^CALSt^ BX 5131 .M45 1838 Memorials and communications, addressed Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015 https://archive.org/details/memorialscommuniOOunse CHURCH COMMISSION. MEMORIALS AND COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE CATHEDRAL AND COLLEGIATE CHURCHES IN ENGLAND AND WALES : WITH AN APPENDIX, RELATIVE TO THE BISHOPRIC OF SODOR AND MAN. REPRINTED FROM RETURNS MADE TO THE HON. THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, MARCH 16, 1837. AND ORDERED TO BE PRINTED APRIL 14 & MAY 22. London : ilbert & rlvington, printers, St. John's-Square. / v. MEMORIALS AND COMMUNICATIONS, ADDRESSED TO HIS LATE MAJESTY'S COMMISSIONERS OF INQUIRY INTO THE STATE OF THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH, FROM THE CATHEDRAL AND COLLEGIATE CHURCHES OF ENGLAND AND WALES, IN 1836 AND 1837. LONDON: PRINTED FOR J. G. & F. RIVINGTON, st. Paul's church yard, and waterloo place, pall mall. 1838. ADVERTISEMENT. The following Memorials and Communications from Cathedral and Collegiate Churches in England and Wales, and from their several Chapters, Dignitaries, Members, and Officers, were printed by an order of the Honourable the House of Commons, at the motion of Sir Robert Harry Inglis, Bart., M. P. for the Univer- sity of Oxford, made the 14th day of April, 1837. The Returns to the order are dated the 16th day of March, 1837. The same are now re-printed for general circu- lation ; and a slight Index of matters is offered at the end, with a view to facilitate a reference to the several arguments and facts contained in them. CONTENTS. PAGE Memorial addressed to the Commissioners by a deputation from a Meet- ing of the members of Cathedral Churches 1 CHAPTERS ON THE NEW FOUNDATION. Memorial from the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury 6 Memorial from the Dean and Chapter of Bristol 15 Memorial from the Minor Canons of Bristol 20 (Enclosure.) — Copy of a Memorial from the Minor Canons of Bristol. 22 Memorial from the Dean and Chapter of Carlisle 23 Petition from certain Prebendaries of Chester 25 Memorial from the Dean and Chapter of Durham 28 Letter from the Rev. Dr. Smith, a Prebendary of Durham, to the Com- missioners, 15th July, 1836 29 Memorial from the Dean and Chapter of Ely 31 Memorial (2d) from the Dean and Chapter of Ely 33 Memorial from the Dean and Chapter of Norwich 44 Letter of the Dean of Norwich to the Secretary 46 Memorandum from the Dean of Norwich to the Commissioners. ..... 47 Statement from the Dean and Chapter of Christ Church, Oxford 52 Letter from the Dean of Ripon to the Secretary 54 Memorial from the Dean and Chapter of Rochester 56 Memorial (2d) from the Dean and Chapter of Rochester 58 Memorial from the Dean and Prebendaries of Winchester 59 Memorial from the Minor Canons of Winchester 63 Memorial from the Dean and Chapter of Worcester 65 Vlll Contents. PAGE Memorial from the Dean and Chapter of Westminster 67 Memorial from the Rev. James Lupton, Minor Canon of Westminster, to the Commissioners 70 CHAPTERS ON THE OLD FOUNDATION. The Memorial of the Sub-chanter and Vicars-choral of the Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of St. Peter in York 72 Memorial from the Dean and Chapter of Exeter ~ ... 75 Memorial (2d) from the Dean and Chapter of Exeter 82 Memorial from the Dean of Exeter 93 Memorial from the Vicars- Choral of Exeter 94 Memorial from the Chapter of Hereford 96 Letter from the Dean of Hereford to the Secretary 97 Memorial from the Custos and Vicars of the Cathedral of Hereford . . ib. Memorial from the Dean and Chapter of Lichfield 103 Memorial from the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln 106 Memorial from the Warden and Minor Canons of St. Paul's, London. 115 Memorial from Vicars-choral, &c, of St. Paul's, and Lay-clerks, &c, of Westminster Abbey 117 Memorial from the Dean and Canons Residentiary of Salisbury 126 Memorial from the Dean and Chapter of Salisbury 128 Letter from the Dean of Salisbury to the Secretary 133 Memorial from the Dean and Chapter of Wells 135 Memorial (2d) from the Dean and Chapter of Wells 136 Memorial from the Dean and Canons of Windsor 1 37 Memorial (2d) from the Dean and Canons of Windsor 138 Resolutions of the Chapter of St. Asaph . ....... 141 Letter from the Chapter-clerk of St Asaph to the Secretary 144 Letter from the Secretary to the Chapter-clerk of St. Asaph, in reply to the foregoing ib. Memorial from the Chapter of Southwell .... 145 Memorial of the Rev. Dr. Wilkins, Prebendary of Southwell, and Arch- deacon of Nottingham 146 Letter from the Rev. Edward Garrard Marsh, a Prebendary of South- well, to tht Archbishop of York 1 48 Index 151 MEMORIALS AND OTHER COMMUNICATIONS, 8fc. MEMORIAL ADDRESSED TO THE COMMISSIONERS BY A DEPUTATION FROM A MEETING OF THE MEMBERS OF CATHEDRAL CHURCHES. To His Majesty's Commissioners appointed to consider the State of the Established Church, with reference to Ecclesiastical Duties and Revenues. MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN, At a recent meeting of members of Cathedral Churches we were deputed to solicit the honour of an interview with you, and to lay- before you, most respectfully, a statement of the sentiments and wishes generally entertained on the proposed reform of the es- tablishments with which we are connected. Other modes of proceeding, indeed, were suggested, but the direct application to your Board was adopted as well from sin- cere respect to its individual members, as in consequence of the opinion expressed in the early part of your Fourth Report, that on inquiry you might find it necessary to make alterations in the general scheme proposed for the Cathedral and Collegiate Churches. 2 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, 8fc. You are, then, most earnestly entreated to re-consider the proposal made for the suppression of several Canonries and Pre- bends. It is submitted that the proposed suppression is wrong in principle, involving, as it does, the subversion of ancient foun- dations, which have not ceased to be of service to the Church, the violation of statutes which are still observed, and the more serious question of conscience, as it regards the solemnity of oaths which have been taken, as well by visitors as by members of Cathedral establishments, and of which the obligation is deeply felt, and the sanctity revered. Of a similar character, it is contended, with the suppression of Prebends, is the proposed dissolution, without their own con- sent, of all existing colleges and corporations of Minor Canons ; and very serious apprehensions are entertained of most dan- gerous consequences resulting from precedents which not only place id jeopardy the whole of the Cathedral establishments, but which also render the foundation of all other property in- secure. It is, besides, most respectfully urged, that even if the cor- rectness of the principle were admitted, the suppression is not necessary as furnishing means for the proposed end, which could, it would seem, be attained more readily, securely, and efficiently, by the adoption of a well-considered scheme of annexation. It is, indeed, doubted whether it be just to provide for the wants of one Diocese by the transfer of property granted for the benefit of another, or to divert ecclesiastical property to the im- provement of benefices in lay patronage ; and it is urged, that the deficiency of means applicable to the augmentation of small benefices in some parts of the kingdom, furnishes no argument for the alienation of revenues, which may be employed for the same purpose on the spot where they accrue. But whatever it may be ultimately deemed advisable to re- commend in consequence of the imperative demands of distant places, still is it urged as of the first importance, uniformly to preserve the integrity of the ecclesiastical property, and not to weaken or impair it through amalgamation in a common fund ; and it is asked, whether it may not be practicable in all cases to make specific appropriations or direct apportionment of distinct revenues. Meeting of Cathedral Churches. 3 The circumstances of the present times are pressed on your notice as supplying an additional argument against the suppres- sion. For the increase of population and knowledge has called into activity the services of a more numerous and better informed Clergy, for whom it were equitable that proportionate encourage- ment, and even more numerous rewards, should be provided. With reference also to the present times, it is submitted, that the existence of Deans and Chapters in full efficiency, and with an adequate number of members, is of great importance, supply- ing, as it were, a link between the highest ecclesiastical autho- rities and the parochial Clergy, maintaining the due proportion of different degrees in the Church, and serving on the one hand as a check on the undue exertion, it may be, of arbitrary power ; on the other, as a constitutional support to the legitimate au- thority of a Diocesan. And regard being had to efficiency and adequacy of numbers, the same standard, it is contended, is not applicable to the case of all Cathedral Churches. The population and importance of the various cities and dioceses, the habits and customs of the respective places, and the variety and extent of duties performed and required in the different Chapters, may render a difference in the number of Prebendaries, residing separately or jointly, both desirable and expedient. But under any contingencies that may befall, it is implored that the integrity of the Church property, within the precincts of each Cathedral, may be respected, whether it belong to the Chapter generally, or to individual Dignitaries. Wherever assign- ments of houses shall have been made from the general property, should they become no longer available to their original object, those houses would, it is presumed, without any legal provision to the contrary, revert to the body; and it is but equitable that the distribution and appropriation of any Church property within the precincts, shall not be granted to any authority which may interfere with the domestic regulations, or, it may be, the peace and comfort of those who have hitherto lived as one family. As to Chapter Patronage exercised at present, as well in the election of residentiaries as in the appointment to benefices, we are instructed to maintain, that the right to a share in the dis- posal of it is no less sacred than the right to a share in the reve- Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, 8fc. nues, and to urge the manifest injustice of taking from one what is his, and giving it to another whose it is not. If indeed the surrender of patronage held out the prospect of great good as its result, the consent of chapters to it might easily be obtained. The several members would cheerfully second any measures that should tend to strengthen the connexion between the Clergy and their Diocesans, and they would be among the foremost to make sacrifices for the benefit of the Church. But it is respect- fully urged, that neither would the Bishops individually, nor the Church in general, derive any real advantage from the proposed transfer of patronage ; which could hardly fail to be viewed with increasing jealousy, and to supply continual sources of irritation, dispute, and litigation, while it might give additional ground for an injurious imputation, too often cast on the poorer Clergy, of courting their Diocesan with servility. The Church, it is averred, gains a more extensive influence from the very variety of both ecclesiastical and lay patronage, exercised both separately and jointly, through which its ministers are now admitted to benefices ; but were it advantageous to have only one order of patrons, it were as reasonable to exact the forfeiture of patronage from the Lay patron, whose right remains wholly untouched, as from the Prebendary, the latter being no more irresponsible for the exercise of it than the former. And it were unjust to make the proposed distinction between the present possessors of prebendal patronage, respecting the right of those who hold it by virtue of separate property, but violating the right of the corporate holders. Questions of precedent and prerogative seem to be involved in the proposed alteration of Cathedral statutes. On this head it is prayed, that no new power may be granted to the visitor. Our general prayer is, that no regulation may be adopted by the proposed Board of Commissioners, affecting the local interests of the respective chapters, or fixing the number of their members, and specifying the duties of each, without a previous communi- cation of the intended measure to the several bodies ; and that opportunities may be given to each, of appearing before the Commissioners, of stating their objections, and, if they deem it necessary, of being heard by counsel before His Majesty in Council. And until full time shall have been granted for an inquiry into the probable results of the proposed measures, as Meeting of Cathedral Churches. 5 they affect the variety of interests, rights, and customs, our prayer is, that no law may be passed, enabling any Board to act on your Fourth Report, which indeed has been so recently put forth, that it has hardly yet reached the distant chapters. Were a Bill offered to Parliament, of private interest or light concern, time, it is averred, would be given for the full consideration of its provisions. Time, it is maintained, is absolutely necessary, in a matter so grave, and of so extensive concern, involving so many questions, and affecting the spiritual as well as temporal interests of the English Church for ages to come. J. Russell, d. d., Prebendary of Canterbury. C. J. Hoare, a.m., Archdeacon and Prebendary of Winchester. John Bull, d. d., Canon Residentiary of Exeter. John Griffith, d. d., Prebendary of Rochester. July 19, 1836. CHAPTERS ON THE NEW FOUNDATION. MEMORIAL FROM THE DEAN AND CHAPTER OF CANTERBURY. To His Majesty's Commissioners appointed to consider the State of the Established Church, with reference to Ecclesiastical Duties and Revenues. A Memorial addressed by the Dean and Chapter of Canter- bury assembled in Chapter this 26th day of November, 1836. When we assembled in chapter at the November audit, 1835, a claim for monies accruing to the Prebend, that had become vacant in our church ', by the decease of Earl Nelson, was ten- dered to us by the treasurer of Queen Anne's Bounty ; and we resolved, that though we entertained considerable doubts whe- ther the provisions of the Act on which the claim was grounded were applicable to ourselves, " payment should be made to the claimant in as full and ample manner as it would have been to Earl Nelson had he been alive, or to his successor, if one had been duly installed." By the resolution, indeed, to which we came, while we 1 This claim was preferred by the Treasurer, under the provisions of the Act 5 and 6 Will. 4. c. 30. The New Foundation. 7 avoided the imputation of selfish motives, and of seeking per- sonal and pecuniary advantage from the delay which had arisen in filling up the vacant Prebend, we evinced, at the same time, our confidence in His Majesty's Commissioners, and a readiness to await the result of pending inquiries. But the Act referred to was intituled, " An Act for protecting the Revenues of vacant Prebends, and preventing the Lapse thereof ;" nomination to any vacant dignity was spoken of in it as but " deferred ;" and every patron who should have deferred was empowered to " appoint, if he should think proper so to do." The Prebend, moreover, which had become vacant in the church of Westminster having been filled up, subject to an ar- rangement of which, as it is stated in the First Report of the Commissioners, the particulars had been previously communicated to the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, and had obtained their assent, we were led to expect that similar arrangements would be proposed on similar vacancies, and similar opportunities af- forded to us of expressing our assent, or stating objections, before any measures affecting our interests should be recom- mended to His Majesty, or proposed in Parliament. But, at our next statutable meeting in June 1836, we found ourselves, without any previous communication made to us, affected by certain general recommendations which involved, in addition to minor points, an alienation of nearly two-thirds of our divisible revenues, an ultimate reduction of our Chapter to one-third of its original number, and an infringement of our rights as Patrons ; and we should have proceeded immediately to address the Commissioners on these points, if it had not been deemed impracticable then to enter fully and satisfactorily on the subject of their Second Report ; for, while it was known that a Fourth Report was prepared, modifications and alterations were not unreasonably expected, similar to those which had been already made of measures recommended in former Reports. Under the difficulties in which we were placed, we deputed two of our members, who were fully acquainted with the sen- timents of the Chapter, to form a committee, in conjunction with the members of other Cathedral bodies, and to act as our repre- sentatives whenever the Fourth Report should have been pub- lished, or any Bill affecting Chapters should have been brought into Parliament. 8 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, fyc. In the general wishes and opinions expressed by those mem- bers of the committee who delivered a memorial to the Com- missioners on the 19th July, 1836, we strongly participate; and we cannot but entertain the hope that the memorial has been favourably received. But an Act having been since passed recognizing the " expe- dience" of considering, in the next Session of Parliament, the recommendations which the Commissioners have made the sub- ject of their Second and Fourth Reports, and in the mean time " suspending" the powers of patrons, and forbidding them to fill up vacant Prebends, we entreat the Commissioners so to revise their recommendations before Parliament shall have re-assembled, that we may be protected and secured in full enjoyment of all " the rights, immunities, and privileges" which were conferred on us, by our Royal Founder, for the maintenance of our Chapter as an efficient body, and which our Diocesans, as well as the several members of our Chapter, have been successively sworn to maintain. The Commissioners seem to have assumed, that in the founda- tion of all Cathedral establishments, little more was contemplated than the " performance of the service of the churches, and the continual reparation of the fabrics ;" for while they state that " their inquiry relating to Cathedral Churches was entered on under a strong impression that if the endowments of those bodies should appear to be larger than was requisite for the pur- poses of their institution, and for maintaining them in efficiency and respectability, the surplus ought to be made available for the augmentation of poor benefices, and adding to the number of the parochial Clergy ;" and while they admit also that there is a " material variety in the constitution of those establishments, and the amount and disposition of their revenues," they recommend for all one uniform system of measures, being such as will in "their" opinion leave a sufficient provision "for those" two " objects," which alone they especially mention. That those ob- jects were contemplated by our Founder we readily admit, and we have ever studiously laboured in the sustentation of a large establishment, and of an ancient and extensive fabric, that re- quires frequent and costly repairs, subjecting ourselves, indeed, for those objects to a considerable debt, and to a consequent deduction from our annual dividends, which leave us by no means The New Foundation. 9 in the relative position to the Church at large originally held by the Chapter ; but we feel confident that if the " purposes of our institution" and all its circumstances had been thoroughly in- vestigated, on reference made, as in all fairness it ought to have been, to our Chapter, and with our privity and assistance, it would have appeared that another most essential object was the constitution of a dignified body of Clergy, possessed, as well of ample estates and revenues that should never be alienated from them, as of important rights and privileges, and (for services ren- dered in past ages to the interests of Christianity) specially de- clared to be the metropolitical Church of all England. Our endowment is a deed of special and free gift made by King Henry VIII., 23rd May, 1541, to the Dean and Chapter, ab- solutely, and to their successors for ever. Our statutes, originally granted by King Henry VIII., and revised in the reign of King Charles I., prescribe the number of Prebendaries, who are required to be, and have hitherto always been twelve. But the principal wish expressed in the first sentence of the statutes, is in conformity with the endowment, "ante omnia volumus et mandamus, ut jura quaevis necnon et immunitates et libertates ejus quaecunque in omnibus semper salvae et integral serventur." The care indeed taken of our " rights and liberties" thus ordained, is singularly manifested in the oath which our Diocesans take on their inthronization, and which binds them absolutely to maintain our rights and liberties, while it exacts but a conditional observance of our customs ; for the words of the oath are, " I swear to maintain the rights and liberties of this Church, and to observe the approved customs thereof, and, as far as it concerns the Archbishop, to cause the same to be ob- served by others, so far as such customs are not repugnant to God's word, the laws, statutes, provisions and ordinances of the realm, or to His Majesty's prerogative, and not otherwise." The language in the Cap. 6 of our statutes sets forth the founder's will without any ambiguity : — " Alienationem vel impignorationem alicujus manerii, &c. . . omnino prohi- bemus ; pinguescere enim optamus ecclesiam nostram, non macrescere." The oath prescribed in Cap. 1 1 of our statutes, and taken by every Prebendary on his admission, contains the founder's will, expressed, if possible, still more strongly : — " Juro quod pro 10 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, 8fe. virili mea terras, tenementa, reditus, possessiones, juraque et libertates atque privilegia caeterasque res universashujus ecclesise servabo et servari procurabo ; nec quod ad utilitatem et honorem hujus ecclesiae legitime fieri possit sciens impediara, sed illius commodum procurabo et augebo Omnique dis- pensationi quae hoc meum juramentum evacuare, enervare, aut relaxare possit prorsus renunciabo, et in praesens renuncio." Since, then, it is apparent that our Founder has not only given to us the disposal and enjoyment of all our revenues, and by every kind of ordinance secured them to us absolutely and without deduction for any purpose foreign to our establishment, save of one specific payment in lieu of first fruits and tenths, but that he has also confined the revenues to us, excluding all others from participating in them, and that he binds ever} 7 individual member by the strongest and most sacred ties to resist to the utmost of his power all attempts that may be made to alienate or divest any portion of them, we maintain, that no alienation of our revenues can be enforced by the Commissioners, without violating as well all the generally received rights of property, as the rights and liberties which are peculiarly ours. We claim, indeed, an absolute right to the free disposal of all our revenues, subject only to the control of our statutes ; yet are we not insensible of the evils on which the Commissioners dwell in their Reports ; and, so far as our means will allow us, regard being had to the efficiency, the honour, and the advantage of our Cathedral establishment, we would willingly apply the remedy in places of which, from our connexion with them, we know the wants and circumstances, and contribute to the augmentations of poor livings that are in our own patronage. We protest against the principle which seems to be involved in some of the recommendations ; namely, that of laying on ec- clesiastical bodies exclusively the whole of a burden which, when necessary, ought to be laid on the collective body of the realm. Nor do we conceive it just that we should be compelled to im- prove the provision for the cure of souls in parishes with which we are not connected ; while our contributions would but enhance the market price of the presentation or advowson to the personal gain of the private patron, or enable the public patron to bestow a more lucrative benefice on a more favoured applicant. And we claim the privilege of withholding all contributions from our revenues to the new Fund proposed by the Com- The New Foundation. 11 missioners; of which fund we deem the creation to be most inex- pedient and objectionable, since it could not but entail heavy expenses that would waste the revenues of the contributing Chapters, and diminish the property of the Church, while it would excite in the ill-disposed an eager desire to seize on it, and divert it to their own purposes ; of which fund the applica- tion is undefined, for the " principles of distribution" stated, in the Second Report, to " require the most serious consideration and much additional inquiry," are no further developed in the Fourth Report, than by a recommendation that " the wants and circumstances of the places in which the property and revenues accrue shall be first considered ;" of which fund, moreover, the insufficiency is shown by the Commissioners themselves, who acknowledge, that even when at some distant period the fund should have reached its estimated maximum of 134,000/., there would still be a deficiency of 100,000Z., and that they would not be able to effect the end which they desire ; while in the interim the annual payments would be comparatively inconsiderable, and supply scanty assignments, productive of no effective good, and at the last, it were to be feared, useful and valuable preferments would have been dissipated, satisfying none, and taking from all the stimulus that is to be found in the hope of some prospec- tive reward. Our claims to the disposal of our own revenues, as well as the maintenance of all our other rights and privileges, is independent of any question of number as regards the members of our Chap- ter. But if our claim be admitted, as we trust it will be by the Commissioners, it will no longer form a part of their recom- mendations, that any of our Stalls be suppressed ; for reduction, of number, we may assume, has been proposed only as a source of revenue available to their purposes ; we would, however, again and again press on their earnest and serious consideration the principle on which they have proceeded, in recommending the ultimate suppression of eight of our Prebends. In our statutes, the possibility of any reduction of number is nowhere contem- plated ; the number has remained the same by regular succession now for nearly 300 years, and the proposed deduction, while it could not be sanctioned by Parliament without imposing a limitation on the royal prerogative, would be a violation of at least an *' approved custom," of which our Diocesans are bound to enforce the observance, since such custom is " not repugnant 12 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, Sfc. to God's word, the laws of the realm, or His Majesty's pre- rogative." If indeed we proceed to consider the question of " efficiency and respectability," and view it merely with reference to the attendance on the Choral Service, strong is the argument which it presents against the reduction of number in our members. It is self-evident that a smaller number of Prebendaries is less likely to be efficient than a greater, and that to abstract from the num- ber of the body, is to abstract from its power and influence, and consequently from its respectability. It is probable that the injury done would be proportionate to the degree of reduction, and would be felt proportionably in greater burdens imposed on the remaining members, and in greater discredit brought on the institution. That four is not a number of Prebendaries adequate to the " efficient and respectable" performance of the Choral Service, we unequivocally assert, if the personal attendance of the Preben- daries be a necessary ingredient of the " efficiency and respecta- bility." The joint residence of two Prebendaries at the least, is often essential to secure the constant attendance of one. For illness and accidental causes sometimes make absence matter of necessity ; we ourselves have had at the same time four Preben- daries, of whom three were more than seventy years old, two of them more than eighty, and one so much an invalid that he was seldom equal to his duty ; what would have been said of our " efficiency" if our number had been limited to those four? If we look to those Cathedrals in which the number of Prebendaries is four, we find that a system of proxies has been there intro- duced and tolerated; but the system has given rise to much calumny against Cathedral institutions, even where use has ren- dered it familiar ; and we may reasonably infer that the introduc- tion of it at the present day, would more seriously affect the credit of Chapters, whose members have been studious and careful to give their personal attendance. We entreat the Commissioners, then, under existing circum- stances, to direct their attention to the benefit that may be likely to result from annexation of a part of our Prebends ; we are not, indeed, friendly to a general system of permanent annexation, because it cannot be known what circumstances may arise to render the free appointment to Prebends desirable for the welfare of the Church ; but we submit most respectfully that a well- The New Foundation. digested system of annexation would be more productive and more effective than reduction could be, and might involve no invasion of our rights and privileges. The local evil at least would be permanently removed wherever the remedy should be applied ; and the remedy itself would be, immediately consequent on the annexation, satisfactory and complete. Money might not be so extensively diffused, but it would not be squandered ; the benefit that should be done would be without drawback, wherever it was done ; and the desired end would be thoroughly attained in the district on which the benefit should have been conferred. No one, we imagine, would object to the retaining of four Prebends unannexed, as rewards for past labours or distinguished merit. But if eight Prebends of our church, and a like propor- tion belonging to other Cathedral bodies, shall be severally annexed, as they become vacant, each to some populous but poor benefice, regard being had to the connection with the Cathedrals and the local means, the more important districts will all in time, and some immediately, have the efficient services of a rector and two curates, " respectably," perhaps, but not largely remunerated, instead of one ill-paid and overburdened incumbent. There will, indeed, be no superfluity for the prebendal rector, when he shall have received the produce of his Prebend, and paid the salaries of his curates ; but his attendance in the discharge of his duty at the Cathedral may give him relief by the change, and enable him to continue his parochial services with profit to a more advanced age. And, if his Prebend shall allow him an opportunity of recommending a meritorious curate for presenta- tion to a benefice, a stimulus will be supplied to all who are fellow-labourers in the work. As to the Patronage of the Chapter, we claim the disposal of it, as it is regulated by our statutes, since our charter gives it absolutely to us. The great ends proposed in the Reports, the " augmentation of small livings," and the ** increase of the paro- chial Clergy, 1 ' certainly cannot be advanced by any interference with our rights of presentation. The only reason alleged for the interference is, that there may be an addition to the means which the Bishops already possess of placing laborious and deserving clergymen in situations of usefulness and independence. We should be glad to see the Bishops possessed of the means which they require, provided it be not to the deprivation of the legiti- mate patron ; but we feel that the alleged reason implies what 14 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, fyc. we deem an unfounded imputation on all Chapters, that they would not present deserving clergymen. Perhaps, indeed, the Commissioners may suppose that there is no check on individual nominations in the case of friendly options ; it may be as well, therefore, to state, that all our presentations are made by the body under the chapter seal, and pass as acts of Chapter ; and that, if an individual should nominate one not deserving, it would be in the power of our Chapter to withhold the presentation. But it may be fairly asked, whether there is the slightest ground for apprehending either that the individual members would seek, or our collective body sanction, the appointment of any one whom they should not believe to possess the required qualifications. On this head we will only add, that if it shall be deemed for the benefit of the Church to impose restrictions on the exercise of patronage, we shall readily accede to them, provided they be imposed on all patrons without distinction, and provided that no stigma be set on ecclesiastical patrons of one class by subjecting them to limitations from which ecclesiastical patrons of other classes are exempted. This memorial we address to the Commissioners with every feeling of duty and respect, entreating them to consider the situation in which we are placed; holding important offices which by our oaths we are bound to defend, and of which we believe the continued maintenance and support to be " con- ducive to the efficiency of the Established Church." To sum up our wishes : — we claim our right to the disposal of our own revenues and of our own patronage ; we deprecate re- duction of number ; and we entreat that, in the disposal of our patronage, we may not, as ecclesiastical Patrons, be subjected to any exclusive restrictions. We conclude with solemnly adjuring the Commissioners in the words of Archbishop (then Bishop) Whitgift, addressed to Queen Elizabeth, — " As she was,'' he said, " intrusted by the late Act or Acts with a great power either to preserve or waste the church's lands," and applying his words to Chapter Revenues and Prebendal Endowments, " dispose of them for Jesus' sake, as the donors intended ; let neither friends nor flatterers beguile you to do otherwise, and put a stop to the approaching ruin of the Church, as you expect comfort at the last day." (C.S.) The New Foundation. 