an effort is made to obtain pupils ; but the connection of the 

 clergyman with school or college has expired, and pnpils are 

 hard to get; if they are found, the hard-worked, dispirited 

 parson doubles his labours and the home circle is invaded by 

 strangers. More often than not no pupils can be obtained, and 

 then begin the ghastly struggle to maintain appearances and 

 the secret grapple with positive want. The clergy have long 

 had to deal with poverty as their only neighbour ; it has now 

 become their own constant and unwelcome guest. Yet all 

 the while, at very heavy personal sacrifices, the clergy have 

 clung to their posts. The Church services must be maintained, 

 and the curate's salary is paid by an incumbent who envies his 

 subordinate his salary, and would gladly, if it were possible, 

 step down in the clerical ladder. No one will give more than 

 the parson, and the clergy are still obliged to head subscriptions 

 to schools and local objects ; the wants of the sick poor have 

 still to be met by soups and jellies and clothing. The farmers 

 cannot afford to give alms, but the parson out of his scanty 

 pittance must supplement the offertory with larger donations 

 that its recipients may not suffer by its diminution. The 

 parson is often the only man of education or refinement in the 

 parish ; he cannot seek the society of his friends, for he has no 

 means of locomotion ; he cannot solace himself with books, for 

 he can no longer afford to buy them, or even to subscribe to a 

 library ; he cannot, like the squire, shut up his house and leave 

 the neighbourhood. He has no fellow- sufferer with whom he 

 can compare notes ; the farmers may understand his loss, but 

 their well-meant sympathy is often expressed with excruciating 

 frankness ; the labourers grumble that he cannot emj^loy them 

 as he used, and is less able to minister to their wants. Yet, as 

 has been said, the clergy have not only clung to their posts, but 

 borne their heavy trial with an uncomplaining dignity which is 

 worthy of their noble calling. Every temporal advantage of 

 their position is disappeai-ing ; little remains to encourage the 

 parson in a life which has always had more than its usual share 

 of disappointment, except his faith and the sense of sacred 

 duties conscientiously performed. It may be that the result 

 will be to purify and elevate the character of the country clergy. 

 If so, the refining process will ultimately raise their position and 

 extend their influence, bat meanwhile the furnace is exceeding 

 hot. 



This is no fancied or exaggerated picture of the sufferings 

 of the country clergy. In its entirety it is true only of indi- 

 viduals ; but, if the clergy were not possessed of private 

 means, it would hold good almost universally of glebeowners 

 in the midland counties. It is upon those clergymen whose 

 incomes are derived solely from land allotted in lieu of 

 tithe, that the blow has fallen with the greateyt severity. 



