182i.] Remarks on 



for fGar of iocommodiiis; those more for- 

 tunate parishioners who can atlbrd to 

 pay an extravagant price lor a scat ; 

 and this when, perhaps, there are ten or 

 a dozen pews within reach with a single 

 individual in oacli. Tlie dift'erence of 

 price of siitinj!,s may also he worthy of 

 notice. The aver;igc price of seats in 

 dissenting chapels may be considered 

 about 5*. per (]iiartcr each, wliilst the 

 rapacity of the churchman afTixes his 

 average at a guinea and half. In the 

 former instance, the rent arising from 

 the pews is the only revenue by which 

 the preacher and the building is sup- 

 ported ; and, on tliat account, might be 

 l^ardoned if rather high; in the latter, 

 all expenses attending divine worship 

 are defrayed, aiid the rent goes imme- 

 diately into the parson's pocket. Now, 

 when it is considered, that every indivi- 

 dual is taxed up to the hightst possible 

 pitcii by the government, and tlien 

 ticeced by poor-rate, church-rate, tythe, 

 &c. he feels very little able to pay so 

 high a price for his spiritual advice, and 

 this mainly operates against going to his 

 parish-church; but, as his c<inscienco 

 tells him that it is his duty to go to a 

 place of worship, he balances his pocket 

 against his scruples, and commutes t!ie 

 matter by taking a seat anion^:st the 

 dissenters, his poverty, but not his will, 

 consenting. I think few [lersoiis, who 

 weigh well the causes of dissent which I 

 have enumerated, will hesitate to say, 

 that the church is in danger (if it is in 

 danger at all) more from its own clergy 

 than from others. I'o remedy tiie evils 

 complained of, allow nie to suggest the 

 following; that petitions to parliament 

 should be presented from every parish 

 in lingland, praying tliat the practice of 

 letting scats in the churches should be 

 partly abolislied ; and tliat every pari- 

 t>hioner, when he |)a}siiis quarter's rates, 

 should, in icturn, rei:eive from the col- 

 lector a ticket, entitling himself, his 

 wife, and one child, to sittings; an<l that 

 for every other member of his family 

 who may be desirous of the sartn; ac- 

 commodation, a certain sum shall be 

 paid, to be regulated by tiie amoinit of tlie 

 bouse, to which they belong, is rated in 

 the parish-books, and not left to the 

 gripiui^ of the clergy to fix, but named 

 by the r)verseer or churchwarden for the 

 time being. 



•In the parisli of Mary-le-bone, where 

 'I have resided many years, tlie parochial 

 receipts of which I have preserved for 

 the last ten }<ars, I iim*, upon looking 

 them over, that I have paid the cnor- 



Biography. 499 



mous sum of 49/. 18*. Gd. ciiurcli rate, at 

 4c/. and bd. in the pound upon my rent, 

 and yet I am obliged to pay live guineas 

 per annum for sittings for my wife and 

 self, although we have three new 

 churches built under ilie late .Act. On 

 reference to some of our cariy historians, 

 Stowe, Slaitland, &c. I find that, in 

 early times, every iniiabitant paying 

 scot and lot was entitled to what Stow 

 calls a biUtoch-'iViiX in his parish-church, 

 free of every olln^r call. 



William Halliday. 



For the Monthhj 3Iaf/aziiie. 



REMARKS on the VALUE of BIOGRAPHV. 



fT may be deenaeil an easy task to 

 transmit into narrative the pecu- 

 liar and distinct characteristics of an 

 individual with sufheient accuracy, if 

 we observe tlie frequency with which 

 biographical notices of living persons, 

 detailed nienioiis of recently-departed 

 characters of eminence, and extensive 

 lives of those remarkable for worth or 

 talents in former ages, appear. The 

 dilliculty of discovering the fallibility of 

 the biographer ; (and, with respect to his 

 description of the ancients, it is almost 

 insuperable,) may probably increase his 

 contidince ; tiiougli r» reference to the 

 materials enijtloyed in the compilation, 

 will be some check against the substitu- 

 tion of the dreams of fancy for allowable 

 deductions from authentic records : but 

 I doubt whether our private judgment of 

 tiie characters of our acquaintance be 

 not some eftectual curb on the degree of 

 credulity which we yield to the historian 

 of private life. It will be granted that 

 the inlhicnce of habits, education, so- 

 ciety, original conformation, and, by 

 some, the ditlerence of sex, occasions an 

 almost int.'-rniinable variety of character, 

 or peculiar bunt of mind. The degree 

 of frecilom enjoyed in this country re- 

 leases from restraint the individual who 

 exhibits his natural or factitious hu- 

 mour; and, it has been thought, that this 

 circumstance gives greater decision to 

 the turn of character in its natives. 



To condense into a distinguishing 

 portraiture these peculiar dispositions, 

 ■and to show liow far the fealur<'s in tlic 

 T'.iind of hi'* subject were harmonious or 

 dissonant in the concert of society, arc 

 the provinces of the biogtU|)her. But 

 this representation of in<livi(lnalily , how- 

 ever easy in pros])eet, is, 1 suspect, with 

 dillicully cnii)odi(.'d in description. The 

 most fiiiniliar illustration of its dilliculty 

 will be to consider in what manner wo 

 fuiin opinion:) of our friund.«, or of those 



wiili 