15 MEMORIAL FROM THE DEAN AND CHAPTER OF BRISTOL. To his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury. My Lord Archbishop, We, the Dean and Chapter of Bristol in chapter assembled, having been informed that His Majesty's Ecclesiastical Commis- sioners will shortly resume their duties, beg most respectfully to come before your Grace, and to address you on the subject of the said Commissioners' Fourth Report. We approach your Grace with every feeling of respect, both for your exalted station in the Church, and for your personal character, and shall experience very deep concern if we shall seem unnecessarily to interrupt the measures which have been brought forward under your Grace's sanction, or to add vexatiously to your Grace's cares and anxieties. Impressed in the fullest manner with these sentiments, we should have been gladly spared the pain of offering any remark in opposition to the recommendations of the said Commissioners. Under the circumstances of the country, we hailed their appoint- ment with satisfaction ; and, waiving for the time the right of the presbytery to be joined with the Bishops in legislating for the Church, we saw willingly our interests entrusted to their care. But after mature reflection, we consider that we should incur a very grave responsibility, and manifest a most culpable disregard of our duty, if we did not make known to your Grace the fears we entertain that the proposed measures, if carried into effect, will, both in their general character and in their particular provi- sions, operate very injuriously upon the Church's welfare. We take leave to bring the Commissioners' recommendations at one view under your Grace's notice. They are the following : That in all instances but those of London and Lincoln, the number of Prebendal Stalls be permanently reduced. That one of them shall, in certain cases, be attached to an Archdeaconry. That a part of the Chapter Property shall be dis- posed of as it may seem fit to a board of Commissioners. That a portion of the Chapter Patronage shall be transferred to the Bishops. That the discretion of the Chapters shall be greatly IG Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, fyc. restricted in the appointment of their vicars choral or Minor Canons, in the payment of these ministers, and in the provision for them by the means of livings. That the powers of the Visi- tors shall be increased. That additional residence shall be re- quired of both Deans and Prebendaries ; and that a commission shall be appointed to carry these recommendations into effect, which shall re-model statutes at pleasure, and in whose delibera- tions Deans and Chapters shall have no voice. These are the measures proposed ; and we desire to call your Grace's attention, in the first instance, to the remarkable fact, that they are all measures of curtailment and privation, as regards property and influence ; and of additional labour and expense, as relates to service and duty. This is their general character : and we respectfully submit for your Grace's consideration, whether they will not consequently go forth to the world as a judgment of condemnation, and pro- claim as the deliberate opinion of the highest authorities both in Church and State, that Cathedral bodies are no longer deserving of the respect which has been hitherto assigned them. We beg likewise to add, that we feel the severity of this sen- tence the more, because it has been passed without cause or reason having, so far as we are aware, been alleged ; because, in our own case, we believe it to be unmerited ; and because it has fallen upon us, when looking upon the Commissioners as our na- tural guardians and friends ; and, placing in them an unreserved confidence, we had imposed upon ourselves a respectful silence, and abstained from intruding in any way on their delibe- rations. But we beg, in the second place, to pass from general remarks to particulars : and here we deem it our duty to record and press our opinion — First, that the disposal of Chapter Property in the manner contemplated is not only uncalled for, by any dereliction on our part of the trust reposed in us, but that it will be a precedent to justify the same proceeding with regard to other church property. We conceive likewise, that, if it be determined on that the sale of such property shall take place, it will be more conducive to the good of the Church to commit the management of it to the hands of those best acquainted with the localities of the several Cathe- drals, and most interested in their particular welfare. Secondly, that the reduction of the number of Vicars Choral 6 The New Foundation. 17 or Minor Canons, and the mode recommended for their pay- ment, are highly objectionable. It is our opinion that the con- finement of a small number of these officials to an almost un- remitted repetition of routine duty, will tend to diminish their devotional feelings, and in the same proportion mar the effect of their services; and we are fearful that, by raising their salaries in the manner suggested, and insisting at the same time on their preferment, an inducement will be held out to nepotic and cor- rupt appointments, which, under the contemplated reduction of chapter patronage, it will be difficult to restrain. Thirdly, that the increase of the power of the visitors, and the introduction of Archdeacons into the reduced Chapters, will de- stroy the independence of those bodies, and unduly augment the influence of the Bishops. And, Fourthly, that the mode of making these changes, and the alteration of Cathedral statutes by the means of an arbitrary Commission, is unjust and degrading ; and when, moreover, it is seen that no provision has been made that the members of the Commission shall be members of the Church, we would fain ask, could the door be more widely opened for the admission of every degree of treacherous dealing ? Fifthly, we beg to speak of the proposal to deprive us of a portion of our Patronage. For our own purposes we disclaim any idea of insisting on its retention. Though we consider that in many cases it would be but just to regard Patronage as a part of our vested interests, and that it ought to be respected; though we feel that in various in- stances the intended deprivation would blight prospects which have been reasonably cherished, we are willing to make every personal sacrifice that may be required for the Church's good. But we think it imperative on us to claim that, if it should be de- termined to proceed with this recommendation, our patronage shall not be transferred to other hands, without more effectual precautions being taken than any which have been announced, that the measure may tend to general advantage. We cannot, indeed, refrain from remarking, that, believing the undue exer- cise of patronage to be one of the greatest evils from which the Church has suffered, we deem it both unjust towards ourselves, and inefficient as a measure of improvement, that that portion of it which has been hitherto entrusted to Deans and Chapters should alone be placed under restriction ; whilst no effort is made c IS Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, 8fc. to prevent abuses in regard to the greater and more important shares in the hands of the Bishops, private individuals, and the Crown. On the reduction of the number of Prebendal Stalls we have reserved ourselves to the last. We are aware that many weighty and grave objections have been raised to the plan of the Commis- sioners, and we feel the force of them. Especially we see that, in an establishment including many thousand clergy, the reten- tion of only one hundred places of honour affords, humanly speak- ing, too little encouragement to the devotion of talent and attain- ment to the service of the ministry. But considering the peculiar circumstances of the present times, we are not inclined to differ from the Commissioners as to the propriety of some diminution in the number of Cathedral appointments. We see that the Legislature is unwilling to supply the necessary means for the support of an efficient parochial clergy ; and we are therefore prepared to acquiesce in the opinion, that the Church should make sacrifices within herself for the attainment of so paramount an object. With these sentiments, we take leave at the same time to suggest, that there are other methods of effecting all that is in- tended, which would be far more desirable than the abolition of the Stalls, and far more acceptable. Their suspension for a cer- tain number of years is one of them, and a system of annexation is another ; or, if abolition is still to be insisted on, we think it worthy of consideration whether, instead of paying into the hands of Commissioners the amount of income which would accrue from the suppressed Stalls, it would not be better that the Chapters should be required to let the leases of some of their great tithes run out, and to endow with them the most necessitous and po- pulous of their vicarages, the preference being given to those places from which the tithes are taken. We have now brought our remarks on the proposed measures to a conclusion ; and though we have not scrupled to express ourselves openly and decidedly, as it appeared to be our duty to do, we trust we have observed that moderation and respect which we feel to be due to your Grace, and which we have professed to bear in mind. In the same spirit we venture further to call your Grace's attention to certain points on which the Commissioners' Report is silent. The Neiv Foundation. 1!) There is, as your Grace will find, no notice taken of the an- cient constitution of Cathedral bodies, and no exposition offered of their high duties and utility ; there is no attempt made to restore them to their intended efficiency, and no effort adventur- ed to undeceive the public mind as to any supposed inherent defect in their nature. In reference to some of these points, we think that much might have been advantageously done. In the first place, we cannot but believe that if, as the chief presbyters of the several dioceses, Deans and Chapters had been made in fact what they are in theory, the councils of the Bishops, a great benefit would have been ob- tained. " Churches Cathedral and the Bishops of them" so united together for the government of the Church, says Hooker, " are as glasses, wherein the face and countenance of apostolical antiquity remaineth even as yet to be seen, notwithstanding the alteration which tract of time and the course of the world hath brought. For defence and maintenance of them, we are most earnestly bound to strive, even as the Jews were for their temple and the high priest of God therein." We conceive, likewise, that if some of the Cathedral establish- ments were made available as schools of theology for the instruc- tion of candidates for holy orders, a most acceptable service would be rendered to the country. An establishment without provision for the ministerial education of its Clergy is a singular anomaly. And a third measure which we consider to be urgently called for, is the rescue of the Cathedral Clergy from the painful situ- ation in which they are placed in regard to the election of Bishops. We desire no power in this respect beyond what is reasonable. As the case now stands, Deans and Chapters have not allowed them that liberty of conscience which is enjoyed by every other subject of the land. Nominally the electors of Bishops, they are in fact only the instruments of others ; and whilst the solemn language to which they are required to affix their seal cannot in some cases be assented to without extreme reluctance, the refusal to comply with the prescribed usage would be attended with legal penalties, and great disturbance to the harmony which ought at all times to subsist between the Church and the State. We respectfully submit that this state of things is oppressive, injurious to the character of the Church, and before God sinful ; c 2 20 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, 8fc. and we earnestly implore your Grace to apply your powerful influence to the removal of so great a scandal and blemish from our Zion. We the more urgently press this point on your Grace's no- tice, because we cannot doubt that when your Grace's voice shall be heard in a great endeavour to preserve the ministry of our apostolic and primitive Church pure at its fountain head, and vindicating the right of conscience, there is no party in the State, making any pretensions to the respect of the country, which will not cordially applaud your Grace's mind, and join in promoting the sacred cause. We would, moreover, solemnly represent our anxious fears, that if some measure be not now devised to satisfy the reason- able and pious wishes entertained on this last head, the Church will have to deplore, at no distant period, either the subjection of some of her most faithful presbyters to the sufferings of per- secutions ; or, what will be worse, their secession from her com- munion. To this free expression of our sentiments, adding our devout conviction that the blessing of the Holy Spirit will never be wanting upon a zealous and prudent attempt to restore the integrity of the Church's government and discipline; and ever praying that, for the sake of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, the Almighty Father will ever have your Grace in His holy keep- ing, we beg to declare ourselves your Grace's very dutiful and faithful servants in Jesus Christ, and fellow labourers in His Gospel. For the Dean and Chapter of Bristol, W. G. H. Somerset, Prebendary, Chapter House, Bristol, Nov. 30, 1836. Subdean. MEMORIAL FROM THE MINOR CANONS OF BRISTOL. To His Majesty's Commissioners appointed to consider the State of the Established Church with reference to Ecclesiastical Duties and Revenues. We, the Minor Canons of the Cathedral Church of Bristol, ven- ture to address your Lordships under our present peculiar cir- cumstances. The document we have taken the liberty of enclosing for your The New Foundation. 21 inspection will in part make known those circumstances ; it may, however, be well to enter into a fuller explanation of them. The stipend allotted to the office of Minor Canon is £40 per annum, without any other emolument whatever ; it must there- fore be evident that nothing but the anticipation of succeeding to the preferment attached to the Cathedral could have induced us to undertake a duty laborious in itself, and precluding our ad- vancement in our profession in any other way. The expectations we had formed, and which we were led by the ehapter to indulge, are at this time about to be extinguished by the presentation of a benefice, vacant by the death of a former Minor Canon, to one who is wholly unconnected with the Cathedral, while four of our body who are unprovided for are passed over. The Minor Canon to whom reference is made in the enclosed copy of our memorial to the Chapter has been for nearly twelve years in the Cathedral ; he holds a perpetual curacy at some distance from Bristol of less than £100 annual value, with no house, and a population exceed- sng a thousand, the tithes, rectorial and vicarial, being possessed by the Chapter. Small as this benefice is, its value is consider- ably diminished by the expenses necessarily incurred in coming into Bristol arid residing there every fifth week for the perform- ance of his cathedral duty, and in providing a substitute in his parish during his absence ; he was induced to relinquish his other engagements in Bristol, and to accept of this small preferment, in reliance on a promise of further and adequate provision* On his applying, however, on the present occasion for the rectory now vacant, it has been made known to him that it is the inten- tion of the Chapter to give it to a friend or relative of one of the Prebendaries. Under these circumstances we have addressed to them a me- morial, of which we have enclosed a copy, deeming it to be our duty to make known to you the course we have pursued; and feeling confident, from your Lordships' recommendation in your Fourth Report, that our case will meet with due consideration, and that your Lordships' protection will be extended to us. Richard G. Bedford, m. a., Minor Canon. R. W. Lambert, m. a., Minor Canon. William Millner, m. a., Minor Canon. Robert Allwood, b. a., Minor Canon. Geo. N. Barrow, m. a., Minor Canon. 22 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, 8fc. (ENCLOSURE.) — COPY OF A MEMORIAL FROM THE MINOR CANONS OF BRISTOL. To the Very Reverend the Dean and the Reverend the Prebend- aries of the Cathedral Church of Bristol. MR. DEAN AND GENTLEMEN, We, the Minor Canons of your Cathedral Church, beg most respectfully to call your attention to the position in which we are placed. With extreme regret and disappointment we have learned your intention of conferring the rectory of Sutton Bonington (now vacant and in your gift) upon a gentleman wholly uncon- nected with the Cathedral, in preference to the senior Minor Canon, who is without anything like an adequate provision ; thus showing that you consider a stranger, who may be a relative or friend of one of your own body, to have stronger claims upon the preferment of the Cathedral, than a Minor Canon of nearly twelve years' standing. Whilst we presume not to question your power over the livings annexed to the Cathedral, we cannot but think that, as trustees of the endowments bequeathed by the piety and bene- volence of our mutual founders, and responsible to the church at large for the just and equitable disposal of them, the object and intention of those founders would have been better answered, and the interests of the establishment more effectually promoted, had you deemed it incumbent on you to bestow that preferment which you might be precluded from holding yourselves, on one who, from length of service in the Cathedral, had established a strong and paramount claim to your consideration. The case of Mr. Lambert we cannot but regard as one of peculiar hardship, and we are emboldened to remind you that a case precisely similar in all its circumstances has not occurred in the recollection of any of your body. Elected a Minor Canon in November, 1824, that gentleman has seen those with whom he entered the Cathedral preferred to benefices, and he, as well as ourselves, confidently indulged the expectation — an expectation certainly not discouraged by you — that he would succeed to the first living in your gift. Great, therefore, is the disappointment we experience on the intimation received that the rectory of Sutton Bonington, now vacant bv 6 The New Foundation. 23 the death of a former Minor Canon of this Cathedral, is to be presented to a stranger, and not conferred on one whose long services authorized him to expect it as a reward at your hands. When we bear in mind the very small annual stipend assigned for the discharge of our duties, and consider the laborious nature of those duties, we cannot conceive that you will deem it pre- sumption in us to take this mode of declaring our sentiments on the present occasion, and expressing our hope that you will not persevere in the resolution you have made respecting the prefer- ment now at your disposal. We beg respectfully to remind you that we entered the Cathe- dral as Minor Canons with the firm expectation that after a certain course of service and faithful discharge of duty we should be appointed to the benefices in your trust. This expectation has been always held out to us, and hitherto the preferment of members of our body has encouraged us to indulge it, and that it is not unreasonable on our part, the recommendation of His Majesty's Ecclesiastical Commissioners to this effect, in their Fourth Report, fully convinces us. Entertaining these opinions, we consider that we should be neglecting our own interests, and exposing ourselves to the charge of indifference on the subject, were we to refrain from expressing them, and making use of every lawful and expedient means to dissuade you from a step which we cannot regard as just and equitable to our body. Richard Gordon Bedford, m.a., Minor Canon. R. W. Lambert, m.a., Minor Canon. William Millner, m. a., Minor Canon. Robert Allwood, b.a., Minor Canon. Geo. N. Barrow, m.a., Minor Canon. MEMORIAL FROM THE DEAN AND CHAPTER OF CARLISLE. The Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral Church of Carlisle beg leave, with all respect, to lay before His Majesty s Commissioners appointed to consider the state of the Established Church with reference to Ecclesiastical Duties and Revenues, these few remarks upon some points of the Second Report of that Commission sub- mitted to His Majesty, and both Houses of Parliament. 24 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, Sfc. The Dean and Chapter feel it to be their duty to state, that they cannot contemplate with any degree of satisfaction the pro- posal for reducing the number of Canons in other more richly-en- dowed Cathedrals to the number of four, fixed by their own sta- tutes ; because they are from experience well aware that with that limited number it is very difficult, and often impracticable, to secure the constant attendance of one of the body at daily prayer, more especially when sickness or old age may happen to prevent individuals from fulfilling their own wishes in that respect. The Dean and Chapter cannot view without the greatest alarm and regret the proposal for depriving them in great measure of the power they now possess of presenting to benefices which have been for so many years in their gift. They are not conscious of any defect in their mode of administering the trust so confided to them, or that any dissatisfaction whatsoever has been felt or ex- pressed on the part of that portion of His Majesty's subjects with whom they are more immediately concerned. On the con- trary, they are well aware that the opinion is largely entertained that it is more beneficial to the public at large that the patronage of livings should be to a certain extent divided between the Bishop of the diocese and the Dean and Chapter of its Cathedral church, than that it should be given exclusively to the Bishop. The Dean and Chapter know of nothing which has been advan- ced against the patronage of Deans and Chapters which might not with equal pretence of truth and reason be advanced against epis- copal patronage ; and they fear that the abridgment of the rights of the one in that respect will tend to any thing rather than the security of those of the other. They feel, too, that the tendency of this proposal, if carried into effect, will unavoidably be to degrade them in the eyes of their fellow-subjects, and to impair their use- fulness and efficiency ; and they therefore humbly but most ear- nestly beg of His Majesty's Commissioners that nothing may be inserted in any Bill about to be submitted to Parliament which may in any way interfere with the rights of patronage as at pre- sent possessed by Deans and Chapters. Given in our Chapter House, under our common seal, this thirtieth day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven. R. Hodgson, d. d., Dean. (c. s) The New Foundation. 25 PETITION FROM CERTAIN PREBENDARIES OF CHESTER. To the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England. The humble Petition of the undersigned Prebendaries or Canons of the Cathedral Church of Chester, in our Chapter House capitularly assembled, Sheweth, That whereas in the Second published Report of His Majesty's Commissioners appointed to consider the state of the Established Church in England and Wales with reference to Ecclesiastical Duties and Revenues, it is stated that at Chester " the income of each of the six Prebendaries does not exceed 125/. on an average of the last seven years ;" and they accordingly " recommend that the income of the two Prebendal Stalls as they become vacant should go to increase that of the Dean and the other four Canons, which will even then be very small in reference to their station and the duties required of them :" and whereas the like recom- mendation is repeated in the Fourth Report of the said Commis- sioners. We, therefore, being now capitularly assembled at our first annual chapter after the publication of the said Fourth Report, most respectfully solicit your attention to the following facts: — That the measure thus proposed by the said Commissioners, instead of becoming a benefit to us, as it is avowedly intended to be, would really operate to our detriment ; for the period of the residence of each Canon would necessarily be then three months in a year, instead of two months, as at present ; that is to say, it would be increased in the proportion of three to two, whereas the income of his Stall would be increased only in the proportion of four to three. That however desirable a species of preferment our Stalls may be accounted, either by ourselves or by others, as conferring profes- sional rank, or as the presumed rewards of professional merit, we find the revenues belonging to them, even now, quite inadequate to cover the expenditure incurred in the repairs of our prebendal houses, in travelling, and the removing of our families, in our de- cent maintenance whilst in residence, and in the contributions ex- pected from us to the public charities of the cathedral city ; and they are manifestly more inadequate still to the keeping of such hospitality as might otherwise be deemed befitting our station. 2G Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, fyc. That in estimating the annual income of each of the present Prebendaries at 125/., an average of seven years has been taken, a considerable fine being received by the Dean and Chapter every seventh year, which raises the average to this amount ; that for the intervening six years, however, the average gross income of each stall does not exceed 64/., a sum clearly insufficient to defray the ordinary expenses of residence for two months ; and that un- der the operation of the proposed change, by which one-third would be added to the term of residence of each Canon, whilst but one-fourth would be to his means of defraying his expenses, the sum assigned to meet the charge of the one month's additional residence would amount to only 211. That further, in the preceding calculation, no account whatso- ever has been taken of our liability to be called upon, from the proceeds of our Stalls, to meet (and probably at no distant period) a very heavy charge for the necessary reparation of the fabric of our Cathedral, for which purpose a separate fund, usually appro- priated thereto, is altogether insufficient. That the respective values of the four best benefices in the gift of the Dean and Chapter, videlicet, Westkirby, Neston, Doddle- ston and Northendon, stand recorded in the returns sent in to the Commissioners of Ecclesiastical Revenues in the year 1831, on an average of the three previous years, at 7031., 5351., 593/. and 406/. ; that there are no other benefices in the patronage of our body which amount to more than half the average value of these four; and that there is a reduction in the actual values of these bene- fices at the present time of from 15 to 20 per cent. ; that putting, therefore, the most favourable supposition possible, namely, that one of the said four benefices should fall to the share of each of the four Canons, the average value of such preferment would then, on the calculation just stated, scarcely exceed 450/. per annum ; which amount will be reduced to 350/. by the further deduction of about 100/. per annum for the stipend of an assistant curate ; the employment of such curate being rendered needful, in some instances, by the extent and population of the parishes themselves, and in all instances by the unavoidable absence of the incumbent for that portion of the year during which he must constantly re- side within the cathedral precincts, or may be called into residence to attend in his place in the chapter-house. That it is, however, very improbable that the four Canons should be in possession of these four benefices, one of them The New Foundation. 27 having been commonly held by the Dean ; and assuming, then, the most valuable of these benefices, videlicet, Westkirkby, to be by this, or by any other contingency, excluded from the list, the above average of 3501. for the net value of the benefices of three of our Canons would be found considerably too high, and the remaining Canon cannot obtain from our body any prefer- ment exceeding from 1001. to 2501. per annum in net amount. That we deem it not improper or superfluous to have entered into the foregoing statement, because we have some reason to believe an impression has gone abroad that the value of our chapter preferment is such as to constitute a sufficient counter- balance to the acknowledged poverty of our Stalls ; how far such an impression may justly be entertained, we now leave to the consideration of your honourable Board. To your honourable Board we further humbly submit the special consideration of our case, peculiar as it is acknowledged to be, earnestly hoping and trusting that in any decision to which you may finally come, or in any legislative measure affecting us which you may see fit hereafter to recommend to Parliament, regard, so far as it is lawful or expedient, may be had to the known intentions of our Founder, which were early frustrated by an accidental error, followed up by an iniquitous transaction ; to the credit of our position, and to our reasonable remuneration for the discharge of important and by no means unburdensome duties, at a period when the Cathedral establishments throughout the kingdom are professedly about to be placed in a state of practical efficiency, and perhaps to be brought to something approaching to equalization, as well of the revenues as of the numbers of their members : and, above all, to the high interests of that Church of which we are nominally dignified ministers, but which is liable to suffer contempt, rather than likely to acquire honour or influence, so far as such honour or influence in any- wise depends upon the means provided for enabling us to main- tain, as elsewhere so especially within this city of Chester, a style of living decently appropriate to our station. And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray, Unwin Clarke, m. a. ' G. B. Blomfield, m.a. F. Wrangham, m. a. William Barlow, m.a. William Ainger, d.d. 25 Nov. 1836. 28 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, fyc. MEMORIAL FROM THE DEAN AND CHAPTER OF DURHAM. To the Honourable the Board of Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England, Chapter Office, Durham, March 8, 1837. Sheweth, That your memorialists feel it to he incumbent upon them to state their decided objection to all those recommendations which contemplate the suppression of any Cathedral dignities and ap- pointments, and, by so doing, threaten to impair the efficiency and stability of the venerable institutions, which, as your memo- rialists were led to believe, it was the purpose of your honour- able Board to strengthen and secure. They wish to record their own settled conviction, that the maintenance of the Cathedrals in their integrity is an object of the utmost moment to the Church establishment, and to the interests of true religion ; and being well persuaded that the proposed changes must go far to destroy the influence and useful- ness of Cathedral establishments, and to render them unfit to accomplish the objects for which they are to be preserved, they respectfully submit to your honourable Board that no suffi- cient reason has been advanced which can call for a diminution of this important branch of our ecclesiastical system. The importance of improving the smaller livings, and of pro- viding for the spiritual wants of a growing population, is fully recognized by your memorialists, who have not been inattentive to these great objects in their own practice ; but they believe the deficiencies in our Parochial system may be more effectively and conveniently supplied without resorting to measures con- fessedly incompetent to their purpose, which involve the confis- cation of Cathedral property, and disturb the ancient and whole- some arrangements of the Church. Your memorialists therefore desire, that the schemes of your honourable Board which affect the integrity of Chapters may be reconsidered, with a view to the augmentation of livings by means which will leave the cathedrals entire and unimpaired. Given under our chapter seal, this seventh day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven. (c. s.) The Dean, in consenting to the memorial, in order to enable his The New Foundation. ;>9 Chapter to express their opinion, desires to keep himself entirely unfettered as to the course he may feel it right to pursue when called upon to vote on the question in his legislative capacity. (From W. C. Chaytor, Esq., the Dean and Chapter Re- gistrar, who is at present from home,) Wm. Peele. LETTER FROM THE REV. DR. SMITH, A PREBENDARY OF DURHAM, TO THE COMMISSIONERS, 15TH JULY, 1836. Dr. Smith, Prebendary of Durham, begs leave to make the following representation and request to the Commissioners, on behalf of the Dean and Chapter of Durham ; not indeed pre- tending to have express authority to do so, but knowing the sen- timents of the Dean and Chapter, upon the points to which he takes the liberty of entreating the Commissioners to turn their attention. The Chapter now consists of a Dean and twelve Prebendaries ; one of the Stalls was appropriated to the Archdeaconry of Durham by Act of Parliament, in the year 1832. The late Bishop declared bis intention of settling three Stalls upon officers of the newly- established University ; namely, upon the Warden, the Professor of divinity, and the Professor of Greek and classical literature ; but some difficulty having occurred respecting the Act of Par- liament which was necessary to carry the Bishop's intentions into effect, the completion of his design was suspended, and will be entirely defeated in consequence of his death, unless the Com- missioners shall be pleased to recommend the revival of it, and the continuance of a sufficient number of Stalls to complete the endowment of the officers of the university, besides those that may be deemed necessary for maintaining the performance of the service of the Cathedral with decency and regularity. The Commissioners encourage the hope of such a recommendation, as they intimate in their Report, " That such arrangements may be made with respect to the Deanery and Canonries in the Chapter of Durham and their revenues, as shall, upon due inquiry and consideration, be determined on, with a view to maintaining the university of Durham in a state of respectability and efficiency, due regard being had to the just claims of any existing officer of the university." And as it cannot be expected that the usual 30 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, tifc. duties of Canons residentiary can be properly performed if the Chapter consist only of persons who must necessarily be much engaged in academical employment, it is hoped that it will not be considered unreasonable to ask that, besides the Archdeacon and the three officers of the university, four other Canons may be continued in the Chapter of Durham. And it is humbly sug- gested, that two of the Canonries so to be retained, may be charged with the cure of the parishes of St. Oswald and Cross- gate, in the city of Durham, both being benefices very mode- rately endowed, and each containing a large population. There are other benefices in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter, and at no great distance from the city, the cure of which might be advantageously annexed to the other Stalls. The livings in the gift of the Dean and Chapter have hitherto been usually given to the Minor Canons, who are allowed by the statutes of the church to hold benefices within a certain distance (about twenty miles) from the Cathedral, and to the schoolmaster. Others have been sometimes taken by members of the Chapter, and the rest have been bestowed upon their friends and con- nexions, but there is no fixed rule for this distribution of the patronage. It is now proposed that the members of the Chapter, and the Minor Canons and schoolmaster, shall retain their respective per- sonal privileges and claims, and that the residue of the livings shall be disposed of to the members of the university, either ac- cording to seniority, as is the usual practice in the colleges in the old university, or according to some other equitable rule to be fixed with the approbation of the Commissioners. The Report recommends " that measures be taken by the Commissioners for the disposal of such residence houses in the precincts of the respective Cathedral and Collegiate Churches as may no longer be required." The precincts of the Cathedral resemble the colleges in the universities ; and have gates, which are closed at night, and may be closed at other times when occasion may require, contributing very materially to the peace and good order and security of the inhabitants. But if any of the houses be alienated, the precincts must necessarily be thrown open, and the salutary control now exercised must be aban- doned, as the new inhabitants will of course be independent of the authority now existing. At Durham the deanery and prebendal houses are contained The New Foundation. 31 in a court, circumstanced as has been described, and it is appre- hended that the alienation of any of those dwellings would be productive of great inconvenience to the members of the chapter, and might tend to the introduction of very objectionable in- habitants. It is proposed, therefore, either that the houses shall continue to be the absolute property of the Dean and Chapter, or that they shall hold them in trust for the university. In the first case, they may be let under such conditions as shall obviate all irregularities in the inhabitants ; in the other case, habitations may be pro- vided for those officers of the university who are not to be mem- bers of the Chapter. All which is humbly submitted to the favourable consideration of the Commissioners. Sam. Smith. Note. — There are other communications from members of the Cathedral Church of Durham ; but they relate to the university of Durham, and do not apply to the Chapter question. MEMORIAL FROM THE DEAN AND CHAPTER OF ELY. To the Honourable the Board of Commissioners, appointed by His Majesty to consider the state of the Established Church with reference to Ecclesiastical Duties and Revenues. The humble Memorial of the Dean and Chapter of the Cathe- dral Church of Ely, Sheweth, That your memorialists, having carefully perused the Second Report of your honourable Board, beg most respectfully to sub- mit to your consideration the subjoined remarks upon certain of the recommendations therein contained. Your memorialists are especially desirous of inviting your attention to the following points, which appear to them to affect most materially the future efficiency and well-being of their capitular body. 1st. The proposed reduction of the chapter of Ely to the number of four. 2d. The proposed transfer, in some cases, of the right of pa- tronage now vested in the Dean and Chapter. 