358 



§\x % ^pwjjnatiott of t\t Jiatorg of §kotL 



By the Rev. W. G. Clark-Maxwell, F.S.A. 



gl|I|©E are all familiar with the fact, that in nearly all the ancient 

 mWm parishes of England and Wales, we find the Incumbent 

 styled either Kector or Vicar, but if we were asked to explain how 

 this came to be, or what is the difference between the offices 

 designated by these two names, we might not find it easy to give 

 a satisfactory reply. We have a general impression that " Kector " 

 is more honorific than " Vicar," but wherein consists the superiority? 

 Not in the comparative size or importance of the parish, nor in 

 the amount of income; huge towns like Leeds or Newcastle-on-Tyne 

 have a Vicar, while many a tiny country parish rejoices in the 

 dignity of a Eectory. The reason often stated, that the Rector 

 receives the whole of the tithe of the parish and is charged with 

 the maintenance and repair of the chancel of the Church, while 

 the Vicar receives only the vicarial or " small " tithes, and is free 

 of any obligation respecting the chancel, is undoubtedly true, as 

 far as it goes ; but it leaves unanswered the question, how this 

 distinction ever came to be drawn. We shall be on safer ground, 

 if we begin by recognizing that in all parishes there is a Rector of 

 some kind ; either a clerical Kector, performing his duties in 

 person, and receiving the ancient emolument assigned in the shape 

 of tithe to the maintenance of the Church and its Priest : or what 

 is termed a lay-Rector, who may be a College, Corporation, or 

 more frequently a private individual, who discharges his duties by 

 deputy or Vicar ( vicarius ), to whom he pays over such portion of 

 the tithes as is agreed upon, retaining the rest himself, with the 

 obligation to repair the chancel. 



To find the historical causes for this severance of Rectories from 

 Parish Priests, we must go back to the times before the dissolution 

 of the Monasteries ; for I think it can be laid down as a general 

 principle that wherever we find a Vicar to-day, it proves that the 



