in a public Letter to the then Archbishop of Canterbury, two objects which I had long thought, and still think, if properly accomplished, would be highly serviceable to the Constitution of the Country, and the honour of the Church Establishment. One of them respected the Equalization of the Revenues and of the Patronage of the Bishopricks as they severally became vacant-The other respected the providing a decent maintenance for the inferior Clergy, and requiring from them a stricter residence on their Cures than can, without such a provision, be reasonably enjoined them. These subjects had been well weighed by me before I was made a Bishop, and I saw no cause why my promotion should change my principle. I have taken no public step to prosecute the Objects I proposed, being aware that great changes are best brought about by giving men leisure to think of them; at the same time I can truly say, that I have neglected no private opportunity of recommending them to the consideration of those

P 2

those in power. In April 1800, the then Archbishop of Canterbury informed me, that Mr. Pitt had signified to him an intention of speedily bringing a Bill into Parliament to enforce a better Residence of the Clergy. The next day I sent to Mr. Pitt the following Letter:

"Dear Sir,

"Great George-street, April 16, 1800.

"ON dining yesterday with the Archbishop of Canterbury, His Grace in"formed me, that a Bill for enforcing a "better Residence of the Clergy was now

in contemplation. Ignorant as I am of "the provisions of the intended Bill, " I may be giving you unnecessary trou"ble in communicating such sentiments "as at present occur to me on the subject. But I trust you will pardon this

66

my presumption, proceeding from a "sense of duty; especially as I shall be "in the Country when the business will "be brought forward, and may have no "other opportunity of suggesting any

· 66

thing on a matter which has always "been an object of my sincere and "earnest wishes.

"The safety of every civil Government "is fundamentally dependent on the "hopes and fears of another world, which

66

are entertained by it's members; and "the safety of every christian civil Go"vernment is brought into the most "imminent danger, when infidelity is

making a rapid progress in the minds "of the People. This I apprehend is "the state of danger in which Great "Britain (to say nothing of Ireland) now "stands. It may be difficult to find a "full remedy for this evil, but the resi"dence of a respectable Clergyman in

66

every parish and hamlet in which there

"is a place of established worship, ap

pears to me to be more fitted than any "other for that purpose.

"I do not wish a Bill respecting resi"dence to have any violent retrospect "as to the present Pluralists; they, per"haps, ought to remain subject only to

P 3

"the

"the existing laws, for it would bring "ruin on many individuals who are now "married and settled in the world, if they were compelled to change their "situations. But I see no individual

66

66

hardship and much public good which "would attend a new law, suffering (after

"it had passed) no man to hold two "Benefices of any kind. As, however, "there are many Benefices utterly inadequate to the affording even a bare "maintenance to an unmarried Clergyman, a law abolishing in futuro all

66

66

pluralities, ought to be accompanied "with another, making a decent provision "for every resident Minister.

"An hundred pounds a year ought to "be the very least stipend annexed "to any benefice, and, such sum being "annexed, Service twice every Sunday "should be required in all. Benefices "at one hundred a year should re“main, I think, as they are; unless it "should be judged expedient, on a

66

vacancy, to take the first fruits on a

"real

"real valuation, constituting thereby "a fund towards augmenting Benefices "under an hundred to that sum.

"Houses of Residence for the Clergy "should be bought or built at the pub"lic expense, or by the Governors of Queen Anne's Bounty, for Livings under "an hundred pounds a year.

66

"The number of Livings under an hun"dred a year, their respective values, and "the state of the Parsonage Houses, "should be accurately ascertained and "laid before Parliament, in order that "the additional public burden attending "the giving a decent maintenance to the

66

Clergy might be known: it would, I "am persuaded, whatever it's magnitude

66

might be, meet with no opposition "from the judicious part of the Com“munity. The Bishops would be able "to make, if required, this return to "Parliament by means of their Officers.

Livings held in commendam, or an"nexed without commendam to Bishop"ricks, to Headships and Professorships