32 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, fyc. 3d. The proposed appropriation of the proceeds of the separate estates with which the Dean and the individual members of the Chapter are endowed, so far as relates to the college of Ely and its immediate precincts. 4th. The proposed term of residence of the Dean. 1st. In reference to the first of these points your memorialists humbly suggest, that assuming the proposed number of four Canons to be adequate to the duties of the Cathedral, and the other important purposes contemplated in the Report, there are peculiar circumstances which render it highly desirable to retain a larger number of Canons in the Cathedral Church of Ely. Your memorialists have here particularly in view the proximity of the university of Cambridge, the intimate connexion of the head of the church of Ely with that university, and the fact that in the university several officers of the greatest consequence, as regards the maintenance and the advancement of sound learning and religion, are at present either inadequately or inconveniently endowed. Convinced of the importance of these considerations, your memorialists cannot but express an earnest hope that the number of Canons in the Cathedral Church of Ely may not be reduced to less than six. 2d. As relates to the second point, your memorialists, with every disposition to comply with such regulations as may be deemed expedient for insuring the due exercise of the patronage vested in their body, would view with the deepest regret the adoption of that recommendation which proposes in some cases absolutely to deprive the Dean and Chapter of the right of patron- age hitherto enjoyed by them. 3d. Upon the third point, your memorialists will not further trouble your honourable Board than by referring to the annexed * plan, from an inspection of which it will at once appear that any arrangement depriving their body of the control now possessed by them over the college of Ely and its precincts must affect most seriously the convenience and comfort of the deanery and of all the prebendal houses. 4th. As respects the fgurth and last point, your memorialists beg leave to observe that, in their humble judgment, the period of nine months, the proposed term of the Dean's residence in • Plan of the deanery, prebendal houses, gardens, &c. The New Foundation. 33 every year, is longer than will be necessary for the well-governing of the Cathedral Church. Actuated by a sincere desire to discharge their duty towards their own body, and to promote the best interests of religion, your memorialists have ventured to address the foregoing obser- vations to your honourable Board ; and it only remains for them to pray that this, their memorial, may receive at your hands an attentive and a favourable consideration. Given under our common seal this twenty- third day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hun- dred and thirty-six. (L. S.) MEMORIAL (2d) FROM THE DEAN AND CHAPTER OF ELY. To the Honourable the Board of Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England. The humble Memorial of the Dean and Chapter of Ely, Sheweth, That in the month of June last your memorialists presented to your honourable Board a brief memorial, containing remarks on certain parts of your Second Report, and praying for a particular consideration of the case of the Cathedral Church of Ely. Your memorialists, having now before them the Fourth as well as the Second Report, and having had full time to consider, in all its bearings, the proposed plan for the remodelling of the Cathe- dral establishments, beg most respectfully to present this their second memorial, and to enter somewhat more fully into the important questions considered in those Reports. More than eighteen months have now elapsed since your me- morialists observed the following announcement at the close of the First Report of your honourable Board : — " We are pro- ceeding with all diligence in our inquiry respecting the other important subjects to which Your Majesty has been pleased to direct our attention ; and shall forthwith take into our considera- tion the present state of the several Cathedral and Collegiate Churches in England and Wales, with the view of submitting to your Majesty some measures by which those foundations may be made more conducive than they now are to the efficiency of the Established Church." 34 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, fyc. From this and other passages of the First Report, your memo- rialists were led to expect a distinct and full consideration of the several Cathedral and Collegiate Churches, and the peculiar cir- cumstances connected with each of them. But your memorialists deeply regret to find, by the subsequent Reports, that this subject has, in the deliberations of your honourable Board, been entirely blended with another, highly important in itself, but forming a distinct branch of inquiry in His Majesty's Commission, viz. " the best mode of providing for the cure of souls, with special reference to the residence of the Clergy on their respective benefices." From the Second Report your memorialists perceive that the attention of your honourable Board was directed, first, to the condition of the Parochial benefices (p. 5) ; and, secondly, to the state of the Cathedral and Collegiate Churches (p. 8). And your memorialists beg most respectfully to submit, that the principles and impressions (as stated in the Report) with which the Com- missioners entered upon the inquiry relating to the Cathedral establishments, lead unavoidably to the conviction, that your honourable Board has looked to those ancient foundations, not so much with a view to the suggestion of measures by which they may be rendered more conducive than they now are to the effi- ciency of the Established Church, as with the object of ascertain- ing what surplus fund may be obtained from their revenues, and made available to the general purpose of increasing the provision for the cure of souls. In the Appendix to that Report, your memorialists observe that the tables (2) and (3) exhibit the deficiency of Parochial pro- vision ; while by the tables which follow (4 — 9) a surplus fund is estimated from the property of the Cathedral and Collegiate Churches, amounting to a sum not much less than one-half of their net annual revenues. And this surplus, to be obtained by a reduction of the existing Chapters, it is proposed to alienate for the purpose of supplying the deficiency of Parochial endow- ments. Your memorialists feel compelled to observe, that this mode of considering the two subjects differs essentially from the course which they were led to expect, as well by the terms of His Majesty's Commission, and the announcement above quoted from the First Report, as by the proposition therein made with The New Foundation. 3C, respect to the vacant stall at Westminster, and the mention of deferred nomination to the vacant Stalls at Canterbury and York. Your memorialists most readily admit and lament the great deficiency of parochial provision which is felt in the Established Church. In proof of this their feeling, they beg to state that, soon after the passing of the Act for the augmentation of bene- fices by ecclesiastical corporations (1 and 2 W. 4. c. 45), they made prospective arrangements for augmenting some of the smaller livings with which the Dean and Chapter of Ely are specially connected. They beg, moreover, to state, that they would most cheerfully bear a fair and equitable share and burden of any general measure calculated to raise the incomes of the poorer benefices throughout the kingdom ; but they deem it unjust that large sacrifices should be required from the Cathedral Establishments in particular, in order to meet a general defi- ciency, and that upon their revenues exclusively should be laid the burden of providing for the spiritual wants of a population whose increase is mainly attributable to the growth of commerce and manufactures, to the increasing wealth and .prosperity of the country at large. Your memorialists observe further, that besides the proposed reduction of the Chapters, and alienation of their revenues, it is recommended that in certain cases the right of patronage now vested in the Deans and Chapters, should pass to the respective Bishops, for the purpose of " adding to the means which they already possess, of placing laborious and deserving Clergymen in situations of usefulness and independence." Your memorialists, admitting fully the importance of the object contemplated by this recommendation, are yet at a loss to discover any principle which justifies the depriving the capitular bodies of their lawful right for the attainment of this object, while the rights of all other patrons, public and private, remain inviolate. The attention of His Majesty's Commissioners is here earnestly requested to the very important consideration, that the recom- mendations above mentioned cannot be adopted without a great and dangerous invasion of long-established rights and privileges. Your memorialists beg to refer your honourable Board to the opening of the Fourth Report, where this consideration is touched upon, and respectfully to remind the Commissioners, that the propositions which that Report describes as affecting " a d2 36 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, Sfc. variety of interests, rights and customs," amount to nothing less than the abrogation of ancient charters of incorporation and endowment, and the violation of the statutes by which the Cathe- dral Churches have for centuries been governed. Your memorialists beg leave respectfully to state to your honourable Board, that the Dean and Chapter of Ely are a body corporate, constituted and endowed by King Henry VIII. From the charter of incorporation granted by that King, the following passages are extracted. " Ad gloriam et honorem sanctae et individuae Trinitatis quan- dam ecclesiam cathedralem de uno decano presbitero et octo presbiteris prebendariis, ibidem Omnipotenti Deo omnino et in perpetuum servituram, creari, erigi, fundari et stabiliri decre- vimus ; et eandem ecclesiam cathedralem de uno decano pres- bitero et octo prebendariis presbiteris cum abis ministris ad divinum cultum necessariis, tenore praesentium realiter et ad ple- num creamus, erigimus, fundamus, stabilimus, et stabiliri ac in perpetuum inviolabiliter observari jubemus per praesentes : . . . . . Ipsosque decanum et prebendarios unum corpus corporatum in re et nomine facimus, creamus et stabilimus, ac eos pro uno corpore facimus, declaramus, ordinamus et acceptamus, habeant- que successionem perpetuam." The statutes by which the church of Ely is governed, were granted originally by King Henry VIII., and revised and con- firmed by Queen Elizabeth and King Charles II. The following are extracts from them : — Chap. l."Statuimus et ordinamus ut sint perpetuo in dicta ecclesia unus decanus, octo canonici, quinque minores canonici." Chap. 18. " Alienationem vel impignerationem alicujus manerii, terrae, reditus, tenementorum, aut alicujus rei immobilis omnino prohibemus, pinguescere enim optamus ecclesiam nostram, non macrescere." In chap. 35, which appoints the Lord Bishop of Ely Visitor of the Church, his lordship's duty as Visitor is thus set forth : — " Pro Christiana fide et ardenti pietatis zelo, vigilet acgnaviter curet ut haec statuta et ordinationes ecclesiae nostras a nobis editas inviolabiliter observentur, possessiones et bona tam spiritualia quam temporalia prospero statu floreant, jura, libertates, compo- sitiones, jurisdictiones ecclesiasticae, et privilegia conserventur et defendantur." This statute, and all others which concern him, the Lord The New Foundation. Bishop elect or his proxy, before his admission to the Cathedral Church, makes oath that he will faithfully observe. In chapters 3 and 9 an oath is prescribed to be taken by the Dean and Canons on their admission, to the following effect : — " Juro quod pro virili mea. terras, tenementa, reditus, possessio- nes, juraque et libertates, atque privilegia, caeterasque res univer- sas hujus ecclesiae servabo et servari procurabo." Seeing, then, that by the will and ordinance of their founder, the rights, liberties, privileges and revenues of the church of Ely, the integrity of the capitular body, and the permanence of the es- tablishment, are guaranteed by the strongest securities and most enduring sanctions, your memorialists, bound as they are by the solemn personal oath, which, as members of the body, they have all taken on their admission, conceive that they would be guilty of a dereliction of duty, did they not respectfully, but firmly, ex- press their deliberate sense of the injustice of the measure now proposed by your honourable Board. The Dean and Chapter of Ely therefore adjure His Majesty's Commissioners to re-consider the scheme detailed in their Second and Fourth Reports, for the remodelling of the Cathedral Churches — the principles on which it is founded — the consequences to which it leads ; and to pause before they finally recommend to His Majesty and the Legislature a measure so subversive of an- cient rights — a measure which could scarcely fail to operate as the introduction to still further and more violent innovations — to be, in fact, the first step in a course of changes, which, beginning with the rights and revenues of the Cathedrals, might ere long proceed to the invasion of all Collegiate and Corporate institutions, and eventually shake the foundations of right and property throughout the realm. Having thus stated their objections to the general character of the proposed measure, your memorialists would now advert more particularly to that proposition which recommends the ultimate reduction of the existing Cathedral Chapters to the number of Four Canons; that number being, in the judgment ofthe Commissioners, sufficient to "secure and continue the most important objects" of those institutions. On examining the reasons alleged in the Re- ports, which have led your honourable Board to this conclusion, your memorialists cannot but observe, that some very important considerations, relating to Cathedral Institutions in general, and to the church of Ely in particular, have been practically over- 38 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, 8fc. looked. And here your memorialists must deeply lament that the same plan of separate consideration, which has been adopted in the case of one English Cathedral, (and which the Commissioners judge necessary for the purpose of ascertaining what reductions can be effected in the expenditure of the corporate revenues), (Rep. 2. p. 14), was not pursued universally, for the important purpose of ascertaining how each Cathedral establishment, in all its circumstances and local relations, might be made most condu- cive to the efficiency of the Established Church. Your memorialists beg also most respectfully to prefer to your honourable Board what seems to them a just and reasonable complaint: That whereas, in the new arrangement of the Dioceses, the Commissioners (Rep. 1.) " have used their best endeavours to learn the opinions of the several Bishops respecting the proposed arrangements, as far as they affect their respective dioceses, and have availed themselves of many suggestions which their local knowledge enabled them to supply," in the inquiry relating to Cathedral Establishments, no communication (so far as your me- morialists are aware) was made to any Bishop, Dean or Chapter, respecting the nature or the provisions of the contemplated measure, nor any endeavours used to render the local knowledge of those connected with the several Cathedrals available to the purposes of His Majesty's Commission. Your memorialists feel themselves the more strongly warranted in urging this complaint, inasmuch as not a single individual whose especial duty it was to advocate the cause of the Cathedral Establishments has had a seat at your honourable Board. With respect to the Church of Ely, your memorialists avow' their decided conviction, that the number of Four Canons is not sufficient to enable the Chapter fully to carry into effect the pur- poses of their institution. To speak first of the Divine Services of the Church. It is enjoined by the statutes, that one of the Canons shall be present either at the morning or evening service of the Choir ; and the practice has been, for the Canons in residence to attend both these services. Independently of all higher considerations, your memorialists are convinced that this regular attendance of one or more of the superior members of the Church is highly requisite to the maintenance of order and solemnity in the per- formance of the daily services. But the proposed number of the Chapter, supposing each Canon to reside three months, is barely The New Foundation. 39 sufficient to fill up the year, allowing nothing whatever for the casualties of sickness, infirmity or unavoidable absence. With a Chapter of Four Canons, the vacancy of one Stall might leave the Church without the presence of a single Canon during a very long period. Before quitting this topic, your memorialists beg leave to state their deliberate opinion, that it would be highly inexpedient to reduce the present statutable number of Five Minor Canons, of whom one is almost entirely occupied by the duties of the gram- mar school attached to the Cathedral. The statute " de Concionibus," &c, begins in the following manner : — " Quia lucerna pedibus nostris est verbum Dei, statuimus et volumus ut decanus et canonici nostri, imo per misericordiam Dei obscuramus, ut in verbo Dei opportune et importune semi- nando sint seduli, cum alias, turn praecipue in ecclesia nostra cathedrali." In compliance with this strong injunction, your memorialists are in the constant habit of preaching to a very large con- gregation assembled in the body of the Cathedral Church. In cases of sickness and infirmity, it has been the custom for one member of the Chapter to take another's duty ; so that there are very few Sundays in the year when the pulpit is not occupied by the Lord Bishop of the Diocese, the Dean, or some member of the Chapter. Your memorialists are convinced that it would not be possible to maintain this part of the service upon its present footing if the number of Canons were reduced to Four. The infirm- ities of age, and the accidents of life affecting any member of the body, could not then be compensated by the services of other members, and the duty of preaching must devolve, much more frequently than at present, upon assistant ministers. Your me- morialists humbly submit that such a state of things would not be, as regards the Chapter, " a state of efficiency or respectability," far less of dignity. Your memorialists observe by the Ecclesiastical Revenues Report, that in the Churches of York and Chichester the duty of preaching does not fall entirely on the Canons residentiary, but is shared by them with the numerous Prebendaries, not members of the Chapter, each of whom has one, two or more sermons assigned to him in the course of the year. Your memorialists, 6 40 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, fyc. therefore, must protest against any inference drawn from the present state of the Chapters of York and Chichester, as to the sufficiency of Four Canons for the due performance of the services of the Church of Ely ; and they maintain, that should the pro- posed reduction ever take place, it would most seriously impair the dignity, solemnity and efficiency of those religious offices which were ordained by their Founder to be performed for ever in the Cathedral Church of Ely, to the glory of Almighty God, and the welfare of his people. Your memorialists will content themselves with briefly noticing some other purposes contemplated in the institution of Cathedral Chapters, for the fulfilment of which their efficiency and useful- ness must be much diminished by the proposed reduction of the number of Canons. Such are, the election of Bishops, assistance at their ordi- nations (at which solemn ceremony it is required by the 81st of the constitutions and canons ecclesiastical, that not only the Archdeacon, but the Dean and two Prebendaries, at the least, shall be present), the furnishing to the respective Diocesans a council of advice, an honourable support, and attendance on public occasions, — to the parochial Clergy a connecting link be- tween them and their Diocesan, and a protection against the possible undue exercise of episcopal authority. It is superfluous to dwell upon the benefits which accrue to religion from the opportunities which Cathedral patronage affords to the Bishop of rewarding meritorious Clergymen within this Diocese ; but this consideration now acquires additional weight in the case of Ely, from the proposed enlargement of the Diocese by two entire counties. Your memorialists would add to the foregoing enumeration the maintaining an influence over the Cathedral city and its neigh- bourhood, by the example of a body of men dedicated to the service of God, the patronage of schools and charities, the exer- cise of hospitality, the management of the corporate property, and the fulfilment of those trusts with which the church re- venues are charged for the special benefit of the city and neigh- bourhood. All these purposes are contemplated in the charter and statutes of the Church of Ely ; and your memorialists declare most un- equivocally that it would not be in the power of their Chapter, if diminished by one-half of their present number, to execute these The New Foundation. 41 several purposes with efficiency and respectability, still less with that dignity and authority which become their ancient founda- tion, and for which ample provision was made by the endowments of their Founder. But there is one purpose of Cathedral institutions to which your memorialists are most especially anxious to call the attention of the Commissioners, and which, next to the perpetual worship of Almighty God, is perhaps of all others the most important ; viz. the maintenance of a learned Clergy, by whose labours in the higher departments of theological study the true Christian faith may be continually defended against all attacks, and error ex- cluded most effectually from the bosom of the Church. Your memorialists need not remind your honourable Board, that for studies like these the parochial Clergy have in general little leisure, and yet fewer facilities; nor can His Majesty's Com- missioners be unaware that a very large proportion of those works of religious learning, which are the glory of the English Church, mainly owe their origin and completion to the leisure and opportunities afforded by Cathedral and Collegiate insti- tutions. Your memorialists would refer particularly to one work, the inestimable benefit of which is felt, not only to the farthest ex- tremity of these kingdoms, but wherever the English tongue is spoken, — the authorized translation of the Holy Scriptures. Your memorialists will be excused for mentioning, with feelings of honest pride, that of the number of those to whom the exe- cution of this great task was committed, there are three whose names stand recorded among the former Canons of the Church of Ely. Your memorialists deeply regret to find that so little impor- tance appears to have been attached by your honourable Board to considerations of this nature ; for even after the contemplated ^reduction of the Chapters, it is further recommended by your honourable Board that to one at least of the remaining Four Canonries should be united the duties of an Archdeaconry, and to others the parochial charge of populous districts ; an arrangement which would reduce almost to nothing the provi- sion hitherto supplied by the Cathedrals for the maintenance of sacred learning. Your memorialists cannot but view these recommendations of your honourable Board with the greatest alarm, being con- 42 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, fyc. vinced that a continual supply of men able to defend the faitl against all assailants, and versed in the higher department: of theological learning, is essential to the maintenance of true religion; and that even the labours of the parochial ministr} would be diminished in value and effect, if deprived of the coun- tenance and support, animation and guidance, which they have long derived from the studies fostered by the religious retire- ment of the Cathedral Churches. Your memorialists beg leave to refer to the well-known ad- mission of one of the most eminent Scottish divines, that the want of endowed institutions for the supply of a learned Clergy is severely felt in the Scottish Church, and would be still more so if the defect were not in part compensated by the advantages derived from the vicinity of the Church of England. Experience has fully shown that no one class of Clergy, however zealous in the discharge of their duty, can supply all the wants of a Christian church. The fears of your memorialists on this subject are much augmented by the circumstances of the times, in which the increase of population and of the Clergy, together with the more general diffusion of knowledge, and, above all, the endea- vours of Romanists and Dissenters to found institutions similar (in some respects) to the Cathedral Establishments, appear most urgently to demand, that the institutions which the Church of England possesses for the supply of sound religious learning should be cherished and maintained, if possible, in increased vigour and efficiency. Without this your memorialists are firmly convinced that the Church of England, whose office it is to minister to the spiritual instruction of a highly-educated and intelligent people, will lose, at no distant period, much of that respect and veneration which she at present happily enjoys. Moved by these considerations, your memorialists entreat your honourable Board not to lose sight of those important purposes for which the Cathedrals of England were designed, and which, even to the present time, they have in great measure fulfilled ; but to turn your attention to those means by which the accomplishment of the ends above enumerated may be more securely and constantly attained, while, at the same time, the Cathedral foundations are made more conducive to the practical efficiency of the Established Church. With respect to the Cathedral Church of Ely, your memo- The New Foundation. 43 i rialists are persuaded the means are at hand by which the object i of His Majesty's Commission may be effected, without the abro- ■ gation of any charter or the violation of any right, privilege or ' liberty ; and in perfect consistency with the full execution of all • the original important purposes of the foundation. ■ Your memorialists would first advert to the state of the two ■ parishes into which the city of Ely is divided ; they are now under the spiritual charge of two of the Minor Canons as per- petual curates, with insufficient incomes, which have been aug- mented by the Dean and Chapter and by Queen Anne's Bounty. Your memorialists humbly suggest that the annexation of the charge of these two parishes to two of the Canonries, would do much to increase the efficiency of the Church in this place, and to strengthen the connexion between the Cathedral and the City. By this arrangement the incomes of the Prebendal vicars (as compared with the population of the parishes) would indeed be ; somewhat larger than is assigned by the proposed scale of the | Commissioners (one parish containing near 5,000, the other 1 2,000 inhabitants) ; but it is presumed that this scale is the lowest which the Commissioners judge to be consistent with the respectability of the parochial Clergy ; and your memorialists are convinced that the difference would not be greater than is war- ranted by the situation which the ministers of these two parishes occupy in the Cathedral city of the Diocese of Ely. In making this suggestion, your memorialists believe that they are acting in entire accordance with the views of their Diocesan and Visitor. Your memorialists would readily acquiesce in the recommen- dation, that one entire Canonry be united with the Archdeaconry of Ely. Supposing these important practical duties to be annexed to three of the eight Canonries, your memorialists would respect- fully suggest that the remaining five cannot be considered too j large a provision for the maintenance and encouragement of I sacred learning in this Diocese. And here your memorialists would recur to a subject briefly noticed in their former memorial, respectfully observing that two or three of these remaining Canonries might (without injury to the rights of any patron) be most advantageously annexed to certain important offices con- nected with the advancement of sacred learning in the Univer- sity of Cambridge, which are at present either inadequately or Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, §c. inconveniently endowed. This annexation would tend to give additional consideration to the Chapter of Ely ; and the proximity of the University would enable the possessors of these Canonries, without neglect of their academical duties, to act on all occasions as efficient members of the Chapter. These suggestions your memorialists beg most respectfully to offer to the consideration of your honourable Board. They have felt it to be their duty freely to lay before the Commissioners their opinions of the plan proposed in the Reports, together with such suggestions derived from a local knowledge of their own establishment, as seem, in their judgment, more adapted to lead to a satisfactory completion of this branch of the Commissioners' inquiry, so far as regards the Cathedral Church of Ely. In conclusion, your memorialists beg to assure your honour- able Board, that being members of an ancient and venerable institution, dedicated to the service of God, they have learned to regard the permanence of their establishment in efficiency and dignity with feelings of far deeper interest than their own per- sonal vested rights ; and they now earnestly bespeak the atten- tion of your honourable Board to this their memorial, being con- vinced that the hints which they have here ventured to throw out, are in strict accordance with the terms and spirit of His Majesty's Commission, and well adapted to promote the end for which the Commission was issued ; while, at the same time, they are perfectly consistent with the fulfilment of all those purposes for which the Cathedral Church of Ely was constituted and en- dowed, and involve no violation or infringement of those rights and privileges which the Dean and Chapter of Ely now legally enjoy, and which they have solemnly sworn to defend to the utmost of their power. Given under our common seal this twentieth day of De- cember, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six. (c. s.) MEMORIAL FROM THE DEAN AND CHAPTER OF NORWICH. To His Majesty's Commissioners appointed to consider the State of the Established Church in England and Wales with refer- ence to Ecclesiastical Duties and Revenues. The Dean and Chapter of Norwich, with every feeling of duty and respect for His Majesty's Church Commissioners, beg leave The New Foundation. briefly to state the reasons of their unanimous disapproval of those recommendations of the Commissioners which relate to the alienation of the revenues of Cathedrals, the reduction of the present number of Prebendaries, and the transfer of the pa- tronage of Deans and Chapters to the Bishops. First, with reference to the right of Deans and Chapters to dispose of their own revenues under the regulations contained in their statutes, the Dean and Chapter would observe, that the endowments of Cathedrals having been given for certain specific purposes, namely, the decorous celebration of divine service, the respectable maintenance of the various members, and the con- tinual reparation of the fabrics, they cannot lawfully be diverted into other, even ecclesiastical channels, until those specified purposes shall have been effected. The Dean and Chapter are therefore of opinion, that before the Commissioners can with propriety apply any part of the incomes of Cathedrals " to the augmentation of small livings, or the increase of the number of parochial Clergymen," they ought, first, to take effectual measures for insuring the continual preservation of those venerable structures by appropriating from the profits of sup- pressed stalls a separate and permanent fund for that express object; and, secondly, to make some adequate provision for the retirement of superannuated lay clerks, and thus to supply a want which is more or less felt by every Choir in the kingdom. Should any surplus remain after these and similar objects shall have been effected, the Dean and Chapter would rejoice to see it employed in the augmentation of populous benefices in their own patronage ; but they most earnestly deprecate the transfer of the revenues of Cathedrals to any but their own daughter Churches, as subversive of the whole principle of ecclesiastical endowment, and a manifest violation of the known intentions of the Founders. With respect to the second particular, the Dean and Chapter earnestly hope that the Commissioners, instead of renewing their recommendation to diminish the number of Prebendaries in Cathedrals, will, in their wisdom, devise some principle of annex- ation by which the great object of " rendering Cathedrals con- ducive to the efficiency of the Established Church" may be more satisfactorily effected than it would be by diminishing the means of rewarding meritorious exertion amongst an order of men to whose zeal and fidelity the highest interests of mankind are entrusted. 46 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, fyc. Third, with regard to the total or partial alienation of Cathe- dral Patronage, more mature deliberation has only confirmed the Dean and Chapter in their already expressed disapproval of that recommendation. It would deprive parties of existing rights, secured to them by law during life or good behaviour, and it would condemn without trial and punish without conviction numerous corporate bodies upon a vague accusation of having abused a sacred public trust ; and hence they consider it unjust. It tends also, without any adequate motive, to introduce an inju- rious disunion amongst the various orders of ecclesiastical patrons, and to encourage an inquiry into the past disposition of their preferment, from which, possibly, the public may deduce con- clusions very different from those to which the Commissioners have arrived. In short, in whatever light the question be viewed, they come to the conclusion, that the carrying into effect this part of the recommendations of the Church Commissioners would be an act of direct spoliation, not only unjust, but ill-timed and inexpedient, — a dangerous example to rash and ill-principled men, who may not scruple in after times to appeal to it as a jus- tification of still greater inroads on the rights of ecclesiastical property, and perhaps also of a selfish appropriation, under the sanction of the law, of the corporate funds of our ancient institutions. The Dean and Chapter, however, refrain from entering further into this subject, as they hope that the Commissioners, after maturer consideration of the small importance of the advantages contemplated, and the magnitude of the evils threatened by the proposed transfer of preferments, have already determined not to persevere in their recommendation. Dated this thirteenth day of December, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six. (c. s.) LETTER FROM THE DEAN OF NORWICH TO THE SECRETARY. Sir, Deanery, Norwich, 23d December 1836. The Dean and Chapter of Norwich request you to take the earliest opportunity of expressing to His Majesty's Church Com- missioners their great surprise and regret on learning that the memorial which they recently addressed to the Commissioners The New Foundation. 