SOS 



CHURCHWARDENS. 



CIDER. 



906 



rates are not binding in case of church-rates, and the proper test for 

 church-rates is a valuation by competent judges, grounded on the rent 

 the tenant would be willing to pay for the premises. All property in 

 the parish is liable except the glebe-land of that parish, and the pos- 

 sessions of the crown when in the actual occupation of the crown, and 

 places of public worship. Stock in trade is not generally rated for 

 church repairs, but a custom may exist rendering it rateable in a 

 particular parish. A ratepayer cannot, by an original proceeding in 

 the ecclesiastical courts, raise objections to a rate for the purpose of 

 quashing it altogether. If he wishes to dispute it, he ought to attend 

 at the vestry, and there state his objections ; if they are not removed, 

 he may enter a caveat against the confirmation of the rate, or refuse 

 to pay his assessment. In the latter case, if proceeded against in the 

 ecclesiastical court, he may in his defence show either that the rate 

 is generally invalid, or that he is unfairly assessed. The consequence 

 of entering a caveat is an appeal to the ecclesiastical judge, who will 

 see that right is done. 



A retrospective church-rate, or rate for expenses previously incurred, 

 is bad. This has been often decided in the courts of common law and 

 equity, and in the ecclesiastical courts. The reason is stated by Lord 

 EUenborough in the judgment of the court in Rex v. Haworth (12 

 East, 556) : " The regular way is for the churchwardens to raise the 

 money beforehand by a rate made in the regular form for the repairs 

 of the church, in order that the money may be paid by the existing 

 inhabitants at the time, on whom the burden ought to fall." 



Previously to 53 Geo. III. c. 127, the only mode of recovering 

 church-rates from parties refusing to pay the amount of the rate, was 

 by suit in the ecclesiastical court for subtraction of rate. By that 

 statute, where the sum to be recovered is under 1(M. (or in the case of 

 Quakers, 501.), and there is no question as to the validity of the rate, 

 or the liability of the party assessed, any justice of the county where 

 the church is situated may, on complaint of the churchwardens, 

 inquire into the merits of the case, and order the 'payment. Against 

 his decision there is an appeal to the quarter-sessions. The period of 

 imprisonment for non-payment is limited by the 12 & 13 Viet. c. 14, to 

 three calendar months. By several statutes, principally the 58 Geo. 

 III. c. 45 ; 59 Geo. III. c. 134 ; and 3 Geo. IV. c. 72, Acts passed for 

 the promotion of building churches, the common-law powers of church- 

 wardens have been varied, and extended so as to enable them to raise 

 money on the security of church-rates, and to apply them for the 

 enlargement, improvement, &c. of churches, and for the building of 

 new ones, &c. 



The levying of church-rates on dissenters, who are so numerous in 

 this country, has caused so much irritation, and the frequently suc- 

 cessful opposition of dissenters at vestry-meetings called to impose 

 rates has rendered church rates so precarious a resource, that various 

 attempts have been made for the last quarter of a century to abolish 

 them, and to substitute some more certain and less obnoxious pro- 

 vision for the repair of churches and the due celebration of divine 

 worship. Although hitherto unsuccessful it is probable that no very 

 long time will now pass without a definitive settlement of the question. 

 There are endowments in many parishes for the repair of the church, 

 which render church-rates unnecessary ; and in many parishes arrange- 

 ments have been made for voluntary subscriptions, to avoid conflicts 

 between churchmen and dissenters, and the scandal of such disputes. 



Some returns kid before Parliament in 1859, give the following 

 particulars : annual average of amount expended during the previous 

 seven years for church purposes, 635,881/. 12. id. Amount, how 

 expended on the repair and maintenance of the church and church- 

 yard, 336,564?. 12*. 8rf. ; for the celebration of divine worship, 

 173 426f. 6s. 2rf. ; for other purposes, 95,5652. 8s. 9rf. Amount, how 

 rawed: by church-rates, 263.709/. 14s. 9rf.; by special endowments, 

 48.274J. 17s. 3rf. ; by voluntary rates or subscriptions, 269,550?. 8s. Id. 



CHURCHWARDENS, are parish officers, who by law have a limited 

 charge of the fabric of the parish church, of the direction and super- 

 vision of its repairs, and of the arrangement of the pews and seats. 

 Certain other duties are imposed upon them on particular occasions. 

 There are usually two churchwardens in each parish, but by custom 

 there may be only one. It is said by some authorities, that by the 

 common law the right of choosing churchwardens is in the parson and 

 the parishioners. This is, however, by no means universally the case, 

 as a custom prevails in many parishes for the parishioners to choose 

 both, and in some, both .are elected by a select vestry. The eighty- 

 ninth canon of 1603 directs that " churchwardens shall be chosen yearly 

 in Easter week, by the joint consent of the minister and parishioners 

 if it may be : but if they cannot agree, the minister shall choose one 

 and the parishioners another." It has, however, been questioned 

 how far these canons are binding upon the laity, even in matters 

 ecclesiastical. 



