C 2o8 ] ' 



the profits arlfing from his ingenuity, although that 

 might be fald to come within the meaning of per^ 

 fonal tithes? Why then (if the enforcing of thefe is 

 thought to be an obflacle to the improvement of 

 every art) are predial tithes allowed to {land in ex* 

 ception ? 



Befides, fo undefined is what conftitutes great and 

 fmall tithes, that the farmer is frequently at a lofs to 

 know to whom the tithe is due, whether it be to the 

 re£tor, or the vicar ; and hence frefh diflSculties and 

 frefli perplexities prefent themfelves to him, and not 

 unfrequently to them. 



Formerly the balks, moors, ftubbles, and after-, 

 math, were confidered by the common law and cuf-* 

 torn of the realm as not titheable ; but modern de- 

 terminations have fettled the contrary. 



It may be laid down as a pofition, that whatever 

 profit arifes to the cultivator of the foil by the force 

 of fuperior ingenuity and induflry, fliould be held 

 facred both by the church and government. For if 

 it be otherwife, it difcourages the improvement of 

 the foil; and thereby the church prevents the future 

 increafe of her tithes, and the government the future 

 increafe of its taxes. 



The tithes, therefore, as exafted in fome placeSj 

 are, to all intents and purpofes, as great an obftacle 

 to the improvement of agriculture, as the taille had 

 ufed to be in France, 



Land- 



