beer to be an indispensible necessary of life with the lower orders of society, have yet to learn how the lower orders live. In fact, beer has been long an article so costly, as not to be within their reach. The tea-pot has taken place of the mug, at every meal of the peasant's family; such persons, therefore, will be least of all affected by the stoppage of breweries. On the contrary, if the brewing of malt was prevented, they would be certain of a very large supply of good bread, without any sacrifice on their part. How large a supply-such a measure would produce, we may pretty well ascertain by calculation. At present, how does man live? We will say, that his mode of cultivating his land is uniformly the same; that he sows wheat in the first year, barley in the second, oats in the third; and, after coating his land with manure, sows wheat, barley, and oats, in succession, again. By such a scheme of husbandry, is it Rot manisest that he sows his land but once in three years, for the purpose of raising bread for himself? In the second year he grows drink for his table, and some share of grain his swine: in the third year he provides only for his horses. Now this is certainly very bad economy: Two years at least, out of the thres, ought to be made to Taise food for his own consumption, If then barley be made use of As meat instead of drink, is it not manifest that he will grow for his own table twice as much bread as he before did? And will he not obtain in the first two years as much solid provision from his harvestfield, as he has hitherto reaped in six years? The sound policy, therefore, of preventing barley from being converted into beer, when there is actually a scarcity of bread, must be obvious. If beer must be had, let brewers be compelled to make it from sugars; or at least let them be confined to the use of such barley only as they shall import. If such restrictions should be found to bear hard upon certain individuals, I shall yet be of opinion, that general preservation ought not to be sacrisiced to particular convenience. If these observations, Mr. Editor, should appear

and

your readers to be of some consequence, I shall be happy in the reflection, that, by not suppressing them, I have been useful to my fellow-creatures.

ACADEMICUS.

to you

TITHES NO BAR TO AGRICULTURAL IMPROVEMENT.

TO THE EDITOR,

SIR,

B
EING a fincere friend to the King and the Church of England, I

(when an undergraduate at Oxford) took in the British Critic on its firit establishment, and still continue that publication ; but having great obligations to Mr. Jones's writings, from which I have derived such conviction of the great truths of Christianity, that I believe my faith therein will not calily be shaken, I was surprised that these critics hould treat with ridicule the analogy pointed out by that learned wri. ter : had they confuted his arguments, well and good; the world would have gained by the detection of sophistry, and the establishment of the truth; but affertion being no argument, I consider their opposition to Mr. Jones as proceeding from the groundless prejudice entertained even by men in other respects candid, against the opinions of Mr. Hutchinson, Hearing, however, that Mr. Jones was treated with greater respect in your Review, I determined to send for one of your Numbers, and am so well pleased with your publication, that I have sent for it from its commencement, and propose continuing it as long as I perceive, that

I the same proper spirit remains which firit actuated it; of which! perceive, at present, no failure. Your observations on Tithes are admisable, and it is on this subject, I wish to address you. I have been much affifted by your arguments on this long contested point ; but there is one truth which I wish you boldly to speak out. It has been asserted (and it is no more than an assercion) thai tithes are an obstacle to the improvement in agriculture : now I will affert, in direct contradiction to this, that they are a great benefit to the farmer in their present tenure, and, of consequence, ought not to obstruct but to further any agricultural improvement.' I thall now give you my facts on which I ground my assertion. When I came into the possession of my living, a little more than five years ago, I continued the custom long prevalent in this parish, and indeed in this county, where tithes are in clerical hands, which is to view the tithes and offer them to the several farm. mers on whose grounds they grow. I did so, and drew the riches of the few who refused; and mark the consequence. I kept an exact account of these tithes, and, after deducting the expence of Lading, threshing, and markering, (heavy to me, because I had every thing to hire, but which would have been little or nothing to the farmer) I nearly doubled the sum at which I offered them to the farmers. I do therefore maintain, that had I drawn all my tithes I should have nearly doubled my living ; had I had my own horses, &c. more than doubled it. The farmers ought not to have complained, because they had an offer of that to which they had no claiin, for which they pay no rent, and which when they refuse they do so, because they are noe willing to take them, unless they are certain that they will prove what they call well worth the money. Now I do fay, that no method which can be adopted will prove so beneficial to the farmer as the presene mode, unless the Clergy man be deprived of his dues, which I am atraid is the wish, at the bottom, in all the plans of commutation :-this suspicion fully accounts for the Clergyman's backwardness in con. senting to an equivalent, which, if really so, ought to be much more productive to him than his present benefit. At the present moment, from the high price of corn, the gains to the farmer, from the tithes, must be imiuente ; for which, as I said before, he pays no rent, and to which he has no legal claim. The tithes this year are let, in general, in this county at little or no advance. Could an equivalent be adopted, is it not clear, that the farmers ought to pay this year twice, nay, three times the fums which they pay at present? For had the titles beco drawn the gains to the Clergy man would have beco in that pro