Provision is made for the appointment of churchwardens for mddern 

 churches and chapels and new parishes, by several of the Church 



U Tne D usual duties of churchwardens are, to take care that the 



provide the furniture for the church, the bread and wine for the 

 nt, and the books to be used by the minister in conducting 



public worship. The churchwardens are by virtue of their office 

 overseers of the poor ; and they are also required to present to the 

 bishop all things presentable by the ecclesiastical laws, which relate 

 to the church, minister, or parishioners. In large parishes there are 

 sometimes officers called sidesmen (synodsmen) or questmeu, whose 

 business it is to assist the churchwardens in inquiring into offences 

 and making presentments. Churchwardens and sidesmen were 

 formerly required to take an oath of office before entering upon then- 

 respective duties ; but by a recent statute, 5 & 6 Will. IV. c. 62, s. 9, 

 they make and subscribe a declaration before the ordinary, that they 

 will faithfully and diligently perform the duties of their offices. 



If churchwardens are guilty of any malversation, or refuse to account 

 to the parishioners at the termination of their period of service, they 

 may be proceeded against summarily before the bishop by any 

 parishioner who is interested, or the new churchwardens may main- 

 tain an action of account against them at common law. 



Under the stat. 59 Geo. III. c. 12, churchwardens and overseers 

 are empowered to take and hold lands in trust for the parish as 

 a corporate body ; and by a decision under this act, they can also 

 take and hold any other lands and hereditaments belonging to the 

 parish, the profits of which are applied in aid of the church rate. 

 (Burn's ' Ecclesiastical Law,' tit. ' Churchwardens; ' Blackst. ' Comm./ 

 Mr. Kerr's ed., vol. i. p. 400.) 



CHURN. [BuTTEB.] 



CICERO'NE, a name given by the Italians, especially of Naples and 

 Rome, to the guides who show travellers the antiquities of the country. 

 It was a common saying in Italy, when speaking of a learned or eloquent 

 man, " e tin Cicerone," " he is a Cicero ; " and the poor guides and 

 valets de place, who, generally speaking, are neither learned nor eloquent, 

 and often make ridiculous blunders on the most trivial subjects, have 

 now usurped the name of Cicerone. It is also the name for printing- 

 type of a particular size. 



CICISBE'O, in Italian, means a gallant, a man who courts the ladies. 

 The term is also applied to a knot of ribands, which used to be worn 

 appended to the hilts of swords or to the handles of fans. (' Dizionario 

 della Crusca.') In like manner a Cicisbeo is a man who hangs upon a 

 lady, is constantly by her side and at her beck, and attends her 

 wherever she goes. This derogatory custom long prevailed with 

 married ladies, especially in towns and among the fashionable classes, 

 in Italy, but the practice is now almost entirely discontinued. The 

 words cavalier semente and patito are also used in the same sense. The 

 words cicisbeo and cicisben are used to express male or female coquetry. 



CICUTINE. An alkaloid of unknown composition, said to exist in 

 hemlock. 



CIDER, or CYDER. A word used to signify the juice of apples 

 expressed and fermented. The article APPLE contains a general view 

 of the culture of apple-trees ; what is here stated as to the management 

 of apple-trees has special reference to the English cider counties. 



In the Hereford district (under which name we shall refer to that 

 county with the adjoining cider districts in Gloucestershire, Mon- 

 mouthshire, and Worcestershire, while by the name of the " Devon- 

 shire district " similar portions of Dorsetshire, Somersetshire, and 

 Cornwall, will be distinguished), where the varieties of cider-apple 

 cultivated are far more numerous than in any other part of 

 England, the New Foxwhelp (a seedling from the old), the Wilding, 

 the Cherry Pearmain, the Yellow and Red Norman,' are among the 

 many sorts that are preferred. It appears to be almost immaterial 

 whether the crab-stocks are grafted before or within a short time after 

 they are removed from the nursery to the orchard in which they are 

 to stand. In Herefordshire it is usual to insert the grafts about six 

 feet from the ground, and to plant the trees about 66 feet between the 

 rows, and 36 between the trees where the soil is rich ; if the soil is 

 poor, less distance is allowed, as the trees will not spread with so great 

 vigour. This seems a preferable method to that practised in Devon- 

 shire, where the grafts are inserted at from three to four feet from the 

 ground, and the trees planted about 16 feet apart. The advantage 

 which in Devonshire is gained from the trees being less exposed and 

 broken by the wind, and perhaps from a greater produce of apples, is 

 more than counterbalanced by the entire loss of the land, usually a 

 wilderness of weeds, into which horses run hi the winter, and calves in 

 the spring, but where neither grown cattle nor the plough can ever be 

 admitted. In the Devonshire district, the situations chosen for orchards 

 are generally hollow dells or shelving banks, in the neighbourhood of 

 the farm-houses, the land on which they are planted being put to little 

 other use ; while in the Herefordshire district the choice is determined 

 chiefly by the quality of the soil, without reference to the position of 

 the farm-house. In their youth, the trees do comparatively little injury 

 to the land, while they receive considerable benefit from the frequent 

 stirring by the plough of the soil round their roots, so that newly 

 ploughed lands, or hop-yards which may be again laid down to grass as 

 soon as the trees have acquired some strength, are spots frequently 

 chosen. This practice is agreeable to the very sensible instruction 

 given by Mr. Marshall (' Rural Economy of Gloucestershire ') : " Plant 

 upon a recently broken-up worn-out sward ; keep the soil under a state 

 of arable management until the trees be well grown, then lay it down 



* It has been objected to Norman cider, that it Till not carry to a distance 

 without damage. 