47 has, without their knowledge or consent, been published in a Kentish newspaper. The Dean and Chapter earnestly desire that the Commissioners should believe that this proceeding was altogether unauthorized by them. They never for a moment entertained an idea of ap- pealing to the public. Their memorial was solely intended for that body to whose wisdom and integrity His Majesty has en- trusted their interests, and on whose justice they entirely rely. The Dean and Chapter cannot inform you by what means this memorial has obtained publicity. It was their wish that it should be seen only by those parties whom it especially concerned, and they are not conscious of having neglected any precaution supposed necessary to ensure that object. Only two copies of it (both in MS.) were made, one of which was forwarded to the Commissioners, and the other was sent, as a mark of courtesy, to the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury, in return for a similar private communication which had been made by that body. I have the honour &c. Geo. Pellew, Dean. MEMORANDUM FROM THE DEAN OF NORWICH TO THE COMMISSIONERS. Deanery, Norwich, 16th February 1835. As Cathedrals are regarded in law as the parish churches of their respective dioceses it seems highly important that they should be made wholesome patterns and ensamples to the inferior churches, and, as far as possible, available to the great end of Christian improvement. In viewing the subject in this light, I shall consider, first, the Number of which the establishment shoidd consist ; 2d, their Duties ; 3d, their Revenues. 1st. Before we consider the first point, it is necessary to ascertain the principle on which the Commissioners intend to proceed. If they regard Cathedral dignities as prizes in the Church, intended to excite energies and reward the services of a crowded and meritorious profession, the present number of such Dignities can scarcely be considered too numerous for this pur- pose, nor would the largest possible reduction of them enable 1 Burn's Ecclesiastical Law, vol. i. p. 283. -18 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, fyc. the Commissioners to make any perceptible addition to the re- ceipts of the parochial Clergy. This Diocese, for instance, con- tains about 1 ,250 clergymen, and but seven Cathedral Dignities, so that the chances are nearly two hundred to one against any individual attaining this distinction; and if four of these Stalls were to be suppressed, and their revenues (about 2,000/.) divided amongst the parochial Clergy, this, after all, would add less than 21. to the annual incomes of each, a sum too paltry to be accept- able. But should the principle be adopted of reducing Cathedral establishments to the lowest amount at which the duties can be effectually carried on, it cannot, I think, be denied that the fre- quent changes of residence interrupt the regularity of the system, and detract from its efficiency ; and that the services of one re- sponsible head are more essential to the good government of a Cathedral than those of many persons (however efficient in themselves) who are constantly succeeding each other at short intervals. Confining myself, therefore, strictly to the scale of utility, I should say, that a Dean and three, or even two, Pre- bendaries and two Minor Canons would be sufficient to carry on the duty respectably, provided the practice of chanting the whole service be relinquished; if it be retained, more Minor Canons will be required. But in most Cathedrals the number of lay clerks or singing men requires an increase ; in none, I believe, will it admit of diminution. In this Cathedral the Choir consists of eight clerical, and eight lay members ; and it was clearly the Founder's intention that the former should take part in the sing- ing equally with the latter. But the improved feeling of modern times prohibits the employment of clergymen in such a way; and hence, whilst our Minor Canons are uselessly numerous, the lay clerks are so unequal to their duties, that the Chapter is obliged to employ two effective men as supernumeraries. In common also with every other Cathedral, our Choir is rendered still more ineffective in consequence of there being no provision for the retirement of the lay clerks, when old age comes upon them. Their utility as singers ceases at rather an early age, and hence there are few Choirs that have not several useless mem- bers : until very recently we had three out of eight in this state. An increase, therefore, in the number of lay singers, or the sub- stitution of lay for clerical ones, and the providing in every Choir for the retirement of one or more worn-out member on his bene decessit, would, I think, be found very useful improvements. The New Foundation. 49 2d. Duties of Deans and Chapters. — These were originally important. Chapters were appointed as a " council assistant to the Bishop in matters spiritual and temporal ; for it was not thought right that the whole burden of the Church should fall on the Bishop only, and therefore every Bishop was assisted with a council to consult with him in matters of difficulty concerning religion, and also for the better ordering of the things of the Church." (Burn.) The forty-second canon requires " every Dean to reside ninety days in his Cathedral each year, and there continue preaching the Word of God, and keeping good hospitality." The forty-third, " obliges him to preach also in other churches of the same Diocese, and especially in those places whence the Cathedral derives rents." It was also the custom originally for the Bishop to assign to the second spiritual person in his Diocese, under the title of suffragan, coadjutor, or assistant, some part of the least sacred of his episcopal duties. The original duties, therefore, of the members of Cathedrals were by no means unimportant, and I think that by their revival at this time, by the addition of a con- tiguous district to the precincts, if they are not sufficiently populous, and by the intrusting the spiritual charge thereof to the Dean, or to the Dean and Chapter (though I do not see how this last is to be effected), those bodies would be provided with a sufficient portion of useful occupation. Lord Henley's proposal, of requiring the Dean and each member to take charge of a city or contiguous living, is liable to this great objection, that it makes the Cathedral, the principal parish Church in the Diocese, a secondary object to its own subordinate churches, and leaves it, as at present, without the spiritual superintendence of the Dean and Chapter. But in whatever mode, or to whatever extent, it may be deemed right to interfere with Cathedrals, it appears to me that some dispensation, or release from the authority of their private statutes, as far as they may be affected by the change, will be necessary, as the members are now bound by oath to observe them. It appears desirable also, in case of extensive changes in Church government, that the Commissioners should take steps for facilitating amongst the Clergy generally exchanges of preferment and other arrangements, in order that the con- templated improvements should be carried into effect with as little delay as possible. This might be effected by the Bishops, Chapters, Colleges, &c. &c. agreeing at this particular crisis to E 50 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, §c. relax their rules respecting exchanges, &c. &c, and by the Commissioners recommending patrons generally to do the same. With respect to the means of rendering the Cathedral service more acceptable to the public, I believe it principally rests with the Bishops and Clergy at large to effect that salutary internal improvement in the Church which has so long been a desideratum : the increased responsibility of the cure of souls would naturally direct the attention of Deans and Chapters to this subject. The practice of singing the prayers, that relic of Popery, so opposed to the spirit of Protestantism and to the simplicity of the English character, will I earnestly trust be abolished; it answers no good purpose, and in the opinion of the public it detracts from the solemnity of devotion, by affecting to express in artificial tones the natural language of the heart ; whilst it leads to the employ- ment of a class of persons generally of humble origin, who, from having received a musical rather than a liberal education, do not always add respectability to the clerical profession, whilst they constitute a most objectionable description of pluralists. Deans and Chapters also, finding their parishioners increased, would increase the number of sittings in their choirs, which now often comprise only the very limited accommodation required at the Reformation, when the Cathedral service was peculiarly un- palatable to the public ; they would also then add a sermon to the Sunday afternoon's service, an experiment which has already been tried for four years in this Cathedral with the best results. But, although many voluntary improvements would probably thus take place in a short time, doubtless the progress of improve- ment would be greatly accelerated by the Commissioners making those changes which may appear to them important, the subject of special recommendation. Revenues. — In estimating the revenues of Deans and Chapters, it is hoped that the Commissioners will take into consideration the universal falling off of income during the two years elapsed since Church incomes were inquired into. This arises from two causes : 1st, the gradual decrease in the value of every descrip- tion of landed produce ; 2dly, the increase of expenditure arising from the desire of Deans and Chapters to augment the payments to their curates and officers, and remove all other subjects of com- plaint. From these causes my income as Dean has already fallen off one-sixth, or from 1,200Z. to 1,000/. ; since the average was taken ; and I presume others have suffered to the same extent. The Neva Foundation. 51 From the net income of this Chapter, which does not exceed 4,000/. per annum, or thereabout, I think much cannot be taken without injury to the Churches. We have no special fund for repairs except what arises from timber, which, from the high price it bore during the war, has all been sold, and its produce is now quite expended, and there cannot be another fall for many years. Meanwhile we have succeeded to our preferments at the close of a very long period of architectural neglect ; and on these accounts the sums paid from the gross receipts for repairs during the three years, for which the average was taken, will by no means suffice for the future repairs. It therefore appears desirable, in the event of any alteration in the present system, that a permanent fund (say one Stall) should be reserved for repairs, to be strictly applied to that purpose. There is a provision of this kind at York, called St. Peter's Stall, as the perfect state of the Minster sufficiently attests. Passing on to another subject : it is evident that any addition to the duties of Deans and Prebendaries will increase their term of residence, and interfere with their holding other preferment. At present the 44th canon indirectly authorizes their holding prefer- ment, but strictly enjoins them" to repair presently to their bene- fices when the term of their residences has expired." But if they are required to reside so much longer, and are restricted to that one preferment, their situations, instead of being, as now, an object of pursuit, will become even less desirable than many of the livings, and will only be tenable to those who possess private fortunes ; in fact it is solely in consequence of their other prefer- ments that such persons, even now, can maintain their respect- ability, and meet the unreasonable demands upon their funds. In short, as no one considers the average of the episcopal incomes, as given in the last number of the Quarterly Review, at all too high, it does not appear reasonable that the person next in rank, and, as I hope he will shortly be made, next in utility to the Bishop, should receive less than a fifth part of his income. I do not think the hope expressed in the Quarterly, of adding to the value of Chapter property by changing the tenure, can be realized, because this increase must be extracted from the present lay owners and impropriators, who of course would oppose such an attempt to the uttermost. If the view, as above expressed, which I have taken of the sub- ject be to any extent correct, it is evident that the Commissioners 52 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, 8fc. will fail in effecting any considerable improvement in the con- dition of the parochial Clergy from the superfluous funds of such an establishment as the Cathedral of Norwich. I have the honour, &c. Geo. Pellew. STATEMENT FROM THE DEAN AND CHAPTER OF CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD. The Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral Church of Christ, in the University of Oxford, humbly request permission to submit the subjoined Statement to the consideration of His Majesty s Ec- clesiastical Commissioners. 1. They have observed with much regret that a recommend- ation has been made to suppress two out of the eight Canonries now subsisting, and to transfer the incomes of these two Canonries to a fund to be established for the purpose of making a better provision for the cure of souls. They had hoped that, considering their connexion with the University, no alteration would have been made in their number as fixed by their royal Founder, such number being in no respect too large to afford a reasonable en- couragement to exertion in theological pursuits, and the studies peculiar to a learned education. Praying, therefore, that their numbers may remain unaltered, they at the same time beg to represent, that their patronage consists of very many poor livings, which have been from time to time augmented, but still are in need of much assistance to render them adequate for the decent maintenance of a Clergyman. They humbly submit that if it shall be finally determined to suppress two Canonries, the proceeds thereof should be applied to the improvement of these ill-endowed livings, and for the benefit of the parishes out of which the revenues of the Chapter accrue. 2. They have observed that it is intended to reduce Minor Canons in all Cathedrals to the number of four. Now, the chap- lains who perform service in this Cathedral Church differ very materially from the Minor Canons of other Cathedrals. They are selected generally from the order of servitors of the degree of B.A.; they have each a set of rooms, and commons The Neiv Foundation. 53 daily in the hall, and a quarterly dividend similar in amount to that of the students ; they are subject to the same rules of discipline as "other dependent members of the same degree, and they lose their appointment by marriage. They are, then, to be considered in the light of fellows of a college, though of an inferior order ; and much inconvenience, without any advantage whatever, would result from any alteration in their character or condition. 3. They feel much alarmed at the contemplated disposition of the residences, which, in the event of any Canonries being sup- pressed, might become vacant. As these lodgings are situate within the walls of an academical college, it is absolutely neces- sary, for the preservation of order and discipline, that no one should be domiciliated therein who should not at the same time be under the authority of the college. They submit respectfully that these lodgings should remain at the disposal of the Dean and Chapter for collegiate purposes. 4. With regard to patronage ; their livings being bestowed upon the students and chaplains, and not upon the members of the Chapter, they conceive that the fair claims of individuals sanctioned now by long use would be unjustly destroyed, if the appointment to such benefices were transferred to any other quarter. But they forbear to dwell at greater length upon this point, because since the introduction of the Bill to carry into effect the recommendations in the Fourth Report, they have been assured that the Commissioners adhere to the intention ori- ginally declared in their Second Report, and intend reserving to the Dean and Chapter of Christ Church the full exercise of their right of patronage. In conclusion, the Dean and Chapter solemnly protest against any interference in the management of their corporate property, and against the alienation of any part of it to other purposes than the spiritual welfare of the parishes from which their revenues are derived. Signed, in the name of the Dean and Chapter, T. Gaisford, Dean. Christ Church, 2nd Dec. 1836. 54 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, §c. LETTER FROM THE DEAN OF RIPON TO THE SECRETARY. Deanery, Ripon, 28th March, 1836. Sir, I am desirous to offer to you one or two observations on the peculiar duties of the members of our Church, as it is now con- stituted. Until within the last ten years the Minster of Ripon was the only established place of worship for the use of the town and neighbourhood. The Dean and Chapter are Rectors of the parish, and the residentiary, with the aid of the two vicars choral, as his curates, has invariably discharged the duties of a parish priest within the town, together with that which devolves upon him in the col- legiate Church. The union of the two duties has been very acceptable as well as beneficial to the inhabitants of Ripon, and whatever intentions may be formed as to the constitution of a new Chapter, this circumstance, I should hope, requires only to be known for it to be attended to. About nine years ago, through the munificent bequest of an individual, a Church, called Trinity Church, was built and endowed at the other end of the town ; it is a great convenience to several of the inhabitants for better observance of the Sabbath, but, as no particular district is assigned to the incumbent, it takes off very little of the responsibility of the Minster Clergy in regard to their parochial duties. It would be well for both parties if a distinct district were assigned to Trinity Church, similar to those which are given to our several parochial chapelries. Owing to the smallness of our incomes, the Dean has hitherto been, with very little variation, the sole residentiary ; and so far as I can ascertain the probable amount of our income in future I can look but to one way by which a future Chapter of Ripon can be put on the same footing as to numbers as the rest of the Cathedrals in the kingdom. In one part of the Second Report it appears that the Commissioners intend to take the Hospitals which are dispersed in different parts of the country into their future consideration, with a view of applying the revenues arising from them to the purposes of the church. The Commissioners ought to know that there are two Hospitals of this description now belonging to me, as Master, which are in The New Foundation. 55 the gift of the Archbishop of York. The revenues of these Hos- pitals arise from estates let on leases for lives, and have been made a subject of enquiry in Chancery, where a new scheme has been directed to be made for the future disposal of such revenues. I have never personally objected to this enquiry beyond the necessary duty of defending the rights of those who come after me, and would willingly concur in any proposal which might convert these estates into monies which might be applied to the future uses of the Church of Ripon, and especially to the future increase of the salaries of our two vicars choral. These two gentlemen, who are both in the strictest sense of the word the parochial ministers (in conjunction with the resi- dentiary) of the town, have, by a personal sacrifice of the Chap- ter, a bare income of 100/. per annum, out of which they have to provide for themselves a residence. The patronage of the Chap- ter, to which they would justly be entitled, consists of a few perpetual curacies in the neighbourhood, and a vicarage named Cleasby, which is worth about 200/. per annum, in Richmond. If the estates belonging to the two Hospitals were offered in the first place to the present lessees for sale, and on their refusal to any other purchaser, a sum might be raised which would put the present charity on a more efficient footing, provide for the two Vicars, and give a surplus for the respectable maintenance of a Dean and four Canons, like the other Cathedrals. Without it or some such measure I should suppose, from the tenor of the Report, that the Chapter here could not well consist of more than a Dean and the two intended Archdeacons. I have taken great pains to ascertain the probable dividend we shall have after all our outgoings and salaries are paid, and 1 cannot safely place it at more than 5001. per annum. Allowing the Dean a twofold share, and supposing the Chapter to consist only of the two Archdeacons, this would leave to the Dean 250/., together with his present salary and allowance for residence, viz. 93 + 70, which would give to him an income of 413/. ; it would leave to the two archdeacons the remaining 250/. besides the present sub-dean's salary and thise of the existing six pre- bendaries 35 + 140=425/., which would give to each about 212/. per annum. There remains only one more observation for me to make : if the Commissioners have it in contemplation that any member of the Chapter shall reside here in aid of the Dean, it will be 56 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, Sfc. necessary to purchase a residence house, which might be used in succession by those for whom it is intended after the example of York and Southwell. There would be no difficulty in obtaining such a residence, and two similar ones for the vicars choral, near the Minster, and on very moderate terms. If in this or any other way I can be of the least use in fur- thering the wishes of His Majesty's Commissioners, I shall take a pleasure in obeying their instructions and commands. I have the honour to be, &c. J. Webber. MEMORIAL FROM THE DEAN AND CHAPTER OF ROCHESTER. To His Majesty's Commissioners appointed to consider the Stale of the Established Church in England in Wales, with refer- ence to its Duties and Revenues. We, the Dean and Prebendaries of Rochester, in Chapter assembled, beg leave respectfully to submit the following re- marks and statements with reference to some parts of the Second Report made by the Commissioners. With regard to that part of the Report which relates to a reduction of the number of Minor Canons, we beg to submit, that the number to be retained should not be less than three. We must, however, state that we have appropriated a sum of 235/. 9«. 6d. per annum to the augmentation of small livings in our patronage, in furtherance of the object contemplated by the Act of Parliament recently passed for this purpose. And further, that, owing to the inadequacy of our regular income to defray the average charges of repairing the fabric and maintaining the establishment of our Church, we have relin- quished for the last eleven years, and we still continue to relin- quish, our claim to a sum of 400/. per annum, which till that time used to be divided among the Dean and Prebendaries. There will, therefore, be extreme difficulty in providing ade- quate stipends for the Minor Canons, under the proposed regula- tions, unless the Commissioners should think fit to recommend that a portion of the revenues of one of the suppressed Stalls should be applied to this purpose. We have the less delicacy in The Neiu Foundation. 51 making this suggestion, because we rely on the assurance of the Commissioners, that the vested rights of the existing members of the Chapter will be respected. We conclude that the occasional charges to which each exist- ing Prebendary is liable for the repairs of the fabric, and all other incidental expenses, will be deducted from the share belonging to each suppressed Prebend, before it is payable to the treasurer of Queen Anne's Bounty. We are of opinion, that if the Dean should hold a benefice with cure of souls together with his deanery, he will be too much precluded from residence on the former, if he be required to reside nine months upon the latter. It appears to us that the Dean should not be required to reside upon his deanery for a longer period than six months. We have observed with great concern the recommendation to deprive us of the exercise of our patronage beyond what is in just proportion to the number by which it is proposed to reduce our corporate body ; for, though it be true that, on the suppres- sion of ecclesiastical offices, the patrons of those offices must so far lose their patronage, we cannot think it right or just to indemnify them by the transfer of patronage from other public bodies. Our opinion is, that the patron of suppressed Prebends should enjoy the same privilege with respect to patronage as the Prebendaries would have possessed had they been appointed as heretofore. We are ready to concede, that in case the revenues of a suppressed Stall should be applied to the endowment of a new district Church, the patronage of that Church should pass to the patron of the Prebend ; but we protest most respectfully, yet most earnestly, against the alienation of patronage conferred on our Chapter by the Founder; and, therefore, we entreat the Commissioners to reconsider that part of their Report which recommends that the presentations to livings, not required for the preferment of the members of the Chapter or Minor Canons, should be taken away from the corporate body to which they were granted by charter. Dated this sixth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and thirtv-six. (c. s.) 58 Chapter arid Collegiate Memorials, 8fc. MEMORIAL (2d) FROM THE DEAN AND CHAPTER OF ROCHESTER. To His Majesty's Commissioners appointed to consider the State of the Established Church in England and Wales, with refer- ence to Ecclesiastical Duties and Revenues. We, the Dean and Prebendaries of Rochester, in Chapter assembled, beg leave, with the utmost respect and deference, to present a second Memorial to the Commissioners, upon a subject immediately affecting the privileges and rights of the present and future members of the Chapter. We are most unwilling to appear disposed, in the slightest degree, to embarrass the labours of the Commissioners, faithfully intended, as we are persuaded they have been, to promote and extend the efficiency of the Established Church ; and we there- fore refrain from adverting to several points of detail in the Re- ports of the Commissioners, to which, as at present informed, we entertain objections. Yet we cannot but express our regret that the Fourth Report renews the proposition contained in the Second Report (and to which we had presumed to state our strong objections in our memorial of the sixth of April last), that, in the event of the suppression of various Prebends in the Cathedrals of England and Wales, more than a proportionate share of the patronage with which they have been endowed should be transferred to other patrons. It was to this proposition that we particularly presumed to express our strong objection, in our memorial dated on the sixth of April last, presently after the publication of the Second Report. If, in opposing what we consider an unnecessary and unreason- able reduction of our patronage, we have appeared to acquiesce in the propriety of the suppression of the Prebends, and forma- tion of a common fund out of their revenues for the benefit of the Church in any quarter whatsoever, we will not conceal our conscientious opinion, that the same ends might have been accomplished by better and safer means, because less obviously at variance with the intention of our Founders ; and especially by directing attention, in the first instance, to the annexation of Prebends in some cases, and the appropriation of their proceeds in others, to populous parishes and poor benefices directly con- nected, either locally or otherwise, with the several Cathedral 6 The New Foundation. 59 Churches. And we still trust that this principle, which we are happy to find, to a certain extent, recognized in the 56th propo- sition annexed to the Fourth Report, will be largely acted upon, so that the property and revenues of suppressed Prebends may not be applied to the relief of the necessities of the Church in other quarters, until after the most careful consideration of the wants and circumstances both of the places from which they are derived, and of those with which the several Cathedrals are more immediately connected. But in any case we venture to renew the respectful expression of our conviction, that no sufficient reasons have hitherto been alleged for what, in default of such reasons, must wear the appearance of a violent alteration of our charters, the transfer, namely, of our patronage and that of our successors to other hands, beyond that proportionate reduction of it, which, assum- ing the suppression of any Prebends, we have ever admitted to be reasonable ; and we particularly submit, that whatever may be decided with regard to the interests of our successors, the principle distinctly recognized in the 53d proposition of the Fourth Report, under which the exercise of patronage in respect of separate property is not to be disturbed during the continn- ance of existing interests, ought also, upon every ground of jus- tice and equity, to be extended to the privileges appertaining to existing members of Chapters by virtue of their corporate pro- perty. We therefore earnestly, but respectfully, request the Com- missioners to reconsider these portions of the measures which they have recommended, before they are again submitted to the notice of Parliament. Dated 1st December 1836. (c. s.) MEMORIAL FROM THE DEAN AND PREBENDARIES OF WINCHESTER. To His Majesty's Commissioners appointed to consider the State of the Established Church with reference to Ecclesiastical Duties and Revenues. We, the Dean and Prebendaries of Winchester Cathedral, while we express our concurrence with the principles and views stated in the Memorial lately presented to the Board from the 60 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, 8fc. Dean and Chapter of Canterbury, are particularly desirous of bringing under the special notice of the Commissioners one most important consideration, which, on account of the variety of topics, could be stated in that paper only in a summary way. We allude to the intimate connexion which subsists between Cathedral institutions and the maintenance of a sound theology. We do not make light of our daily services of prayer and praise : it is fitting that, in a Christian land, every day should commence and conclude with the public acknowledgment of our Redeemer and our God : neither would we depreciate the value of our Sunday services, nor detract from the benefits derived from them by the large and attentive congregations on that holy day ; nor yet, again, would we overlook the advantage which has been de- rived to our Cathedral towns from the support afforded by the members of the Chapters, both individually and collectively, to the various local charities, which cannot but suffer in propor- tion to the diminution of the number of residentiaries. But we beg leave to state it as our entire conviction, that the utility of Cathedral institutions is not to be measured by considerations of this nature alone, and that their vast importance is to be traced, not only in the outward magnificence of the venerable fabrics, in the sanctity which attaches to them as the repositories for the ashes of the illustrious dead, and in the sacred and imposing effect of their choir service, coeval and co- extensive with the establishment of Christianity itself ; but, in addition to these, in the aid which they give to the theological learning of the coun- try, and in the opportunities which they afford for its public development. Whether it were specifically avowed or not by the founders and supporters of Cathedrals, as one of their leading objects, to make them subservient to these high purposes, we deem it superfluous to inquire. This, in point of fact, is a service which they are suited to fulfil — a service which they have rendered in times past, and which they are fully capable of affording in our own days, and in ages yet to come ; and we deprecate the pro- posed changes, as necessarily tending to diminish, if not wholly to destroy, this invaluable advantage. In past times, whenever an assailant of God's Word, or an enemy to the Church of Christ, came forth into the field, there never has been wanting a faithful combatant to meet him, armed at all points and sure of victory. Whenever a great principle The Neio Foundation. (II was to be illustrated, or an important truth to be established, there were always to be found men of piety and learning and leisure equal to the work. And whence did they come ? From that class of labourers who were spending — and most usefully spending — their health and strength, their time and their talents, in parochial ministrations? from those who have no access to libraries, and no leisure to use them? Not from these; but, in the vast majority of instances, from the Universities and Cathe- drals of the country ; from those retreats of learned leisure, where, free from the anxieties attendant upon a narrow income, and from the incessant cares which belong to the cure of souls, they could give themselves more entirely to the higher walks of literature and theology, and pursue their admirable course with- out distraction. It was by those very appointments, or by appointments of that class, which it is now the fashion to stigmatize as sinecures, that the giants of English theology were reared, and that they were enabled to give to their own age and to posterity their great and inestimable services. Had the founders of our Church regarded as alone worthy of attention (to use the words of a learned pres- byterian of the present day) " mere menial and personal labour, with a total insensibility to the prerogatives and necessities of mental and intellectual labour;" had there been no sinecures, as they are invidiously called, no places of honourable retreat where sacred learning could be prosecuted at leisure ; had all the Clergy of former days been converted into working parochial ministers, or had the members of Cathedrals been so reduced in numbers as by reason of the incessant claims upon their attention to have no time for study or composition ; the greater part of the venerable names which adorn the annals of our Church and country would never have been known. It was to the sinecures connected with the Church, and in no mean degree to those of Cathedrals, that we are, under Providence, indebted for our Cranmers, and Rid- leys, and Jewels, and Whitgifts, and Hookers, and Davenants, and Halls, and Ushers, and Lightfoots, and Pearsons, and Cud- worths, and Patricks, and Barrows, and Tillotsons, and Stilling- fieets, and Pococks, and Fleetwoods, and Gastrells, and Gibsons, and Waterlands, and Sherlocks, and Seekers, and Butlers, and Newtons, and Balguys, and Lowths, and Horsleys, with a mul- titude of others, who are the admiration of foreign churches and the glory of their country, and will ever be regarded as amongst 62 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, 8fc. the greatest lights of the world ; and we confidently appeal to them as witnesses on behalf of such sinecures as those for which we plead, and we claim them as never-dying advocates for our venerable institutions. So strong is our conviction as to the importance of these " sinecures," that if they did not at present exist, we should hold it to be one of the first duties of those in public authority to create them ; not for the routine of daily service, however valua- ble, but for the high and grand objects of theological learning and true religion. It is not unknown to the Commissioners that we are by no means singular in this judgment. They are aware that we here only adopt the sentiments of one of the most distinguish- ed divines of the present generation, the brightest ornament of a Church which is destitute of these bulwarks and appendages, and which lamentably feels the want of them. If it depended on Dr. Chalmers, the sinecures which are threatened with abolition in this part of the kingdom would re-appear in the Church of Scotland. In venturing to speak of Colleges as well as Cathedrals, we beg to observe, that it is not our intention to plead for those who are fully qualified to speak for themselves ; we refer to the literary appointments of Universities as somewhat analogous to our own ; and we notice them especially, because of the disastrous effect which the proposed reduction of Cathedral establishments will necessarily have upon them. Hitherto a Stall in a Cathedral has been looked to as by no means an improbable reward for those learned and excellent members of the Universities who, after holding for many years stations of much labour, but of little emo- lument, were desirous to obtain the common comforts, which the members of every other profession enjoy, of domestic society. Henceforth there will be a bar to all such animating expecta- tions ; and the sure and necessary effect — an effect felt in some degree, we have reason to believe, from the mere publication of the Commissioners' Reports, — will be to drive into other pro- fessions the young men of chief talent and promise; and the highly important offices connected with the tuition of the colleges will be transferred to men of inferior qualifications ; an evil which will be felt most deeply through the whole of the country, and which, if once incurred, could with difficulty be remedied. If, however, circumstances with which we are unacquainted render it in the estimation of the Commissioners an imperative The New Foundation. 