porrion

a

portion more than he now receives; and yet the Surveyors of countles represent tithes as a grievance! I think that if you were to discuss Dr. Anderson's arguments (or rather groundless affertions) againft tithes, you would do great service, as his publication is very generally read by Gentlemen who wish to commence farmers, and does great mischief fó minds already but too ill-prejudiced on this fubjet. This man, I believe, afferts that if the Clergy were not content with a small com. position for their tithes, the farmers would be ruined. If this be fact, it surely does not prove that tithes are a burden, but that rents are too high. Indeed, the farmers, in general, are well convinced that the tithes are underlet, but raise their voice against them, because they consider them in the light of a tax and not of a property; and, there. fore, imagine that they would have their farms at their prefent rents were the tithes abolished; but tell them, that there is a plan to com. mute them, by which the Clergy will receive to the utmost what is due to them (and if they do not, an injuftice will be done them), I dare venture to affert, that they will prefer the prefent mode. They muft know, that when land is let tithe-free, the landlord adds: to his rent more than they would pay to the Clergyman, a proof of which I am acquainted with, where the Clergy man waves his right of receiving tithe for teven years from land lately inclosed, being unwilling to fubject himself to a contest at law; and what is the consequence? The landlord hearing of this has added to his rent, for feven years, as much as he thinks thefe tithes are worth ; so that the tenant receives no ad. vantage, the Clergyman loses by his forbearance, and the landlord takes what he never purchased; and to which he has no claim. I know of ro objection to the drawing of tithe but the taking away, once in ren years, the ftraw of the parish ; but this straw is considered by the tenant as of such little consequence to him, that he almost, invariably, fells the tithe ftraw when he purchases his tithes. This practice is so prevalent, that many landlords have restricted them from so doing ; but even admitting the utmost force of this objection, the manure is not loft to the country, but frequently turns out to better account by its being sent to towns, from whence it returns, much richer than it otherwile would have been. I thus have troubled you, at length, wishing you boldly to assert what is undoubtedly true ; that tithes, so far from being an obftacle to the improvement of agriculture, tend to promote its progress, if a property let at a low rent has that tendency; of which, indeed, I have any doubts.

I am your humble servant,

A NORTHUMBERLAND RECTOR..

SCHISM AND SCHISMATICS. N

letter signed Miso-Repard, relative to the Schifmatical conduct of the Lecturer of St. George's, Southwark, we promised, in a future

Number,

I

Number, to offer some observations of our own upon that subject. By a reference to the Canons, our readers will find, that some of them had been grossly violated by the Lecturer, and that it was the bounden dury of the Churchiwarden to report his sermon to the Bishop of the Diocese; but the acting Churchwarden, we have been told, was a baker who attended more to his oven than to the Church, and who, probably, never having read the Canons in his life, was excuseable for not acting in obedience to their injunctions. Our reason, however, for recalling this subject to the recollection of our readers, is to explain to them, what they have a right to know, the cause of our own

a filence. The fact is, that, on the appearance of the letter in question, we received an application from the Rector of St. George's, requesting a communication of the authorities on which the charges preferred against the Lecturer, in that letter, were founded. Thefe authorities were immediately transmitted to the Rector, and every thing being now placed in its proper channel, having rouzed the attention of the lawful superior of the offending party, a proper respect for authority, and a due sense of subordination have led us to forbear all farther comments on the subject; not doubting, that the worthy Rector will take fuch fteps as the exigency of the case shall seem to him to require, and, if all other modes of correction thall prove ineffectual, that he will finally appeal to the Bishop.

