1832.] Tithes versus Rent. 201 



" Again/' says the straightforward Parson Bearblock, " the vicar of 

 a parish in the eastern part of Kent, requested me to value tithes, which 

 to his predecessor had yielded 500 per annum. I named 1,200 as 

 the lowest estimate. A gentleman, whose proportion of tithe had 

 hitherto been five times less than my estimate, sent the following reply 

 to the notification of the new incumbent. ' Sir, your estimate so much 

 exceeds my opinion of the value of the tithes, that it requires not a 

 moment's hesitation on my part to declare, that I never will accede to 

 such terms.' A similar answer was received from all the interested 

 parties ; who, of course, did not like to surrender the profit which had 

 been hitherto allowed them. Our parson, however, knew what he was 

 about. He produced his calculations before some of the principal 

 occupiers ; who acknowledged his candour and fair dealing, and retired 

 to try and agree amongst themselves to raise the 1,200. They were 

 all, however, too much bent upon cheating each other, to come to an 

 agreement as to the proportion to be borne by each ; and it ended in 

 the tithes being leased to a respectable gentleman for the whole sum of 

 1,200, and the gentleman, who wrote the note, applying to be admitted 

 as a partner in the bargain/' 



" The landowner," says the parson, (this most admirable parson for 

 the writer's argument) not only takes his full rational rent, but he can, 

 and often does, exact more rent than the land is worth j and there are 

 farmers in many parts of this kingdom who know this, and suffer under 

 it. If therefore tithes were abolished, the industry of these farmers 

 might be almost crushed ; for in these cases of excessive rent, the farmer's 

 greatest profits arise from the moderation of the clergy in taking a com- 

 position, instead of carrying off in kind, that portion of the produce 

 which belongs to them. The farmer commonly appeals to the lenity of 

 the parson, of which lenity the landowner reaps the benefit. 



A Devonshire farmer is on record, as having once on a time caught a 

 glimpse of the truth, and asked in vestry, " who are to have the tithes 

 when they are taken from the parson ?" " The landlord," was the 

 answer. " Then," said he, " I'd rather they should 'bide as they be, 

 for I can always deal better with the parson than I can with the land- 

 lord." 



Parson Bearblock was gratified by the compliment paid to his fair- 

 ness on one occasion in Hampshire, where the farmers actually solicited 

 him to value the tithe, on their part, against the incumbent's surveyor. 

 What a very Daniel in judgment must this parson have proved himself, 

 for even farmers to allow his merit ? to prefer his decisions to those of 

 a common surveyor ! Where is the large landowner whom they would 

 have so trusted, but for their dependence upon the ^general disposition 

 of the landowning class to cheat the parson. The parson's case against 

 that of the landowner is as clear as light. 



Again, this parson to be depended upon even by farmers valued 

 some tithe at Hertford at 4s. 9d. an acre. The tithe-payer was, in this 

 instance, a noble lord, a landowner, par excellence. No doubt our 

 parson, moderate as he always was in his estimates, was even the more 

 disposed to favour the delinquent in this case, because he was a noble 

 lord. A professional, if not constitutional determination to aristocracy, 

 was one of the parson's misfortunes. One might have expected him to 

 be cured, by his past experience, of any undue respect for the class : 

 but no only 4s. 9d. did the parson award his friend the incumbent; 