63 duty to alter the constitution of Cathedrals ; if it be impossible to keep that provision so wisely established by our forefathers for theological literature ; if the many hundreds of parochial clergy- men in this and other Dioceses, and we in this place cannot help adding, the masters of our great public schools, are to be deprived of the reasonable hope, that by diligence and faithfulness in the discharge of their parochial and scholastic duties, and by services rendered generally to their country and to the Church of Christ, they might obtain (as a testimony to their character) the respect- able addition of a dignity in their Cathedral Church, and the means either of enlarged usefulness or increased comforts in their de- clining years ; if all this be judged indispensable, we have still a duty, painful indeed, but not the less binding on our consciences, left us to perform ; and we do hereby, in the discharge of our sacred obligation, respectfully, but most solemnly, protest in the first place, against the taking away of our funds as unjust in prin- ciple and dangerous as a precedent in its consequences to all pro- perty ; and, in the second place, against the application of those funds to any livings but our own, as enriching other patrons at our expense. We are fully aware of the poverty of many bene- fices, and should rejoice to see an adequate improvement of them ; but we believe that other plans may be adopted for that purpose, more effective in themselves, and not liable to the ob- jection of incurring the risk of lowering the theological attain- ments, and thereby diminishing the efficiency of the Clergy, by withdrawing that encouragement which the Cathedral establish- ments supply. Winchester, 9 Dec. 1836. (c. s.) MEMORIAL FROM THE MINOR CANONS OF WINCHESTER. We, the undersigned Minor Canons of Winchester Cathedral, beg leave respectfully to lay before the Commissioners of Ecclesiastical Inquiry the following Statement : It appears from the Report of the Commissioners, that, in future, Minor Canons will be precluded from holding benefices together with their offices in the Cathedral ; consequently those gentlemen who already fill these offices, and who accepted the same with the hope of gradually rising to the best preferment, can no longer look forward to any additional reward of their Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, 8fc. labours from the Dean and Chapter. The Report seems to con- sider that the preferment now held by Minor Canons supplies the deficiency of their salaries. These salaries do not, in our Cathedral, exceed £65 per annum, except in the case of any one whose entire annual receipts, both from the Chapter and from his preferment held as Minor Canon, may not amount to £200. To a Minor Canon so situated the Chapter grants an addition of £20 to his yearly salary. We venture, however, to suggest to the Commissioners, that by the operation of the Curates' Act, our livings (the best of which does not exceed £261 gross annual value) are reduced to a very low scale. When to the stipend of the curate (who in most cases receives £120) are added the payment of land-tax and tenths, and the expenses of keeping up a parsonage-house, and of supporting the schools and various charities in the parish and neighbourhood, there remains but little for the incumbent, even supposing him able, which is rarely the case, to collect the whole of his tithe. The interests of two of our body would be materially affected by the adoption of the Report, the one holding a Perpetual Curacy near Winchester, not exceeding £76 in gross annual value, the other having no benefice at all. We further take the liberty to state, that we have no houses attached to our office ; but to the last elected Minor Canon, who holds no living, the Chapter have allowed a yearly sum of £30 for house-rent, which we have no reason to suppose will be dis- continued so long as he remains without any preferment. T. Watkins, Precentor. S. J. Etty. Thos. Westcombe. G-. H. Poore. W. N. Hooper. Dated this twelfth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six. It being necessary that the foregoing statement should be for- warded to the Commissioners without delay, we have taken the liberty of transmitting it without the signature of one of our body, who is absent from Winchester. The Neiv Foundation. 65 MEMORIAL FROM THE DEAN AND CHAPTER OF WORCESTER. To His Majesty's Commissioners appointed to consider the State of the Established Church, with reference to Ecclesiastical Duties and Revenues. The Memorial of the Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral Church at Worcester. The Dean and Chapter having maturely weighed the various propositions for reducing and remodelling Cathedral Establish- ments, contained in the Fourth Report of your honourable Board, respectfully yet most earnestly solicit attention to the following considerations. That the Dean and Chapter of Worcester are an ecclesiastical corporation, founded and endowed by King Henry VIII. for the maintenance of true religion, and, as the charter ex- presses it, " Ut, ubi ignorantia et superstitio regnabant, ibi sincerus Dei cultus vigeat, et sanctum Christi Evangelium assidue et pure annuncietur," &c. That the perpetuity of their number is strictly commanded by their royal Founder : " Imprimis statuimus et ordinamus ut sint perpetuo in dicta ecclesia unus decanus, decern canonici," &c. And that, in obedience to their statutes, a solemn oath is ad- ministered to them on their admission, binding them to maintain, to the utmost of their power, the property, the privileges and the statutes of their body : " Tactis sacrosanctis Dei evangeliis, juro quod pro virili meo terras, tenementa, reditus, possessiones, juraque et libertates, atque privilegia, caeterasque res universas hujus ecclesia? servabo et servari procurabo ; omniaque et singula statu ta ac ordinationes Regis Henrici Octavi fundatoris nostri custodiam," &c. : That the rights and privileges and revenues and statutes of the Cathedral Church of Worcester, and the integrity and perpetuity of the Capitular body, being thus solemnly established and gua- ranteed, such a violation of them as is now proposed would be not merely unjust in principle, but most fearful in its too pro- bable consequences, being an obvious precedent for every future F 66 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials. $c. invasion of chartered rights, and threatening the security of all right and property whatsoever. That the proposed measure would be also a manifest encroach- ment on the ecclesiastical constitution of the realm, by reducing the numbers of those in whom is vested the election of Bishops, and whose efficient exercise of this high privilege, it would in times like these be presumptuous to say that the welfare of the Church may not ere long imperatively demand : That it would in a great degree withdraw the existing en- couragements to theological learning, destroying in the same proportion those fair prospects of professional advancement, which few of the parochial Clergy would willingly exchange for that insignificant increase of present income, which is the utmost that could be looked for from the plan proposed. That not only would the cherished hopes of the rising gene- ration of Clergy be thus blighted, but the future inducements to incur the expense of an University education would be propor- tionably diminished, until the Church should be reduced to seek her Ministry from lower stations and inferior attainments, and religion herself should eventually decline with the respectability, the efficiency, and the influence of the Clerical profession. The Dean and Chapter, independently of the strong and, they trust, well-founded objections which they entertain to the mea- sure in general, cannot but regard with particular dissatisfaction and alarm several of its specific provisions. They would assuredly deprecate as peculiarly unjust and op- pressive ; first, any interference with the disposal of vacant Pre- bendal houses, as indeed with their independent management of any part of their property ; Next, the proposed transfer of a portion of their Patronage to other hands, involving at once an infringement of a long-estab- lished right, and an unfounded insinuation of abuse in the exer- cise of it. And, finally, the application of their funds to the benefit of distant parishes, wholly unconnected with their body ; a frequent result of which would be to improve the value of lay patronage at the expense of Ecclesiastical property. On the whole, the Dean and Chapter cannot but indulge the hope, that your honourable Board may become sensible of the injustice and inexpediency of violating the integrity of Cathedral The Netv Foundation. 07 establishments, and be induced carefully to reconsider a mea- sure, which in its present form is fraught with evils both imme- diate and prospective, far outweighing the very trifling advan- tages which are anticipated from its adoption. Given under our common seal, this fourteenth day of January, 1837. (c. s.) MEMORIAL FROM THE DEAN AND CHAPTER OF WESTMINSTER. To His Majesty's Commissioners appointed to consider the State of the Established Church in England and Wales, with refe- rence to Ecclesiastical Duties and Revenues. The Dean and Chapter of Westminster beg, with due respect, to call the attention of the Commissioners to their situation under the proceedings about to be recommended to Parliament concerning Collegiate as well as Cathedral Churches. They will speak by preference on those points which have the least connexion with their private interest. It is intended to reduce the twelve Prebendaries established here by Queen Elizabeth to four only ; and it is the solemn persuasion of the Dean and Chapter, that with so small a number of Prebendaries the Divine Service cannot be performed either with reasonable convenience to the offlciators, or with spiritual benefit to the public. They beg to explain the grounds of this opinion. It was provided by the original statutes that four of the twelve Prebendaries should reside here at the same time, during four months in the year ; and this appears to have been intended partly as a standing assistance in the business of the Chapter, but chiefly as a security for the effective discharge of the services of the Church by some one of the residing Prebendaries, in case of the sickness or unavoidable absence of the Prebendary, to whom was allotted the principal care of each month. In the year 1745, however, on the representation of the Dean and Chapter, an order was obtained from the Crown, allotting one month ab- solutely to each Prebendary without the concurrent residence of any other Prebendary ; and hence has arisen great inconvenience f 2 68 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, 8fc. to the Divine Service, and great dissatisfaction to the public, as, during the illness or accidental absence of the Prebendary, no other Prebendary was ready to supply his place, and the preach- ings were performed by deputies. From this experience, the Dean and Chapter are led to express their strong apprehension that the intended reduction of the number of Prebendaries will but increase the ill effects of the order above described ; for scarcely will the health of any single Prebendary sustain him in the daily effective service of three successive months ; and the division of the whole attendance into single months, with intervals, would be inconvenient and vex- atious from too frequent a change of residence ; and in the end, perhaps, lead to a large and fatal abandonment of their duty by those who, notwithstanding, are solemnly pledged to the per- sonal performance of it. This argument is yet stronger from the fact, that the principle of annexation is already begun here in the person of a Prebendal rector. The union of his Stall with a parish demanding so much spiritual care might have been beneficial, if the service of the Stall itself were not made too burdensome. But while the care of more than 25,000 souls is demanded from the rector, the attend- ance of the Prebendary is also augmented in a triple degree. The two duties will unavoidably struggle with each other, to the detriment perhaps of both ; and the Dean and Chapter are, un- fortunately, able to assure the Commissioners, that the prospect of these accumulated and incompatible labours begins already to produce a discouragement even in well-disposed and willing minds. Under these circumstances, and particularly as another Stall is to be annexed to another populous parish in this neighbourhood, the Dean and Chapter do, with all earnestness, represent that four Prebendaries, besides the two Prebendal rectors, ought to be preserved for the service of this Church ; and that with less than this number the duties cannot be performed in a manner accept- able to the Clergy, or useful to the public. The Dean and Chapter, however, must here observe, that in obtaining even this request, they shall still look with deep regret to the intended reduction of the Prebendaries below the entire number fixed by their statutes. The principle of this and similar foundations was wise and salutary ; viz., that of an hon- ourable encouragement and a gradual elevation of the learning The New Foundation. 69 and piety of the Church of England. If this purpose has not at all times been fully answered, the failure must be attributed to the wrong judgment or ill principles of those to whom the pa- tronage has been entrusted. But no nomination of unfit persons to places so important, no perversion of them to interested pur- poses, whether public or private, can prove the inutility of the places themselves, or justify the suppression of them, or affect in any degree the righteous principle on which they were founded. The Dean and Chapter will add a few words on the Patronage vested in their own Church. They disclaim all appeal to it as an interest; spiritual patronage was never founded on this principle, and ought never to be so possessed ; and they would gladly look to the purest and most effective exercise of it. In their present practice, the Dean and Prebendaries are entitled in turn to present to vacant benefices ; and, from the mutual confidence of the par- ties, the seal is affixed on each nomination, unless in some extra- ordinary case. But although proper persons are generally so named (most of them having been Curates of the Dean and Prebendaries) there are occasional failures, nor by the present system is there a sufficient check. To transfer their Patronage as is now proposed, after certain reservations, to the Bishop of the Diocese, would seem to promise a better security. The Bishop is a sole person, more prominent in his station, and there- fore more easily made responsible for his appointments. But it is never to be forgotten, that though in the hands of a spiritually- minded person, an increase of patronage would be an increase of blessing to the Church, the worldly man will also have his turn of corrupt advantage from it ; and when the public observation is relaxed, he will apply to his own secular views the objects solemnly entrusted to him for the pure support of the Church of Christ. Indeed, in the unhappy history of Patronage wrongly exercised, it would be equally difficult and invidious to compare the quantity of blame belonging to the Episcopal or the Capitular appointments ; and, perhaps, the true wisdom of legislation on the subject would be, not to aggrieve one of the parties by as- suming a moral superiority for the other, (a superiority which certainly does not exist,) but to correct the present imperfections which belong to much of the Capitular patronage, by some more positive regulations within the limits of the Chapters them- selves. 70 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, SfC The Dean and Chapter will only add, that they deem their case to be entitled to the peculiar consideration of the Commis- sioners ; for, without the compulsion of any law, they have already met the application of the Commissioners, on the union of St. Margaret's parish with one of the prebendal Stalls, by a voluntary sacrifice of all the rights and profits belonging to them as rectors of the parish, together with the patronage itself; and they have pledged themselves to a similar surrender of the rec- tory of St. John's, when opportunity shall offer. But what do they now ask in return ? — If their whole establishment cannot be preserved, they desire the continuance of at least six Preben- daries, the two Prebendal Rectors included, for the requisite service of their Church; and that what remains to them of patronage, in the sense above expressed, may be still left in their hands, under any regulations which the Legislature may pre- scribe. John Ireland, Dean. MEMORIAL FROM THE REV. JAMES LUPTON, MINOR CANON OF WESTMINSTER, TO THE COMMISSIONERS. To the Lords and others His Majesty's Church Commissioners. The humble Petition of the undersigned Minor Canon of Westminster, Sheweth, That your petitioner, like the rest of his brethren, is called upon to perform four months' duty in the Abbey every year, and during that time to be present every day successively. He is also responsible during two months in the year for early prayers ; and pays one of his brethren to be relieved from the responsibility. That your petitioner's remuneration for this duty is 100/. a year. That your petitioner is statutably entitled to a house within the precincts of the Abbey, but has hitherto had no house as- signed to him ; for loss of which he receives an annual compen- sation of 1/. 155. The New Foundation. 71 That the other five Minor Canons are entitled to houses like- wise ; that one of them, the Precentor Dr. Daking, actually possesses one. That there is now a fund accumulating under the hands of the Dean and Chapter for the rebuilding of four other houses for the other four Minor Canons ; but that no pro- vision whatever is made for the rebuilding of the house belonging to your petitioner. Your petitioner has learnt that some of the Prebends at the Abbey are likely to be suppressed, and of course he concludes that the houses belonging to these suppressed Prebends will be unoccupied. Your petitioner therefore prays that one of these Prebendal houses may be assigned to him, in such manner and form as to your Commission may seem good. And your Petitioner will ever pray. James Lupton. END OF THE NEW FOUNDATION. CHAPTERS ON THE OLD FOUNDATION. THE MEMORIAL OF THE SUB-CHANTER AND VICARS-CHORAL OF THE CATHEDRAL AND METROPOLITICAL CHURCH OF ST. PETER IN YORK, To His Majesty's Commissioners appointed by a Commission under the Great Seal to consider the State of the Established Church with reference to Ecclesiastical Duties and Revenues, Sheweth : That the Sub-chanter and Vicars-choral of the Cathedral Church of York are a distinct College in the Cathedral, dependent on the principal or prebendal College, have a common seal by charter of Henry V., which is still in existence, and have the entire management of their own estates, which are vested in them absolutely, certain money payments being also made to them by the Dean and Chapter arid the Piebendaries. That anciently there were as many Vicars-choral as Preben- daries; but that they were diminished in number after the Reformation, till in the year 1679, there were only five Vicars, which appear to have been the number ever since : That the revenues of the Vicars-choral having become, by The Old Foundation. 73 changes introduced at the Reformation, insufficient to maintain them, even when reduced as above, the Archbishop and the Dean and Chapter have for a very long time given five livings in York, of small value, to the Vicars ; the Archbishop presenting the living of Holy Trinity Goodramgate to one of them, and the Dean and Chapter presenting the livings following to the other Vicars ; viz., Saint Michael le Belfrey, St. Martin in Coney-street, Saint John Ousebridge End, and Saint Mary Bishophill the Younger ; by which means the income of a Vicar-choral becomes from all sources (the produce of their estates, the money payments before alluded to, and the profits of their livings,) about 20(M. per annum to a junior, and nearly 3001. per annum to the senior : That the money payments to the Vicars charged upon the estates of the Dean and Chapter and the Prebendaries amount to 1081. 19s. 8c?. per annum ; a payment which, it is hoped, will be secured to them, whatever disposition the Commissioners may think proper to recommend respecting those estates : That fewer than five Vicars-choral would be insufficient to perform the duties which devolve upon them; as may be pre- sumed from hence, that when the Dean and Chapter found it ex- pedient to increase the income of each Vicar, they did not for that purpose reduce the number below five ; and as will further appear from what took place at the beginning of the present century : two Vicars had become incapable of duty, a third, in consequence of the increase of duty, though an uncommonly strong man and in full vigour of health, lost his voice in the year 1801. The two remaining Vicars not being able long to continue the services, the Dean and Chapter found it necessary to allow the two super- annuated Vicars to have substitutes, who were admitted Vicars on the decease of their principals. That on account of the number of Churches in York, twenty- three besides the Minster, in a population of 28,000, it is not advisable to increase the duty in the parish Churches of the Vicars, except one. There are at present two full services every Sunday in the living of Holy Trinity Goodramgate, there being two Churches in the living ; one every Sunday in the afternoon in the Church of St Michael le Belfrey, a morning service not being necessary on account of its proximity to the Minster, where there is a full service in the morning; one full service every Sunday in the Church of St. Martin, Coney-street, another not being necessary on account of the smallness of the population, 74 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, Sfc. and the nearness of other Churches, where there is full service on the other part of the day ; and one full service every Sunday in the afternoon in the Church of St. John Ousebridge End, another not being necessary, for the reasons last mentioned. In this last- mentioned Church there is, however, a voluntary evening service performed by a clergyman, not the incumbent of the living. That by a full service is here meant Prayers and a Sermon : That if additional funds can be provided, it will be very desir- able to increase the duty in the remaining one of the Vicars' parishes, that of St. Mary Bishophill the Younger, in which there is only one full service every fortnight, in the afternoon, in the mother Church in York, and one full service once every month in the afternoon in each of the two unendowed chapels, one of which is at Copmanthorpe, and the other at Upper Poppleton, and both four miles from York. That it would be advantageous if there could be one full service every Sunday afternoon in the mother Church (more being unnecessary there on account of two morning Churches being very close at hand), one full service every Sunday at Copmanthorpe, and the same at Upper Poppleton ; but that the employing a part of the present income of the living for the increase of duty upon it is to be deprecated, as well for other reasons, so also because this living, being usually given to a senior Vicar, is no more than sufficient at present, together with what he receives from the Cathedral, to maintain a clergyman in advancing years : That the memorialists respectfully submit to His Majesty's Commissioners, that it follows from the above premises, viz., the maximum of a Vicar's income in York Minster not reach- ing 3001. per annum, five Vicars being necessary for perform- ing the choral services, and no additional duty being neces- sary in their parish Churches, except as before stated, that the choral services in the Cathedral of York cannot, as they conceive, more conveniently, or at less charge, be provided for than by the present arrangement, — an arrangement which, in successive times, the Archbishop and the Dean and Chapter have resorted to as affording the best means, under the circumstances, of inducing men of character to take the situation of Vicars-choral. The Old Foundation. 75 MEMORIAL FROM THE DEAN AND CHAPTER OF EXETER. To His Majesty's Commissioners appointed to consider the State of the Established Church with reference to Ecclesiastical Duties and Revenues. The Memorial of the Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral Church of Exeter. The Dean and Chapter of Exeter have read with the deepest attention, and the utmost respect for His Majesty's Commis- sioners, the Second Report presented by them to His Majesty, and more especially that part of it which relates to Cathedral Churches, and they feel themselves impelled by a sense of duty to offer to the Commissioners the following observations : The Commissioners set out with saying, that " they have entered upon the inquiry which relates to Cathedral and Colle- giate Churches under a strong impression, that if the endow- ment of those bodies should appear to be larger than is requisite for the purposes of these institutions, and for maintaining them in such a state of efficiency and respectability as may enable them fully to carry those purposes into effect, the surplus of those endowments, whatever it may be, ought to be made avail- able for the augmentation of poor benefices containing a large population, and to the great object of adding to the number of the parochial Clergy.'' They further admit the " advantage resulting to the interests of religion, from the existence of this species of preferment, when conferred on clergymen distinguished for their professional merit, as well as the benefits accruing to the cities in which the Cathedrals are situate from the residence of such a description of Clergy; but they are of opinion, that the most important object of these institutions may be secured and continued consistently with a reduction of the present Cathedral preferment, and the appropriation of a considerable portion of the revenues toward making a better provision for the cure of souls." The Chapter of Exeter apprehend that this is the leading principle of the Report, as affecting Cathedral and Collegiate Churches, — the abstraction of a certain portion of their revenues for other purposes than those to which they are now statutably applied; that portion to be determined by the amount requisite for maintaining them in such a state of efficiency and respecta- 76 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, §c. bility as may enable them fully to carry into effect the purposes of their institution. In following out this leading principle, the Report proposes a variety of changes as to the fundamental constitution of these bodies, the number of their members, and the disposal of their patronage, which appear to the Chapter not necessarily connected with the leading principle of this Report, and are even in some respects at variance with the tenor of both Reports. Admitting the importance of the object for which it is proposed to alienate a portion of their corporate property, the Dean and Chapter regret, nevertheless, to see the transfer of ecclesiastical revenues accruing almost entirely from this Diocese, and employed for a period of nearly 800 years on this spot, to the improvement of distant parts of the kingdom, before the spiritual wants of this City and Diocese are fully supplied, and to the eventual augmentation of the value of benefices in lay patronage. But assuming the leading principle of the Report, they are prepared to contend that the " efficiency and respectability" of their body cannot be " secured and continued" by the proposed arrangement. The efficiency and respectability of such a body ought not to be considered abstractedly, but with reference to the whole Diocese of which they form a part, the City in which they reside, the duties which have hitherto devolved upon them, the manner of their fulfilment, and the just expectation of their fellow-citizens. It is evident that a Cathedral establishment which might be adequate to the wants of York, Chichester, and Carlisle, may not be suited to a City and Diocese like Exeter. According to the new arrangement of the Sees, as proposed by the Commissioners, the Diocese of Exeter will be the most exten- sive of all in point of territory, and only inferior in population to those of London and Manchester. The city of Exeter, the capital, as it may be called, of the West of England, and the centre of a large and important district, contains more than 30,000 souls ; and the Chapter of the Diocese, founded in this city before the Conquest, would therefore, on the ground of its position alone, require greater means to enable them to carry into effect the purposes of their institution than the Churches of Carlisle and Chichester, and even of York itself. If the efficiency and respectability of Cathedrals which have The Old Foundation. 77 never had more than a Dean and four Residentiaries may be maintained by the same scale as heretofore, nevertheless, in the case of Exeter, which has always hitherto had a Dean and eight Residentiaries, the efficiency and respectability of the body may, by the reduced scale, be greatly impaired. It is proposed that the Chapter of Exeter shall ultimately con- sist of a Dean and four residentiaries ; and no provision is made for the unavoidable interruption which age, infirmity, sickness, or accident, must inevitably occasion. But it is to the constant residence of at least two, and to the daily presence of one, or, unless from the operation of these causes, two Canons at divine service throughout the year, that they attribute the high and acknowledged efficiency of their whole establishment, and the respect with which their ministra- tions are held by the public at large. In the discharge of the many and important public duties which their position in the Diocese and the city brings upon them, it is the presence and co-operation of two or more Canons which alone could enable them to act with the necessary promp- titude and decision. Whatever shall diminish the usefulness of the body in any of these respects, will detract from its efficiency and respectability in the eyes of the world; and the outcry against Cathedral establishments will be more violent, when such duties are seen to be inadequately performed by a few, than it is now, when they are allowed to be adequately performed by many. Nor is it only in matters strictly belonging to the Church that the Chapter are called upon to employ themselves. There are in Exeter above fifty public institutions, many of which are in close connexion with the Established Church, and many of a purely charitable character, in the conduct of which the Chapter have always taken, and are expected to take, a prominent part. The disadvantage to these institutions, from the diminished attention paid to them, will be as great as the injury to the Church itself from the loss of that legitimate and beneficial influence, which has hitherto been acquired by the active superintendence of the Canons in residence. On the very ground, then, of maintaining the efficiency and respectability of the body to which they belong, and with a view to enable them to fulfil the purposes of their institution in strict accordance with the principle of the Report itself, the Dean and Chapter beg to record their solemn conviction, that a Dean and 78 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, Sfc. four residentiaries are not enough to perform adequately the duties which at Exeter devolve upon the body. In the next place, the Dean and Chapter observe that it is proposed to give the Bishop the direct appointment to as many residentiary Stalls as shall remain. Now this is a change in their fundamental constitution. The Chapter of Exeter was always an elective Chapter, and no reason is given for its not continuing so; on the contrary, as it appears that its Prebends, being of merely nominal value, are to be retained, the Chapter cannot discover any ground why their ancient constitution, which they have sworn to maintain, should be violated, and the Residentiaries should not continue to be elected out of the Prebendaries as heretofore. There are also two other points connected with the number of Residentiaries, and the division of their corporate fund, to which they earnestly desire to draw the attention of the Commissioners. One of the most prominent principles of the Report is, that the incomes of the Bishops are to be made up out of the general fund of Episcopal property, and without commendams. But in the case of Exeter, and of Exeter alone, it is proposed that the income of the See shall hereafter be made up in part by the pro- fits of a Cathedral dignity held in commendam, namely, the trea- surership, and also the proceeds of a residentiary Stall. The Report states that " in the Cathedrals of Lincoln, Lichfield, Exeter, and Salisbury, there are Prebends not residentiary, the whole or part of the revenues of which belong to the Bishops of the respective Dioceses." But there is this difference between Exeter and the other three Bishopricks ; the Bishops of those three are possessed of non-residentiary Prebends only, without a share of the corporate income, and without residentiary duties ; whereas the Bishop of Exeter, besides his non-residentiary Pre- bend, has a residentiary Stall and the place of treasurer. He receives not only the stipend of the Prebend and the profits of the treasurership, but the dividend of a Residentiary, and by the statutes of the Church has the same duties to perform as any other Residentiary. It is not stated in the Report whether future Bishops of Exeter are to continue Residentiaries, or whether they are to draw their share from the corporate fund without per- forming any duties for it. The Dean and Chapter do not sup- pose it to be the intention of the Commissioners that future Bishops of Exeter should perform the duties of a Residentiary, The Old Foundation. 