J.ot>l.J 



..icral. '431 



That her rulers should walk with tied elbows and knees. 

 And the pike and the gallows o'ertop all the trees. 

 And the parsons, and nobles, and traders take wing, 

 And a rascal from Rome be priest, general, and king." 



(Vide the Original in Sir Jonah Barriiiy ton's Memoirs.) 



The Lords of the Treasury liave with great propriety abolished an 

 intolerable multitude of Custom-house and trading oaths, of which it was 

 not unfairly said, that they were all comprehended under one, an oath 

 not to keep any of them. The number is computed at ten or eleven 

 thousand direct perjuries, which their lordships cleared from the con- 

 sciences which, we are sorry to say, never "boggled" at any of them, and 

 would have as little reluctance to bolt ten thousand more. 



But why will no friend to the church take up the laws of simony ? 

 The purpose of those laws is to prevent the presentation to livings by 

 means of money. There are thus five classes of contracts obnoxious to 

 the charge of simony. 1st. All payments or contracts for a benefice 

 already vacant. 2nd. A clergyman's purchase of the next vacancy for 

 himsetf'm any way whatever, either with his own money, or money to 

 which he may have a future right, as his heirship, or his future wife's 

 portion, or in any way whatever, by which it is to become his own, 

 3rd. The procuring the living by giving up any of its rights to the 

 presentor. 4th. Promises to the presentor, of a portion out of the dues, 

 any annuity, or allowance whatever, as a bribe or acknowledgment for 

 the living. 5th. Bonds, to resign on demand, though Paley objects to thfe 

 law on this last class, and thinks that it lays a snare for the conscience. 

 The law has been modified, but cases arise in which difficulties are still 

 encountered. 



" A case concerning simoniacal contracts has lately arisen, which is 

 important to the information of the clergy, and also patrons of livings. 

 A clergyman tendered to his diocesan the resignation of a living, of 

 which he was incumbent, made by him in pursuance of a regular agree- 

 ment entered into by him with his patron at the time of presentation, to 

 resign the living at the end of two years. Upon reference to very high 

 legal authority, this agreement proves to be simoniacal, under the act of 

 31 Eliz., c. 6. It necessarily follows, that all engagements whatsoever 

 between a presentee and a patron to resign, unless made and registered 

 according to the provisions of 9 Geo. IV., c. 94, are simoniacal, and 

 render the parties liable to the severe penalties of the first mentioned 

 act, viz., the avoidance of the living, the forfeiture of the next term of 

 presentation to the king, &c. ; and that it is absolutely necessary for 

 parties, who propose to enter into such engagements, to regulate their 

 proceedings strictly according to the 9th Geo. IV., c. 94." 



This class contains obvious conveniences to both patrons and clergy ; 

 for, the holding of a living until the patron's son comes of age to hold 

 it, is one of the most common things, and is advantageous in so far as 

 it gives an addition of income, for the time, to some respectable clergy- 

 man. But as for the other classes, the j)urchase of livings with marriage 

 portions, and fifty other transactions of the same kind ; what shall we 

 say, or what says every-day experience .'' 



In the pleasing bustle of Reform some things of some importance 

 may be casually neglected. And we beg leave to suggest to the uncon- 

 scious legislature, that the India charter, a matter once thought worthy 



