B I S 



45G 



B I S 



splendid churches, and great estates, out of which to make 

 a provision for the support of the bishops. These v..-r,-. 

 1. Oxford, having for its diocese the county of Oxford, 

 which had previou-.lv been included wilhilt the diocese of 

 Lincoln ; 2. Peterborough : this diocese was also taken out 

 of that of Lincoln, and comprises the county of Northamp- 

 ton and the greater portion of Rutland. 3. Gloucester, 

 having for its diocese the county of Gloucester, which had 

 been previously in the diocese of Worcester. 4. Bristol, 

 to which the city of Bristol, nnd the whole county of Dorset 

 heretofore belonging to the diocese of Salisbury, were as- 

 signed. 5. Chester : to this a very large tract was assigned, 

 namch . the county of Chester, heretofore part of the diocese 

 of Lichfield and Coventry, and the whole county of Lan- 

 caster, part of Cumberland, and the archdeaconry of Rich- 

 mond, all of which were before in the diocese of York : and 

 6. Westminster, the county of Middlesex, which before had 

 belonged to the diocese of London, being assigned to it as 

 its diocese. This last bishopric however soon fell. In 

 about nine years, Thirlby. the first and only bishop, was 

 translated to the see of Norwich, and the county of Middle- 

 sex was restored to the diocese of London. 



Since the year 1341, no change has taken place in the 

 diocesal distribution of England. There was at first no 

 proportion among the dioceses ; some, as those of York and 

 Lincoln, being of vast extent, and others, as Hereford, Ro- 

 chester and Canterbury, small. The change which has 

 taken place in the population of different parts of England 

 has heightened the irregularity in respect of the burthen of 

 these sees. The revenues are not in any degree proportionate 

 to the extent or population in the diocese, as they consist 

 for the most part of lands settled upon the sees, often in 

 times long before the Conquest, the revenues from which 

 vary greatly, according as the lands have lain in places 

 toward which the tide of population has been directed, or 

 the contrary. 



No change appears to have taken place in the distribu- 

 tion of Wales into four bishoprics ; those of Bangor anil 

 St. Asaph in North Wales, and of St. David's and Llandafl' 

 in South Wales. 



From the Report of the Commissioners appointed by his 

 Majesty to inquire into the Ecclesiastical Revenues of 

 l.n^la.nd and Wale*, published in 1835, we abstract the fol- 

 lowing return of the revenues of the English sees. The 

 bishoprics are arranged under the archbishoprics to which 

 they respectively belong. For the number of benefices, 

 population, &c., of each see, see BKNEFICK. 



CANTERBURY 

 London . 

 Winchester . 

 St. Asaph . 

 Bangor . . 

 Bath and Wells 

 Bristol 



Chichcster . 

 St. Davids 

 Ely . 

 Exeter 

 Gloucester . 

 Hereford 



Ni't Income. 

 19.182 



. 13,929 

 11,151 

 6,30 1 

 4,464 

 5,946 

 2,351 

 4,229 

 1.897 



. 11,105 

 2,713 



2/.16 



Lincoln . 

 Llandaff . 

 Norwich 

 Oxford . 

 Peterborough 

 Rochester 

 Salisbury . 

 Worcester 



YORK . 



Durham . 

 Carlisle . 

 Chester . 

 Sodor and Man 



Nat Income. 



. 4,542 

 9-24 

 5,395 

 2.648 

 3,103 

 1,459 



. 3,939 

 6,569 



. 12,629 

 19,066 

 2,213 

 3,26 1 

 2.5J5 



Lichfield and Coventry 3,923 



The bishops of London, Durham, and Winchester, rank 

 next to the archbishops : the others rank according to pri- 

 ority of consecration. 



While the church of Scotland was episcopal in its consti- 

 tution it had two archbishoprics, St. Andrew's and Glas- 

 and eleven bishoprics, to which, as late as 1633, a 

 twelfth was added, the bishopric of Edinburgh. In the 

 other thirteen sees there is a long and pretty complete cata- 

 of bishops, running up to the ninth, tenth, eleventh, 

 or twelfth centuries. The eleven anticnt bishoprics were 

 those of 



Aberdeen, Caithness, Galloway, Ross, 



Argyle, Dumblane, Moray, 



Bnehfn, Dunkeld, Orkney, 



and the Isles, or Sodor, a sec which was formerly within 

 the superintcndency of the bishop of Man. 



the Uevolut.on, the Presbjteri.in churrh of Scotland 

 was acknowledged as th<- national church : but there 

 an episcopal church in Scotland, the members of wlii 

 there in the character of dissenUis. 