79 and cannot, therefore, understand how, consistently with the principles of the Report, the Bishop can hold a residentiary Stall, and abstract a share from the corporate revenues. The Commissioners will also permit the Chapter to point out a discrepancy in the operation of their scheme as to the old and new foundations, which possibly may not have been designed. The Report, in assigning to the Deans on the old foundations a double share, proposes to assimilate the arrangement with respect to the Dean's emoluments in the old and new foundations. But it appears, by the table in the Appendix, that it is intended in the Chapter of the old foundations to take the Dean's second share not as one original share, the fund being divisible into the same number of shares as at present, but to take it out of the other shares by dividing the fund into one more share than at present. Now it is obvious, first, that such a mode of dealing with the fund is not dealing equally with the new and old foundations, because it leaves in the former the income of the Stalls at its present amount, and reduces the latter by one-sixth, or in any other proportion, as the case may be ; and secondly, that it postpones the arrangement as regards the Dean until after the extinction of the intended number of Stalls; that is, if the vested interests of the present members of the Chapter continue to be respected. The Chapter can see no reason why the Canons of the old foundations are to be subjected to a diminution of income, to which those of the new foundations are not liable ; and they cannot but conclude, from a comparison of the tabular statement with the paragraph in the Report recognizing the propriety of putting the Canons of both foundations on the same footing, that the calculations have been made and the figures inserted under an erroneous view of the case. In conformity, then, with the principles of the two Reports, the Chapter beg leave most respectfully to observe, that, in their, judgment, no share ought to have been assigned to the Bishop ; and secondly, that of the eight remaining shares, the number abstracted from the Chapter ought to have been two, instead of three. It appearing, then, that two shares of the corporate surplus are the proper contribution to the general fund, and that the shave assigned to the Bishop ought to revert to the Chapter, they 80 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, §c. are prepared to suggest a scheme by which they think that, without trenching upon the rights of the Chapter, or violating the fundamental constitution of their body, their efficiency and re- spectability may be maintained, and whatever benefits arise from the residence of such a body of Clergy in their city might be secured. They would propose that the division of the corporate fund should ultimately be as follows : To the Dean 2 shares. To the general fund 2 ,, To the Residentiaries .... 6 „ 10 „ Of these Residentiaries, four might be elected, as of old, by the Chapter out of the body of Prebendaries who are appointed by the Bishop, and the two other residentiary Stalls might be made available for the two purposes of affording a better provision for Archdeacons and the charge of populous parishes in the place, according to the suggestions of the Report, provided only that those who receive the profits of these Stalls shall keep the statutable residence. Such an arrangement as this would leave some means of rewarding the learned Clergy of the Diocese, and would meet the local wants of the city, which should be first considered. In fact, there is a benefice in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter adjoining to the city of Exeter, and, with its two de- pendant chapels embracing a large portion of the city, with a rapidly-increasing population, amounting at present to about 12,000, to which a residentiary Stall might be annexed, as in the case of the parishes of St. Margaret and St. John in West- minster. If the opinion of the Commissioners in these respects shall in any degree accord with that which the Chapter have ventured to express, they are ready to enter upon a more detailed discussion of the means of carrying their views into effect, and at the same time leaving as large a contribution from the revenues of the body to the general fund as appears to be called for by the prin- ciples of the Report. For in addition to one-fifth of the corporate income, there will be transferred to the general fund what must eventually prove of very considerable value, namely, the separate estates of the Dean, Precentor, Chancellor, Treasurer, and Sub- Dean. The Old Foundation. 31 They will, therefore, only add in this part of their Memorial, with reference to some regulations which appear to be contem- plated in the controul of the corporate expenditure, that whatever shall interfere with the unfettered management of the corporate revenues by the body itself, bound by its own statutes and by obligations of law to all the duties of their station, would tend to lower the character and respectability of the body, and be at variance with the general scheme of the Report. It remains to advert to another and important part of the Re- port, affecting, as it does vitally, the connexion of Cathedral Establishments with the general government of the Church. The Chapter cannot conceal that it was with much pain they read that part of the Report, which proposes to take from the Chapter a large portion at least of their ecclesiastical Patronage. H The alterations," the Commissioners say, " which they have proposed with respect both to the arrangement of the Dioceses and the constitutions of Deans and Chapters, appear to render it expedient that a change should be made in the exercise of their patronage ; and they recommend that such regulations should be adopted as may leave it in their power, under certain restric- tions, to give preferment to the members of their own body and to the Minor Canons ; and that where the presentation to any benefice is not required for these purposes, it should pass, in some cases to the Crown, and in others to the Bishop of the Diocese." No explanation is to be found in the Report of the grounds on which this assumed expediency rests. It may, perhaps, be expedient to vest in the Bishops of the new Sees part of the ecclesiastical patronage within their territory : but that can afford no ground for transferring, in the Diocese of Exeter, to the Bishop, who has a very large patronage there, such an ac- cession as would be derived from the patronage of the Dean and Chapter. It appears to the Dean and Chapter, that, whilst such a scheme cannot be advocated on the ground of either conducing to the augmentation of poor benefices, or to the efficient maintenance of Cathedral establishments, it is highly inexpedient that the legi- timate influence of such bodies should be so essentially impaired, by depriving them of their ecclesiastical patronage ; and not less inexpedient so largely to augment the patronage of the Bishop. The Chapter maintain that the rights of the existing members 82 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, fyc. to their share of the patronage of the body is as clear and un- deniable as to their share of the corporate revenues, and in the case of the separate endowments this principle is fully admitted. For the future, the Chapter with confidence submit that a plan might without difficulty be devised for the regulation of Chapter Patronage, which, without violating the rights of the patrons, might conduce to a very beneficial distribution of ecclesiastical patronage throughout the Diocese at large. In conclusion, the Chapter humbly beg to be heard on the points affecting their body, which have been touched upon in this Memorial ; and as the Chapters of York and Lichfield, as well as the Welsh Chapters, have been reserved for future con- sideration, they trust that the prayer of their petition fcr the same indulgence may be granted by the Commissioners, who have already shown that they are not unwilling to reconsider their previous decisions, where a case is made out to justify a revision of them. Whittingdon Landon, Dean, On the behalf of the Dean and Chapter of Exeter. Exeter, 28 March 1836. MEMORIAL (2d) FROM THE DEAN AND CHAPTER OF EXETER. To His Majesty's Commissioners appointed to consider the State of the Established Church, with respect to Ecclesiastical Duties and Revenues. The Memorial of the Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral Church of Exeter. The Dean and Chapter having received a copy of the Second Report of His Majesty's Commissioners, signed on the 4th of March 1836, addressed to the Commissioners, on the 28th of the same month, a respectful Memorial, in which they stated their objections to many of the propositions of the Report. A Fourth Report was issued on the 24th of June last, in its main result confirming the recommendations of the Second Report, but in various matters proposing amendments. The Chapter, upon mature consideration of the whole of the recommendations, as far as they affect their own body, and upon a review of the objections which were urged in their former Memorial, find- The Old Foundation. 8:5 ing themselves still unable to acquiesce in the recommendations of the Commissioners, are impelled by a paramount sense of duty to the Church, and by the oaths and statutes under which they individually hold their stations, to repeat their humble but solemn protest against the propositions of the Commissioners, as they affect the Church of Exeter. They are the more encouraged in taking this course, because the Commissioners introduce their Fourth Report by stating, that " so many points were comprised in their former Report, affecting a variety of interests, rights and customs, that it was scarcely possible to lay down any general scheme, which might not be open to some objections, and into which it might not be necessary, upon further inquiry and consideration, to introduce some alterations." In fact, the Commissioners have, in their Fourth Report, proposed many essential alterations, some in principle, and some in matters of particular arrangement. The Chapter therefore, with confidence, expect, that if, consistently with the declared object of the Commission, and the general principles of the Report, any modification shall be found neces- sary for the better preserving the efficiency and respectability of the Chapter of Exeter, due attention will be given to the cir- cumstances which may appear to render such modification ex- pedient. The Chapter do not design to give any opinion respecting the principles of the contemplated measures with regard to Cathe- dral establishments; they take the object to be, as expressed in His Majesty's Commission, " to consider the state of Cathedral Churches, with a view to the suggestion of such measures as may render them [most] conducive to the efficiency of the Esta- blished Church, and to devise the best mode of providing for the cure of souls, with special reference to the residence of the Clergy on their respective benefices ;" and they will suggest no proposition which does not appear to them to be expedient and necessary for the preserving in efficiency their body, and at the same time affording every assistance, consistent with that effi- ciency, towards a better provision for the cure of souls. The Chapter feel that the responsibility of the measure, or the defence of its principles, does not rest with them. They admit the expediency of making better provision for the cure of souls, and they will cordially co-operate in measures having for their real object the making Cathedral institutions more condu- g 2 84 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, 8fc. cive to the efficiency of the Established Church ; but they more than doubt both the wisdom and the justice of diverting so large a portion as is proposed of the revenues of Cathedrals from their original purposes, to such a scheme of augmenting parochial benefices as is set forth in the Second Report,- -of appropriating so considerable a share of Cathedral endowments to the augmen- tation of benefices, with which the foundation has no connexion, and the diverting ecclesiastical funds, to so large an extent, to the increase of lay patronage. The Chapter, in looking to the preserving the efficiency of their own body, think that they are justified, by the whole tone and purport of the Commissioners' several Reports, and undoubt- edly by the reason and justice of the case, in taking into ac- count the extent and importance of the Diocese in which their Chapter is placed, the actual station it has hitherto occupied in public estimation, and the duties which necessarily attach to such a body in such circumstances ; and after deliberate and anxious consideration of the wants of the Diocese, and solemn reflexion on the duties of their particular station, they are only the more confirmed in the conviction expressed in their former Memorial, that with less than a Dean and six Residentiaries, the efficiency and respectability of this Chapter cannot be main- tained. They think that, upon a just review of some particulars of the scheme, and without materially interfering with the general purport of the measure, modifications might be introduced, by means of internal arrangements, which would more effectually combine the two great objects of the Commission, than the actual plan proposed for the future constitution of their body. The Chapter feel that they are amply justified, by various re- commendations in the Reports, in assuming that the Commis- sioners will not refuse to enter into an examination of the parti- cular circumstances of this Cathedral and Diocese, with a desire to maintain the body in a state of efficiency adequate to the great object of the measure; and that the Commissioners, in considering the best constitution of each particular Chapter for the future, will not hold themselves bound rigidly to adhere to the number adopted as the criterion for the general purposes of the Report. In fact, it appears to be entirely in accordance with the view taken by the Commissioners, that the case of each Chapter The Old Foundation. 85 should be considered on its own special grounds. At Durham an undefined portion of the revenues of the Chapter is proposed to be assigned for the maintenance of the new University there. At Oxford, six Stalls are proposed to be reserved. In each of the Cathedrals of St. Paul's and Lincoln, instead of any Stall being proposed to be suppressed, a new Stall is to be created. At York, the whole of the separate estates of the Dean ; at Lichfield, a portion of the separate estates attached to dignities; are reserved to the body. At Westminster, two Stalls are to be retained above the number, for the purpose of being annexed to parochial charges. Now, there may be good and ample rea- sons for all these variations, but the principle is thereby acknow- ledged, that exceptions from the general rule may be proper, and particular provisions may be expedient, to meet the special cir- cumstances of the case. All these special exceptions and provisions apparently have for their object the maintaining in greater efficiency the particular body to which they apply, or the advancing the general welfare of the place or Diocese in which the Cathedral is situate. In the case of the Chapter of Exeter alone is an exception made, to its peculiar detriment, by transferring part of the corporate fund to the aid of Episcopal revenues. That the Commissioners acknowledge the fitness of considering the actual circumstances of each Diocese, is amply shown by the whole tenor of the Reports. In the arrangement of the epis- copal Sees, attention has very properly been paid to the popula- tion and wants of each district ; and if the maintenance of Chap- ters be essentially connected with that of the Sees, which unde- niably it is, such circumstances, with respect also to those bodies, cannot with propriety be disregarded. It is apparently in accordance with such principle that the scheme embraces the maintaining, in the case of Dioceses to be united, a Chapter in each, as well as the providing a Chapter for each of the two new Dioceses. The necessity, for the pur- poses of the general scheme, of maintaining an adequate Chapter establishment in each Diocese, is thus plainly admitted ; and the adequacy of the Chapter of Exeter, under its proposed new constitution, to the large Diocese to which it belongs, is there- fore a legitimate object in the inquiry. Now, in the new arrangement of Dioceses, that of Exeter, which remains unaltered, will be the largest of all in extent of 86 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, §c. territory, and, with the exception of London alone, the most important in point of population. It will, in fact, be found equal in extent and population to no less than three of the smaller Dioceses ; and were it on this ground only, the Chapter of Exe- ter would think that there is good reason to ask from the Com- missioners special consideration. The Chapter must, with all deference, beg to express their strong dissent from the rule by which the contributions of the respective Chapters have been measured and ascertained. They with confidence submit, that in calculating the portion of each Chapter's corporate revenues, to be carried to the general fund, every circumstance regarding the wants of the Diocese, and the means requisite for maintaining in efficiency the particular body, ought to have been taken into consideration. The rule which has been actually adopted must operate unequally, because the effect is, that whatever be the amount of Chapter endowments, and whatever be its wants, without the least reference to either the one point or the other, the portion to be abstracted is made to depend simply on the number of shares into which Cathedral funds have in fact been divided ; so that, assuming two Cathe- drals with equal revenues, if in the one eight Residentiaries had been found necessary, and had been maintained, and in the other four only, from the more efficient Chapter half its means would be abstracted, and from the other nothing. The Chapter have, in their former Memorial, set forth the duties performed by Residentiaries at Exeter, By the statutes and practice of the Church, two at least of the nine Residentiaries are always resident. They believe that the efficiency of their body has mainly arisen from this circumstance, and that a con- tinuance of that practice is necessary for maintaining the charac- ter and respectability of the Chapter. Under these impressions, the Memorialists will proceed to suggest the particular points wherein they trust that they may with propriety ask for some modification of the scheme. In the first place, the Chapter submit that the proposal in the Second Report, to annex the income of a dignity and residen- tiary Stall at Exeter to the See, is at variance with the whole scheme, which, looking to Chapter funds for all that is required for parochial purposes, proceeds on the plan of maintaining the Sees out of the episcopal revenues alone. The circumstances are these : — the Bishop of Exeter holds in commendam a Pre- The Old Foundation. 87 bend, and also the dignity of Treasurer, and in that character is elected a Residentiary, and has the duties of a Residentiary to perform. There is a separate estate attached to the dignity of Treasurer, but none to any of the Prebends. In the Second Report, the Commissioners say, " In the Cathedrals of Lincoln, Lichfield, Exeter and Salisbury, there are Prebends not resi- dentiary, the whole or part of the revenues of which belong to the Bishops of the respective Dioceses ; and in the account pre- sented to Your Majesty in our First Report, have been reckoned as part of the episcopal revenues. We think it advisable that these endowments should be permanently annexed to the respec- tive Sees." This proposition, as far as it regards Exeter, pro- ceeds on an erroneous assumption. The Prebends at Lincoln, Lichfield and Salisbury, are correctly stated to be not residen- tiary. They had been long since (two of them by Act of Par- liament) permanently annexed to the respective Sees, and nei- ther of them is held in commendarn. But the preferment at Exeter is residentiary ; it has never been permanently annexed to the bishoprick, and, on the contrary, is held merely in com- mendarn. It comprises the estates of the Treasurer, with a share of the corporate funds belonging to a residentiary Stall. The ground, therefore, on which the Commissioners have for the present purpose reckoned the income of this preferment as part of the Episcopal revenues evidently fails ; and their proposal, in this single instance, to appropriate both the separate estate of the dignity and a share of the Chapter revenues for the per- manent augmentation of the See, is in direct violation of one of the fundamental principles of the measure. To a reconsideration of the Report in this particular the Chapter look with much confidence, and they are willing to hope that the Commissioners, in correcting what is founded on error, may be ready to leave to the Chapter the means, thereby made available, of maintaining another Stall in the Cathedral. A second particular is this : — The Chapter in their former Memorial pointed out the discrepancy in the effect of the measure on the income of Stalls on the Old and New Foundations, by making the corporate fund in the Chapters of the Old Found- ations divisible, not, as at present, into a number equal to the number of Stalls, but into one share more than that number, for the purpose of giving the income of two Canonries to the Dean ; and they suggested that, for the purpose of providing in 88 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, §c. this manner for the Deanery, there ought, on the principle of equal justice to the Chapters of the New and Old Foundations, to have heen left in the latter the income of one Stall more than the actual number filled. They do not see how, consistently with the declared principles of the Report, such a course can be avoided. Under these circumstances, the Chapter proposed that the division of their corporate fund should ultimately be into ten shares — to the Dean two shares, to six residentiary Stalls six shares, leaving to the general fund two shares ; and they believe that such a diversion of one-fifth of the corporate income is as large a proportion of their revenues as can, with due considera- tion of the combined objects of the Commission, be so appropriated. The Chapter think that, in urging these claims to the resi- dentiary Stall proposed to be annexed to the Bishoprick, and to the additional share for the Dean, they are supported both by the justice of the case and the authority of the Reports them- selves. But, in regard to the additional share for the Dean, they would, with a view to obviate the difficulty, take leave to suggest another plan, which might possibly better fall in with the general arrangement. It appears that in the Cathedral of York it is proposed to leave for the endowment of the Dean his present separate estates. Now, if the Commissioners are not disposed to adopt the scheme recommended by the Chapter in their first Memorial, the Chapter would suggest that the plan adopted at York might with advan- tage be applied to Exeter ; or, if it should be thought better for the purpose of making the income for the Dean less variable, the separate estates might be permitted to fall into the corporate fund, the Dean receiving an equivalent from that fund. In regard to the important point of preserving the future con- stitution of the body by the mode of filling up vacancies as they may occur, the Chapter adhere to the opinion which they expressed in their former Memorial, — that the best arrangement, having regard to the character of the body itself, and the advan- tage of the Diocese in which it is placed, would be, that four of the six residentiary Stalls should continue to be elected by the Chapter out of the fifteen Prebendaries. The Prebends are nearly of nominal value, and in the Second Report it was pro- posed they should all be retained. The principal duty at present belonging to these Prebends is the preaching in rotation the The Old Foundation. 89 afternoon sermons in the Cathedral. The possession of such a Stall is highly valued by the clergy of the Diocese, as connecting them with the Cathedral Establishment, and as marks of honour- able distinction ; — the suppression of them would add very little to the general fund, and would inflict a serious injury both on the Cathedral and the Diocese. The Prebends are all in the patronage of the Bishop, and it might not, perhaps, be easy to frame a constitution for a Cathe- dral body which would more effectually secure its full efficiency than that the Bishop should collate to such Prebends the most learned and exemplary of his Clergy, and that out of these the Chapter should elect one to fill a residentiary Stall, whenever one might become vacant. Such is the actual constitution of the Chapter of Exeter ; and the Chapter trust that, as nothing will be gained by the change, a scheme so well calculated to secure a succession of men the most fit for such a station may not be altered. Two of the six Stalls the Chapter propose should be annexed to the office of Archdeacon. The Diocese of Exeter is divided into four Archdeaconries, — three in the county of Devon, and the other comprising the whole county of Cornwall. The Chapter would recommend that two of the four Archdeacons for the time being shall be Residentiaries ; and that with a view to provide for the two who may not, for the time being, hold residentiary Stalls, two benefices of proper charge and income in the Chapter patronage, and within the Diocese, shall be held by such two Archdeacons. The Chapter have with much satisfaction seen that in the Fourth Report the Commissioners propose (56th proposition) " that the property and revenues to be vested in and paid to the Commissioners under these propositions be, after a due conside- ration of the wants and circumstances of the places in which they accrue, applied to the purpose of making additional provision for the cure of souls in parishes where such assistance is most required, in such manner as shall be most conducive to the efficiency of the Established Church." The principle, that the wants and circumstances of the places where the Chapter revenues arise are to be first considered before any part of them is to be made applicable to additional pro- vision for the cure of souls in other places, appears to be here 90 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, Sfc. conceded. The Chapter entirely concur in the wisdom, policy, and justice of that concession, and they trust that its fair spirit and meaning will be kept strictly in view in the working out of every part of the arrangement which is the subject of the present inquiry. The Chapter in their former Memorial made a suggestion that a particular benefice in the patronage of the body immediately adjoining the city of Exeter, and embracing a large population, might with advantage be annexed to a residentiary Stall. They think that the principle upon which that proposition was founded is one of the first importance, calculated as it is to combine most intimately the two leading objects of the Commission. It is in conformity with this principle, and with a view to render the means in possession of Cathedral bodies available in the most extensive way to the great purposes of the present inquiry, that the Chapter now propose that to each of the residentiary Stalls some benefice in the Chapter patronage should be permanently annexed, — a benefice with some considerable population and charge, and at the same time calculated by the amount of its income to sustain the dignity of the Stall. In fact, the benefices in the Chapter patronage will permit a selection of this descrip- tion, which might be so arranged as to place the Residentiaries very conveniently in different parts of the Diocese. On the same ground, one of the benefices in the patronage of the Dean, or one of the Chapter benefices in exchange, might with much propriety be annexed to the Deanery. The Chapter will venture to make this further suggestion : that if it should be thought expedient to found a second Arch- deaconry in the extensive and populous county of Cornwall, an appropriate benefice in the Chapter patronage within the new district might be annexed to such Archdeaconry. By these annexations, without in the least infringing on the pecuniary means which may be required for general purposes, great assistance may be afforded in maintaining the requisite body of Residentiaries, in full accordance with the duties they would have to perform and the station it would be desirable they should fill in the Diocese and Church at large. It would not be expedient that a longer period of residence should be required than four months in the year, except in the case of the Dean Assi-. then, to each Canon a residence of that duration. The Old Foundation. 91 together with a parochial charge, the number of six, and not less than six, would provide throughout the year for the residence of two at the Cathedral. But whilst the Chapter admit that an establishment consisting of a Dean and six Canons would, by securing the constant resi- dence of two, be sufficient for the performance of the Cathedral services and the other duties which devolve on the members of the Chapter in the city, they must at the same time avow their con- l| viction that even such a reduction of their number would be attended with no small detriment to the Church. For if it be desirable to maintain a gradation of orders in the Church corre- sponding to that which exists in our civil polity, and to insure among the higher ranks a respect for religion in the persons of i its ministers ; if it be desirable to provide incitements to pro- fessional exertion, and rewards for distinguished merit ; or if it be desirable that the Bishop should be enabled to gather round him the most eminent of his Clergy, who may assist him as a standing Council, then your memorialists will assert, without fear of contradiction, that a Cathedral Establishment consisting of the full numbers of the present body is not more than sufficient for these purposes in this extensive Diocese, and they feel that nothing less than paramount necessity can justify a diminution of the number. It remains to call the attention of the Commissioners to the subject of the Patronage of Cathedral bodies. The Chapter have in their former Memorial, with all respect and deference to the high names attached to the Report, urged their reasons against the transferring to the Bishops so very large a portion of the whole ecclesiastical Patronage as that of all the benefices belonging not only to the separate dignities which are to be suppressed, but those also belonging to the Deans and Chapters in their corporate capacity. The Chapter are, upon reflection fully confirmed in the grounds they have taken for those objections. In principle, the Chapter think it can never be maintained that a body, intended to be preserved in full respectability and efficiency, will not be competent to dispose of its preferment to the advantage of the Church at large. The Chapter perceive, that whilst the whole of the patronage belonging to the separate dignities and Prebends (as well those intended to be suppressed, as those which are to remain,) is proposed to be placed in the power of the Bishops, absolute and 92 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, 8fc. free from all restrictions, it is recommended that the Chapter patronage proposed to be transferred to them should be placed under certain restrictions, designed to insure its being used for the benefit of the Clergy of the Diocese. The Chapter do not understand for what sound reason this distinction is made ; nor do they admit the principle that eccle- siastical patrons should, by being made subject to special restric- tions, be placed under the invidious imputation of disposing of their Patronage unworthily. But if restrictions of this kind shall be deemed expedient, this body will never object to regula- tions which may render the actual use of their Patronage more beneficial to the Church at large. They, however, feel bound, upon every sound principle, to urge their claim that the Patronage at present vested in them should remain at their own disposal. And if Chapters are in future filled up, as they ought to be, with the most exemplary and distinguished of the Clergy, they cannot conceive how such patronage could be placed in the hands of persons better disposed and qualified to exercise it for the general good. With regard to the power proposed to be given to the Com- missioners of alienating the houses of residence, which under the new arrangement might remain unoccupied, the Dean and Chap- ter with much confidence submit to the Commissioners, that these houses, situate as they are in the precincts of the Cathe- dral, ought under no circumstances to be so alienated. The Chap- ter think it must be obvious to the Commissioners, that nothing could be more inconvenient and more destructive of good order, than that such houses should pass into hands over which the Dean and Chapter would have no controul. In respect to the intended provision for making new Statutes, the Chapter pray that no power should be given to the Visitor to alter their Statutes without their concurrence. According to the ancient usage of their Church, the Chapter of Exeter have always had a concurrent voice with the Visitor in making Statutes, and they desire to retain that privilege. In conclusion, the Chapter cannot but express their deep re- gret, that His Majesty's Commissioners should in their several Reports have recommended changes of such fundamental im- portance to the whole constitution of Cathedral bodies, without previous communications with the several Chapters whose rights and interests are so materially affected. They still think that The Old Foundation. 93 free and personal discussion might tend to the good of the Church and the advantage of the public, and they again urge their peti- tion to be heard ; at the same time expressing their readiness to afford the fullest information on all the particular matters referred to in their Memorials, on which His Majesty's Commissioners may be pleased to examine them. Given under our common seal the twentieth day of December, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six. (c s.) MEMORIAL FROM THE DEAN OF EXETER. To His Majesty s Commissioners appointed to consider the State of the Established Church with respect to Ecclesiastical Duties and Revenues. The Memorial of the Dean of the Cathedral Church at Exeter. The Dean of Exeter having read the several Reports of His Majesty's Commissioners, humbly begs leave, with all possible respect, to submit the following points to their consideration. He would only ask permission first to state, that, at his advanced time of life, he can have no personal interest in the suggestions he presumes to lay before them. The Endowments of the Deanery of Exeter are of very ancient date ; and in order to give weight and respectability to that dig- nity, in parts of the Diocese far removed from the Cathedral Church, portions of those Endowments have been assigned, at a considerable distance from each other, within the Diocese. These portions were judiciously calculated to engage public attention, and to insure public respect to the rank and character of the Dean. They consisted of small manors in the parishes of Bishop's Tawton and Braunton, in the north of Devon, and the great tithes and patronage of the aforesaid parishes, and of Colaton Raleigh, in an opposite part of the county. The Dean humbly hopes, that, for the preservation of the long- established dignity, possessions, privileges and influence, attached to this office, none of these may be withdrawn ; trust- ing, as he does, that there is no reason to think them of less public and national utility in the present times, than they were always esteemed to be in times past. Whittington Landon, 29 January 1837. Dean of Exeter. 94 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, fyc. MEMORIAL FROM THE VICARS-CHORAL OF EXETER. To His Majesty's Commissioners for considering the State of Cathedral Churches with reference to Ecclesiastical Duties and Revenues. The Memorial of the College of Vicars-Choral in the Cathedral Church of Exeter. The College of Vicars-Choral at Exeter consists of four cler- gymen and eight laymen ; the former are called Priest Vicars, and the latter Lay Vicars. They have been founded as a college, with a distinct endowment, for 600 years ; and unless it shall be found imperatively necessary for the object of the Commission, they pray that so ancient a constitution (and which, from sta- tutes made from time to time, has been varied to meet existing circumstances) may not be dissolved. The duties of the Priest Vicars are similar to those of Minor Canons in other Cathedrals ; they read or chaunt the daily prayers, which at Exeter are three times a day. The Lay Vi- cars with the Choristers form the choir of the Church. And they will undertake to say, that the whole of the Cathedral du- ties devolving both to the Priest and Lay Vicars have been hitherto performed to the honour of the Church and the satis- faction of the public. The Memorialists believe that the actual constitution of the College as to numbers, is that the best adapted to the services to be performed; indeed, they are entirely confident that no reduction of the numbers can be made consistently with main- taining the body in proper efficiency. The endowment consists of distinct property belonging to the body, with the addition of some fixed sums paid by the Chapter. By various statutes of the body, part of the property belongs to the Priest Vicars exclusively, and the other part is divisible amongst the whole, botli Priest and Lay Vicars, in certain pro- portions. A considerable part is let, not on beneficial leases, but at the best annual rent, and produces a regular improved and improvable income. By continued attention to the manage- ment of the latter property, it has been of late years made to produce a better income, and it is likely, under the same ma- nagement, to be an advantageous property to such a body, be- 6 The Old Foundation. 