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Article II, 



An EJfay on the moft fraRicable method of fixing an 



equitable Commutation for Tithes in general through- 

 out the Kingdom. 



TO THE PRESIDENT, VICE-PRESIDENTS, AND MEM* 

 \ BERS OF THE BATH AGRICULTURE SOCIETY. 



THE judicious propofal of the Bath Agricul- 

 ture Society, for an " Efiay on the moft 

 practicable method of fixing an equitable commu- 

 tation for tithes in general throughout the king- 

 dom," reflects great honour on the inftitution. 



It is, I believe, univerfally acknowledged, that 

 tithes are a great difcouragement to agriculture. 

 They are inconvenient and vexatious to the huf- 

 bandman, and operate as an impolitic tax upon 

 induftry. The clergyman too frequently finds them 

 troublefome and precarious; his expences in col- 

 lecting are a confiderable drawback from their 

 value, and his juft rights are with difficulty fecured: 

 he is too often obliged to fubmit to impofition, or 

 be embroiled with his parifhioners in difputes and 

 litigations, no lefs irkfome to his feelings than pre- 

 judicial to his intereft, and tending to prevent thofe 

 good effe&s which his precepts fhould produce. 



The 