The growth of Schism in these kingdoms is, we are concerned to say, very rapid; and calls loudly for the utmoft vigilance and exertion of the Clergy of the Established Church. Now, that we are upon the subject, we shall lay before our readers various anecdotes and letters, some of which have been too long in our poffeffion.--To begin with a licenfed Scbifmatic.

Mr. ALPHONSUS Gun. Of this gentleman we had occasion to speak frequently in the early Numbers of our work. He lately offered himself as a candidate for the Lectureship at St. Bride's, where the canvas and all the other osual accompaniments of an election, were carried on, with as much decency and decorum, as generally prevail at a contested election for a county or borough, and to the great edification of the parish. The worthy patriots who conducted the election on the part of Mr. Gun, (for it is worthy of temark, that all the patriots were his friends) were Citizens WAITHMAN and MORTIMER; the latter, we believe, is gun-maker to his Majesty. With such aid Mr. Gun could not fail to be successful. His party prevailed and he was returned by a consider able majority of Methodists. The Clergyman, however, having a right to refuse the Lecturer admission to his pulpit ; and wifely chuling to exercise chat right, in the present instance, the Lectureship ftill re. mains vacant, and, we hope, will continue to remain fo. On the subject of Lectureships, we are truly happy to be able to state, that the Bishop of LONDON, whose zeal, vigilance, and activity, entitle him to the gratitude of every friend to the Church, has positively rejected several applications, for the establishment of new Lectureships; and, we trust, that this spirit will be generally adopted by the heads of

our

our Church, and lead, in the process of time, to the utter eradication of that democratical fungus from the ecclefiaftical body. The Mes thodists have, very artfully, contrived to impress a confiderable pare of the public with the belief that they are favoured and protected by this worthy Prelate, and the friends of Mr. Gun, in particulat, have laboured hard to propagate this calumny. If any thing were necessary to prove the falsehood of such affertions, the following letter from the Bishop, (on the fubject of Mr. Gun's election) which has been circu. lated in the parish of St. Bride's, would effectually prove it. It is a letter which reflects equal honour on the Prelate by whom it was writo ten, and on the Clergy man who caused it to be written.

Sundridge, near Sevenoaks, Kent, Rev. Sir,

08. 12, 1800. YESTERDAY three of your parishioners, at St. Brides, came down to me here to inform me of what had passed, relative to M6 Alphonsus Gun, and of your having refused your consent to his being appointed Lecturer of your parish. I told them, without hesitation, that I entirely approved your condut in that respect ; I truft, you will continue firm in your resolution, and, in every instance of this fort, you will, I am persuaded, never give your consent to such appointments till you are perfectly satisfied respecting the principles and doctrines of the person proposed. I am, Sir, your faithful and obedient servant,

B. LONDON.

S you

TO THE EDITOR.
SIR,
As

have undertaken to watch over the interefs of the Church imagine that the account I here send you of a publication by Mr. Gil. bert Wakefield may not be unacceptable. Many persons are acquainted with the religious and political opinions of that voluminous writer; but every one ought also to be informed of the insidious arts which are made use of by him and such men, to ulher their vile trash into the world, in order, under the masque of learning, to poison the minds of the unwary and lead them from the truth. Mr. Gilbert Wakefield * thought truly, that the old tranflation of the Bible would not fuit his purpose, and, therefore, in the year 1791, he published a new one, and dedicated it to the Rev. Mr. Tyrewhite of Jesus College. To the work is prefixed a list of subscribers, and a curious lift it is; and as if this Reverend Gentleman was conscious that his work needed some extraordinary means to make it noticed, and to give it consequence in the eyes of the public, he has given titles to some of the fub Scribers which do not belong to them, and who, without these fictis tious titles, are not to be considered, in a liserary view, as of any confequence at all.

a