95 cause it produces a regular annual income, at the same time that it is capable of improvement. The Memorialists cannot believe it to be the intention of His Majesty's Commissioners to decrease the income of the body, which, on inquiry, would be found certainly not too large for the duties required, and for preserving the members in that state of respectability which it must be the object of the Commissioners to uphold. It does not appear by the Fourth Report what precisely is the object in view with regard to these bodies. The Memorialists trust that it is to improve, rather than diminish, the advantages and character of the situation. It is proposed that the income of the Minor Canons be not less than 1501. per annum. The proposed income of the Lay members of such bodies is not stated. The Memorialists feel confident that the Commissioners will be satisfied upon any inquiry they may make into the duties of the situation at Exeter, that the stipend of a Priest Vicar ought to be larger than 150/. per annum. And, in soliciting further investigation, they are assured that, upon a fuller examination into the state of the body, the Commissioners will see no reason to find fault with the manner in which the duties of the Cathedral have been performed, or the way in which the property has been dealt with ; and this examination could only be accomplished by a personal interview of one of the members most conversant with the subject with His Majesty's Commissioners. The Memorial- ists confidently trust, that before the Commissioners finally re- solve to recommend the dissolution of the existing body, with its separate endowments, a full inquiry will be made into the best means of maintaining the body in efficiency, and preserving that character which has hitherto been found conducive to the due performance of the duties of the situation. They invite an inquiry, of which they are assured there can be but one result, to make all their means available to uphold the situation, and to put on a more sure footing the permanent respectability of the Choir. 96 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, fyc. MEMORIAL FROM THE CHAPTER OF HEREFORD. To the most Reverend the Archbishop of Canterbury, and His Majesty's other Ecclesiastical Commissioners appointed to con- sider the State of the Established Church with reference to Ecclesiastical Duties and Revenues. We, the Chapter of Hereford Cathedral, apprehensive that the silence which (as a bod}-) we have hitherto maintained, with reference to the measures recommended by His Majesty's Eccle- siastical Commissioners for making Cathedral Chapters available to the general purposes of the Established Church, may be con- sidered as evincing the absence of any objection on our part to the recommendations referred to, on the score either of jus- tice or expediency, beg leave respectfully to state, that our implicit confidence in the wisdom and piety of your Grace, more especially as President of the said Commissioners, has led us to delay to the latest moment the obtrusion of uninvited and, as we had sanguinely hoped, unnecessary representations. But that now, after the appearance of the Fourth Report, and on the eve of the meeting of Parliament, we deem it a sacred duty to express our earnest deprecation of so much of the said measures, more especially as recommend the violation of our statutes, in the future mode of our appointment, the reduction of our number, and the alienation of our ecclesiastical patron- age, as well as the proposed dismemberment of the College of Vicars-Choral — measures which we presume to think altogether inconsistent with the confessedly important object of maintaining the Cathedral Establishment in a state of respectability and effi- ciency. The several considerations on which this deprecation is founded (already stated at much length by other Capitular bodies) appear to apply with peculiar force to our own particular case, as in other respects, so especially with reference to the heavy inherited debt which oppresses the fund applicable to the repa- ration and maintenance of the fabric. Nor can we but strongly apprehend that the proposed changes in the constitution of our body will obstruct or defeat the other purposes avowedly kept in view by His Majesty's Commissioners in dealing with Cathedral establishments ; viz. the proper performance of the Church ser- vice, the due reward of professional merit, and the other laud- able objects contemplated by our Founders — objects which those The Old Foundation 97 pious benefactors of learning and religion sought to secure and perpetuate by statutes guaranteed by the sanctity of oaths. Signed, by order of Chapter, Theo. Lane, Hereford, 2 January 1837. Chapter Clerk. LETTER FROM THE DEAN OF HEREFORD TO THE SECRETARY. Sir, Madley, near Hereford, 30th Jan. 1837. Observing, in a recent communication made by you, that you express yourself in these words, " I am directed by His Majes- ty's Church Commissioners to acknowledge the receipt of a Me- morial from the Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral Church of Hereford 1 ;" I beg to state, for the information of the Board, that the Memorial in question was agreed upon by three of the Canons residentiary of the Cathedral Church of Hereford, and that I am not a party to it. I do not mean to say that I entirely disseht from its remarks ; but regarding, as I do, the present state of opposition between the Ecclesiastical Commission and Cathedral bodies as most un- constitutional and most detrimental to the Church, I have thought it my duty to abstain from communications in such a spirit. At the same time I would reserve to myself the privilege of laying before the Board or Parliament such observations as my past experience, as a curate, incumbent, and dean of a Cathedral Church with a peculiar jurisdiction, combining episcopal, in a great degree, and archidiaconal authority over 32 parishes, may enable me to make. I have the honour to be, &c. John Merewether, Bean of Hereford. MEMORIAL FROM THE CUSTOS AND VICARS OF THE CATHEDRAL OF HEREFORD. College, Hereford, 28th Feb. 1837. The following Memorial is respectfully addressed to the Eccle- siastical Commissioners by the custos and vicars of the CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF HEREFORD. In consequence of the recommendation contained in the Fourth 1 This was in consequence of the Memorial purporting on the face of it to he from the Chapter. H 98 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, S(C Report of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners to dissolve forthwith the minor ecclesiastical corporations, the Custos and Vicars of tbe College of Hereford feel themselves called upon respectfully, but firmly, to protest against its adoption, from a sense of justice to themselves, the right which they inherit, and the danger of the principle which is involved in the proposed annihilation. In the 19th year of King Richard the Second the College of Vicars was, by letters patent, made a corporation, by the name of the College of Vicars, and were empowered to choose one of their members annually as their head. After the Reformation the said Custos and Vicars obtained a more clear and ample char- ter, in the 39th of Queen Elizabeth, by which the said college was founded anew, made one body politic, endowed with certain lands and tenements, a common seal, and a right in all courts and causes to implead and to be impleaded, under the name of the Custos and Vicars of the Cathedral Church of Hereford. They were likewise enabled from time to time, for the due ma- nagement of their affairs and internal subordination, to choose a Custos out of their body, with certain powers and personal privi- leges, who was not to be elected annually, as before, but perma- nently, and for life. Since this period, uninterruptedly, to the present time, the said society have acted as a corporation, held chapters, granted leases, kept their own records, elected and sworn their own officers, re- ceived their own rents, and in all respects managed their own affairs. In many respects they stand quite alone, and with such pecu- liarities of construction and special provisions of foundation, as to give them an equitable right to a separate consideration, on their own merits, at the hands of the Commissioners. In regard to the other eight minor corporations, that of St. Paul's is called the College of Minor Canons, and has therefore a similarity of name, but they have no residence ; and at Exeter, of the four priest vicars one is called Custos, and an apparent resemblance of government therefore, but neither have they any place of resi- dence. The Custos and Vicars of Hereford Cathedral stand alone in the completeness of their organization, and possess, not only the requisites of a body subsidiary to choral uses, but all the peculiarities of an establishment regularly collegiate. They have a common hall, a common room, a common table, a head, a librarian, clavigers, and all other officers necessary to the orderly arrangement, subordination and self-government of such an in- The Old Foundation. 99 stitution. This they mention not as antiquarian curiosity ; but they submit, on the strength of it, that they have an equitable right to be dealt with, not merely as a body framed for the active but inferior services of Cathedral duty, but on the higher and special ground of a college for religious purposes, a corporate society of clergymen with an independent character, exclusive of and superadded to their choral character. They submit — that a reformation, and not a subversion, if such shall be proved to be necessary, a reduction and a restoration to its original principles and intentions, if from them it shall appear to have departed, is the only course consistent with safety in dealing with such bodies, and marked out alike by equity, precedent, and a true far-seeing policy : — that dissolution is an extreme measure, at variance with the professed objects of the Commission, and only to be justified by incorrigible abuses, or by such essential and original defect in the establishment as is irreconcileable with the larger interests and the more sacred duties which unquestionably they were in- tended to promote : — that to crush them by the mere weight of power, to punish without accusation or inquiry, and degrade without a crime, is opposed not only to universal justice, but to the peculiar principles of our constitution in Church and State ; and, by depriving the weak of that protection which equal law was intended to give, perilous to all vested and inherited rights : — that even in a period rife with precedents of violence and arbi- trary power, the reign of Henry the Eighth, much respect was paid to corporate privileges, and the sacredness of testamentary disposition, that the formality at least of a consent was thought essential to the dissolution of the suppressed institutions. They know not that, before the appearance of the Report, the resolution to subvert the inviolability of corporate bodies, save for crimes charged and proved, or by their own consent, has ever been openly avowed and acted upon, either in civil or ecclesias- tical changes within this realm. Certain it is, that in the late reconstruction of the municipalities throughout the kingdom, a measure allowed on all hands to be bold and aggressive, though their basis was enlarged, and the conditions of admission popu- larized, the principle of perpetuity was preserved, the sacredness of property untouched, and the peculiarities of corporate bodies in no way compromised. They claim protection, therefore, not only on the narrower ground of that respect and tender caution ever accorded by the wisest men to establishments for religious 100 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, §c. purposes, but on the unquestioned plea of civil right, and the practices of civil legislation. But their fate involves that of other and more powerful bodies, and the destruction of more imposing bulwarks of our venerable Cathedrals than themselves. They challenge any ingenuity of wit to point out any difference in principle between the rights of the greater and minor corpora- tions. They submit, that the working out of the principle of dissolution to its legitimate extent can only end in the annihila- tion of the greater Cathedral Chapters, as a matter of reason; and that, in an age of innovation, for innovation's sake, of contempt of ancestral and prescriptive privileges, and of a reckless following out of any surrendered principle, that annihilation is likely to follow as a matter oj fact, at the fiat of the Legislature. If, therefore, the Commissioners are anxious for the main- tenance, in their corporate integrity at least, of the more powerful and wealthy corporations, they give up, in the judgment of their memorialists, the vantage ground on which alone they can consis- tently be supported ; they abandon the yet unsurrendered, though much assailed, position of rights immemorial and chartered privilege, and leave to the mercy of a changeful expediency, which may be plied against them with a strength proportioned to their greater wealth and liability to popular odium and misrepresentation, those very establishments which they desire to protect and per- petuate. And here they cannot refrain, on the broad principles of right, from entering their most deliberate and solemn protest against their dealing out a different measure of treatment to the greater and smaller bodies. Justice knows nothing but the right; greater or smaller, richer or poorer, are terms not to be found in its vocabulary, and fundamentally subversive of its principles. Yet such will be the case, undeniably, if a corporation like this be legislatively dissolved, whilst others, with no difference of principle or superiority of right, are to be maintained inviolate. Though the wrong done to them may be sheltered from the public by the obscurity of the sufferers, or the want of sympathy with objects alien to the popular feeling of the day ; yet they cannot surrender the claim to be treated like their more powerful brethren — the privilege of complaint — firm remonstrance against this partiality of wrong — nor the hope as yet, which their respect for the Commissioners still keeps alive, that it has arisen from the perplexity of ill-defined claims, and a misconception of the strength of their cause, rather than a carelessness of justice, or a disposition to spare the strong at the expense of the weak. The Old Foundation. 101 But whilst they express themselves with this unreserved liberty, they beg to assure the Commissioners that they, in their sphere, appreciate at its value the solemnity of the crisis and the magni- tude of their task. They repose on the purity of their inten- tions and the earnestness of their zeal. They reverence the station which has called them, in the agency of our common mother, to the burthensome and invidious office of remodelling our venerable Establishment, and repairing the decays of time. They pray for the blessing of God on an undertaking so awful — a responsibility, in our days, without example. If sacrifices are necessary, they are ready to meet them with, as willing a spirit and frank a surrender as their brethren ; to reduce their numbers, and devote their emoluments to the holy purpose of increasing poor cures, and giving a wider range to spiritual exertions. They feel the strength of the claim, and would count the object cheaply purchased by anything short of measures which seem to them to involve the abandonment of sacred prin- ciples, and to sacrifice to a superficial advantage and temporary gain the ultimate security of the Establishment. They only demand an equal measure, the preservation of their corporate existence, if they preserve it to the larger bodies, and the ma- nagement of their property under the new arrangement, if it is to be secured to the former. The allowance which the Commis- sioners propose to make out of their surrendered property they cannot consider as a compensation ; it is no equivalent for their proprietary rights, and the honourable pride of independence. It is no equivalent for the disruption of ancient ties, habits of inter- course immemorially established, and the connexions of neigh- bourhood and tenantry. It is no equivalent for the loss of local in- fluence, and the surrender into the hands of strangers, of their venerable and time-honoured walls. They will no longer be a su- bordinate body, as they are and ought to be, but powerless stipen- diaries, from which their founder purposed to rescue them, wrought into harsh and heart-burning contrast with those whose rights, undistinguishable from their own, are yet preserved to them ; and suffering without a fault a change tan tamoun t to a penal degradation. Their Custos-ship has been for centuries an office for life, has always been a link between themselves and the superior body, and conferred a personal dignity and prescriptive influence on its possessor. Of this our present head will be stripped by an im- mediate dissolution, and brought not only to a level with the 102 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, Sfc. general body, but below those who are now inferior in rank, but superior in age ; a wound to private feeling which a great public good alone can justify, and which it is unworthy of no public body, however distinguished, to avoid. All this pain and, in their judgment, partiality of wrong, and degradation of those who do not merit it, will inevitably result from carrying into im- mediate effect the proposed dissolution. But if their principles are wrong, if their views are narrow, and their arguments feeble ; even if personal interest, in the eyes of the Commissioners, invalidates their reasoning and un- necessarily embitters their feelings, yet one thing, they submit, is beyond dispute. With equal justice and consideration the Commissioners have laid it down as a principle to respect all vested rights, — rights of property. All are alike compro- mised by a present and violent dissolution of their body ; nor will they be balanced, they will not say by an equivalent ad- vantage, but by any advantage at all. It is only by the dying off of their present members that their revenues are to become available for the purposes contemplated by the Commissioners ; and this will be in nowise hastened by depriving them of their corporate privileges, which, even if reduced to four, they might exercise as efficiently as the greater Chapters, whom it is pro- posed to bring down to that number, without forfeiting the management of their revenues. On this principle, unreservedly avowed, and, they will not doubt, as honourably acted on, they confidently trust that whatever be the future distribution of their revenues or constitution of their body, the measure will not be permitted to affect the present members. None of them are young, and several have been members of this society upwards of forty years ; and as each is removed by death or other causes, his share in the common property may be paid into the hands of the Commissioners, as is intended to be the case in the larger Chapters. This boon they will regard with gratitude, and look with respectful confidence to receive it at their hands; and though they may lament in prospect the dissolution with them- selves of their ancient society, and dissent from the principles on which its fate is sealed, they will escape in their own persons the infliction of an uucalled-for wrong and the pain of present degradation. James Garbett, Custos of the College of Vicars. The Old Foundation. 103 MEMORIAL FROM THE DEAN AND CHAPTER OF LICHFIELD. To His Majesty s Commissioners appointed to consider the State of the Established Church with reference to Ecclesiastical Duties and Revenues. We, the Dean and Canons Residentiary of Lichfield Cathe- dral assembled in Chapter, fearful lest our silence should be supposed to proceed from indifference, or should be construed into assent to the important alterations which have been pro- posed in the constitution of our Cathedral establishments, yet unwilling to urge again at length those general objections which have been already laid before the Commissioners, in the powerful and elaborate appeals transmitted from the Chapters of Canter- bury, Winchester, Exeter, and Salisbury, though we entirely concur in their chief purport, beg leave respectfully to state our opinion upon such points as more immediately bear upon our own statutes and customs. It appears to us inexpedient to suppress the minor Prebends founded in our Church, but not requiring residence ; because, They constitute honourable distinctions in the Church, enabling the Bishop at his discretion to stimulate the exertions of those who have begun their professional career in a promising manner, or to reward those who have laboured long and successfully in the cause of religion. They supply a body of auxiliaries to the Dean and Canons, whose assistance is often found serviceable in preaching the Word of God, and performing the public ministra- tions of the Church. They contribute, at the time of the Prebendary's admis- sion, to the support of the library of the Cathedral ; as well as, in many instances, to that of local institutions of a charitable nature. We are also of opinion, for the reasons so ably stated in the second memorial from Salisbury, (that foundation being consti- tuted in many respects similarly to our own,) that four Canons will not be found a number so well suited as six to the due and efficient performance of the duties of the Church. But whilst we thus express our common feeling in favour of retaining both the ancient number of six Residentiaries and the 104 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, §c. Minor Prebends founded in our Church, we see no objection to the annexation of two residentiaryships to archdeaconries in the Diocese, nor of two more (in the event of six being retained) to livings in the gift of the Bishop needing augmentation, leaving two independent Canonries, for general purposes of advantage and encouragement. Nor do we disapprove of some of the Prebendal Stalls being united either to the livings belonging to the Prebends themselves, or to Churches in populous towns within the Diocese under the patronage of the Bishop, as has been done in two instances in our own Cathedral with good effect ; due regard being had in the latter case to the spiritual wants of the parishes with which the respective Prebendal estates are more immediately connected. We venture respectfully to submit to the consideration of the Commissioners, that such partial annexation of Canonries and Prebends according to circumstances, which can be regulated by no general law, would accomplish the end in view, as far as they can be properly made to do so consistently with the preservation of our Cathedral establishment in its ancient and integral state, in point of numbers and of revenues. Anxious as we must always feel " for the augmentation of poor benefices containing a large population" (of which we may be permitted to say that we have recently given more than one proof), " and for adding to the number of the parochial Clergy," we cannot but think that more just and equitable means of attaining these truly desirable objects may be suggested than the suppression of Prebendaries and Canons, and the alienation of their estates to form a general fund (a measure which we entirely deprecate) for distribution far or near, perhaps to benefit distant parishes and other patrons. The proposed transfer of our patronage to the Bishop has been viewed by us, in common with the pubbc at large, with surprise and alarm, as an unjust and needless alteration, uncalled for by any abuse in our exercise of the right, and having no immediate connexion with the declared object of the proposed changes, viz., the augmentation of small benefices ; nor do we feel satisfied with the mode pointed out for the exercise of our patronage in future, which would confine it to members of our own establishment, and check individual nominations in the case of friendly options. The presentation, by the Chapter, of mem- bers of their body to vacant livings in their own gift is liable The Old Foundation. 105 to invidious remark; and though we are willing to admit generally the fair claim of our Priest Vicars to such preferment, yet we think it inexpedient to deprive the Chapter of the exercise of a fair discretion in the distribution of preferment in their gift. Our sentiments on this recommendation of the Commissioners closely coincide with the remarks already sub- mitted to their consideration in the Memorial from the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury. We are further of opinion that it is inexpedient to diminish the number of our Priest Vicars. We think five a number by no means greater than is calculated to supply the office effi- ciently ; and even if the Residentiaries should be reduced to four, it appears to us that each member of the Chapter ought to have the privilege of appointing a Vicar. In conclusion, we entreat the Commissioners to pause before (under the general circumstances of the increased population, wealth, and mental advancement of the kingdom at large) they venture to recommend to his Majesty the extinction of one-half of those few rewards and honourable distinctions, among a body of 15,000 individuals, which are subsidiary means of attracting men of rank, talent, family, and fortune within the pale of the Church to adorn her altars, defend her faith, and grace her ministry by their influence, their learning, and their charities ; and we desire to express our fervent trust that the intentions and testamentary dispositions of Founders and Benefactors, the statutes and customs, the ancient tenures, the efficiency and utility of Cathedral Institutions, will be carefully respected and preserved in the proposed arrangements, and in all legislative enactments which shall affect the honour, interest, dignity, discipline, and maintenance of the Church of Christ established in this realm. Given under our common seal, the third day of February one thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven. (c.s.) 106 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, Afc. MEMORIAL FROM THE DEAN AND CHAPTER OF LINCOLN. A Memorial addressed by the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln to His Majesty's Commissioners appointed to consider the State of the Established Church with reference to Ecclesiastical Duties and Revenues. We, the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln Cathedral, having bestowed much painful attention upon the Reports of his Majesty's Commissioners appointed to consider the state of the Established Church with reference to Ecclesiastical Duties and Revenues, feel it our bounden duty to protest against many of the recommendations therein contained ; and to accompany that protest with an earnest entreaty that the Commissioners will reconsider those important topics to which the following observations refer. We acknowledge, with all the deference justly due to eminent piety and high authority, that the name of our excellent Primate stands at the head of the Commission, followed by those of other distinguished prelates, as well as lay Commissioners, whose station and attainments entitle them to confidence and respect; and we cannot, therefore, but be strongly sensible of the unfor- tunate and unfavourable position in which we are hereby placed, a position, leaving us the choice, either of silent acquiescence in what we deem essentially injurious to the best interests of the Church, or of manfully " withstanding to the face" those who are set over us, because we believe they " are to be blamed." The fault, however, we trust, must in fairness rest with those who have forced this painful alternative upon us. At a time when so many will triumph at the sight of Church dignitaries differing about the means of rendering the ministry more efficient, it is lamentable to hear the tone of sarcastic exultation with which the enemies of the Establishment echo the cry that patronage and profit are the prominent subjects of dispute. When the strictest union of sentiment, especially amongst its higher orders, seems more than ever requisite to uphold in all its purity, the Apostolical Church of England, it is lamentable to be told that it exhibits symptoms of weakness and danger, inseparable from the division of a house agaiust itself. It is lamentable to see any of her natural guardians aiding to strip her of her grandeur, sweeping away one integral part of The Old Foundation. 107 her constitution, by the annihilation of one amongst her highest ranks of ministers, and utterly dissolving her minor corporations, coeval and intimately connected with the venerable foundations and imposing dignity of her Episcopal sees. And while we deprecate this reckless contempt for the institutions, provisions, and appointments of the early benefactors of our Church, we cannot conceal from ourselves the unhappy truth, that in those high places whence formerly proceeded pious endowments, and jealous defences of the external majesty of religion, there appears to be now an unseemly consultation how much of her apparel can be stripped of, instead of the primitive pride of rendering her more glorious to behold ; a disposition to abandon those bulwarks which have been set up to give strength and honour to Episcopacy, instead of intrepid zeal in their defence. Nor can we but think there is more than common ground for alarm, when we recognise the hand of the spoiler where our ancestors found bounty and protection. Had it, indeed, been thought proper, as we have good reason to believe was once intended, to have previously consulted those ecclesiastical bodies who are now called upon, by a sense of the duties which they owe to the Church, their Founders, and them- ! selves, to speak boldly in defence of their own existence in the high station they have hitherto occupied, we believe that the Commissioners might have been induced to pause before they proposed so many dangerous innovations. Even now, we trust, it may not be too late to prevent their recommending to the Legislature measures which we are prepared to show would be subversive in a great degree of the pristine dignity and actual J efficiency of Cathedral Chapters ; involving, as is confessed, a necessity for material changes in their statutes ; abolishing many of their approved customs ; taking away some of their vested ! rights and privileges, in despite of express declarations to the I contrary ; interfering with the administration of things com- j mitted to their especial charge ; encroaching upon their reve- nues, and confiscating their patronage. We trust that the nar- row view which has been taken of the principal objects contem- l plated by the Founders of our Cathedral bodies, may yet be ex- tended into due consideration for the more indirect, but perhaps even more generally useful, services which the members of those bodies have rendered in past ages, and which, under Providence, it is confidently hoped they may still continue to render, to 6 108 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, §c. Christianity. It would ill become us to speak of the individual utility of Residentiaries in their respective cities ; but without reference to ourselves, we may be permitted to assert, that . their charities, their exertions in the cause of religious education and improvement, their superintendence of local establishments, . their influence upon the character of society, the respect and attachment often felt through them for the Church, are all uses I which must ever exist in proportion to the consequence, in I the eye of the public, which their situations have hitherto given I: them; and this consequence, in a world like ours, must depend J: greatly upon their temporal circumstances, much upon their ac- J: tual wealth, and much upon their continuing to compose one I unvarying body, unchanged in their own number, in that ofr. those who assist them in the performance of the services of the I- Church, and in that of their immediate officers and dependents. |r We state thus broadly our conviction, that individuals bearing . a certain rank and outward appearance in the Church, are in ii various ways essentially beneficial to the community, because we fear that there is moving abroad a mischievous disposition to : magnify, at their expense, the pastoral office and ministerial : industry of those who are invidiously called the working Clergy. Not to dwell upon the invidiousness of this distinction, by ad- I verting to the fact that, as our Cathedrals are at present consti- ^ tuted, almost all their dignitaries are employed for a great part i of the year in parochial duties ; it may be urged further on their behalf, that they form a connecting link between the I higher and the lower grades in the ministry, raising the latter 1 into importance ; and are enabled to qualify themselves the bet- t ter to be in their turn " workers together with them," by enjoy- i ing stated intervals of comparative leisure; intervals, in which the : exercise of subordinate authority attaches them to the principles i by which episcopal power is upheld ; while their regular attend- i ance upon the choral services of the Church secures to the public , the full preservation of the most beautiful and striking solemnities ; of Christian worship, together with the more substantial com- i forts of daily prayer and thanksgiving. And here, as immediately connected with the part of the sub- ject now before us, we cannot refrain from stating our hearty concurrence in all the observations so powerfully made by the Dean and Chapter of Winchester, upon the intimate connexion which subsists between Cathedral institutions and the inainte- The Old Foundation. 109 nance of a sound theology. A consideration this, which we should not shortly dismiss, but that we fear to weaken, by any additions of our own, what is in itself so strong ; and that we trust an appeal, such as we are now alluding to, needs not the aid of mere repetition. We desire also to follow the example set by the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury, in claiming an absolute right to the free disposal of all that is our own ; and in declaring at the same time our readiness to apply such remedies as circumstances per- mit, to the evils upon which the Commissioners dwell in their Reports. That there are evils, we admit ; and in searching for remedies, to which we think Cathedral bodies might be made in some de- gree available, many fresh and weighty objections occur to the sweeping extermination of all Prebendal Stalls, and to the extra- ordinary decision, that every Chapter shall henceforth consist of a Dean and four Canons only. But indeed the changes proposed are so great and various, that, to see them in their true light, they require to be consi- dered somewhat in detail. The Reports profess to have in view two grand objects; viz., 1. To improve certain populous benefices : 2. To add to the num- ber of Clergymen and Churches. And to accomplish these pur- poses, what do they recommend ? To extinguish, with very few exceptions, all non-residentiary dignities. To change the number of Residentiaries in all Cathe- drals, with the exception of York, Chichester, and Carlisle, In each of which the number at present existing is five, viz. a Dean and four Canons. To destroy the corpses or separate endow- ments of all Residentiaries. To confiscate, for the benefit of their repective Bishops, all the patronage now belonging to any Residentiary as a corporation sole. To confiscate, for the benefit of their respective Bishops, much of the patronage now belonging to Deans and Chapters as aggregate corporations, and to impose certain restrictions upon their disposal of the little they will be allowed to retain. To dissolve all the corporations known by the name of Minor Canons, Priest Vicars, Vicars- Choral, or Chaplains, &c. ; and to give them fixed salaries in lieu of their estates, which are to be confiscated ; and to confiscate also their advowsons for the benefit of their respective Chapters. 