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ration had lent its aid to the completion of the same magnificent idea; they were painfully reminded that as for their own land there had been no yesterday, so there might equally be no tomorrow. They could not foresee that fate would work for them even by the very tools which had been destined for their destruction. They were not long, however, ere they awoke to a far different conviction; in a letter from Mr. Curwen, written in July, 1778, he thus expresses his altered anticipations:

"This day I received a letter from an old friend, now in banishment with his wife and children at Halifax, conceived in the common, plaintive strain with all letters from that quarter; complaining of the spiritless measures of administration, and their military servants. In truth, vigour and activity seem not the characteristics of this nation at this period; the continued series of untoward events on the side of Great Britain, in this unnatural contest between her and the colonies, has, I fear, given the coup de grace to her glory. The sun of Britain is past the meridian, and declining fast to the west, and America is for ever emancipated from the legislative authority of this once potent empire; alas! no more so. The prophetic falling off of the best jewel from our king's crown when on his head at coronation, is now accomplished by the loss of America, which I consider irrevocably gone; whether to their advantage is a point, I fancy, the congress and I should not join issue in; the burden of supporting an independency with dignity is too heavy for America to bear, especially the Northern Colonies, unless the patriots there will discharge the troublesome public trusts and offices without pecuniary emoluments; requiring a much greater degree of virtue, self-denial, and public spirit, than I think now does or indeed ever did, exist there, unless in profession."-pp. 196, 197.

And now, in order to part pleasantly with Mr. Curwen, to whom, soit dit en passant, we owe a multitudinous collection of texts, with the names, and livings, and chapels, of the worthy divines who delivered the sermons, and a scrupulous declaration of their quality,—Mr. Curwen himself evidently leaning to Socinianism, we intend to extract some passages of his journal, relating to an institution which doubtlessly afforded the first hint to the female chartists, of that so-called political meeting, of which Miss Mary Ann Walker was once the centre.

"Nov. 4th. Accompanied Mr. Dalgleish to La Belle Assemblée, or Ladies' Disputing Society. The question proposed was, would it not be prudent and proper, considering the great demand for public supplies, and the difficulty of raising them, to lay a tax on old bachelors ?" The lady who first spoke, moved to alter the

question, and include old maids, which was objected to by a fine young lady, who answered in a lively, pleasing manner; her objection was however overruled by a vote put to the president. Question then stood as including old maids. Twelve female speakers stood forth in succession, and the question was carried in the affirmative. There were many excellent thoughts expressed, and some witty ones; some acquitted themselves to the approbation of the company. A few, through diffidence or forgetfulness, stopped short in mid-race, and sat down, unable to proceed. These met with polite and kind indulgence, and were cheered by way of encouragement.”—p. 285.

"Dec. 12th. Samuel H. Sparhawk called; accompanied him to Ladies' Disputing Club, at King's Arms, Cornhill. A lady presided and acquitted herself very commendably. Question: Was Adam or Eve most culpable in Paradise?' Mrs. President addressed the assembly with great propriety, just accent, and pleasing voice; explaining the nature of the meeting; justifying ladies appearing to speak in a public promiscuous assembly. She was frequently applauded; on ascending the chair, she turned round and gracefully saluted the company, discovering perfect self-possession, void of all embarrassment. The other speakers also acquitted themselves laudably, and were frequently cheered. Some spoke, I wont say argued, on one side, some on the other; very little serious argument, unless declamation, quotations from Hudibras, etc., can be so denominated. The subject afforded matter for mirth, but the most serious speeches turned against the mother of us all.

"The concluding speech was foreign to the question; the subject was, the term 'Congress.' The speakers were lively, and their wit and humour produced shouts of laughter. The principal speaker introduced her speech, by observing that the word being understood here as implying rebellion, she at first apprehended American ladies were coming over in shoals to seduce the young gentleman from our island ladies; but after considering the subject, and being informed by a clergyman to whom she applied for its meaning, had found that the word had a harmless signification, and had been used on this side the water in treaties of peace, as the congress of ambassadors of belligerent powers at Nimeguen, Aix-le-Chapelle, etc.; that it is derived from a Latin word signifying a meeting together to compose, or reunite, discordant parties. She was pleased to hear it was not likely to give disgust to our state physicians, who were laudably employing their skill and labour in administering harsh medicines to the disordered members of the consumptive empire. After a series of lively observations, she closed by wishing success to the institution, and that it may do honour to female eloquence. Question being put, whether Adam was most in fault, vote by three hands only, negatived by one. Thus Eve stands acquitted in this female school of oratory of being the most guilty, though I fancy the major

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part, considered as females, are not so clear in the affirmative.". pp. 295, 296.

All comment either upon the "institution" itself or the subjects chosen for debate, is unnecessary from us; but it is a sufficiently curious feature in the demure reign of George III.; and the grand serieux with which the ex-judge details its absurdities is eminently amusing.

