308 
These remarks do not proceed from 
one in the least concerned with insu- 
rance-oflices, and therefore are. not 
made with a view of promoting that 
kind of interest. Neither does the 
writer wish to dry up one of the least of 
the numerous channels of benevolence, 
for which our nation is so remarkable. 
But, being convinced that the public 
regards this eleemosynary process with 
a distrusiful eye, as being inefficient, as 
well as unnecessary, to the needy ap- 
plicant ; as more calculated to swell the 
fees of office than to repair the ruined 
fortune of the individual; as depriving 
the state of the revenue arising from 
the tax on policies, avd as needlessly 
encouraging a species of pauperism ; he 
wishes to draw the attention of the nu- 
merous readers of so widely extended 
and useful publication to the subject, 
in hopes that some of its ingenious cor+ 
respondents will be disposed to unravel 
the mysteries of the Brief transac- 
tions. Q; 
P.S. Since writing the foregoing I have 
read, in a newspaper, that Lord Kenyon 
has moved in the House of Lords for a 
committee to consider of the present mode 
of collecting church briefs. I hope it will 
be considered whether it be necessary to 
collect them at all in cases of fire. 
= 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
| | akan premised (Dec, 1820,) 
oJ that the crime of simony is di- 
rectly perverted from its original sense, 
I will now (as no other person has 
taken up the subject,) endeavour to 
show what may more properly be 
called simony. Real simony has in- 
deed completely escaped from the con- 
trol of church and state; yet, while it 
is the interference of common lawyers 
with our spiritual affairs that has pro- 
‘duced the former evil, and the clergy 
‘eonsult their legal advisers in what 
manner they may safely act, and these 
Jaymen are most bold and regardless 
‘of the vulgarities of oaths and feelings 
_of conscience, we cannot find in the 
latter that there is any tie, check, or 
prevention. If a bishop ordain to the 
-holy order of the priesthood through 
favour, interest, or influence, is it not a 
sale of his spiritual power? Simon 
. Magus required ordination for his own 
benefit, and he offered money for the 
gift. Is there any difference between 
_money and money’s worth? They are 
generally considered rogues who en- 
deayour to make a distinction: so 
Mr. Lucas on the Practice of Simony. 
[May 1, 
usurers, who,attempt to escape the act 
upon, the, legal-interestiofi money, sell 
goods to their, deluded «debtors, and | 
purchase the goods again at a lower 
price. 
lyremember, when I was a boy, an cl- 
derly man (of whom it was said that he 
had been all his life a professed infidel) 
had interest enough to obtain ordina- 
tion, because a living came: into’ his 
own gift, and his son was not old 
enough to take it. Soon afterwards, 
an officer in the army.told me, he was 
“a-roing to tum parson, to marry the 
Bishop of C.’s niece, and get valuable 
preferment ;” and he soon was ordained, 
and became possessed of two livings 
and a prebend, by the gift of the Bishop 
of C. These are tales of old times, and 
the exposure of these things has had 
the effect of making them scarcer; yet 
modern tales, not dissimilar, I could 
mention; and still the children’ and 
nephews of bishops are continually in- 
troduced into the church for the sake 
of the emolument: I say, it is proved 
to be for the sake of the emolument, by 
the changing, re-changing, and bar- 
ane and by the pluralities that are 
neaped upon them; and 1 should like 
the government to ascertain. the num- 
ber of sons and nephews now in tho 
church, and their preferments. 
Next to the abolition of pluralitiés, 
(for which I wonder the mass) of ‘the 
clergy do not join in petitioning,) it 
would be an excellent thing ‘for the 
church, if the bishop had no benefice 
in bis gift; then their power of confer- 
ring holy orders might be dispensed 
without this worldly interest, this si- 
moniacal motive. As it is, their bene- 
fices are handed down from father to 
son, like an entailed estate. It would 
be easy for me to illustrate, by exam- 
ples of three or four generations ; but 
I forbear, from individual feeling, though 
I might publish some papers in my pos- 
session, the simoniacal contractor be- 
ing no more. At present there are a 
few things I wish to expose, to prevent 
the unholy practice becoming a. cus- 
tom. Ist. I have known lately,. of 
persons in benefices giving a title for 
orders upon the terms of serving a 
church gratis for acertain time. 2dly- 
Bargaining for children before they 
are of proper age, and. giving ‘a living 
conditionally, to be ina few years repaid 
in kind. 3dly. Resigning a benefice 
at a favourable ‘time for a private 
douceur. sade winnie 
It is a shocking doctrine, that will 
not 