Before the late changes in the Irish esta iheiv 



four archbishopi Main 



of the latter hnd K-en formed 1 .-.Inch 



had been effected.at different epochs. At the tune of the 

 late act, by which many were to be extinguished cm thu 

 death of the existing bishop, there were in the province of 



Armagh Meath and Clonmacnoise Down and 



Connor, Kilmore, Dromore, Raphoe, and 1 ' 



Dublin Kildare, Ossory, and Kerns and Kcighlin. 



Casfiel Limerick. Cork and Ross, Waterford and Lis- 

 moro, Cloyne, and Kdlaloc and Kilfenora. 



Tiiiim Klphin, Clonfert and Kiltnacduauh, and Killala 

 and Action ry. 



Of these, by the act of 3 and 4 Will. IV. c. 37, the archi- 

 episcopal diocese ofTuam was to be united to that of Ar- 

 magh, and that of Cashel to Dublin; but the two suppressed 

 archbishoprics are in future to be bishoprics. The diocese 

 of Dromore is to be united to that of Down and Connor : 

 that of Raphoe to Derry; Clogher to Armagh: Elphin to 

 Kilmore ; Killala and Achonry to Tuam and Ardan'n : 

 Clonfert and Kilmacduagh to Killaloe and Kilfenora : Kil- 

 dare to Dublin and GUndelagh; Lcighlin and Ferns to 

 Ossory ; Waterford and Lismore to Cashel and Etnly ; Cork 

 and Ross to Cloyne. The diocese of Mcath and Clanmac- 

 noise, and that of Limerick, remain unaltered. The arch- 

 bishoprics arc reduced to two, and the bishoprics to ten. 



One archbishop and three bishops represent the Irish 

 Church in the House of Lords. They are cbanL'ed e\> ry 

 session according to a system of rotation by which all sit in 

 tuni. 



The bishopric of Man is traced to Gcrmannc, one of the 

 companions of St. Patrick, in the fifth century : hut there 

 are many breaches in the series of bishops from that time 

 to the present. Sodor, which is supposed to he a Danish 

 term for the western Isles of Scotland, was under the same 

 bishop till the reign of Richard II., when the Isle of Man 

 having fallen under the English sovereignty, the Inland* 

 withdrew themselves, and had a bishop of their own. The 

 nomination of the bishop was in the house of Stanley, earl 

 of Derby, from whom it passed by an heiress to the Mur- 

 ray s, dukes of At hoi. This bishopric was declared by an 

 act of 33 Henry VIII. to be in the province of York. 



The Isle of Wight is part of the diocese of Winchester : 

 and the Isles of Jersey and Guernsey, with the small 

 islands adjacent, are in the diocese of London. 



In the colonies, where there are churches dependent on 

 the English episcopal church, bishops have been conse- 

 crated and appointed to the several places following : namely, 

 Nova-Scotia, Quebec, Jamaica, Barbadoes, Calcutta. 



The pope is the bishop of the Christian church of Rome, 

 and claims to be the successor of St. Peter, of whom it is 

 alleged that he was the first bishop of that church, and 

 that to him there was a peculiar authority assigned, not 

 only over all the inferior pastors or ministers of the church, 

 but over the rest of the apostles, indicated to him by the 

 delivery of the keys. The whole of this, the foundation of 

 that superiority which the bishop of Rome has claimed over 

 all other bishops, has furnished matter of endless contro- 

 versy; and it does not appear that there is any su; 

 historical authority for the allegation that St. Peter did act for 

 any permanency as the bishop of that church, or for the MX 

 or seven persons named as successively bishops of that church 

 after him. It seems more probable that the superiority en- 

 joyed by that bishop at a very early period over other bishops 

 (which was not universally acknowledged, and strenuously 

 opposed by our own Welsh bishops) resulted from his po- 

 sition in the chief city of the world, and the opportunities 

 which he enjoyed of constant access to those in whom the 

 chief temporal authority was vested. 



Both the eastern and western churches were framed in 

 an episcopal form and order. The sees ere very numerous ; 

 far too many to be introduced within the limits to which 

 w. must confine ourselves. 



BISHOP S CASTLE, a borough and market-town, 

 with a separate jurisdiction, but locally situated in the 

 hundred of Pnrslow, county of Salop ; 144 miles N. W. by 

 W. from London, and 19 miles S.W. from Shrewsbury. 

 The local limits of the borough are extensive, comprising 

 a circuit of uboiit fifteen miles, and being from three to four 

 miles in width in all direction-;. It stands on the declivity 

 of a lull near a stream of the river Clun, and is irregularly 

 built. The mass of the houses have rather a mean ap- 

 ::<c, being of uuhcwu stunc, with thatched roofs; 





