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it would on the whole be a safer course, if a separate Bill were brought in for that purpose; which was afterwards done by Sir William Scott, though without success; for so many objections were made from various quarters, and such unforeseen difficulties arose in the prosecution of the measure, that he at length determined not to proceed with it further. This to the Bishop was a mortifying and severe disappointment: but yet with such an object in view-an object, as he considered it, strictly consonant with every principle of justice, and essentially involving the best interests of religion-he was not discouraged, as I shall soon have occasion to state, from making another effort to carry it into effect.

In the mean time, a question of considerable importance to the London Clergy engaged much of his attention,

and

and it was, I believe, in no small degree owing to his exertions, that it finally succeeded. The circumstances, in which it originated, were shortly these. In consequence of the fire of London in 1666, eighty-five churches were destroyed; and of these, fifty-one were rebuilt. Instead however of the maintenance of the clergy being regulated, as before, by a rate increasing with the increase of property and the augmented expense of living, an Act of Charles the Second, commonly called the Fire Act, limited their incomes to certain fixed sums, the largest of which did not exceed £.200 per annum. This, though at the time it was considered, and perhaps might be, an adequate provision, became soon a very insufficient one; and, in fact, exactly in proportion as their parishioners grew rich, the incumbents

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incumbents became less capable of supporting themselves with that decency and respectability, which, especially in a large commercial city, their stations required. But, in a peculiar degree in the present times, when from various causes the price of all the necessaries of life has been so enormously advanced, the inadequacy of such a maintenance was felt with such severity, as to render it absolutely necessary to call in the aid of the Legislature and it was therefore the object of the Bill then proposed by the Bishop, to improve, on the authority of Parliament, all the livings under the Act of Charles, by an increased rate upon property. This, however, though called for equally by justice and necessity, was strongly opposed; chiefly on the ground, that there was no consent of the parties

affected

affected by it, namely, the inhabitants of the several parishes where the augmentation was to be made; and that without that consent it would be an unreasonable and unjust invasion of private property. But it was answered, and amongst others, with great impression, by the Bishop, that the Bill had then been eighteen months in agitation, during which period no petition against it of any kind had been received from any one of the parishes; a circumstance, he observed, which ought surely to be considered as an acquiescence on their part, implied though not expressed, and, as in fact it was, a tacit consent to the measure. This reasoning was considered sufficient, and the Bill passed without further opposition." Thus," he says, "after a long delay, and difficulties of various kinds, was a most important measure brought

brought to an issue; the London Clergy were highly gratified by it, and expressed themselves much obliged by the exertions I had made. It was indeed an object, in which I felt most deeply interested, and its success has given me heartfelt satisfaction for it has not only procured a considerable addition of income to fifty of the London Incumbents, but has also, I hope, in its principle, laid a foundation for a future augmentation of their benefices, whenever particular emergencies may render it necessary; and from what fell from several Noble Lords in the course of the debate, I cannot help flattering myself, that it may ultimately lead the way to a reasonable increase of all the poorer livings throughout England and Wales.".

In the winter of the following year, 1805, the Bishop, with that unceasing

attention

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