358 
On the Appropriation of the Aectorp of Aacock. 
By the Rev. W. G. Cuark-Maxwett, F.S.A. 
AE are all familiar with the fact, that in nearly all the ancient 
parishes of England and Wales, we find the Incumbent 
styled either Rector or Vicar, but if we were asked to explain how 
this came to be, or what is the difference between the offices 
designated by these two names, we might not find it easy to give 
a satisfactory reply. - We have a general impression that “ Rector ” 
is more honorific than “ Vicar,” but wherein consists the superiority ? 
Not in the comparative size or impertance of the parish, nor in 
the amount of income; huge towns like Leeds or Newcastle-on-Tyne 
have a Vicar, while many a tiny country parish rejoices in the 
dignity of a Rectory. The reason often stated, that the Rector 
receives the whole of the tithe of the parish and is charged with 
the maintenance and repair of the chancel of the Church, while — 
the Vicar receives only the vicarial or “small” tithes, and is free 
of any obligation respecting the chancel, is undoubtedly true, as 
far as it goes; but it leaves unanswered the question, how this 
distinction ever came to be drawn. We shall be on safer ground, 
if we begin by recognizing that in all parishes there is a Rector of 
some kind; either a clerical Rector, performing his duties in 
person, and receiving the ancient emolument assigned in the shape 
of tithe to the maintenance of the Church and its Priest: or what 
is termed a lay-Rector, who may be a College, Corporation, or 
more frequently a private individual, who discharges his duties by 
deputy or Vicar (vicarius), to whom he pays over such portion of 
the tithes as is agreed upon, retaining the rest himself, with the 
obligation to repair the chancel. 
To find the historical causes for this severance of Rectories from 
Parish Priests, we must go back to the times before the dissolution 
of the Monasteries; for I think it can be laid down as a general 
principle that wherever we find a Vicar to-day, it proves that the 