110 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, fyc. To alter the ancient statutes of all Cathedrals, so as to meet the exigencies of each new arrangement. These surely are startling propositions ; and since they have now been before the public for the space of several months, during which period they have given rise to numerous pamphlets, letters and remonstrances of various kinds, we are warranted in saying, that have created surprise and regret among many sober- minded and disinterested well-wishers to the Church. The re- marks which have been made upon them by clergymen of different ranks, are evidence of their disapprobation, containing at the same time the reasons on which this disapprobation is founded ; in which, as far as we can ascertain the fact, they are joined by a large majority among those of the laity who give such subjects their attention. And in truth, taken in conjunction with some other propositions contained in the same Reports, they are but too naturally regarded as paving the way for further spoliation of the Church, and as precedents for disturbing all that has hitherto been considered sacred and secure. But to proceed with our own view of the propositions which have been enumerated. If any of them should be found to con- tain evil in themselves, or to threaten it remotely, at least it is to be expected that they should tend to the furtherance of the two great objects above mentioned. Nor should we deem it our province to canvass their expediency, could we satisfy ourselves that they were just and innocuous. But believing that they were unjust in principle, dangerous in their general tendency, and mischievous in their particular effects, we must beg to inquire, first, Where is the necessity for their adoption? and, secondly, How would they remedy the acknowledged evils ? That there are populous benefices with very inadequate endow- ments, is equally matter of notoriety and regret ; and the preli- minary step recommended by the Commissioners to meet this grievance is to create a general fund out of the abundance of other ecclesiastical property. Now, setting aside for a moment the question of right to make this transfer, we respectfully urge, that by the raising of all such contributions, the bounty of the Founders is pro tanto perverted from its original design ; one Patron enriched at the expense of another; payments made to the Church in one place applied to spiritual purposes in another; and property concentrated and The Old Foundation. Ill converted into money ; so rendering it less safe from rapacious usurpation than lands scattered and divided committed to the immediate guardianship of several unconnected owners. And if possessions created by benefaction, secured by statutes, and enjoyed by long custom, may be diverted to an object never before thought of, will it not be asked, as it has been in a sister country, why may they not be appropriated to other than Church purposes ? Assuming, however, that it is wise and safe to create this ge- neral fund, still we ask, Can it be necessary to abolish so very large a proportion of Prebendal Stalls for its supply? And if such a sweeping measure as this be thought absolutely neces- sary, how is it that, by those who so consider it, a proposition is brought forward for the retention of such as are attached to Episcopal Sees? Or again, how is it, we would ask, that by those very persons who themselves acknowledge the use of Pre- bends, as giving rank and increased income to the incumbents of populous parishes, one of the very few exceptions to their total abolition is claimed in the case just alluded to, where the inferior dignity and emoluments are altogether merged in the greater? Surely, in instances of this sort, disunion, rather than con- tinued annexation, is what might naturally have been expected. Hitherto, we have forborne to speak particularly of ourselves ; but we may be allowed to say, that the Cathedral Church of Lincoln, perhaps above all others, has a right to be heard when pleading for the preservation of Prebendal Stalls. Fifty-two dig- nities, or nearly so, abstracted at once from our magnificent foundation, we cannot but contemplate as an act nearly allied to sacrilege, affording legitimate ground for lamentation and com- plaint. And in confirmation of what has been adduced in their favour, as affording means and leisure for improvement in theo- logical studies, we desire here to quote an interesting passage from Willis's History of Cathedrals. Speaking of the Prebends of Lincoln, he says, " Every one of these Stalls have, within these last 400 years (except the Prebend of Sexaginta Solidorum), produced a Bishop ; and I may also further observe, that every individual Cathedral in this kingdom has had a Prebendary of this noble Church, Bishop thereof." Of a nursery, for centuries so eminently fruitful in the production of pious and learned per- sons for the highest order of our Church, can it be matter of surprise, if those who are now its natural guardians should con- 112 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, Sfc. template its projected demolition with more than ordinary con- cern, or express that concern with more than ordinary warmth of feeling ? With regard to the number of Residentiaries, we earnestly de- precate the addition of one to our Chapter, fearing, as respects ourselves, that it may hereafter be held out as a proof of our inadequacy to the performance of our several duties ; and desiring to transmit our respective offices to our successors unimpaired in influence, uninjured in revenue, undeprived of their accustomed share in the administration of their own affairs. We look upon the severance of dignities from their separate endowments as a measure likely, at no great distance of time, to be fatal to their independent existence ; indefensible as a seizure of freehold property ; impolitic, as it destroys distinctions con- ferred in perpetuity by the Founder, without which, high stations in the Church would long ago have been confounded with each other, and their titles sunk into oblivion. One valuable part of many of these separate endowments is the exercise of private patronage ; and when the Commissioners propose to lay violent hands upon this branch of our rights, we are inclined to hope, from the language of their Reports, that they do it with some misgiving. We are unwilling to think, that by imposing restrictions upon us, unknown to every other description of patrons, it is intended to cast any reflections upon the manner in which we have hitherto disposed of our prefer- ment. Conscious of being as free from sordid motives, and as zealous for the glory of Christ, and the credit of His ministry, as we believe our brethren on the bench to be, and moreover of having actually placed, according to our power, as many " la- borious and deserving clergymen in situations of usefulness and independence ;" we had rather regard both the restrictions to be placed upon us collectively, and the seizures to be made upon us individually, as recommended in all good faith and simplicity of heart in order " to strengthen the connexion between the Bishop and his Clergy," but as recommended under a totally mistaken view of the case. We do not deny that it is to him they " natu- rally look for encouragement and reward." But we do protest against the doctrine, that it is from him alone that they expect and have received professional advancement ; and for many other patrons, as well as for ourselves, we beg leave to lay claim to both honesty in seeking, and discrimination in rewarding merit. The Old Foundation. With still greater confidence we protest against this concen- tration of patronage, as a direct invasion of vested rights ; for members of a body corporate have vested rights as such, of which a voice in the disposal of their preferment is surely an important one, and one which, according to the principle of preserving to individuals that which they possess, ought surely to be respected. And not only shall we ourselves be thus grossly injured, but we are sure, that if so many different streams be converted into one straight channel to preferment, much obscure merit must be overlooked, and, we fear, encouragement given to indirect me- thods and unworthy endeavours to procure interest with those who have so much to distribute. For we cannot but observe upon the degree to which episcopal patronage will thus be in- creased. We speak not of the great accession gained by the general appropriation of appointments to all canonries, nor are we qualified to refer to the particular circumstances of other cathedrals. But in our own alone, thirty-seven advowsons will be found amid the wreck of Prebends, nineteen will be taken from our Dean, nine from our Precentor, Chancellor, and Sub- dean, and thirty-one from our body corporate, except in so far as our successors may avail themselves of the permission to pre- sent one of their own body. In the recommendations relative to minor corporations in Cathedrals, we find a contempt for the rights of property, a defiance of the respect due to the memory of our Founders, and an open avowal of indifference to the constitution of Choral establishments, which fill us will unfeigned astonishment and sorrow. The dissolution of corporations, involving confiscation of their property, is a measure of destruction hitherto unattempted ; nor have we the inclination here to speak of it as it deserves ; but at least, as far as regards the Cathedral Church of Lincoln, we are authorized to protest against it ; and this we do, not only on behalf of the parties more immediately interested, but also for our own sakes. We know not whether any or what reduction may be contemplated in the number of Lay Vicars, to which we have been long accustomed ; but believing our complement to be no more than sufficient, continuing, as in duty bound, to bestow much pains in providing all things calculated to give efficiency to our Choir, and being sincerely desirous that the sacred and im- posing character of our daily offerings of praise should, as far as 114 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, §c. possible, harmonize with the exterior magnificence of the fabric, we earnestly deprecate any change whatever in anything that appertains to the performance of the Choral Service. With regard to our Priest Vicars, we are aware that the profits attached to their situations are much too small, and these will be diminished, should the suppression of Prebends be insisted on. At present they hold benefices in the city and neighbourhood, from which they derive a competent income; nor do we think it advisable that the practice should be discontinued of presenting them to some one living contiguous to the Cathedral. We are, however, of opinion, that some means should be adopted for the better securing a competency to each Priest Vicar ; and since their own endowments are not sufficient, which we again and again repeat should in any case be preserved to them as sacred, we have it in contemplation to make an arrangement for this purpose, according to future circumstances. We have already expressed our concern, that such free and open communications between Bishops and their Deans and Chapters have not taken place, as we think might have been highly advantageous, and attended with very beneficial results. But now that it is declared necessary to revise and alter our statutes, we respectfully beg to claim a hearing, whenever it should be determined to empower the Visitor to effect any change in what we have sworn to maintain inviolate ; and, in the words of the Dean and Chapter of Exeter, we pray that no power should be given to the Visitor to alter the statutes without our concurrence. It remains only to observe, that we are, in common with the Commissioners, fully alive to the pressing want of Church accom- modation, but that we do not see how any one of their pro- positions is at all calculated to facilitate the mitigation of this great evil ; and if addition to the number of Clergymen be, as it is declared to be, one main object, we think that the degradation of Cathedral establishments is a most extraordinary step to take for its attainment; believing, as we do, that every profession flourishes in proportion to the encouragement held out to it. We know that many a conscientious person enters into holy orders without any other hope or design than that of " preaching the word ;" that under the influence of this feeling many an exem- plary pastor of a parish contentedly " goes forth to his work and to his labour, till the evening" of his days, happy Id obscurity > The Old Foundation. 115 and rewarded by the inward sense of his usefulness ; but because such a man " walks humbly with his God," free from every taint of worldly ambition, and too modest to believe he could adorn a higher station, we are therefore for that very reason the more anxious that he should not be altogether shut out from the pros- pect of those honours, and from that access to the higher walks of learning, which have been of old provided in their wisdom and their piety by the nursing fathers of the Church of England ; both of which privations, as it appears to us, must be the almost inevitable consequences of the vast diminution in the number of honours recommended by the Commissioners. In conclusion, we pray that dignities founded for the double purpose of reward and improvement of the talents of Christ's faith- ful servants may not be swept away ; that if alterations must be made, they may be for the glory and efficiency of our Church, not for its dishonour and abasement ; that if sacrifices are required, they may not be such as will overturn the whole economy of our most ancient and sacred institutions. And if our irreconcileable enemies must be gratified, if " our rulers take counsel together against us," we still confidently look to the arm ( of an over-ruling Providence which has saved us out of the fiery trial of popery, which has lifted us up from under the levelling yoke of presby- terianism, and which we humbly hope will yet preserve to us, in its integral form, the threatened fabric of our ecclesiastical polity. Given under our common seal at Lincoln, 24th January, 1837. (c. s.) MEMORIAL FROM THE WARDEN AND MINOR CANONS OF ST. PAUL'S, LONDON. To His Majesty's Commissioners appointed to consider the State of the Established Church, with reference to Ecclesiastical Duties and Revenues. The Memorial of the Warden and College of Twelve Minor Canons of St. Paul's, London. Sheweth, That your memorialists were incorporated in the year of our Lord 1396, and then received from their royal patron, King i 2 116 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, Sfc. Richard the Second, a charter constituting them dignitaries of the Church, and conferring on them a common seal, with other valuable privileges. That the Warden and College of Minor Canons have from that period downwards continued to be a corporation, hold- ing lands for their own sole use and benefit, and not in trust for any other parties whatsoever; and that the said Warden and Minor Canons have never done anything, by mismanagement or otherwise, to call for or justify the revocation of such rights and privileges. That whereas it has been recommended in the late Report of your honourable Board to abolish the charter aforesaid, to deprive your memorialists of all such rights and privileges, and to reduce their number from twelve to four : Your memorialists most respectfully solicit that in any Bill hereafter to be founded upon the said Report, such a modification may be adopted as will secure to your memorialists the same rights and privileges as fully as they have been hitherto enjoyed by themselves and their predecessors. That should any reduction in their number be eventually thought expedient, such reduction should not diminish their body below the number eight ; four minor canons being, from the vast area of the Cathedral, inadequate to perform Choral Service in it, without serious injury to the health of those of- ficiating. And whereas, by the fortieth clause of the Report aforesaid, it is proposed to restrict the livings hereafter tenable with Minor Canonries to the limits of the city in which the Cathedral is situate ; your memorialists further solicit that the words " and liberties thereof" may be inserted in any such Bill, which, they conceive, will not interfere with the principle proposed to be acted on. And whereas, it is also proposed in the said Report to divert into different channels the patronage of the Cathedral ; your me- morialists further solicit that a suitable provision may be secured to your memorialists out of the said patronage, and that no friendly options may be made by any parties whatever till such provision has been fully carried into effect. In conclusion, your memorialists beg to observe, that within the recollection of many now living, their body was much better provided for than it has been of late years ; sixteen pieces of pre- The Old Foundation. 117 ferment, including the valuable livings of St. Giles, Cripplegate, and St. Pancras, having at no distant period been set apart for their provision, ten only of the smallest of which are now held by your memorialists. In witness whereof your memorialists have caused their com- mon seal to be hereunto affixed, the sixth day of January, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven. (s. c.) J. W. Vivian, Warden. MEMORIAL FROM VICARS-CHORAL, &C, OF ST. PAUL'S, AND LAY- CLERKS, &C, OF WESTMINSTER ABBEY. To the Right Reverend and Honourable His Majesty's Ecclesi- astical Commissioners appointed to consider the State of the Established Church. An humble and respectful Memorial is presented by the Vicars- choral of Saint Paul's Cathedral, the Lay Clerks of Saint Peter, Westminster, the Organists and the Choristers be- longing to the two Cathedrals. Your Memorialists beg respectfully to observe, that they do not mean in this statement any complaint against their superiors, but only humbly and respectfully to call the attention of the Right Reverend and Honourable the Commissioners to a plain statement of facts, as they have occurred since the Restoration, at which time the condition of the members of the various Ca- thedrals was considered, and much improved, in order to meet the alteration of the times. They humbly beg to call the attention of this Commission now appointed, to their " Second Report," which states, "oui attention has been drawn to the condition of those Ministers in the Cathedral and Collegiate Churches who are known by the name of Minor Canons, Vicars-choral, or Chaplains. The ser- vice is performed by them in all these Churches twice, and in some three times a day throughout the year. The number in St. Paul's is twelve, in others eight, six, four, and in the Col- legiate Church of Manchester two. The emoluments are almost as various as their numbers. At Durham some of the Minor Canons receive as much as 170/. a year ; in some Churches they 1 18 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, Sfc. have not more than SQL, but the majority receive from 50/. to 70/. In consequence of the smallness of their salaries, in almost all the Cathedrals, we find a prevalent custom of giving to these ministers Chapter Livings, which they hold together with their places in the Cathedrals. We are of opinion, that the interest, both of the Cathedrals and Parishes, would be consulted by re- taining only so many of these ministers as are sufficient for the service of the Cathedral, and giving them such salaries as may preclude the necessity of their holding benefices together with their offices in the Cathedrals." " In most of the Cathedrals of the old foundation these su- bordinate ministers form a distinct corporation, subsist upon the separate funds thereto belonging, and exert the same power of leasing their property as other ecclesiastical bodies. The consequent fluctuation and uncertainty of income arising from fines received upon renewals of leases in different years, which is found very inconvenient by the holders of large preferment, must occasionally become a source of distress to those whose average subsistence is very slender. We are of opinion that it would be expedient to make some arrangement for placing the property of these minor corporations upon a better footing." Saint Paul's — The Vicars-choral respectfully observe that there are twelve Minor Canons in St. Paul's Cathedral, and six Vicars-choral. Formerly, within the memory of persons now living, the Minor Canons performed an equal part of the Cathe- dral musical service, as their duty was, with the Vicars-choral, but now the Vicars-choral perform almost the whole of that duty, not only in that Cathedral, but in almost every other in the kingdom, through which a much closer attendance is required of the Vicars-choral and Lay Clerks, whereby they are prevented employing their time as instructors in music, an employment which forms the principal means of their subsistence. The Vicars-choral respectfully represent to the Right Reverend and Honourable the Commissioners, that at the time of the great fire of London, their dwelling houses, among others, were burnt down, and they not being able to rebuild the same, the houses were rebuilt by a decree of the Judges. The Vicars-choral granted to the persons becoming tenants forty years' leases, re- newable according to the custom at the expiration of fourteen years out of the forty, on paying to them a fine, which is equally The Old Foundation. 119 divided amongst them, and a trifling annual ground rent. For collecting these ground rents a sum is paid quarterly. The Vicars-choral also respectfully represent, that four of their tenants holding such leases as aforesaid have suffered them to run on to twenty years, and some still longer, instead of renewing at the end of fourteen years, and have declined the same upon any terms whatever, through which circumstances their annual income is much reduced. There is therefore due to the Vicars- choral upwards of 1,800/., making about 800/. due to each, which leases should have been renewed at the end of fourteen years, but the same have run over to the following various periods, viz. three, four, five, and six years ; and should any of the Vicars-choral die before the said renewals are completed, they would lose the whole of the above sum, as each has only a life interest, although they have been anxiously waiting and looking forward to the matter of renewals many years ; and their families also would have serious cause to lament this loss. In consequence of the failure of these renewals, the following are the only annual sums which the Vicars-choral have to de- pend on : Standing annual stipend Compensation in lieu of obits, pittances, bread, beer, and various other items, which have re- mained the same ever since the Restoration. Ground rents of their houses before described and not renewed Each Vicar-choral's share of the money collected for showing the Church, which sum is now di- minished nearly half, from various causes, about d. 13 8 6 11 8 6 38 £. 71 17 The following also was given to the Vicars-choral as an aug- mentation : — " The first of these is an assignation made by Eustace de Fauconbridge, Bishop of London, shortly after the beginning of King Henry the Third's time, of the Church of Burnstede, (in the county of Essex,) which the Prior and Convent of Stoke at his request had granted to this Cathedral for the behoof of poor m Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, Sfc. Clerks, (Vicars-choral,) frequenting the quire and celebrating the holy office of our Lady." The Vicars-choral grant the lease of this property (Steeple Burnsted) so given to them, and receive to this day the annual rent, viz. 121., from E. A. Stephens, esq. tenant ; also a renewal once in seven years, divided among the six Vicars-choral. John de Chishull, Bishop of London, 1279, for the better increase of the Minor Canons and Vicars-choral there, did on the 6: id: June, with the express consent of the Dean and Chapter, grant out of the profits of this Church 8/. to the said Minor Canons, and 131. to the said Vicars, to be yearly distributed among them by equal portions. A fine is received on renew- ing the lease of this property (Halstead Vicarage) once in seven years out of twenty-one. Eight parts are paid to the Minor Canons, and thirteen parts to the Vicars-choral, equally divided amongst them. " And Eustace de Fauconbridge moreover assigned 5 marks (31. 6s. 8d.) yearly issuing out of the Church of Finchingfield, (in the county of Essex,) so that six Clerks (Vicars-choral) should be made choice of every day, with one priest of the quire, by turns to celebrate the mass of our Lady." This also is paid regularly to the Vicars-choral by the Reverend Mr. Wes- terman. " And in anno 1299 (27th of Edw. I.) the Prior and Convent of Thetford gave four marks (2/. 13s. 4c?.) per annum to be dis- tributed likewise amongst the Clerks, (Vicars-choral,) who should celebrate the mass of the Blessed Virgin." This also the Vicars- choral did receive of Sir Thomas Davis, then of Herman Olmius, afterwards of Lord Waltham, up to the year 1782; since which time the Vicars-choral have not received any payment of this pension, although frequent application has been made both to the Incumbent, the Reverend Mr. Dennis, and also to the pro- prietor or successor of Lord Waltham, R. O. Easton, esq. from whom the Vicars-choral never received any answer. There is therefore due to the Vicars-choral from the above the sum of 145/., which they formerly received under the head of White Notley Pension, County of Essex. In the last terrier is men- tioned, " A portion of 53s. 4-d. paid yearly by the parson to the Vicar." These circumstances, over which the Vicars-choral have no The Old Foundation. \2\ control, have for some years past very distressingly reduced their income, and caused them great difficulties and serious priva- tions. Saint Peter's. — It is most humbly and respectfully repre- sented to the Right Reverend and Honourable the Commissioners, that all the houses belonging to the Lay Clerks of St. Peter Westminster, (together with those of the Organist and Master of the Choristers,) have from time to time been taken down. In 1777 an Act of Parliament was passed, which, after reciting that it might be necessary for the purposes of that Act (which was to widen certain streets) " to take down certain buildings called the Almshouses, situate in or near a certain place called the Little Almonry, and to make use of the ground belonging thereto ; and also to take down two small houses or tenements, part of the court called the Singing Men's Rents, situate within the Great Almonry, and to make use of the ground belong- ing to the said two small houses or tenements ; and also to take down two other houses or tenements, at the corner of the Little Almonry aforesaid, belonging to the Master of the Choristers of the said Collegiate Church for the time being ; and also to take down four houses belonging to the Minor Canons of the said Collegiate Church, which are situate in Dean's Yard ;" it was enacted, " That in case the said Dean and Chapter, their suc- cessors or assigns, shall take down the said almshouses, or other houses or tenements aforesaid; then the said Dean and Chapter, and their successors or assigns, shall in lieu thereof cause to be built such other houses or buildings on some other part or parts of the ground belonging to the said Dean and Chapter in such place and manner as the Commissioners," (appointed by that Act,) " or any five or more of them, shall order and direct ; and which shall, when built, be of equal value with the almshouses, and the said two small houses or tenements, and likewise the said other two houses or tenements, and also the said four houses belonging to the Minor Canons aforesaid ; and that in the meantime, and until such houses and buildings shall be erected as aforesaid, the said Dean and Chapter, and their successors or assigns,' shall allow to the almsmen belonging to the said almshouses, and to such of the singing men as are or shall be entitled to the said two small houses or tenements, and to the said Master of the Choris- ters, and also to the said Minor Canons, such yearly sum or sums of money in lieu thereof, as the said Commissioners shall think 122 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, Sfc. equal to the yearly rent or value of the said houses or tenements so to be taken down as aforesaid." The sums of money awarded by the Commissioners in lieu of these houses taken down are as follows : The four Minor Canons .... 201. each, making 80/. The two Singing Men's Houses 15/. each, making 30/. The Organist's house \5l. The School house 15/. How the sums so awarded by the Commissioners in lieu of the Singing Men's, Organist's and School houses are divided, the Lay Clerks cannot learn. In lieu of the houses so from time to time taken down, various very trifling and inadequate sums are received, viz. 5/. and 1/. 15s. per annum; and in consequence of the same never having been rebuilt (although some of them were ordered to be rebuilt by the above Act of Parliament, in 1777), much of their annual stipend must necessarily be con- sumed in house rent. The following is a copy of a grant and augmentation given to the Lay Clerks or Singing-men of St. Peter at the Restoration, which produced at that period 79/. and should have been divided among the twelve members (or Singing-men), to the deprivation and loss of the same. Copy of the Grant. The Choir's Augmentation in the Treasurer's Book. And in money paid to the Singing-men, pursuant to a grant made by Bartholomew Laxton, out of the possessions belonging to the late Priory of Hinckley And in money payable out of tenements in Westminster, formerly in the tenure of Ben- net Dean And in money issuing as well out of the tene- ments in the Bowling Alley, formerly in the tenure of William Samuel, as out of the Rec- tory of Saint Martin's-in-the-Fields .... And in money paid to the aforesaid Singing-men as an augmentation out of Freestone and But- terwick, in the county of Lincoln .... 12 40 The Old Foundation. 123 And in money out of other lands given to the said Singing-men by the Dean and Chapter, and out of St. Margeret's Church in West- minster e. 79 The Lay Clerks have often respectfully and submissively in- quired as to the improvement of the estates of the above grant since the Restoration, and they lament to observe that all in- formation on this subject has been refused. The improvement of that portion of Saint Margaret's Church or rents (contained in the said grant), which are let on lease for twenty-one years to Mr. Elliott the brewer, are now divided amongst seven members of the Choir only. Had the Lay Clerks the full improvements of the above grant, it might remedy the evils arising from the fluc- tuation in the value of money. The items of one quarter's salary for one member from Christ- mas to Lady-day are, Standing salary Augmentation, half-yearly Allowance in lieu of an house, half-yearly January waiting, an augmentation given to each Lay Clerk in his month of waiting, provided he makes fifty waitings. Forty-nine times will not entitle him to receive the same. He is also subject to a fine of 10s. for every time he is absent : illness will not excuse Installation of Prebendary Quarterly, out of the money collected from the public by showing the Church, viz. about 1 ,400/. per annum Willis's funeral Candle for ditto Lord Mayor's candle, annual 1 3 10 £. 25 7 1 There is an annual payment called parish money, - 18 - 124 Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, fyc. A new order has, within two or three years, been issued by the Very Reverend the Dean, viz., that in future every person who may accept of the situation of Lay Clerk shall sign a book before he is appointed, whereby he is compelled to attend twice on each day, making sixty times in his month of attendance, or decline taking the same, although he may have been doing the duty many years as a deputy, and notwithstanding the original agreement, in 1796, to attend fifty times. Those Lay Clerks who have deputies according to ancient custom, are compelled to pay 61. per month to them, and must attend themselves on Sunday. The Lay Clerks respectfully observe, that by the Project of Statutes drawn up first by Dr. Bill, and continued by Dr. Good- man, the Lay Clerks are compelled to attend only twenty-one days in each month. " The Dean and Prebendaries keep several houses, and kept residence twenty-one days three quarters of the year, and twenty- four days one quarter. The Dean, if he were absent any one day of his residence, he paid 10s. for every day. If he came not at alb he had but the corps of his Deanery, which was 40Z. The Pre- bendary omitting any one day of his residence, he lost Is. for every- day. If he were absent, he had but the corps, which was 101." Lansdown MSS. No. 12. Brit. Mus. The following is the fine which should be deducted from the members of the Choir, and not 10s. as now enforced. " Quotidie pulsatis prius de more campanis publicae preces matutinas et vespertinae a presbyteris cantoribus et choristis more Anglicanas Ecclesiae in choro decantentur horis idoneis a decano assignandis. Qui absque venia ab his abfuerit pro arbitrio decani quatuor denariis puniatur; qui non prsesens fuerit ad cessationem pulsationis campanae, is tardus reputetur ac solvat duos denarios." " I require the above statute strictly to be observed, and that Dr. Bayley, the Chanter, signify to all, both Minor Canons and Singing-men, that the fines will be deducted quarterly from their respective stipends. (Signed) " J. Rochester, Dean." "9th April, 1791. " To the Rev. Dr. Anselm Bayley, " Chanter of the Collegiate Church of " St. Peter's, Westminster." The Old Foundation. 125 Although these statutes were never signed by Queen Eliza- beth, yet they have been acted upon up to the date of this new order. They most humbly hope that new statutes may be given, whereby each person may be certain what duty he is compelled to do, and what stipend he should receive. It is also most humbly hoped that this Right Reverend and Honourable Com- mission will further provide for the Cathedral music schools; it being now one of the only means left by which the members j have any prospect of providing for their sons, and preserving the Cathedral national music. The school-house having been taken down according to the Act of Parliament in 1777, no provision has since been made for the education of the choristers. Not only has the master of the choristers no residence for himself, but has no school-house in which he may instruct them in the choir duties ; and he is required to hire a room in the precincts of the Church for that purpose, paying for the same out of his own stipend. It may not be improper further most respectfully to state, that it has often been the lot of some of the members of these choirs to experience the most heart-breaking reflections: and some liv- ing instances might be pointed out, if required, iD almost every place where there is a Cathedral. And it is an allowed and well- known fact, that from the smallness of the yearly stipends of the various members of the choirs, and from the close attendance now required, it is utterly impossible that they should be able to pro- vide for their widows or children ; and it is too frequently found, that when it has pleased the Almighty to call them hence, their widows have been left without any support for themselves or families. It may be necessary for your memorialists humbly to state, that the Vicars-choral and Lay Clerks, not now being in orders, (although they are a part of the body and statutable members,). are not yet mentioned or included in the proposed alteration and improvements about to take place in the said Cathedrals, since they do not now come under the head of Ministers or Deacons, as they formerly did ; and by virtue of which office they read the first lesson, and chanted the Litany ; and this they continued to do at some Cathedrals until within the last ten years. It is therefore most humbly and earnestly to be hoped, that the Right Reverend and Honourable the Commissioners will take the case of the Vicars-choral and Lay Clerks into their consideration, which has always been the case when a Commission 12G Chapter and Collegiate Memorials,