never produced any such effects. And though that act was liable to all those objections, yet your lordships and the other house of parlia ment gave your entire assent to it, and no such objections ever presented themselves to your minds. But even if some dissensions should arise from this bill, is an act of such great importance and such extensive benevolence, as that of giving relief to two or three thousand deserving and indigent English clergymen, to be stopped because a few warm men on each side of the question chuse U to quarrel about the partition of their income? If this be so, and if this argument be pushed to its utmost extent, the curates ought to have no salary at all; for as long as there is any salary, any pecuniary transaction between the incumbent and curate, be it ever so small, they may still quarrel about it. For it is not the quaniam, it is sim lv haugmentation itself, which is the ground of dissens on, if there be any; and it is well known, that the sharp $ contentions sometimes arise from the slightest causes. them from this, distress is the object of this bill, and your lordships will, I am sure, think such an object worthy of your most serious consideration. You will not, I am confident, suffer light objections, and merely possible inconveniences; you will not suffer surmises, conjectures, suppositions, forebodings, and groundless apprehensions, to outweigh and overthrow that solid, substantial, extensive, and certain good which this bill is intended, and, in my poor judgement, well calculated to produce. I beg your lordships to recollect, what a multitude of objections were made, and with what extreme violence were urged, against the abolition of the slave trade, and what dreadful and alarming evils were confidendy predicted as the inevitable consequences of that measure. Yet, to your immortal honour, you for speaking in such strong terms as I did, of the extremely distressed state of the curates, I will produce here one case, among many others which have come to my own knowledge. A memorial has lately been presented to me, in behalf of a curate (not in my diocese) who has been thirty years in orders, and has had no less than five different pieces of preferment: and that the reader may judge of the labour he undergoes, I will give the cutline of one Sunday's work in the month of April last. Elving cow, as I conceive, answered what seem to re the chief objections that have been made to the principle of the bill, your lordships will, I trust, allow it to be read now a second time. In the meanwhile, allow me, my lords, 'before I sit down, to recommend most earnestly the curates of this kingdom to your favour and protection*.-There is no class of men in this country that want it, or deserve it more. I know, my lords, and have very good reason to know, that even in this opulent diocese there are many of them at this very moment struggling under the severest difficulties; and thar, with families of six, eight, or ten children, they are plunged in the deepest distress It has indeed been asserted by a noble lord, that the distressed state of the curates of this kingdom (which was stated as the ground of the bill before your lordships) was not sufficiently proved; that the case was not made out; that the curates, as a body, had presented no petition, nor had any cases of individual dis'tress been laid before the house. It is very true, my lords, the curates have not importuned your lordships with petitions; and in this, I think, they have done right. They could have made out, God knows, too strong a case; but, out of respect to your lordships, they forbore. Their dis-four; there he had three funerals. Ile also baptiztress is not importunate, clamorous, and obtrusive, but silent, modest, meek, and patient; which is the true and genuine character of real and deep On that day, he began with marrying a couple at one of his churches, at eight in the morning. At half past nine he walked to a chapel at three miles distance, read prayers and administered the sacrament to about fifty communicants. He returned to his church at two o'clock, and there read and preached. He then attended a lectureship at three o'clock, and came back to his church at allowing no time for it) till five in the afternoon, and then could take eight minutes only for tea. ed eight children, and churched two ladies separately. He returned home for eight minutes to read prayers, and returned home at half past nine tea. And, lastly, went again to the chapel, and distress. The curates did not feel the misery the less for not expressing it. They felt it, on the o'clock at night. During this day, he was speakcontrary, to be so strong and obvious, and so uni- ing six hours, walked fourteen miles, and had no versally acknowledged, that they thought it perfcct-refreshment from nine in the morning (his duty ly needless to trouble your lordships with their complaints. They left their cause to yourown humanity and justice. They thought they might safely trust it in your hands. They flattered themselves, that they should have a powerful advocate in your own bosoms, an advocate that would plead more powerfully for them, than they could for themselves; and in this, I trust, they will not be mistaken. 5. But it is said that no individual cases of distress have been produced. My lords, you must be sensible how difficult and how delicate a thing it is to mention names and circumstances, in cases of distress, which the sufferers wish perhaps to conceal from all the world and shrink from their being exposed to the public eye. Were it not for this, I could cover your lordship's table with cases of distressed curates, known to myself and within the precincts of my own diocese.+-To extricate The reader will find a still more effectual answer to almost all the objections here stated, in Mr. Perceval's most masterly letter to Dr. Mansell. (See Panorama, Vol. IV. p. 209.) + In order to shew that I had very good grounds' These are his general official occupations on Sunday, beside a constant attendance on the cha ity schools the rest of the week. For all these occupations, he has only 791. 178. a year. He has a wife and six children, and is now old and infirm. June 28, 1808. The opponents of the abolition, among other things, foretold that it would be the loss of four or five millions a year to this country; that it would be the utter ruin of the British West India islands; that it would impoverish ourselves and enrich our enemies; that it would excite perpetual insurrections of the negroes against their mas ters; and, lastly, that it would occasion a general revolt of the British West India islands. These are a few of the terrible consequences which it was predicted in the house would infallibly follow the abolition of the slave trade. How far these predictions have been fulfilled, I need not inform your lordships; and I am persuaded that the mischievous effects, predicted of this bill, will prove just as visionary and as vain as those respecting the abolition. |