Nothing more, either as matter of local history, or mere amusement, can be gleaned from the biography of Mr. Curwen for readers on this side of the Atlantic: but the book may be of some value in America as a guide-book, for those who purpose an acquaintance with the "sights" in England: although here also we are bound to confess that the descriptions given will do but scant justice to the subjects treated. Did our space permit we would gladly enlarge on the pictures of our own country thus presented to our view, at a period so little removed from our own time, and yet so widely different in character. We had little to boast of in the good old times of good King George III., if religion, morals, or artistic excellence are to be taken as a criterion; and we have cause indeed to be thankful that in so short a time a progress so incalculable has been made. Meantime it is not unlikely that some thousands of Americans will take the descriptions given of us in these pages as applicable to the reign of Victoria, and judge us accordingly.

ART. V.-1. Report of the Friend of the Clergy Corporation for 1855. London.

2. Report of the Committee appointed by the House of Commons to examine into the Condition of the Ecclesiastical Corruption. 1856.

WHEN the plan was formed and carried into effect, some years ago, to abolish at least two-thirds of the cathedral prebends, we remember to have heard several of our clerical friends, more sanguine than wise, congratulating themselves that the time at last was come when effectual reform in the Church would begin, and something like adequate remuneration be derived from those pieces of preferment, which, to the eternal disgrace of their patrons, were justly called poor." As prebendary after prebendary was gathered to the cathedral cloisters, having no longer any other tenure in

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the ecclesiastical corporation than a narrow grave, and the proceeds of the vacated stalls were diverted from their former channel into the treasury of the Ecclesiastical Commission, the certainty of the expected and immediate augmentation of small or poor livings was taken for granted. Very few of those who had the misfortune to be cast upon such starvations," from which their own annual sustenance was impossible, much less that of wife and children, saw how ridiculous was the idea of their ever reaping the slightest benefit from the promised change. The hope, long deferred, still existed within them, that the magnates of the Church had some bowels of compassion for the miserable condition of their poorer brethren, who were loth to believe that the bishop, who extended two fingers to them at a visitation, or condescended to note their presence by a nod at a confirmation, was so utterly callous as to their lot, as utterly to forget there were such men in his diocese, the moment his episcopal carriage had rolled away from the door of the church, in which he had been edifying the clergy with an hour and a half's essay, commonly called "a charge;" or hurrying over the laying on of hands upon some hundreds of young males and females, by taking sixteen or twenty at a batch, at the communion rails, after their being also left in a state of bewilderment as to the meaning of the rite they had undergone, because the episcopal address was generally in opposition to the explanations of their parochial ministers.

Such poor incumbents were further fortified in their supposition, by the brief answer the bishop's secretary accorded them, in reply to the humble request that the P. C. of Muchwork-cum-Thousands-of-Peoples, with an endowment of £75 a year, might be considered in the forthcoming division of the prebendal spoil. They rubbed their hands, and spread the three or four lines of the stereotyped secretarial answer before their friends, and asked whether this assurance, that "their case should receive attention," though not definitely stating when, was not a proof that "a good time was coming," for which they were content to "wait a little longer." They reported their neighbour, the P. C. of Milestones-cum-Rock, to be a black sheep, because-with an income of £40 a year from the lessee of the Dean and Chapter of Hardnigh, £60 from the said Dean and Chapter, and £20 from Queen Anne's Bounty, although the commutation gave nearly £800 tithe upon its acreage-he asserted neither bishops, nor deans and chapters, cared for a soul on earth but themselves, and would neither do anything themselves

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to aid their subordinate clergy, nor permit the Ecclesiastical Commission to do so, if they could prevent it. They looked upon such a reverend brother as something like a maniac, when he laughed at their vague expectations; whilst they put it about their neighbourhood that it were better to avoid such a one; and let their disapprobation be known, because he was so rash and imprudent as not to be silent! And what have they obtained by flattering all in authority? They are still in the same boat with their honest, though reforming, neighbour. They are not a whit better off than he is. He remains, upon no better, and no worse, pittance than when he first ridiculed the Ecclesiastical Commission, and said, that promises, whether from bishops, deans or chapters, were good for nothing. Neither he nor they have been permitted to rise in their profession. Each have struggled on-how they can scarcely tell themselves,—and after nearly a quarter of a century of hardship, toil, and disheartening labour, see neither the chance of ever being promoted, nor of getting a slice added to their "starvations," although nearly all the suppressed prebendal stalls have fallen in, and the annual income of the Ecclesiastical Commission may now be reckoned by thousands instead of hundreds. Had the poor clergy combined at first, they might have done something for themselves; but so long as a bishop's two fingers were considered an honour conferred, or his episcopal nod a condescension, they cut themselves off from all consideration, and permitted their, so called, superiors to laugh at them, and make sport of their puerilities.

Even now it may not please such of the clerical body, to whom we are referring, to hear these homely truths. But it is only right that such truths should be told, because, unjust as the conduct of bishops, deans and chapters, and other patrons, have been to the poorer clergy, these latter themselves have much to thank themselves for, and are in a large measure to blame. Had they not permitted themselves to have been cut up, as it were, in detail, they would ere this have received something by way of augmentation of their preferments; and had they stood together, it would have been impossible that thousands of pounds should have been squandered in providing palaces for the episcopal lords of Parliament. We tell the poorer clergy fearlessly, that if those of the diocese of Lincoln had dared to have met and protested against the purchase and adornment of Riseholme for the late and succeeding bishops of that see, neither the bench of bishops, nor the Ecclesiastical

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